A psalm written by David for the choir director

1God, you are the one whom I praise,
So please answer my prayer,

2because wicked people slander me and tell [MTY] lies about me.

3They are constantly saying that they hate me,
and they say evil things about me for no reason.

4I show them that I want to be their friends
and I pray for them, but instead of being kind to me, they say that I have done evil things.

5In return for my doing good things for them and loving them, they do evil things to me and hate me.

6They said, “Appoint a wicked judge who will judge him,
and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him.

7And cause that when the trial ends, the judge will declare that he is guilty,
and that even his prayer will be considered to be a sin.

8Then, cause that he will soon die and that someone else will have his job/work (OR, possessions).

9Cause that his children will not have a father any more and that his wife will become a widow.

10Cause that his children will be forced to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in and wander around begging for food.

11Cause that all the people to whom he owed money will seize all his property; Cause that strangers will take away everything that he worked to acquire.

12Cause that while he is still living no one will be kind to him, and after he dies, cause that no one will pity his children.

13Cause that all his descendants will die and that his grandchildren will not remember who he [MTY] was.

14Yahweh, remember and do not forgive his ancestors for the evil things that they did, and do not even forgive the sins that his mother committed;

15think about his sins continually, and cause that his name will be completely forgotten.

16He never was kind to anyone; he ◄persecuted/cause problems for► poor and needy people
and even killed helpless people.

17He liked to curse people. So cause those terrible things that he requested to happen to others to happen to him! He did not want to bless others, so cause that no one will bless him!

18He cursed other people as often/easily as he put on his clothes [SIM]; cause that the terrible things that he wanted to happen to others will happen to him and enter his body like water that he drinks [SIM],
like olive oil soaks into a person’s bones when it is rubbed on his skin [SIM].

19Cause that those terrible things will cling to him like his clothes
and be around him like the belt that he wears every day.”

20Yahweh, I want you to punish all my enemies that way, those who say evil things about me.

21But Yahweh, my God, do good things for me in order that I may honor you; rescue me from my enemies because your faithfully loving me is good.

22I ask you to do this because I am poor and needy and my inner being is ◄full of pain/very troubled/discouraged►.

23I think that my time to remain alive is short, like an evening shadow that will soon disappear [SIM].
I will be blown away like a locust/grasshopper is blown by the wind.

24My knees are weak because I have ◄fasted/abstained from eating food► very often, and my body has become very thin.

25The people who accuse me make fun of me; when they see me, they insult me by shaking their heads at me as though I were an evil man.

26Yahweh, my God, help me!
Because you faithfully love me, rescue me!

27When you save me, cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it!

28They may curse me, but I ask that you bless me. Cause those who ◄persecute/cause problems for► me to be defeated and as a result to be disgraced/ashamed, and cause me to be glad/happy!

29Cause those who accuse me to be completely disgraced; cause other people to see that they are disgraced, as easily as they see the clothes that they wear [SIM]!

30But I will thank Yahweh very greatly; I will praise him when I am among the crowd of people who are worshiping him.

31I will do that because he defends [MTY] needy people like me, and saves us from those who have decided/declared that we must be executed.