Psalm 35
Contend with My Opponents, O LORD
Of David.
¹ Contend with my opponents, O LORD; fight against those who fight against me.
² Take up Your shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid.
³ Draw the spear and javelin 1 against my pursuers; say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”
⁴ May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded.
⁵ May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
⁶ May their path be dark and slick, as the angel of the LORD pursues.
⁷ For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
⁸ May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and exult in His salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”
¹¹ Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
¹² They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.
¹³ Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.2
¹⁴ I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.
¹⁵ But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
¹⁶ Like godless jesters at a feast,3 they gnashed their teeth at me.
¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.
¹⁸ Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.
¹⁹ Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.4
²⁰ For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.
²¹ They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”
²² O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me.
²³ Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!
²⁴ Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God, and do not let them gloat over me.
²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
²⁶ May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.
²⁷ May those who favor my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD who delights in His servant’s well-being.”
²⁸ Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness and Your praises all day long.