• O God, Do Not Be Silent

  • 1 O God of my praise, Do not be silent!
  • 2 For they have opened a wicked mouth and a deceitful mouth against me; They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
  • 3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without cause.
  • 4 In return for my love they accuse me; But I am in prayer.
  • 5 Thus they have set upon me evil for good And hatred for my love.
  • 6 Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
  • 7 When he is judged, let him come forth a wicked man, And let his prayer become sin.
  • 8 Let his days be few; Let another take his office.
  • 9 Let his sons be orphans And his wife a widow.
  • 10 Let his sons wander aimlessly and beg; And let them search for food from their ruined homes.
  • 11 Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
  • 12 Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, And let there be none to be gracious to his orphans.
  • 13 Let those who follow him be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out.
  • 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before Yahweh, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
  • 15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth;
  • 16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the afflicted, the needy man, And the disheartened to put them to death.
  • 17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.
  • 18 But he clothed himself with cursing as his garment, And it came into his inward parts like water And like oil into his bones.
  • 19 Let it be to him as a garment with which he wraps himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself.
  • 20 This is the reward of my accusers from Yahweh, And of those who speak evil against my soul.
  • 21 But as for You, O Yahweh, O Lord, deal with me for Your name’s sake; Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me;
  • 22 For I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is pierced within me.
  • 23 I am passing like a shadow when it is stretched out; I am shaken off like the locust.
  • 24 My knees are feeble from fasting, And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.
  • 25 As for me, I have become a reproach to them; They see me, they wag their head.
  • 26 Help me, O Yahweh my God; Save me according to Your lovingkindness.
  • 27 And let them know that this is Your hand; You, O Yahweh, have done it.
  • 28 Let them curse, but You bless; They arise and will be put to shame, But Your slave shall be glad.
  • 29 Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And let them wrap themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
  • 30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to Yahweh; And in the midst of many I will praise Him.
  • 31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who judge his soul.