Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me, Fight Against those who fight against me! Take Hold of shield and buckler and Rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin Against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I Am your Deliverance!” Let them who seek after my life be put to shame and dishonor! Let them who devise evil against me be turned back and confounded! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the Angels Of YHWH driving them on! Let their way be dark and slippery, with the Angels Of YHWH pursuing them! For without cause they hid their net for me, without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let ruin come upon them unawares! And let the net which they hid ensnare them, let them fall therein to ruin! Then my soul shall rejoice in YHWH, exulting in His Deliverance. All my bones shall say: “O Lord, who is like You, He Who Delivers the underdogs from those too strong for them, those humbled in want from those who despoil them?” Malicious witnesses rise up, they ask me of things that I know not. They requite me evil for Good, my soul is forlorn. But I, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I Prayed with head bowed on my bosom, as though I grieved for my friend or my brother, I went about as one who laments for his mother, bowed down and in mourning. But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me, freaks whom I knew not slandered me without ceasing, they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing their teeth at me. How long, O Lord, will You Look On? Rescue me from their assaults, my life from the lions! I will thank You in the great congregation, in the mighty throng I will praise You. Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, yea let not those wink the eye, those who hate me without cause. For they do not speak peace, they are against those who are quiet in the land and they conceive words of deceit. They open wide their mouths against me saying: “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it!” But You Are Who Has Really Seen, O Lord, so be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Bestir Yourself and Awake for my right, for my cause, my God and my Lord! Vindicate me, O YHWH, my God, according to Your Righteousness, let them not rejoice over me! Let them not say to themselves: “Aha, we have our hearts’ desire!” Let them not say: “We have swallowed him up.” Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether who would rejoice at my calamity! Let them who magnify themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor! But Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad evermore saying: “Great Is YHWH Who Delights in the welfare of His Servant!” Then my tongue shall tell of Your Righteousness and of Your Praise all the day long.
