Psalm 35: Judica, Domine

Fight those who fight me, O LORD; *

attack those who are attacking me.

Take up shield and armor *

and rise up to help me.

Draw the sword and bar the way against those who pursue me; *

say to my soul, "I am your salvation."

Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *

let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.

Let them be like chaff before the wind, *

and let the angel of the LORD drive them away.

Let their way be dark and slippery, *

and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.

For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *

without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.

Let ruin come upon them unawares; *

let them be caught in the net they hid;

let them fall into the pit they dug.

Then I will be joyful in the LORD; *

I will glory in his victory.

My very bones will say, "LORD, who is like you? *

You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,

the poor and needy from those who rob them."

Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *

they charge me with matters I know nothing about.

They pay me evil in exchange for good; *

my soul is full of despair.

But when they were sick I dressed in sack-cloth *

and humbled myself by fasting.

I prayed with my whole heart,

as one would for a friend or a brother; *

I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,

bowed down and grieving.

But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;

they gathered against me; *

strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and would not stop.

They put me to the test and mocked me; *

they gnashed at me with their teeth.

O Lord, how long will you look on? *

rescue me from the roaring beasts,

and my life from the young lions.

I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *

I will praise you in the mighty throng.

Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *

nor let those who hate me without a cause wink at each other.

For they do not plan for peace, *

but invent deceitful schemes against the quiet in the land.

They opened their mouths at me and said, *

"Aha! we saw it with our own eyes."

You saw it, O LORD; do not be silent; *

O Lord, be not far from me.

Awake, arise, to my cause! *

to my defense, my God and my Lord!

Give me justice, O LORD my God,

according to your righteousness; *

do not let them triumph over me.

Do not let them say in their hearts,

"Aha! just what we want!" *

Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up."

Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *

let those who boast against me be clothed with dismay and shame.

Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *

let them say always, "Great is the LORD,

who desires the prosperity of his servant."

And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *

and of your praise all the day long.