Psalms 35
35
(A psalm by David.)
A Prayer for Protection from Enemies
1Fight my enemies, Lord!
Attack my attackers!
2Shield me and help me.
3Aim your spear at everyone
who hunts me down,
but promise to save me.
4Let all who want to kill me
be disgraced
and put to shame.
Chase away and confuse
all who plan to harm me.
5Send your angel after them
and let them be like straw
in the wind.
6Make them run in the dark
on a slippery road,
as your angel chases them.
7I did them no harm,
but they hid a net
to trap me,
and they dug a deep pit
to catch and kill me.
8 #
3 Macc 6.21. Surprise them with disaster!
Trap them in their own nets
and let them fall and rot
in the pits they have dug.
9I will celebrate and be joyful
because you, Lord,
have saved me.
10Every bone in my body
will shout:
“No one is like the Lord!”
You protect the helpless
from those in power;
you save the poor and needy
from those who hurt them.
11Liars accuse me of crimes
I know nothing about.
12They repay evil for good,
and I feel all alone.
13When they were sick,
I wore sackcloth#35.13 sackcloth: See the note at 30.11.
and went without food.#35.13 went without food: People sometimes went without food (called “fasting”) to show sorrow.
I truly prayed for them,#35.13 I … them: Or “My prayer wasn't answered, but I prayed.”
14as I would for a friend
or a relative.
I was in sorrow and mourned,
as I would for my mother.
15I have stumbled,
and worthless liars
I don't even know
surround me and sneer.
16Worthless people make fun#35.16 Worthless … fun: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and never stop laughing.
17But all you do is watch!
When will you do something?
Save me from the attack
of those vicious lions.
18And when your people meet,
I will praise you
and thank you, Lord,
in front of them all.
19 #
Ps 69.4; Jn 15.25. Don't let my brutal enemies
be glad because of me.
They hate me for no reason.
Don't let them wink
behind my back.
20They say hurtful things,
and they lie to people
who want to live in peace.
21They are quick to accuse me.
They say, “You did it!
We saw you ourselves.”
22You see everything, Lord!
Please don't keep silent
or stay so far away.
23Fight to defend me, Lord God,
24and prove that I am right
by your standards.
Don't let them laugh at me
25or say to each other,
“Now we've got what we want!
We'll gobble him up!”
26Disappoint and confuse
all who are glad
to see me in trouble;
disgrace and embarrass
my proud enemies who say to me,
“You are nothing!”
27Let all who want me to win
be happy and joyful.
From now on let them say,
“The Lord is wonderful!
God is glad when all goes well
for his servant.”
28Then I will shout all day,
“Praise the Lord God!
He did what was right.”
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Psalms 35: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Psalm 35
35
A Psalm of David.
1Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me:
Fight against them that fight against me.
2Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for mine help.
3Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me:
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul:
Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5Let them be as chaff before the wind:
And let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6Let their way be dark and slippery:
And let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,
Which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself:
Into that very destruction let him fall.
9And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD:
It shall rejoice in his salvation.
10All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,
Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
11False witnesses did rise up;
They laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12They rewarded me evil for good
To the spoiling of my soul.
13But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting;
And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother:
I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:
Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
16With hypocritical mockers in feasts,
They gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17Lord, how long wilt thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
18I will give thee thanks in the great congregation:
I will praise thee among much people.
19Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me:
Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20For they speak not peace:
But they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me,
And said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence:
O Lord, be not far from me.
23Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment,
Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
25Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it:
Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt:
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
27Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause:
Yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness
And of thy praise all the day long.
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