Psalms 109
109
1-5My God, don’t turn a deaf ear to my hallelujah prayer.
Liars are pouring out invective on me;
Their lying tongues are like a pack of dogs out to get me,
barking their hate, nipping my heels—and for no reason!
I loved them and now they slander me—yes, me!—
and treat my prayer like a crime;
They return my good with evil,
they return my love with hate.
6-20Send the Evil One to accuse my accusing judge;
dispatch Satan to prosecute him.
When he’s judged, let the verdict be “Guilty,”
and when he prays, let his prayer turn to sin.
Give him a short life,
and give his job to somebody else.
Make orphans of his children,
dress his wife in widow’s black;
Turn his children into begging street urchins,
evicted from their homes—homeless.
May the bank foreclose and wipe him out,
and strangers, like vultures, pick him clean.
May there be no one around to help him out,
no one willing to give his orphans a break.
Chop down his family tree
so that nobody even remembers his name.
But erect a memorial to the sin of his father,
and make sure his mother’s name is there, too—
Their sins recorded forever before God,
but they themselves sunk in oblivion.
That’s all he deserves since he was never once kind,
hounded the afflicted and heartbroken to their graves.
Since he loved cursing so much,
let curses rain down;
Since he had no taste for blessing,
let blessings flee far from him.
He dressed up in curses like a fine suit of clothes;
he drank curses, took his baths in curses.
So give him a gift—a costume of curses;
he can wear curses every day of the week!
That’s what they’ll get, those out to get me—
an avalanche of just deserts from God.
21-25Oh, God, my Lord, step in;
work a miracle for me—you can do it!
Get me out of here—your love is so great!—
I’m at the end of my rope, my life in ruins.
I’m fading away to nothing, passing away,
my youth gone, old before my time.
I’m weak from hunger and can hardly stand up,
my body a rack of skin and bones.
I’m a joke in poor taste to those who see me;
they take one look and shake their heads.
26-29Help me, oh help me, God, my God,
save me through your wonderful love;
Then they’ll know that your hand is in this,
that you, God, have been at work.
Let them curse all they want;
you do the blessing.
Let them be jeered by the crowd when they stand up,
followed by cheers for me, your servant.
Dress my accusers in clothes dirty with shame,
discarded and humiliating old ragbag clothes.
30-31My mouth’s full of great praise for God,
I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds,
For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy,
to rescue a life from the unjust judge.
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Psalms 109: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Tehillim (Psalms) 109
109
1Do not be silent, O Elohim of my praise!
2For the mouth of the wrong And the mouth of the deceiver Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a false tongue.
3They have surrounded me with words of hatred, And they attack me without a cause.
4In return for my love they accuse me, While I am in prayer.
5And they repay me evil for good, And hatred for my love.
6Appoint over him one who is wrong, And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7When he is judged, let him be found wrong, And let his prayer become sin.
8Let his days be few, Let another take his office.
9Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.
10And let his children always wander and beg, And seek food out of their ruins.
11Let the creditor lay a snare for all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labour.
12Let him have no one to extend loving-commitment, Nor any to show favour to his fatherless children.
13Let his descendants be cut off, Their name be blotted out in the next generation.
14Let the crookedness of his fathers Be remembered before יהוה, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15Let them always be before יהוה, And let Him cut off their remembrance from the earth;
16Because he did not remember to show loving-commitment, But persecuted the poor and needy man; And the broken-hearted, to put to death.
17He also loved cursing, so let it come to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18And he put cursing on as with his garment, So let it enter his inward parts like water, Into his bones and like oil.
19Let it be to him like a cloak he wraps around him, And as a girdle that he always girds on.
20This is the reward of my accusers from יהוה, And to those speaking evil against my being.
21But You, O יהוה, Master, Deal with me for Your Name’s sake; Because Your loving-commitment is good, deliver me.
22For I am poor and needy, And my heart is pierced within me.
23I have gone like a lengthening shadow, I have been driven away like a locust.
24My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh grows lean from fatness.
25And I, I have become a reproach to them; They see me, they shake their heads.
26Help me, O יהוה my Elohim! Save me according to Your loving-commitment,
27And let them know that this is Your hand. You, יהוה, You have done it!
28Let them curse, but You bless. They shall arise, but be ashamed, And let Your servant rejoice.
29Let my accusers put on shame, And be wrapped in their own confusion as in a cloak.
30I greatly thank יהוה with my mouth, And I praise Him in the midst of the throng.
31For He stands at the right hand of the poor, To save from those judging his being.
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