# 32. Faith.

Psalms 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ O God, whom I praise,
do not remain silent,

² for wicked and deceitful men
have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

³ With words of hatred they surround me;
they attack me without cause.

⁴ In return for my friendship they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.

⁵ They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my friendship.

⁶ Appoint an evil man to oppose him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.

⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.

⁸ May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

⁹ May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.

¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

¹² May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.

¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.

¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor
and the needy and the brokenhearted.

¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse—
may it come on him;
he found no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him.

¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water,
into his bones like oil.

¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.

²⁰ May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.

²¹ But you, O Sovereign LORD,
deal well with me for your name's sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

²² For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.

²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.

²⁴ My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.

²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.

²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God;
save me in accordance with your love.

²⁷ Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O LORD, have done it.

²⁸ They may curse, but you will bless;
when they attack they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.

²⁹ My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
in the great throng I will praise him.

³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save his life from those who condemn him.

Inspirations.