Contend with My Opponents, O LORD

¹Of David.

Contend with my opponents, O LORD;

fight against those who fight against me.

²Take up Your shield and buckler;

arise and come to my aid.

³Draw the spear and javelin^a against my pursuers;

say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”

⁴May those who seek my life

be disgraced and put to shame;

may those who plan to harm me

be driven back and confounded.

⁵May they be like chaff in the wind,

as the angel of the LORD drives them away.

⁶May their path be dark and slick,

as the angel of the LORD pursues.

⁷For without cause they laid their net for me;

without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁸May ruin befall them by surprise;

may the net they hid ensnare them;

may they fall into the hazard they created.

⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD

and exult in His salvation.

¹⁰All my bones will exclaim,

“Who is like You, O LORD,

who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor,

the poor and needy from the robber?”

¹¹Hostile witnesses come forward;

they make charges I know nothing about.

¹²They repay me evil for good,

to the bereavement of my soul.

¹³Yet when they were ill,

I put on sackcloth;

I humbled myself with fasting,

but my prayers returned unanswered.^b

¹⁴I paced about

as for my friend or brother;

I was bowed down with grief,

like one mourning for his mother.

¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee;

they gathered together against me.

Assailants I did not know

slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast,^c

they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, will You look on?

Rescue my soul from their ravages,

my precious life from these lions.

¹⁸Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly;

I will praise You among many people.

¹⁹Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause,

nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.^d

²⁰For they do not speak peace,

but they devise deceitful schemes

against those who live quietly in the land.

²¹They gape at me and say,

“Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”

²²O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent.

O Lord, be not far from me.

²³Awake and rise to my defense,

to my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God,

and do not let them gloat over me.

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts,

“Aha, just what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up!”

²⁶May those who gloat in my distress

be ashamed and confounded;

may those who exalt themselves over me

be clothed in shame and reproach.

²⁷May those who favor my vindication

shout for joy and gladness;

may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD

who delights in His servant’s well-being.”

²⁸Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness

and Your praises all day long.