Contend with My Opponents, O LORD

Of David.

¹ Contend with my opponents, O LORD;

fight against those who fight against me.

² Take up Your shield^* and buckler;

arise and come to my aid.

³ Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers;

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

⁴ May those who seek my life

be disgraced and put to shame;

may those who plan to harm me

be driven back and confounded.

⁵ May they be like chaff in the wind,

as the angel of the LORD drives them away.

⁶ May their path be dark and slick,

as the angel of the LORD pursues.

⁷ For without cause they laid their net for me;

without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁸ May ruin befall them by surprise;

may the net they hid ensnare them;

may they fall into the hazard they created.

⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD

and exult in His salvation.

¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim,

“Who is like You, O LORD,

who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor,

the poor and needy from the robber?”

¹¹ Hostile witnesses come forward;

they make charges I know nothing about.

¹² They repay me evil for good,

to the bereavement of my soul.

¹³ Yet when they were ill,

I put on sackcloth;

I humbled myself with fasting,

but my prayers returned unanswered.

¹⁴ I paced about

as for my friend or brother;

I was bowed down with grief,

like one mourning for his mother.

¹⁵ But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee;

they gathered together against me.

Assailants I did not know

slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶ Like godless jesters at a feast,

they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will You look on?

Rescue my soul from their ravages,

my precious life from these lions.

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

I will praise You among many^* people.

¹⁹ Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause,

nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

²⁰ For they do not speak peace,

but they devise deceitful schemes

against those who live quietly^* in the land.

²¹ They gape at me and say,

“Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”

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

O Lord, be not far from me.

²³ Awake and rise to my defense,

to my cause, my God and my Lord!

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

and do not let them gloat over me.

²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts,

“Aha, just what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up!”

²⁶ May those who gloat^* in my distress

be ashamed and confounded;

may those who exalt themselves over me

be clothed in shame and reproach.

²⁷ May 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.”

²⁸ Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness

and Your praises all day long.