People curse me, but You will bless me
Tell the leader of the choir that this is a Psalm of David.
1O God, please don't keep quiet.
Answer me, because I want to praise You.
2Sinful people who tell lies
have said things about me that are not_true.
3They hate me and say things
against me. They attack me,
but I have not done anything wrong.
4I loved them and prayed for them,
but they accuse me.
5I was good to them,
but they have done bad things to me.
I loved them, but they hate me.
6They say: ‘We must get someone
who will tell lies and let that person
stand next to him and accuse him.
7When they listen to him,
the judge must say that he is guilty,
that his prayers also show
that he is full of sin.
8His life must be cut short,
and someone else must come and do his work.
9Let his children become orphans
and his wife a widow.
10Let his children become so poor
that they will have to beg for food
and let them stay in homes that have been destroyed.
11Let the people to whom he owes money
come and take everything he has
and let strangers steal all the fruit
that he has worked for.
12Let there be no one who is good to him
or who feels sorry
for his children who are orphans.
13Cause all his children to die and
let no one remember his name,
not even the next generation.
14Lord, don't forgive the sin
of his father or forefathers
and don't forget the wrong things
that his mother did.
15Lord, always remember their sin
and let no one on earth remember them.
16Because this man was not good
and he did not love other people.
He oppressed and killed poor people
and those who were sad and discouraged.
17He loved to curse people.
Let those bad things now happen to him.
He did not like to bless people.
Let no one bless him and
let nothing good happen to him.
18He cursed people every day.
Let his life be full of those curses,
and let them go into his body like water that one drinks
or like olive oil that he puts onto his skin.
19Let his curses cover him
like his clothes or
like a belt that he wears every day.’
20Lord, I pray that this is what
will happen to those people who accuse me
and say bad things about me.
21But Lord my God,
please be good to me because I belong to You.
Please save me, because
your love will never change.
22Please help me, because I am weak.
I can not help myself and I am very sad.
23My life is coming to an end
like a shadow late in the afternoon.
I feel like a locust that someone
has swept off his clothes.
24I fasted and have not eaten for a long time,
I am weak and I have become very thin.
25The people who accuse and mock me
laugh at me and shake their heads
when they see what has happened to me.
26O, Lord my God, please save me,
and help me because your love never ends.
27Then the people who accuse me
will know that You were the One who saved me.
28People curse me but You will bless me.
They attack me but they
will not succeed, and I,
your servant, will rejoice.
29Please humiliate these people
who accuse me, and cover them with shame.
30I want to thank the Lord.
I want to praise Him
in front of many people.
31Because He always helps poor people,
and protects them
when people accuse them
and say they are guilty.
