⁰To David.

¹Contend, Yahweh, with my adversaries; fight with those who fight me.

²Take hold of the buckler and the large shield, and rise up to help me.

³Draw the spear and close in to meet my pursuers; say to my being, I am your deliverance.

⁴May they be ashamed and humiliated, those who seek my being; may they be turned backward and abashed, those who plot my evil.

⁵May they be like chaff before the face of the wind, with the messenger of Yahweh pushing them down.

⁶May their way be darkness and slippery places, with the messenger of Yahweh pursuing them.

⁷For without cause they hid the pit of their net for me; without cause they dug for my being.

⁸May ruin come to him without his knowing, and may his net that he hid catch him; may he fall in it, in ruin.

⁹And my being will rejoice in Yahweh, will exult in his deliverance.

¹⁰All my bones will say, Yahweh, who is like you, who delivers the poor from one too strong for him, the poor and needy from the one who robs him?

¹¹Witnesses of violence rise up; they ask me about what I do not know.

¹²They repay me evil in place of good, bereavement to my being.

¹³But I, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my being with fasting, and my prayer returned upon my bosom.

¹⁴As for a friend, as for a brother to me, I went about; like one mourning a mother, darkened, I bowed down.

¹⁵But at my stumbling they rejoiced and they gathered; slanderers gathered against me, and I did not know it; they tore and were not still.

¹⁶With the godless, mockers for a cake, gnashing their teeth at me.

¹⁷Lord, how long will you look on? Bring back my being from their ruin, my only one from the young lions.

¹⁸I will give thanks to you in the great assembly; among a numerous people I will praise you.

¹⁹May my enemies not rejoice over me falsely, nor those who hate me without cause wink an eye.

²⁰For they do not speak wholeness, and against the quiet ones of the land they devise words of deceit.

²¹They opened their mouths wide against me; they said, Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen.

²²You have seen, Yahweh; do not be silent. Lord, do not be far from me.

²³Rouse yourself and wake up for my justice, my God and my Lord, for my dispute.

²⁴Judge me according to your righteousness, Yahweh my God, and do not let them rejoice over me.

²⁵Let them not say in their heart, Aha, our being's desire! Let them not say, We have swallowed him down.

²⁶May they be ashamed and abashed together, those glad at my evil; may those who make themselves great over me be clothed in shame and disgrace.

²⁷May they shout for joy and rejoice, those who delight in my righteousness, and may they say continually, Let Yahweh become great, who delights in the wholeness of his slave.

²⁸And my tongue will utter your righteousness, your praise all the day.