King James VersionPsalms35

Psalms

1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buck­ler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that per­se­cute me: say unto my soul, I am thy sal­va­tion.
4 Let them be con­found­ed and put to shame that seek af­ter my soul: let them be turned back and brought to con­fu­sion that de­vise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff be­fore the wind: and let the an­gel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slip­pery: and let the an­gel of the LORD per­se­cute them.
7 For with­out cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which with­out cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let de­struc­tion come upon him at un­awares; and let his net that he hath hid catch him­self: into that very de­struc­tion let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joy­ful in the LORD: it shall re­joice in his sal­va­tion.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which de­liver­est the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoi­leth him?
11 False wit­ness­es did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They re­ward­ed me evil for good to the spoil­ing of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my cloth­ing was sack­cloth: I hum­bled my soul with fast­ing; and my prayer re­turned into mine own bo­som.
14 I be­haved my­self as though he had been my friend or broth­er: I bowed down heav­i­ly, as one that mour­neth ­for his moth­er.
15 But in mine ad­ver­si­ty they re­joiced, and gath­ered them­selves to­geth­er: yea, the ab­jects gath­ered them­selves to­geth­er against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hyp­o­crit­i­cal mock­ers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? res­cue my soul from their de­struc­tions, my dar­ling from the li­ons.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great con­gre­ga­tion: I will praise thee among much peo­ple.
19 Let not them that are mine en­e­mies wrong­ful­ly re­joice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me with­out a cause.
20 For they speak not peace: but they de­vise de­ceit­ful mat­ters against them that are qui­et in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not si­lence: O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thy­self, and awake to my judg­ment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, ac­cord­ing to thy righ­teous­ness; and let them not re­joice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swal­lowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to con­fu­sion to­geth­er that re­joice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dis­hon­our that mag­ni­fy themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righ­teous cause: yea, let them say con­tin­u­al­ly, Let the LORD be mag­ni­fied, which hath plea­sure in the pros­per­i­ty of his ser­vant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righ­teous­ness and of thy praise all the day long.