Psalm 35–36

A David Psalm

^1–335Harass these hecklers, God,

punch these bullies in the nose.

Grab a weapon, anything at hand;

stand up for me!

Get ready to throw the spear, aim the javelin,

at the people who are out to get me.

Reassure me; let me hear you say,

“I’ll save you.”

^4–8When those thugs try to knife me in the back,

make them look foolish.

Frustrate all those

who are plotting my downfall.

Make them like cinders in a high wind,

with God’s angel working the bellows.

Make their road lightless and mud-slick,

with God’s angel on their tails.

Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me;

for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me.

Surprise them with your ambush—

catch them in the very trap they set,

the disaster they planned for me.

^9–10But let me run loose and free,

celebrating God’s great work,

Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God,

there’s no one like you.

You put the down-and-out on their feet

and protect the unprotected from bullies!”

^11–12Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere,

they stand up and badger me.

They pay me back misery for mercy,

leaving my soul empty.

^13–14When they were sick, I dressed in black;

instead of eating, I prayed.

My prayers were like lead in my gut,

like I’d lost my best friend, my brother.

I paced, distraught as a motherless child,

hunched and heavyhearted.

^15–16But when I was down

they threw a party!

All the nameless riffraff of the town came

chanting insults about me.

Like barbarians desecrating a shrine,

they destroyed my reputation.

^17–18God, how long are you going

to stand there doing nothing?

Save me from their brutalities;

everything I’ve got is being thrown to the lions.

I will give you full credit

when everyone gathers for worship;

When the people turn out in force

I will say my Hallelujahs.

^19–21Don’t let these liars, my enemies,

have a party at my expense,

Those who hate me for no reason,

winking and rolling their eyes.

No good is going to come

from that crowd;

They spend all their time cooking up gossip

against those who mind their own business.

They open their mouths

in ugly grins,

Mocking, “Ha-ha, ha-ha, thought you’d get away with it?

We’ve caught you hands down!”

²²Don’t you see what they’re doing, God?

You’re not going to let them

Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off

without doing something, are you?

^23–26Please get up—wake up! Tend to my case.

My God, my Lord—my life is on the line.

Do what you think is right, God, my God,

but don’t make me pay for their good time.

Don’t let them say to themselves,

“Ha-ha, we got what we wanted.”

Don’t let them say,

“We’ve chewed him up and spit him out.”

Let those who are being hilarious

at my expense

Be made to look ridiculous.

Make them wear donkey’s ears;

Pin them with the donkey’s tail,

who made themselves so high and mighty!

^27–28But those who want

the best for me,

Let them have the last word—a glad shout!—

and say, over and over and over,

“God is great—everything works

together for good for his servant.”

I’ll tell the world how great and good you are,

I’ll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.

A David Psalm

^1–436The God-rebel tunes in to sedition—

all ears, eager to sin.

He has no regard for God,

he stands insolent before him.

He has smooth-talked himself

into believing

That his evil

will never be noticed.

Words gutter from his mouth,

dishwater dirty.

Can’t remember when he

did anything decent.

Every time he goes to bed,

he fathers another evil plot.

When he’s loose on the streets,

nobody’s safe.

He plays with fire

and doesn’t care who gets burned.

^5–6God’s love is meteoric,

his loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic,

his verdicts oceanic.

Yet in his largeness

nothing gets lost;

Not a man, not a mouse,

slips through the cracks.

^7–9How exquisite your love, O God!

How eager we are to run under your wings,

To eat our fill at the banquet you spread

as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.

You’re a fountain of cascading light,

and you open our eyes to light.

^10–12Keep on loving your friends;

do your work in welcoming hearts.

Don’t let the bullies kick me around,

the moral midgets slap me down.

Send the upstarts sprawling

flat on their faces in the mud.