Great Is the Lord

35 Of David.

1  Contend, O Lord, with those who ycontend with me;

zfight against those who fight against me!

2  Take hold of ashield and buckler

and rise for my help!

3  Draw the spear and javelin1

against my pursuers!

Say to my soul,

“I am your salvation!”

4  bLet them be cput to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life!

Let them be dturned back and disappointed

who devise evil against me!

5  Let them be like echaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them away!

6  Let their way be dark and fslippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!

7  For gwithout cause hthey hid their net for me;

without cause they dug ia pit for my life.2

8  Let jdestruction come upon him kwhen he does not know it!

And let the net that he hid ensnare him;

let him fall into it—to his destruction!

9  Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,

lexulting in his salvation.

10  All my mbones shall say,

“O Lord, nwho is like you,

delivering the poor

from him who is too strong for him,

the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

11  oMalicious3 witnesses rise up;

they ask me of things that I do not know.

12  pThey repay me evil for good;

my soul is bereft.4

13  But I, qwhen they were sick—

I rwore sackcloth;

I safflicted myself with fasting;

I prayed twith head bowed5 on my chest.

14  I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;

as one who laments his mother,

I ubowed down in mourning.

15  But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;

they gathered together against me;

vwretches whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

16  like profane mockers at a feast,6

they wgnash at me with their teeth.

17  How long, O Lord, will you xlook on?

Rescue me from their destruction,

ymy precious life from the lions!

18  I will thank you in zthe great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.

19  aLet not those rejoice over me

who are bwrongfully my foes,

and let not those cwink the eye

who dhate me ewithout cause.

20  For they do not speak peace,

but against those who are quiet in the land

they devise words of deceit.

21  They fopen wide their mouths against me;

they say, g“Aha, Aha!

Our eyes have seen it!”

22  hYou have seen, O Lord; ibe not silent!

O Lord, jbe not far from me!

23  Awake and krouse yourself for lmy vindication,

for my cause, my God and my Lord!

24  mVindicate me, O Lord, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and nlet them not rejoice over me!

25  Let them not say in their hearts,

o“Aha, our heart’s desire!”

Let them not say, p“We have swallowed him up.”

26  Let them be qput to shame and disappointed altogether

who rejoice at my calamity!

Let them be rclothed with shame and dishonor

who smagnify themselves against me!

27  Let those who delight in my righteousness

shout for joy and be glad

tand say evermore,

u“Great is the Lord,

who vdelights in the welfare of his servant!”

28  Then my wtongue shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all the day long.