The Song of the Slandered 1 UDB God, you are the one whom I praise, so please answer my prayer BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, be not silent.
2 UDB because wicked people slander me and tell lies about me. BSB BSB: For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.
3 UDB They are constantly saying that they hate me, and they harm me for no reason. BSB BSB: They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.
4 UDB I show them that I love them and that I pray for them, but instead of being kind to me, they say that I have done evil things. BSB BSB: In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
5 UDB In return for my doing good things for them and loving them, they do evil things to me and hate me. BSB BSB: They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 UDB So appoint a wicked judge who will judge my enemy, and bring in one of his enemies who will stand up and accuse him. BSB BSB: Set over him a wicked man; let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 UDB When the trial ends, cause the judge to declare that he is guilty and cause even his plea for mercy to be considered a sin. BSB BSB: When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.
8 UDB Then cause him to die soon; bring someone else to take over his work. BSB BSB: May his days be few; may another take his position.
9 UDB Cause his children not to have a father anymore, and cause his wife to become a widow. BSB BSB: May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
10 UDB Cause his children to leave the ruined homes that they have been living in and to wander around begging for food. BSB BSB: May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
11 UDB Cause all the people to whom he owed money to seize his property; cause strangers to take away everything that he worked to acquire. BSB BSB: May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 UDB Make sure that no one acts with any loyalty toward his memory for the sake of your covenant; make sure that no one pities his children. BSB BSB: May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children.
13 UDB Cause all his children to die, so that no one will live to carry on his name. BSB BSB: May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
14 UDB Yahweh, remember and do not forgive his ancestors for the evil things that they did, and do not even forgive the sins that his mother committed. BSB BSB: May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 UDB Think about his sins continually, but cause everyone living to completely forget who he was. BSB BSB: May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.
16 UDB I pray these things because that man, my enemy, never acted toward anyone as your covenant says we must; he persecuted poor and needy people and even killed helpless people. BSB BSB: For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.
17 UDB He liked to curse people. So those terrible things that he requested to happen to others—cause them to happen to him! He did not want to bless others, so make sure that no one blesses him! BSB BSB: The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
18 UDB He often cursed other people also; cause the terrible things that he wanted to happen to others to happen to him and enter his body as water does, as olive oil soaks into a person's bones when it is rubbed on his skin. BSB BSB: The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.
19 UDB Cause those terrible things to cling to him like his clothes and be around him like the belt that he wears every day. BSB BSB: May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
20 UDB Yahweh, I wish that you will punish all my enemies that way, those who say evil things about me. BSB BSB: May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.
21 UDB But Yahweh, my God, do good things for me in order that I may honor you; rescue me from my enemies because you faithfully love me as you promised. BSB BSB: But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.
22 UDB I request you to do this because I am poor and needy and my inner being is full of pain. BSB BSB: For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
23 UDB I think that my time to remain alive is as short as an evening shadow that will soon disappear. I will be blown away as a locust is blown by the wind. BSB BSB: I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
24 UDB My knees are weak because I have fasted very often, and my body has become very thin. BSB BSB: My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.
25 UDB The people who accuse me make fun of me; when they see me, they insult me by shaking their heads at me. BSB BSB: I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 UDB Yahweh, my God, help me! Because you faithfully love me, rescue me! BSB BSB: Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your loving devotion.
27 UDB When you save me, cause my enemies to know that you are the one who has done it! BSB BSB: Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.
28 UDB They may curse me, but I ask that you bless me. Cause those who persecute me to be defeated and disgraced, but cause me to be glad! BSB BSB: Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.
29 UDB Cause those who accuse me to be completely disgraced; cause other people to see that they are disgraced as easily as they see the clothes that they wear! BSB BSB: May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
30 UDB But I will thank Yahweh very much; I will praise him when I am among the crowd of people who are worshiping him. BSB BSB: With my mouth I will thank the LORD profusely; I will praise Him in the presence of many.
31 UDB I will do that because he defends poor people like me and because he saves us from those who have said that we must die. BSB BSB: For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.