CHAPTER 35
May those who seek
my life
be disgraced
and put to shame;
may those who plan
to harm me
be driven back
and confounded.
May ruin
befall them
by surprise;
may the net
they hid
ensnare them;
may they fall
into
their own destruction.
All
my bones
will exclaim,
“Who
is like You,
O LORD,
who delivers
the afflicted
from
the aggressor,
the poor
and needy
from the robber?”
Yet
during their illness,
I put on
sackcloth;
I humbled
myself
with fasting,
but my prayers
returned unanswered.
I paced about
as for my friend
or brother;
I was bowed down
with grief,
like one mourning
for his mother.
But when I stumbled,
they assembled
in glee;
they gathered together
against me.
Assailants
I did not
know
slandered me
without
ceasing.
How long,
O Lord,
will You look on?
Rescue
my soul
from their ravages,
my precious life
from these lions.
Let not
my enemies
gloat over me
without cause,
or those who hate me
without reason
wink in malice.
For
they do not
speak
peace,
but devise
deceitful
schemes
against
those who live quietly
in the land.
Let them not
say
in their hearts,
“Aha,
just what we wanted!”
Let them not
say,
“We have swallowed him up!”
May those who gloat
in my distress
be ashamed
and confounded;
may those who exalt themselves
over me
be clothed
in shame
and reproach.
May those who favor
my vindication
shout for joy
and gladness;
may they always
say,
“Exalted be
the LORD
who delights
in His servant’s
well-being.”