Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 DoPs. 83:1 not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a Ps. 27:12lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me Ps. 35:7; 69:4; John 15:25without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I givemyselfto prayer.
5 Thus Ps. 35:7, 12; 38:20; Prov. 17:13they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let Zech. 3:1an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And (Prov. 28:9)let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be (Ps. 55:23); John 17:12few,
AndPs. 69:25; Acts 1:20let another take his office.
9 Ex. 22:24Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek theirbread also from their desolate places.
11 Neh. 5:7; Job 5:5; 18:9Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Job 18:19; Ps. 37:28Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their Prov. 10:7name be blotted out.
14 (Ex. 20:5; Num. 14:18); Is. 65:6; (Jer. 32:18)Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother Neh. 4:5; Jer. 18:23be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may Job 18:17; (Ps. 34:16)cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the (Ps. 34:18)broken in heart.
17 Prov. 14:14; (Matt. 7:2)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it Num. 5:22enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone Ps. 102:11like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My Heb. 12:12knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become Ps. 22:7; Jer. 18:16; Lam. 2:15a reproach to them;
When they look at me, Matt. 27:39; Mark 15:29they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 Job 37:7That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 2 Sam. 6:11, 12Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Is. 65:14Your servant rejoice.
29 Job 8:22; Ps. 35:26Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, Ps. 35:18; 111:1I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For (Ps. 16:8)He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.