5th Day Morning- Psalm 35

Psalm 35   Judica, Domine

 

1            Fight those who fight me, O Lord; *

        attack those who are attacking me.

 

2            Take up shield and armor *

        and rise up to help me.

 

3            Draw the sword and bar the way against those

who pursue me; *

        say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

 

4            Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *

        let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.

 

5            Let them be like chaff before the wind, *

        and let the angel of the Lord drive them away.

6            Let their way be dark and slippery, *

        and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.

 

7            For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *

        without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.

 

8            Let ruin come upon them unawares; *

        let them be caught in the net they hid;

        let them fall into the pit they dug.

 

9            Then I will be joyful in the Lord; *

        I will glory in his victory.

 

10            My very bones will say, “Lord, who is like you? *

             You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,

        the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

 

11            Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *

        they charge me with matters I know nothing about.

 

12            They pay me evil in exchange for good; *

        my soul is full of despair.

 

13            But when they were sick I dressed in sack‑cloth *

        and humbled myself by fasting;

 

14            I prayed with my whole heart,

as one would for a friend or a brother; *

        I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,

        bowed down and grieving.

 

15            But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;

they gathered against me; *

        strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and

would not stop.

 

16            They put me to the test and mocked me; *

        they gnashed at me with their teeth.

17            O Lord, how long will you look on? *

        rescue me from the roaring beasts,

        and my life from the young lions.

 

18            I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *

        I will praise you in the mighty throng.

 

19            Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *

        nor let those who hate me without a cause

wink at each other.

 

20            For they do not plan for peace, *

        but invent deceitful schemes against the

quiet in the land.

 

21            They opened their mouths at me and said, *

        “Aha! we saw it with our own eyes.”

 

22            You saw it, O Lord; do not be silent; *

        O Lord, be not far from me.

 

23            Awake, arise, to my cause! *

        to my defense, my God and my Lord!

 

24            Give me justice, O Lord my God,

according to your righteousness; *

        do not let them triumph over me.

 

25            Do not let them say in their hearts,

“Aha! just what we want!” *

        Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”

 

26            Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *

        let those who boast against me be clothed with

dismay and shame.

 

27            Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *

        let them say always, “Great is the Lord,

        who desires the prosperity of his servant.”

28            And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *

        and of your praise all the day long.