The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Psalms
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Psalm 108
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1
(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm.)
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God that guardest my renown, do not leave me unbefriended; there are malicious lips, treacherous lips, that decry me;
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whispering against me, hedging me about with a conspiracy of hatred, in unprovoked attack.
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On their side, all calumny in return for love, on mine all prayer;
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kindness is repaid with injury, love with ill will.
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An ill master let him have,✻ and an accuser ready at his side;
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let him leave the court of judgement a doomed man, pleading with heaven in vain.
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Swiftly let his days come to an end, and his office be entrusted to another;✻
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orphancy for the children, widowhood for the wife!
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Driven from a ruined home, to and fro let his children wander, begging their bread,
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while eager creditors eye his goods, and strangers divide the fruits of his toil.
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May no friend be left to do him a kindness, none to have pity on his defenceless kin;
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a speedy end to his race, oblivion for his name before a generation passes!
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Still may the sin of his fathers be remembered in the Lord’s sight, his mother’s guilt remain indelible;
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still may the Lord keep it in mind, and wipe out their memory from the earth.
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Did he himself keep mercy in mind,
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when he persecuted the helpless, the destitute, the grief-stricken, and marked them down for death?
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Cursing he loved, upon him let the curse fall; for blessing he cared little, may blessing still pass him by. Let cursing wrap him about, sink like water into his inmost being, soak, like oil, into the marrow of his bones!
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Let it be the garb he wears, cling to him like a girdle that he can never take off.
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So, in their own coin, may the Lord repay them,✻ my accusers that defame me so cruelly.
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But do thou, my Lord and Master, take my part, to defend thy own honour; no mercy is so tender as thine.
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Deliver me in my helpless need; my heart is pierced through with anguish.
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Like a tapering shadow I depart, swept away like a locust on the wing.
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My knees are weak with fasting, my strength pines away unnourished.
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They make a laughing-stock of me, toss their heads in derision as they pass by.
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Help me, O Lord my God; deliver me in thy mercy;
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prove to them that my woes are a visitation from thee, sent by no hand but thine.
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Bless me, thou, and let them curse as they will; disappoint my adversaries, and grant thy servant relief.
29
Let these, my accusers, be covered with shame, wrapped in the mantle of their own confusion.
30
Loudly will I give the Lord thanks, praise him before multitudes that listen;
31
the Lord who has stood at the right hand of the friendless, brought redress to an innocent soul misjudged.
