Psalms 109 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

God of my praise, don't stay silent.

Because mouths full of wickedness and lies have opened against me — they speak against me with tongues dripping deceit.

They surround me with words of hatred, and they attack me for no reason at all.

In return for my love, they accuse me — but I keep praying.

They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Set a wicked man over him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his own prayers count against him.

Let his days be few; let someone else take his position.

Let his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Let his children wander as beggars, searching for food far from their ruined homes.

Let the creditor seize everything he owns; let strangers plunder what he worked for.

Let no one show him any kindness; let no one have compassion on his fatherless children.

Let his descendants be cut off; let their name be erased within a single generation.

Let the failures of his fathers be remembered before Yahweh; let the wrongs of his mother never be wiped clean.

Let them stay before Yahweh always, so he cuts off even the memory of them from the earth.

Because he never once thought to show kindness — instead he hounded the poor, the needy, the brokenhearted, hunting them down to destroy them.

He loved to curse — let curses come back on him. He found no pleasure in showing favor — let favor stay far from him.

He wore cursing like a coat — it seeped into him like water, soaked into his bones like oil.

Let it wrap around him like a cloak he can never take off, like a belt cinched tight around him every day.

Let this be what Yahweh pays back to those who accuse me, to those who speak destruction over my life.

But you, Yahweh my Master — deal with me for the sake of your name. Because your loyal love is so good, rescue me.

Because I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded deep inside me.

I am fading like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

My knees buckle from fasting; my body is wasting away, nothing but skin and bone.

I have become a joke to them — they see me and shake their heads.

Help me, Yahweh my God! Rescue me because of your loyal love —

so they will know that this is your hand — that you, Yahweh, have done this.

Let them curse — but you will show favor. When they attack, let them be humiliated, but let your servant celebrate.

Let those who accuse me wear their shame like a robe, wrapped in their own disgrace like a cloak.

I will pour out thanks to Yahweh with everything in me; in the middle of the crowd, I will praise him —

because he stands at the right hand of the needy, ready to rescue them from those who condemn their lives.