1  Contend, O Lord, with those who ^ycontend with me;

^zfight against those who fight against me!

2  Take hold of ^ashield and buckler

and rise for my help!

3  Draw the spear and javelin¹

against my pursuers!

Say to my soul,

“I am your salvation!”

4  ^bLet them be ^cput to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life!

Let them be ^dturned back and disappointed

who devise evil against me!

5  Let them be like ^echaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them away!

6  Let their way be dark and ^fslippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!

7  For ^gwithout cause ^hthey hid their net for me;

without cause they dug ⁱa pit for my life.²

8  Let ^jdestruction come upon him ^kwhen he does not know it!

And let the net that he hid ensnare him;

let him fall into it—to his destruction!

9  Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,

^lexulting in his salvation.

10  All my ^mbones shall say,

“O Lord, ⁿwho is like you,

delivering the poor

from him who is too strong for him,

the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

11  ^oMalicious³ witnesses rise up;

they ask me of things that I do not know.

12  ^pThey repay me evil for good;

my soul is bereft.⁴

13  But I, ^qwhen they were sick—

I ^rwore sackcloth;

I ^safflicted myself with fasting;

I prayed ^twith head bowed⁵ on my chest.

14  I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;

as one who laments his mother,

I ^ubowed down in mourning.

15  But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;

they gathered together against me;

^vwretches whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

16  like profane mockers at a feast,⁶

they ^wgnash at me with their teeth.