Lord, please help me
This is a Psalm of David.
1Lord, please tell the people
who accuse me that they are guilty.
Go to war_against the people
who fight against me.
2Take your big shield and your small shield
and come and help me.
3Lift up your big spear and your small spear
and stop the people
who want to catch me.
Say to me: ‘I will save you.’
4Make the people who want to kill me ashamed.
Make the people who want to attack me
turn_around and be disappointed.
5Let them be like chaff
which is blown away in the wind,
when the angel of the Lord
chases them away.
6Make their path dark and slippery
when the angel of the Lord
chases them away.
7I have done nothing wrong,
but they made a hole for me to fall in.
I am innocent but they want
to catch me in their net.
8Lord, please destroy them
before they realise what is happening,
and let them fall into the trap
that they have made for me.
Let them fall into it and die.
9Then I will rejoice
in what You have done,
and I will be happy because
You have saved me.
10I will say with all of my heart:
‘Lord, there is no one like You.
You save people who are weak
from those who are too strong,
and You save poor people
from those who oppress them.’
11Cruel people accuse me falsely
of bad things, but I don't know
what they are talking about.
12I have done good things to them,
but they want me to suffer and to be sad.
13When they were sick,
I put on sack-cloth and did not eat.
I fasted and showed that I was sad
and I prayed for them.
14I mourned for them
like a brother or a friend,
and I bowed down like someone
who cries for his mother.
15But when I fell down
and suffered, they rejoiced.
They came and stood around me
and laughed at me.
People that I did not know
continued to say bad things to me.
16They were like people at a feast
who don't serve the Lord.
They laughed at me and wanted me to die.
17Lord, how long will You look
at what they are doing and keep quiet?
Please save me from these people
who want to attack me like lions.
18I will thank You where
all the people are together,
and I will praise your name
in front of all the people.
19Please don't let my enemies
rejoice over what has happened to me.
Please don't let those who hate me
enjoy looking at me.
I have done nothing wrong.
20They don't want to be friendly to me,
and they tell lies about good people
who love peace.
21They speak against me and say:
‘Yes, we saw what you have done.’
22Lord, You saw what they did.
Please don't keep quiet.
My Lord, please don't leave me alone.
23Stand up and protect me.
Fight for me, my God and my Lord.
24Lord my God, please defend me
because You are righteous,
and don't let them rejoice
because of what has happened to me.
25They want to say to themselves:
‘Yes, that is good,
and that is what we wanted to happen.
We have destroyed him.’
Please don't let them succeed
and be able to say that.
26Let them be disappointed and ashamed,
all of them who are happy
because I am suffering.
Let the people who think
they are more important than I am
feel what it is like to lose
and to hide their faces in shame.
27Be with the people
who know that I am right,
and let them sing and rejoice.
Let them always say:
‘The Lord is great. Praise Him.
He always wants to bless
his servants and wants them to be happy.’
28Then I will talk about You
who always do what is right
and I will praise You every day.
