Psalm 35

W. van der Kamp, 1967

1. Strive, LORD, with those who strive with me,
   Fight Thou my fight and set me free.
   Take shield and buckler, rise in splendor,
   Stand up in glory, my Defender.
   Draw out the spear and bar the way
   Of those who want me for their prey;
   Say to my soul, “Be still and know,
   I shall to you salvation show.”
   
2. Let them be put to scorn and shame
   Who seek my life and me defame.
   Let them be turned back and confounded
   Who harass me, by whom I’m hounded.
   Foiled be the mischief they intend.
   Be they like chaff before the wind,
   And let the Angel of the LORD
   Pursue them with His glittering sword.
   
3. Their way be slippery, dark with woe,
   The Angel of the LORD their foe.
   A net to snare me they had hidden.
   Hadst Thou not, LORD, their ruse forbidden,
   They would have caught me in their pit.
   May they themselves fall into it.
   Let ruin seize them unawares;
   May their own net themselves ensnare.
   
4. Then shall my soul in God rejoice,
   And praise Him with a thankful voice.
   I shall delight with exultation
   In His deliverance and salvation.
   I shall exclaim, “Who is like Thee,
   O LORD, who dost deliver me,
   With all the weak and those in need,
   From our oppressor’s strength and greed?”
   
5. Malicious witnesses arise;
   They question me and utter lies.
   With evil they for good repay me;
   I am perplexed. They seek to slay me.
   Yet I was grieved when they were sick;
   Their sorrows hurt me to the quick.
   I went in sackcloth, I did fast;
   I bowed in prayer, with eyes downcast.
   
6. My heart was sad as for a friend,
   I mourned, my mantle I did rend
   As one who sorrows for a brother,
   And who with grief laments his mother.
   But when I stumbled they rejoiced;
   They gathered, all their hate they voiced,
   And wretches whom I did not know
   Mocked me and gloried in my woe.
   
7. My honor is their scoff and jeer;
   They gnash their teeth, they laugh and sneer.
   Come, LORD, how long yet shall this rabble
   Abuse me with their godless babble?
   Save from these raging beasts my soul;
   Then shall my voice Thy strength extol.
   The great assembly will then hear
   How I thy mighty Name revere.
   
8. O LORD, let not my lying foes
   Wink at each other o’er my woes.
   Wrong is the hatred which they cherish
   ; Let them before Thy presence perish.
   They speak no peace, deceit they’ve planned
   Against the quiet in the land.
   They open wide their mouth and lie.
   “Our eyes have seen it all,” they cry.
   
9. O LORD, Thou hast observed this all;
   Be Thou not silent, heed my call.
   Stand not afar, be my Defender.
   Bestir Thyself, wake up and render
   Unto my haters sevenfold
   Their evil and the lies they told.
   LORD, vindicate me, grant redress
   According to Thy righteousness.
   
10. Let them not say, “Yes, we have won,
    We’ve swallowed him, he is undone!”
    Let shame and great confusion humble
    Those who are happy when I stumble,
    And make dishonor the reward
    Of those who rise against Thee, LORD.
    Before Thee let not those abide
    Who boast against me in their pride.
    
11. Let those rejoice with shout and song
    Who for my vindication long,
    And let them praise with happy voices
    The LORD, who in my good rejoices.
    Then shall my tongue, saved from distress,
    Tell of Thy faithful righteousness;
    Then shall I laud with word and song
    Thy praise and justice all day long.