Be Not Silent, Lord

1 O my God, whose name I worship, be not silent, LORD, I pray; 2 for the wicked and deceitful speak against me every day. They have uttered lies against me; with malicious tongues they fight. 3 Without cause they rush upon me, closing in with words of spite. 4 In return for love they blame me, though for them I daily pray. 5 They reward my good with evil, for my friendship hate repay. 6 Set an evil man against him at his right hand to denounce. 7 May his very prayers condemn him; let the court his guilt pronounce. 8 May his rule pass to another; short and wretched be his life. 9 Fatherless shall be his children; make a widow of his wife. 10 May his children beg and wander, driven from their ruined gate. 11 May his goods be seized and taken— strangers plunder his estate. 12 May no one take pity on him or his orphans in their plight. 13 May his fam’ly line be ended, and their names be lost to sight. 14 May the LORD remember ever all his parents’ sin and shame. 15 May their sin be held against them, and forgotten be their name. The psalm continues at Psalm 109B. – Sing Psalms, alt.