August 1, 2020 - When sickness has overcome you

August 1, 2020

When sickness has overcome you
(A Prayer)

LORD,
judge those who injure me.
Fight against those who fight against me;
Take up shield and buckler and arise to my defense.
Unsheathe a sword, and cut off my oppressors; say to my soul,
"I am your salvation."

Let those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded.
Let those who plot against me be turned back and shamed.
Let them be as dust before the wind, while an angel of the Lord afflicts them. Let their way be dark and slippery, while an angel of the Lord pursues them.

Without cause, they have hidden for me their destructive snares;   vainly have they insulted me. Let a snare they do not suspect come upon them, and the trap they had hidden seize them, and let them fall in the very same pit.

But my soul shall exult in the Lord;
it shall delight in his salvation.

My very bones shall proclaim:
"O Lord, who is compared to you?"
Saving the poor from the hands of those too strong for him,
Yea, the poor and the needy from those who plunder him.

False witnesses have come up and questioned me on things
I did not know.
They returned me evil for good, and bereavement to my soul.

But I, when they disturbed me, put on sackcloth,
And humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer shall come back to me.

I treated them well, as a neighbor or brother; I humbled myself as one grieving and sad;

And yet they rejoiced against me,
and many scourges were thrust upon me.
They were scattered but showed no remorse; they tried my patience and sneered at me;
With great contempt, they gnashed their teeth at me.

O Lord, when will you look upon me?
Deliver my soul from their villainy, and my life from the lions.
I will give thanks to you in a great assembly; on a mighty throng, I will praise you.

Let not my unjust foes gloat over me, those who hate me without cause and wink;
For while they spoke to me in peace, yet in their anger they plotted treachery;
And they opened wide their mouth against me, and said, "Ha, ha, we have seen!"

You, O Lord, have seen; do not remain silent.
O Lord do not withdraw from me.
Awake, O Lord, and attend to my cause, to my right, my God and my Lord!

Support me, O Lord, according to your justice,
O Lord my God; let them not gloat over me.

Let them not say in their hearts,
"Good! Good! This was our hearts' desire!"
Neither let them say:
"We have devoured him!"

Let them be confounded and shamed together who find pleasure in my misfortune.
Let them be covered with shame and infamy who speak insolently against me.
Let them rejoice and be glad, who seek my vindication,
and let them say at all times:
"The Lord be magnified,
who desires the wellbeing of his servant."
And my tongue shall proclaim your justice and your praise, all day long.

Psalm 34 (35)
(Translation by José M. de Vinck,. Leonidas C. Contos, Alleluia Press)

Prayer during pandemic illness
(of the new Coronavirus that has fallen upon us)
(Translated into 14 languages)

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