40 Days of Chant, Psalm 35

Psalm 35 might be the angriest psalm that I have worked with so far.  Unlike other angry psalms this does not make a positive turn at the end.  I decided to write an atonal single chant.  Shooting for maximum dissonance this chant might be impossible to sing.  The choice of a single chant even though it is a long psalm is to intensify the dissonance of the music and the anger of the text.

1      Fight those who fight me, O Lord; *

     attack those who are attacking me.

2      Take up shield and armor *

     and rise up to help me.

3      Draw the sword and bar the way against those

who pursue me; *

     say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

4      Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *

     let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.

5      Let them be like chaff before the wind, *

     and let the angel of the Lord drive them away.

6      Let their way be dark and slippery, *

     and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.

7      For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *

     without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.

8      Let ruin come upon them unawares; *

     let them be caught in the net they hid;

     let them fall into the pit they dug.

9      Then I will be joyful in the Lord; *

     I will glory in his victory.

10    My very bones will say, “Lord, who is like you? *

     You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,

     the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11    Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *

     they charge me with matters I know nothing about.

12    They pay me evil in exchange for good; *

     my soul is full of despair.

13    But when they were sick I dressed in sack‑cloth *

     and humbled myself by fasting;

14    I prayed with my whole heart,

as one would for a friend or a brother; *

     I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,

     bowed down and grieving.

15    But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;

they gathered against me; *

     strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and

would not stop.

16    They put me to the test and mocked me; *

     they gnashed at me with their teeth.

17    O Lord, how long will you look on? *

     rescue me from the roaring beasts,

     and my life from the young lions.

18    I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *

     I will praise you in the mighty throng.

19    Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *

     nor let those who hate me without a cause

wink at each other.

20    For they do not plan for peace, *

     but invent deceitful schemes against the

quiet in the land.

21    They opened their mouths at me and said, *

     “Aha! we saw it with our own eyes.”

22    You saw it, O Lord; do not be silent; *

     O Lord, be not far from me.

23    Awake, arise, to my cause! *

     to my defense, my God and my Lord!

24    Give me justice, O Lord my God,

according to your righteousness; *

     do not let them triumph over me.

25    Do not let them say in their hearts,

“Aha! just what we want!” *

     Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26    Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *

     let those who boast against me be clothed with

dismay and shame.

27    Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *

     let them say always, “Great is the Lord,

     who desires the prosperity of his servant.”

28    And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *

     and of your praise all the day long.