Psalm 54–56

Psalm 54

For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David; when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?

¹Save me, O God, by thy name,

And judge me in thy might.

²Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth.

³For strangers are risen up against me,

And violent men have sought after my soul:

They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴Behold, God is my helper:

The Lord is of them that uphold my soul.

⁵He will requite the evil unto mine enemies:

Destroy thou them in thy truth.

⁶With a freewill-offering will I sacrifice unto thee:

I will give thanks unto thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good.

⁷For he hath delivered me out of all trouble;

And mine eye hath seen my desire upon mine enemies.

Psalm 55

For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David.

¹Give ear to my prayer, O God;

And hide not thyself from my supplication.

²Attend unto me, and answer me:

I am restless in my complaint, and moan,

³Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the oppression of the wicked;

For they cast iniquity upon me,

And in anger they persecute me.

⁴My heart is sore pained within me:

And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

⁵Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,

And horror hath overwhelmed me.

⁶And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!

Then would I fly away, and be at rest.

⁷Lo, then would I wander far off,

I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would haste me to a shelter

From the stormy wind and tempest.

⁹Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue;

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof:

Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it.

¹¹Wickedness is in the midst thereof:

Oppression and guile depart not from its streets.

¹²For it was not an enemy that reproached me;

Then I could have borne it:

Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;

Then I would have hid myself from him:

¹³But it was thou, a man mine equal,

My companion, and my familiar friend.

¹⁴We took sweet counsel together;

We walked in the house of God with the throng.

¹⁵Let death come suddenly upon them,

Let them go down alive into Sheol;

For wickedness is in their dwelling, in the midst of them.

¹⁶As for me, I will call upon God;

And Jehovah will save me.

¹⁷Evening, and morning, and at noonday, will I complain, and moan;

And he will hear my voice.

¹⁸He hath redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me;

For they were many that strove with me.

¹⁹God will hear, and answer them,

Even he that abideth of old, Selah

The men who have no changes,

And who fear not God.

²⁰He hath put forth his hands against such as were at peace with him:

He hath profaned his covenant.

²¹His mouth was smooth as butter,

But his heart was war:

His words were softer than oil,

Yet were they drawn swords.

²²Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee:

He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.

²³But thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction:

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;

But I will trust in thee.

Psalm 56

For the Chief Musician; set to Jonath elem rehokim. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.

¹Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up:

All the day long he fighting oppresseth me.

²Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long;

For they are many that fight proudly against me.

³What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee.

⁴In God (I will praise his word),

In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;

What can flesh do unto me?

⁵All the day long they wrest my words:

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,

They mark my steps,

Even as they have waited for my soul.

⁷Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God.

⁸Thou numberest my wanderings:

Put thou my tears into thy bottle;

Are they not in thy book?

⁹Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call:

This I know, that God is for me.

¹⁰In God (I will praise his word),

In Jehovah (I will praise his word),

¹¹In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;

What can man do unto me?

¹²Thy vows are upon me, O God:

I will render thank-offerings unto thee.

¹³For thou hast delivered my soul from death:

Hast thou not delivered my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God

In the light of the living?