Psalm 56–60

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?

Psalm 57

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

¹Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me;

For my soul taketh refuge in thee:

Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I take refuge,

Until these calamities be overpast.

²I will cry unto God Most High,

Unto God that performeth all things for me.

³He will send from heaven, and save me,

When he that would swallow me up reproacheth; Selah

God will send forth his lovingkindness and his truth.

⁴My soul is among lions;

I lie among them that are set on fire,

Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.

⁵Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens;

Let thy glory be above all the earth.

⁶They have prepared a net for my steps;

My soul is bowed down:

They have digged a pit before me;

They are fallen into the midst thereof themselves. Selah

⁷My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises.

⁸Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:

I myself will awake right early.

⁹I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the peoples:

I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

¹⁰For thy lovingkindness is great unto the heavens,

And thy truth unto the skies.

¹¹Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens;

Let thy glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 58

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.

¹Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness?

Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

²Nay, in heart ye work wickedness;

Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb:

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:

They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,

⁵Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers,

Charming never so wisely.

⁶Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:

Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

⁷Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:

When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

⁸Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away,

Like the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the thorns,

He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:

He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

¹¹So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:

Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.

Psalm 59

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

¹Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God:

Set me on high from them that rise up against me.

²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,

And save me from the bloodthirsty men.

³For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul;

The mighty gather themselves together against me:

Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah.

⁴They run and prepare themselves without my fault:

Awake thou to help me, and behold.

⁵Even thou, O Jehovah God of hosts, the God of Israel,

Arise to visit all the nations:

Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

⁶They return at evening, they howl like a dog,

And go round about the city.

⁷Behold, they belch out with their mouth;

Swords are in their lips:

For who, say they, doth hear?

⁸But thou, O Jehovah, wilt laugh at them;

Thou wilt have all the nations in derision.

⁹Because of his strength I will give heed unto thee;

For God is my high tower.

¹⁰My God with his lovingkindness will meet me:

God will let me see my desire upon mine enemies.

¹¹Slay them not, lest my people forget:

Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down,

O Lord our shield.

¹²For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips,

Let them even be taken in their pride,

And for cursing and lying which they speak.

¹³Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they shall be no more:

And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob,

Unto the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴And at evening let them return, let them howl like a dog,

And go round about the city.

¹⁵They shall wander up and down for food,

And tarry all night if they be not satisfied.

¹⁶But I will sing of thy strength;

Yea, I will sing aloud of thy lovingkindness in the morning:

For thou hast been my high tower,

And a refuge in the day of my distress.

¹⁷Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing praises:

For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

Psalm 60

For the Chief Musician; set to Shushan Eduth. Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the Valley of Salt twelve thousand.

¹O God thou hast cast us off, thou hast broken us down;

Thou hast been angry; oh restore us again.

²Thou hast made the land to tremble; thou hast rent it:

Heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.

³Thou hast showed thy people hard things:

Thou hast made us to drink the wine of staggering.

⁴Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,

That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

⁵That thy beloved may be delivered,

Save with thy right hand, and answer us.

⁶God hath spoken in his holiness:

I will exult;

I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is the defence of my head;

Judah is my sceptre.

⁸Moab is my washpot;

Upon Edom will I cast my shoe:

Philistia, shout thou because of me.

⁹Who will bring me into the strong city?

Who hath led me unto Edom?

¹⁰Hast not thou, O God, cast us off?

And thou goest not forth, O God, with our hosts.

¹¹Give us help against the adversary;

For vain is the help of man.

¹²Through God we shall do valiantly;

For he it is that will tread down our adversaries.