Psalm 50–99

Psalm 50

¹Unto the end, a psalm of David, ²When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with Bethsabee.

³Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

⁴Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

⁵For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

⁶To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.

⁷For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.

⁸For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

⁹Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

¹⁰To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

¹¹Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹²Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

¹³Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

¹⁴Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

¹⁵I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

¹⁶Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

¹⁷O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

¹⁸For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

¹⁹A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

²⁰Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

²¹Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Psalm 51

¹Unto the end, understanding for David, ²When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul: David went to the house of Achimelech.

³Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

⁴All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

⁵Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

⁶Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

⁷Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

⁸The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:

⁹Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.

¹⁰But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.

¹¹I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

Psalm 52

¹Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David.

The fool said in his heart: There is no God.

²They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.

³God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.

⁴All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.

⁵Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?

⁶They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.

⁷Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psalm 53

¹Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. ²When the end of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?

³Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.

⁴O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.

⁵For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.

⁶For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.

⁷Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy truth.

⁸I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good:

⁹For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.

Psalm 54

¹Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.

²Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:

³Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,

⁴At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.

⁵My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

⁶Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.

⁷And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

⁸Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

⁹I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

¹⁰Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

¹¹Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

¹²And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

¹³For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden my self from him.

¹⁴But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,

¹⁵Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

¹⁶Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

¹⁷But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.

¹⁸Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.

¹⁹He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.

²⁰God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:

²¹He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,

²²They are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.

²³Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

²⁴But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

Psalm 55

¹Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance from the sanctuary: for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar) when the Philistines held him in Geth.

²Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.

³My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me.

⁴From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee.

⁵In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me.

⁶All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were against me unto evil.

⁷They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As they have waited for my soul,

⁸For nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces. O God,

⁹I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set me tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise.

¹⁰Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.

¹¹In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his speech. In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me.

¹²In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to thee:

¹³Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.

Psalm 56

¹Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title, when he fled from Saul into the cave.

²Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.

³I will cry to God the most high; to God who hath done good to me.

⁴He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,

⁵And he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions. I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

⁶Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth.

⁷They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it.

⁸My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and rehearse a psalm.

⁹Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.

¹⁰I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations.

¹¹For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth unto the clouds.

¹²Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth.

Psalm 57

¹Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title.

²If in very deed ye speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men.

³For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth.

⁴The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.

⁵Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears:…