Psalm 51–54

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.