Psalm 54–56

The Lord Upholds My Life

54To the choirmaster: with ^tstringed instruments. A Maskil¹ of David, ^uwhen the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

¹O God, save me by your ^vname,

and vindicate me by your might.

²O God, ^whear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

^3xFor ^ystrangers² have risen against me;

ruthless men ^zseek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴Behold, ^aGod is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

⁵He will return the evil to my enemies;

in your ^bfaithfulness ^cput an end to them.

⁶With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^dfor it is good.

⁷For he has delivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has ^elooked in triumph on my enemies.

Cast Your Burden on the Lord

55To the choirmaster: with ^fstringed instruments. A Maskil¹ of David.

^1gGive ear to my prayer, O God,

and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

²Attend to me, and answer me;

I am restless ^hin my complaint and I ⁱmoan,

³because of the noise of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they ^jdrop trouble upon me,

and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

⁴My heart is in anguish within me;

^kthe terrors of death have fallen upon me.

⁵Fear and trembling come upon me,

and ^lhorror ^moverwhelms me.

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

I would fly away and be at rest;

⁷ⁿyes, I would wander far away;

I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

⁸I would hurry to find a shelter

from ^othe raging wind and tempest.”

⁹Destroy, O Lord, ^pdivide their tongues;

for I see ^qviolence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around it

on its walls,

and ^riniquity and trouble are within it;

¹¹ruin is in its midst;

^soppression and fraud

do not depart from its marketplace.

¹²For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who ^tdeals insolently with me—

then I could hide from him.

^13uBut it is you, a man, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend.

¹⁴We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God’s house we walked in ^vthe throng.

¹⁵Let death steal over them;

let them go down to Sheol ^walive;

for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

¹⁶But I call to God,

and the Lord will save me.

^17xEvening and ^ymorning and at ^znoon

I ^autter my complaint and moan,

and he hears my voice.

¹⁸He redeems my soul in safety

from the battle that I wage,

for ^bmany are arrayed against me.

¹⁹God will give ear and humble them,

he who is ^centhroned from of old, Selah

because they do not ^dchange

and do not fear God.

²⁰My companion^{2 e}stretched out his hand against his friends;

he violated his covenant.

²¹His ^fspeech was ^gsmooth as butter,

yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were ^hdrawn swords.

²²ⁱCast your burden on the Lord,

and he will sustain you;

^jhe will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

²³But you, O God, ^kwill cast them down

into ^lthe pit of destruction;

men of ^mblood and treachery

shall not ⁿlive out half their days.

But I will ^otrust in you.

In God I Trust

56To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A ^pMiktam¹ of David, when the ^qPhilistines seized him in Gath.

^1rBe gracious to me, O God, for man ^stramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

²my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

³When I am afraid,

I ^tput my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; ^uI shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they injure my cause;²

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They ^vstir up strife, they ^wlurk;

they ^xwatch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

⁷For their crime will they escape?

^yIn wrath ^zcast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You have kept count of my tossings;³

^aput my tears in your bottle.

^bAre they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will turn back

^cin the day when I call.

This I know, that^{4 d}God is for me.

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust; ^uI shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

¹²I must perform my ^evows to you, O God;

I will ^erender thank offerings to you.

^13fFor you have delivered my soul from death,

yes, my feet from falling,

^gthat I may walk before God

^hin the light of life.