Psalm 55

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.