Psalm 54–56

A Prayer for Protection from Enemies^+p

54 Save me by your power, O God;

set me free by your might!

²Hear my prayer, O God;

listen to my words!

³Proud men are coming to attack me;

cruel men are trying to kill me—

men who do not care about God.

⁴But God is my helper.

The Lord is my defender.

⁵May God use their own evil to punish my enemies.

He will destroy them because he is faithful.

⁶I will gladly offer you a sacrifice, O Lord;

I will give you thanks

because you are good.

⁷You have rescued me from all my troubles,

and I have seen my enemies defeated.

The Prayer of a Man Betrayed by a Friend^q

55 Hear my prayer, O God;

don’t turn away from my plea!

²Listen to me and answer me;

I am worn out by my worries.

³I am terrified by the threats of my enemies,

crushed by the oppression of the wicked.

They bring trouble on me;

they are angry with me and hate me.

⁴I am terrified,

and the terrors of death crush me.

⁵I am gripped by fear and trembling;

I am overcome with horror.

⁶I wish I had wings, like a dove.

I would fly away and find rest.

⁷I would fly far away

and make my home in the desert.

⁸I would quickly find myself a shelter

from the raging wind and the storm.

⁹Confuse the speech of my enemies, O Lord!

I see violence and riots in the city,

¹⁰surrounding it day and night, filling it with crime and trouble.

¹¹There is destruction everywhere;

the streets are full of oppression and fraud.

¹²If it were an enemy that mocked me,

I could endure it;

if it were an opponent boasting over me,

I could hide myself from him.

¹³But it is you, my companion,

my colleague and close friend.

¹⁴We had intimate talks with each other

and worshipped together in the Temple.

¹⁵May my enemies die before their time;

may they go down alive into the world of the dead!

Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

¹⁶But I call to the Lord God for help,

and he will save me.

¹⁷Morning, noon, and night

my complaints and groans go up to him,

and he will hear my voice.

¹⁸He will bring me safely back

from the battles that I fight

against so many enemies.

¹⁹God, who has ruled from eternity,

will hear me and defeat them;

for they refuse to change,

and they do not fear him.

²⁰My former companion attacked his friends;

he broke his promises.

²¹His words were smoother than cream,

but there was hatred in his heart;

his words were as soothing as oil,

but they cut like sharp swords.

²²Leave your troubles with the Lord,

and he will defend you;

he never lets honest people be defeated.

²³But you, O God, will bring those murderers and liars to their graves

before half their life is over.

As for me, I will trust in you.

A Prayer of Trust in God^+r

56 Be merciful to me, O God,

because I am under attack;

my enemies persecute me all the time.

²All day long my opponents attack me.

There are so many who fight against me.

³When I am afraid, O Lord Almighty,

I put my trust in you.

⁴I trust in God and am not afraid;

I praise him for what he has promised.

What can a mere human being do to me?

⁵My enemies make trouble for me all day long;

they are always planning how to hurt me!

⁶They gather in hiding places

and watch everything I do,

hoping to kill me.

⁷Punish^s them, O God, for their evil;

defeat those people in your anger!

⁸You know how troubled I am;

you have kept a record of my tears.

Aren’t they listed in your book?

⁹The day I call to you,

my enemies will be turned back.

I know this: God^t is on my side-

¹⁰the Lord, whose promises I praise.

¹¹In him I trust, and I will not be afraid.

What can a mere human being do to me?

¹²O God, I will offer you what I have promised;

I will give you my offering of thanksgiving,

¹³because you have rescued me from death

and kept me from defeat.

And so I walk in the presence of God,

in the light that shines on the living.