Psalm 54:1–56:13

¹O God, by your name save me,

and by your power vindicate me.

²O God, hear my prayer;

heed the words of my mouth.

³For foreigners have risen against me,

and ruthless men seek my life.

They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴See, God is my helper;

The Lord is with those who sustain my life.^b

⁵He will repay^c my enemies for their^d evil;

in your faithfulness destroy them.

⁶I will freely sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name,

O Yahweh, because it is good.

⁷Because he has delivered me from all trouble,

and my eye has looked with satisfaction on my enemies.

Betrayal of a Friend and Trust in God

55For the music director, with stringed instruments.

A maskil of David.^a

¹Give ear, O God, to my prayer,

and do not hide yourself from my plea.

²Attend to me and answer me.

I am restless in my lamenting and I groan,

³because of the voice of an enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked,

because they bring down evil on me,

and in anger they hold a grudge against me.

⁴My heart trembles within me,

and deathly terrors fall on me.

⁵Fear and trembling come on me,

and horror overwhelms me.

⁶So I say, “Oh, that^b I had wings like a dove.

I would fly away and be at rest.

⁷Look, I would flee far away.

I would dwell in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hurry to my refuge

from the raging wind and storm.”

⁹Confuse, O Lord; divide their speech,

because I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around it on its walls,

and iniquity and trouble are in its midst.

¹¹Destruction is within it,

and oppression and deceit

do not depart from its public square.

¹²For it is not an enemy that taunts me,

or I could bear it.

It is not one who hates me that magnifies himself over me,

or I could hide myself from him.

¹³But it is you, a man my equal,

my friend and confidant.

¹⁴We who would take sweet counsel together;

in the house^c of God

we would walk with the throng.

¹⁵Let death deceive them. May they descend to Sheol alive,

because evil is in their home and heart.^d

¹⁶As for me, I will call to God,

and Yahweh will save me.

¹⁷Morning, noon and night^e I will lament and groan loudly,

and he will hear my voice.

¹⁸He safely redeems my life from the battle against me,^f

because those standing against me are among many.

¹⁹God will hear and answer them,^g

he who is enthroned from of old, Selah

Because they do not change,

and they do not fear God.

²⁰He has put forth his hands against his friends;^h

he has defiled his covenant.

²¹The buttery wordsⁱ of his mouth were smooth,

but there was battle in his heart.

His words were smoother than oil,

but they were drawn swords.

²²Cast your burden on Yahweh,

and he will sustain you.

He will never allow the righteous to be moved.^j

²³But you, O God, you will bring them down to the pit of corruption.

The men of bloodshed and deceit will not live half their days,

but I will trust you.

Prayer for Deliverance and Confidence in God

56For the music director, according to The Silent Dove of Distant Lands.

Of David. A miktam.

When the Philistines seized him in Gath.^a

¹Be gracious to me, O God, because humankind has trampled me;

fighting all the day he oppresses me.

²My enemies^b trample all day,

because many are attacking me proudly.

³When^c I fear, I trust you.

⁴God, whose word I praise,

God I trust; I do not fear.

What can mere flesh do to me?

⁵All day they twist my words;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They attack,^d they hide, they watch my steps,^e

as they lie in wait for my life.

⁷Because of iniquity will they escape?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God.

⁸You have kept count of my wanderings.

Put my tears in your bottle;

are they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will turn back when^f I call.^g

This I know because^h God is for me.

¹⁰God, whose word I praise,

Yahweh, whose word I praise,

¹¹God I trust; I do not fear.

What can mere humankind do to me?

¹²My vows to you, O God, are binding upon me.

I will pay thank offerings to you,

¹³because you have delivered my soul from death.

Have you not kept my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before God

in the light of the living?