Psalm 59–60

A Prayer for Protection

59For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.

Of David. A miktam.

When Saul dispatched men and they watched the house to kill him.^a

¹Deliver me from my enemies, O my God.

Protect^b me from those who rise up against me.

²Deliver me from workers of iniquity,

and from men of bloodshed save me.

³For look, they lie in wait for my life.^c

The mighty attack^d against me,

not because of my transgression or my sin, O Yahweh.

⁴Without guilt on my part they run and ready themselves.

Awake to meet me and see.

⁵And you, Yahweh, God of hosts, are the God of Israel.

Rouse yourself to punish all the nations.

Do not be gracious to any who treacherously plot evil. Selah

⁶They return at evening; they howl like dogs^e

while they prowl the city.

⁷Look, they pour out talk with their mouth.

Swords are on their lips,

for they say, “Who hears?”

⁸But you, O Yahweh, will laugh at them;

you will mock all the nations.

⁹O my strength,^f I will watch for you,

because you, O God, are my high stronghold.

¹⁰My^g God of loyal love will meet me;

God will cause me to look in triumph on my enemies.

¹¹Do not kill them, lest my people forget.

Make them to wander by your power,

and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

¹²By the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,

even in their pride, let them be trapped,

and for the curses^h and liesⁱ they proclaim.

¹³Destroy in anger; destroy so they are no more,

so that they may know that God is ruling in Jacob

to the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴They return at evening; they howl like dogs^j

while they prowl the city.

¹⁵As for them, they wander for food.

If they are not satisfied, then they continue all night.^k

¹⁶But as for me, I will sing of your strength,

and I will hail your loyal love in the morning,

because you have been my high stronghold

and a refuge in my time^l of trouble.

¹⁷O my strength, to you I will give praise,

because God is my high stronghold,

my God of loyal love.

A Lament After a Defeat and a Prayer for Restoration

60For the music director, according to Shushan Eduth.^a

A miktam of David. To teach.

When he fought Mesopotamia and Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand persons.^b

¹O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us.

You have been angry. Restore us!

²You have made the land quake. You have split it open.

Heal its fissures, because it totters.

³You have shown your people hard things;

You have given us wine that staggers.

⁴You have rallied those who fear you round a banner

out of bowshot,^c Selah

⁵so that your beloved ones may be rescued.

Save by your right hand and answer us.

⁶God has spoken in his holiness,

“I will rejoice;

I will divide up Shechem,

and portion out the valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine,

and Ephraim is the helmet for^d my head;

Judah is my scepter.^e

⁸Moab is my washing pot;

over Edom, I will cast my sandal.

On account of me, O Philistia, raise a shout.”

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰Have not you yourself rejected us, O God,

and not gone out with our armies, O God?

¹¹Give us help against the adversary,

for the help of humankind is futile.

¹²Through God we will do valiantly,^f

and it is he who will tread down our enemies.