Psalm 56–58

A David Psalm, When He Was Captured by the Philistines in Gath

^1–456Take my side, God—I’m getting kicked around,

stomped on every day.

Not a day goes by

but somebody beats me up;

They make it their duty

to beat me up.

When I get really afraid

I come to you in trust.

I’m proud to praise God;

fearless now, I trust in God.

What can mere mortals do?

^5–6They don’t let up—

they smear my reputation

and huddle to plot my collapse.

They gang up,

sneak together through the alleys

To take me by surprise,

wait their chance to get me.

⁷Pay them back in evil!

Get angry, God!

Down with these people!

⁸You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn

through the sleepless nights,

Each tear entered in your ledger,

each ache written in your book.

⁹If my enemies run away,

turn tail when I yell at them,

Then I’ll know

that God is on my side.

^10–11I’m proud to praise God,

proud to praise God.

Fearless now, I trust in God;

what can mere mortals do to me?

^12–13God, you did everything you promised,

and I’m thanking you with all my heart.

You pulled me from the brink of death,

my feet from the cliff-edge of doom.

Now I stroll at leisure with God

in the sunlit fields of life.

A David Psalm, When He Hid in a Cave from Saul

^1–357Be good to me, God—and now!

I’ve run to you for dear life.

I’m hiding out under your wings

until the hurricane blows over.

I call out to High God,

the God who holds me together.

He sends orders from heaven and saves me,

he humiliates those who kick me around.

God delivers generous love,

he makes good on his word.

⁴I find myself in a pride of lions

who are wild for a taste of human flesh;

Their teeth are lances and arrows,

their tongues are sharp daggers.

⁵Soar high in the skies, O God!

Cover the whole earth with your glory!

⁶They booby-trapped my path;

I thought I was dead and done for.

They dug a man-trap to catch me,

and fell in headlong themselves.

^7–8I’m ready, God, so ready,

ready from head to toe,

Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:

“Wake up, soul!

Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!

Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!”

^9–10I’m thanking you, God, out loud in the streets,

singing your praises in town and country.

The deeper your love, the higher it goes;

every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

¹¹Soar high in the skies, O God!

Cover the whole earth with your glory!

A David Psalm

^1–258Is this any way to run a country?

Is there an honest politician in the house?

Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil,

behind closed doors you make deals with demons.

^3–5The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle;

their first words out of the womb are lies.

Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison,

drips from their forked tongues—

Deaf to threats, deaf to charm,

decades of wax built up in their ears.

^6–9God, smash their teeth to bits,

leave them toothless tigers.

Let their lives be buckets of water spilled,

all that’s left, a damp stain in the sand.

Let them be trampled grass

worn smooth by the traffic.

Let them dissolve into snail slime,

be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.

Before what they cook up is half-done, God,

throw it out with the garbage!

^10–11The righteous will call up their friends

when they see the wicked get their reward,

Serve up their blood in goblets

as they toast one another,

Everyone cheering, “It’s worth it to play by the rules!

God’s handing out trophies and tending the earth!”