Psalm 57–59

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!”

A David Psalm, When Saul Set a Watch on David’s House in Order to Kill Him

^1–259My God! Rescue me from my enemies,

defend me from these mutineers.

Rescue me from their dirty tricks,

save me from their hit men.

^3–4Desperadoes have ganged up on me,

they’re hiding in ambush for me.

I did nothing to deserve this, God,

crossed no one, wronged no one.

All the same, they’re after me,

determined to get me.

^4–5Wake up and see for yourself! You’re God,

God-of-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God!

Get on the job and take care of these pagans,

don’t be soft on these hard cases.

^6–7They return when the sun goes down,

They howl like coyotes, ringing the city.

Then suddenly they’re all at the gate,

Snarling invective, drawn daggers in their teeth.

They think they’ll never get caught.

^8–10But you, God, break out laughing;

you treat the godless nations like jokes.

Strong God, I’m watching you do it,

I can always count on you.

God in dependable love shows up on time,

shows me my enemies in ruin.

^11–13Don’t make quick work of them, God,

lest my people forget.

Bring them down in slow motion,

take them apart piece by piece.

Let all their mean-mouthed arrogance

catch up with them,

Catch them out and bring them down

—every muttered curse

—every barefaced lie.

Finish them off in fine style!

Finish them off for good!

Then all the world will see

that God rules well in Jacob,

everywhere that God’s in charge.

^14–15They return when the sun goes down,

They howl like coyotes, ringing the city.

They scavenge for bones,

And bite the hand that feeds them.

^16–17And me? I’m singing your prowess,

shouting at cockcrow your largesse,

For you’ve been a safe place for me,

a good place to hide.

Strong God, I’m watching you do it,

I can always count on you—

God, my dependable love.