Psalm 54:1–56:13

¹Save me, O God, by your name,

and vindicate me by your might.^*

²Hear my prayer, O God;

give ear to the words of my mouth.^*

³For the insolent have risen against me;

the ruthless seek my life;

they do not set God before them.   Selah^*

⁴But surely, God is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder ofⁱ my life.^*

⁵He will repay my enemies for their evil.

In your faithfulness, put an end to them.^*

⁶With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.^*

⁷For he has delivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.^*

Psalm 55

Complaint about a Friend’s Treachery

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

¹Give ear to my prayer, O God;

do not hide yourself from my supplication.^*

²Attend to me and answer me;

I am troubled in my complaint.

I am distraught^{* 3}by the noise of the enemy,

because of the clamor of the wicked.

For they bring^j trouble upon me,

and in anger they bear a grudge against me.^*

⁴My heart is in anguish within me;

the terrors of death have fallen upon me.^*

⁵Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms me.^*

⁶And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest;^*

⁷truly, I would flee far away;

I would lodge in the wilderness;   Selah

⁸I would hurry to find a shelter for myself

from the raging wind and tempest.”^*

⁹Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech,

for I see violence and strife in the city.^*

¹⁰Day and night they go around it

on its walls,

and iniquity and trouble are within it;

¹¹ruin is in its midst;

oppression and fraud

do not depart from its marketplace.^*

¹²It is not enemies who taunt me—

I could bear that;

it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—

I could hide from them.^*

¹³But it is you, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend,^*

¹⁴with whom I kept pleasant company;

we walked in the house of God with the throng.^*

¹⁵Let death come upon them;

let them go down alive to Sheol,

for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.^*

¹⁶But I call upon God,

and the Lord will save me.^*

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon

I utter my complaint and moan,

and he will hear my voice.^*

¹⁸He will redeem me unharmed

from the battle that I wage,

for many are arrayed against me.^*

¹⁹God, who is enthroned from of old,   Selah

will hear and will humble them,

because they do not change

and do not fear God.^*

²⁰My companion laid hands on a friend

and violated a covenant with me^k*

²¹with speech smoother than butter

but with a heart set on war,

with words that were softer than oil

but in fact were drawn swords.^*

²²Cast your burden^l on the Lord,

and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

the righteous to be moved.^*

²³But you, O God, will cast them down

into the lowest pit;

the bloodthirsty and treacherous

shall not live out half their days.

But I will trust in you.^*

Psalm 56

Trust in God under Persecution

To the leader: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. Of David. A Miktam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

¹Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me;

all day long foes oppress me;

²my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many fight against me.

O Most High,^{* 3}when I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.^*

⁴In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I am not afraid;

what can flesh do to me?^*

⁵All day long they seek to injure my cause;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.^*

⁶They stir up strife; they lurk;

they watch my steps,

as they hoped to take my life.^*

⁷Do not deliver them for any reason;^m

in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!^*

⁸You have kept count of my tossings;

put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your record?^*

⁹Then my enemies will retreat

in the day when I call.

This I know, thatⁿ God is for me.^*

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust; I am not afraid.

What can a mere mortal do to me?

¹²My vows to you I must perform, O God;

I will render thank offerings to you.^*

¹³For you have delivered my soul from death

and my feet from falling,

so that I may walk before God

in the light of life.^*