Psalms 54-56

Psalm 54

¹To the chief music-maker; on Neginoth. Maschil. Of David. When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Is not David keeping himself secret among us? Let your name be my salvation, O God; let my cause be judged by your strength.

²Let my prayer come before you, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.

³For men who are going after me have come out against me, violent men are purposing to take my soul; they have not put God before their eyes. (Selah.)

⁴See, God is my helper: the Lord is the great supporter of my soul.

⁵Let the evil works of my haters come back on them again; let them be cut off by your good faith.

⁶Freely will I make my offerings to you; I will give praise to your name, O Lord, for it is good.

⁷Because it has been my saviour from all my trouble; and my eyes have seen the punishment of my haters.

Psalm 55

¹To the chief music-maker, on Neginoth. Maschil. Of David. Give hearing to my prayer, O God; and let not your ear be shut against my request.

²Give thought to me, and let my prayer be answered: I have been made low in sorrow;

³I am troubled because of the voice of the cruel ones, because of the loud cry of the evil-doers; for they put a weight of evil on me, and they are cruel in their hate for me.

⁴My heart is deeply wounded, and the fear of death has come on me.

⁵Fear and shaking have come over me, with deep fear I am covered.

⁶And I said, If only I had wings like a dove! for then I would go in flight from here and be at rest.

⁷I would go wandering far away, living in the waste land. (Selah.)

⁸I would quickly take cover from the driving storm and from the violent wind.

⁹Send destruction on them, O Lord, make a division of tongues among them: for I have seen fighting and violent acts in the town.

¹⁰By day and night they go round the town, on the walls; trouble and sorrow are in the heart of it.

¹¹Evil is there; cruel rule and deceit are ever in the streets.

¹²For it was not my hater who said evil of me; that would have been no grief to me; it was not one outside the number of my friends who made himself strong against me, or I would have kept myself from him in a secret place;

¹³But it was you, my equal, my guide, my well-loved friend.

¹⁴We had loving talk together, and went to the house of God in company.

¹⁵Let the hand of death come on them suddenly, and let them go down living into the underworld; because evil is in their houses and in their hearts.

¹⁶As for me, I will make my prayer to God, and he will be my saviour.

¹⁷In the evening and in the morning and in the middle of the day I will make my prayer with sounds of grief; and my voice will come to his ears.

¹⁸He has taken my soul away from the attack which was made against me, and given it peace; for great numbers were against me.

¹⁹God will give thought to me; he who from early times is strong will send pain and trouble on them. (Selah.) Because they are unchanged, they have no fear of God.

²⁰He has put out his hand against those who were at peace with him; he has not kept his agreement.

²¹The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they were sharp swords.

²²Put your cares on the Lord, and he will be your support; he will not let the upright man be moved.

²³But you, O God, will send them down into the underworld; the cruel and the false will be cut off before half their days are ended; but I will have faith in you.

Psalm 56

¹To the chief music-maker; put to Jonath elem rehokim. Of David. Michtam. When the Philistines took him in Gath. Have mercy on me, O God, for man is attempting my destruction; every day he makes cruel attacks against me.

²My haters are ever ready to put an end to me; great numbers are lifting themselves up against me.

³In the time of my fear, I will have faith in you.

⁴In God will I give praise to his word; in God have I put my hope; I will have no fear of what flesh may do to me.

⁵Every day they make wrong use of my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They come together, they are waiting in secret places, they take note of my steps, they are waiting for my soul.

⁷By evil-doing they will not get free from punishment. In wrath, O God, let the peoples be made low.

⁸You have seen my wanderings; put the drops from my eyes into your bottle; are they not in your record?

⁹When I send up my cry to you, my haters will be turned back; I am certain of this, for God is with me.

¹⁰In God will I give praise to his word; in the Lord will I give praise to his word.

¹¹In God have I put my hope, I will have no fear of what man may do to me.

¹²I keep the memory of my debt to you, O God; I will give you the offerings of praise.

¹³Because you have taken my soul from the power of death; and kept my feet from falling, so that I may be walking before God in the light of life.