Psalm 55:1-23
To the director on stringed instruments. Masʹkil.* Of David.
55 Do give ear, O God, to my prayer;+And do not hide yourself from my request for favor.+
2 Do pay attention to me and answer me.+I am driven restlessly about by my concern,+And I cannot but show disquietude,
3 Due to the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked one.+For they keep dropping upon me what is hurtful,+And in anger they harbor animosity against me.+
4 My very heart is in severe pain within me,+And the frights of death itself have fallen upon me.+
5 Fear, yes, trembling itself enters into me,+And shuddering covers me.
6 And I keep saying: “O that I had wings as a dove has!+I would fly away and reside.+
7 Look! I would go far away in flight;+I would lodge in the wilderness.+—Seʹlah—
8 I would hasten to a place of escape for meFrom the rushing* wind, from the tempest.”+
9 Confuse, O Jehovah,* divide their tongue,+For I have seen violence and disputing in the city.+
10 Day and night they go round about it upon its walls;+And hurtfulness and trouble are within it.+
11 Adversities are within it;And from its public square oppression and deception have not moved away.+
12 For it was not an enemy that proceeded to reproach me;+Otherwise I could put up with it.It was not an intense hater of me that assumed great airs against me;+Otherwise I could conceal myself from him.+
13 But it was you, a mortal man who was as my equal,+One familiar to me and my acquaintance,+
14 Because we used to enjoy sweet intimacy together;+Into the house of God we used to walk with the throng.+
15 Desolations [be] upon them!+Let them go down into Sheʹol alive;+For during their alien residence bad things have been within them.+
16 As for me, to God I shall call out;+And Jehovah himself will save me.+
17 Evening and morning and noontime I cannot but show concern and I moan,+And he hears my voice.+
18 He will certainly redeem [and put] my soul in peace from the fight that is against me,+For in multitudes they have come to be against me.+
19 God* will hear and answer them,+Even He that is sitting [enthroned] as in the past+—Seʹlah—Those with whom there are no changings*+And who have not feared God.+
20 He has thrust out his hands against those at peace with him;+He has profaned his covenant.+
21 Smoother than butter* are [the words of] his mouth,+But his heart is disposed to fight.*+His words are softer than oil,+But they are drawn swords.+
22 Throw your burden* upon Jehovah himself,+And he himself will sustain you.+Never will he allow the righteous one to totter.+
23 But you yourself, O God, will bring them down to the lowest pit.+As for bloodguilty and deceitful men,* they will not live out half* their days.+But as for me, I shall trust in you.+
Footnotes
^ See 32:Sup ftn.
^ “Calumniating,” according to another derivation of the participle.
^ One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
^ Or, “vicissitudes”; or, “mutual liabilities.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Lit., “is fight (war).”
^ By a correction of M.
^ Or, “lot” (that which is given).
^ Lit., “men of bloods and deception.”
^ Lit., “will not halve.”
