Psalm 52

God Judges the Proud

For the choir director. A Davidic Maskil. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”(A)

Why brag about evil, you hero!(B)
God’s faithful love is constant.(C)
Like a sharpened razor,
your tongue devises destruction,
working treachery.(D)
You love evil instead of good,
lying instead of speaking truthfully.(E)Selah
You love any words that destroy,
you treacherous tongue!(F)

This is why God will bring you down forever.
He will take you, ripping you out of your tent;
He will uproot you from the land of the living.(G)Selah
The righteous will look on with awe
and will ridicule him:(H)
“Here is the man
who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”[a](I)

But I am like a flourishing olive tree
in the house of God;(J)
I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.(K)
I will praise You forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your faithful people,
I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good.(L)

Psalm 53

A Portrait of Sinners

For the choir director: on Mahalath.[b](M) A Davidic Maskil.

The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”
They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.(N)
God looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.(O)
All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.(P)

Will evildoers never understand?
They consume My people as they consume bread;(Q)
they do not call on God.(R)
Then they will be filled with terror—
terror like no other(S)
because God will scatter
the bones of those who besiege you.(T)
You will put them to shame,
for God has rejected them.(U)

Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of His people,[c]
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.(V)

Psalm 54

Prayer for Deliverance

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”(W)

God, save me by Your name,
and vindicate me by Your might!(X)
God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth.(Y)
For strangers rise up against me,
and violent men seek my life.
They have no regard for God.[d](Z)Selah

God is my helper;
the Lord is the sustainer of my life.[e](AA)
He will repay my adversaries for their evil.
Because of Your faithfulness, annihilate them.(AB)

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to You.(AC)
I will praise Your name, Yahweh,
because it is good.(AD)
For He has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked down on my enemies.(AE)

Psalm 55

Betrayal by a Friend

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil.

God, listen to my prayer
and do not ignore[f] my plea for help.(AF)
Pay attention to me and answer me.(AG)
I am restless and in turmoil with my complaint,(AH)
because of the enemy’s voice,
because of the pressure[g] of the wicked.
For they bring down disaster on me[h]
and harass me in anger.(AI)

My heart shudders within me;(AJ)
terrors of death sweep over me.
Fear and trembling grip me;
horror has overwhelmed me.(AK)
I said, “If only I had[i] wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find rest.(AL)
How far away I would flee;
I would stay in the wilderness.(AM)Selah
I would hurry to my shelter
from the raging wind and the storm.”(AN)

Lord, confuse[j] and confound their speech,[k](AO)
for I see violence and strife in the city;
10 day and night they make the rounds on its walls.
Crime and trouble are within it;(AP)
11 destruction is inside it;
oppression and deceit never leave its marketplace.(AQ)

12 Now it is not an enemy who insults me—
otherwise I could bear it;
it is not a foe who rises up against me—
otherwise I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who is my peer,
my companion and good friend!(AR)
14 We used to have close fellowship;
we walked with the crowd into the house of God.(AS)

15 Let death take them by surprise;(AT)
let them go down to Sheol alive,
because evil is in their homes and within them.(AU)
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.(AV)
17 I complain and groan morning, noon, and night,(AW)
and He hears my voice.(AX)
18 Though many are against me,
He will redeem me from my battle unharmed.(AY)
19 God, the One enthroned from long ago,(AZ)
will hear and will humiliate themSelah
because they do not change
and do not fear God.(BA)

20 My friend(BB) acts violently
against those at peace with him;(BC)
he violates his covenant.(BD)
21 His buttery words are smooth,[l]
but war is in his heart.
His words are softer than oil,
but they are drawn swords.(BE)

22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
and He will sustain you;(BF)
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.(BG)

23 God, You will bring them down
to the Pit of destruction;(BH)
men of bloodshed and treachery
will not live out half their days.(BI)
But I will trust in You.(BJ)

Psalm 56

A Call for God’s Protection

For the choir director: according to “A Silent Dove Far Away.”[m] A Davidic Miktam. When the Philistines seized him in Gath.(BK)

Be gracious to me, God, for man tramples me;
he fights and oppresses me all day long.
My adversaries trample me all day,
for many arrogantly fight against me.[n](BL)

When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.(BM)
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?(BN)

They twist my words all day long;
all their thoughts against me are evil.(BO)
They stir up strife,[o] they lurk;
they watch my steps
while they wait to take my life.(BP)
Will they escape in spite of such sin?
God, bring down the nations in wrath.(BQ)

You Yourself have recorded my wanderings.[p]
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your records?(BR)
Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.(BS)
This I know: God is for me.(BT)

10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?(BU)

12 I am obligated by vows[q] to You, God;
I will make my thank offerings to You.(BV)
13 For You delivered me from death,
even my feet from stumbling,
to walk before God in the light of life.(BW)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 52:7 Or riches, and grew strong in his evil desire; lit his destruction
  2. Psalm 53:1 Perhaps a tune, a musical instrument, or a dance; this may be related to Hb word for “sickness.”
  3. Psalm 53:6 Or restores His captive people
  4. Psalm 54:3 Lit They do not set God before them
  5. Psalm 54:4 Or is with those who sustain my life
  6. Psalm 55:1 Lit hide Yourself from
  7. Psalm 55:3 Or threat, or oppression
  8. Psalm 55:3 LXX, Syr, Sym; MT reads they cause me to totter
  9. Psalm 55:6 Lit “Who will give to me . . . dove?
  10. Psalm 55:9 Or destroy
  11. Psalm 55:9 Lit and divide their tongue
  12. Psalm 55:21 Some Hb mss, Sym, Syr, Tg, Jer read His speech is smoother than butter
  13. Psalm 56:1 Possibly a tune
  14. Psalm 56:2 Or many fight against me, O exalted One, or many fight against me from the heights
  15. Psalm 56:6 Or They attack
  16. Psalm 56:8 Or misery
  17. Psalm 56:12 Lit On me the vows

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