Psalms 54 - 63
54
Save me, O God, by the power of thy name,
and vindicate me through thy might.
O God, hear my prayer,
listen to my supplication.
Insolent men rise to attack me,
ruthless men seek my life;
they give no thought to God.
But God is my helper,
the Lord the mainstay of my life.
May their own malice recoil on my watchful foes;
silence them by thy truth, O LORD.
I will offer thee a willing sacrifice
and praise thy name, for that is good;
God has rescued me from every trouble,
and I look on my enemies' downfall with delight.
55
Listen, O God, to my pleading,
do not hide thyself when I pray.
Here me and answer,
for my cares give me no peace.
I am panic-stricken at the shouts of my enemies,
at the shrill clamour of the wicked;
for they heap trouble on me
and they revile me in their anger.
My heart is torn with anguish
and the terrors of death come upon me.
Fear and trembling overwhelm me
and I shudder from head to foot.
Oh that I had he wings of a dove
to fly away and be at rest!
I should escape far away
and find a refuge in the wilderness;
soon I should find myself a sanctuary
from wind and storm,
from the blasts of calumny, O Lord,
from my enemies' contentious tongues.
I have seen violence and strife in the city;
day and night they encircle it,
all along its walls;
it is filled with trouble and mischief,
alive with rumour and scandal,
and its public square is never free
from violence and spite.
It was no enemy that taunted me,
or I should have avoided him;
no adversary that treated me with scorn,
or I should have kept out of his way.
It was you, a man of my own sort,
my comrade, my own dear friend,
with whom I kept pleasant company
in the house of God.
May death strike them,
and may they perish in confusion,
may they go down alive into Sheol;
for their homes are haunts of evil!
But I will call upon God;
the LORD will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon
I nurse my woes, and groan.
He has heard me cry, he rescued me
and gave me back my peace,
when they beset me like archers,
massing against me,
like Ishmael and the desert tribes
and those who dwell in the East,
who have no respect for an oath
nor any fear of God.
Such men do violence to those at peace with them
and break their promised word;
their speech is smoother than butter
but their thoughts are of war;
their words are as slippery as oil
but sharp as drawn swords.
Commit your fortunes to the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Cast them, O God, into the pit of destruction;
bloodthirsty and treacherous,
they shall not live out half their days;
but I will put my trust in thee.
56
Be gracious to me, O God, for the enemy persecute me,
my assailants harass me all day long.
All the day long my watchful foes persecute me;
countless are those who assail me.
Appear on high in my day of fear;
I put trust in thee.
With God to help me I will shout defiance,
in God I trust and shall not be afraid;
what can mortal men do to me?
All day long abuse of me is their only theme,
all their thoughts are hostile.
In malice they are on the look-out, and watch for me,
they dog my footsteps;
but, while they lie in wait for me,
it is they who will not escape.
O God, in thy anger bring ruin on the nations.
Enter my lament in thy book,
store every tear in thy flask.
Then my enemies will turn back
on the day when I call upon thee;
for this I know, that God is on my side,
with God to help me I will shout defiance.
In God I trust and shall not be afraid;
what can man do to me?
I have bound myself with vows to thee, O God,
and will redeem them with due thank-offerings;
for thou hast rescued me from death
to walk in thy presence, in the light of life.
57
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious;
for I have made thee my refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of thy wings
until the storms are past.
I will cal upon God Most High,
on God who fulfils his purpose for me.
He will send his truth and his love that never fails,
he will send from heaven and save me.
God himself will frustrate my persecutors;
for I lie down among lions, man-eaters,
whose teeth are spears and arrows
and whose tongues are sharp swords.
Show thyself, O God, high above the heavens;
let thy glory shine over all the earth.
Men have prepared a net to catch me as I walk,
but I bow my head to escape from it;
they have dug a pit in my path
but have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and raise a psalm;
awake, my spirit,
awake, lute and harp,
I will awake at dawn of day.
I will confess thee, O Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will raise a psalm to thee,
for thy unfailing love is wide as the heavens
and thy truth reaches to the skies.
Show thyself, O God, high above the heavens;
let thy glory shine over all the earth.
58
Answer, you rulers: are your judgements just?
Do you decide impartially between man and man?
Never! Your hearts devise all kinds of wickedness
and survey the violence that you have done on earth.
Wicked men, from birth they have taken to devious ways;
liars, no sooner born than they go astray,
venomous with the venom of serpents,
of the deaf asp which stops its ears
and will not listen to the sound of the charmer,
however skilful his spells may be.
O God, break the teeth in their mouths.
Break, O LORD, the jaws of the unbelievers.
May they melt, may they vanish like water,
may they wither like trodden grass,
like an abortive birth which melts away
or a still-born child which never sees the sun!
All unawares, may they be rooted up like a thorn-bush,
like weeds which a man angrily clears away!
The righteous shall rejoice that he has seen vengeance done
and shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
and men shall say,
'There is after all a reward for the righteous;
after all, there is a God that judges on earth.'
59
Rescue me from my enemies, O my God,
be my tower of strength against all who assail me,
rescue me from these evildoers,
deliver me from men of blood.
Savage men lie in wait for me,
they lie in ambush ready to attack me;
for no fault or guilt of mine, O LORD,
innocent as I am, they run to take post against me.
But thou, LORD God of Hosts, Israel's God,
do thou bestir thyself at my call, and look:
awake, and punish all the nations.
Have no mercy on villains and traitors,
who run wild at nightfall like dogs,
snarling and prowling round the city,
wandering to and fro in search of food,
and howling if they are not satisfied.
From their mouths comes a stream of nonsense;
'But who will hear?' they murmur.
But thou, O LORD, dost laugh at them,
and deride all the nations.
O my strength, to thee I turn in the night-watches;
for thou, O God, art my strong tower.
My God, in his true love, shall be my champion;
with God's help, I shall gloat over my watchful foes.
Wilt thou not kill them, lest my people forget?
Scatter them by thy might and bring them to ruin.
Deliver them, O Lord, to be destroyed
by their own sinful words;
let what thy have spoken entrap them in their pride.
Let them be cut off for their cursing and falsehood;
bring them to an end in thy wrath,
and they will be no more;
then they will know that God is ruler in Jacob,
even to earth's farthest limits.
But I will sing of thy strength,
and celebrate thy love when morning comes;
for thou hast been my strong tower
and a sure retreat in days of trouble.
O thou my strength, I will raise a psalm to thee;
for thou, O God, art my strong tower
and a sure retreat in days of trouble.
O thou my strength, I will raise a psalm to thee;
for thou, O God, art my strong tower.
60
O God, thou hast cast us off and broken us;
thou hast been angry and rebuked us cruelly.
Thou hast made the land quake and torn it open;
it gives way and crumbles into pieces.
Thou hast made thy people drunk with a bitter draught,
thou hast given us wine that makes us stagger.
But thou hast given a warning to those who fear thee,
to make their escape before the sentence falls.
Deliver those that are dear to thee;
save them with thy right hand, and answer.
God has spoken from his sanctuary:
'I will go up now and measure out Shechem;
I will divide the valley of Succoth into plots;
Gilead and Manasseh are mine;
Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my sceptre;
Moab is my wash-bowl, I fling my shoes at Edom;
Philistia is the target of my anger.'
Who can bring me to the fortified city,
who can guide me to Edom,
since thou, O God, hast abandoned us
and goest not forth with out armies?
Grant us help against the enemy,
for deliverance by man is a vain hope.
With God's help we shall do valiantly,
and God himself will tread our enemies under foot.
61
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to thee with fainting heart;
lift me up and set me upon a rock.
For thou hast been my shelter,
a tower for refuge from the enemy.
In thy tent will I make my home for ever
and find my shelter under the cover of thy wings.
For thou, O God, hast heard my vows
and granted the wish of all who revere thy name
To the king's life add length of days,
year upon year for many generations;
may he dwell in God's presence for ever,
may true and constant love preserve him.
So will I ever sing psalms in honour of thy name
as I fulfil my vows day after day.
62
Truly my heart waits silently for God;
my deliverance comes from him.
In truth he is my rock of deliverance,
my tower of strength, so that I stand unshaken.
How long will you assail a man with your threats,
all battering on a leaning wall?
in truth men plan to topple him from his height,
and stamp on the fallen stones.
With their lips they bless him, the hypocrites,
but revile him in their hearts.
Truly my heart waits silently for God;
my hope of deliverance comes from him.
In truth he is my rock of deliverance,
my tower of strength, so that I am unshaken.
My deliverance and my honour depend upon God,
God who is my rock of refuge and my shelter.
Trust always in God, my people,
pour out your hearts before him;
God is our shelter.
In very truth men are but a puff of wind,
all men are faithless;
put in the balance and they can only rise,
all of them lighter than wind.
Put no trust in extortion,
do not be proud of stolen goods;
though wealth breeds wealth, set not your heart on it.
One thing God has spoken,
two things I have learnt:
'Power belongs to God'
and 'True love, O Lord, is thine';
thou dost requite a man for his deeds.
63
O God, thou art my God, I seek thee early
with a heart that thirsts for thee
and a body wasted and longing for thee,
like a dry and thirsty land that has no water.
So longing, I come before thee in the sanctuary
to look upon thy power and glory.
Thy true love is better than life;
therefore I will sing thy praises.
And so I bless thee all my life
and in thy name lift my hands in prayer.
I am satisfied as with a rich a sumptuous feast
and wake the echoes with thy praise.
When I call thee to mind upon my bed
and think on thee in the watches of the night,
remembering how thou hast been my help
and that I am safe in the shadow of thy wings,
then I humbly follow thee with all my heart,
and thy right hand is my support.
Those who seek my life, bent on evil,
shall sink into the depths of the earth;
they shall be given over to the sword;
they shall be carrion for jackals.
The king shall rejoice in God,
and whoever swears by God's name shall exult;
the voice of falsehood shall be silenced.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Jun 28, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC
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