Psalms 55

¹ [For the choirmaster For strings Poem Of David] God, hear my prayer, do not hide away from my plea,

² give me a hearing, answer me, my troubles give me no peace. I shudder

³ at the enemy's shouts, at the outcry of the wicked; they heap up charges against me, in their angerbring hostile accusations against me.

⁴ My heart writhes within me, the terrors of death come upon me,

⁵ fear and trembling overwhelm me, and shuddering grips me.

⁶ And I say, 'Who will give me wings like a dove, to fly away and find rest?'

⁷ How far I would escape, and make a nest in the desert!Pause

⁸ I would soon find a refuge from the storm of abuse, from the

⁹ destructive tempest, Lord, from the flood of their tongues. For I see violence and strife in the city,

¹⁰ day and night they make their rounds along the city wal s, Inside live malice and mischief,

¹¹ inside lives destruction, tyranny and treachery never absent from its central square.

¹² Were it an enemy who insulted me, that I could bear; if an opponent pitted himself against me, I couldturn away from him.

¹³ But you, a person of my own rank, a comrade and dear friend,

¹⁴ to whom I was bound by intimate friendship in the house of God! May they recoil in disorder,

¹⁵ may death descend on them, may they go down alive to Sheol, since evil shares their home withthem.

¹⁶ For my part, I appeal to God, and Yahweh saves me;

¹⁷ evening, morning, noon, I complain and I groan. He hears my cry,

¹⁸ he ransoms me and gives me peace from the feud against me, for they are taking me to law.

¹⁹ But God wil listen and wil humble them, he who has been enthroned from the beginning; no changeof heart for them, for they do not fear God.

²⁰ They attack those at peace with them, going back on their oaths;

²¹ though their mouth is smoother than butter, enmity is in their hearts; their words more soothing thanoil, yet sharpened like swords.

²² Unload your burden onto Yahweh and he wil sustain you; never wil he allow the upright to stumble.

²³ You, God, wil thrust them down to the abyss of destruction, men bloodthirsty and deceptive, beforehalf their days are spent. For my part, I put my trust in you.