NRSV Psalms 55 Chapter
55:1
Give ear to my prayer, O God; do not hide yourself from my supplication.
55:2
Attend to me, and answer me; I am troubled in my complaint. I am distraught
55:3
by the noise of the enemy, because of the clamor of the wicked. For they bring trouble upon me, and in anger they cherish enmity against me.
55:4
My heart is in anguish within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
55:5
Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
55:6
And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
55:7
truly, I would flee far away; I would lodge in the wilderness;Selah
55:8
I would hurry to find a shelter for myself from the raging wind and tempest."
55:9
Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech; for I see violence and strife in the city.
55:10
Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;
55:11
ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.
55:12
It is not enemies who taunt me-- I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me-- I could hide from them.
55:13
But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend,
55:14
with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng.
55:15
Let death come upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol; for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
55:16
But I call upon God, and the LORD will save me.
55:17
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he will hear my voice.
55:18
He will redeem me unharmed from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
55:19
God, who is enthroned from of old,Selah will hear, and will humble them-- because they do not change, and do not fear God.
55:20
My companion laid hands on a friend and violated a covenant with me
55:21
with speech smoother than butter, but with a heart set on war; with words that were softer than oil, but in fact were drawn swords.
55:22
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
55:23
But you, O God, will cast them down into the lowest pit; the bloodthirsty and treacherous shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.