To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”
[55:1] Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
[55:2] Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
[55:3] because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge 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, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
[55:7] yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness;
[55:8] I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”
[55:9] Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; 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] For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.
[55:13] But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
[55:14] We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.
[55:15] Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
[55:16] But I call to God, and the Lord will save me.
[55:17] Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
[55:18] He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
[55:19] God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old,
[55:20] My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.
[55:21] His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they 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 pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.