Day 166: Psalms 55 - 62

Chapter 55

Cast Your Burden on the Lord

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David

1: Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2: Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

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.

4: My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5: Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

6: And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

7: yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8: I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”

9: Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

10: Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11: ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

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.

13: But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.

14: We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.

15: Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

16: But I call to God, and the Lord will save me.

17; Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

18; He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.

19: God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and do not fear God.

20; My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.

21; His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

22: Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

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.

Chapter 56

In God I Trust

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath

1: Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me;

2: my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attacks me proudly.

3: When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

4: In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

5: All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6: They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.

7: For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8: You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

9: Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

10: In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,

11: in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

12: I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.

13: For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Chapter 57

Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

1: Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.

2: I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

3: He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

4: My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts — the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.

5: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

6: They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves.  Selah

7: My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!

8: Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre!I will awake the dawn!

9: I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

10: For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

11: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

Chapter 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David

1: Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?  Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

2: No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

3: The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

4: They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5: so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.

6: O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

7: Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

8: Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9: Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10: The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

 11: Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Chapter 59

Deliver Me from My Enemies

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him

1: Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;

2: deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.

3: For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,

4: for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see!

5: You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

6: Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.

7: There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips — for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

8: But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.

9: O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.

10: My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

11: Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!

12: For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,

13: consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah

14: Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.

15: They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.

16: But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.

17: O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.

Chapter 60

He Will Tread Down Our Foes

To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

1: O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.

2: You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.

3: You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

4: You have set up a banner for those who fear you that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah

5: That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

6: God has spoken in his holiness: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

7: Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

8: Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

9: Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

10: Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.

11: Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!

12: With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

Chapter 61

Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Of David

1: Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;

2; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,

3: for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

4: Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah

5: For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

6: Prolong the life of the king; may his years endure to all generations!

7: May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

8: So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.

Chapter 62

My Soul Waits for God Alone

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1: For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

2: He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3: How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4: They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

5: For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

6: He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7: On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8: Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

9: Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

10: Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

11: Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,

12: and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.