Psalm 54

1 God, for your sake, help me! Use your influence to clear me.

2 Listen, God—I’m desperate.
Don’t be too busy to hear me.

3 Outlaws are out to get me,
hit men are trying to kill me.
Nothing will stop them;
God means nothing to them.

4 Oh, look! God’s right here helping!
God’s on my side,

5 Evil is looping back on my enemies.
Don’t let up! Finish them off!

6 I’m ready now to worship, so ready.
I thank you, God—you’re so good.

7 You got me out of every scrape,
and I saw my enemies get it.
A David psalm

Psalm 55

1 Open your ears, God, to my prayer; don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking.

2 Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you.
I shudder

3 at the mean voice,
quail before the evil eye,
As they pile on the guilt,
stockpile angry slander.

4 My insides are turned inside out;
specters of death have me down.

5 I shake with fear,
I shudder from head to foot.

6 “Who will give me wings,” I ask—
“wings like a dove?”
Get me out of here on dove wings;

7 I want some peace and quiet.
I want a walk in the country,

8 I want a cabin in the woods.
I’m desperate for a change
from rage and stormy weather.

9 Come down hard, Lord—slit their tongues.
I’m appalled how they’ve split the city
Into rival gangs
prowling the alleys

10 Day and night spoiling for a fight,
trash piled in the streets,

11 Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating
in broad daylight.

12 This isn’t the neighborhood bully
mocking me—I could take that.
This isn’t a foreign devil spitting
invective—I could tune that out.

13 It’s you! We grew up together!
You! My best friend!

14 Those long hours of leisure as we walked
arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.

15 Haul my betrayers off alive to hell—let them
experience the horror, let them
feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

16 I call to God;
God will help me.

17 At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.

18 My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger
Even while thousands
are lined up against me.

19 God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench
puts them in their place.
But, set in their ways, they won’t change;
they pay him no mind.

20 And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;
his life betrayed his word.

21 All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,
never dreaming he’d turn on me.
His words, which were music to my ears,
turned to daggers in my heart.

22 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
topple into ruin.

23 But you, God, will throw the others
into a muddy bog,
Cut the lifespan of assassins
and traitors in half.
And I trust in you.
A David psalm, when he was captured by the Philistines in Gath.

Psalm 56

1 Take my side, God—I’m getting kicked around, stomped on every day.

2 Not a day goes by
but somebody beats me up;
They make it their duty
to beat me up.

3 When I get really afraid
I come to you in trust.

4 I’m proud to praise God;
fearless now, I trust in God.
What can mere mortals do?

5 They don’t let up—
they smear my reputation
and huddle to plot my collapse.

6 They gang up,
sneak together through the alleys
To take me by surprise,
wait their chance to get me.

7 Pay them back in evil!
Get angry, God!
Down with these people!

8 You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn
through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
each ache written in your book.

9 If my enemies run away,
turn tail when I yell at them,
Then I’ll know
that God is on my side.

10 I’m proud to praise God,
proud to praise God.

11 Fearless now, I trust in God;
what can mere mortals do to me?

12 God, you did everything you promised,
and I’m thanking you with all my heart.

13 You pulled me from the brink of death,
my feet from the cliff-edge of doom.
Now I stroll at leisure with God
in the sunlit fields of life.
A David psalm, when he hid in a cave from Saul.