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This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.

David wrote this prayer when he ran away from King Saul to hide in a cave.

A prayer for help[a]

57 God, please be kind to me and help me!
    Please help me!
I have come to you to keep me safe.
Until the danger has gone, keep me near to you,
    in the way that birds protect their babies under their wings.
I will call to the Most High God to help me.
    He is the God who stands beside me.
He will send help from heaven
    and he will save me.
He will punish the people who attack me.
Selah.
God will show me his faithful love,
    and he will do what he has promised.
My enemies are all round me,
    like hungry lions!
I must lie down among wild animals,
    that want to eat me!
They are men who use spears and arrows
    to bite like teeth.
They use their tongues to hurt people,
    like sharp swords.
God, show how great you are,
    high above the sky!
Let everybody on the earth see your glory!
My enemies have prepared a trap to catch me.
    That makes me very upset.
They have dug a deep hole on the path where I walk.
    But they have fallen into it themselves!
Selah.
God, I have decided to trust you always.
    Yes, I will trust you!
I will sing songs to praise you!
I will wake up now!
I will pick up my harp and my lyre.
    I will make music as the sun rises![b]
My Lord, I will thank you
    in front of all the people.
I will sing to praise you,
    so that all nations hear.
10 Your faithful love is great,
    higher than the skies.
Your truth reaches beyond the clouds.
11 God, show how great you are,
    high above the sky!
Let everybody on the earth see your glory!

Footnotes

  1. 57:1 We can read two places in the Bible when David hid in a cave. See 1 Samuel 22 and 1 Samuel 24.
  2. 57:8 David wants to make music to praise God. He will wake up early in the morning, so that he is already praising God at dawn.