Psalm 055

English Standard Version

Cast Your Burden on the Lord

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Maskil^[a] of David.

55 ^(B)Give ear to my prayer, O God,
    and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
²Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am restless ^(C)in my complaint and I ^(D)moan,
³because of the noise of the enemy,
    because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they ^(E)drop trouble upon me,
    and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

⁴My heart is in anguish within me;
    ^(F)the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and ^(G)horror ^(H)overwhelms me.
⁶And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷^(I)yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸I would hurry to find a shelter
    from ^(J)the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹Destroy, O Lord, ^(K)divide their tongues;
    for I see ^(L)violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and ^(M)iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹    ruin is in its midst;
^(N)oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace.

¹²For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who ^(O)deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
¹³^(P)But it is you, a man, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴We used to take sweet counsel together;
    within God's house we walked in ^(Q)the throng.
¹⁵Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol ^(R)alive;
    for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

¹⁶But I call to God,
    and the Lord will save me.
¹⁷^(S)Evening and ^(T)morning and at ^(U)noon
    I ^(V)utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for ^(W)many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is ^(X)enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not ^(Y)change
    and do not fear God.

²⁰My companion^[b] ^(Z)stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
²¹His ^(AA)speech was ^(AB)smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were ^(AC)drawn swords.

²²^(AD)Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
^(AE)he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

²³But you, O God, ^(AF)will cast them down
into ^(AG)the pit of destruction;
men of ^(AH)blood and treachery
shall not ^(AI)live out half their days.
But I will ^(AJ)trust in you.