Psalm 55

1    Hear my prayer, O God;  ♦

hide not yourself from my petition.

2    Give heed to me and answer me;  ♦

I am restless in my complaining.

3    I am alarmed at the voice of the enemy  ♦

and at the clamour of the wicked;

4    For they would bring down evil upon me  ♦

and are set against me in fury.

5    My heart is disquieted within me,  ♦

and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

6    Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,  ♦

and a horrible dread has overwhelmed me.

7    And I said: ‘O that I had wings like a dove,  ♦

for then would I fly away and be at rest.

8    ‘Then would I flee far away  ♦

and make my lodging in the wilderness.

9    ‘I would make haste to escape  ♦

from the stormy wind and tempest.’

10  Confuse their tongues, O Lord, and divide them,  ♦

for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

11  Day and night they go about on her walls;  ♦

mischief and trouble are in her midst.

12  Wickedness walks in her streets;  ♦

oppression and guile never leave her squares.

13  For it was not an open enemy that reviled me,  ♦

for then I could have borne it;

14  Nor was it my adversary that puffed himself up against me,  ♦

for then I would have hid myself from him.

15  But it was even you, one like myself,  ♦

my companion and my own familiar friend.

16  We took sweet counsel together  ♦

and walked with the multitude in the house of God.

17  Let death come suddenly upon them;

    let them go down alive to the Pit;  ♦

for wickedness inhabits their dwellings, their very hearts.

18  As for me, I will call upon God  ♦

and the Lord will deliver me.

19  In the evening and morning and at noonday

    I will pray and make my supplication,  ♦

and he shall hear my voice.

20  He shall redeem my soul in peace

    from the battle waged against me,  ♦

for many have come upon me.

21  God, who is enthroned of old,

    will hear and bring them down;  ♦

they will not repent, for they have no fear of God.

22  My companion stretched out his hands against his friend  ♦

and has broken his covenant;

23  His speech was softer than butter, though war was in his heart;  ♦

his words were smoother than oil, yet are they naked swords.

24  Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you,  ♦

and will not let the righteous fall for ever.

25  But those that are bloodthirsty and deceitful, O God,  ♦

you will bring down to the pit of destruction.

26  They shall not live out half their days,  ♦

but my trust shall be in you, O Lord.

 

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.