| Chapter 55 |
1 | To the Overseer with stringed instruments. -- An instruction, by David. Give ear, O God, [to] my prayer, And hide not from my supplication.
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2 | Attend to me, and answer me, I mourn in my meditation, and make a noise,
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3 | Because of the voice of an enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked, For they cause sorrow to move against me, And in anger they hate me.
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4 | My heart is pained within me, And terrors of death have fallen on me.
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5 | Fear and trembling come in to me, And horror doth cover me.
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6 | And I say, 'Who doth give to me a pinion as a dove? I fly away and rest,
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7 | Lo, I move far off, I lodge in a wilderness. Selah.
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8 | I hasten escape for myself, From a rushing wind, from a whirlwind.
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9 | Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city.
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10 | By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness [are] in its midst,
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11 | Mischiefs [are] in its midst. Fraud and deceit depart not from its street.
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12 | For an enemy reproacheth me not, or I bear [it], He who is hating me Hath not magnified himself against me, Or I hide from him.
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13 | But thou, a man -- as mine equal, My familiar friend, and mine acquaintance.
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14 | When together we sweeten counsel, Into the house of God we walk in company.
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15 | Desolations [are] upon them, They go down [to] Sheol -- alive, For wickedness [is] in their dwelling, in their midst.
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16 | I -- to God I call, and Jehovah saveth me.
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17 | Evening, and morning, and noon, I meditate, and make a noise, and He heareth my voice,
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18 | He hath ransomed in peace my soul From him who is near to me, For with the multitude they were with me.
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19 | God doth hear and afflict them, And He sitteth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, and fear not God,
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20 | He hath sent forth his hands against his well-wishers, He hath polluted his covenant.
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21 | Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart [is] war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they [are] drawn [swords].
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22 | Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, And He doth sustain thee, He doth not suffer for ever the moving of the righteous.
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23 | And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I -- I do trust in Thee!
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