Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options Listen to 诗篇 55
Close CCB

诗篇 55
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)

被朋友出卖者的祷告

大卫作的训诲诗，交给乐长，用弦乐器。

55 上帝啊，
求你垂听我的祷告，
不要对我的呼求置之不理。
2 求你垂听、应允我的呼求。
我思绪烦乱，坐立不安。
3 仇敌向我咆哮，
恶人迫害我。
他们带给我苦难，
怒气冲冲地辱骂我。
4 我内心悲痛，
被死亡的恐怖笼罩。
5 我浑身颤栗，惊恐不已。
6 啊，但愿我能像鸽子展翅飞去，
得享安息。
7 我要飞到远方，住在旷野。（细拉）
8 我要赶快躲进避难所，
避过暴雨狂风。

9 主啊，
我在城中看见暴力和争斗，
求你使他们言语混乱。
10 他们昼夜在城墙上出没，
城内充满了邪恶和压迫，
11 毁坏的势力到处肆虐，
恐吓与欺诈遍布大街小巷。
12 倘若是仇敌辱骂我，
我还能忍受；
倘若是恨我的人欺凌我，
我还可以躲开。
13 可是，竟然是你——我志同道合的伙伴，我的挚友！
14 从前我们情谊深厚，
与众人同去上帝的殿。
15 愿死亡突然抓住我的仇敌，
愿他们活活地下阴间，
因为他们的内心和家中罪恶充斥。
16 但我要呼求耶和华上帝，
祂必拯救我。
17 晚上、早晨和中午，
我发出痛苦的呼求，
祂必垂听。
18 虽然许多人攻击我，
祂必救我平安脱离险境。
19 永掌王权的上帝必鉴察并惩罚他们，
因为他们顽梗悖逆、不敬畏上帝。

20 我的同伴违背盟约，攻击朋友。
21 他口蜜腹剑，笑里藏刀。
22 把你的重担卸给耶和华，
祂必扶持你。
祂必不让义人跌倒。

23 上帝啊，
你必把恶人送进灭亡的坑里。
嗜血成性的骗子必早早夭亡。
但我要信靠你。

Close NABRE

Psalm 55
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Psalm 55[a]

A Lament over Betrayal

1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

I

2 Listen, God, to my prayer;(A)
    do not hide from my pleading;
3     hear me and give answer.
I rock with grief; I groan
4     at the uproar of the enemy,
    the clamor of the wicked.
They heap trouble upon me,
    savagely accuse me.
5 My heart pounds within me;
    death’s terrors fall upon me.
6 Fear and trembling overwhelm me;
    shuddering sweeps over me.
7 I say, “If only I had wings like a dove
    that I might fly away and find rest.(B)
8 Far away I would flee;
    I would stay in the desert.(C)
Selah
9 “I would soon find a shelter
    from the raging wind and storm.”

II

10 Lord, check and confuse their tongues.
    For I see violence and strife in the city
11     making rounds on its walls day and night.
Within are mischief and trouble;
12     treachery is in its midst;
    oppression and fraud never leave its streets.(D)
13 For it is not an enemy that reviled me—
    that I could bear—
Not a foe who viewed me with contempt,
    from that I could hide.
14 But it was you, my other self,
    my comrade and friend,(E)
15 You, whose company I enjoyed,
    at whose side I walked
    in the house of God.

III

16 Let death take them;
    let them go down alive to Sheol,(F)
    for evil is in their homes and bellies.
17 But I will call upon God,
    and the Lord will save me.
18 At dusk, dawn, and noon
    I will grieve and complain,
    and my prayer will be heard.(G)
19 He will redeem my soul in peace
    from those who war against me,
    though there are many who oppose me.
20 God, who sits enthroned forever,(H)
    will hear me and afflict them.
Selah
For they will not mend their ways;
    they have no fear of God.
21 He stretched out his hand at his friends
    and broke his covenant.
22 Softer than butter is his speech,
    but war is in his heart.
Smoother than oil are his words,
    but they are unsheathed swords.(I)
23 Cast your care upon the Lord,
    who will give you support.
He will never allow
    the righteous to stumble.(J)
24 But you, God, will bring them down
    to the pit of destruction.(K)
These bloodthirsty liars
    will not live half their days,
    but I put my trust in you.(L)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 55 The psalmist, betrayed by intimate friends (Ps 55:14–15, 20–21), prays that God punish those oath breakers and thus be acknowledged as the protector of the wronged. The sufferings of the psalmist include both ostracism (Ps 55:4) and mental turmoil (Ps 55:5–6), culminating in the wish to flee society (Ps 55:7–9). The wish for a sudden death for one’s enemies (Ps 55:16) occurs elsewhere in the Psalms; an example of such a death is the earth opening under the wicked Dathan and Abiram (Nm 16:31–32). The psalmist, confident of vindication, exhorts others to a like trust in the God of justice (Ps 55:23). The Psalm is not so much for personal vengeance as for a public vindication of God’s righteousness now. There was no belief in an afterlife where such vindication could take place.
Close NET

Psalm 55
New English Translation

Psalm 55[a]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song[b] by David.

55 Listen, O God, to my prayer.
Do not ignore[c] my appeal for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am so upset[d] and distressed,[e] I am beside myself,[f]
3 because of what the enemy says,[g]
and because of how the wicked[h] pressure me,[i]
for they hurl trouble[j] down upon me[k]
and angrily attack me.
4 My heart beats violently[l] within me;
the horrors of death overcome me.[m]
5 Fear and panic overpower me;[n]
terror overwhelms[o] me.
6 I say,[p] “I wish I had wings like a dove.
I would fly away and settle in a safe place.
7 Look, I will escape to a distant place;
I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)
8 I will hurry off to a place that is safe
from the strong wind[q] and the gale.”
9 Confuse them,[r] O Lord.
Frustrate their plans.[s]
For I see violence and conflict in the city.
10 Day and night they walk around on its walls,[t]
while wickedness and destruction[u] are within it.
11 Disaster is within it;
violence[v] and deceit do not depart from its public square.
12 Indeed,[w] it is not an enemy who insults me,
or else I could bear it;
it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me,[x]
or else I could hide from him.
13 But it is you,[y] a man like me,[z]
my close friend in whom I confided.[aa]
14 We would share personal thoughts with each other;[ab]
in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.
15 May death destroy them.[ac]
May they go down alive into Sheol.[ad]
For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.
16 As for me, I will call out to God,
and the Lord will deliver me.
17 During the evening, morning, and noontime
I will lament and moan,[ae]
and he will hear[af] me.[ag]
18 He will rescue[ah] me and protect me from those who attack me,[ai]
even though[aj] they greatly outnumber me.[ak]
19 God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago,
will hear and humiliate them.[al] (Selah)
They refuse to change,
and do not fear God.[am]
20 He[an] attacks[ao] his friends;[ap]
he breaks his solemn promises to them.[aq]
21 His words are as smooth as butter,[ar]
but he harbors animosity in his heart.[as]
His words seem softer than oil,
but they are really like sharp swords.[at]
22 Throw your burden[au] upon the Lord,
and he will sustain you.[av]
He will never allow the godly to be shaken.[aw]
23 But you, O God, will bring them[ax] down to the deep Pit.[ay]
Violent and deceitful people[az] will not live even half a normal lifespan.[ba]
But as for me, I trust in you.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 55:1 sn Psalm 55. The suffering and oppressed author laments that one of his friends has betrayed him, but he is confident that God will vindicate him by punishing his deceitful enemies.
  2. Psalm 55:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.
  3. Psalm 55:1 tn Heb “hide yourself from.”
  4. Psalm 55:2 tn Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.
  5. Psalm 55:2 tn Heb “in my complaint.”
  6. Psalm 55:2 tn The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from הוּם (hum), which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about.” With the vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to וְאֵהוֹמָה (veʾehomah), a Niphal of הוּם (hum), or to וְאֶהַמֶה (veʾehameh), a Qal imperfect from הָמָה (hamah, “to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).
  7. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
  8. Psalm 55:3 tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
  9. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (ʿaqah, “pressure”).
  10. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
  11. Psalm 55:3 tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
  12. Psalm 55:4 tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
  13. Psalm 55:4 tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
  14. Psalm 55:5 tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”
  15. Psalm 55:5 tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.
  16. Psalm 55:6 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
  17. Psalm 55:8 tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb סָעָה (saʿah, “sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 120).
  18. Psalm 55:9 tn Traditionally בַּלַּע (balaʿ) has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118 s.v. בַּלַּע; HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).
  19. Psalm 55:9 tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”
  20. Psalm 55:10 tn Heb “day and night they surround it, upon its walls.” Personified “violence and conflict” are the likely subjects. They are compared to watchmen on the city’s walls.
  21. Psalm 55:10 sn Wickedness and destruction. These terms are also closely associated in Ps 7:14.
  22. Psalm 55:11 tn Or “injury, harm.”
  23. Psalm 55:12 tn Or “for.”
  24. Psalm 55:12 tn Heb “[who] magnifies against me.” See Pss 35:26; 38:16.
  25. Psalm 55:13 sn It is you. The psalmist addresses the apparent ringleader of the opposition, an individual who was once his friend.
  26. Psalm 55:13 tn Heb “a man according to my value,” i.e., “a person such as I.”
  27. Psalm 55:13 tn Heb “my close friend, one known by me.”
  28. Psalm 55:14 tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 502-3 §31.2b.
  29. Psalm 55:15 tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads יַשִּׁימָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashimavet ʿalemo, “May devastation [be] upon them.”). The proposed noun יַשִּׁימָוֶת occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth Jeshimoth in Num 33:49. The Qere (marginal text) has יַשִּׁי מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashi mavet ʿalemo). The verbal form יַשִּׁי is apparently an alternate form of יַשִּׁיא (yashiʾ), a Hiphil imperfect from נָשַׁא (nashaʾ, “deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading מָוֶת (mavet, “death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: יְשִׁמֵּם מָוֶת (yeshimmem mavet). The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems [מ] was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that עָלֵימוֹ (ʿalemo, “upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled text. The preposition עַל (ʿal) does occur with the verb שָׁמַם (shamam), but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: יַשִּׁים מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashim mavet ʿalemo, “Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.
  30. Psalm 55:15 sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.
  31. Psalm 55:17 tn The first verb is clearly a cohortative form, expressing the psalmist’s resolve. The second verb, while formally ambiguous, should also be understood as cohortative here.
  32. Psalm 55:17 tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive normally appears in narrational contexts to indicate past action, but here it continues the anticipatory (future) perspective of the preceding line. In Ps 77:6 one finds the same sequence of cohortative + prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive. In this case as well, both forms refer to future actions.
  33. Psalm 55:17 tn Heb “my voice.”
  34. Psalm 55:18 tn The perfect verbal form is here used rhetorically to indicate that the action is certain to take place (the so-called perfect of certitude).
  35. Psalm 55:18 tn Heb “he will redeem in peace my life from [those who] draw near to me.”
  36. Psalm 55:18 tn Or “for.”
  37. Psalm 55:18 tn Heb “among many they are against me.” For other examples of the preposition עִמָּד (ʿimmad) used in the sense of “at, against,” see HALOT 842 s.v.; BDB 767 s.v.; IBHS 219 §11.2.14b.
  38. Psalm 55:19 tc Heb “God will hear and answer them, even [the] one who sits [from] ancient times.” The prefixed verbal from with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the anticipatory force of the preceding imperfect. The verb appears to be a Qal form from עָנָה (ʿanah, “to answer”). If this reading is retained, the point would be that God “answered” them in judgment. The translation assumes an emendation to the Piel וַיְעַנֵּם (vayeʿannem; see 2 Kgs 17:20) and understands the root as עָנָה (ʿanah, “to afflict”; see also 1 Kgs 8:35).
  39. Psalm 55:19 tn Heb “[the ones] for whom there are no changes, and they do not fear God.”
  40. Psalm 55:20 sn He. This must refer to the psalmist’s former friend, who was addressed previously in vv. 12-14.
  41. Psalm 55:20 tn Heb “stretches out his hand against.”
  42. Psalm 55:20 tc The form should probably be emended to an active participle (שֹׁלְמָיו, sholemayv) from the verbal root שָׁלַם (shalam, “be in a covenant of peace with”). Perhaps the translation “his friends” suggests too intimate a relationship. Another option is to translate, “he attacks those who made agreements with him.”
  43. Psalm 55:20 tn Heb “he violates his covenant.”
  44. Psalm 55:21 tn Heb “the butter-like [words] of his mouth are smooth.” The noun מַחְמָאֹת (makhmaʾot, “butter-like [words]”) occurs only here. Many prefer to emend the form to מֵחֶמְאָה (mekhemʾah, from [i.e., “than”] butter”), cf. NEB, NRSV “smoother than butter.” However, in this case “his mouth” does not agree in number with the plural verb חָלְקוּ (khalequ, “they are smooth”). Therefore some further propose an emendation of פִּיו (piv, “his mouth”) to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”). In any case, the point seems to that the psalmist’s former friend spoke kindly to him and gave the outward indications of friendship.
  45. Psalm 55:21 tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”
  46. Psalm 55:21 tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”
  47. Psalm 55:22 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.
  48. Psalm 55:22 tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.
  49. Psalm 55:22 tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”
  50. Psalm 55:23 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
  51. Psalm 55:23 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
  52. Psalm 55:23 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
  53. Psalm 55:23 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
Next
诗篇 54
诗篇 56
Next
dropdown
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified) (CCB)

Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.