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God Will Punish the Proud

For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”

52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
    God’s love will continue forever.
You think up evil plans.
    Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
    making up lies.
You love wrong more than right
    and lies more than truth. Selah
You love words that bite
    and tongues that lie.

But God will ruin you forever.
    He will grab you and throw you out of your tent.
    He will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
Those who do right will see this and fear God.
    They will laugh at you and say,
“Look what happened to the man
    who did not depend on God.
Instead, he depended on his money.
    He grew strong by his evil plans.”

But I am like an olive tree
    growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
    forever and ever.
God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
    With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.

Psalm 52[a]

For the director of music. A maskil[b] of David. When Doeg the Edomite(A) had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
    Why do you boast(B) all day long,(C)
    you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
You who practice deceit,(D)
    your tongue plots destruction;(E)
    it is like a sharpened razor.(F)
You love evil(G) rather than good,
    falsehood(H) rather than speaking the truth.[c]
You love every harmful word,
    you deceitful tongue!(I)

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
    He will snatch you up and pluck(J) you from your tent;
    he will uproot(K) you from the land of the living.(L)
The righteous will see and fear;
    they will laugh(M) at you, saying,
“Here now is the man
    who did not make God his stronghold(N)
but trusted in his great wealth(O)
    and grew strong by destroying others!”

But I am like an olive tree(P)
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust(Q) in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
For what you have done I will always praise you(R)
    in the presence of your faithful people.(S)
And I will hope in your name,(T)
    for your name is good.(U)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 52:1 In Hebrew texts 52:1-9 is numbered 52:3-11.
  2. Psalm 52:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
  3. Psalm 52:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 5.