Psalm 53-55

English Standard Version

² God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,^[b]
    who seek after God.

³ They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?

⁵ There they are, in great terror,
    ^(C)where there is no terror!
For God ^(D)scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
    you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

^3 (I)For ^(J)strangers^[d] have risen against me;
    ruthless men ^(K)seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴ Behold, ^(L)God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
⁵ He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your ^(M)faithfulness ^(N)put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^(O)for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has ^(P)looked in triumph on my enemies.

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

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

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

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

²⁰ My companion^{[f] (AP)}stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
²¹ His ^(AQ)speech was ^(AR)smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were ^(AS)drawn swords.

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

²³ But you, O God, ^(AV)will cast them down
    into ^(AW)the pit of destruction;
men of ^(AX)blood and treachery
    shall not ^(AY)live out half their days.
But I will ^(AZ)trust in you.