54 Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.

² Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:

³ Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,

⁴ At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.

⁵ My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

⁶ Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.

⁷ And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

⁸ Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

⁹ I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

¹⁰ Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

¹¹ Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

¹² And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

¹³ For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.

¹⁴ But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,

¹⁵ Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

¹⁶ Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

¹⁷ But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.

¹⁸ Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.

¹⁹ He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.

²⁰ God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:

²¹ He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,

²² They are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.

²³ Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

²⁴ But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.