Psalm 54

Prayer for Deliverance

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”(A)

God, save me by Your name,
and vindicate me by Your might!(B)
God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth.(C)
For strangers rise up against me,
and violent men seek my life.
They have no regard for God.[a](D)Selah

God is my helper;
the Lord is the sustainer of my life.[b](E)
He will repay my adversaries for their evil.
Because of Your faithfulness, annihilate them.(F)

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to You.(G)
I will praise Your name, Yahweh,
because it is good.(H)
For He has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked down on my enemies.(I)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 54:3 Lit They do not set God before them
  2. Psalm 54:4 Or is with those who sustain my life

To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic instruction,[a] when the Ziphites came and told Saul, “David is hiding among us, is he not?”

A Prayer in Times of Trouble

54 God, by your name deliver me,
    and by your power vindicate me.
God, listen to my prayer,
    and pay attention to the words of my mouth.
For the arrogant have arisen against me;
    oppressors have sought to take my life.
They do not keep God in mind![b]
Interlude

Look, God is my helper;
    the Lord is with those who are guarding my life.
He will turn the evil upon those who lie in wait for me.
    Cut them off with your truth.

With a free will offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, Lord,
        because it is good,
for he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eyes have seen the end of[c] my enemies.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 54:1 Lit. maskil
  2. Psalm 54:3 Lit. before them
  3. Psalm 54:7 The Heb. lacks the end of

David’s Narrow Escape

19 Some Ziphites(A) came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “David is[a] hiding among us in the strongholds in Horesh on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon. 20 Now, whenever the king wants to come down, let him come down. Our part will be to hand him over to the king.”(B)

21 “May you be blessed by the Lord,” replied Saul, “for you have taken pity on me.(C) 22 Go and check again. Investigate and watch carefully where he goes[b] and who has seen him there; they tell me he is extremely cunning. 23 Look and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with accurate information, and I’ll go with you. If it turns out he really is in the region, I’ll search for him among all the clans[c] of Judah.” 24 So they went to Ziph ahead of Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness near Maon(D) in the Arabah south of Jeshimon, 25 and Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David there.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 23:19 Lit Is David not . . . Jeshimon?
  2. 1 Samuel 23:22 Lit watch his place where his foot will be
  3. 1 Samuel 23:23 Or thousands

The People of Ziph Betray David

19 People from Ziph came up to Saul at Gibeah and informed him, “David is hiding with us in the strongholds in Horesh and on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon, isn’t he? 20 Now, your majesty, whenever you want to come down,[a] come down, and our part will be to hand him over to the king.”

21 Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you have been gracious to me. 22 Go and again make sure, find out and investigate where he is[b] and who has seen him there, for people tell me that he’s very clever. 23 Investigate and find out all the hiding places there where he hides, and return to me with reliable information. Then I’ll go down with you, and if he’s in the land, I’ll search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” 24 The people from Ziph got up and left Saul, while David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.

25 When Saul and his men went to search for David,[c] some people[d] told David, and he went down to the Rock of Escape[e] and remained in the wilderness of Maon. Saul heard this and he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 23:20 Lit. according to your desire to come down
  2. 1 Samuel 23:22 Lit. his place where his foot is
  3. 1 Samuel 23:25 The Heb. lacks for David
  4. 1 Samuel 23:25 Lit. David, they
  5. 1 Samuel 23:25 The Heb. lacks of Escape; cf. v.28