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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

Answered Prayer for Deliverance from Adversaries

For the music director, with stringed instruments.

A maskil of David,

when the Ziphites went and said to Saul,

“Is not David hiding himself among us?”[a]

54 O God, by your name save me,
and by your power vindicate me.
O God, hear my prayer;
heed the words of my mouth.
For foreigners have risen against me,
and ruthless men seek my life.
They have not set God before them. Selah
See, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who sustain my life.[b]
He will repay[c] my enemies for their[d] evil;
in your faithfulness destroy them.
I will freely sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name,
O Yahweh, because it is good.
Because he has delivered me from all trouble,
and my eye has looked with satisfaction on my enemies.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 54:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
  2. Psalm 54:4 Or “The Lord is the sustainer of my life.”
  3. Psalm 54:5 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  4. Psalm 54:5 Hebrew “the”

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

19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20 So then, O king, whenever you want[a] to come down, come down, and it will be for us to deliver him into the hand of the king.” 21 And Saul said to them, “May you be blessed by Yahweh, for you have shown me compassion! 22 Go, please, make certain again! Find out and see exactly where he is[b] and who has seen him there! For they have said to me, ‘He is very cunning.’ 23 Look, find out all of the hiding places where he hides. Then return to me with dependable information,[c] and I will go with you. And then if he is there in the land, then I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah.” 24 Then they got up and went to Ziph before Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon. 25 And Saul and his men went to seek him, and they told David, so he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard this, he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 23:20 Literally “for all the wanting of your soul”
  2. 1 Samuel 23:22 Literally “his place where his foot is
  3. 1 Samuel 23:23 Literally “to being established”