Old/New Testament
Prayer for defence against enemies.
For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David; when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?
54 Save me, O God, by thy name,
And judge me in thy might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers are risen up against me,
And violent men have sought after my soul:
They have not set God before them. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper:
The Lord is [a]of them that uphold my soul.
5 [b]He will requite the evil unto [c]mine enemies:
Destroy thou them in thy truth.
6 With a freewill-offering will I sacrifice unto thee:
I will give thanks unto thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good.
7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble;
And mine eye hath seen my desire upon mine enemies.
Prayer for the destruction of the treacherous.
For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God;
And hide not thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me, and answer me:
I am restless in my complaint, and moan,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they cast iniquity upon me,
And in anger they persecute me.
4 My heart is sore pained within me:
And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,
And horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!
Then would I fly away, and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off,
I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would [d]haste me to a shelter
From the stormy wind and tempest.
9 [e]Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue;
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof:
Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof:
[f]Oppression and guile depart not from its streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me;
Then I could have borne it:
Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;
Then I would have hid myself from him:
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal,
My companion, and my familiar friend.
14 We took sweet counsel together;
We walked in the house of God with the throng.
15 [g]Let death come suddenly upon them,
Let them go down alive into Sheol;
For wickedness is in their dwelling, in [h]the midst of them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God;
And Jehovah will save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noonday, will I complain, and moan;
And he will hear my voice.
18 He hath redeemed my soul in peace [i]from the battle that was against me;
For they were many that strove with me.
19 God will hear, and [j]answer them,
Even he that abideth of old, Selah
The men who have no changes,
And who fear not God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as were at peace with him:
He hath profaned his covenant.
21 His mouth was smooth as butter,
But his heart was war:
His words were softer than oil,
Yet were they drawn swords.
22 Cast [k]thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee:
He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 But thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction:
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;
But I will trust in thee.
Supplication for deliverance, and grateful trust in God.
For the Chief Musician; set to [l]Jonath elem rehokim. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.
56 Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up:
All the day long he fighting oppresseth me.
2 [m]Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long;
For they are many that fight proudly against me.
3 What time I am afraid,
I will put my trust in thee.
4 In God (I will praise his word),
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can flesh do unto me?
5 All the day long they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
They mark my steps,
[n]Even as they have waited for my soul.
7 [o]Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 Thou numberest my wanderings:
Put thou my tears into thy bottle;
Are they not in thy [p]book?
9 Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call:
This I know, [q]that God is for me.
10 In God (I will praise his word),
In Jehovah (I will praise his word),
11 In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can man do unto me?
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God:
I will render thank-offerings unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death:
Hast thou not delivered my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of [r]the living?
3 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God. 3 For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? 4 [a]God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written,
[b]That thou mightest be justified in thy words,
And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
5 But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.) 6 [c]God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 7 [d]But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just.
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin; 10 as it is written,
[e]There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none that understandeth,
There is none that seeketh after God;
12 They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable;
There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one:
13 [f]Their throat is an open sepulchre;
With their tongues they have used deceit:
[g]The poison of asps is under their lips:
14 [h]Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 [i]Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 [j]There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God: 20 because [k]by [l]the works of the law shall no flesh be [m]justified in his sight; for [n]through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God through faith [o]in Jesus Christ unto all [p]them that believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all [q]have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 whom God set forth [r]to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; 26 for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be [s]just, and the [t]justifier of him that [u]hath faith [v]in Jesus. 27 Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith. 28 [w]We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from [x]the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: 30 if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision [y]by faith, and the uncircumcision [z]through faith.
31 Do we then make [aa]the law of none effect [ab]through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish [ac]the law.
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