Old/New Testament
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.
2 God, listen to my prayer,
and pay attention to the words of my mouth.
3 For the arrogant have arisen against me;
oppressors have sought to take my life.
They do not keep God in mind![b]
4 Look, God is my helper;
the Lord is with those who are guarding my life.
5 He will turn the evil upon those who lie in wait for me.
Cut them off with your truth.
6 With a free will offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, Lord,
because it is good,
7 for he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eyes have seen the end of[c] my enemies.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic instruction.[d]
Betrayal by a Friend
55 Pay attention to my prayer, God,
and do not hide yourself from my appeal.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I moan and groan in my thoughts,
3 because of the voice of the enemy,
and because of the oppression of the wicked.
They bring down evil upon me,
and in anger they hate me.
4 My heart is trembling within me,
and the terrors of death have assaulted me.
5 Fear and trembling have overwhelmed me,
and horror has covered me.
6 I said, “O, who will give me the wings of a dove,
so that I could fly away and live somewhere else?
7 Look, I want to flee far away;
I want to settle down in the wilderness.
8 I want to deliver myself quickly
from this windstorm and tempest.”
9 Confound them, Lord,
and confuse their speech,
because I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl around its walls;
evil and iniquity are within it.
11 Wickedness is at the center of it;
fraud and lies never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could have handled that—
nor is it someone who hates me and who now arises against me—
I could have hidden myself from him—
13 but it is you—
a man whom I treated as my equal—
my personal confidant,
my close friend!
14 We had good fellowship together;
and we even walked together in the house of God!
15 Let death seize them!
May they be plunged alive into the afterlife,[e]
for wicked things are in their homes
and among them.
16 I call upon God,
and the Lord will deliver me.
17 Morning, noon, and night,
I mulled over these things
and cried out in my distress,
and he heard my voice.
18 He calmly ransomed my soul from the war waged against me,
for there was a vast crowd who stood against me.
19 God, who is enthroned from long ago,
will hear me and humble them.
Because they do not repent,
they do not fear God.
20 Each of my friends[f] raises his hand against his allies;
each of my friends[g] breaks his word.[h]
21 His mouth is as smooth as butter,
while war is in his heart.
His words were as smooth as olive oil,
while his sword is drawn.
22 Cast on the Lord whatever he sends your way,
and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
23 But you, God, bring them down to the Pit of corruption;[i]
bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days.
But I put my full confidence in you.
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[j] to the tune of[k] “A Silent Dove Far Away,” when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
A Prayer about Trust in God
56 Have mercy on me, God,
because men have harassed me.
Those who oppress me have fought against me all day long.
2 Those who watch me all day have harassed me,
for there are many who fight against me out of conceit.
3 On days when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man[l] can do to me.
5 All day long people[m] distort what I say;
all their schemes against me are for evil purposes.
6 They gather together
and hide in ambush.
They watch my every step
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Cast them away because of their wickedness.
In wrath, God, cast down these[n] people!
8 You have kept count of my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle—
have not you recorded them in your book?
9 My enemies will retreat when I call on you.[o]
This has been my experience,
because God is with me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I will put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man can do to me.
Everyone is a Sinner
3 What advantage, then, does the Jew have, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews[a] have been entrusted with the utterances of God. 3 What if some of the Jews[b] were unfaithful? Their unfaithfulness cannot cancel God’s faithfulness, can it? 4 Of course not! God is true, even if everyone else is a liar. As it is written,
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to confirm God’s righteousness, what can we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his wrath on us, is he? (I am talking in human terms.) 6 Of course not! Otherwise, how could God judge the world? 7 For[e] if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 Or can we say—as some people slander us by claiming that we say—“Let’s do evil that good may result”? They deserve to be condemned!
9 What, then, does this mean?[f] Are we Jews[g] any better off? Not at all! For we have already accused everyone, both Jews and Greeks, of being under the power of[h] sin. 10 As it is written,
“Not even one person is righteous.
11 No one understands.
No one searches for God.
12 All have turned away.
They have become completely worthless.
No one shows kindness, not even one person![i]
13 Their throats are open graves.
With their tongues they deceive.[j]
The venom of poisonous snakes is under their lips.[k]
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.[l]
15 They run swiftly[m] to shed blood.
16 Ruin and misery characterize their lives.
17 They have not learned the path to peace.[n]
18 They don’t fear God.[o]
19 Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore, God[p] will not justify any human being by means of the actions prescribed by the Law, for through the Law comes the full knowledge of sin.
God Gives Us Righteousness through Faith
21 But now, apart from the Law, God’s righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets— 22 God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus[q] the Messiah[r]— for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people,[s] 23 since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God’s glory. 24 By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in the Messiah[t] Jesus, 25 whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah’s[u] blood would occur through faith. He did this[v] to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past. 26 He wanted[w] to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies anyone who has the faithfulness of Jesus.[x]
27 What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of actions? No, but on the principle of faith. 28 For[y] we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the actions prescribed by the Law. 29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the gentiles, too? Yes, of the gentiles, too, 30 since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith. 31 Do we, then, abolish the Law by this faith? Of course not! Instead, we uphold the Law.
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