Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 55
To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God, and hide not Yourself from my supplication!
2 Attend to me and answer me; I am restless and distraught in my complaint and must moan
3 [And I am distracted] at the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression and threats of the wicked; for they would cast trouble upon me, and in wrath they persecute me.
4 My heart is grievously pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling have come upon me; horror and fright have overwhelmed me.
6 And I say, Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Yes, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
8 I would hasten to escape and to find a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest.
9 Destroy [their schemes], O Lord, confuse their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about on its walls; iniquity and mischief are in its midst.
11 Violence and ruin are within it; fraud and guile do not depart from its streets and marketplaces.
12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches and taunts me—then I might bear it; nor is it one who has hated me who insolently vaunts himself against me—then I might hide from him.
13 But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my familiar friend.
14 We had sweet fellowship together and used to walk to the house of God in company.
15 Let desolations and death come suddenly upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol (the place of the dead), for evils are in their habitations, in their hearts, and their inmost part.
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk [and making such great professions] be pronounced free from guilt or blame?
3 Should your boastings and babble make men keep silent? And when you mock and scoff, shall no man make you ashamed?
4 For you have said, My doctrine [that God afflicts the righteous knowingly] is pure, and I am clean in [God’s] eyes.(A)
5 But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you,
6 And that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For He is manifold in understanding! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your guilt and iniquity [deserve].
7 Can you find out the deep things of God, or can you by searching find out the limits of the Almighty [explore His depths, ascend to His heights, extend to His breadths, and comprehend His infinite perfection]?
8 His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol (the place of the dead)! What can you know?
9 Longer in measure [and scope] is it than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10 If [God] sweeps in and arrests and calls into judgment, who can hinder Him? [If He is against a man, who shall call Him to account for it?]
11 For He recognizes and knows hollow, wicked, and useless men (men of falsehood); when He sees iniquity, will He not consider it?
12 But a stupid man will get wisdom [only] when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man [as when he thinks himself free because he is lifted up in pride].
13 If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands to [God],
14 If you put sin out of your hand and far away from you and let not evil dwell in your tents;
15 Then can you lift up your face to Him without stain [of sin, and unashamed]; yes, you shall be steadfast and secure; you shall not fear.
16 For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.
17 And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
18 And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.
19 You shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yes, many shall sue for your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall look [for relief] in vain, and they shall not escape [the justice of God]; and their hope shall be to give up the ghost.
10 But to the married people I give charge—not I but the Lord—that the wife is not to separate from her husband.
11 But if she does [separate from and divorce him], let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband. And [I charge] the husband [also] that he should not put away or divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I declare—I, not the Lord [for Jesus did not discuss this]—that if any brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ] and she consents to live with him, he should not leave or divorce her.
13 And if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, she should not leave or divorce him.
14 For the unbelieving husband is set apart (separated, withdrawn from heathen contamination, and affiliated with the Christian people) by union with his consecrated (set-apart) wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart and separated through union with her consecrated husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, [a]outside the Christian covenant), but as it is they are [b]prepared for God [pure and clean].
15 But if the unbelieving partner [actually] leaves, let him do so; in such [cases the remaining] brother or sister is not morally bound. But God has called us to peace.
16 For, wife, how can you be sure of converting and saving your husband? Husband, how can you be sure of converting and saving your wife?
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation