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55. Psalm 55

¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
   do not ignore my plea;
    ² hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
    ³ because of what my enemy is saying,
   because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
   and assail me in their anger.

    ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
   the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
   horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
   and stay in the desert; The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and in the middle of verse 19.
⁸ I would hurry to my place of shelter,
   far from the tempest and storm.”

    ⁹ Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
   malice and abuse are within it.
¹¹ Destructive forces are at work in the city;
   threats and lies never leave its streets.

    ¹² If an enemy were insulting me,
   I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
   I could hide.
¹³ But it is you, a man like myself,
   my companion, my close friend,
¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
   at the house of God,
as we walked about
   among the worshipers.

    ¹⁵ Let death take my enemies by surprise;
   let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
   for evil finds lodging among them.

    ¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
   and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
   I cry out in distress,
   and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
   from the battle waged against me,
   even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
   who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
   because they have no fear of God.

    ²⁰ My companion attacks his friends;
   he violates his covenant.
²¹ His talk is smooth as butter,
   yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
   yet they are drawn swords.

    ²² Cast your cares on the LORD
   and he will sustain you;
he will never let
   the righteous be shaken.
²³ But you, God, will bring down the wicked
   into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
   will not live out half their days.

But as for me, I trust in you.

20. He hath sent his hands against those that were at peace with him He afterwards speaks in verse 23d in the plural number, but here it is probable that he begins by addressing the leader and head of the wicked conspiracy. He accuses him of waging war in the midst of peace, and being thus guilty of a breach of faith. He had neither suffered provocation, nor had he announced in an open manner his intention to give battle, but had commenced the attack unexpectedly and with treachery. The same charge is insisted upon still further, when it is added, that butter and oil were in his lips, while war was in his heart, and his words themselves were darts. To appearance they were soft and agreeable, but they covered a hidden virulence and cruelty which wounded like a sword or like darts, ³²⁰³²⁰ In the figurative language of the East, severe, unfeeling, and injurious words are often compared to swords, daggers, arrows, etc. Thus it is said in Psalm 59:7, “Swords are in their lips; for who, say they, doth hear?” and in Proverbs 12:18, “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword.” In our own language, a similar figure of speech is quite common, as when we speak of keen, cutting, and piercing words, and of the wounds which they inflict. “I will speak daggers to her.” — Hamlet. according to the common proverb, that deceivers carry on their lips poison besmeared with honey. It is well known how many fair promises and flatteries Saul addressed to David with a view to entrap him, and we may conjecture that the same arts were practiced by his courtiers. It is one special trial of the Lord’s people, that they are exposed to such attempts on the part of crafty men to seduce them into destruction. Here the Holy Spirit puts a mark of reprobation upon all subtilty of this kind, and particularly upon treacherous flatteries, exhorting us to cultivate simplicity of intention.