Project 119: Psalm 55 & Psalm 56

 |  Project 119

Morning: Psalm 55

Cast Your Burden on the LORD

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

1 Give ear to my prayer, O God,

and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2 Attend to me, and answer me;

I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

3 because of the noise of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they drop trouble upon me,

and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

 

4 My heart is in anguish within me;

the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms 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

8 I would hurry to find a shelter

from the raging wind and tempest.”

 

9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;

for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it

on its walls,

and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11 ruin is in its midst;

oppression and fraud

do not depart from its marketplace.

 

12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—

then I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, a man, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend.

14 We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God’s house we walked in the throng.

15 Let death steal over them;

let them go down to Sheol alive;

for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

 

16 But I call to God,

and the LORD will save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon

I utter my complaint and moan,

and he hears my voice.

18 He redeems my soul in safety

from the battle that I wage,

for many are arrayed against me.

19 God will give ear and humble them,

he who is enthroned from of old, Selah

because they do not change

and do not fear God.

 

20 My companion[fn] stretched out his hand against his friends;

he violated his covenant.

21 His speech was smooth as butter,

yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were drawn swords.

 

22 Cast your burden on the LORD,

and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

 

23 But you, O God, will cast them down

into the pit of destruction;

men of blood and treachery

shall not live out half their days.

But I will trust in you.


Evening: Psalm 56

In God I Trust

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

2 my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

3 When I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.

4 In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

 

5 All day long they injure my cause;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They stir up strife, they lurk;

they watch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

7 For their crime will they escape?

In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

 

8 You have kept count of my tossings;

put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your book?

9 Then my enemies will turn back

in the day when I call.

This I know, that God is for me.

10 In God, whose word I praise,

in the LORD, whose word I praise,

11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

 

12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;

I will render thank offerings to you.

13 For you have delivered my soul from death,

yes, my feet from falling,

that I may walk before God

in the light of life.