Psalms 55:6-16

6 And I say, `Who doth give to me a pinion as a dove? I fly away and rest,

7 Lo, I move far off, I lodge in a wilderness. Selah.

8 I hasten escape for myself, From a rushing wind, from a whirlwind.

9 Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city.

10 By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness [are] in its midst,

11 Mischiefs [are] in its midst. Fraud and deceit depart not from its street.

12 For an enemy reproacheth me not, or I bear [it], He who is hating me Hath not magnified himself against me, Or I hide from him.

13 But thou, a man -- as mine equal, My familiar friend, and mine acquaintance.

14 When together we sweeten counsel, Into the house of God we walk in company.

15 Desolations [are] upon them, They go down [to] Sheol -- alive, For wickedness [is] in their dwelling, in their midst.

16 I -- to God I call, and Jehovah saveth me.

Psalms 55:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil [A Psalm] of David. The occasion of this psalm was either the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom. Some think it was written when David understood that the inhabitants of Keilah would deliver him into the hands of Saul, 1 Samuel 23:12; and others when the Ziphites attempted a second time to do the same, 1 Samuel 26:1; but since a single person is spoken of that magnified himself against him, Psalm 55:12; and Ahithophel seems to be designed; it may be thought rather to be written on account of Absalom's rebellion, and Ahithophel's counsel against him; who is considered by many Christian interpreters as a type of Judas, the betrayer of our Lord; and, indeed, there are many things in this psalm, if not the whole, which may be truly applied to Christ, as will be seen in the following exposition of it.