Psalms 55:1-11

1 Give hearing to my prayer, O God; and let not your ear be shut against my request.

2 Give thought to me, and let my prayer be answered: I have been made low in sorrow;

3 I am troubled because of the voice of the cruel ones, because of the loud cry of the evil-doers; for they put a weight of evil on me, and they are cruel in their hate for me.

4 My heart is deeply wounded, and the fear of death has come on me.

5 Fear and shaking have come over me, with deep fear I am covered.

6 And I said, If only I had wings like a dove! for then I would go in flight from here and be at rest.

7 I would go wandering far away, living in the waste land. (Selah.)

8 I would quickly take cover from the driving storm and from the violent wind.

9 Send destruction on them, O Lord, make a division of tongues among them: for I have seen fighting and violent acts in the town.

10 By day and night they go round the town, on the walls; trouble and sorrow are in the heart of it.

11 Evil is there; cruel rule and deceit are ever in the streets.

Psalms 55:1-11 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.