Psalms 55:6-16

6 And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

7 yea, I would wander afar, I would lodge in the wilderness, [Selah]

8 I would haste to find me a shelter from the raging wind and tempest."

9 Destroy their plans, O Lord, confuse their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it on its walls; and mischief and trouble are within it,

11 ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its market place.

12 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, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.

14 We used to hold sweet converse together; within God's house we walked in fellowship.

15 Let death come upon them; let them go down to Sheol alive; let them go away in terror into their graves.

16 But I call upon God; and the LORD will save 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.