Psalms 51; Psalms 52; Psalms 53; Psalms 54; Psalms 55; Psalms 56; Psalms 57

Psalms 51

1 (50-1) <Unto the end, a psalm of David, (50-2) When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with Bethsabee.> (50-3) Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

2 (50-4) Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 (50-5) For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

4 (50-6) To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.

5 (50-7) For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.

6 (50-8) For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

7 (50-9) Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

8 (50-10) To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

9 (50-11) Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

10 (50-12) Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

11 (50-13) Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 (50-14) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

13 (50-15) I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

14 (50-16) Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

15 (50-17) O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

16 (50-18) For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

17 (50-19) A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 (50-20) Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

19 (50-21) Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Psalms 52

1 (51-1) <Unto the end, understanding for David, (51-2) When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul: David went to the house of Achimelech.> (51-3) Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

2 (51-4) All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

3 (51-5) Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

4 (51-6) Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

5 (51-7) Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

6 (51-8) The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:

7 (51-9) Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.

8 (51-10) But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.

9 (51-11) I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

Psalms 53

1 (52-1) <Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David.> The fool said in his heart: There is no God. (52-2) They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.

2 (52-3) God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.

3 (52-4) All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.

4 (52-5) Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?

5 (52-6) They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.

6 (52-7) Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psalms 54

1 (53-1) <Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. (53-2) When the end of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?> (53-3) Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.

2 (53-4) O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 (53-5) For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.

4 (53-6) For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.

5 (53-7) Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy truth.

6 (53-8) I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good:

7 (53-9) For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.

Psalms 55

1 (54-1) <Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.> (54-2) Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:

2 (54-3) Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,

3 (54-4) At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.

4 (54-5) My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

5 (54-6) Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.

6 (54-7) And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

7 (54-8) Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

8 (54-9) I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

9 (54-10) Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

10 (54-11) Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

11 (54-12) And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

12 (54-13) For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden my self from him.

13 (54-14) But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,

14 (54-15) Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

15 (54-16) Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

16 (54-17) But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.

17 (54-18) Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.

18 (54-19) He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.

19 (54-20) God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:

20 (54-21) He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,

21 (54-22) They are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.

22 (54-23) Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

23 (54-24) But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

Psalms 56

1 (55-1) <Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance form the sanctuary: for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar) when the Philistines held him in Geth.> (55-2) Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.

2 (55-3) My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me.

3 (55-4) From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee.

4 (55-5) In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me.

5 (55-6) All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were against me unto evil.

6 (55-7) They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As they have waited for my soul,

7 (55-8) For nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces. O God,

8 (55-9) I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set me tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise.

9 (55-10) Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.

10 (55-11) In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his speech.

11 (55-11) In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me.

12 (55-12) In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to thee:

13 (55-13) Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.

Psalms 57

1 (56-1) <Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title, when he fled from Saul into the cave.> (56-2) Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.

2 (56-3) I will cry to God the most high; to God who hath done good to me.

3 (56-4) He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,

4 (56-5) And he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions. I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 (56-6) Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth.

6 (56-7) They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it.

7 (56-8) My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and rehearse a psalm.

8 (56-9) Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.

9 (56-10) I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations.

10 (56-11) For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth unto the clouds.

11 (56-12) Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth.