Psalms 5

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my ^agroaning.
2Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my ^bKing and my God,
for ^cto you do I pray.
3O Lord, in ^dthe morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you ▼

▼Or  I direct my prayer to you

and ^fwatch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5The ^gboastful shall not ^hstand before your eyes;
you ⁱhate all evildoers.
6You destroy those who speak ^jlies;
the Lord abhors ^kthe bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will ^lbow down ^mtoward your ⁿholy temple
in the fear of you.
8 ^oLead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
^pmake your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is ^qdestruction;
^rtheir throat is ^san open grave;
they ^tflatter with their tongue.
10 ^uMake them bear their guilt, O God;
let them ^vfall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who ^wtake refuge in you ^xrejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may ^yexult in you.
12For you ^zbless the righteous, O Lord;
you ^aacover him with favor as with ^aba shield.

Psalms 55

Cast Your Burden on the Lord

To the choirmaster: with ^acstringed instruments. A Maskil ▼

▼Probably a musical or liturgical term

of David.

1 ^aeGive ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless ^afin my complaint and I ^agmoan,
3because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they ^ahdrop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
^aithe terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5Fear and trembling come upon me,
and ^ajhorror ^akoverwhelms me.
6And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 ^alyes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness;  Selah
8I would hurry to find a shelter
from ^amthe raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, ^andivide their tongues;
for I see ^aoviolence and strife in the city.
10Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and ^apiniquity and trouble are within it;
11ruin is in its midst;
^aqoppression 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 ^ardeals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13 ^asBut it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in ^atthe throng.
15Let death steal over them;
let them go down to Sheol ^aualive;
for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 ^avEvening and ^awmorning and at ^axnoon
I ^ayutter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
18He redeems my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for ^azmany are arrayed against me.
19God will give ear and humble them,
he who is ^baenthroned from of old,  Selah
because they do not ^bbchange
and do not fear God.
20 My companion ▼

▼Hebrew He

^bdstretched out his hand against his friends;
he violated his covenant.
21His ^bespeech was ^bfsmooth as butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were ^bgdrawn swords.
22 ^bhCast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
^bihe will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
23 But you, O God, ^bjwill cast them down
into ^bkthe pit of destruction;
men of ^blblood and treachery
shall not ^bmlive out half their days.
But I will ^bntrust in you.