Cast Your Burden on the Lord
To the choirmaster: with (A)stringed instruments. A Maskil[a] of David.
55 (B)Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless (C)in my complaint and I (D)moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they (E)drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
(F)the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and (G)horror (H)overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 (I)yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter
from (J)the raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, (K)divide their tongues;
for I see (L)violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and (M)iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst;
(N)oppression 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 (O)deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13 (P)But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God's house we walked in (Q)the throng.
15 Let death steal over them;
let them go down to Sheol (R)alive;
for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 (S)Evening and (T)morning and at (U)noon
I (V)utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
18 He redeems my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for (W)many are arrayed against me.
19 God will give ear and humble them,
he who is (X)enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not (Y)change
and do not fear God.
20 My companion[b] (Z)stretched out his hand against his friends;
he violated his covenant.
21 His (AA)speech was (AB)smooth as butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were (AC)drawn swords.
22 (AD)Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
(AE)he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
23 But you, O God, (AF)will cast them down
into (AG)the pit of destruction;
men of (AH)blood and treachery
shall not (AI)live out half their days.
But I will (AJ)trust in you.
Footnotes
- Psalm 55:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 55:20 Hebrew He
Cross references
- Psalm 55:1 : Ps. 4, title
- Psalm 55:1 : Ps. 54:2; 61:1; 86:6
- Psalm 55:2 : ver. 17; Ps. 64:1
- Psalm 55:2 : [Isa. 38:14; 59:11]
- Psalm 55:3 : [2 Sam. 16:7, 8]
- Psalm 55:4 : Ps. 116:3
- Psalm 55:5 : Job 21:6; Isa. 21:4; Ezek. 7:18
- Psalm 55:5 : Ps. 78:53
- Psalm 55:7 : [Jer. 9:2]
- Psalm 55:8 : Ps. 83:15
- Psalm 55:9 : [Gen. 11:9]
- Psalm 55:9 : Jer. 6:7
- Psalm 55:10 : Ps. 5:9
- Psalm 55:11 : [Ps. 10:7]
- Psalm 55:12 : Job 19:5
- Psalm 55:13 : [2 Sam. 15:12; 16:23]; See Ps. 41:9
- Psalm 55:14 : Ps. 42:4
- Psalm 55:15 : Num. 16:30, 33; Prov. 1:12; [Ps. 124:3]
- Psalm 55:17 : Ps. 141:2; Acts 3:1; 10:3, 30
- Psalm 55:17 : Ps. 5:3; 88:13; 92:2
- Psalm 55:17 : Acts 10:9; [Dan. 6:10]
- Psalm 55:17 : ver. 2
- Psalm 55:18 : [Ps. 56:2]
- Psalm 55:19 : Deut. 33:27
- Psalm 55:19 : Job 10:17; See Job 21:7-15
- Psalm 55:20 : Acts 12:1
- Psalm 55:21 : See Ps. 28:3
- Psalm 55:21 : Prov. 5:3, 4
- Psalm 55:21 : See Ps. 57:4
- Psalm 55:22 : See Ps. 37:5
- Psalm 55:22 : Ps. 10:6
- Psalm 55:23 : ver. 15; Ps. 56:7; 59:11
- Psalm 55:23 : Ps. 69:15; 94:13
- Psalm 55:23 : Ps. 5:6
- Psalm 55:23 : Prov. 10:27; See Job 15:32
- Psalm 55:23 : See Ps. 11:1