# Psalm 55 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. 
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1. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! 
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2. Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, 
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3. because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me. 
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4. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 
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5. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. 
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6. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; 
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7. yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah 
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8. I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.” 
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9. Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city. 
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10. Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it; 
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11. ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace. 
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12. For 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. 
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13. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. 
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14. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng. 
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15. Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart. 
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16. But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. 
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17. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. 
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18. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. 
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19. God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God. 
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20. My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. 
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21. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. 
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22. Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. 
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23. But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you. 

(ESV)