The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Psalms
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Psalm 54
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1
(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A maskil. Of David.)
2
Give audience to my prayer, O God; do not spurn this plea of mine;
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hear and grant relief. No rest I find in my distress,
4
daunted ever by the hue and cry of godless enemies, whose malicious spite would compass my ruin.
5
My heart is full of whirling thoughts; the fear of death stands over me;
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trembling and terrified, I see perils closing round me.
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Had I but wings, I cry, as a dove has wings, to fly away and find rest!
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Far would I flee; the wilderness should be my shelter,
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so I might find speedy refuge from the whirlwind and the storm.
10
Plunge them deep, Lord, in ruin, bring dissension into their councils! Do I not see, already, violence and sedition in the city?
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Day and night they make the round of its walls, and all the while there is wrong and oppression at the heart of it,
12
its treacherous heart; cruelty and cunning walk ever in its streets.
13
Had some enemy decried me, I could have borne it patiently; some open ill-wisher, I could have sheltered myself from his attack.
14
But thou, my second self, my familiar friend!
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How pleasant was the companionship we shared, thou and I; how lovingly we walked as fellow pilgrims in the house of God!
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May death overtake them, may the abyss swallow them up alive, their homes, their hearts so tainted with evil!
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Still I will call upon God, and the Lord will save;
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still at evening and morn and noon I will cry aloud and make my plea known; he will not be deaf to my appeal.
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He will win my soul peace, will rescue me from attack, when many take part against me.
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He, the God who reigned before time was, will listen to me, will bring them low. Never a change of heart, never the fear of God;
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not one but will turn against his friend, break his pledged word.
22
Smooth as butter their looks, when their hearts are all hatred; soft as oil their speech, yet never was drawn sword so deadly.
23
Cast the burden of thy cares upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee; never will he let thee stumble, his servant if thou be.
24
These, O God, thou wilt sink in a pit of ruin; the blood-thirsty, the treacherous, will not live out half their days; but I, Lord, will put my trust in thee.
