Psalms 55:1-17

1Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

3because 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.

4My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

6And I say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

7yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest."

9Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

10Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

12For 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.

13But 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 the throng.

15Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

16But I call to God, and the Lord will save me.

17Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.