Psalms 55:1-17

112Listen, O God, to my prayer! Do not ignore my appeal for mercy!

2Pay attention to me and answer me! I am so upset and distressed, I am beside myself,

3because of what the enemy says, and because of how the wicked pressure me, for they hurl trouble down upon me and angrily attack me.

4My heart beats violently within me; the horrors of death overcome me.

5Fear and panic overpower me; terror overwhelms me.

6I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and settle in a safe place!

7Look, I will escape to a distant place; I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)

8I will hurry off to a place that is safe from the strong wind and the gale.”

9Confuse them, O Lord! Frustrate their plans! For I see violence and conflict in the city.

10Day and night they walk around on its walls, while wickedness and destruction are within it.

11Disaster is within it; violence and deceit do not depart from its public square.

12Indeed, it is not an enemy who insults me, or else I could bear it; it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me, or else I could hide from him.

13But it is you, a man like me, my close friend in whom I confided.

14We would share personal thoughts with each other; in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.

15May death destroy them! May they go down alive into Sheol! For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.

16As for me, I will call out to God, and the Lord will deliver me.

17During the evening, morning, and noontime I will lament and moan, and he will hear me.