Read the Bible

¹ (54-1) <Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.> (54-2) Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:² (54-3) Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,³ (54-4) At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.⁴ (54-5) My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.⁵ (54-6) Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.⁶ (54-7) And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?⁷ (54-8) Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.⁸ (54-9) I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

⁹ (54-10) Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.¹⁰ (54-11) Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,¹¹ (54-12) And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.¹² (54-13) For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden my self from him.¹³ (54-14) But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,¹⁴ (54-15) Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.¹⁵ (54-16) Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

¹⁶ (54-17) But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.¹⁷ (54-18) Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.¹⁸ (54-19) He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.¹⁹ (54-20) God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:²⁰ (54-21) He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,²¹ (54-22) They are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.²² (54-23) Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.²³ (54-24) But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.