Psalm 55

Prayer of One Who Is Maliciously Beset and Betrayed by His Friend

2 GIVE ear, Elohim, to my prayer,

And veil not Thyself from my supplication;

3 Oh hearken to me and answer me !

I toss to and fro in my thoughts and must groan,

4 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression

of the evil-doer.

For they roll iniquity upon me, And in anger do they pursue me.

5 My heart writhes within me,

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

6 Fear and trembling come upon me, And horror hath covered me.

7 I thought : Oh that I had wings like a dove, Then would I fly away and be at rest !

8 Yea, I would flee afar off,

I would lodge in the wilderness. (Sela.)

9 I would soar to my place of refuse From the raging wind, from the, tempest.

10 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues, For I see violence and strife in the city.

11 Day and night they go their rounds upon its walls And evil and trouble are in the midst of it.

12 Destruction is in the midst of it,

And oppression and guile depart not from its market-place.

13 For it is not an enemy that reproacheth me, then I would

bear it ;