Psalms 54–56
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Contemplative Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”
1 O God, save me by Your name,
and judge me by Your strength.
2 O God, hear my prayer;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers rise up against me,
and formidable adversaries seek my life;
they do not set God before them. Selah
4 God is my helper;
the Lord is with those who support my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In Your faithfulness, destroy them.
6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to You;
I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
and my eye has looked down on my enemies.
Psalm 55
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Contemplative Maskil of David.
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint, and I murmur,
3 because of the voice of the enemy,
because of the pressure of the wicked,
for they cause trouble to drop on me,
and in wrath they have animosity against me.
4 My heart is in pain within me,
and the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling come into me,
and horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
For then I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Indeed, then I would wander far off,
and remain in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hasten my escape
from the windy storm and tempest.”
9 Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,
for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls;
trouble and sorrow are in its midst.
11 Destruction is in its midst;
oppression and treachery do not depart from its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;
then I could bear it.
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me;
then I could hide from him.
13 But it was you, my peer,
my guide, and my acquaintance.
14 We took pleasant counsel together,
and walked to the house of God in company.
15 May death surprise them,
and may their lives go down to Sheol,
for wickedness is in their dwellings
and among them.
16 As for me, I will call on God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon,
I will make my complaint and murmur,
and He will hear my voice.
18 He has ransomed my life in peace
from the battle against me,
for there were many against me.
19 God will hear and afflict them,
even He who sits enthroned from of old. Selah
Because they do not change,
therefore they do not fear God.
20 My friend has set his hands against those at peace with him;
he has violated his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
but battle was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
and He will sustain you;
He will never allow
the righteous to be moved.
23 But You, O God, will cast the wicked down
into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and deceitful men
will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in You.
Psalm 56
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Silent Dove at a Distance.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man would crush me;
all day long he who battles oppresses me.
2 All day long my enemies would crush me,
for there are many who arrogantly battle against me.
3 In the day when I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God whose word I praise,
in God I have trusted; I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 Every day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
when they wait for my life.
7 Should there be deliverance for them on account of wickedness?
In Your anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You take account of my wandering;
put my tears in Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?
9 In the day I cry to You,
then my enemies will turn back;
this I know, that God is for me.
10 In God whose word I praise,
in the Lord whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust, I will not fear;
what can a man do to me?
12 Your vows are on me, O God;
I will complete them with thank offerings to You;
13 for You have delivered my soul from death,
even my feet from stumbling,
to walk before God
in the light of the living.
Romans 3
1 What advantage then does the Jew have? Or what profit is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because the oracles of God were entrusted to them.
3 What if some did not believe? Would their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 God forbid! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
“That You may be justified in Your words,
and may prevail in Your judging.”
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous in taking vengeance? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 God forbid! For then how could God judge the world? 7 If through my lie the truth of God has abounded more to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 Why not rather say, “Let us do evil that good may come,” as we are slanderously accused and as some claim that we say? Their condemnation is just.
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.”
13 “Their throats are an open grave;
with their tongues they have used deceit”;
“the poison of vipers is under their lips”;
14 “their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 destruction and misery are in their paths;
17 and they do not know the way of peace.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and all the world may become accountable to God. 20 Therefore by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. 22 This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all who believe, for there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith, in His blood, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins previously committed, 26 to prove His righteousness at this present time so that He might be just and be the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. 29 Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 seeing it is one God, who shall justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make the law void through faith? God forbid! Instead, we establish the law.