Psalm 56
A psalm written by David for the choir director, concerning the time the Philistines seized David in Gath; to be sung using the tune “Dove on distant oaks.”
1 God, act mercifully toward me because men are attacking me!
All day long an enemy presses closer and closer to me because they want to take my life.
2 All day long my enemies seek to crush the life from me,
there are many enemies attacking me!
3 But whenever I am afraid,
I trust in you.
4 God, I praise you because you do what you have promised;
I trust in you, and then I am not afraid.
Ordinary humans certainly cannot harm me!
5 All day long my enemies claim that I said things that I did not say;
they are always thinking of ways to harm me.
6 In order to cause trouble for me, they hide
and watch everything that I do,
waiting for an opportunity to kill me.
7 So, God, punish them for the wicked things that they are doing;
show that you are angry by defeating those people!
8 You have counted all the times that I have been wandering alone;
it is as though you have put all my tears in a bottle
so that you can see how much I have cried.
You have counted my tears and written the number in your book.
9 When I call out to you, my God, my enemies will be defeated;
I know that will happen because you are fighting for me.
10 I praise you that you do what you have promised;
Yahweh, I will always praise you for that.
11 I trust in you, and as a result, I will not be afraid.
I know that humans cannot really harm me!
12 I will bring to you the offering that I promised;
I will bring an offering to you to thank you
13 because you have rescued me from being killed;
you have kept me from stumbling.
And so I will continue to live with God every day
in his light that gives me life.