Psalm LV.
1
Give ear unto my prayer, O God,
And listen to my moan:
Attend to me in my complaint,
And hear me when I groan.
2
Because mine enemies slander me,
And wicked men oppress:
And charge me most maliciously,
With heinous wickedness.
3
My heart in me is pained sore,
And pangs of death surround:
Horror and trembling seize on me,
And fear doth me confound.
4
O that I wings had like a dove,
I said within my breast:
Then would I from these troubles fly,
That I may be at rest.
5
Then to some desart far remote,
I would my self betake:
And from the tempest and the storm,
A swift escape would make.
6
Destroy them and divide their tongues,
Who strife and mischief mean:
And in whose city nothing else,
But violence is seen.
7
Mischief and sorrow night and day,
Her cursed walls contain:
Dissembling, fraud, and wickedness,
In all her streets remain.
8
For had an enemy slander'd me,
It might have been endur'd:
And had it been an open foe,
I had my self secur'd,
9
But it was thou, my bosom friend,
Whom I rely'd upon:
With whom I to the house of God,
With joy had often gone.
10
Let death upon such traitors seize,
And send them quick to hell,
For nothing else but wickedness,
Doth in their houses dwell.
11
But I upon the Lord will call,
And he will me defend:
Evening and morning, and at noon,
My prayer shall ascend.
12
The Lord will keep my soul in peace,
When wars with me they make:
And mine will be the strongest side,
When God my part doth take.
13
The Lord will hear, and plague them soon,
The Lord that was of old:
Though they, because they see no change,
In wickedness are bold.
14
This spiteful man upon me fell,
Who liv'd in amity:
He broke his covenant with me,
And dealt perfidiously.
15
Smoother than butter were his words,
But war was his intent:
Softer than oyl his speeches were,
Yet blood and mischief meant.
16
O cast thy burden on the Lord,
And he shall thee sustain:
And when they seek to cast thee down,
Their labour shall be vain.
17
But God shall cast into the pit,
The bloody and unjust:
They shall not live out half their days,
But I in thee will trust.
