Psalms — Chapter 55
For the leader; with instrumental music. A maskil of David.
Give ear, O God, to my prayer;do not ignore my plea;
pay heed to me and answer me.I am tossed about, complaining and moaning
at the clamor of the enemy,because of the oppression of the wicked;for they bring evil upon meand furiously harass me.
My heart is convulsed within me;terrors of death assail me.
Fear and trembling invade me;I am clothed with horror.
I said,“O that I had the wings of a dove!I would fly away and find rest;
surely, I would flee far off;I would lodge in the wilderness; selah
I would soon find me a refugefrom the sweeping wind,from the tempest.”
O my Sovereign, confound their speech, confuse it!For I see lawlessness and strife in the city;
day and night they make their rounds on its walls;evil and mischief are inside it.
Malice is within it;fraud and deceit never leave its square.
It is not an enemy who reviles me—I could bear that;it is not my foe who boasts against me—for then I could hide;
but it is you, my equal,my companion, my friend;
sweet was our fellowship;we walked together in God’s house.
Let [God] incite death against them;may they go down alive into Sheol!For where they dwell,there evil is.
As for me, I call to God; GOD will deliver me.
Evening, morning, and noon,I complain and moan,and my voice is heard.
[God] redeems me unharmedfrom the battle against me;it is as though many are on my side.ait is as though many are on my side Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
God who has reigned from the first,who will have no successor,hears and humbles those who show no reverence. Selah.
My companionbMy companion Heb. “He,” i.e., the friend of v. 14. caused harm to alliesand broke a pact—
with talk smoother than butter,yet with a mind set on war;with words that were softer than oil,yet in fact were drawn swords.
Cast your burden on GOD and you will be sustained;the righteous will never be allowed to collapse.
For You, O God, will bring them down to the nethermost Pit—those treacherous murderers;they shall not live out half their days—but I trust in You.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
Humility & Surrender
Bhagavad Gita 18:66
“Abandon all varieties of dharma and simply surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.”
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Tao Te Ching 22
“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.”
Quran 2:45
“Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed exacting, but not for those who are humble.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”