55:1Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

55:2Attend unto me, and answer me: I wander about in my plaint, and I moan aloud,

55:3Because of the voice of the enemy; because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in anger they persecute me.

55:4My heart is writhing within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

55:5Fear and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.

55:6And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away, and be at rest;

55:7Behold, I would flee afar off, I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah;

55:8I would hasten my escape from the stormy wind, from the tempest.

55:9Swallow them up, Lord; divide their tongue: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

55:10Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; and iniquity and mischief are in the midst of it.

55:11Perversities are in the midst thereof; and oppression and deceit depart not from its streets.

55:12For it is not an enemy that hath reproached me -- then could I have borne it; neither is it he that hateth me that hath magnified himself against me -- then would I have hidden myself from him;

55:13But it was thou, a man mine equal, mine intimate, my familiar friend. ...

55:14We who held sweet intercourse together. To the house of God we walked amid the throng.

55:15Let death seize upon them, let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwellings, in their midst.

55:16As for me, unto God will I call; and Jehovah will save me.

55:17Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and moan aloud; and he will hear my voice.

55:18He hath redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me: for there were many about me.

55:19*God will hear, and afflict them: he that is seated of old, (Selah) ... because there is no change in them, and they fear not God.

55:20He hath put forth his hands against such as are at peace with him; he hath profaned his covenant.

55:21Smooth were the milky words of his mouth, but his heart was war; his words were softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords.

55:22Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and *he* will sustain thee: he will never suffer the righteous to be moved.

55:23And thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. But as for me, I will confide in thee.