Psalms Chapter 55
Showing all 23 verses for Psalms Chapter 55.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication. "
"Listen to my prayer, God; don't hide yourself from my plea."
When you feel like your cries are going unheard, say so plainly rather than pretending you're fine - honest desperation is a legitimate way to reach out, not a failure of faith. I'm not put off by your raw need; bring it to me exactly as it is.
"Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; "
"Pay attention to me and listen: I'm groaning in my distress, making a loud noise about it."
You don't have to grieve quietly or 'keep it together' to be taken seriously - loud, messy distress is allowed, and it doesn't make your pain any less real or valid. Let yourself be as loud as you actually feel.
"Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. "
"Because of the enemy's voice, because of the pressure of wicked people - they pile blame on me, and hate me with real fury."
Being falsely blamed for things, or having people twist the truth to hate you, is genuinely painful, and it's worth naming as such rather than just brushing it off. You don't have to accept a false story about yourself just because someone else is telling it loudly.
"My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. "
"My heart is in real pain inside me; the terror of death has fallen on me."
If fear or anxiety has ever felt like it's physically crushing you, you're not overreacting or being dramatic - that's a real experience, described honestly right here in this ancient prayer. You're allowed to name terror as terror.
"Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. "
"Fear and trembling have taken hold of me, and horror has completely overwhelmed me."
When you're overwhelmed, you don't need to explain it away or find the 'right' proportionate response - sometimes fear is simply enormous, and naming it fully, without minimising, is the healthiest first step through it. I meet you in the overwhelm, not just after you've calmed down.
"And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. "
"And I said, 'If only I had wings like a dove! Then I could fly away and finally rest.'"
Wanting to just run away from everything when life gets unbearable is not a moral failing, it's an ordinary human response to overwhelming pressure - I understand that urge completely. You're allowed to wish for escape even while you're finding the strength to stay and face things.
"Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. "
"Yes, I would wander far away and stay out in the wilderness. (Pause and think about that.)"
The pull towards solitude when relationships have become exhausting or painful is completely understandable - sometimes a season of quiet distance is genuinely what you need to recover. Just don't mistake permanent isolation for the healing you're actually looking for.
"I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. "
"I would rush to escape the raging wind and storm."
If your life currently feels like a storm, don't feel you need to describe it as smaller than it is just to seem strong - call it what it is. Naming the size of the storm honestly is not the same as being defeated by it.
"Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city. "
"Destroy them, Lord, and confuse their speech - I've seen violence and conflict throughout the city."
When you're facing coordinated harm from people working together against you, it's honest to want their plans disrupted - bringing that request to God rather than trying to sabotage them yourself is the difference between prayer and plotting. Let your desire for protection be honest, but let it go through prayer, not scheming.
"Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. "
"Day and night they patrol the city walls with it; harm and misery fill the middle of the city."
If the environment you're living in feels saturated with conflict and harm day and night, that exhaustion is real and worth naming honestly, not something to just push through silently. You're not imagining the toll a genuinely toxic environment takes on you.
"Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets. "
"Wickedness fills the city's centre; deceit and trickery never leave its streets."
Living or working somewhere where deceit never lets up genuinely wears a person down - recognising that toll honestly is the first step towards either changing the environment or protecting your own integrity within it. Don't let a corrupt environment convince you that dishonesty is just normal.
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: "
"It wasn't an enemy who insulted me - I could have handled that; it wasn't someone who hated me who turned against me - I could have hidden from that."
Betrayal from someone close to you cuts deeper than harm from a stranger, and it's honest to admit that difference rather than pretend all pain is the same. Don't be ashamed that a friend's betrayal hurts more than an enemy's attack - that's simply how trust works.
"But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. "
"But it was you - a man just like me, my mentor, someone I knew well."
The people closest to you have the most power to hurt you, precisely because you let your guard down with them - that vulnerability is the cost of real intimacy, and it's not a mistake to have trusted. Betrayal by someone close doesn't mean you were foolish to love or trust them in the first place.
"We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. "
"We used to share close, meaningful conversations, and walk together to worship."
When a close relationship breaks through betrayal, it's normal to grieve the good memories as much as the hurtful ending - both are real, and you don't have to pretend the good times never happened just because the relationship ended badly. Let yourself mourn the whole thing honestly.
"Let death seize upon them, and let them go down into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Let death seize them; let them go down alive into the grave - because wickedness fills their homes and their lives."
When betrayal makes you angry enough to wish real harm on someone, that rage is human and it's safe to bring the whole ugly truth of it to me in prayer rather than pretend you feel calm. But there's a real difference between honestly venting that fury to God and actually acting it out on the person yourself - the first can heal you, the second only spreads more harm.
"As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. "
"As for me, I will call on God, and the LORD will save me."
You can't control what other people do to you, but you can always choose how you respond - keep choosing to bring your pain to me rather than letting someone else's betrayal dictate your own actions. Your integrity is still in your hands even when someone else's isn't.
"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. "
"Evening, morning, and midday, I will pray and cry out loud, and he will hear my voice."
Don't just reach out once in a crisis and expect it to be enough - build a regular rhythm of bringing your struggles into the open, again and again throughout the day if you need to. Consistency in being honest about your pain matters more than intensity on a single occasion.
"He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me. "
"He has rescued me safely from the battle against me - because there were many on my side."
When you get through something hard, notice both the deeper support that carried you and the actual people who stood by you - gratitude works best when it takes in the whole picture, not just one part of it. Don't isolate yourself even when you're leaning on faith.
"God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. "
"God, who has always existed, will hear and bring trouble on them. (Pause and think about that.) Because their lives never change or face hardship, they don't fear God at all."
If your life has been comfortable and easy for a long time, use that as motivation to stay humble and considerate, not as evidence you're untouchable - unexamined comfort is exactly what breeds carelessness towards other people. Let hardship, when it comes, be something that softens you rather than something you resent.
"He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. "
"He has attacked people who were at peace with him; he has broken his word."
When someone breaks a real commitment they made to you, that's a serious wound worth naming clearly, not minimising as 'just a misunderstanding.' Take broken trust seriously, both when it happens to you and when you're tempted to break your word to someone else.
"The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. "
"His words were smoother than butter, but his heart was at war; his talk was softer than oil, yet it cut like drawn swords."
Learn to notice when someone's words are unusually smooth or flattering but something underneath doesn't add up - trust the pattern of someone's actions over time more than the polish of their speech in any given moment. Charm is not the same thing as trustworthiness.
"Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never the righteous to be moved. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Give your burden to the LORD, and he will hold you up; he will never let those who do right be shaken permanently."
You were never meant to carry the full weight of your fears, grief, and burdens entirely alone - hand them over, again and again if you need to, rather than trying to hold everything together by sheer force of will. Being sustained doesn't mean nothing bad ever happens to you; it means you won't be permanently broken by it.
"But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee. "
"But you, God, will bring them down into destruction; violent and deceitful people won't live out even half their lives - but I will trust in you."
However this situation with someone who's wronged you plays out, your own peace shouldn't depend on watching them get what's coming to them - anchor your trust in something steady, and let that be enough, even before any resolution arrives. Your healing doesn't have to wait for their downfall.