Psalms 56

1 God, be merciful to me because men have harassed me; all day my enemies pursue me.

To the chief music-maker; put to Jonath elem rehokim. Of David. Michtam. When the Philistines took him in Gath. Have mercy on me, O God, for man is attempting my destruction; every day he makes cruel attacks against me.

2 My enemies harass me all day long; there are many of them who proudly attack me.

My haters are ever ready to put an end to me; great numbers are lifting themselves up against me.

3 But whenever I am afraid, I trust in you.

In the time of my fear, I will have faith in you.

4 God, I praise/thank you because you do what you have promised; I trust in you, and then I am not afraid. Ordinary humans certainly cannot [RHQ] harm me!

In God will I give praise to his word; in God have I put my hope; I will have no fear of what flesh may do to me.

5 All day long my enemies claim that I said things that I did not say (OR, try to destroy what I am doing); they are always thinking of ways to harm me.

Every day they make wrong use of my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 In order to cause trouble for me, they hide and watch everything that I do, waiting for [an opportunity] to kill me [MTY].

They come together, they are waiting in secret places, they take note of my steps, they are waiting for my soul.

7 So, God, punish them for the wicked things that they are doing; show that you are angry by defeating those people!

By evil-doing they will not get free from punishment. In wrath, O God, let the peoples be made low.

8 You have counted [all] the times that I have been wandering alone/distressed; [it is as though] you have put [all] my tears in a bottle [in order that you can see how much I have cried]. [You have counted my tears and written] the number in your book.

You have seen my wanderings; put the drops from my eyes into your bottle; are they not in your record?

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.

When I send up my cry to you, my haters will be turned back; I am certain of this, for God is with me.

10 I praise/thank you that you do what you have promised; Yahweh, I [will always] praise you for that [DOU].

In God will I give praise to his word; in the Lord will I give praise to his word.

11 I trust in you, and as a result, I will not be afraid. I know that humans cannot really [RHQ] harm me!

In God have I put my hope, I will have no fear of what man may do to me.

12 I will bring to you the offering that I promised; I will bring an offering to you to thank you,

I keep the memory of my debt to you, O God; I will give you the offerings of praise.

13 because you have rescued me from being killed; you have kept me from stumbling. As a result, I will continue to live in your presence in the light that [shines on those who are still] alive (OR, in the light that [enables people to] live).

Because you have taken my soul from the power of death; and kept my feet from falling, so that I may be walking before God in the light of life.