Psalm 56
Good News Translation
(A)A Prayer of Trust in God[a]
56 Be merciful to me, O God,
because I am under attack;
my enemies persecute me all the time.
2 All day long my opponents attack me.
There are so many who fight against me.
3 When I am afraid, O Lord Almighty,
I put my trust in you.
4 I trust in God and am not afraid;
I praise him for what he has promised.
What can a mere human being do to me?
5 My enemies make trouble for me all day long;
they are always thinking up some way to hurt me!
6 They gather in hiding places
and watch everything I do,
hoping to kill me.
7 Punish[b] them, O God, for their evil;
defeat those people in your anger!
8 You know how troubled I am;
you have kept a record of my tears.
Aren't they listed in your book?
9 The day I call to you,
my enemies will be turned back.
I know this: God[c] is on my side—
10 the Lord, whose promises I praise.
11 In him I trust, and I will not be afraid.
What can a mere human being do to me?
12 O God, I will offer you what I have promised;
I will give you my offering of thanksgiving,
13 because you have rescued me from death
and kept me from defeat.
And so I walk in the presence of God,
in the light that shines on the living.
Footnotes
- Psalm 56:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm by David, after the Philistines captured him in Gath.
- Psalm 56:7 Probable text Punish; Hebrew Save.
- Psalm 56:9 I know this: God; or Because I know that God.
Psalm 56
King James Version
56 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
