| Psalm 55 | |
| Subtitle: | "Give ear to my prayer, O God" |
| Language: | Hebrew (original) |
| Other Name: |
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Psalm 55 is the 55th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version, "Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication". The Book of Psalms forms part of the ketuvim, the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and is part of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 54. In Latin, it is known as "Exaudi Deus orationem meam".[1] The psalm is a lament in which the author grieves because he is surrounded by enemies, and one of his closest friends has betrayed him.
The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. Metrical hymns in English and German were derived from the psalm, and it has been set to music.
Psalm 55 is similar to Psalm 41, especially 41:9: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me" (ESV).
The introduction to the psalm identifies it as a 'Maskil' (instructional piece) and associates it with David. The anonymous author may have been an Israelite living in a foreign city, and the false friend could be another Israelite living there. This interpretation may be considered especially plausible if the second part of verse 24 is translated "men of idols and figurines", as suggested by Hermann Gunkel and used in Mitchell Dahood's translation, rather than "men of blood and treachery".
Jerome, in the Vulgate, entitled this psalm Vox Christi adversus magnatos Judaeorum et Judam traditorem, meaning The voice of Christ against the chiefs of the Jews and the traitor Judas.
The following table shows the Hebrew text[2] [3] of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
| Verse | Hebrew | English translation (JPS 1917) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | For the Leader; with string-music. Maschil of David. | |
| 2 | Give ear, O God, to my prayer; And hide not Thyself from my supplication. | |
| 3 | Attend unto me, and hear me; I am distraught in my complaint, and will moan; | |
| 4 | Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked; For they cast mischief upon me, and in anger they persecute me. | |
| 5 | My heart doth writhe within me; and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. | |
| 6 | Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. | |
| 7 | And I said: 'Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest. | |
| 8 | Lo, then would I wander far off, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah | |
| 9 | I would haste me to a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest.' | |
| 10 | Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue; For I have seen violence and strife in the city. | |
| 11 | Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it. | |
| 12 | Wickedness is in the midst thereof; oppression and guile depart not from her broad place. | |
| 13 | For it was not an enemy that taunted me, Then I could have borne it; Neither was it mine adversary that did magnify himself against me, Then I would have hid myself from him. | |
| 14 | But it was thou, a man mine equal, My companion, and my familiar friend; | |
| 15 | We took sweet counsel together, In the house of God we walked with the throng. | |
| 16 | May He incite death against them, Let them go down alive into the nether-world; For evil is in their dwelling, and within them. | |
| 17 | As for me, I will call upon God; And the LORD shall save me. | |
| 18 | Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I complain, and moan; And He hath heard my voice. | |
| 19 | He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me; For they were many that strove with me. | |
| 20 | God shall hear, and humble them, even He that is enthroned of old, Selah, such as have no changes, and fear not God. | |
| 21 | He hath put forth his hands against them that were at peace with him; He hath profaned his covenant. | |
| 22 | Smoother than cream were the speeches of his mouth, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet were they keen-edged swords. | |
| 23 | Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain thee; He will never suffer the righteous to be moved. | |
| 24 | But Thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the nethermost pit; Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days; But as for me, I will trust in Thee. | |
The psalm can be divided into three sections, which Alexander Kirkpatrick in his 1901 commentary identified with the themes of despair, indignation, and trust:
It is unclear whether the psalm was written by a single author or not. Some scholars suggest that verses 12–14, 20–21, and 22 are fragments by a different author which were inserted into the text of the original psalm.
In a 1999 article, Ulrike Bail used intertextual interpretive methods to read the psalm as a reference to the rape of Tamar.
Verse 22 is quoted in 1 Peter KJV.
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the tenth day of the month.[4]
Heinrich Schütz set Psalm 55 in a metred version in German, "Erhör mein Gebet, du treuer Gott", SWV 152, as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628. The text was set to music as Hear My Prayer by Felix Mendelssohn in 1844. Antonín Dvořák set verses 1–8 in Czech to music in his Biblical Songs (1894). Zoltán Kodály set Psalm 55 in Hungarian in 1923 with interpolations and extensions of grief and lamentation full of historic associations for the Hungarian people to the paraphrase by 16th-century poet, as the Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13. Alan Hovhaness set portions of the text, along with portions of Psalms 54 and 56, in his choral work Make a Joyful Noise.[5]