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Psalm 54

1  Save me, O God, by your name ♦︎
   and vindicate me by your power.
2  Hear my prayer, O God; ♦︎
   give heed to the words of my mouth.
3  For strangers have risen up against me,
      and the ruthless seek after my life; ♦︎
   they have not set God before them.
4  Behold, God is my helper; ♦︎
   it is the Lord who upholds my life.
5  May evil rebound on those who lie in wait for me; ♦︎
   destroy them in your faithfulness.
6  An offering of a free heart will I give you ♦︎
   and praise your name, O Lord, for it is gracious.
7  For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, ♦︎
   and my eye has seen the downfall of my enemies.

Government with Justice Predicted

32See, a king will reign in righteousness,
   and princes will rule with justice.
² Each will be like a hiding-place from the wind,
   a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
   like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
³ Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed,
   and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.
⁴ The minds of the rash will have good judgement,
   and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
⁵ A fool will no longer be called noble,
   nor a villain be said to be honourable.
⁶ For fools speak folly,
   and their minds plot iniquity:
to practise ungodliness,
   to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
   and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷ The villainies of villains are evil;
   they devise wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
   even when the plea of the needy is right.
⁸ But those who are noble plan noble things,
   and by noble things they stand.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

⁹ Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
   you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.
¹⁰ In little more than a year
   you will shudder, you complacent ones;
for the vintage will fail,
   the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹ Tremble, you women who are at ease,
   shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
   and put sackcloth on your loins.
¹² Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
   for the fruitful vine,
¹³ for the soil of my people
   growing up in thorns and briers;
yes, for all the joyous houses
   in the jubilant city.
¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken,
   the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watch-tower
   will become dens for ever,
the joy of wild asses,
   a pasture for flocks;
¹⁵ until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
   and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
   and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

The Peace of God’s Reign

¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
   and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷ The effect of righteousness will be peace,
   and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
¹⁸ My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
   in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
¹⁹ The forest will disappear completely,^*
   and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰ Happy will you be who sow beside every stream,
   who let the ox and the donkey range freely.

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ ²³But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ ²⁴He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ ²⁶He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ ²⁷She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.