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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.

Psalm 55

1  Hear my prayer, O God; ♦︎
   hide not yourself from my petition.
2  Give heed to me and answer me; ♦︎
   I am restless in my complaining.
3  I am alarmed at the voice of the enemy ♦︎
   and at the clamour of the wicked;
4  For they would bring down evil upon me ♦︎
   and are set against me in fury.
5  My heart is disquieted within me, ♦︎
   and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
6  Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, ♦︎
   and a horrible dread has overwhelmed me.
7  And I said: ‘O that I had wings like a dove, ♦︎
   for then would I fly away and be at rest.
8  ‘Then would I flee far away ♦︎
   and make my lodging in the wilderness.
9  ‘I would make haste to escape ♦︎
   from the stormy wind and tempest.’
10  Confuse their tongues, O Lord, and divide them, ♦︎
   for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
11  Day and night they go about on her walls; ♦︎
   mischief and trouble are in her midst.
12  Wickedness walks in her streets; ♦︎
   oppression and guile never leave her squares.
13  For it was not an open enemy that reviled me, ♦︎
   for then I could have borne it;
14  Nor was it my adversary that puffed himself up against me, ♦︎
   for then I would have hid myself from him.
15  But it was even you, one like myself, ♦︎
   my companion and my own familiar friend.
16  We took sweet counsel together ♦︎
   and walked with the multitude in the house of God.
17  Let death come suddenly upon them;
      let them go down alive to the Pit; ♦︎
   for wickedness inhabits their dwellings, their very hearts.
18  As for me, I will call upon God ♦︎
   and the Lord will deliver me.
19  In the evening and morning and at noonday
      I will pray and make my supplication, ♦︎
   and he shall hear my voice.
20  He shall redeem my soul in peace
      from the battle waged against me, ♦︎
   for many have come upon me.
21  God, who is enthroned of old,
      will hear and bring them down; ♦︎
   they will not repent, for they have no fear of God.
22  My companion stretched out his hands against his friend ♦︎
   and has broken his covenant;
23  His speech was softer than butter, though war was in his heart; ♦︎
   his words were smoother than oil, yet are they naked swords.
24  Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you, ♦︎
   and will not let the righteous fall for ever.
25  But those that are bloodthirsty and deceitful, O God, ♦︎
   you will bring down to the pit of destruction.
26  They shall not live out half their days, ♦︎
   but my trust shall be in you, O Lord.

²⁰ Watch for the opportune time, and beware of evil,
   and do not be ashamed to be yourself.
²¹ For there is a shame that leads to sin,
   and there is a shame that is glory and favour.
²² Do not show partiality, to your own harm,
   or deference, to your downfall.
²³ Do not refrain from speaking at the proper moment,^*
   and do not hide your wisdom.^*
24 For wisdom becomes known through speech,
   and education through the words of the tongue.
²⁵ Never speak against the truth,
   but be ashamed of your ignorance.
²⁶ Do not be ashamed to confess your sins,
   and do not try to stop the current of a river.
²⁷ Do not subject yourself to a fool,
   or show partiality to a ruler.
²⁸ Fight to the death for truth,
   and the Lord God will fight for you.

²⁹ Do not be reckless in your speech,
   or sluggish and remiss in your deeds.
³⁰ Do not be like a lion in your home,
   or suspicious of your servants.
³¹ Do not let your hand be stretched out to receive
   and closed when it is time to give.

Precepts for Everyday Living

5Do not rely on your wealth,
   or say, ‘I have enough.’
² Do not follow your inclination and strength
   in pursuing the desires of your heart.
³ Do not say, ‘Who can have power over me?’
   for the Lord will surely punish you.

⁴ Do not say, ‘I sinned, yet what has happened to me?’
   for the Lord is slow to anger.
⁵ Do not be so confident of forgiveness^*
   that you add sin to sin.
⁶ Do not say, ‘His mercy is great,
   he will forgive^* the multitude of my sins’,
for both mercy and wrath are with him,
   and his anger will rest on sinners.
⁷ Do not delay to turn back to the Lord,
   and do not postpone it from day to day;
for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come upon you,
   and at the time of punishment you will perish.

Wicked Rulers and Prophets

3And I said:
Listen, you heads of Jacob
   and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice?—
²   you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin off my people,^*
   and the flesh off their bones;
³ who eat the flesh of my people,
   flay their skin off them,
break their bones in pieces,
   and chop them up like meat^* in a kettle,
   like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴ Then they will cry to the Lord,
   but he will not answer them;
he will hide his face from them at that time,
   because they have acted wickedly.

⁵ Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
   who lead my people astray,
who cry ‘Peace’
   when they have something to eat,
but declare war against those
   who put nothing into their mouths.
⁶ Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
   and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
   and the day shall be black over them;
⁷ the seers shall be disgraced,
   and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
   for there is no answer from God.
⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power,
   with the spirit of the Lord,
   and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
   and to Israel his sin.

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ²I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, ³saying, ‘Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants^* of our God with a seal on their foreheads.’

4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:

5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.