Psalms 55:9–18

⁷As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

³¹¶ And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

⁶But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

⁷And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.

⁹And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

¹⁰And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.

⁷Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

⁸So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

¹MOREOVER Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

³And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

⁵Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

⁶And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

⁷And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.

⁸For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

¹⁰And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

¹¹Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

¹²So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

¹³Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

¹⁴I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

⁴⁵¶ Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?

⁴⁶The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

⁴⁷Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?

⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?

⁴⁹But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

⁵⁰Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)

⁵¹Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

⁵²They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

⁵³And every man went unto his own house.

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

¹⁴And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

¹⁵Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.

⁶Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

⁸The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

⁹¶ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

¹¹We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;

¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

¹⁴And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

¹⁵Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

²⁸¶ Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.

²⁴But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

⁴And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

⁶They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

¹¹Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

²¹And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.

²²So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

¹MOREOVER Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

⁶For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

³Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

¹WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

²And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

¹WOE to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

²She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.

³Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

⁵¹¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

⁵²Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

²⁶For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

¹MOREOVER the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

²Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.

³Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord God, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

⁴Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

⁵Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.

⁶Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.

⁷In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

⁸Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.

⁹In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

¹⁰In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.

¹¹And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

¹²In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

³And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.

⁴Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

⁵And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

⁴And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

²For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

³They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

⁹Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁸¶ I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

²¹And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

²²And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

²³And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

²⁶Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

²And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

³Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

¹⁶For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

⁵¶ Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

¹²And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counseller, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.

⁴Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

⁴⁴And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.

⁴⁵And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.

²³And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

⁴⁷¶ And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

⁴⁸But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

⁹Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

²¹¶ But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

¹³¶ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

⁴⁷¶ And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

⁴⁹And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.

⁵⁰And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

⁴When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

³¹And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

³And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

¹I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

¹³Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.

¹⁸Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

¹⁹And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

²⁰For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

⁶Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

⁷When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

⁸Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

⁹Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

¹⁰Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

¹¹Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

¹²Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

¹³Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

¹⁴Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁶Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

¹⁷As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

¹⁸As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

¹⁹Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

²⁰Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

⁷But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

¹⁴Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

²⁵That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

²⁴The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.

⁵And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

³⁰But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.

³¹¶ And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:

³²And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

³³They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

³⁴And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

⁹¶ And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

²²Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

²³Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

²⁴Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

²⁵Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

²⁷Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

²³¶ And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

¹¹And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

¹⁵He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

⁴For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

²Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

¹NOW Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

⁷Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

⁹¶ On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

¹⁰¶ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

³⁵And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

¹⁴⁷I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

¹⁴⁸Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

⁶²At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.

²To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

³⁰And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

¹³But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

³He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

⁴⁶And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

²Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

³My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

¹³Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

¹AND he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

²Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

³And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

⁴And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;

⁵Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

⁶And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

⁷And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

⁷Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

⁸Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

⁴⁸And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

⁵³Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

⁶I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

⁷Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

³He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

⁷Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

⁸With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

¹AND David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

¹THE Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

²When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

³Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

¹⁶And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

²⁸And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

³³Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

³⁴For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

³⁵Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

³⁶Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

¹⁰All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.

¹¹They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

¹²They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

²Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.