PSALM 52
Dixit insipiens.
The general corruption of man before the coming of Christ.
1 Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David.
The fool said in his heart: There is no God.
2 They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.
3 God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.
4 All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.
5 Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?
6 They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.
7 Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
PSALM 53
Deus, in nomine tuo.
A prayer for help in distress.
1 Unto the end, In verses, understanding for David.
2 When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
3 Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.
4 O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
5 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
6 For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
7 Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy truth.
8 I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good:
9 For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.
PSALM 54
Exaudi, Deus.
A prayer of a just man under persecution from the wicked. It agrees to Christ persecuted by the Jews, and betrayed by Judas.
1 Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
2 Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:
3 Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,
4 At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.
5 My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
6 Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.
7 And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?
8 Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.
9 I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.
10 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.
11 Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,
12 And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.
13 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.
14 But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,
15 Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.
16 Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.
17 But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.
18 Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.
19 He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.
20 God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:
21 He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,
22 They are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.
23 Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.
24 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.
