Psalms · psalm 55 of 150
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Psalm 55 is a prayer of David, distressed by violence in the city and by the betrayal of a close friend. He longs to flee far away like a dove, but decides to cry to God evening, morning and noon. He closes with an invitation to cast your burden on the Lord, who sustains the righteous, and with a declaration of trust.
The title dedicates the psalm to the choirmaster, with stringed instruments, and calls it a Maskil of David. The text does not say when he wrote it, but the betrayal by a companion has led many to recall the rebellion of Absalom and the defection of Ahithophel, David's counselor, told in 2 Samuel 15 to 17. That is a conjecture, since the psalm names no one.
David begins by asking God to give ear to his prayer and not hide from his plea. He is restless in his complaint because of the voice of the enemy and the oppression of the wicked; his heart is in anguish, the terrors of death have fallen upon him, and fear and trembling overwhelm him. He wishes he had wings like a dove to fly away and be at rest, to flee far away and lodge in the wilderness, and to hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.
He asks God to confuse the tongues of the violent, because he sees violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around its walls, and within it are iniquity and trouble, ruin, oppression and fraud. But what hurts most does not come from an open enemy, whom he could bear, but from a man his equal, his companion and familiar friend, with whom he had sweet fellowship and walked into the house of God in the throng.
Then David decides: but I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle I wage. His companion stretched out his hand against those at peace with him and violated his covenant; his speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart, his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. God will cast bloodthirsty and treacherous men down into the pit of destruction, and they shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
David wishes he had wings like a dove to fly away and rest. It is a human wish to escape pain, which the Bible does not condemn but which David carries into prayer.
The greatest pain comes not from an open enemy but from a close friend, with whom David shared fellowship and worship. The betrayal of someone dear hurts in a special way.
David decides to pray evening, morning and at noon, and trusts that God will hear his voice. The answer to anguish is constant prayer.
Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be moved. The invitation is to release worry into God's hands, and 1 Peter 5:7 takes it up.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Wings like a dove, to fly away and be at rest. — Psalm 55:6
Answer: Violence and strife, iniquity, oppression and fraud. — Psalm 55:9-11
Answer: The betrayal by a man his equal, his companion and friend. — Psalm 55:12-13
Answer: Evening, morning and at noon. — Psalm 55:17
Answer: Smoother than butter and softer than oil, yet drawn swords. — Psalm 55:21
Answer: To cast our burden on the Lord, who will sustain the righteous. — Psalm 55:22
Psalm 55 gives language to the pain of betrayal and to the temptation to run. In a small group you can acknowledge that wanting to escape a hard situation is not a sin, and that what matters is what we do with that wish. David turns it into prayer, not into resentment or revenge.
The invitation of verse 22 is one of the most used in the Bible: cast your burden on the Lord. In practice, it means naming each worry before God by name and leaving it in his hands, again and again. Evening, morning and noon are reminders that prayer is not a single event but a habit.
Psalm 55 ends with a simple sentence: I will trust in you. Psalm 56 goes back to a specific moment in David's life, when the Philistines seized him in Gath, and repeats a similar trust in the face of fear.
The psalm gives no name. Many connect the friend's betrayal with Ahithophel, David's counselor who joined Absalom in 2 Samuel 15:12 and 16:23, and it is a possible reading. The text, however, does not affirm it, and the value of the psalm does not depend on identifying the person.
In 1 Peter 5:7 the apostle says to cast all our anxiety on God, because he cares for us. The phrase recalls Psalm 55:22. Both texts join the promise of care with a concrete action: handing over the worry.
It is a plea for justice: that God bring down the violent and the deceitful, so that they do not live out half their days. It expresses the lament of one who has been wronged, and the trust that God will judge, not that David will do so on his own.