Cast Your Burden upon the LORD

(2 Samuel 17:15–29)

¹For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil^a of David.

Listen to my prayer, O God,

and do not ignore my plea.

²Attend to me and answer me.

I am restless in my complaint,

and distraught ³at the voice of the enemy,

at the pressure of the wicked.

For they bring down disaster upon me

and resent me in their anger.

⁴My heart pounds within me,

and the terrors of death assail me.

⁵Fear and trembling grip me,

and horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and find rest.

⁷How far away I would flee!

In the wilderness I would remain.

Selah

⁸I would hurry to my shelter,

far from this raging tempest.”

⁹O Lord, confuse and confound their speech,

for I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they encircle the walls,

while malice and trouble lie within.

¹¹Destruction is within;

oppression and deceit never leave the streets.

¹²For it is not an enemy who insults me;

that I could endure.

It is not a foe who rises against me;

from him I could hide.

¹³But it is you, a man like myself,

my companion and close friend.

¹⁴We shared sweet fellowship together;

we walked with the crowd into the house of God.

¹⁵Let death seize them by surprise;

let them go down to Sheol alive,

for evil is with them in their homes.

¹⁶But I call to God,

and the LORD saves me.

¹⁷Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress,

and He hears my voice.

¹⁸He redeems my soul in peace

from the battle waged against me,

even though many oppose me.

¹⁹God will hear and humiliate them —

the One enthroned for the ages —

Selah

because they do not change

and they have no fear of God.

²⁰My companion attacks his friends;

he violates his covenant.

²¹His speech is smooth as butter,

but war is in his heart.

His words are softer than oil,

yet they are swords unsheathed.

²²Cast your burden upon the LORD

and He will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous be shaken.

²³But You, O God, will bring them down

to the Pit of destruction;

men of bloodshed and deceit

will not live out half their days.

But I will trust in You.