Psalm 52 52 Psalms Book 2 unfoldingWord® Simplified Text Why Do You Boast of Evil? (1 Samuel 22:6–23)
1 UST { Doeg,} you are boasting as if you were a great warrior because you killed so many people{, but you are wrong to boast, because they were helpless}. God always protects me because he is kind to me. BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
2 UST You say things that you know will cause great harm to other people. It is as if your tongue is a sharp knife slashing people. People did something innocently, but you reported it in such a way that they seemed to be guilty. BSB BSB: Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
3 UST You like to do what is wrong more than you like to do what is right. You like to tell lies more than you like to tell the truth. Selah BSB BSB: You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth. Selah
4 UST You like to say anything that will cause harm to people. What you say causes innocent people to suffer. BSB BSB: You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue.
5 UST But God will destroy you permanently, just as you have destroyed others. You may feel safe in your home, but God will take you from there and remove you from this world in which people are alive. Selah BSB BSB: Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 UST When good people see that, they will respect God{ for being just}. They will laugh at you. BSB BSB: The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,
7 UST { They will say,}“Look what happened to this man who did not trust God to protect him. He thought that because he had a lot of money, he could avoid trouble. He believed that harming other people would make him powerful.” BSB BSB: “Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
8 UST But I am safe, just like the olive trees that the priests plant and care for in the courtyard of the place where we worship God. I know that God will always be kind to me. BSB BSB: But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.
9 UST I am confident that you, God, are going to do what I have described, and I will always praise you for that. You have demonstrated to the people who are faithful to you that you are good. So I will wait patiently for you to act according to your good character. BSB BSB: I will praise You forever, because You have done it. I will wait on Your name—for it is good—in the presence of Your saints.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.
Chapter complete
You’ve read Psalm 52
Make Opened yours A free account keeps your place, highlights and notes on every device. Add Plus to ask Study Help about Psalm 52, and keep Opened free for readers who can’t pay.