Cast Your Burden upon the LORD (2 Samuel 17:15–29)
1 UST God, please listen to me as I pray to you. Please do not ignore me as I am pleading with you. BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. Listen to my prayer, O God, and do not ignore my plea.
2 UST Please pay attention to me and do what I ask. The things I am praying about are agitating me and making me moan{ in distress}. BSB BSB: Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and distraught
3 UST This is because my enemies are saying things{ to threaten me}. Wicked people are attacking me. They are causing me to have great troubles. Because they are so hostile to me, they never stop trying to harm me. BSB BSB: at the voice of the enemy, at the pressure of the wicked. For they bring down disaster upon me and resent me in their anger.
4 UST My heart is pounding inside me because I am so upset. I strongly feel many fears because I know that my enemies are trying to kill me. BSB BSB: My heart pounds within me, and the terrors of death assail me.
5 UST I am shaking because I am so afraid. The only thing I feel is fear. BSB BSB: Fear and trembling grip me, and horror has overwhelmed me.
6 UST I have been thinking,“How good it would be if I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find a place to rest. BSB BSB: I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
7 UST If I could, I would go far away and stay in a desolate area. Selah BSB BSB: How far away I would flee! In the wilderness I would remain. Selah
8 UST I would quickly find a safe place where my enemies could not harm me in the way that a powerful storm causes damage.” BSB BSB: I would hurry to my shelter, far from this raging tempest.”
9 UST Lord, please destroy my enemies! Make them disagree about what to do{ so that they cannot make successful plans against me}. I ask this because I know that they are fighting with people in the city and hurting them. BSB BSB: O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 UST The fighting is constant, and the people in the city cannot get away from it. Bad people are causing much trouble right in the middle of the city. BSB BSB: Day and night they encircle the walls, while malice and trouble lie within.
11 UST These bad people harm others right in the middle of the city. Dishonest people continually deceive and cheat others in the marketplace. BSB BSB: Destruction is within; oppression and deceit never leave the streets.
12 UST If it were an enemy who was saying bad things about me, I could endure it. If it were someone who hated me who was powerfully opposing me, I could hide from him. BSB BSB: For 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.
13 UST But the person who is doing those things to me is someone I treated not as a subject but as an equal. I knew him well, and we were together often. BSB BSB: But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and close friend.
14 UST We used to talk together in a wonderful way. We also used to go to the temple courtyard together{ to worship God} with the other Israelites who gathered there. BSB BSB: We shared sweet fellowship together; we walked with the crowd into the house of God.
15 UST My enemies are so wicked in their inner beings that it is as if wickedness lives in their homes{ and influences what they do}. So I hope that bad things happen to them that destroy them! I wish that{ the earth would open up under them so that} they would go down alive to the place where dead people are. BSB BSB: Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.
16 UST But I will ask Yahweh, my God, to help me, and he will rescue me. BSB BSB: But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
17 UST I will continually pray to him, whether I can express my concerns in words or whether I am only able to moan{ as a plea to him}. He will answer my prayer by helping me. BSB BSB: Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.
18 UST My enemies are coming with many soldiers to fight against me, but God will keep me safe and save my life when we fight a battle. BSB BSB: He redeems my soul in peace from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.
19 UST My enemies have no difficulties in life, so they do not respect God. Selah But God, who has ruled forever, will answer my prayer and punish them as they deserve. BSB BSB: God will hear and humiliate them—the One enthroned for the ages—Selah because they do not change and they have no fear of God.
20 UST The man I knew well is attacking me even though I was his friend. He should have remained loyal to me, but he has not. BSB BSB: My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
21 UST What he said was as easy to believe as butter is easy to swallow, but secretly he hated me. The words he spoke were as soothing as olive oil, but all along he intended to use words to hurt people as sharp swords do. BSB BSB: His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
22 UST Depend on Yahweh to help you when you are in trouble, and he will take care of you. He will never allow anyone to destroy people who are righteous. BSB BSB: Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
23 UST God, you will cause people who deceive and kill others to die before they have lived half as long as most people do. But as for me, I will trust you{ to protect me}. BSB BSB: But 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.