Passage

Psalms 55.22

Book: Psalms · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"20. He hath put forth his hands against such as were at peace with him: He hath profaned his covenant. 21. His mouth was smooth as butter, But his heart was war: His words were softer than oil, Yet were they drawn swords."

"22. Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee: He will never suffer the righteous to be moved."

"23. But thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction: Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in thee." (Psalms 55:20-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"20. He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant. 21. His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords."

"22. Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved."

"23. But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you." (Psalms 55:20-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"20. He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. ^{broken: Heb. profaned} 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords."

"22. Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. ^{burden: or, gift}"

"23. 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. ^{bloody: Heb. men of bloods and deceit} ^{shall: Heb. shall not half their days}" (Psalms 55:20-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"20. He hath sent forth his hands against his well-wishers, He hath polluted his covenant. 21. Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart [is] war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they [are] drawn [swords]."

"22. Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, And He doth sustain thee, He doth not suffer for ever the moving of the righteous."

"23. And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I, I do trust in Thee!" (Psalms 55:20-23, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

_log-archive-2026-05

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.