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1Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
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Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless 2in my complaint and I 3moan,
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because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they 4drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
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My heart is in anguish within me; 5the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
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Fear and trembling come upon me, and 6horror 7overwhelms me.
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And I say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil [A Psalm] of David. The occasion of this psalm was either the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom. Some think it was written when David understood that the inhabitants of Keilah would deliver him into the hands of Saul, 1 Samuel 23:12; and others when the Ziphites attempted a second time to do the same, 1 Samuel 26:1; but since a single person is spoken of that magnified himself against him, Psalm 55:12; and Ahithophel seems to be designed; it may be thought rather to be written on account of Absalom's rebellion, and Ahithophel's counsel against him; who is considered by many Christian interpreters as a type of Judas, the betrayer of our Lord; and, indeed, there are many things in this psalm, if not the whole, which may be truly applied to Christ, as will be seen in the following exposition of it.