Psalms 26:1-6

A Prayer for Vindication

1

Of David.

1 Judge me, O Yahweh, because I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted Yahweh and not wavered.

2 Prove me, O Yahweh, and test me. Try my {innermost being} and my {mind}.

3 Because your loyal love [is] before my eyes, and I walk about in your faithfulness.

4 I do not sit with deceitful people, nor will I go about with hypocrites.

5 I hate [the] crowd of evildoers, and with [the] wicked I will not sit.

6 I will wash my hands in innocence, and I will walk about your altar, O Yahweh,

Psalms 26:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalm of David. The occasion of this psalm seems to be the quarrel between Saul and David, the former listening to calumnies and reproaches cast upon the latter, and persecuting him in a violent manner. The argument of it is the same, in a great measure, with the seventh psalm, and is an appeal made to God, the Judge of the whole earth, by the psalmist, for his innocence and integrity; Theodoret thinks it was written by David when he fled from Saul.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
• [b]. Literally "kidneys," the locus of intense thoughts and emotions in biblical Hebrew
• [c]. Literally "heart"