Psalms 59:10-17

10 In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me. He will let me look down in triumph on all my enemies.

11 Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons; stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees, O Lord our shield.

12 Because of the sinful things they say, because of the evil that is on their lips, let them be captured by their pride, their curses, and their lies.

13 Destroy them in your anger! Wipe them out completely! Then the whole world will know that God reigns in Israel. Interlude

14 My enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets.

15 They scavenge for food but go to sleep unsatisfied.

16 But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

17 O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.

Psalms 59:10-17 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. The history of Saul's sending messengers to watch the house of David, and to kill him when he rose in the morning, is in 1 Samuel 19:11; which was the occasion of his writing this psalm; though the title of the Syriac version of it is, "David said or composed this, when he heard that the priests were slain by Saul:" and in the same is added, "but unto us it declares the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith, and the rejection of the Jews." And which perhaps is designed in Psalm 59:5; and some interpreters are of opinion that the whole psalm is to be understood of Christ, of whom David was a type, especially in his sufferings; and there are some things in it which better agree with him than with David, as particularly his being without sin, Psalm 59:3.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew in Jacob. See note on 44:4 .
• [b]. Or and growl if they don’t get enough.