Psalms 34:7-17

7 The angel of the Lord sendeth in the compass of men dreading him; and he shall deliver them. (The angel of the Lord guardeth those who fear him/who revere him; and he rescueth them.)

8 Taste ye, and see, for the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man, that hopeth in him. (Taste ye, and see, that the Lord is good; happy is the person, who trusteth in him.)

9 All ye holy men of the Lord, dread ye him; for no neediness is to men dreading him. (All ye holy people of the Lord, fear him; for there is no neediness in those who fear him./All ye holy people of the Lord, revere him; for there is no neediness in those who revere him.)

10 Rich men were needy, and were hungry; but men that seek the Lord shall not fail of all good (but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing).

11 Come, ye sons, hear ye me; I shall teach you the dread of the Lord. (Come, ye sons and daughters, and listen ye to me; I shall teach you the fear of the Lord/I shall teach you to revere the Lord.)

12 Who is the man, that willeth life; that loveth to see good days? (Who is the person who desireth life? who loveth to see good days?)

13 Forbid thy tongue from evil; and thy lips speak not guile (and do not let thy lips speak deceitfully).

14 Turn thou away from evil, and do good; seek thou peace, and perfectly follow thou it.

15 The eyes of the Lord be on just men (The eyes of the Lord be on the righteous); and his ears be to their prayers.

16 But the cheer of the Lord is on men doing evils; that he lose the mind of them from [the] earth. (But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil; and he shall blot out the memory of them from off the earth.)

17 Just men cried [The rightwise cried], and the Lord heard them; and delivered them from all their tribulations (and he rescued, or saved, them from all their troubles).

Psalms 34:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 34

\\<<[A Psalm] of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech\\; \\who drove him away, and he departed>>\\. The author of this psalm is expressed by name; and the time and occasion of it are plainly intimated: it was composed by David, "when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech"; not Ahimelech the priest, sometimes called Abimelech, 1Ch 18:16; to whom David went alone for bread, pretending he was upon a private business of the king's; to which sense the Syriac version inclines, rendering the words, "when he went to the house of the Lord, [and] gave the firstfruits to the priests". But this Abimelech was king of Gath, the same with Achish, 1Sa 21:10; who either had two names; or this of Abimelech, as it should seem, was a common name to all the kings of the Philistines; see Ge 20:2, 26:8; as Pharaoh was to the Egyptian kings, and Caesar to the Roman emperors: the name signifies a "father king", or "my father king", or a "royal father"; as kings should be the fathers of their country: before him "David changed his behaviour", his taste, sense, or reason: he imitated a madman; behaved as if he was out of his senses, scrabbling on the doors of the gates, and letting his spittle fall down upon his beard; for he being known and made known by the servants of the king, he was in great fear of losing his life, being in the hands of an enemy, and who he might justly fear would revenge the death of their champion Goliath; wherefore he took this method to get himself despised and neglected by them, and escape out of their hands: and which succeeded; for Abimelech, or Achish, seeing him behave in such a manner, treated him with contempt, was displeased with his servants for bringing him into his presence, and ordered them to take him away, or dismiss him; which is here expressed by this phrase, "who drove him away", with scorn and indignation; "and he departed" to the cave of Adullam, glad at heart he had escaped such danger: upon which, under a sense of divine goodness, and by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he composed the following psalm; see 1Sa 21:10-15, 22:1.