Psalms 59:3-13

3 Look! They are waiting to kill me; cruel people are gathering against me. It is not because of any sin or wrong I have done,

4 nor because of any fault of mine, O Lord, that they hurry to their places.

5 Rise, Lord God Almighty, and come to my aid; see for yourself, God of Israel! Wake up and punish the heathen; show no mercy to evil traitors!

6 They come back in the evening, snarling like dogs as they go about the city.

7 Listen to their insults and threats. Their tongues are like swords in their mouths, yet they think that no one hears them.

8 But you laugh at them, Lord; you mock all the heathen.

9 I have confidence in your strength; you are my refuge, O God.

10 My God loves me and will come to me; he will let me see my enemies defeated.

11 Do not kill them, O God, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your strength and defeat them, O Lord, our protector.

12 Sin is on their lips; all their words are sinful; may they be caught in their pride! Because they curse and lie,

13 destroy them in your anger; destroy them completely. Then everyone will know that God rules in Israel, that his rule extends over all the earth.

Psalms 59:3-13 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.