Psalms 59:3-13

3 Look, men are waiting to ambush me. Cruel men attack me, but I have not sinned or done wrong, Lord.

4 I have done nothing wrong, but they are ready to attack me. Wake up to help me, and look.

5 You are the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel. Arise and punish those people. Do not give those traitors any mercy. Selah

6 They come back at night. Like dogs they growl and roam around the city.

7 Notice what comes from their mouths. Insults come from their lips, because they say, "Who's listening?"

8 But, Lord, you laugh at them; you make fun of all of them.

9 God, my strength, I am looking to you, because God is my defender.

10 My God loves me, and he goes in front of me. He will help me defeat my enemies.

11 Lord, our protector, do not kill them, or my people will forget. With your power scatter them and defeat them.

12 They sin by what they say; they sin with their words. They curse and tell lies, so let their pride trap them.

13 Destroy them in your anger; destroy them completely! Then they will know that God rules over Israel and to the ends of the earth.Selah

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.