Psalms 59:8-17

8 But you are laughing at them, O Lord; you will make sport of all the nations.

9 O my strength, I will put my hope in you; because God is my strong tower.

10 The God of my mercy will go before me: God will let me see my desire effected on my haters.

11 Put them not to death, for so my people will keep the memory of them: let them be sent in all directions by your power; make them low, O Lord our saviour.

12 Because of the sin of their mouths and the word of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; and for their curses and their deceit,

13 Put an end to them in your wrath, put an end to them, so that they may not be seen again; let them see that God is ruling in Jacob and to the ends of the earth. (Selah.)

14 And in the evening let them come back, and make a noise like a dog, and go round the town.

15 Let them go wandering up and down in search of food, and be there all night if they have not enough.

16 But I will make songs of your power; yes, I will give cries of joy for your mercy in the morning; because you have been my strength and my high tower in the day of my trouble.

17 To you, O my strength, will I make my song: because God is my high tower, even the God of my mercy.

Psalms 59:8-17 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.