Psalms 7:3

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands,

Psalms 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 7:3

O Lord my God, if I have done this.
] The crime which Saul and his courtiers charged him with, and which was made so public that every body knew it; and therefore it was needless particularly to mention it; namely, that he lay in wait for Saul, and sought his life to take it away, ( 1 Samuel 24:9 ) . The Targum interprets it of this psalm, paraphrasing it, "if I have made this song with an evil intention"; to give an ill character of any, and lead them with false charges;

if there be iniquity in my hands;
not that he was without sin, he had it in his heart; nor that he lived without the actual commission of sin: but his sense is, that there was no iniquity, as not in his heart, purpose, and design, so not in his hand, nor attempted by him, of the kind he was accused of, ( 1 Samuel 24:11 ) . Otherwise, we often hear him complaining of the depravity of his nature, and acknowledging his sins and transgressions, ( Psalms 32:5 ) ( Psalms 38:3 Psalms 38:4 ) ( 51:1-5 ) .

Psalms 7:3 In-Context

1 O LORD my God, in thee I have put my trust: save me from all those that persecute me, and deliver me
2 Lest they take my soul, as a lion dismembers his prey when there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands,
4 if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, then let my persecutor escape without retribution.
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay my honour in the dust. Selah.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010