Psalm 59

1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O God; and ransom me from those that rise up against me.

2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

3 For, behold, they have hunted after my soul; violent men have set upon me: neither is it my iniquity, nor my sin, O Lord.

4 Without iniquity I ran and directed my course aright: awake to help me, and behold.

5 And thou, Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, draw nigh to visit all the heathen; pity not any that work iniquity. Pause.

6 They shall return at evening, and hunger like a dog, and go round about the city.

7 Behold, they shall utter a voice with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips; for who, say they, has heard?

8 But thou, Lord, wilt laugh them to scorn; thou wilt utterly set at nought all the heathen.

9 will keep my strength, looking to thee; for thou, O God, art my helper.

10 As for my God, his mercy shall go before me: my God will shew me vengeance on mine enemies.

11 Slay them not, lest they forget thy law; scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my defender.

12 For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips, let them be even taken in their pride.

13 And for their cursing and falsehood shall utter destruction be denounced: they shall fall by the wrath of utter destruction, and shall not be; so shall they know that the God of Jacob is Lord of the ends of the earth. Pause.

14 They shall return at evening, and be hungry as a dog, and go round about the city.

15 They shall be scattered hither and thither for meat; and if they be not satisfied, they shall even murmur.

16 But I will sing to thy strength, and in the morning will I exult in thy mercy; for thou hast been my supporter, and my refuge in the day of mine affliction.

17 Thou art my helper; to thee, my God, will I sing; thou art my supporter, O my God, and my mercy.

Psalm 59 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.