Psalms 59:11-17

11 Don't kill them, or my people will forget; instead, by your power, make them wander to and fro; but bring them down, Adonai our Shield,

12 for the sins their mouths make with each word from their lips. Let them be trapped by their pride for the curses and falsehoods they utter.

13 Finish them off in wrath, finish them off, put an end to them, and let them know to the ends of the earth that God is Ruler in Ya'akov. (Selah)

14 They return at nightfall, snarling like dogs as they go around the city.

15 They roam about, looking for food, prowling all night if they don't get their fill.

16 But as for me, I will sing of your strength; in the morning I will sing aloud of your grace. For you are my fortress, a refuge when I am in trouble.

17 My Strength, I will sing praises to you, for God is my fortress, God, who gives me grace.

Psalms 59:11-17 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.