Psalms 59:5-15

5 Yea, do thou, Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, arise to visit all the nations: be not gracious to any plotters of iniquity. Selah.

6 They return in the evening; they howl like a dog, and go round about the city:

7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords are in their lips: for who [say they] doth hear?

8 But thou, Jehovah, wilt laugh at them; thou wilt have all the nations in derision.

9 Their strength! ... I will take heed to thee; for God is my high fortress.

10 God, whose loving-kindness will come to meet me, -- God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies.

11 Slay them not, lest my people forget; by thy power make them wander, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

12 [Because of] the sin of their mouth, the word of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; and because of cursing and lying which they speak.

13 Make an end in wrath, make an end, that they may be no more; that they may know that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth. Selah.

14 And in the evening they shall return, they shall howl like a dog, and go round about the city.

15 They shall wander about for meat, and stay all night if they be not satisfied.

Psalms 59:5-15 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'My strength, I will. ...'
• [b]. Or 'The God of my mercy (chesed),' as ver. 17.
• [c]. Or '[Because] the sin of their mouth is the word of their lips.'
• [d]. Or 'murmur.'