Psalms 27: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

David says the LORD is his light, his rescue, and his safe place, so he has no reason to fear even an army or a war. He asks for one thing above all: to live in the LORD's house and look on his beauty, and he trusts that God will hide him when trouble comes. The second half turns into a direct plea for God not to hide his face or hand him over to false witnesses who accuse him. It ends by telling the listener to wait for the LORD and be brave.

Claim by Claim

1. 27:1
   • This psalm is of David.
   • The LORD is the speaker's light.
   • The LORD is the speaker's salvation.
   • The speaker asks whom he should fear, implying he fears no one.
   • The LORD is the stronghold of the speaker's life.
   • The speaker asks of whom he should be afraid, implying no one.
2. 27:2
   • Evildoers drew near against the speaker.
   • The evildoers came to devour the speaker's flesh.
   • The evildoers are the speaker's adversaries and enemies.
   • They stumbled.
   • They fell.
3. 27:3
   • If an army encamps against the speaker, his heart will not fear.
   • If war rises up against the speaker, the speaker remains confident.
   • The speaker's confidence rests in this.
4. 27:4
   • The speaker has asked one thing of the LORD.
   • That one thing is what the speaker seeks.
   • The speaker asks to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of his life.
   • The speaker asks to gaze upon the pleasantness of the LORD.
   • The speaker asks to inquire in the LORD's temple.
5. 27:5
   • In the day of trouble the LORD will hide the speaker in his shelter.
   • The LORD will conceal the speaker in the covering of his tent.
   • The LORD will set the speaker high upon a rock.
6. 27:6
   • Now the speaker's head will be lifted up above the enemies surrounding him.
   • The speaker will offer sacrifices of shouting in the LORD's tent.
   • The speaker will sing.
   • The speaker will sing praises to the LORD.
7. 27:7
   • The speaker asks the LORD to hear his voice when he calls.
   • The speaker asks the LORD to be gracious to him.
   • The speaker asks the LORD to answer him.
8. 27:8
   • The LORD said, 'Seek ye my face.'
   • The speaker's heart said to the LORD, 'Thy face, LORD, will I seek.'
   • It is unclear in the Hebrew who speaks the command 'Seek my face'; the King James assigns it to the LORD.
9. 27:9
   • The speaker asks the LORD not to hide his face from him.
   • The speaker asks the LORD not to turn his servant away in anger.
   • The LORD has been the speaker's help.
   • The speaker asks the LORD not to cast him off.
   • The speaker asks the LORD not to forsake him.
   • The speaker calls the LORD the God of his salvation.
10. 27:10
    • The speaker's father and mother have forsaken him.
    • The King James renders the forsaking as a condition, 'when my father and my mother forsake me.'
    • The LORD will take the speaker up.
11. 27:11
    • The speaker asks the LORD to teach him his way.
    • The speaker asks the LORD to lead him on a level path.
    • The reason given is those who watch the speaker with hostility.
12. 27:12
    • The speaker asks not to be handed over to the desire of his adversaries.
    • False witnesses have risen up against the speaker.
    • Those risen against him breathe out violence.
13. 27:13
    • The speaker believed he would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
    • Had the speaker not believed this, he would have fainted.
    • The Hebrew sentence leaves the consequence unstated; the King James supplies 'I had fainted.'
14. 27:14
    • The hearer is told to wait for the LORD.
    • The hearer is told to be strong.
    • The heart of the hearer will be strengthened, or is told to take courage; the Hebrew allows either.
    • The hearer is told again to wait for the LORD.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

27:1

"The LORD" in small capitals stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, written with four consonants (YHWH). Jewish readers avoided saying it aloud, substituting a word meaning "my Lord," and English versions follow that custom by printing LORD. "Salvation" here is not a narrowly religious word: it means rescue, being got out of danger, and is often used of escaping enemies in battle. The word behind "strength" / "safe place" means a fortress or stronghold, a fortified height you run to when attacked.

27:2

"Eat up my flesh" is a stock Hebrew image: enemies pictured as wild animals tearing at prey. It was used of people who destroy someone by violence or by slander. "Stumbled and fell" is battle language for an attack that collapses.

27:3

"An host" in 1611 English meant an army, not someone who welcomes guests.

27:4

In David's time there was no temple building; "house" and "temple" could both mean the tent-sanctuary where God was understood to be present. The word translated "temple" originally meant a palace or great hall, the residence of a king or a god. "Enquire" ("seek him") means to consult God for an answer or a ruling, something people came to the sanctuary to do.

27:5

"Pavilion" and "tabernacle" are both words for a tent. The "secret" of the tent is its innermost, screened-off part; in that culture a guest taken inside a host's tent was under the host's personal protection, and harming him was unthinkable. Setting someone "upon a rock" pictures a high crag where attackers cannot reach.

27:6

Lifting up the head is an idiom for public vindication, the reversal of the bowed head of someone humiliated or defeated. "Sacrifices of joy" is literally "sacrifices of shouting": the Hebrew word means a loud ringing cry or a ram's-horn blast. Sacrifice at the sanctuary was a public event with singing and shared food, not a silent ritual.

27:8

The Hebrew of this verse is broken and disputed; translators supply words to make a complete sentence, which is why versions differ over who is speaking. Word for word it runs roughly: "To you my heart has said, 'Seek my face'; your face, LORD, I will seek." "Seeking someone's face" is court language for gaining an audience, being admitted to a ruler's presence rather than turned away at the door.

27:9

A face turned away or hidden meant refusal, the withholding of favor or of an audience; the opposite image, a face shining on someone, meant acceptance. Calling oneself "thy servant" was the ordinary way of speaking about yourself when addressing a superior, not a claim about status.

27:10

In this society the family was a person's only safety net; there were no institutions to fall back on, so being cast off by both parents meant total loss of protection and standing. The verb translated "take me up" is used of gathering in someone who has nowhere to go.

27:11

"Plain" in 1611 English means level or smooth, not obvious. A level path is one you can walk without stumbling, safe going, as against rough ground where you fall or are ambushed. The word behind "mine enemies" means those who watch me, people lying in wait.

27:12

"The will of mine enemies" is literally their appetite or throat, being handed over to be swallowed. False witnesses belong to a courtroom setting: cases were decided on the word of witnesses, so a coordinated lie could get a person condemned and executed. "Breathe out cruelty" is literally "puffing out violence," the panting of someone eager to do harm.

27:13

The Hebrew sentence breaks off unfinished: it reads something like "Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD…" with nothing following. KJV supplies "I had fainted" (printed in italics in old editions) to complete it. Ancient scribes marked the opening word "unless" with dots, signaling that they too found the reading doubtful. "The land of the living" means among people still alive, in this life, rather than after death.

27:14

"Wait on" in 1611 English means wait for, expect, not attend or serve. The Hebrew verb carries tense, stretched-out expectation rather than passive delay. The heart was thought of as the seat of will and nerve, so "strengthen thine heart" means steady your courage.