Psalms 28

LORD, I call out to you. You are my rock. Do not stay silent when I speak to you. If you say nothing back, I will be like the people who go down into the grave.

1Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

Note"The pit" is a standard Hebrew term for the grave and the realm of the dead. To "go down into the pit" is to be dead and beyond the reach of help; the speaker fears that God's silence would leave him in that condition. "Rock" is a common image for a place of refuge, the crags and cliffs where a hunted person could hide and not be reached.

2Listen to me begging you for mercy when I cry out to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.

2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

NoteLifting the hands, palms open and raised toward the temple, was the ordinary posture of prayer in ancient Israel, as kneeling or folding the hands is in some traditions today. The King James "oracle" does not mean a message or a prophet: it translates a word for the innermost room of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and worshipers who could not enter it prayed facing toward it.

3Do not drag me away along with the wicked and with the people who do evil. They speak friendly words to their neighbors, but they are planning harm in their hearts.

3Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

Note"Speak peace" translates the ordinary Hebrew greeting, *shalom*, the everyday words neighbors exchanged, roughly "all is well with you." The complaint is that the greeting is a mask.

4Pay them back for what they have done, and for the evil of what they do. Pay them back for what their hands have made. Give them exactly what they have earned.

4Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

Note"Desert" here is the old English noun meaning what a person deserves (as still preserved in the phrase "just deserts"); it has nothing to do with a dry wasteland. "Endeavours" simply means what they set out to do.

5They pay no attention to what the LORD has done or to the work of his hands. So he will tear them down and never build them up again.

5Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

6May the LORD be praised, because he has heard me begging him for mercy.

6Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted him, and he helped me. So my heart is full of joy, and I will thank him with my song.

7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8The LORD is the strength of his people. He is a safe place of rescue for his anointed one.

8The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

Note"His anointed" refers to Israel's king, who was installed by having olive oil poured over his head, the ceremony that marked him out as chosen for the office. The Hebrew word is *mashiach*, from which English gets "messiah."

9Save your people, and bless the ones who belong to you. Take care of them like a shepherd, and carry them forever.

9Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Note"Inheritance" is a legal image: when Israel divided the land, each family received a permanent allotted portion that could not simply be sold off. The people are spoken of as the LORD's own allotted portion in that sense. The King James "feed them" translates a verb meaning to shepherd a flock (pasture it, guide it and guard it) and "lift them up" pictures a shepherd carrying an animal that cannot walk.