Psalms 59
What Happens in This Chapter
The speaker asks God to rescue him from violent men who are lying in wait to take his life, insisting that he has done nothing to deserve it. He pictures them as dogs that come back each evening, snarling and prowling around the city, and he asks God not to kill them outright but to scatter them and bring them down, so that people to the ends of the earth will know God rules over Jacob. The psalm closes with the speaker promising to sing in the morning about God's strength and faithful love, because God has been his fortress in trouble.
Save me from my enemies, my God. Keep me safe from those who rise up against me.
1Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.
2Save me from people who do evil. Rescue me from men who want to spill blood.
2Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
"Bloody men" in the King James does not mean men covered in blood or swearing; it renders a Hebrew phrase, "men of bloods," meaning killers, men guilty of shedding blood.
3Look, they are hiding and waiting to take my life. Strong, fierce men are joining together against me, LORD, and not because I have done wrong or sinned.
3For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.
4I have done nothing wrong, yet they run to get themselves ready to attack me. Wake up, come and help me, and see what is happening.
4They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
5You, LORD God who commands the armies of heaven, the God of Israel, wake up and punish all the nations. Do not show mercy to any who do wrong and break faith. Selah
5Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
"LORD God of hosts" translates a title meaning commander of armies; the "hosts" are heavenly forces pictured as troops under God's command. "Heathen" is the King James word for the goyim, the nations other than Israel; it carries no sense of "uncivilised." "Selah" is a Hebrew term that appears about seventy times in the Psalms and nowhere else outside them; its meaning is unknown. It is usually taken as a direction to the musicians or singers (a pause, a change of volume, or an instrumental interlude) and is left untranslated for that reason.
6They come back in the evening. They snarl like dogs and prowl around the city.
6They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
Dogs in ancient Israel were not pets but half-wild scavengers that roamed the edges of towns after dark, feeding on refuse and carrion. The comparison is to a pack circling the walls at nightfall, not to a household animal.
7Look at what pours out of their mouths. Their words are like swords in their lips, and they say, "Who can hear us?"
7Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
"Belch out" renders a Hebrew verb meaning to gush or pour forth, used of a spring; the image is speech spilling out uncontrolled. "Swords are in their lips" is a standard Hebrew figure for words used as weapons, slander, threats, false accusation. Their question "who doth hear?" is a claim that no one is listening and so no one will hold them to account.
8But you, LORD, laugh at them. You make fun of all the nations.
8But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
9Because of his strength, I will watch and wait for you, because God is my fortress.
9Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
The Hebrew of the opening words is uncertain and the ancient copies differ. The King James follows a reading meaning "because of his strength"; many manuscripts and versions read instead "O my strength, I will watch for you," which matches verse 17, where the same phrase clearly addresses God. Both readings are defensible.
10The God who loves me faithfully will come out to meet me. God will let me look at my enemies and see what I want to happen to them.
10The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
In 1611 "prevent" meant to go before or come out to meet someone, the opposite of its modern sense of blocking. "Let me see my desire upon mine enemies" translates a Hebrew idiom that is simply "let me look upon my enemies", to look at a defeated opponent, the posture of the winner surveying the loser.
11Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by your power and bring them down, Lord, you who are our shield.
11Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
The request is that the enemies be left alive but broken and dispersed rather than wiped out: a scattered, visibly beaten opponent stays in view as a lasting reminder, where a destroyed one is quickly forgotten. "Shield" was a common way of addressing a protector or patron in Hebrew.
12Because of the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped by their own pride, and by the cursing and lying they speak.
12For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
"Cursing" here does not mean obscene language. It means calling down harm on someone by name, an act treated in the ancient world as effective speech, close to a legal or magical attack.
13Destroy them in your anger. Destroy them until they are gone. Then people will know that God rules over Jacob, all the way to the ends of the earth. Selah
13Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
"Jacob" is used as the name of the nation, after the ancestor from whom the twelve tribes of Israel were traced. "To the ends of the earth" is a set phrase for the farthest inhabited edges of the known world.
14Let them come back in the evening. Let them snarl like dogs and prowl around the city.
14And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
15Let them wander here and there looking for food, and growl if they do not get enough.
15Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
16But I will sing about your power. In the morning I will sing out loud about your faithful love, because you have been my fortress and my safe place on the day I was in trouble.
16But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
17I will sing to you, my strength, because God is my fortress, the God who loves me faithfully.
17Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
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