Psalm 59
New English Translation
Psalm 59[a]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a prayer[c] of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him.[d]
59 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
Protect me[e] from those who attack me.[f]
2 Deliver me from evildoers.[g]
Rescue me from violent men.[h]
3 For look, they wait to ambush me;[i]
powerful men stalk[j] me,
but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord.[k]
4 Though I have done nothing wrong,[l] they are anxious to attack.[m]
Spring into action and help me. Take notice of me.[n]
5 You, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,[o] the God of Israel,
rouse yourself and punish[p] all the nations.
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers. (Selah)
6 They return in the evening;
they growl[q] like dogs
and prowl around outside[r] the city.
7 Look, they hurl insults at me
and openly threaten to kill me,[s]
for they say,[t]
“Who hears?”
8 But you, O Lord, laugh in disgust at them;[u]
you taunt[v] all the nations.
9 You are my source of strength. I will wait for you.[w]
For God is my refuge.[x]
10 The God who loves me will help me;[y]
God will enable me to triumph over[z] my enemies.[aa]
11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,
because then my people might forget the lesson.[ab]
Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,
O Lord who shields us.[ac]
12 They speak sinful words.[ad]
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak.
13 Angrily wipe them out. Wipe them out so they vanish.
Let them know that God rules
over Jacob and to the ends of the earth. (Selah)
14 They return in the evening;
they growl[ae] like dogs
and prowl around outside[af] the city.
15 They wander around looking for something to eat;
they refuse to sleep until they are full.[ag]
16 As for me, I will sing about your strength;
I will praise your loyal love in the morning.
For you are my refuge[ah]
and my place of shelter when I face trouble.[ai]
17 You are my source of strength. I will sing praises to you.[aj]
For God is my refuge,[ak] the God who loves me.[al]
Footnotes
- Psalm 59:1 sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.
- Psalm 59:1 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.
- Psalm 59:1 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
- Psalm 59:1 tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Saul sent assassins to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning (see 1 Sam 19:11). However, the psalm itself mentions foreign enemies (vv. 5, 8). Perhaps these references reflect a later adaptation of an original Davidic psalm.
- Psalm 59:1 tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”
- Psalm 59:1 tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”
- Psalm 59:2 tn Heb “from the workers of wickedness.”
- Psalm 59:2 tn Heb “from men of bloodshed.”
- Psalm 59:3 tn Heb “my life.”
- Psalm 59:3 tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.
- Psalm 59:3 sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.
- Psalm 59:4 tn Heb “without sin.”
- Psalm 59:4 tn Heb “they run and they are determined.”
- Psalm 59:4 tn Heb “arise to meet me and see.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qaraʾ, “to meet; to encounter”) here carries the nuance of “to help.”
- Psalm 59:5 tn Heb “Lord, God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (ʾelohe) before צְבָאוֹת (tsevaʾot, “hosts”). See Ps 89:9, but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ʾelohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsevaʾot) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.
- Psalm 59:5 tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).
- Psalm 59:6 tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”
- Psalm 59:6 tn Heb “go around.”
- Psalm 59:7 tn Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”
- Psalm 59:7 tn The words “for they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The following question (“Who hears?”) is spoken by the psalmist’s enemies, who are confident that no one else can hear their threats against the psalmist. They are aggressive because they feel the psalmist is vulnerable and has no one to help him.
- Psalm 59:8 sn Laugh in disgust. See Pss 2:4; 37:13.
- Psalm 59:8 tn Or “scoff at”; or “deride”; or “mock” (see Ps 2:4).
- Psalm 59:9 tc Heb “his strength, for you I will watch.” “His strength” should be emended to “my strength” (see v. 17). Some also emend אֶשְׁמֹרָה (ʾeshmorah, “I will watch”) to אֱזַמֵּרָה (ʾezammerah, “I will sing praises [to you]”) See v. 17.
- Psalm 59:9 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
- Psalm 59:10 tn Heb “the God of my [Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”
- Psalm 59:10 tn Heb “will cause me to look upon.”
- Psalm 59:10 tn Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2.
- Psalm 59:11 tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”sn My people might forget the lesson. Swift, sudden destruction might be quickly forgotten. The psalmist wants God’s judgment to be prolonged so that it might be a continual reminder of divine justice.
- Psalm 59:11 tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”
- Psalm 59:12 tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”
- Psalm 59:14 tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”
- Psalm 59:14 tn Heb “go around.”
- Psalm 59:15 tn Heb “if they are not full, they stay through the night.”
- Psalm 59:16 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
- Psalm 59:16 tn Heb “and my shelter in the day of my distress.”
- Psalm 59:17 tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”
- Psalm 59:17 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
- Psalm 59:17 tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”
Psalm 59
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 59
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when Saul ordered his house to be watched in order to kill him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
protect me from those who rise up against me.(A)
2 Deliver me from those who work evil;
from the bloodthirsty, save me.(B)
3 Even now they lie in wait for my life;
the mighty stir up strife against me.
For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,(C)
4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.
Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!(D)
5 You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Awake to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah(E)
6 Each evening they come back
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.(F)
7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths,
with sharp words[a] on their lips,
for “Who,” they think,[b] “will hear us?”(G)
8 But you laugh at them, O Lord;
you hold all the nations in derision.(H)
9 O my strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.(I)
10 My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.(J)
11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget;
make them totter by your power and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield.(K)
12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,(L)
13 consume them in wrath;
consume them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob. Selah(M)
14 Each evening they come back
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.(N)
15 They roam about for food
and growl if they do not get their fill.
1 Samuel 19:11-18
New English Translation
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself[a] tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” 12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he ran away and escaped.
13 Then Michal took a household idol[b] and put it on the bed. She put a quilt[c] made of goats’ hair over its head[d] and then covered the idol with a garment. 14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed so I can kill him.” 16 When the messengers came, they found only the idol on the bed and the quilt made of goats’ hair at its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’”[e]
18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 19:11 tn Heb “your life.”
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goats’ hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn Heb “at the place of its head.”
- 1 Samuel 19:17 tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325-26.
1 Samuel 19:11-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped.(A) 13 Michal took an idol[a] and laid it on the bed; she put a net[b] of goats’ hair on its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”(B) 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, the idol[c] was in the bed, with the covering[d] of goats’ hair on its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’ ”
David Joins Samuel in Ramah
18 Now David fled and escaped; he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and settled at Naioth.(C)
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