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Psalm 7

Plea for Help against Persecutors

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the L ord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.

O L ord my God, in you I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,

or like a lion they will tear me apart;

they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

O L ord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

if I have repaid my ally with harm

or plundered my foe without cause,

then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,

trample my life to the ground,

and lay my soul in the dust. Selah

Rise up, O L ord, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.

Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,

and over it take your seat on high.

The L ord judges the peoples;

judge me, O L ord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

but establish the righteous,

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God.

God is my shield,

who saves the upright in heart.

God is a righteous judge,

and a God who has indignation every day.

If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and strung his bow;

he has prepared his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

See how they conceive evil,

and are pregnant with mischief,

and bring forth lies.

They make a pit, digging it out,

and fall into the hole that they have made.

Their mischief returns upon their own heads,

and on their own heads their violence descends.

I will give to the L ord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and sing praise to the name of the L ord, the Most High.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

7 And a congregation of peoples Some limit this sentence exclusively to the people of Israel, as if David promised that, as soon as he should ascend the throne, he would endeavour to reunite together, in the pure worship of God, the people who before had been as it were in a state of dispersion. Under the reign of Saul, religion had been neglected, or such an unrestrained license in wickedness had prevailed, that few paid any regard to God. The meaning, therefore, according to these expositors, is this: Lord, when thou shalt have constituted me king, the whole people, who have so basely gone astray from thee, ¹⁰⁶¹⁰⁶ “Tout le peuple qui s’estoit ainsi vilenement destourne de toy.”—Fr. shall return from their wanderings and disorderly courses to thee and to thy service, so that all shall know that thou rulest in the midst of them, and shall worship thee as their only King. But I am rather inclined to view this as language which has a respect in common to many nations. David here speaks in high terms of the effects resulting from his deliverance, the report of which would be spread far and wide, and his words are, as if he had said, “Lord, when thou shalt have put me in peaceable possession of the kingdom, this will not only be a benefit conferred on me personally, but it will be a common lesson to many nations, teaching them to acknowledge thy just judgment, so that they shall turn their eyes to thy judgment-seat.” ¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁷ “Mais ce sera un enseignement commun a plusieurs peuples, pour recognoistre ton juste jugement, tellement qu’ils dresseront les yeux vers ton siege judicial.”—Fr. David here alludes to the practice of a people who surround their king, as in a circle, when he holds a solemn assembly. In the same sense, he adds immediately after, that God, who, for a time, lay still and kept silence, would raise himself on high that not only one or two, but whole nations, might behold his glory: And on account of this return thou on high ¹⁰⁸¹⁰⁸ Fry reads, “And over it resume thy high tribunal.” He supposes that the word עליה, aleha, which Calvin has rendered on account of this, may be understood, “concerning this affair,” and gives the following paraphrase: ”Resume thy judgment-seat, in order to investigate the cause in which I have been prejudged by the adversary.” There is in these words, a tacit comparison, that although it might not be necessary to have a regard to one man alone, it is requisite that God should keep the world in the fear and reverence of his judgment.

¹⁰⁶ “Tout le peuple qui s’estoit ainsi vilenement destourne de toy.”—Fr.

¹⁰⁷ “Mais ce sera un enseignement commun a plusieurs peuples, pour recognoistre ton juste jugement, tellement qu’ils dresseront les yeux vers ton siege judicial.”—Fr.

¹⁰⁸ Fry reads, “And over it resume thy high tribunal.” He supposes that the word עליה, aleha, which Calvin has rendered on account of this, may be understood, “concerning this affair,” and gives the following paraphrase: ”Resume thy judgment-seat, in order to investigate the cause in which I have been prejudged by the adversary.”