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Psalm 9

God’s Power and Justice

To the leader: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.

I will give thanks to the L ord with my whole heart;

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turned back,

they stumbled and perished before you.

For you have maintained my just cause;

you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.

You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;

you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;

their cities you have rooted out;

the very memory of them has perished.

But the L ord sits enthroned forever,

he has established his throne for judgment.

He judges the world with righteousness;

he judges the peoples with equity.

The L ord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know your name put their trust in you,

for you, O L ord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the L ord, who dwells in Zion.

Declare his deeds among the peoples.

For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;

he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Be gracious to me, O L ord.

See what I suffer from those who hate me;

you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,

so that I may recount all your praises,

and, in the gates of daughter Zion,

rejoice in your deliverance.

The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;

in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.

The L ord has made himself known, he has executed judgment;

the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah

The wicked shall depart to Sheol,

all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Rise up, O L ord! Do not let mortals prevail;

let the nations be judged before you.

Put them in fear, O L ord;

let the nations know that they are only human. Selah

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.

8. And he shall judge the world in righteousness. As David has just now testified, that the power of God is not inactive, so that he dwells in heaven only indulging himself in pleasures; but that it is a constantly operating power which he exercises in preserving his authority, and governing the world in righteousness and equity; so in this verse he adds the use of this doctrine, which is this, that the power of God is not shut up in heaven, but manifests itself in succouring men. The true doctrine on this subject, is not, like Epicurus, to imagine that God is a being wholly devoted to ease and pleasures, and who, satisfied with himself alone, has no care whatever about mankind, but to place him on the throne of power and equity, so that we may be fully persuaded, that although he does not immediately succor those who are unrighteously oppressed, yet there is not a moment in which he ceases to take a deep interest in them. And when he seems for a time to take no notice of things, the conclusion to which we should come most assuredly is, not that he deserts his office, but that he wishes hereby to exercise the patience of his people, and that, therefore, we should wait the issue in patience, and with tranquillity of mind. The demonstrative pronoun He, in my opinion, is of great weight. The import of it is, as if David had said, No one can deprive God of his office as Judge of the world, nor prevent him from extending his judgments to all nations. Whence it follows, that he will much more be the judge of his own people. David declares these judgments to be righteous, in order to induce us, when we are unrighteously and cruelly molested, to ask assistance from God, in the confident expectation of obtaining it; for since he judges the nations in righteousness, he will not suffer injustice and oppression always to reign with impunity in the world, nor deny his aid to the innocent.