Psalm
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Psalm 7

The Lord Implored to Defend the Psalmist against the Wicked.

An [a]Ode of David, [perhaps in a wild, irregular, enthusiastic strain,] which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.

1O Lord my God, in You I take refuge;
Save me and rescue me from all those who pursue me,
2 
So that my enemy will not tear me like a lion,
Dragging me away while there is no one to rescue [me].

3 
O Lord my God, if I have done this,
If there is injustice in my hands,
4 
If I have done evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or without cause robbed him who was my enemy,
5 
Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
And let him trample my life to the ground
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

6 
Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift up Yourself against the rage of my enemies;
Rise up for me; You have commanded judgment and vindication.
7 
Let the assembly of the nations be gathered around You,
And return on high over them.
8 
The Lord judges the peoples;
Judge me, O Lord, and grant me justice according to my righteousness and according to the integrity within me.
9 
Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous [those in right standing with You];
For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.
10 
My shield and my defense depend on God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
11 
God is a righteous judge,
And a God who is indignant every day.

12 
If a man does not repent, God will sharpen His sword;
He has strung and bent His [mighty] bow and made it ready.
13 
He has also prepared [other] deadly weapons for Himself;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts [aimed at the unrepentant].
14 
Behold, the [wicked and irreverent] man is pregnant with sin,
And he conceives mischief and gives birth to lies.
15 
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,
And has fallen into the [very] pit which he made [as a trap].
16 
His mischief will return on his own head,
And his violence will come down on the top of his head [like loose dirt].

17 
I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness and justice,
And I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 7:1 Meaning uncertain, perhaps a wild, enthusiastic song. The ancient rabbis connected the Hebrew word to another word of similar spelling meaning “inadvertent sin” or “error,” and maintained that God called David to account for what he said in 6:10. He had in essence cursed his enemies, and God supposedly pointed out that Saul was David’s enemy, so David thereby had cursed Saul in violation of Ex 22:28. David pleaded with God to count this a sin of error on his part, and thereafter composed Ps 7. The rabbis also maintained that Cush was a reference to Saul (cf 1 Sam 9:1).
Psalm 7