Trusting God's Word When Fear and Enemies Press In

Psa 56:5-7 This second strophe describes the adversaries, and ends in imprecation, the fire of anger being kindled against them. Hitzig’s rendering is: “All the time they are injuring my concerns,” i. e. , injuring my interests. This also sounds unpoetical. Just as we say חמס תורה, to do violence to the Tôra (Zep 3:4; Eze 22:26), so we can also say: to torture any one’s words, i.

e. , his utterances concerning himself, viz. , by misconstruing and twisting them. It is no good to David that he asseverates his innocence, that he asserts his filial faithfulness to Saul, God’s anointed; they stretch his testimony concerning himself upon the rack, forcing upon it a false meaning and wrong inferences. They band themselves together, they place men in ambush.

The verb גּוּר signifies sometimes to turn aside, turn in, dwell (= Arab. jâr ); sometimes, to be afraid (= יגר, Arab. wjr ); sometimes, to stir up, excite, Psa 140:3 (= גּרה); and sometimes, as here, and in Psa 59:4, Isa 54:15 : to gather together (= אגר). The Kerî reads יצפּונוּ (as in Psa 10:8; Pro 1:11), but the scriptio plena points to Hiph . (cf. Job 24:6, and also Psa 126:5), and the following המּה leads one to the conclusion that it is the causative יצפּינוּ that is intended: they cause one to keep watch in concealment, they lay an ambush (synon.

האריב, 1Sa 15:5); so that המה refers to the liers-in-wait told off by them: as to these - they observe my heels or (like the feminine plural in Psa 77:20; Psa 89:52) footprints (Rashi: mes traces ), i. e. , all my footsteps or movements, because (properly, “in accordance with this, that,” as in Mic 3:4) they now as formerly (which is implied in the perfect, cf.

Psa 59:4) attempt my life, i. e. , strive after, lie in wait for it (קוּה like שׁמר, Psa 71:10, with the accusative = קוּה ל in Psa 119:95). To this circumstantial representation of their hostile proceedings is appended the clause על־עון פּלּט־למו, which is not to be understood otherwise than as a question, and is marked as such by the order of the words (2Ki 5:26; Isa 28:28): In spite of iniquity [ is there ] escape for them?

i. e. , shall they, the liers-in-wait, notwithstanding such evil good-for-nothing mode of action, escape? At any rate פּלּט is, as in Psa 32:7, a substantivized finitive, and the “by no means” which belongs as answer to this question passes over forthwith into the prayer for the overthrow of the evil ones. This is the customary interpretation since Kimchi’s day.

Mendelssohn explains it differently: “In vain be their escape,” following Aben-Jachja, who, however, like Saadia, takes פלט to be imperative. Certainly adverbial notions are expressed by means of על, - e. g. , על־יתר ,. , abundantly, Psa 31:24; על־שׁקר, falsely, Lev. 5:22 (vid. , Gesenius, Thesaurus , p. 1028), - but one does not say על־הבל, and consequently also would hardly have said על־און (by no means, for nothing, in vain); moreover the connection here demands the prevailing ethical notion for און.

Hupfeld alters פלט to פּלּס, and renders it: “recompense to them for wickedness,” which is not only critically improbable, but even contrary to the usage of the language, since פלס signifies to weigh out, but not to requite, and requires the accusative of the object. The widening of the circle of vision to the whole of the hostile world is rightly explained by Hengstenberg by the fact that the special execution of judgment on the part of God is only an outflow of His more general and comprehensive execution of judgment, and the belief in the former has its root in a belief in the latter.

The meaning of הורד becomes manifest from the preceding Psalm (Ps 55:24), to which the Psalm before us is appended by reason of manifold and closely allied relation.

Psa 56:5-7 This second strophe describes the adversaries, and ends in imprecation, the fire of anger being kindled against them. Hitzig’s rendering is: “All the time they are injuring my concerns,” i. e. , injuring my interests. This also sounds unpoetical. Just as we say חמס תורה, to do violence to the Tôra (Zep 3:4; Eze 22:26), so we can also say: to torture any one’s words, i.

e. , his utterances concerning himself, viz. , by misconstruing and twisting them. It is no good to David that he asseverates his innocence, that he asserts his filial faithfulness to Saul, God’s anointed; they stretch his testimony concerning himself upon the rack, forcing upon it a false meaning and wrong inferences. They band themselves together, they place men in ambush.

The verb גּוּר signifies sometimes to turn aside, turn in, dwell (= Arab. jâr ); sometimes, to be afraid (= יגר, Arab. wjr ); sometimes, to stir up, excite, Psa 140:3 (= גּרה); and sometimes, as here, and in Psa 59:4, Isa 54:15 : to gather together (= אגר). The Kerî reads יצפּונוּ (as in Psa 10:8; Pro 1:11), but the scriptio plena points to Hiph . (cf. Job 24:6, and also Psa 126:5), and the following המּה leads one to the conclusion that it is the causative יצפּינוּ that is intended: they cause one to keep watch in concealment, they lay an ambush (synon.

האריב, 1Sa 15:5); so that המה refers to the liers-in-wait told off by them: as to these - they observe my heels or (like the feminine plural in Psa 77:20; Psa 89:52) footprints (Rashi: mes traces ), i. e. , all my footsteps or movements, because (properly, “in accordance with this, that,” as in Mic 3:4) they now as formerly (which is implied in the perfect, cf.

Psa 59:4) attempt my life, i. e. , strive after, lie in wait for it (קוּה like שׁמר, Psa 71:10, with the accusative = קוּה ל in Psa 119:95). To this circumstantial representation of their hostile proceedings is appended the clause על־עון פּלּט־למו, which is not to be understood otherwise than as a question, and is marked as such by the order of the words (2Ki 5:26; Isa 28:28): In spite of iniquity [ is there ] escape for them?

i. e. , shall they, the liers-in-wait, notwithstanding such evil good-for-nothing mode of action, escape? At any rate פּלּט is, as in Psa 32:7, a substantivized finitive, and the “by no means” which belongs as answer to this question passes over forthwith into the prayer for the overthrow of the evil ones. This is the customary interpretation since Kimchi’s day.

Mendelssohn explains it differently: “In vain be their escape,” following Aben-Jachja, who, however, like Saadia, takes פלט to be imperative. Certainly adverbial notions are expressed by means of על, - e. g. , על־יתר ,. , abundantly, Psa 31:24; על־שׁקר, falsely, Lev. 5:22 (vid. , Gesenius, Thesaurus , p. 1028), - but one does not say על־הבל, and consequently also would hardly have said על־און (by no means, for nothing, in vain); moreover the connection here demands the prevailing ethical notion for און.

Hupfeld alters פלט to פּלּס, and renders it: “recompense to them for wickedness,” which is not only critically improbable, but even contrary to the usage of the language, since פלס signifies to weigh out, but not to requite, and requires the accusative of the object. The widening of the circle of vision to the whole of the hostile world is rightly explained by Hengstenberg by the fact that the special execution of judgment on the part of God is only an outflow of His more general and comprehensive execution of judgment, and the belief in the former has its root in a belief in the latter.

The meaning of הורד becomes manifest from the preceding Psalm (Ps 55:24), to which the Psalm before us is appended by reason of manifold and closely allied relation.

Psa 56:8-11 What the poet prays for in Psa 56:8, he now expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces himself. נד (Psa 56:9) is not to be rendered “flight,” which certainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen); but “a being fugitive,” the unsettled life of a fugitive (Pro 27:8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many temporary stays here and there.

And upon the fact that God, that He whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret hiding-place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) it, the poet lays great stress; for he has long ago learnt to despair of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to נדי as an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka ; and this is then followed by ספרתּה with the conjunctive Galgal and the pausal אתּה with Olewejored (the of which is placed over the final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable).

He who counts (Job 31:4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes שׂימה as imperative, as e.

g. , in 1Sa 8:5; but since שׂים, שׂימה ,שׂים, is also the form of the passive participle (1Sa 9:24, and frequently, 2Sa 13:32), it is more natural, in accordance with the surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance ( posita est lacrima mea ), and consequently to pronounce it as Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Böttcher, and Hitzig). דמעתי (Ecc 4:1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to נדי, with which בנאדך forms a play in sound; and the closing clause הלא בּספרתך unites with ספרתּה in the first member of the verse.

Both Psa 56:9 and Psa 56:9 are wanting in any particle of comparison. The fact thus figuratively set forth, viz. , that God collects the tears of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mal 3:16), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to himself. The אז which follows may be taken either as a logical “in consequence of so and so” (as e.

g. , Psa 19:14; Psa 40:8), or as a “then” fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering life (viz. , when there have been enough of the “wandering” and of the “tears”), or “at a future time” (more abruptly, like שׁם in Psa 14:5; 36:13, vid. , on Psa 2:5). בּיום אקרא is not an expansion of this אז, which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour will coincide with the cry for help.

By זה־ידעתּי in Psa 56:10 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is not to be rendered, after Job 19:19 : “I who know,” which is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with what precedes; but, after 1Ki 17:24 : this I know (of this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. זה as a neuter, just as in connection with ידע in Pro 24:12, and also frequently elsewhere (Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4; Isa 29:11, cf.

Job 15:17); and לי as e. g. , in Gen 31:42. Through Elohim, Psa 56:11 continues, will I praise דּבר: thus absolutely is the word named; it is therefore the divine word, just like בּר in Psa 2:12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the first case and then Jahve , in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm style, as in Psa 58:7.

The refrain in Psa 56:12 (cf. Psa 56:5 ) indicates the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read אדם instead of בּשׂר in this instance, just as in Psa 56:11 דּבר instead of דּברו ( Psa 56:5 ), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form.

Psa 56:8-11 What the poet prays for in Psa 56:8, he now expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces himself. נד (Psa 56:9) is not to be rendered “flight,” which certainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen); but “a being fugitive,” the unsettled life of a fugitive (Pro 27:8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many temporary stays here and there.

And upon the fact that God, that He whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret hiding-place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) it, the poet lays great stress; for he has long ago learnt to despair of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to נדי as an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka ; and this is then followed by ספרתּה with the conjunctive Galgal and the pausal אתּה with Olewejored (the of which is placed over the final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable).

He who counts (Job 31:4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes שׂימה as imperative, as e.

g. , in 1Sa 8:5; but since שׂים, שׂימה ,שׂים, is also the form of the passive participle (1Sa 9:24, and frequently, 2Sa 13:32), it is more natural, in accordance with the surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance ( posita est lacrima mea ), and consequently to pronounce it as Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Böttcher, and Hitzig). דמעתי (Ecc 4:1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to נדי, with which בנאדך forms a play in sound; and the closing clause הלא בּספרתך unites with ספרתּה in the first member of the verse.

Both Psa 56:9 and Psa 56:9 are wanting in any particle of comparison. The fact thus figuratively set forth, viz. , that God collects the tears of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mal 3:16), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to himself. The אז which follows may be taken either as a logical “in consequence of so and so” (as e.

g. , Psa 19:14; Psa 40:8), or as a “then” fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering life (viz. , when there have been enough of the “wandering” and of the “tears”), or “at a future time” (more abruptly, like שׁם in Psa 14:5; 36:13, vid. , on Psa 2:5). בּיום אקרא is not an expansion of this אז, which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour will coincide with the cry for help.

By זה־ידעתּי in Psa 56:10 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is not to be rendered, after Job 19:19 : “I who know,” which is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with what precedes; but, after 1Ki 17:24 : this I know (of this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. זה as a neuter, just as in connection with ידע in Pro 24:12, and also frequently elsewhere (Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4; Isa 29:11, cf.

Job 15:17); and לי as e. g. , in Gen 31:42. Through Elohim, Psa 56:11 continues, will I praise דּבר: thus absolutely is the word named; it is therefore the divine word, just like בּר in Psa 2:12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the first case and then Jahve , in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm style, as in Psa 58:7.

The refrain in Psa 56:12 (cf. Psa 56:5 ) indicates the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read אדם instead of בּשׂר in this instance, just as in Psa 56:11 דּבר instead of דּברו ( Psa 56:5 ), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form.

Psa 56:8-11 What the poet prays for in Psa 56:8, he now expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces himself. נד (Psa 56:9) is not to be rendered “flight,” which certainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen); but “a being fugitive,” the unsettled life of a fugitive (Pro 27:8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many temporary stays here and there.

And upon the fact that God, that He whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret hiding-place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) it, the poet lays great stress; for he has long ago learnt to despair of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to נדי as an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka ; and this is then followed by ספרתּה with the conjunctive Galgal and the pausal אתּה with Olewejored (the of which is placed over the final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable).

He who counts (Job 31:4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes שׂימה as imperative, as e.

g. , in 1Sa 8:5; but since שׂים, שׂימה ,שׂים, is also the form of the passive participle (1Sa 9:24, and frequently, 2Sa 13:32), it is more natural, in accordance with the surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance ( posita est lacrima mea ), and consequently to pronounce it as Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Böttcher, and Hitzig). דמעתי (Ecc 4:1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to נדי, with which בנאדך forms a play in sound; and the closing clause הלא בּספרתך unites with ספרתּה in the first member of the verse.

Both Psa 56:9 and Psa 56:9 are wanting in any particle of comparison. The fact thus figuratively set forth, viz. , that God collects the tears of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mal 3:16), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to himself. The אז which follows may be taken either as a logical “in consequence of so and so” (as e.

g. , Psa 19:14; Psa 40:8), or as a “then” fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering life (viz. , when there have been enough of the “wandering” and of the “tears”), or “at a future time” (more abruptly, like שׁם in Psa 14:5; 36:13, vid. , on Psa 2:5). בּיום אקרא is not an expansion of this אז, which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour will coincide with the cry for help.

By זה־ידעתּי in Psa 56:10 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is not to be rendered, after Job 19:19 : “I who know,” which is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with what precedes; but, after 1Ki 17:24 : this I know (of this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. זה as a neuter, just as in connection with ידע in Pro 24:12, and also frequently elsewhere (Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4; Isa 29:11, cf.

Job 15:17); and לי as e. g. , in Gen 31:42. Through Elohim, Psa 56:11 continues, will I praise דּבר: thus absolutely is the word named; it is therefore the divine word, just like בּר in Psa 2:12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the first case and then Jahve , in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm style, as in Psa 58:7.

The refrain in Psa 56:12 (cf. Psa 56:5 ) indicates the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read אדם instead of בּשׂר in this instance, just as in Psa 56:11 דּבר instead of דּברו ( Psa 56:5 ), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form.

Psa 56:8-11 What the poet prays for in Psa 56:8, he now expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces himself. נד (Psa 56:9) is not to be rendered “flight,” which certainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen); but “a being fugitive,” the unsettled life of a fugitive (Pro 27:8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many temporary stays here and there.

And upon the fact that God, that He whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret hiding-place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) it, the poet lays great stress; for he has long ago learnt to despair of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to נדי as an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka ; and this is then followed by ספרתּה with the conjunctive Galgal and the pausal אתּה with Olewejored (the of which is placed over the final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable).

He who counts (Job 31:4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes שׂימה as imperative, as e.

g. , in 1Sa 8:5; but since שׂים, שׂימה ,שׂים, is also the form of the passive participle (1Sa 9:24, and frequently, 2Sa 13:32), it is more natural, in accordance with the surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance ( posita est lacrima mea ), and consequently to pronounce it as Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Böttcher, and Hitzig). דמעתי (Ecc 4:1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to נדי, with which בנאדך forms a play in sound; and the closing clause הלא בּספרתך unites with ספרתּה in the first member of the verse.

Both Psa 56:9 and Psa 56:9 are wanting in any particle of comparison. The fact thus figuratively set forth, viz. , that God collects the tears of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mal 3:16), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to himself. The אז which follows may be taken either as a logical “in consequence of so and so” (as e.

g. , Psa 19:14; Psa 40:8), or as a “then” fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering life (viz. , when there have been enough of the “wandering” and of the “tears”), or “at a future time” (more abruptly, like שׁם in Psa 14:5; 36:13, vid. , on Psa 2:5). בּיום אקרא is not an expansion of this אז, which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour will coincide with the cry for help.

By זה־ידעתּי in Psa 56:10 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is not to be rendered, after Job 19:19 : “I who know,” which is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with what precedes; but, after 1Ki 17:24 : this I know (of this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. זה as a neuter, just as in connection with ידע in Pro 24:12, and also frequently elsewhere (Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4; Isa 29:11, cf.

Job 15:17); and לי as e. g. , in Gen 31:42. Through Elohim, Psa 56:11 continues, will I praise דּבר: thus absolutely is the word named; it is therefore the divine word, just like בּר in Psa 2:12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the first case and then Jahve , in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm style, as in Psa 58:7.

The refrain in Psa 56:12 (cf. Psa 56:5 ) indicates the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read אדם instead of בּשׂר in this instance, just as in Psa 56:11 דּבר instead of דּברו ( Psa 56:5 ), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form.

Psa 56:12-13 In prospect of his deliverance the poet promises beforehand to fulfil the duty of thankfulness. עלי, incumbent upon me, as in Pro 7:14; 2Sa 18:11. נדריך, with an objective subject, are the vows made to God; and תּודות are distinguished from them, as e. g. , in 2Ch 29:31. He will suffer neither the pledged שׁלמי נדר nor the שׁלמי תּודה to be wanting; for - so will he be then able to sing and to declare - Thou hast rescued, etc.

The perfect after כּי denotes that which is then past, as in Psa 59:17, cf. the dependent passage Psa 116:8. There the expression is ארצות החיּים instead of אור החיּים (here and in Elihu’s speech, Job 33:30). Light of life (Joh 8:12) or of the living (lxx τῶν ζώντων) is not exclusively the sun-light of this present life. Life is the opposite of death in the deepest and most comprehensive sense; light of life is therefore the opposite of the night of Hades, of this seclusion from God and from His revelation in human history.

Before Falling Asleep in the Wilderness The Psalms that are to be sung after the melody אל־תּשׁחת (Psa 57:1-11, Psa 58:1-11, 59 Davidic, 75 Asaphic) begin here. The direction referring to the musical execution of the Psalm ought properly to be אל־תשׁחת (אל); but this is avoided as being unmelodious, and harsh so far as the syntax is concerned. The Geneva version is correct: pour le chanter sur Al taschchet .

There is no actual reference in the words to Deu 9:26, or 1Sa 26:9 (why not also to Isa 65:8?) The historical inscription runs: when he fled from Saul, in the cave . From the connection in the history from which this statement is extracted, it will have been clear whether the Psalm belongs to the sojourn in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22) or in the labyrinthine cave upon the alpine heights of Engedi, “by the sheep-folds” (1 Sam.

24), described in Van de Velde's Journey, ii. 74-76. How manifold are the points in which these Psalms belonging to the time of Saul run into one another! Psa 57:1-11 has not merely the supplicatory “Be gracious unto me, Elohim,” at the beginning, but also שׁאף applied in the same way (Psa 57:4; Psa 56:2.) , in common with Psa 56:1-13; in common with Ps 7, <, כבודי = נפשׁי (Psa 57:9; Psa 7:6); the comparison of one’s enemies to lions and lionesses (Psa 57:5; Psa 7:3); the figure of the sword of the tongue (Psa 57:5; Psa 59:8, cf.

Psa 52:4); with Psa 52:1-9 the poetical expression הוות (Psa 57:2; Psa 52:4); with Ps 22 the relation of the deliverance of the anointed one to the redemption of all peoples (Psa 57:10; Psa 22:28.) Also with Psa 36:1-12 it has one or two points of contact, viz. , the expression “refuge under the shadow of God’s wings” (Psa 57:2, Psa 36:8), and in the measuring of the mercy and truth of God by the height of the heavens (Psa 57:11, Psa 36:6).

Yet, on the other hand, it has a thoroughly characteristic impress. Just as Psa 56:1-13 delighted in confirming what was said by means of the interrogatory הלא (Psa 57:9, 14), so Psa 57:1-11 revels in the figure epizeuxis, or an emphatic repetition of a word (Psa 57:2, Psa 57:4, Psa 57:8, Psa 57:9). Psa 108:1-13 (which see) is a cento taken out of Psa 57:1-11 and Psa 60:1-12.

The strophe-schema of Psa 57:1-11 is the growing one: 4. 5. 6; 4. 5. 6. Here also the Michtam is not wanting in its prominent favourite word. A refrain of a lofty character closes the first and second parts. In the first part cheerful submission rules, in the second a certainty of victory, which by anticipation takes up the song of praise.

Psa 56:12-13 In prospect of his deliverance the poet promises beforehand to fulfil the duty of thankfulness. עלי, incumbent upon me, as in Pro 7:14; 2Sa 18:11. נדריך, with an objective subject, are the vows made to God; and תּודות are distinguished from them, as e. g. , in 2Ch 29:31. He will suffer neither the pledged שׁלמי נדר nor the שׁלמי תּודה to be wanting; for - so will he be then able to sing and to declare - Thou hast rescued, etc.

The perfect after כּי denotes that which is then past, as in Psa 59:17, cf. the dependent passage Psa 116:8. There the expression is ארצות החיּים instead of אור החיּים (here and in Elihu’s speech, Job 33:30). Light of life (Joh 8:12) or of the living (lxx τῶν ζώντων) is not exclusively the sun-light of this present life. Life is the opposite of death in the deepest and most comprehensive sense; light of life is therefore the opposite of the night of Hades, of this seclusion from God and from His revelation in human history.

Before Falling Asleep in the Wilderness The Psalms that are to be sung after the melody אל־תּשׁחת (Psa 57:1-11, Psa 58:1-11, 59 Davidic, 75 Asaphic) begin here. The direction referring to the musical execution of the Psalm ought properly to be אל־תשׁחת (אל); but this is avoided as being unmelodious, and harsh so far as the syntax is concerned. The Geneva version is correct: pour le chanter sur Al taschchet .

There is no actual reference in the words to Deu 9:26, or 1Sa 26:9 (why not also to Isa 65:8?) The historical inscription runs: when he fled from Saul, in the cave . From the connection in the history from which this statement is extracted, it will have been clear whether the Psalm belongs to the sojourn in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22) or in the labyrinthine cave upon the alpine heights of Engedi, “by the sheep-folds” (1 Sam.

24), described in Van de Velde's Journey, ii. 74-76. How manifold are the points in which these Psalms belonging to the time of Saul run into one another! Psa 57:1-11 has not merely the supplicatory “Be gracious unto me, Elohim,” at the beginning, but also שׁאף applied in the same way (Psa 57:4; Psa 56:2.) , in common with Psa 56:1-13; in common with Ps 7, <, כבודי = נפשׁי (Psa 57:9; Psa 7:6); the comparison of one’s enemies to lions and lionesses (Psa 57:5; Psa 7:3); the figure of the sword of the tongue (Psa 57:5; Psa 59:8, cf.

Psa 52:4); with Psa 52:1-9 the poetical expression הוות (Psa 57:2; Psa 52:4); with Ps 22 the relation of the deliverance of the anointed one to the redemption of all peoples (Psa 57:10; Psa 22:28.) Also with Psa 36:1-12 it has one or two points of contact, viz. , the expression “refuge under the shadow of God’s wings” (Psa 57:2, Psa 36:8), and in the measuring of the mercy and truth of God by the height of the heavens (Psa 57:11, Psa 36:6).

Yet, on the other hand, it has a thoroughly characteristic impress. Just as Psa 56:1-13 delighted in confirming what was said by means of the interrogatory הלא (Psa 57:9, 14), so Psa 57:1-11 revels in the figure epizeuxis, or an emphatic repetition of a word (Psa 57:2, Psa 57:4, Psa 57:8, Psa 57:9). Psa 108:1-13 (which see) is a cento taken out of Psa 57:1-11 and Psa 60:1-12.

The strophe-schema of Psa 57:1-11 is the growing one: 4. 5. 6; 4. 5. 6. Here also the Michtam is not wanting in its prominent favourite word. A refrain of a lofty character closes the first and second parts. In the first part cheerful submission rules, in the second a certainty of victory, which by anticipation takes up the song of praise.

Psa 57:1-5 By means of the two distinctive tense-forms the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as that which has once taken place (חסיה from חסה = חסי out of pause, like the same forms in Psa 73:2; Psa 122:6), and still, because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, renewed (אחסה). The shadow of the wings of God is the protection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this protection.

Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for refuge now as he has done before, until הוּות, i. e. , the abysmal danger that threatens him, be overpast, praeteriverit (cf. Isa 26:20, and on the enallage numeri Psa 10:10, Ges. §147, a). Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in need of it; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted triumphant resistance of the impending trials.

The effort on his own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and rules the universe. עליון is without the article, which it never takes; and גּמר ( Psa 57:3 ) is the same, because it is regularly left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully defined, Amo 9:12; Eze 21:19 (Hitzig).

He calls upon God who accomplisheth concerning, i. e. , for him (Est 4:16), who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one; גּמר is transitive as in Psa 138:8. The lxx renders τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, as though it were גּמל עלי (Psa 13:6, and frequently); and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning is exactly the same. But although גמל and גמר fall back upon one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification that is strictly maintained.

In Psa 57:4 follow futures of hope. In this instance “that which brings me deliverance” is to be supplied in thought to ישׁלח (cf. Psa 20:3) and not ידו as in Psa 18:17, cf. Psa 144:7; and this general and unmentioned object is then specialized and defined in the words “His mercy and His truth” in Psa 57:4 . Mercy and truth are as it were the two good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf.

Psa 43:3) bring the divine ישׁוּעה to an accomplishment. The words חרף שׁאפי sdro standing between a and c have been drawn by the accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably interpreting it thus: He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever ( Sela ). But חרף always (e. g. , Isa 37:23) has God as its object, not as its subject. חרף שׁאפי is to be connected with what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges.

§155, 4, a ): supposing that he who is greedy or pants for me ( inhians mihi ) slandereth, then Elohim will send His mercy and His truth. The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis. In Psa 57:5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one’s own course.

Since לבאים (has Zarka ( Zinnor ) and להטים Olewejored , it is accordingly to be rendered: “My soul is in the midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones; the children of men - their teeth are a spear and arrows. ” The rendering of the lxx, of Theodotion, and of the Syriac version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both begin a new clause with ἐκοιμήθην (ודמכת, and I slept); whereas Aquila and Symmachus (taking נפשׁי, as it seems, as a periphrastic expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all as afar as להטים as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two parts, just as the accentuators do, at להטים.

The rendering of Aquila is ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων; that of Symmachus: ἐν μέσῳ λεόντῶν εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην; or according to another reading, μεταξὺ λεόντων ἐκοιμήθην φλεγόντων. They are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may be able to reproduce the נפשׁי, changes אשׁכבה into שׁכבה: Anima mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocientium .

This construction, however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka above לבאים (a plural form that only occurs in this one passage in the Psalter, = לביים). In a general way it is to be observed that this לבאים in connection with אשׁכּבה is not so much the accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the object with verbs of dwelling; on שׁכב cf.

Rth 3:8, Rth 3:14, and Psa 88:6; Mic 7:5 (where at least the possibility of this construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it is doubtful (1) what להטים signifies. The rendering “flaming ones” is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Symmachus. The verb להט obtains this signification apparently from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and accordingly Theodotion renders it by ἀναλισκόντων, and Aquila most appropriately by λάβρων (a word used of a ravenous furious longing for anything).

But להט nowhere means “to devour;” the poet must, therefore, in connection with להטים, have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The question further arises, (2) how the cohortative אשׁכבה is meant to be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward impulse-never, however, without willing it one’s self (Ew.

§228, a ) - the rendering “I must,” or “therefore must I lie down,” commends itself. But the contrast, which has been almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb שׁכב here has the sense of cubitum ire (Ps 4:9).

Starting from this אשׁכבה we look to Psa 57:9, and it at once becomes clear that we have before us an evening or nightly song. David the persecuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept the testimony of the inscription, in a cave: his soul is in the midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, are worse than beasts of prey: teeth and tongue are murderous weapons.

This more than brutal joy at the destruction of one’s neighbour which prevails among men, urges him to put forth the prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i. e. , may become manifest (or even: exalted be His glory, ירוּם), over the whole earth beneath, - His glory which to His saints is a health-diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a consuming fire, - so that the whole world shall be compelled to acknowledge this glory in which His holiness manifests itself, and shall become conformed to it after everything that is hostile is overthrown.

Psa 57:1-5 By means of the two distinctive tense-forms the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as that which has once taken place (חסיה from חסה = חסי out of pause, like the same forms in Psa 73:2; Psa 122:6), and still, because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, renewed (אחסה). The shadow of the wings of God is the protection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this protection.

Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for refuge now as he has done before, until הוּות, i. e. , the abysmal danger that threatens him, be overpast, praeteriverit (cf. Isa 26:20, and on the enallage numeri Psa 10:10, Ges. §147, a). Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in need of it; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted triumphant resistance of the impending trials.

The effort on his own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and rules the universe. עליון is without the article, which it never takes; and גּמר ( Psa 57:3 ) is the same, because it is regularly left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully defined, Amo 9:12; Eze 21:19 (Hitzig).

He calls upon God who accomplisheth concerning, i. e. , for him (Est 4:16), who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one; גּמר is transitive as in Psa 138:8. The lxx renders τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, as though it were גּמל עלי (Psa 13:6, and frequently); and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning is exactly the same. But although גמל and גמר fall back upon one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification that is strictly maintained.

In Psa 57:4 follow futures of hope. In this instance “that which brings me deliverance” is to be supplied in thought to ישׁלח (cf. Psa 20:3) and not ידו as in Psa 18:17, cf. Psa 144:7; and this general and unmentioned object is then specialized and defined in the words “His mercy and His truth” in Psa 57:4 . Mercy and truth are as it were the two good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf.

Psa 43:3) bring the divine ישׁוּעה to an accomplishment. The words חרף שׁאפי sdro standing between a and c have been drawn by the accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably interpreting it thus: He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever ( Sela ). But חרף always (e. g. , Isa 37:23) has God as its object, not as its subject. חרף שׁאפי is to be connected with what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges.

§155, 4, a ): supposing that he who is greedy or pants for me ( inhians mihi ) slandereth, then Elohim will send His mercy and His truth. The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis. In Psa 57:5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one’s own course.

Since לבאים (has Zarka ( Zinnor ) and להטים Olewejored , it is accordingly to be rendered: “My soul is in the midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones; the children of men - their teeth are a spear and arrows. ” The rendering of the lxx, of Theodotion, and of the Syriac version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both begin a new clause with ἐκοιμήθην (ודמכת, and I slept); whereas Aquila and Symmachus (taking נפשׁי, as it seems, as a periphrastic expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all as afar as להטים as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two parts, just as the accentuators do, at להטים.

The rendering of Aquila is ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων; that of Symmachus: ἐν μέσῳ λεόντῶν εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην; or according to another reading, μεταξὺ λεόντων ἐκοιμήθην φλεγόντων. They are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may be able to reproduce the נפשׁי, changes אשׁכבה into שׁכבה: Anima mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocientium .

This construction, however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka above לבאים (a plural form that only occurs in this one passage in the Psalter, = לביים). In a general way it is to be observed that this לבאים in connection with אשׁכּבה is not so much the accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the object with verbs of dwelling; on שׁכב cf.

Rth 3:8, Rth 3:14, and Psa 88:6; Mic 7:5 (where at least the possibility of this construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it is doubtful (1) what להטים signifies. The rendering “flaming ones” is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Symmachus. The verb להט obtains this signification apparently from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and accordingly Theodotion renders it by ἀναλισκόντων, and Aquila most appropriately by λάβρων (a word used of a ravenous furious longing for anything).

But להט nowhere means “to devour;” the poet must, therefore, in connection with להטים, have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The question further arises, (2) how the cohortative אשׁכבה is meant to be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward impulse-never, however, without willing it one’s self (Ew.

§228, a ) - the rendering “I must,” or “therefore must I lie down,” commends itself. But the contrast, which has been almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb שׁכב here has the sense of cubitum ire (Ps 4:9).

Starting from this אשׁכבה we look to Psa 57:9, and it at once becomes clear that we have before us an evening or nightly song. David the persecuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept the testimony of the inscription, in a cave: his soul is in the midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, are worse than beasts of prey: teeth and tongue are murderous weapons.

This more than brutal joy at the destruction of one’s neighbour which prevails among men, urges him to put forth the prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i. e. , may become manifest (or even: exalted be His glory, ירוּם), over the whole earth beneath, - His glory which to His saints is a health-diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a consuming fire, - so that the whole world shall be compelled to acknowledge this glory in which His holiness manifests itself, and shall become conformed to it after everything that is hostile is overthrown.

Psa 57:1-5 By means of the two distinctive tense-forms the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as that which has once taken place (חסיה from חסה = חסי out of pause, like the same forms in Psa 73:2; Psa 122:6), and still, because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, renewed (אחסה). The shadow of the wings of God is the protection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this protection.

Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for refuge now as he has done before, until הוּות, i. e. , the abysmal danger that threatens him, be overpast, praeteriverit (cf. Isa 26:20, and on the enallage numeri Psa 10:10, Ges. §147, a). Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in need of it; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted triumphant resistance of the impending trials.

The effort on his own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and rules the universe. עליון is without the article, which it never takes; and גּמר ( Psa 57:3 ) is the same, because it is regularly left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully defined, Amo 9:12; Eze 21:19 (Hitzig).

He calls upon God who accomplisheth concerning, i. e. , for him (Est 4:16), who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one; גּמר is transitive as in Psa 138:8. The lxx renders τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, as though it were גּמל עלי (Psa 13:6, and frequently); and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning is exactly the same. But although גמל and גמר fall back upon one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification that is strictly maintained.

In Psa 57:4 follow futures of hope. In this instance “that which brings me deliverance” is to be supplied in thought to ישׁלח (cf. Psa 20:3) and not ידו as in Psa 18:17, cf. Psa 144:7; and this general and unmentioned object is then specialized and defined in the words “His mercy and His truth” in Psa 57:4 . Mercy and truth are as it were the two good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf.

Psa 43:3) bring the divine ישׁוּעה to an accomplishment. The words חרף שׁאפי sdro standing between a and c have been drawn by the accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably interpreting it thus: He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever ( Sela ). But חרף always (e. g. , Isa 37:23) has God as its object, not as its subject. חרף שׁאפי is to be connected with what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges.

§155, 4, a ): supposing that he who is greedy or pants for me ( inhians mihi ) slandereth, then Elohim will send His mercy and His truth. The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis. In Psa 57:5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one’s own course.

Since לבאים (has Zarka ( Zinnor ) and להטים Olewejored , it is accordingly to be rendered: “My soul is in the midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones; the children of men - their teeth are a spear and arrows. ” The rendering of the lxx, of Theodotion, and of the Syriac version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both begin a new clause with ἐκοιμήθην (ודמכת, and I slept); whereas Aquila and Symmachus (taking נפשׁי, as it seems, as a periphrastic expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all as afar as להטים as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two parts, just as the accentuators do, at להטים.

The rendering of Aquila is ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων; that of Symmachus: ἐν μέσῳ λεόντῶν εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην; or according to another reading, μεταξὺ λεόντων ἐκοιμήθην φλεγόντων. They are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may be able to reproduce the נפשׁי, changes אשׁכבה into שׁכבה: Anima mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocientium .

This construction, however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka above לבאים (a plural form that only occurs in this one passage in the Psalter, = לביים). In a general way it is to be observed that this לבאים in connection with אשׁכּבה is not so much the accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the object with verbs of dwelling; on שׁכב cf.

Rth 3:8, Rth 3:14, and Psa 88:6; Mic 7:5 (where at least the possibility of this construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it is doubtful (1) what להטים signifies. The rendering “flaming ones” is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Symmachus. The verb להט obtains this signification apparently from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and accordingly Theodotion renders it by ἀναλισκόντων, and Aquila most appropriately by λάβρων (a word used of a ravenous furious longing for anything).

But להט nowhere means “to devour;” the poet must, therefore, in connection with להטים, have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The question further arises, (2) how the cohortative אשׁכבה is meant to be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward impulse-never, however, without willing it one’s self (Ew.

§228, a ) - the rendering “I must,” or “therefore must I lie down,” commends itself. But the contrast, which has been almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb שׁכב here has the sense of cubitum ire (Ps 4:9).

Starting from this אשׁכבה we look to Psa 57:9, and it at once becomes clear that we have before us an evening or nightly song. David the persecuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept the testimony of the inscription, in a cave: his soul is in the midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, are worse than beasts of prey: teeth and tongue are murderous weapons.

This more than brutal joy at the destruction of one’s neighbour which prevails among men, urges him to put forth the prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i. e. , may become manifest (or even: exalted be His glory, ירוּם), over the whole earth beneath, - His glory which to His saints is a health-diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a consuming fire, - so that the whole world shall be compelled to acknowledge this glory in which His holiness manifests itself, and shall become conformed to it after everything that is hostile is overthrown.

Psa 57:1-5 By means of the two distinctive tense-forms the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as that which has once taken place (חסיה from חסה = חסי out of pause, like the same forms in Psa 73:2; Psa 122:6), and still, because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, renewed (אחסה). The shadow of the wings of God is the protection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this protection.

Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for refuge now as he has done before, until הוּות, i. e. , the abysmal danger that threatens him, be overpast, praeteriverit (cf. Isa 26:20, and on the enallage numeri Psa 10:10, Ges. §147, a). Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in need of it; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted triumphant resistance of the impending trials.

The effort on his own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and rules the universe. עליון is without the article, which it never takes; and גּמר ( Psa 57:3 ) is the same, because it is regularly left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully defined, Amo 9:12; Eze 21:19 (Hitzig).

He calls upon God who accomplisheth concerning, i. e. , for him (Est 4:16), who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one; גּמר is transitive as in Psa 138:8. The lxx renders τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, as though it were גּמל עלי (Psa 13:6, and frequently); and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning is exactly the same. But although גמל and גמר fall back upon one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification that is strictly maintained.

In Psa 57:4 follow futures of hope. In this instance “that which brings me deliverance” is to be supplied in thought to ישׁלח (cf. Psa 20:3) and not ידו as in Psa 18:17, cf. Psa 144:7; and this general and unmentioned object is then specialized and defined in the words “His mercy and His truth” in Psa 57:4 . Mercy and truth are as it were the two good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf.

Psa 43:3) bring the divine ישׁוּעה to an accomplishment. The words חרף שׁאפי sdro standing between a and c have been drawn by the accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably interpreting it thus: He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever ( Sela ). But חרף always (e. g. , Isa 37:23) has God as its object, not as its subject. חרף שׁאפי is to be connected with what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges.

§155, 4, a ): supposing that he who is greedy or pants for me ( inhians mihi ) slandereth, then Elohim will send His mercy and His truth. The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis. In Psa 57:5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one’s own course.

Since לבאים (has Zarka ( Zinnor ) and להטים Olewejored , it is accordingly to be rendered: “My soul is in the midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones; the children of men - their teeth are a spear and arrows. ” The rendering of the lxx, of Theodotion, and of the Syriac version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both begin a new clause with ἐκοιμήθην (ודמכת, and I slept); whereas Aquila and Symmachus (taking נפשׁי, as it seems, as a periphrastic expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all as afar as להטים as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two parts, just as the accentuators do, at להטים.

The rendering of Aquila is ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων; that of Symmachus: ἐν μέσῳ λεόντῶν εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην; or according to another reading, μεταξὺ λεόντων ἐκοιμήθην φλεγόντων. They are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may be able to reproduce the נפשׁי, changes אשׁכבה into שׁכבה: Anima mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocientium .

This construction, however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka above לבאים (a plural form that only occurs in this one passage in the Psalter, = לביים). In a general way it is to be observed that this לבאים in connection with אשׁכּבה is not so much the accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the object with verbs of dwelling; on שׁכב cf.

Rth 3:8, Rth 3:14, and Psa 88:6; Mic 7:5 (where at least the possibility of this construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it is doubtful (1) what להטים signifies. The rendering “flaming ones” is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Symmachus. The verb להט obtains this signification apparently from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and accordingly Theodotion renders it by ἀναλισκόντων, and Aquila most appropriately by λάβρων (a word used of a ravenous furious longing for anything).

But להט nowhere means “to devour;” the poet must, therefore, in connection with להטים, have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The question further arises, (2) how the cohortative אשׁכבה is meant to be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward impulse-never, however, without willing it one’s self (Ew.

§228, a ) - the rendering “I must,” or “therefore must I lie down,” commends itself. But the contrast, which has been almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb שׁכב here has the sense of cubitum ire (Ps 4:9).

Starting from this אשׁכבה we look to Psa 57:9, and it at once becomes clear that we have before us an evening or nightly song. David the persecuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept the testimony of the inscription, in a cave: his soul is in the midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, are worse than beasts of prey: teeth and tongue are murderous weapons.

This more than brutal joy at the destruction of one’s neighbour which prevails among men, urges him to put forth the prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i. e. , may become manifest (or even: exalted be His glory, ירוּם), over the whole earth beneath, - His glory which to His saints is a health-diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a consuming fire, - so that the whole world shall be compelled to acknowledge this glory in which His holiness manifests itself, and shall become conformed to it after everything that is hostile is overthrown.