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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.

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

protect me from those who rise up against me.

Deliver me from those who work evil;

from the bloodthirsty save me.

Even now they lie in wait for my life;

the mighty stir up strife against me.

For no transgression or sin of mine, O L ord,

for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!

You, L ord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

Awake to punish all the nations;

spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

There they are, bellowing with their mouths,

with sharp words on their lips—

for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

But you laugh at them, O L ord;

you hold all the nations in derision.

O my strength, I will watch for you;

for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;

my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Do not kill them, or my people may forget;

make them totter by your power, and bring them down,

O Lord, our shield.

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,

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

Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

They roam about for food,

and growl if they do not get their fill.

But I will sing of your might;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been a fortress for me

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

O my strength, I will sing praises to you,

for you, O God, are my fortress,

the God who shows me steadfast love.

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. But thou, O Jehovah! shalt laugh at them. In the face of all this opposition, David only rises to greater confidence. When he says that God would laugh at his enemies, he employs a figure which is well fitted to enhance the power of God, suggesting that, when the wicked have perfected their schemes to the uttermost, God can, without any effort, and, as it were, in sport, dissipate them all. No sooner does God connive at their proceedings, than their pride and insolence take occasion to manifest themselves: for they forget that even when he seems to have suspended operation, he needs but nod, and his judgments shall be executed. David, accordingly, in contempt of his adversaries, tells them that God was under no necessity to make extensive preparations, but, at the moment when he saw fit to make retribution, would, by a mere play of his power, annihilate them all. He in this manner conveys a severe rebuke to that blind infatuation which led them to boast so intemperately of their own powers, and to imagine that God was slumbering in the heavens. In the close of the verse, mention is made of all nations, to intimate that though they might equal the whole world in numbers, they would prove a mere mockery with all their influence and resources. Or the words may be read — Even As thou hast all the nations in derision. One thing is obvious, that David ridicules the vain boasting of his enemies, who thought no undertaking too great to be accomplished by their numbers.