Prayer for Deliverance and Confidence in God
For the music director, according to The Silent Dove of Distant Lands.
Of David. A miktam.
When the Philistines seized him in Gath.The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
1 Be gracious to me, O God, because humankind has trampled me;
fighting all the day he oppresses me.
2 My enemiesOr "lurking foes" trample all day,
because many are attacking me proudly.
3 WhenLiterally "The day" I fear, I trust you.
4 God, whose word I praise,
God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 All day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They attack,Or "they stir up strife" they hide, they watch my steps,Literally "heels"
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Because of iniquity will they escape?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You have kept count of my wonderings.
Put my tears in your bottle;
are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back whenLiterally "in the day" I call.i.e., call on God
This I know becauseOr "that" God is for me.
10 God, whose word I praise,
Yahweh, whose word I praise,
11 God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere humankind do to me?
12 My vows to you, O God, are binding upon me.
I will pay thank offerings to you,
13 because you have delivered my soul from death.
Have you not kept my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of the living?