NOTES for Psa 17
1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. |
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. |
3 Thou has proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. |
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. |
5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. |
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. |
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. |
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, |
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. |
10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. |
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; |
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. |
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: |
14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. |
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. |
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Standing before the Lord must be sincere and truthful. It is precisely because the psalmist is confident of his own truthfulness that he dares not only to cry out to the Lord, but also to call down His judgment upon himself. The psalmist needs not only to offer repentance to the Lord for the sins he has committed, but also, with God’s help, to feel healed and freed from the power of sin.
Yes, the Lord hears everyone who turns to Him, but how important it is to feel that the sins you have committed do not make you an outcast, and that the rebukes addressed to the wicked cannot apply to you yourself. The sense of being in the right that the psalmist experiences is not egocentric self-satisfaction, but the awareness of someone who stands before the Lord and seeks to live in harmony with Him.
Only with such an outlook can one hope both in the justice of God’s judgment and in the Lord’s protection from the wicked.
Other notes
For
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. |
3 Thou has proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. |
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. |
5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. |
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. |
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. |
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, |
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. |
10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. |
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; |
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. |
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: |
14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. |
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. |
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