Psalms

Psalms 57

11 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed. 2I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me. 3He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth. 4My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let your glory be above all the earth!
6They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into the middle of it themselves. 7My heart is steadfast, God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. 8Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp! I will wake up the dawn. 9I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens, and your truth to the skies. 11Be exalted, God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 23 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17142

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–6

The title of this psalm has one word new in it, Al-taschith - Destroy not. Some make it to be only some known tune to which this psalm was set; others apply it to the occasion and matter of the psalm. Destroy not; that is, David would not let Saul be…

v. 7–11

How strangely is the tune altered here! David's prayers and complaints, by the lively actings of faith, are here, all of a sudden, turned into praises and thanksgivings; his sackcloth is loosed, he is girded with gladness, and his hallelujahs are as fervent…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176311

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Be merciful unto me, O God,.... Or "be gracious to me" (k); which words are repeated by him. "Be merciful", or "gracious, unto me"; to show the greatness of his distress, the eagerness, vehemency, and importunity he used in prayer; his case requiring a speedy…

v. 2

I will cry unto God most high,.... To remember him in his low estate, and who is higher than the highest, than Saul and his mighty men with him. This epithet David no doubt made use of, to encourage his faith in the Lord, who is above all, and can do all…

v. 3

He shall send from heaven, and save me,.... His angel, as the Targum adds; or his angels, as Kimchi; who are ministering spirits, sent forth by him, to encamp about his people, and guard them, as they did Jacob when in fear of Esau, Genesis 32:1; or to…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18752

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 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…

v. 6–11

In this second half of the Psalm the poet refreshes himself with the thought of seeing that for which he longs and prays realized even with the dawning of the morning after this night of wretchedness. The perfect in Psa 57:7 is the perfect of certainty; the…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 18718

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

performeth--or, completes what He has begun.

v. 3

from . . . swallow me up--that pants in rage after me (Psa 56:2). mercy and . . . truth-- (Psa 25:10; Psa 36:5), as messengers (Psa 43:3) sent to deliver him.

v. 4

The mingled figures of wild beasts (Psa 10:9; Psa 17:12) and weapons of war (Psa 11:2) heighten the picture of danger. whose . . . tongue--or slanders.

World English Bible — Public domain