King James Version
Psalms 57
11 verses with commentary
Be Merciful to Me, O God
To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. Altaschith: or, Destroy not
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.</strong> This urgent opening cry reveals David's desperate circumstances while simultaneously expressing profound trust. The doubled plea "be merciful unto me" (<em>chonneni</em>, חָנֵּנִי) intensifies the appeal for divin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Trusteth.**—Better, *has taken refuge. *The future of the same verb occurs in the next clause.
**Shadow of thy wings.**—See Note, Psalm 17:8.
**Until** **these calamities.**—*Danger of destruction *gives the feeling of the Hebrew better than “camities.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. righteousness--**the rewards which God bestows on His people, or the grace to secure those rewards as well as the result.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.</strong> This verse transitions from refuge-seeking to active appeal, from defensive posture to confident petition. "I will cry" (<em>eqra</em>, אֶקְרָא) is emphatic future: "I myself will call out, will summon, will invoke." This isn't quiet prayer but urgent crying out—appropriate response to desperate circumstanc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Peformeth all things for me.**—Literally, *completes for *me, which may be explained from the analogy of Psalm 138:8. But as the LXX. and Vulg. have “my benefactor” (reading *gomēl *for *gomēr*) we may adopt that emendation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Jacob--**By "Jacob," we may understand God's people (compare Is 43:22; 44:2, &c.), corresponding to "the generation," as if he had said, "those who seek Thy face are Thy chosen people."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. from the: or, he reproacheth him that
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KJV Study Commentary
David's confidence that God 'shall send from heaven' reveals divine intervention from beyond human means. The parallelism between 'mercy and truth' echoes covenant attributes (Exodus 34:6). God's 'sending' anticipates the ultimate sending of Christ (John 3:16). The rebuke of 'him that would swallow me up' uses predatory imagery, showing God's active defense of His elect.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **He shall send . . .**—The *selah *in the middle of this verse is as much out of place as in Psalm 55:19. The LXX. place it after Psalm 57:2. The marginal correction of the second clause is decidedly to be adopted, the word “reproach” is here being used in the sense of “rebuke.” For the verb “send,” used absolutely, comp. Psalm 18:16.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7-10. The entrance of the ark, with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured to us. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
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KJV Study Commentary
The imagery of dwelling 'among them that are set on fire' uses the metaphor of lions and beasts of prey with incendiary weapons. This hyperbolic language captures the intensity of opposition while demonstrating that God preserves His elect even in the furnace. The Hebrew 'lahat' (flame/burn) connects to Daniel's fiery furnace, showing God's presence in, not removal from, extremity.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Them that are set on fire.**—Rather, *greedy ones *(literally, *lickers*) in apposition to *lions. *The verse expresses the insecurity of the poet, who, his dwelling being in the midst of foes, must go to sleep every night with the sense of danger all round him. (See LXX.) How grandly the refrain in Psalm 57:8 rises from such a situation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7-10. The entrance of the ark, with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured to us. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
The refrain 'Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens' shifts focus from David's plight to God's glory. This doxological interruption demonstrates proper theology—God's glory as ultimate reality transcending circumstances. 'Let thy glory be above all the earth' is both prayer and prophetic vision of eschatological consummation when every knee bows (Philippians 2:10-11).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7-10. The entrance of the ark, with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured to us. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
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KJV Study Commentary
The image of enemies falling into their own pit demonstrates the principle of lex talionis (law of retribution) operating under divine providence. Proverbs repeatedly affirms this pattern (Proverbs 26:27), fulfilled paradigmatically in Haman's hanging on his own gallows (Esther 7:10). This reveals God's poetic justice—the wicked's schemes rebound upon themselves.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **A net.**—For this image, so common in Hebrew hymns, see Psalm 9:15, &c, and for that of the *pit, *Psalm 7:15, &c
**My soul is bowed down.**—The verb so rendered is everywhere else transitive. So LXX. and Vulg. here, “And have pressed down my soul.” Despite the grammar, Ewald alters “my soul” into “their soul.” But no conjecture of the kind restores the parallelism, which is here hopelessly ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7-10. The entrance of the ark, with the attending procession, into the holy sanctuary is pictured to us. The repetition of the terms gives emphasis.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 57
Chapter Outline
David begins with prayer and complaint.(1-6)
He concludes with joy and praise.(7-11)
**Verses 1-6**
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be ...
Read full commentary →My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. fixed: or, prepared
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.</strong> This declaration marks a dramatic shift from earlier verses' urgent pleas for mercy to confident resolve and worship. "My heart is fixed" (<em>nachon libbi</em>, נָכוֹן לִבִּי) appears twice for emphasis. <em>Nachon</em> means firm, established, steadfast, determined, prepared, ready—heart that is stable, re...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Fixed.**—Better, *steadfast *(See Psalm 51:10, Note.)
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event, being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even, composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed for the du...
Read full commentary →Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
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KJV Study Commentary
David's self-exhortation 'Awake up, my glory' addresses his soul/spirit, calling it to praise. The Hebrew 'kabod' (glory) here likely means his innermost being or possibly his tongue as the instrument of praise. Awakening the psaltery and harp demonstrates that worship engages creation's beauty—musical instruments—to glorify the Creator. 'I myself will awake early' indicates priority and disciplin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **My glory.**—See Note, Psalm 7:5.
**I myself will awake early.**—Perhaps, rather, *I will rouse the dawn. *Comp Ovid. Met. xi. 597, where the cock is said *evocare Auroram; *and Milton, still more nearly:
“Oft listening how the hounds and horn,
Cheerily *rouse the slumbering morn”—L’Allegro.*)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permissi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 25 Psa 25:1-22. The general tone of this Psalm is that of prayer for help from enemies. Distress, however, exciting a sense of sin, humble confession, supplication for pardon, preservation from sin, and divine guidance, are prominent topics.
**1. lift up my soul--**(Psa 24:4; 86:4), set my affections (compare Col 3:2).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event, being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even, composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed for the du...
Read full commentary →I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.</strong> This verse expands worship's scope from personal (v.7) to public, from private cave refuge to international declaration. David's commitment to praise extends beyond private devotion to public witness before peoples and nations. "I will praise thee" (<em>odekha</em>, אוֹדְךָ) means to give thanks...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. not be ashamed--**by disappointment of hopes of relief.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event, being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even, composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed for the du...
Read full commentary →For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.</strong> This verse provides the theological basis for David's commitment to international praise—God's character is cosmically magnificent, deserving universal worship. "For" (<em>ki</em>, כִּי) introduces the reason: because God's attributes are so transcendent, they merit proclamation among all peoples.<br><br>"Thy ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. The prayer generalized as to all who wait on God--**that is, who expect His favor. On the other hand, the disappointment of the perfidious, who, unprovoked, have done evil, is invoked (compare 2Sa 22:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event, being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even, composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed for the du...
Read full commentary →Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
The repetition of verse 5 as the psalm's conclusion creates an inclusio, framing the entire composition with doxology. This structure teaches that proper response to deliverance is not self-congratulation but ascribing glory to God. The progression from David's plight (v.1-4) through deliverance (v.6) to praise (v.7-11) models the structure of redemptive history itself.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4-5. On the ground of former favor, he invokes divine guidance, according to God's gracious ways of dealing and faithfulness.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event, being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even, composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed for the du...
Read full commentary →