13 Arise, Jehovah, anticipate him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, thy sword;
Arise, Jehovah; save me, my God! For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone, thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.
Arise, Jehovah, in thine anger; lift thyself up against the raging of mine oppressors, and awake for me: thou hast commanded judgment.
Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the power of the dog;
Awake, why sleepest thou, Lord? arise, cast [us] not off for ever.
It is time for Jehovah to work: they have made void thy law.
Ah! the Assyrian! the rod of mine anger! and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens -- Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation -- to destroy the whole land.
Hast thou not heard that long ago I did it, and that from ancient days I formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste fortified cities [into] ruinous heaps.
-- Art thou not from everlasting, Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast appointed him for correction.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 17
Commentary on Psalms 17 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 17
David being in great distress and danger by the malice of his enemies, does, in this psalm, by prayer address himself to God, his tried refuge, and seeks shelter in him.
Some make him, in this, a type of Christ, who was perfectly innocent, and yet was hated and persecuted, but, like David, committed himself and his cause to him that judgeth righteously.
A prayer of David.
Psa 17:1-7
This psalm is a prayer. As there is a time to weep and a time to rejoice, so there is a time for praise and a time for prayer. David was now persecuted, probably by Saul, who hunted him like a partridge on the mountains; without were fightings, within were fears, and both urged him as a suppliant to the throne of mercy. He addresses himself to God in these verses both by way of appeal (Hear the right, O Lord! let my righteous cause have a hearing before thy tribunal, and give judgment upon it) and by way of petition (Give ear unto my prayer v. 1, and again v. 6, Incline thy ear unto me and hear my speech); not that God needs to be thus pressed with our importunity, but he gives us leave thus to express our earnest desire of his gracious answers to our prayers. These things he pleads with God for audience,
Psa 17:8-15
We may observe, in these verses,