1 {To the chief Musician. Upon Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.} Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation.
O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
And this is the boldness which we have towards him, that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.
{To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments: an instruction. Of David.} Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and answer me: I wander about in my plaint, and I moan aloud,
Take not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto.
{To the chief Musician. On Shoshannim-Eduth. Of Asaph. A Psalm.} Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that sittest [between] the cherubim, shine forth.
And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered.
because [the] eyes of [the] Lord [are] on [the] righteous, and his ears towards their supplications; but [the] face of [the] Lord [is] against them that do evil.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 5
Commentary on Psalms 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 5
The psalm is a prayer, a solemn address to God, at a time when the psalmist was brought into distress by the malice of his enemies. Many such times passed over David, nay, there was scarcely any time of his life to which this psalm may not be accommodated, for in this he was a type of Christ, that he was continually beset with enemies, and his powerful and prevalent appeals to God, when he was so beset, pointed at Christ's dependence on his Father and triumphs over the powers of darkness in the midst of his sufferings. In this psalm,
And this is all of great use to direct us in prayer.
To the chief musician upon Nehiloth. A psalm of David.
Psa 5:1-6
The title of this psalm has nothing in it peculiar but that it is said to be upon Nehiloth, a word nowhere else used. It is conjectured (and it is but a conjecture) that is signifies wind-instruments, with which this psalm was sung, as Neginoth was supposed to signify the stringed-instruments. In these verses David had an eye to God,
In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must engage and stir up ourselves to the duty of prayer, and encourage ourselves in it, because we shall not seek the Lord in vain; and must express our detestation of sin, and our awful expectation of that day of Christ's appearing which will be the day of the perdition of ungodly men.
Psa 5:7-12
In these verses David gives three characters-of himself, of his enemies, and of all the people of God, and subjoins a prayer to each of them.
In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must by faith put ourselves under God's guidance and care, and then please ourselves with his mercy and grace and with the prospect of God's triumphs at last over all his enemies and his people's triumphs in him and in his salvation.