Psalm 5 Commentary

Updated: Wed, 08/19/2026 - 14:16 By admin

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Psalm 5:1
Psalm 5:2
Psalm 5:3
Psalm 5:4
Psalm 5:5
Psalm 5:6
Psalm 5:7
Psalm 5:8
Psalm 5:9
Psalm 5:10
Psalm 5:11
Psalm 5:12

EXPLANATION - The following comments are predominantly from Spurgeon's great work The Treasury of David supplemented by cross references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and other commentary notes.

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - TITLE. "To the Chief Musician upon Nehiloth, a Psalm of David." The Hebrew word Nehiloth is taken from another word, signifying "to perforate;" "to bore through," whence it comes to mean a pipe or a flute; so that this song was probably intended to be sung with an accompaniment of wind instruments, such as the horn, the trumpet, flute, or cornet. However, it is proper to remark that we are not sure of the interpretation of these ancient titles, for the Septuagint translates it, "For him who shall obtain inheritance," and Aben Ezra thinks it denotes some old and well known melody to which this Psalm was to be played. The best scholars confess that great darkness hangs over the precise interpretation of the title; nor is this much to be regretted, for it furnishes an internal evidence of the great antiquity of the Book. Throughout the first, second, third, and forth Psalms, you will have noticed that the subject is a contrast between the position, the character, and the prospects of the righteous and of the wicked. In this Psalm you will note the same. The Psalmist carries out a contrast between himself made righteous by God's grace, and the wicked who opposed him. To the devout mind there is here presented a precious view of the Lord Jesus, of whom it is said that in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.

DIVISION. The Psalm should be divided into two parts, from the first to the seventh verse, and then from the eighth to the twelfth. In the first part of the Psalm David most vehemently beseeches the Lord to hearken to his prayer, and in the second part he retraces the same ground.

Related Resources:

How to Begin Each Day in a Good Way — Psalm 5 - Danny Akin
Psalm 5 What Makes God Smile? - Sam Storms
Psalm 5 Personal Prayer & Praise - Joseph Parker
Psalm 5:11, 12 A Staircase of Three Steps - Alexander Maclaren
Psalm 5:11, 12 The Blessedness of the Righteous - Charles Simeon
Psalm 5:1-12 When You Hurt - Franklin Kirksey
Psalm 5:1-8 Meditations in the Morning - Chris Benfeld
Psalm 5:3: The Morning Watch - David Legge
Psalm 5:11 Trust - The Forgotten Word - Larry Wynn
Psalm 5:11 Joy, Joy Forever - Charles Spurgeon
Psalm 5 - Bruce Waltke
Prayerful Purposes - James Smith (scroll down)
Psalm 5: David Sustained and Strengthened in a Rebellious World - Geoff Thomas
Reformation Study Bible - Psalm 5:1 Psalm 5:2 Psalm 5:4 Psalm 5:7 Psalm 5:8 Psalm 5:9 Psalm 5:10
Psalm 5: What to Do When Under Attack - Steve Cole (intro below)
A story is told of four pastors from the same community who got away for a fishing trip together. One night around the campfire, one of the pastors suggested, “We’re a long ways from home and from our church members. What do you say that we bare our souls and each of us tell what his secret sin is? I’ll go first.”

The others agreed, so he began, “Nobody in my church knows this, but every once in a while I slip down to the track and bet on a pony. My secret sin is gambling.”

Another pastor spoke up, “My secret sin is an uncontrollable temper. Every once in a while I get mad and yell at my wife.”

The third preacher gulped and offered, “I never thought I’d tell anyone this, but here goes. I keep a bottle of rum in the cellar. Whenever I get into a hassle with my deacons, I go down to the cellar and drink a shot of rum.”

Everyone waited for the fourth pastor, who had a faint smile on his face. Finally he said, “Brethren, my secret sin is gossip, and I can’t wait to get home and talk to your church members!”

We laugh at that story, but it’s not funny when someone gossips about you! It often happens at work. It happens with people whom you thought were your friends. It even happens at church, where you thought you could trust people. It hurts when you find out what they’ve been saying about you behind your back.

I read about the president of a Bible institute who was visiting a man who had formerly supported the school. This man had stopped giving because he had heard that the former president of the school had two Cadillacs. Well, the fact was, the man lived a very simple lifestyle and didn’t even own one car, let alone two Cadillacs. So the new president couldn’t figure out how such a rumor started. But then it dawned on him that his predecessor had had two cataracts! Somehow as it went through the rumor mill, two cataracts got changed into two Cadillacs!

Sadly, Christian leaders often are the targets of vicious attacks from those that profess to be Christians. I know of pastors who have grown discouraged and left the ministry because they could not handle the criticism and personal attacks on them and on their families. Somehow they thought that because they were serving the Lord, they would get an exemption from criticism. I’m not sure how they came up with that idea! Look at David: although he was God’s anointed king, he was constantly under fire. It’s all through the Psalms. If you serve the Lord in any capacity, you will be criticized and attacked. Count on it!

So what do you do when you’re under attack? How should you handle it? Psalm 5 gives us some answers.

Psalm 5:1 For the choir director; for flute accompaniment. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning.

KJV <To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.> Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

NET For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; a psalm of David. Listen to what I say, LORD! Carefully consider my complaint!

NLT For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by the flute. O LORD, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning.

BGT εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῆς κληρονομούσης ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυιδ 2 τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐνώτισαι κύριε σύνες τῆς κραυγῆς μου

LXE < <For the end, a Psalm of David, concerning her that inherits.> Hearken to my words, O Lord, attend to my cry.

CSB For the choir director: with the flutes. A Davidic psalm. Listen to my words, LORD; consider my sighing.

ESV To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.

NIV For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.

YLT To the Overseer, 'Concerning the Inheritances.' -- A Psalm of David. My sayings hear, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation.

Give (KJV): Ps 17:1 54:2 55:1,2 64:1 80:1 86:1 1Pe 3:12 1Jn 5:14,15
consider my (KJV): Ps 19:14 1Sa 1:13,16 *marg: Ro 8:26
Before you read this psalm take a moment to enter His presence and worship - Play this old Maranatha chorus on Psalm 5 (Another vocal)

Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning.

NOTE: While the verbs give and consider are both in the imperative (normally a command), in context it is not the demand of one asserting a right, but the cry of a beggar who recognizes his abject spiritual poverty and desperate need for spiritual bread (Mt 4:4). The psalmist comes before God with empty hands and a needy heart, pleading with the Lord to give ear to his words and consider even the groanings he cannot adequately express.

🙏 THOUGHT - Do you come to God's Word with this same heart attitude, desperate, hungry, needy, and conscious of your spiritual poverty outside of Christ? Jesus declared, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3). The prerequisite for being filled is recognizing that we are empty. The prerequisite for receiving is acknowledging our need. And what encouragement Scripture gives to those who approach God this way! “The LORD hears the needy” (Ps 69:33; cf. Ps 70:5). He hears “the desire of the humble” (Ps 10:17; cf. Ps 34:6; 72:12–13). “He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy He will save” (Ps 72:13). “He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (Ps 113:7). Most importantly, Yahweh Himself tells us the kind of person who attracts His gracious attention: “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isa 66:2)

So before you open your Bible, open your heart and confess your need. Come not as a scholar who has mastered the Book, but as a beggar who desperately needs the Bread. Pray with the psalmist, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law” (Ps 119:18).

A hungry heart, an open Bible, and a humble prayer are a wonderful preparation
for the Spirit of God to illuminate the Word of God.

Henry Morris - Nehiloth. "Nehiloth" (Ps 5:1KJV) occurs only here, and is of uncertain meaning. It possibly means "wind instruments" and is so rendered in some editions of the Bible. Its unique use here may be connected with the fact that Psalm 5 is the first of the imprecatory psalms.

Matthew Henry Concise - Psalm 5:1-6. God is a prayer-hearing God. Such he has always been, and he is still as ready to hear prayer as ever. The most encouraging principle of prayer, and the most powerful plea in prayer, is, to look upon him as our King and our God. David also prays to a sin-hating God. sin is folly, and sinners are the greatest of all fools; fools of their own making. Wicked people hate God; justly are they hated of him, and this will be their endless misery and ruin. Let us learn the importance of truth and sincerity, in all the affairs of life. Liars and murderers resemble the devil, and are his children, therefore it may well be expected that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his people.

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - There are two sorts of prayers, those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer. Moses at the Red Sea cried to God, though he said nothing. Yet the use of language may prevent distraction of mind, may assist the powers of the soul, and may excite devotion. David, we observe, uses both modes of prayer, and craves for the one a hearing, and for the other a consideration. What an expressive word!

Consider my meditation. If I have asked that which is right, give it to me; if I have omitted to ask that which I most needed, fill up the vacancy in my prayer. "Consider my meditation." Let thy holy soul consider it as presented through my all-glorious Mediator: then regard thou it in thy wisdom, weigh it in the scales, judge thou of my sincerity, and of the true state of my necessities, and answer me in due time for thy mercy's sake! There may be prevailing intercession where there are no words; and alas! there may be words where there is no true supplication. Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer which is even better than the habit of prayer. There may be seeming prayer where there is little devotion. We should begin to pray before we kneel down, and we should not cease when we rise up.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. It is certain that the greater part of men, as they babble out vain, languid, and inefficacious prayers, most unworthy the ear of the blessed God, so they seem in some degree to set a just estimate upon them, neither hoping for any success from them, nor indeed seeming to be at all solicitous about it, but committing them to the wind as vain words, which in truth they are. But far be it from a wise and pious man, that he should so foolishly and coldly trifle in so serious an affair; his prayer has a certain tendency and scope, at which he aims with assiduous and repeated desires, and doth not only pray that he may pray, but that he may obtain an answer; and as he firmly believes that it may be obtained, so he firmly, and constantly, and eagerly urges his petitions, that he may not flatter himself with an empty hope. Robert Leighton, D.D.

Meditation fits the soul for supplication; meditation fills the soul with good liquor, and then prayer broaches it, and sets it a-running. David first mused, and then spake with his tongue, "Lord, make me to know mine end." #Psalms 39:3-4. Nay, to assure us that meditation was the mother which bred and brought forth prayer, he calls the child by its parent's name, Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Meditation is like the charging of a piece, and prayer the discharging of it. "Isaac went into the field to meditate." #Genesis 24:63. The Septuagint, the Geneva translation, and Tremellius, in his marginal notes on it, read it to "pray;" and the Hebrew word (ggh) used there signifieth both to pray and meditate; whereby we may learn that they are very near akin; like twins, they be in the same womb, in the same word. Meditation is the best beginning of prayer, and prayer is the best conclusion of meditation. When the Christian, like Daniel, hath first opened the windows of his soul by contemplation, then he may kneel down to prayer. George Swinnock.

Verses 1-2

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Observe the order and force of the words, my cry, the voice of my prayer; and also, give ear, consider, hearken. These expressions all evince the urgency and energy of David's feelings and petitions. First we have, "give ear;" that is, hear me. But it is of little service for the words to be heard, unless the "cry," or the roaring, or the meditation, be considered. As if he had said, in a common way of expression, I speak with deep anxiety and concern, but with a failing utterance; and I cannot express myself, nor make myself understood as I wish. Do thou, therefore, understand from my feelings more than I am able to express in words. And, therefore, I add my "cry;" that what I cannot express in words for thee to hear, I may by my "cry" signify to thine understanding. And when thou hast understood me, then, O Lord, Hearken unto the voice of my prayer, and despise not what thou hast thus heard and understood. We are not, however, to understand that hearing, understanding, and hearkening, are all different acts in God, in the same way as they are in us; but that our feelings towards God are to be thus varied and increased; that is, that we are first to desire to be heard, and then, that our prayers which are heard may be understood; and then, that being understood, they may be hearkened unto, that is, not disregarded. Martin Luther.

Observe the order and force of the words, my cry, the voice of my prayer; and also, give ear, consider, hearken. These expressions all evidence the urgency and energy of David's feelings and petitions. First we have, "give ear;" that is, hear me. But it is of little service for the words to be heard, unless the "cry," or the roaring, or the meditation, be considered. As if he had said, in a common way of expression, I speak with deep anxiety and concern, but with a failing utterance; and I cannot express myself, nor make myself understood as I wish. Do thou, therefore, understand from my feelings more than I am able to express in words. And, therefore, I add my "cry;" that what I cannot express in words for thee to hear, I may by my "cry" signify to thine understanding. And when thou hast understood me, then, O Lord, Hearken unto the voice of my prayer, and despise not what thou hast thus heard and understood. We are not, however, to understand that hearing, understanding, and hearkening, are all different acts in God, in the same way as they are in us; but that our feelings towards God are to be thus varied and increased; that is, that we are first to desire to be heard, and then, that our prayers which are heard may be understood; and then, that being understood, they may be hearkened unto, that is, not disregarded. Martin Luther.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

Prayer in its threefold form. Words, meditation, cry. Showing how utterance is of no avail without heart, but that fervent longings and silent desires are accepted, even when unexpressed.Prayer in its threefold form. Words, meditation, cry. Showing how utterance is of no avail without heart, but that fervent longings and silent desires are accepted, even when unexpressed.

Alone With God

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place. —Matthew 6:6

Today's Scripture : Psalm 5:1-8

A committee was assigned to tour a factory to judge its efficiency. These people were shown the various departments where many large machines were making a great deal of noise. Then they were led to a much smaller and quieter room containing nothing but control panels.

One of them said, “This isn’t very important; nothing’s happening here.”

The guide smiled, “Oh, but you misunderstand, sir. This is the most important room of all. This is where the power is distributed to the entire factory.”

There’s a lesson in that for us: In the Christian life, the place of prayer is the “power room.” We need a quiet place where we can be alone with God. In such a place we can speak to Him and reverently allow Him to speak to us as we meditate on His Word.

In Matthew 6:6, Jesus taught the value of intimate fellowship with heaven, which can be attained only in the sacred solitude of our prayer closet. He did not discourage public prayer, but He did warn against the evil of seeking attention by parading our piety before others.

How long has it been since you’ve shut the door on the distractions of life and poured out your heart before the Father’s throne?By: Henry G. Bosch (Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

Kneeling keeps you in good standing with God.

The surest way to stand firm is to spend time on your knees.

Those who kneel before God can stand before anyone.

We stand strongest when we have first knelt before God.

Kneeling before God prepares us for standing against the world.

A life that bows before God will stand firm in the storm.

Bend your knees before God, and He will strengthen your steps before men.

The road to standing strong often begins on your knees.

Kneeling in prayer is never a position of weakness.

Those who bow lowest before God often stand tallest in adversity.

Get down on your knees before you get up to face the day.

Prayer puts us on our knees so grace can put us on our feet.

Bow before the King, and stand firm in the battle.

A bowed heart produces a steadfast walk.

The Christian's strongest stance begins on bent knees.

You will never lose your footing while you are kneeling before God.

Meeting with God at the beginning of our day is vital if we want to walk through that day in fellowship with Him. Jesus Himself modeled this practice: “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up...and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there” (Mk 1:35). Likewise, here in Psalm 5 David declared, “In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Ps 5:3).

Of course, “morning” is not primarily about a particular hour on the clock, but about giving God the first part of our waking day. For example, someone who works the night shift and awakens in the afternoon can begin his “morning” with the Lord in the afternoon! The important question is: When your day begins, does it begin with God? That is the main point!

There is a beautiful picture in David's words, “I will order my prayer to You.” The verb ʿārak means to arrange, set in order, or prepare. It was used of arranging a sacrifice upon the altar (cf. Lev 1:7–8). David pictures himself approaching God like a priest carefully arranging his offering before the Lord and then “eagerly watching” for God's response.

That imagery has special significance for believers, because through Christ we have been made “a kingdom, priests to His God and Father” (Rev 1:6; cf. 1Pe 2:5, 9). Every morning, therefore, we have the incredible invitation and privilege to approach God as His priests, bringing our praise, prayers, and ultimately ourselves as our offering.

The morning sacrifice was placed upon the altar at the beginning of the day. Similarly, Paul exhorts us to “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God” (Ro 12:1,2). Before giving ourselves to the demands of the day, we should first give ourselves to the Lord of the day. Consider turning Romans 12:1-2 into a frequent morning prayer and presentation!

Does your day begin with God? Each new day is a gift entrusted to us by Him. Begin by placing yourself at His disposal. Offer Him your mind, your words, your decisions, your activities, and your time. Ask Him to direct your steps and enable you to steward faithfully the hours He has given you.

A good day begins with God,
and the best place to begin is at the altar of surrender.

A good day begins with God and a surrendered heart.

Begin the day at God's altar, and leave the day in God's hands.

Before you give yourself to the day, give yourself to God.

The best preparation for the day is surrender to the Lord of the day.

Start the day surrendered, and walk through the day dependent.

Place yourself on God's altar before placing yourself on the day's agenda.

Before facing the demands of the day, surrender to the Lord of the day.

The day is best begun when self is surrendered and God is sought.

Give God yourself in the morning, and trust Him with everything that follows.

Begin at the altar of surrender and continue on the path of obedience.

A surrendered morning prepares the heart for an obedient day.

Start your day by giving God the one thing He wants most: yourself.

Before asking God to bless your plans, place yourself at His disposal.

The best morning offering is a life surrendered to God.

Begin every day as a living sacrifice, wholly available to God.

I especially like:

Before you give yourself to the day, give yourself to God.

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND WHEN LIFE BECOMES DIFFICULT?

Many of the psalms were born in the furnace of adversity. They remind us that trials are not evidence that God has abandoned us, but opportunities to seek Him more earnestly (Ps 46:1; Jas 1:2–5). Psalm 5 gives us a beautiful pattern for responding when circumstances are painful, people oppose us, and we do not know what to do next.

David's first response is “HEAR ME” (Ps 5:1–3). He begins by bringing his distress directly to God: “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my groaning.” The word translated groaning or meditation can describe sighing, murmuring, or the barely audible expression of a burdened heart. Sometimes our distress is too deep for carefully constructed prayers. We simply sigh before God. But even our sighs have an audience in heaven! “The Spirit also helps our weakness...the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Ro 8:26; cf. Ps 38:9). David's groaning soon becomes “the voice of my cry” (Ps 5:2). Prayer is not always calm conversation. At times it is an urgent cry from a heart desperately seeking God's help (Ps 18:6; 34:17; Heb 5:7).

Notice also David's determination: “In the morning...I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Ps 5:3). He brings his burden to God and then watches expectantly. Biblical prayer is not merely telling God our troubles; it is trusting Him enough to expect Him to act according to His wisdom and will (Ps 130:5–6; Mic 7:7).

David's confidence rests upon WHO GOD IS (Ps 5:4–7) not how eloquent his prayer is! God is holy. He takes no pleasure in wickedness, and evil cannot dwell with Him. David therefore refuses to interpret his circumstances as evidence that evil has won. The wicked may flourish temporarily, but they will ultimately answer to a holy God (Ps 37:1–2, 9–10; Gal 6:7).

David does not need to become like his enemies in order to defeat his enemies. Instead, David responds with worship: “But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house” (Ps 5:7). What a contrast! David looks at the wicked and sees what they deserve; then he looks at himself and remembers that he approaches God ONLY because of God's abundant lovingkindness (hesed). Trials should not drive us away from God, but into His presence (Heb 4:16). Trouble should bend our knees, not break our faith! Indeed, let adversity press you into God, and not push you away from Him.

When trouble comes, don't retreat from God;
retreat into God.

David's second great request is “LEAD ME” (Ps 5:8). This is striking. Surrounded by enemies, David might have prayed first, “Lord, get me out of this mess!” Instead he prays, “O LORD, lead me in Your righteousness...make Your way straight before me.”

Sometimes our greatest need in a trial is not immediate deliverance, but divine direction. In a trial, we need God's guidance as much as God's deliverance. God may not immediately remove the trial, but He will direct the trusting heart through it (cf "make Your way straight before me").

When circumstances confuse us, we need God to show us how to walk in a way that pleases Him. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God” (Jas 1:5). Sadly how many times in my life I have been at a crisis point and failed to pray that simple prayer! How many bad decisions could have been avoided had I prayed that simple request and ask God! Oh me or oh my! “Trust in the LORD with all your heart...in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Pr 3:5–6; cf. Ps 25:4–5).

DON'T JUST ASK GOD TO GET YOU OUT;
ASK HIM TO LEAD YOU THROUGH.

David then describes the wickedness surrounding him (Ps 5:9–10). Their mouths are filled with destruction, their throats are “an open grave,” and their tongues flatter. Paul later quotes this description when demonstrating the universal sinfulness of mankind (Ro 3:13). Their words appear pleasant, but underneath lies corruption and death. Flattery masquerades as communication, but its real purpose is manipulation (Pr 29:5).

Yet David does not take vengeance into his own hands. He places judgment in God's hands. This principle runs throughout Scripture: “Never take your own revenge...for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Ro 12:19; cf. Dt 32:35). Faith allows God to occupy the Judge's seat rather than attempting to sit there ourselves. Oh, for grace to learn this great principle!

Finally, David moves from groaning to gladness (Ps 5:11–12): “Let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy.”

Notice that David's circumstances have not necessarily changed. What has changed? It's David! David has changed because his focus has shifted from his enemies to his God. His joy is rooted in taking refuge in God, loving God's Name, and resting under God's favor. “For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD; You surround him with favor as with a shield” (Ps 5:12; cf. Ps 28:7). This is joy that circumstances cannot manufacture and circumstances cannot destroy. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh 8:10). Paul could therefore command believers, even amid adversity, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Php 4:4).

To summarize Psalm 5 gives us a simple pattern for difficult days (and remember, you are either in one today, coming out of one today or getting ready to go into one on another day, such is the nature of trials in this life).

When burdened “HEAR ME.”
Bring God your groanings and cries (Ps 5:1–3).

When surrounded by evil WORSHIP HIM.
Remember His holiness and His lovingkindness (Ps 5:4–7).

When uncertain what to do “LEAD ME.”
Seek His way rather than merely seeking escape (Ps 5:8; Jas 1:5).

When mistreated LEAVE JUSTICE WITH GOD.
Do not allow another person's sin to provoke you into sin (Ps 5:9–10; Ro 12:19).

When circumstances remain difficult TAKE REFUGE AND REJOICE.
Your joy rests in who God is, not in what circumstances are doing (Ps 5:11–12).

Difficulties need not paralyze us when they drive us to prayer. The God who hears our groaning is the God who guides our steps, guards our lives, and surrounds us with His favor. When you cannot see your way through the trial, cry to God, commit your way to Him, and trust Him to lead you one step at a time (Ps 37:5; 55:22; 1Pe 5:7).

Psalm 5:2 Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray.

KJV Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

NET Pay attention to my cry for help, my king and my God, for I am praying to you!

NLT Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you.

BGT πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου ὁ βασιλεύς μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου ὅτι πρὸς σὲ προσεύξομαι κύριε

LXE Attend to the voice of my supplication, my King, and my God: for to thee, O Lord, will I pray.

CSB Pay attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for I pray to You.

ESV Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.

NIV Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.

YLT Be attentive to the voice of my cry, My king and my God, For unto Thee I pray habitually.

unto the (KJV): Ps 3:4
my King (KJV): Ps 10:16 24:7,8 44:4 47:6,7 74:12 99:1-4 145:1 Isa 33:22
unto thee (KJV): Ps 65:2

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - The voice of my cry. In another Psalm we find the expression, "The voice of my weeping." Weeping has a voice a melting, plaintive tone, an ear-piercing shrillness, which reaches the very heart of God; and crying hath a voice a soul-moving eloquence; coming from our heart it reaches God's heart. Ah! my brothers and sisters, sometimes we cannot put our prayers into words: they are nothing but a cry: but the Lord can comprehend the meaning, for he hears a voice in our cry. To a loving father his children's cries are music, and they have a magic influence which his heart cannot resist.

My King, and my God. Observe carefully these little pronouns, "my King, and my God." They are the pith and marrow of the plea. Here is a grand argument why God should answer prayer because he is our King and our God. We are not aliens to him: he is the King of our country. Kings are expected to hear the appeals of their own people. We are not strangers to him; we are his worshippers, and he is our God: ours by covenant, by promise, by oath, by blood.

For unto thee will I pray. Here David expresses his declaration that he will seek to God, and to God alone. God is to be the only object of worship: the only resource of our soul in times of need. Leave broken cisterns to the godless, and let the godly drink from the Divine fountain alone. "Unto thee will I pray." He makes a resolution, that as long as he lived he would pray. He would never cease to supplicate, even though the answer should not come.

Psalm 5:3 In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

KJV My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

NET LORD, in the morning you will hear me; in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer.

NLT Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

BGT πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου ὁ βασιλεύς μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου ὅτι πρὸς σὲ προσεύξομαι κύριε 4 τὸ πρωὶ εἰσακούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς μου τὸ πρωὶ παραστήσομαί σοι καὶ ἐπόψομαι

LXE Attend to the voice of my supplication, my King, and my God: for to thee, O Lord, will I pray. 3 In the morning thou shalt hear my voice: in the morning will I wait upon thee, and will look up.

CSB At daybreak, LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I plead my case to You and watch expectantly.

ESV O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

NIV In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

YLT Jehovah, at morning Thou hearest my voice, At morning I set in array for Thee, And I look out.

Ps 22:2 55:17 69:16 88:13 119:147 130:6 Isa 26:9 Mk 1:35

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch - The psalmist’s words remind us how to keep difficulty on the downhill side. In a beautiful word picture, David described how God answered his prayer for help: “He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places” (Ps 18:33).

Believer's Study Bible - This psalm is sometimes called a "morning psalm" and underscores the importance of a daily devotional time. Much depends upon how we start each day, and what better way to begin the day than with a personal time of meditation. An intimate fellowship demands communication. The breakdown of communication presupposes disruption in fellowship (cf. Gen. 3:8). Therefore, to enjoy fellowship with the Creator, one must make time to communicate with Him. God speaks to man through His Word (103-105; 119:9-16); man talks to God through prayer and then listens for the divine response (cf. 1 Sam. 3:3-15; Matt. 7:7, 8). One cannot live a Spirit-filled life without daily direction and sustenance from God (cf. Prov. 3:6; John 6:33-35).

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Observe, this is not so much a prayer as a resolution,

My voice shalt thou hear; I will not be dumb, I will not be silent, I will not withhold my speech, I will cry to thee for the fire that dwells within compels me to pray." We can sooner die than live without prayer. None of God's children are possessed with a dumb devil.

In the morning. This is the fittest time for intercourse with God. An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. While the dew is on the grass, let grace drop upon the soul. Let us give to God the mornings of our days and the morning of our lives. Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. Devotion should be both the morning star and the evening star.

If we merely read our English version, and want an explanation of these two sentences, we find it in the figure of an archer,

I will direct my prayer unto thee, I will put my prayer upon the bow, I will direct it towards heaven, and then when I have shot up my arrow, I will look up to see where it has gone. But the Hebrew has a still fuller meaning than this "I will direct my prayer." It is the word that is used for the laying in order of the wood and the pieces of the victim upon the altar, and it is used also for the putting of the shewbread upon the table. It means just this: "I will arrange my prayer before thee;" I will lay it out upon the altar in the morning, just as the priest lays out the morning sacrifice. I will arrange my prayer; or, as old Master Trapp has it, "I will marshall up my prayers," I will put them in order, call up all my powers, and bid them stand in their proper places, that I may pray with all my might, and pray acceptably.

And will look up, or, as the Hebrew might better be translated, "`I will look out,' I will look out for the answer; after I have prayed, I will expect that the blessing shall come." It is a word that is used in another place where we read of those who watched for the morning. So will I watch for thine answer, O my Lord! I will spread out my prayer like the victim on the altar, and I will look up, and expect to receive the answer by fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.

Two questions are suggested by the last part of this verse. Do we not miss very much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of careful meditation before it, and of hopeful expectation after it? We too often rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like men who present themselves before a king without a petition, and what wonder is it that we often miss the end of prayer? We should be careful to keep the stream of meditation always running; for this is the water to drive the mill of prayer. It is idle to pull up the flood-gates of a dry brook, and then hope to see the wheel revolve. Prayer without fervency is like hunting with a dead dog, and prayer without preparation is hawking with a blind falcon. Prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit, but he works by means. God made man, but he used the dust of the earth as a material: the Holy Ghost is the author of prayer, but he employs the thoughts of a fervent soul as the gold with which to fashion the vessel. Let not our prayers and praises be the flashes of a hot and hasty brain, but the steady burning of a well-kindled fire.

But, furthermore, do we not forget to watch the result of our supplications? We are like the ostrich, which lays her eggs and looks not for her young. We sow the seed, and are too idle to seek a harvest. How can we expect the Lord to open the windows of his grace, and pour us out a blessing, if we will not open the windows of expectation and look up for the promised favour? Let holy preparation link hands with patient expectation, and we shall have far larger answers to our prayers.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord.

When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave To do the like; our bodies but forerun The spirit's duty: true hearts spread and heave Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun; Give him thy first thoughts, then, so shalt thou keep Him company all day, and in him sleep.

Yet never sleep the sun up; prayer should Dawn with the day, there are set awful hours 'Twixt heaven and us; the manna was not good After sun-rising, for day sullies flowers. Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut, And heaven's gate opens when the world's is shut.

Walk with thy fellow creatures; note the hush And whisperings amongst them. Not a spring Or leaf but hath his morning hymn; each bush And oak doth know I AM canst thou not sing? O leave thy cares and follies! Go this way, And thou art sure to prosper all the day.

Henry Vaughn, 1621 - 1695.

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning. "In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee," said Heman. That is the fittest time for devotion, you being then fresh in your spirits, and freest from distractions. Which opportunity for holy duties may fitly be called the wings of the morning. Edward Reyner, 1658.

In the morning. "In the days of our fathers," says Bishop Burnet, "when a person came early to the door of his neighbour, and desired to speak with the master of the house, it was as common a thing for the servants to tell him with freedom `My master is at prayer,' as it now is to say, `My master is not up.'"

In the morning I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up, or, I will marshall my prayer, I will bring up petition after petition, pleading after pleading, even till I become like Jacob, a prince with God, till I have won the field and got the day. Thus the word is applied by a metaphor both to disputations with men and supplications to God. Further, we may take the meaning plainly without any strain of rhetoric, Set thy words in order before me. Method is good in everything, either an express or covert method. Sometimes it is the best of art to cover it: in speaking there is a special use of method, for though, as one said very well (speaking of those who are more curious about method than serious about matter), "Method never converted any man;" yet method and the ordering of words is very useful. Our speeches should not be heaps of words, but words bound up; not a throng of words, but words set in array, or, as it were, in rank and file. Joseph Caryl.

I will direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. In the words you may observe two things: first, David's posture in prayer; secondly, his practice after prayer. First, his posture in prayer, I will direct my prayer unto thee. Secondly, his practice after prayer, And I will look up. The prophet in these words, makes use of two military words. First, he would not only pray, but marshall up his prayers, he would put them in battle array; so much the Hebrew word ($r[) imports. Secondly, when he had done this, then he would be as a spy upon his watch-tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day or no; and so much the Hebrew word (hpc) imports. When David had set his prayers, his petitions, in rank and file, in good array, then he was resolved he would look abroad, he would look about him to see at what door God would send in an answer to prayer. He is either a fool or a madman, he is either very weak or very wicked, that prays and prays but never looks after his prayers; that shoots many an arrow toward heaven, but never minds where his arrows alight. Thomas Brooks.

David would direct his prayer to God and look up; not down to the world, down to corruption, but up to God what he would speak. #Psalms 85:8. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak," Let the resolution of the prophet be thine, "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." #Micah 7:7. William Greenhill, 1650.

I will direct my prayer to thee, and will look up, that is, I will trade, I will send out my spiritual commodities, and expect a gainful return; I will make my prayers, and not give them for lost, but look up for an answer. God will bring man home by a way contrary to that by which he wandered from him. Man fell from God by distrust, by having God in suspicion; God will bring him back by trust, by having good thoughts of him. Oh, how richly laden might the vessel which thou sendest out come home, wouldst thou but long and look for its return! George Swinnock.

Faith hath a supporting act after prayer; it supports the soul to expect a gracious answer: I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up, or I will look; for what, but for a return? An unbelieving heart shoots at random, and never minds where his arrow lights, or what comes of his praying; but faith fills the soul with expectation. As a merchant, when he casts up his estate, he counts what he hath sent beyond sea, as well as what he hath in hand; so doth faith reckon upon what he hath sent to heaven in prayer and not received, as well as those mercies which he hath received, and are in hand at present. Now this expectation which faith raiseth in the soul after prayer, appears in the power that it hath to quiet and compose the soul in the interim between the sending forth, as I may say, the ship of prayer, and its return home with its rich lading it goes for, and it is more or less, according as faith's strength is. Sometimes faith comes from prayer in triumph, and cries, Victoria. It gives such a being and existence to the mercy prayed for in the Christian's soul before any likelihood of it appears to sense and reason, that the Christian can silence all his troubled thoughts with the expectation of its coming. Yea, it will make the Christian disburse his praises for the mercy long before it is received. ... For want of looking up many a prayer is lost. If you do not believe, why do you pray? And if you believe, why do you not expect? By praying you seem to depend on God; by not expecting, you again renounce your confidence. What is this but to take his name in vain? O Christian, stand to your prayer in a holy expectation of what you have begged upon the credit of the promise ... Mordecai, no doubt, had put up many prayers for Esther, and therefore he waits at the king's gate, looking what answer God would in his providence give therunto. Do thou likewise. William Gurnall.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

The excellence of morning devotion.

(last two clauses)

1. Prayer directed. 2. Answers expected.

C H Spurgeon - The morning is the gate of the day, and should be well guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day’s actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt more the majesty of life we should be more careful of its mornings. He who rushes from his bed to his business and waiteth not to worship is as foolish as though he had not put on his clothes, or cleansed his face, and as unwise as though he dashed into battle without arms or armor. Be it ours to bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God, before the heat of the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to oppress us.

F B Meyer - IN THE MORNING

THE ADDRESS AND MANNER OF PRAYER (Psa 5:1-3).
Uttered words are inadequate to convey deep thought, groanings which cannot be uttered, but which the Spirit understands (Rom 8:26-27). Distinguished from either of these is the urgent call for aid, described as the voice of a cry. As soon as we awake at early dawn, let us speak to God. Let Him be the first to hear our voice. And let us direct, i.e., set in order, our prayer. The same Hebrew word is used in Gen 22:9; Lev 1:7; Lev 24:8. We are not to pray without method (Ec 5:1). And, having prayed, we must look out for the answer (Hab 2:1). We miss many answers, because we get tired of waiting.

CONTRASTED CHARACTERS (Psa 5:4-7).
There are here seven expressions for the ungodly. Evil may not even sojourn as a wayfaring man (2Jo 1:10). Not in the spirit of boasting, but of humble gratitude, David turns to himself (1Co 15:10). The Jew in prayer looked towards the temple (Dan 6:10). The tabernacle was spoken of as Jehovah's temple (1Sa 1:9; 1Sa 3:3).

THE PRAYER (Psa 5:8-12).
We may appeal to God's righteousness to vindicate his righteous ones. Because He is what He is, we may count on Him (2Ch 16:9). Then Psa 5:8 is thus parallel to the Psa 5:4. This terrible description of the ungodly is concerned with the sins of the tongue. It is largely quoted in Rom. 3. Wicked men are like graves, which look fair without, but are full of corruption within. As by their words they sin against God and mislead the righteous, so by their words they shall be condemned and fall. David here, as God's mouthpiece, pronounces their inevitable doom.

Here again (Psa 5:11) we meet the oft-repeated word, trust. And with trust goes joy, and with both goes love.

G Campbell Morgan - O Lord, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice; in the morning will I order . . . unto Thee, and will keep watch. Psa. 5.3.

I have omitted the words "my prayer" from this verse, as being unnecessary, and indeed as interfering with the true sequence of ideas. The Psalm is a song for the beginning of a day beset with danger. The singer was going forth to face foes who were treacherous and relentless. These words tell of the method of his preparation for such a day. There is a three-fold activity. First, Jehovah shall hear his voice. That is the activity of worship, in which praise and prayer mingle. This is seen in the rest of the Psalm. Following upon that activity, is that of "ordering.

The meaning of the word is "to arrange." Ordering the days is making plans for the day. This is very important, but secondary. Too often we plan, and then pray. The true sequence is that of the Psalmist. Having worshipped, and arranged, the next and persistent activity is that of watching. The old rendering—"and will look up"—entirely misses the mark. The thought is not that of watching for Divine guidance or action. It is rather that of watching one's own action and way, that these may be kept in harmony with the initial act of worship, and the planning resulting from that act. That this was the meaning of the singer, is evident from words immediately following (verses 4-6). We face no day which is not filled with danger. Here is the true method of the morning—Worship—Arrange; and here is the method of the day—Watch. Days so begun and so continued may be days of rejoicing and triumph, whatever the dangers, and however many the foes.

F B Meyer - Psalm 5:3 In the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee. (R.V.)

It is very important to consider the order of our petitions. No man would approach an earthly sovereign without taking time to consider how best to present his requests. He would consider the pleas on which to rely, the arguments to present, and the method in which he would be most likely to carry his case. Upon entering the presence of the great King, our Father, would it not well repay us to stay on the threshold for a moment to ask what petitions we are about to proffer, the order in which we should arrange them, and the reasons we should adduce?

It is manifestly a mistake to pray at haphazard. There is too much random preying with us all. We do not return again and again to the same petition, pressing it home with all humility and reverence, and arguing the case, not Abraham did his for the three of the plain.

Study the order of the Lord’s prayer — the adoration and prostration of soul before God prior to supplication for definite gifts; the acquiescence in the Divine will before the prayer for daily bread; the entreaty for forgiveness before them can be a thought of deliverance from evil. Or consider the order of the High Priest’s intercession for his own in John 17 before He pours out his soul in prayer for the world. Lay the wood “in order.” Enter the temple of prayer through successive courts — Confession, Absolution Ascriptions of Praise, the Te Deum, the broken sentences, the outburst of intercession, as suggested by the Church of England liturgy. At the same time, do not forget to be perfectly natural. Whilst the soul ascends the temple by regular steps, let there be the glad conviction of the tender love of the waiting Father.

All But Impossible

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord. — Psalm 5:3

It was more than 35 years ago that A. W. Tozer said, “Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible.” He penned that line long before e-mail, the Internet, 500-channel TV, and the addition of other “time-saving” technologies began to rob us of so much of our time.

But it is not just electronic obstacles and modern complexities that hinder the devotional life. More often than not, the biggest hindrance to establishing an intimate time with God is not something outside of ourselves. It’s our own reluctance to choose to spend time in prayer and Bible reading.

So, how do we go about attempting what seems to be impossible? First, we must confess our failure to make time for God. Second, we need to recognize that spending time with God is essential for our spiritual lives. It should be as vital to us as making sure we get enough food every day. Third, we must develop a plan. In Psalm 5:3, for example, we see that David scheduled special time with God in the mornings.

With those concepts in mind, shut out the complex world around you and open your heart to the incredible joy that comes from devoting yourself to the Lord. You can do what seems impossible. By: Dave Branon(Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

Reflect & Pray

O Father, help us be more faithful
In our quiet time of prayer;
We praise, adore, confess, and thank You;
Let us sense Your presence there.
—DJD

Time spent with the Lord is time well spent.

Prayer begins where self-sufficiency ends.

Empty hands are ready hands for the fullness of God.

The needy heart has the ear of God.

When words fail, God still hears the heart.

God hears the prayer our lips cannot fully express.

A groan directed toward God is still a prayer.

Our deepest sighs are never inaudible to God.

God listens not only to our words, but to the heart behind them.

The prayer of dependence is never wasted in the presence of God.

We come empty; He sends us away supplied.

The less sufficient we feel, the more sufficient we find Him.

Prayer is the confession that what I cannot do, God can.

A humble cry reaches higher than a proud voice.

God understands the language of a burdened heart.

Before God answers our prayer, He has already heard our cry.

The heart that knows its need knows where to turn.

Our weakness is an invitation to lean upon His strength.

The door of prayer is always open to the heart that knows its need.

We need not pray eloquently when we pray dependently.

God does not require polished prayers, but dependent hearts.

On Today's Threshold

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord. — Psalm 5:3

Today's Scripture : Psalm 5:1-12

Are you a morning person? Some of us aren’t. Maybe for you, waking up and getting out of bed is a daily ordeal. But after you’re fully alert, what’s your mood? Do you have a spirit of thankfulness despite problems or afflictions you may have? Do you face the hours that lie ahead with confidence and expectancy?

I was challenged by the epitaph engraved on a tombstone in the Mackinac Island Cemetery in northern Michigan. Marking the grave of Virginia Verdier Allen, who died at the age of 57, are these words:

She never lost her sense of wonder,
approaching each day as a surprise package
to be opened with enchantment.

Admittedly, life for even the most dedicated of God’s people may be an ordeal of drudgery and difficulty. Circumstances may be hard and burdens may be heavy. But the Lord wants us to bring our cares to Him. The psalmist had the right idea when he said to God, “To You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Ps. 5:2-3).

If we start each day with prayer, we’ll be able to say with the psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). By: Vernon Grounds

Reflect & Pray

Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
—Berg

Each day is a gift to be opened with prayer.

Each morning is God's gift; unwrap it with prayer.

Every new day is an invitation to walk with God.

Open each day with prayer, and leave the outcome with God.

Begin each day with God, and entrust every hour to Him.

A day begun with prayer begins in the right direction.

Before spending the day, give its first moments to God.

Receive each morning with gratitude and return it to God in prayer.

Each sunrise is another summons to seek God's face.

A new day is fresh mercy wrapped in God's faithfulness.

Every morning brings new mercies and another reason to pray.

Open the day on your knees and walk through it by faith.

Give God the first word of your day and let His Word guide the rest.

The best way to unwrap a new day is in the presence of the Giver.

Every day is a gift from God; prayer acknowledges the Giver.

Begin the morning looking up, and you'll be better prepared for whatever lies ahead.

What To Do With Difficult People

SCRIPTURE: PSALM 5

INTRODUCTION: Many of our problems in life come from difficult people. We need God’s wisdom, for sometimes we should ignore them (Prov. 26:4); rebuke them (Prov. 24:25), forbear them (Eph. 4:2), or endure them (Heb. 12:3). One thing we must always do is to lay the situation before God in prayer. In Psalm 5, David talks with God about some who had been boastful (v. 5) and deceitful (v. 6).

1. We Relay Our Prayers To Our Hearing God (vv. 1–3). David’s prayers were:
A. Earnest. “my words...my meditation...the voice of my cry.”
B. Early. “In the morning...”
C. Expectant. “And I will look up.”

2. We Refer Our Problems To Our Holy God (vv. 4–10). God is not pleased with difficult, boastful people, but we can worship Him in fear and commit our cause to Him.

3. We Render Our Praises To Our Helping God. “Let all those rejoice who put their trust in You...because You defend them.”

CONCLUSION: We need case-by-case wisdom in knowing how to deal with problem
people. But in every case, we can direct our prayers to God and look up.

Early in the Morning

SCRIPTURE: MARK 16:1–2

INTRODUCTION: It took effort for the women in Mark 16 to rise in the chilly, early morning darkness, but it was worth it. The Bible speaks frequently of the blessings of the morning hours.

1. It is a Time for Devotion (Mark 1:35; Luke 21:38; Ps. 5:3; 88:13; Isa. 26:9).

2. It is a Time for Singing (Ps. 59:16).

3. It is a Time for Executing God’s Commands (Gen. 22:3; Josh. 3:1).

4. It is a Time for Going About Our Daily Duties (Prov. 31:15).

CONCLUSION: Proverbs 6:9–11 warns about wasting the morning hours. Start every day on the right foot. Begin every morning saying, “This is the day that the Lord has made!”

Croft Pentz - THE PLEA FOR JUSTICE Psalm 5:1–12

I. The praying—vv. 1–3
A. Approach—v. 1. Approaching God in prayer. Compare Jer. 33:3. We can call upon His name at any time.
B. Attention—v. 2. Listen to my prayer—I will pray only unto my true God. Note the steps to prayer—Matt. 7:7–9.
C. Attitude—v. 3. God’s attitude—willingness to hear. Our attitude—faith!

II. The punishment—vv. 4–6
A. Purity—v. 4. God is holy and sinless—1 Peter 1:16. He wants us to be pure.
B. People—v. 5. The proud cannot escape God’s eye. God will punish all sinners—Rom. 6:23.
C. Punishment—v. 6. God’s judgment falls on the deceitful. See the list of sinners—Rev. 21:8.

III. The praise—vv. 7, 8
A. Praise—v. 7. Coming into the Temple to worship God. Note Ps. 122:1.
B. Plea—v. 8. Desire to be led by the Lord. This pleases God. See Prov. 3:5, 6; Matt. 6:33.

IV. The personality—vv. 9, 10
A. Character—v. 9. Their character is far from God’s, and this does not please God. They follow sin and Satan.
B. Consumption—v. 10. All sinners will be destroyed by God in His judgment. Compare Rev. 20:11–15. God is merciful, but He must condemn those who do not repent.

V. The pleasure—vv. 11, 12
A. Rejoicing—v. 11. Those who trust in the Lord will rejoice. Compare Ps. 16:11.
B. Reward—v. 12. God will bless and reward those who trust in Him. Compare Rev. 2:10.

STILL, STILL WITH THEE - David Osbeck - Amazing Grace
Harriet B. Stowe, 1812–1896

Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation. (Psalm 5:3)

“How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!… When I awake, I am still with Thee”. This was the phrase that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe as she meditated one morning on Psalm 139:17, 18. In the midst of a busy and productive life—as a writer, an avid crusader against world-wide slavery, and a mother of six—it was Harriet Stowe’s practice to rise at 4:30 each morning to “see the coming of the dawn, hear the singing of the birds, and to enjoy the over-shadowing presence of her God.”
As a devoted mother and the wife of a seminary professor, Harriet still found time to write numerous hymns, a volume of religious verse, and approximately 40 books dealing with the various social problems of her time. Her best known novel was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which had a strong influence against slavery just before the Civil War.
In later life, as she looked back over many of the difficulties she had experienced in her busy years of raising a family while engaging in many pursuits, Harriet wrote, “I thank God there is one thing running through all of them—from the time I was 13 years old [the age of her conversion]—and that is the intense unwavering sense of Christ’s educating, guiding presence and care.”
It is commonly agreed by hymnists that for sheer poetic beauty, there are few hymn texts that excel these lines:
Still, still with Thee—when purple morning breaketh, when the bird waketh and the shadows flee; fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight, dawns the sweet consciousness—I am with Thee!
Alone with Thee amid the mystic shadows—the solemn hush of nature newly born; alone with Thee in breathless adoration, in the calm dew and freshness of the morn.
Still, still with Thee—as to each new-born morning a fresh and solemn splendor still is giv’n; so doth this blessed consciousness, awaking, breathe each day nearness unto Thee and heav’n!
So shall it be at last in that bright morning, when the soul waketh and life’s shadows flee; O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning, shall rise the glorious tho’t—I am with Thee!

For Today: Job 19:25–27; Psalm 139:17, 18; Colossians 3:4; 1 John 4:13
Live this day with a fresh awareness of God’s beauty in nature and of His companionship in your life. Let this musical message remind you—=

God Is Listening

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. —Psalm 5:3

The day before Billy Graham’s interview in 1982 on The Today Show, his director of public relations, Larry Ross, requested a private room for Graham to pray in before the interview. But when Mr. Graham arrived at the studio, his assistant informed Ross that Mr. Graham didn’t need the room. He said, “Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he’ll probably be praying all the way through the interview.” Ross later said, “That was a great lesson for me to learn as a young man.”

Prayerfulness is not an event; it is a way of being in relationship with God. This kind of intimate relationship is developed when God’s people view prayerfulness as a way of life. The Psalms encourage us to begin each day by lifting our voice to the Lord (Ps. 5:3); to fill our day with conversations with God (55:17); and in the face of accusations and slander, to give ourselves totally to prayer (109:4). We develop prayer as a way of life because we desire to be with God (42:1-4; 84:1-2; 130:5-6).

Prayer is our way of connecting with God in all life’s circumstances. God is always listening. We can talk to Him any time throughout the day. - Marvin Williams (Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

Thinking It Over
What is one major obstacle to developing your prayer life? What changes do you sense God wants to make in your heart so that you see prayer as a way of life?

In prayer, God hears more than your words— He listens to your heart.

Today's Insights - We are not told about the events that precipitated the writing of this psalm. Some scholars speculate that the enemies David speaks of may have been Doeg the Edomite (1 Sam. 22) or Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15–17). David brought his concerns to God because he knew God would deal with his enemies and care for him.

Henry Blackaby - Psalm 5:3 The Experience - Page 14

After you’ve prayed, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God. When David prayed to God every morning, he didn’t get up off of his knees and go about his day as if he’d never prayed. He waited to see how God answered his prayers. He watched in anticipation for the answer he knew would come. He prepared himself to obey whatever God asked him to do next. That’s the difference between just saying prayers and truly praying. David began each day by talking with his Lord. For the rest of the day, he was aware of God’s presence as he experienced God at work in his life.

If you pray in the morning for your unbelieving friend to become a Christian, but then don’t share your faith with him when God gives you the opportunity, you’ve merely recited a prayer. You haven’t really prayed. If you ask God in the morning to increase your faith, then don’t look for the opportunities he’ll give you to trust him, you don’t understand what prayer really is. Prayer is not an isolated event. It’s an ongoing activity that flows out of your relationship with God. If you don’t understand this, you’ll fail to make the connection between the events of your day and the things you prayed that morning. In other words, you’ll be oblivious to God’s activity in your life.

If you’ve been in the habit of reciting prayers instead of truly praying, you’ve been practicing a ritual, not enjoying a relationship. When God speaks to you in the morning, or when the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray for something, watch expectantly throughout the day for God’s answer. Walking with God is not something you do for fifteen minutes each morning before getting on with your life. Walking with God is your life! It’s an exciting adventure to be lived all day long! (See also TruthQuest: TQ120a - Page 26)

John Butler - SEEKING GOD

Psalm 5:3 “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up” (Psalm 5:3).

The Psalmist, who happens to be David here, speaks of seeking the Lord in this text. Our text gives us some good exhortations about seeking the Lord which are applicable to all.

FIRST—THE EARLINESS IN SEEKING

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning.” This is a great way to start every day. It says that David would start the day with God. Many folk start the day with the newspaper and a cup of coffee. How much better if you started the day with God and His Word instead. How we start something has much to do with how we finish something. Someone has said that which is “well begun is half done.” A good way to have a ruined day is to leave out God. But let us practice our text by seeking God early in the morning. Let us start off the day with God. It will help us to meet the many trying circumstances of the day and help us do even better in the good circumstances of the day.

SECOND—THE EARNESTNESS IN SEEKING

“In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee.” This speaks of earnestness in seeking the Lord. This second sentence in the text is not much different than the first sentence, for if we are earnest in seeking God, we will begin the day seeking God, and we won’t put off praying until late in the day, but will start praying earnestly early in the day. We must be earnest in spiritual matters if we are going to profit in spiritual matters. Few people are as earnest as the psalmist was in our text. Twice he mentioned the morning in regards to seeking God. He was earnest in seeking God so sought him early in the morning. To do that you will have to give a high priority to the Lord. Many things beckon us when we start the day. If we are not careful and do not have a priority on seeking the Lord, these things will take over our life and ruin it. Nothing is so important as the spiritual part of our life (Mark 8:36). Therefore we should demonstrate some earnestness in seeking God.

THIRD—THE EYEING IN THE SEEKING

“And will look up.” Too often we are looking down rather than up. Looking up changes our entire outlook on life. Our outlook needs to be up not down. The downward look here speaks of a sinful look and a defiling look. Keep your eyes heavenward and you will not be looking at that which will defile and defeat you. Where the eyes are looking has much to do with the direction of our life. If you are constantly look at TV and like things you will not do well spiritually, where it matters the most. But if your eyes are upward upon the Lord instead of downward on such things as TV and the devil’s DVDs you will do much better in life where it matters the most. In every life comes evil solicitations to evil but if you are looking upward, you will not be evilly affected by these solicitations. Keep your eyes upward upon the Lord if you want consistent victory in your life.

Check The Oil

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. —Psalm 5:3

When I helped our daughters learn to drive, I included a little instruction on basic auto maintenance. We visited a local service station where they learned to check the oil every time they put fuel in the car. Today, years later, they often remind me of my six-word slogan, “Oil is cheap; engines are expensive.” Adding a quart of oil is nothing compared to replacing an engine.

Maintenance is also important in our spiritual lives. Taking time each day to read the Bible, pray, and listen to God is a key element in avoiding a breakdown. In Psalm 5, David wrote, “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You” (v.3). In the following verses he poured out his heart in praise, thanksgiving, and requests to God.

Many people find it essential to begin every day with the Lord. Before checking email, catching the news, or eating breakfast, they find some quiet moments alone to read a portion of God’s Word, praise Him for His greatness, thank Him for His love, and seek His guidance. Others spend time reading and praying at different times of the day.

It’s not magic—it’s maintenance, as we ask the Lord each day to fill our hearts with His presence on the road of life. -- David C. McCasland (Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

Give me a strong desire, O Lord, to look into Your Word each day. Help me hide it in my heart so that I might not stray from Your truth. Feed me and teach me about Yourself and Your will for me.

The roots of stability come from being grounded in God’s Word and prayer.

Today's Insights - In this morning prayer (vv.1-3), David called out to God to help him live a holy and worshipful life (vv.7-8). He extolled God’s justice, holiness, and unfailing love (vv.4-7), and he affirmed his unwavering trust in God’s presence and protection (vv.4-8,11-12) even as he faced slander, danger, and evil.

Early Defense System

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord. —Psalm 5:3

Today's Scripture : Psalm 5:1-12

Every believer in Christ is involved in spiritual warfare every day. We cannot afford, therefore, to enter the day complacently.

In an article for the San Francisco Chronicle, Herb Caen wrote, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

British pastor Charles Spurgeon wrote, “If you are not seeking the Lord, the devil is seeking you.” We must not wait until we are attacked by Satan to think about the strategy we should use to escape the enemy of our soul. We must seek the Lord early, keenly aware that “the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).

In Psalm 5 we read that David expressed his need for God’s help. He came to the Lord early in the morning, seeking His guidance and protection (vv.3,8,12).

Let’s not move into any new day without being aware of our urgent need for the Lord. Preparedness is the best way to be ready for Satan’s attack. By: David C. Egner(Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

Reflect & Pray

With each new day my thought shall be
Of all that Christ has done for me;
I'll think about His love and care,
Then face the day with faith and prayer. —DJD

Start each day with your armor in place and your marching orders in hand.

Start each day on your knees before you stand on your feet.

Begin the day with God, and walk through the day with God.

Face the day only after you have faced your God.

Get your bearings from God before the world gives you its directions.

Before you meet the day's battles, meet with the Lord of hosts.

Begin each morning with an open Bible and an open heart.

Take your burdens to God before you carry them into the day.

Get your heart right with God before you set your hands to work.

Seek God's face before you face the day.

Before you hear the voices of the world, listen for the voice of God.

Start the day with prayer, and you won't face the day alone.

Let your first appointment every morning be with God.

Receive your orders from heaven before taking your place in the world.

Before you step onto the battlefield, report to your Commander.

Begin the day at the throne before entering the battle.

Don't enter the day's battle before entering God's presence.

Take your stand in prayer before taking your steps into the day.

Start with God's Word in your heart and God's will in your sights.

Meet with the Captain before marching into the conflict.

Kneel before the King before you march into the day.

Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.

KJV For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

NET Certainly you are not a God who approves of evil; evil people cannot dwell with you.

NLT O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.

BGT ὅτι οὐχὶ θεὸς θέλων ἀνομίαν σὺ εἶ οὐδὲ παροικήσει σοι πονηρευόμενος

LXE For thou art not a god that desires iniquity; neither shall the worker of wickedness dwell with thee.

CSB For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with You.

ESV For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.

NIV You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.

YLT For not a God desiring wickedness art Thou, Evil inhabiteth Thee not.

God (KJV): Ps 50:21 1Ch 29:17 Hab 1:13 Mal 2:17
evil (KJV): Ps 94:20 101:7 140:13 Joh 14:23 Heb 12:14 2Pe 3:13 Rev 21:23,27

Sin and God are opposite in meaning. God does not sin, and sin cannot enter God's holy presence. God does not react to sin with passive acceptance. He actively opposes sin. Sin against God is both in attitude and action. As sinners, we must approach God in repentance, humility, reverence, and worship. Only God's mercy allows us in His presence.

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - And now the Psalmist having thus expressed his resolution to pray, you hear him putting up his prayer. He is pleading against his cruel and wicked enemies. He uses a most mighty argument. He begs of God to put them away from him, because they were displeasing to God himself.

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. "When I pray against my tempters," says David, "I pray against the very things which thou thyself abhorrest." Thou hatest evil: Lord, I beseech thee, deliver me from it!

Let us learn here the solemn truth of the hatred which a righteous God must bear toward sin. He has no pleasure in wickedness, however wittily, grandly, and proudly it may array itself. Its glitter has no charm for him. Men may bow before successful villainy, and forget the wickedness of the battle in the gaudiness of the triumph, but the Lord of Holiness is not such-an-one as we are.

Neither shall evil dwell with thee. He will not afford it the meanest shelter. Neither on earth nor in heaven shall evil share the mansion of God. Oh, how foolish are we if we attempt to entertain two guests so hostile to one another as Christ Jesus and the devil! Rest assured, Christ will not live in the parlour of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. As a man that cutteth with a dull knife is the cause of cutting, but not of the ill-cutting and hacking of the knifethe knife is the cause of that; or if a man strike upon an instrument that is out of tune, he is the cause of the sound, but not of the jarring sound that is the fault of the untuned strings; or, as a man riding upon a lame horse, stirs himthe man is the cause of the motion, but the horse himself of the halting motion: thus God is the author of every action, but not of the evil of that actionthat is from man. He that makes instruments and tools of iron or other metal, he maketh not the rust and canker which corrupteth them, that is from another cause; nor doth that heavenly workman, God Almighty, bring in sin and iniquity; nor can he be justly blamed if his creatures do soil and besmear themselves with the foulness of sin, for he made them good. Spencer's Things New and Old.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

God's hatred of sin an example to his people.

Verses 4-6

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Here the Lord's alienation from the wicked is set forth gradually, and seems to rise by six steps. First, he hath no pleasure in them; secondly, they shall not dwell with him; thirdly, he casteth them forth, they shall not stand in his sight; fourthly, his heart turns from them, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity; fifthly, his hand is turned upon them, thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing; sixthly, his spirit rises against them, and is alienated from them, the Lord will abhor the bloody man. This estrangement is indeed a strange (yet a certain) punishment to the workers of iniquity. These words, "the workers of iniquity," may be considered two ways. First, as intending (not all degrees of sinners, or sinners of every degree, but) the highest degree of sinners, great, and gross sinners, resolved and wilful sinners. Such as sin industriously, and, as it were, artificially, with skill and care to get themselves a name, as if they had an ambition to be accounted workmen that need not to be ashamed of doing that whereof all ought to be ashamed; these, in strictness of Scripture sense, are "workers of iniquity." Hence note, notorious sinners make sin their business, or trade. Though every sin be a work of iniquity, yet only some sinners are "workers of iniquity;" and they who are called so, make their calling to sin. We read of some who love and make a lie. #Revelation 22:15. A lie may be told by those who neither love nor make it; but there are lie-makers, and they, sure enough, are lovers of a lie. Such craftsmen in sinning are also described in #Psalms 58:2 "Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth." The psalmist doth not say, they had wickedness in their heart, but they did work it there; the heart is a shop within, an underground shop; there they did closely contrive, forge, and hammer out their wicked purposes, and fit them into actions. Joseph Caryl.

Here the Lord's alienation from the wicked is set forth gradually, and seems to rise by six steps. First, he hath no pleasure in them; secondly, they shall not dwell with him; thirdly, he casteth them forth, they shall not stand in his sight; fourthly, his heart turns from them, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity; fifthly, his hand is turned upon them, thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing; sixthly, his spirit rises against them, and is alienated from them, the Lord will abhor the bloody man. This estrangement is indeed a strange (yet a certain) punishment to the workers of iniquity. These words, "the workers of iniquity," may be considered two ways. First, as intending (not all degrees of sinners, or sinners of every degree, but) the highest degree of sinners, great, and gross sinners, resolved and wilful sinners. Such as sin industriously, and, as it were, artificially, with skill and care to get themselves a name, as if they had an ambition to be accounted workmen that need not to be ashamed of doing that whereof all ought to be ashamed; these, in strictness of Scripture sense, are "workers of iniquity." Hence note, notorious sinners make sin their business, or trade. Though every sin be a work of iniquity, yet only some sinners are "workers of iniquity;" and they who are called so, make their calling to sin. We read of some who love and make a lie. #Revelation 22:15. A lie may be told by those who neither love nor make it; but there are lie-makers, and they, sure enough, are lovers of a lie. Such craftsmen in sinning are also described in #Psalms 58:2"Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth." The psalmist doth not say, they had wickedness in their heart, but they did work it there; the heart is a shop within, an underground shop; there they did closely contrive, forge, and hammer out their wicked purposes, and fit them into actions. Joseph Caryl.

Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.

KJV The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

NET Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who behave wickedly.

NLT Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence, for you hate all who do evil.

BGT οὐ διαμενοῦσιν παράνομοι κατέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου ἐμίσησας πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν

LXE Neither shall the transgressors continue in thy sight: thou hatest, O Lord, all them that work iniquity.

CSB The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers.

ESV The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

NIV The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

YLT The boastful station not themselves before Thine eyes: Thou hast hated all working iniquity.

The (KJV): Ps 14:1 92:6 94:8 Pr 1:7,22 8:5 Ec 5:4 Hab 1:13
stand (KJV): Ps 1:5 130:3
in thy sight (KJV): Heb. before thine eyes
thou (KJV): Ps 10:3 Lev 20:23 Pr 6:16-19 Ho 9:15 Zec 11:8 Mt 7:23 25:41

Iniquity (wickedness, false, idol) (0205) aven is a masculine noun meaning nothingness, vanity, trouble, sorrow, evil, or wickedness. Its basic idea is emptiness or worthlessness, and from this sense it develops several related meanings. It can describe empty or futile pursuits (Pr 22:8; Isa 41:29), nothingness leading to destruction (Amos 5:5), and empty or deceitful words (Ps 10:7; Pr 17:4; Zech 10:2). It frequently refers to wickedness, iniquity, or those who practice evil (Nu 23:21+; Job 22:15; Ps 14:4; Ps 36:4; Ps 101:8; Isa 58:9; Mic 2:1+), and can also denote evil or calamity (Job 5:6; Pr 12:21; Jer 4:15) and sorrow or distress (Dt 26:14+; Ps 90:10; Hos 9:4+). Significantly, it is used metaphorically of an idol (Isa 66:3), emphasizing the utter worthlessness and futility of worshiping something that is essentially “nothing.” Thus, running through its various uses is the fundamental idea of that which is empty, worthless, futile, or ultimately productive only of trouble and sorrow.

G Herbert Livingson on aven - Trouble, sorrow, idolatry, wickedness, iniquity, emptiness. (RSV and NEB prefer "evil," and "mischief" over KJV'S favorite, "iniquity.") The primary meaning of the word seems to have two facets: a stress on trouble which moves on to wickedness, and an emphasis on emptiness which moves on to idolatry. The word is used eighty-five times. A noun from an identical root ʾwn II is pronounced ʾôn and means "vigor, wealth" (q.v.).

The root does not occur in verbal forms; normally it functions as a masculine noun, sometimes as an adjective.

One of the basic meanings of ʾāwen is "trouble" which is clearly shown in Genesis 35:18. Just before she died, Rachel named her newborn son, Ben-oni, (son of sorrow). In Deut. 26:14+ and Hosea 9:4+ ʾāwen designates mourning in association with death. ʾāwen is sometimes in proximity to ʾāmal "toil, labor" (q.v.). In Job 5:6; Psalm 90:10; and Habakkuk 1:3+, ʾāwen is parallel to ʾāmāl and emphasizes physical trouble. In Isaiah 10:1+; Psalm 7:14 [H 15] (cf. Job 4:8) ʾāmāl is the result of ʾāwen in the sense that sin brings trouble. The relationship between ʾāwen and ʾāmāl is shown further by the tendency of the latter to drift to the connotation of deceitful words as in Psalm 140:10. Also, both words occur with other words for deceit in Job 15:35; Psalm 10:7; Psalm 36:3-4; Psalm 55:11; and Isaiah 59:4. Observe in Job 36:21 that ʾāwen is contrasted with another word for affliction ʾōnî and both here and in Job 34:36 ʾāwen would seem to point to deceptive planning or speaking which leads to sorrow or rebellion.

In this sense of deception, ʾāwen is tied to thoughts and words in Proverbs 17:4; Isaiah 32:6; Ezekiel 11:2+; Hosea 12:12+ and possibly Hosea 6:8+ (see LXX). From this base ʾāwen becomes a label for idolatry in Isaiah 66:3 and the phrase "Beth-aven," probably a name of shame for Bethel (Hosea 5:8+; Hosea 10:5, 8+; cf. Amos 1:5; Ezekiel 30:17). Also the word describes idols in Isaiah 41:29, and seems to denote non-existence in Amos 5:5.

This trend of meaning in ʾāwen is reinforced by its proximity to standard Hebrew words for deception, fraud, and falseness in Proverbs 6:12, 18+; Proverbs 19:28; Proverbs 22:8; Isaiah 29:20; Zech. 10:2. It may be that this strand of meaning comes from a possible early kinship to ʾāyin, which means "nothing."

In by far the greater numbers of instances, the versions prefer to translate ʾāwen as "evil," "iniquity," or "wicked." But an interesting term occurs about twenty times in Job, Psalms, and Prov; it is workers of iniquity (ʾāwen) and may designate men skilled in magic or idolatrous ritual.

Generally, biblical theologians have given little attention to ʾāwen as a contributor to an understanding of sin. Since the word stresses the planning and expression of deception and points to the painful aftermath of sin, it should be noted more. (See Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

D A Carson writes on God's love and wrath - Our problem in part is that in human experience wrath and love normally abide in mutually exclusive compartments. Love drives wrath out, or wrath drives love out. We come closest to bringing them together, perhaps, in our responses to a wayward act by one of our children, but normally we do not think that a wrathful person is loving. But this is not the way it is with God. God's wrath is not an implacable blind rage. However emotional it may be, it is an entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against His holiness. At the same time His love wells up amidst His perfections and is not generated by the loveliness of the loved. Thus there is nothing intrinsically impossible about wrath and love being directed toward the same individual or people at once. God in His perfections must be wrathful against His rebel image-bearers, for they have offended Him; God in His perfections must be loving toward His rebel image-bearers, for He is that kind of God.

Two other misconceptions circulate widely even in circles of confessional Christianity. The first is that in the Old Testament God’s wrath is more strikingly transparent than His love, while in the New Testament, though doubtless a residue of wrath remains, a gentleness takes over and softens the darker period: God’s love is now richer than His wrath. After all, Jesus taught His disciples to love their enemies and turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39, 41).

Nothing could be further from the truth than this reading of the relationship between the Testaments. One suspects that the reason this formula has any credibility at all is that the manifestation of God’s wrath in the Old Testament is primarily in temporal categories: famine, plague, siege, war, slaughter. In the here and now those images have a greater impact than what the New Testament says, with its focus on wrath in the afterlife. Jesus, after all, is the One who in the New Testament speaks most frequently and most colorfully about hell, this Jesus of the other cheek. The apostolic writings offer little support for the view that a kinder, gentler God surfaces in the New Testament at this stage in redemptive history.
The reality is that the Old Testament displays the grace and love of God in experience and types, and these realities become all the clearer in the New Testament. Similarly, the Old Testament displays the righteous wrath of God in experience and types, and these realities become all the clearer in the New Testament. In other words both God’s love and God’s wrath are ratcheted up in the move from the Old Testament to the New. These themes barrel along through redemptive history, unresolved, until they come to a resounding climax in the Cross. Do you wish to see God’s love? Look at the Cross. Do you wish to see God’s wrath? Look at the Cross.

Hymn writers have sometimes captured this best. In Wales, Christians sing a nineteenth-century hymn by William Rees (play the great vocal by Fernando Ortega):

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of life, our ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout heaven’s eternal days.

On the Mount of Crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And heaven’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

A second common misconception pictures God as implacably opposed to us and full of wrath but somehow mollified by Jesus, who loves us. (For full article see "GOD’S LOVE AND GOD’S WRATH" at Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 156 156:389)

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Sinners are fools written large. A little sin is a great folly, and the greatest of all folly is great sin. Such sinful fools as these must be banished from the court of heaven. Earthly kings were wont to have fools in their trains, but the only wise God will have no fools in his palace above.

Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. It is not a little dislike, but a thorough hatred which God bears to workers of iniquity. To be hated of God is an awful thing. O let us be very faithful in warning the wicked around us, for it will be a terrible thing for them to fall into the hands of an angry God!

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

What an astonishing thing is sin, which maketh the God of love and Father of mercies an enemy to his creatures, and which could only be purged by the blood of the Son of God! Though all must believe this who believe the Bible, yet the exceeding sinfulness of sin is but weakly apprehended by those who have the deepest sense of it, and will never be fully known in this world. Thomas Adam's Private Thoughts, 1701-1784.

(last clause). Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. For what God thinks of sin, see #Deuteronomy 7:22; Proverbs 6:16; Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:15; where he expresseth his detestation and hatred of it, from which hatred proceeds all those direful plagues and judgments thundered from the fiery mouth of his most holy law against it; nay, not only the work, but worker also of iniquity becomes the object of his hatred. William Gurnall.

(last clause). Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. If God's hatred be against the workers of iniquity, how great is it against iniquity itself! If a man hates a poisonous creature, he hates poison much more. The strength of God's hatred is against sin, and so should we hate sin, and hate it with strength; it is an abomination unto God, let it be so unto us. #Proverbs 6:16-19, "These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him; a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." William Greenhill.

(last clause). Those whom the Lord hates must perish. But he hates impenitent sinners, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Now, who are so properly workers of iniquity as those who are so eager at it that they will not leave this work, though they be in danger to perish for it? Christ puts it out of doubt. The workers of iniquity must perish. #Luke 13:27. Those whom the Lord will tear in his wrath must perish with a witness; but those whom he hates, he tears, &c. #Job 16:8. What more due to such impenitent sinners than hatred? What more proper than wrath, since they treasure up wrath? #Romans 2:5. Will he entertain those in the bosom of love whom his soul hates? No; destruction is their portion. #Proverbs 21:15. If all the curses of the law, all the threatenings of the gospel, all judgments in earth or in hell, will be the ruin of him, he must perish. If the Lord's arm be strong enough to wound him dead, he must die. #Psalms 68:21... Avoid all that Christ hates. If you love, approve, entertain that which is hateful to Christ, how can he love you? What is that which Christ hates? The psalmist (#Psalms 45:7) tells us, making it one of Christ's attributes, to hate wickedness ... As Christ hates iniquity, so the "workers of iniquity." You must not love them, so as to be intimate with them, delight in the company of evil doers, openly profane, scorners of godliness, obstructors of the power of it. #2 Corinthians 6:14-18. If you love so near relations to wicked men, Christ will have no relation to you. If you would have communion with Christ in sweet acts of love, you must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, nor those that act them. David Clarkson, B.D., 1621-1686.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

The foolish. Show why sinners are justly called fools.

Norman Geisler - PSALM 5:5—How can this verse say God hates the wicked when John 3:16 says that God loves the world?

PROBLEM: Psalm 5:5 states, “You [God] hate all workers of iniquity.” However, John 3:16 says God loves the world. Don’t these verses contradict each other?

SOLUTION: There is no contradiction in these statements. The difficulty arises when we wrongly assume that God hates in the same way men hate. Hatred in human beings is generally thought of in terms of strong emotional distaste or dislike for someone or something. However, in God, hate is a judicial act on the part of the righteous Judge who separates the sinner from Himself. This is not contradictory to God’s love, for in His love for sinners, God has made it possible for sin to be forgiven so that all can be reconciled to God. Ultimately, the sinner will reap the harvest of God’s hatred in eternal separation from God, or the harvest of God’s love by being with Him for all eternity. But, God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s justice demands that sin be punished. God’s love carried that punishment for every man in the person of His Son (2 Cor. 5:21). - When Critics Ask

Walter Kaiser - The Lord Hates All Who Do Wrong? - see Hard Sayings

How can a God of love and mercy be categorized as one who hates? Yet this verse (as well as Psalm 11:5) clearly affirms that God does hate wrongdoers, the wicked and all who love violence. What makes such a strong contrast possible?
Scriptural talk about God’s hatred involves an idiom that does not suggest a desire of revenge. Why would God feel any need for getting even, when he is God?
Our problem with any description of God’s displeasure with sin, unrighteousness or wickedness is that we define all anger as Aristotle defined it: “the desire for retaliation.” With such a definition of anger goes the concept of anger and hatred of sin as a “brief madness” or “an uneasiness or discomposure of the mind, upon receipt of an injury, with the purpose of revenge.” All such notions of hatred, anger and displeasure in the divine being are wide of the mark and fail to address the issues involved. Better is the definition of the third-century church father Lactantius: anger is “a motion of the soul rousing itself to curb sin.”
The problem is that anger can be dangerously close to evil when it is left unchecked and without control. Who could charge God with any of these common human faults? Thus we often object upon being told that God is angry with our sin and that he absolutely hates wrongdoing, violence and sin. Our concept of anger and our experiences with it have all too frequently involved loss of control, impulsiveness and sometimes temporary derangement. No wonder no one wants to link those kinds of thoughts with God!
But God’s anger toward sin is never explosive, unreasonable or unexplainable. It is never a force that controls him or a ruling passion; rather, it always remains an instrument of his will. His anger has not, therefore, shut off his compassion (Ps 77:9).
Instead, God’s anger marks the end of indifference. He cannot and will not remain neutral and impassive in the presence of injustice, violence or any other sin. While God delights in doing good to his creatures (Jer 32:41) rather than expressing evil, he will unleash his anger and wrath against all sin. Yet Scripture pictures his anger as lasting only for a moment, in contrast to his love, which is much more enduring (Ps 30:5). His love remains (Jer 31:3; Hos 2:19), while his anger passes quickly (Is 26:20; 54:7–8; 57:16–19).
Passions are not in themselves evil. Kept under control, they are avenues of virtue. And our Lord is not without emotions just because he is God. In fact, divine anger (ira Dei) has been sharply debated in the history of the church as the question of divine passibility (that is, God’s capacity to feel, suffer or become angry) versus his impassibility (imperviousness to emotion). Teachings issuing from Gnosticism (a philosophy that combined Greek and Eastern ideas with Christian teaching) forced the church to develop a doctrine of divine passibility—that God could indeed experience feelings, suffer, and be angry.
One Gnostic best known for his view that God never took offense, was never angry and remained entirely apathetic was Marcion. Marcion was expelled from the church and his doctrines were anathematized in A.D. 144. Tertullian, one of the church fathers, tried to answer Marcion on this point in his work Against Marcion, but he unfortunately concluded that God the Father was impassible while the Son was passible and irascible—that is, able to exercise anger. Tertullian, at this point, was more Platonic than scriptural. In the last half of the third century Lactantius wrote De Ira Dei (The Anger of God), arguing that passions and emotions were not bad in and of themselves. What was evil was not being angry in the presence of sin! Nonetheless, other church fathers, Thomas Aquinas and the Protestant Reformers all taught impassibility. Only in the last two centuries has impassibility been challenged again on biblical grounds.
God’s hatred of evil is not some arbitrary force, striking where and when it wishes without any rhyme or reason. Instead, his anger against sin is measured and controlled by his love and his justice. Expressions of his outrage against the evil perpetrated on earth are actually signals that he continues to care deeply about us mortals and about our good.

Psalm 5:6 You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

KJV Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

NET You destroy liars; the LORD despises violent and deceitful people.

NLT You will destroy those who tell lies. The LORD detests murderers and deceivers.

BGT ἀπολεῖς πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος ἄνδρα αἱμάτων καὶ δόλιον βδελύσσεται κύριος

LXE Thou wilt destroy all that speak falsehood: the Lord abhors the bloody and deceitful man.

CSB You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors a man of bloodshed and treachery.

ESV You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

NIV You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.

YLT Thou destroyest those speaking lies, A man of blood and deceit Jehovah doth abominate.

destroy (KJV): Ps 4:2 Rev 21:8 22:15
the bloody (KJV): etc. Heb. man of bloods and deceit, Ps 26:8-10 43:1 55:23 Ge 34:14,25,26 2Sa 16:8 20:1 Isa 26:21 Ro 1:29

Deceit (deceitful, treachery)(04820) mirmah (from ramah - to beguile, deal treacherously with) means the intentional misleading of someone else through distorting or withholding the truth. Jacob stole Esau’s blessing through deceit (Gen. 27:35; cf. Gen. 34:13). Deceit characterizes those who plan evil (Prov. 12:20; cf. Ps. 36:3; Prov. 12:5, 17; Prov 14:8). David therefore exhorted his children to guard their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit (Ps. 34:13+). God also condemns deceit in business: He cannot tolerate dishonest weights (Mic. 6:11+), and “a false balance is an abomination to the LORD” (Prov. 11:1).

William White - This participle occurs nearly forty times in the OT with the most frequent usage in Psalms. It initially appears in Genesis 27:35, describing the swindle perpetrated on Esau by Jacob. It is used particularly of treacherous or deceitful speech (Genesis 34:13; Psalm 10:7; Psalm 17:1; Psalm 24:4 et al.). mirmâ is also used of false weighted scales which are said to be "falsifying the scales with deceit" (Amos 8:5). An interesting usage is found in Jeremiah 9:6, "Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit." The OT makes clear that deceitful speech is one of the most heinous offenses against God. The repetition of the root in Psalms in assurances that the prayer and praise of the righteous is without deceit, reinforces the importance of truth toward the Lord. (Online Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

LXX translates MIRMAH in Ps 5:6 with dolios from dolos = bait, fishing bait, figuratively craft, deceit) is found only here and describes one marked by deliberate deception. The root work conveys the sense of trickery or a decoy, a false representation.Dolios communicates deceitful intent with destructive motives! BDAG - pert. to violation of trust in effort to deceive, deceitful, treacherous. Uses in Lxx = Ps 5:6; Ps 12:2; Ps 12:3; Ps 17:1; Ps 31:18; Ps 43:1; Ps 52:4; Ps 109:2; Ps 120:2; Ps 120:3; Pr 11:1; Pr 12:6; Pr 12:17; Pr 12:24; Pr 12:27; Pr 13:9; Pr 13:13; Pr 14:25; Pr 20:23; Jer 9:8; Zeph 3:13

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Observe, that evil speakers must be punished as well as evil workers, for thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. All liars shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. A man may lie without danger of the law of man, but he will not escape the law of God. Liars have short wings, their flight shall soon be over, and they shall fall into the fiery floods of destruction.

The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Bloody men shall be made drunk with their own blood, and they who began by deceiving others shall end with being deceived themselves. Our old proverb saith, "Bloody and deceitful men dig their own graves." The voice of the people is in this instance the voice of God. How forcible is the word abhor! Does it not show us how powerful and deep-seated is the hatred of the Lord against the workers of iniquity?

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, whether in jest or earnest. Those that lie in jest will (without repentance) go to hell in earnest. John Trapp.

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, etc. In the same field where Absalom raised battle against his father, stood the oak that was his gibbet. The mule whereon he rode was his hangman, for the mule carried him to the tree, and the hair wherein he gloried served for a rope to hang. Little know the wicked how everything which now they have shall be a snare to trap them when God begins to punish them. William Cowper, 1612.

Psalm 5:7 But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.

KJV But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

NET But as for me, because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house; I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you.

NLT Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.

BGT ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐλέους σου εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου προσκυνήσω πρὸς ναὸν ἅγιόν σου ἐν φόβῳ σου

LXE But I will enter into thine house in the multitude of thy mercy: I will worship in thy fear toward thy holy temple.

CSB But I enter Your house by the abundance of Your faithful love; I bow down toward Your holy temple in reverential awe of You.

ESV But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

NIV But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.

YLT And I, in the abundance of Thy kindness, I enter Thy house, I bow myself toward Thy holy temple in Thy fear.

But (KJV): Ps 55:16 Jos 24:15 Lu 6:11,12
in the (KJV): Ps 51:1 52:8 69:13,16 Isa 55:7 Ro 5:20,21
in thy (KJV): Ps 130:4 Ho 3:5 Ac 9:31 Heb 12:28,29 1Pe 1:17-19
I worship (KJV): Ps 28:2 132:7 138:2 1Ki 8:29,30,35,38 Da 6:10 Heb 4:16
thy holy temple (KJV): Heb. the temple of thy holiness, Isa 64:11

A DEBTOR TO
MERCY ALONE

But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness (hesed; LXX eleos - MERCY) I will enter Your house - Not just lovingkindness, but lovingkindness in abundance!

A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with thy righteousness on,
My person and offering to bring;

The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.
Augustus M. Toplady
(Click to play his hymn)

Believer's Study Bible - The mention of the "temple" in this verse has led some to reject Davidic authorship of this psalm since David did not build the temple. However, the word for temple which is used here (hekal, Heb.) is also used of the tabernacle (cf. 1 Sam. 1:9; 3:3).

Matthew Henry Concise - Psalm 7-12. David prayed often alone, yet was very constant in attendance on public worship. The mercy of God should ever be the foundation both of our hope and of our joy, in every thing wherein we have to do with him. Let us learn to pray, not for ourselves only, but for others; grace be with all that love Christ in sincerity. The Divine blessing comes down upon us through Jesus Christ, the righteous or just One, as of old it did upon Israel through David, whom God protected, and placed upon the throne. Thou, O Christ, art the righteous Saviour, thou art the King of Israel, thou art the Fountain of blessing to all believers; thy favour is the defence and protection of thy church.

Lovingkindness (02617) hesed/chesed/heced is the idea of faithful love in action and often in the OT refers to God's lovingkindness expressed in His covenant relationship with Israel (His "loyal love" to His "Wife" Israel [cp Hos 2:18, 19, 20, Is 54:5, Je 31:32] = His "loyalty to covenant"). God's hesed His denotes persistent and unconditional tenderness, kindness, and mercy, a relationship in which He seeks after man with love and mercy (cp God immediately seeking man Ge 3:9, who was immediately hiding Ge 3:8 trying to cover their shame Ge 3:7 - contrast God's lovingkindness manifest by spilling blood to provide skins to cover their shame! Ge 3:21). Hesed expresses both God’s loyalty to His covenant and His love for His people along with a faithfulness to keep His promises. As you consider the Hebrew word hesed, be aware that versions other than NAS often translate hesed as "mercy". There is another Hebrew word racham (07355) which is also translated "mercy".

LXX translates HESED in Ps 5:7 with eleos the outward manifestation of pity and assumes need on the part of those who are recipients of the mercy and sufficient resources to meet the need on the part of those who show it. The idea of mercy is to show kindness or concern for someone in serious need or to give help to the wretched, to relieve the miserable. Here the essential thought is that mercy gives attention to those in misery.

H H Esser - In Classical Greek eleos "is “the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else” (R. Bultmann, TDNT II 477), viz. compassion, pity, mercy. These feelings are the reverse of envy at another’s good fortune. There is also an element of fear that one might have to suffer in the same way. Aristotle in his Poetics stated that tragedy aroused pity and terror and these caused katharsis, purging. From Plutarch onwards we find the expressions eleon echo, to find mercy, and kat’ eleon, out of compassion. eleos was used as a technical term for the end of the speech for the defence, in which the accused tried to awaken the compassion of the judges. In Plato’s Apology Socrates refused to conform to the pattern (23 f., 34b—35d). (See online for 4 page discussion of ELEOS IN Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. NIDNTT)

Trench adds that "Aristotle defined eleos this way: "Let mercy [eleos] be a certain grief for an apparently destructive and painful evil toward one who experienced what was undeserved in respect to what he himself or one of his family might expect to suffer." (Trench's Synonyms of the New Testament)

Vine on hesed - In general, one may identify three basic meanings of hesed, and these 3 meanings always interact -- strength, steadfastness, and love. Any understanding of hesed that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. Love by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet strength or steadfastness suggests only the fulfillment of a legal (or similar) obligation. Hesed refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Jehovah and Israel). But hesed is not only a matter of obligation but is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law. (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words) (Bolding added)

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - With this verse the first part of the Psalm ends. The Psalmist has bent his knee in prayer; he has described before God, as an argument for his deliverance, the character and the fate of the wicked; and now he contrasts this with the condition of the righteous.

But as for me, I will come into thy house. I will not stand at a distance, I will come into thy sanctuary, just as a child comes into his father's house. But I will not come there by my own merits; no, I have a multitude of sins, and therefore I will come in the multitude of thy mercy. I will approach thee with confidence because of thy immeasurable grace. God's judgments are all numbered, but his mercies are innumerable; he gives his wrath by weight, but without weight his mercy.

And in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple, towards the temple of thy holiness. The temple was not built on earth at that time; it was but a tabernacle; but David was wont to turn his eyes spiritually to that temple of God's holiness where between the wings of the Cherubim Jehovah dwells in light ineffable. Daniel opened his window toward Jerusalem, but we open our hearts toward heaven.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

In thy fear will I worship. As natural fear makes the spirits retire from the outward parts of the body to the heart, so a holy fear of miscarrying in so solemn a duty would be a means to call thy thoughts from all exterior carnal objects, and fix them upon the duty in hand. As the sculpture is on the seal, so will the print on the wax be; if the fear of God be deeply engraven on thy heart, there is no doubt but it will make a suitable impression on the duty thou performest. William Gurnall.

David saith, In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. The temple did shadow forth the body of our Lord Christ, the Mediator, in whom only our prayers and service are accepted with the Father which Solomon respected in looking towards the temple. Thomas Manton, D.D., 1620-1677.

But as for me, etc. A blessed verse this! a blessed saying! The words and the sense itself, carry with them a powerful contrast. For there are two things with which this life is exercised, HOPE and FEAR, which are, as it were, those two springs of #Jude 1:15, the one from above, the other from beneath. Fear comes from beholding the threats and fearful judgments of God; as being a God in whose sight no one is clean, every one is a sinner, every one is damnable. But hope comes from beholding the promises, and the all-sweet mercies of God; as it is written (#Psalms 25:6), "Remember, O Lord, thy loving kindnesses, and thy tender mercies which have been ever of old." Between these two, as between the upper and nether millstone, we must always be ground and kept, that we may never turn either to the right hand or to the left. For this turning is the state peculiar to hypocrites, who are exercised with the two contrary things, security and presumption. Martin Luther.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

Multitude of thy mercy. Dwell upon the varied grace and goodness of God.

The devout resolution

1. Observe the singularity of the resolution.

2. Mark the object of the resolution. It regards the service of God in the sanctuary. "I will come into thine house...in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy temple."

3. The manner in which he would accomplish the resolution. (1) Impressed with a sense of the divine goodness: "I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy." (2) Filled with holy veneration: "And in thy fear will I worship."

William Jay, 1842.

C H Spurgeon - Morning and Evening - Psalm 5:8

Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account, and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be a special motive for walking very carefully before God. If we live carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will shout triumphantly. “Aha! So would we have it! See how these Christians act! They are hypocrites to a man.” Thus will much damage be done to the cause of Christ, and much insult offered to his name. The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. It is “to the Jews a stumblingblock”: let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks where there are enough already. “To the Greeks it is foolishness”: let us not add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel. How jealous should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences! In the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn our motives where they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we be! Pilgrims travel as suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we know of. The espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the enemies’ hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a fiend, than anything like patience with our infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God with scandals against his people. O Lord, lead us ever, lest our enemies trip us up!

Henry Blackaby - David's Priority List Psalm 5:7–8 - The Experience - Page 16 (See also TruthQuest: TQ120a - Page 28)
What does it take to have a close walk with God? The right priorities. David knew God better than most people. Let’s take a look at his priority list:
To worship. David was a king, but he considered it his highest calling to honor God. David didn’t merely go to the temple as a matter of ritual. He considered it a great privilege to be invited into the presence of holy God to worship him. David’s psalms of praise bear testimony to the high priority he placed on praising God.

To confess his sins. David wasn’t perfect; in fact, he committed some pretty major sins, including adultery and murder. However, he acknowledged his sins and humbly confessed them to God. He couldn’t bear to be separated from God by his own sinfulness, so David made confession a priority as well.

To follow God’s guidance. David was a bright man, a gifted leader, and an accomplished warrior, yet he consistently turned to God for guidance. He understood that life is too complicated for even the smartest person to figure out on his own, so he gave God’s plans precedence over his own.

To seek God’s protection. David had plenty of enemies and plenty to fear. He prayed daily for God’s protection, and he relied on God for peace in spite of his tumultuous life. In answer to David’s prayers, God guided him through many intensely dangerous situations.

To thank God. David’s life was characterized by thankfulness. He recognized God as the source of every blessing in his life, and he developed a habit of thanking God regularly. The Book of Psalms is a record of David’s grateful heart.

When you lay it out, it’s not hard to see why David grew so close to God. Look at the things he valued the most: worship, forgiveness, wisdom, guidance, and gratitude. Do you want to know God better? Take David’s priority list and make it yours as well.

Psalm 5:8 O LORD, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me.

KJV Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

NET LORD, lead me in your righteousness because of those who wait to ambush me, remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me!

NLT Lead me in the right path, O LORD, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.

BGT κύριε ὁδήγησόν με ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ σου ἕνεκα τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου κατεύθυνον ἐνώπιόν μου τὴν ὁδόν σου

LXE Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make my way plain before thy face.

CSB LORD, lead me in Your righteousness because of my adversaries; make Your way straight before me.

ESV Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

NIV Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies-- make straight your way before me.

YLT O Jehovah, lead me in Thy righteousness, Because of those observing me, Make straight before me Thy way,

Lead (KJV): Ps 25:4,5 86:11 119:10,64 143:8-10 Pr 3:5,6
mine (KJV): Heb. those which observe me, Ps 27:11 54:5 59:10 *marg: 2Sa 12:14
make (KJV): Ps 25:4 27:11 Pr 4:25 Mt 3:3 Heb 12:13

O LORD, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me - Red font identifies an imperative (see note)

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Now we come to the second part, in which the Psalmist repeats his arguments, and goes over the same ground again.

Lead me, O Lord, as a little child is led by its father, as a blind man is guided by his friend. It is safe and pleasant walking when God leads the way.

In thy righteousness, not in my righteousness, for that is imperfect, but in thine, for thou art righteousness itself.

Make thy way, not my way, straight before my face. Brethren, when we have learned to give up our own way, and long to walk in God's way, it is a happy sign of grace; and it is no small mercy to see the way of God with clear vision straight before our face. Errors about duty may lead us into a sea of sins, before we know where we are.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

None

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

God's guidance needed always and especially when enemies are watching us.

James Smith - LED BY THE LORD PSALM 5:8

Here we have the Psalmist’s prayer for guidance. This is a familiar expression in the Psalms. As a man of affairs, he was only too conscious of the fact that it is not in man to direct successfully his own steps. Pondering on this request for guidance, four questions suggest themselves.
I. Why?

1. BECAUSE OF THE ENEMY. Like the Psalmist, we are surrounded by the enemies of the King of kings. Of those there are:

a. “Those which observe me” (A.V., margin), a very large class indeed. Then there are:
b. “Them that lie in wait for me,” as is suggested by the margin of the R.V.

2. BECAUSE OF MY IGNORANCE AND HELPLESSNESS. We are just as weak and helpless as a child; and just as silly as sheep.
3. BECAUSE OF HIS REPUTATION. “For Thy Name’s sake lead me and guide me” (Psalm 31:3).

II. How?

1. He leads us Himself, and does not leave us merely to angels.
2. He does it by His Word and His Spirit: “O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me” (Psa. 43:3).

III. Where?

1. “LEAD ME TO THE ROCK that is higher than I” (Psa. 61:2). We must first be led to Himself, who is the Rock here referred to.
2. “HE LEADETH ME BESIDE THE STILL WATERS,” that is, the waters of quietness (Psalm 23). He gives quietness and rest.
3. “SO HE LED THEM THROUGH THE DEPTHS” (Psalm 106:9).
4. “TO HIM WHICH LED HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE WILDERNESS,” thanks must be given (Psa. 136:16).
5. IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Psa. 23).

IV. When?

1. IN DAY TIME AND NIGHT. “In the day time also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire” (Psa. 78:14).
2. WHEREVER I GO ON SEA OR LAND. “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me” (Psa. 139:8 and 9).

Psalm 5:9 There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue.

KJV For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

NET For they do not speak the truth; their stomachs are like the place of destruction, their throats like an open grave, their tongues like a steep slope leading into it.

NLT My enemies cannot speak a truthful word. Their deepest desire is to destroy others. Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with flattery.

BGT ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν ἀλήθεια ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ματαία τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν

LXE For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain; their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit.

CSB For there is nothing reliable in what they say; destruction is within them; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongues.

ESV For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

NIV Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.

YLT For there is no stability in their mouth. Their heart is mischiefs, An open grave is their throat, Their tongue they make smooth.

For (KJV): Ps 36:1-4 52:2 58:3 62:4,9 111:1-3 Jer 9:3-6 Mic 6:12 Ro 1:29-31 Ro 3:13
faithfulness (KJV): or, stedfastness
their mouth (KJV): Heb. his mouth, that is, the mouth of any of them
inward (KJV): Ps 51:6 58:2 62:4 *marg: Ps 64:6 Jer 4:14 17:9 Mk 7:21,22 Lu 11:39
very wickedness (KJV): Heb. wickednesses
throat (KJV): Lu 11:44 Ro 3:13
they (KJV): Ps 12:2,3 Job 32:21,22 Pr 29:5 1Th 2:5

Septuagint - Hoti ouk estin (3SPAI) en to stomati (mouth Mt15:11) auton aletheia e kardia auton mataia (describes a heart that is deceptive or ineffectual, a heart that is not what it appears to be, Mataios used to describe speculations empty, foolish, idle 1Co3.20) taphos (lit. grave, , tomb, sepulcher Mt23.27; Ro3.13) aneogmenos (RMPMSN open AC12.14) o larygx auton tais glossais auton edoliousan (3PAAI: deceive, deal treacherously, use fraud Ro3.13, Ps14:3 )

LXE For there is (habitually) no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain; their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used decei

To man’s “hoof” problem, David exposes man’s “mouth” problem, with special application to his slick-talking enemies. Proverbs is especially given to exposing the deadliness of mankind’s spiritual “hoof” and “mouth” disease, i.e., one’s walk and talk. Paul includes these assessments from Ps5:9 in his list of 14 terrible indictments of all mankind in Ro 3:13.

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - This description of depraved man has been copied by the Apostle Paul, and, together with some other quotations, he has placed it in the second chapter of Romans, as being an accurate description of the whole human race, not of David's enemies only, but of all men by nature. Note that remarkable figure,

Their throat is an open sepulchre, a sepulchre full of loathsomeness, of miasma, of pestilence and death. But, worse than that, it is an open sepulchre, with all its evil gases issuing forth, to spread death and destruction all around. So, with the throat of the wicked, it would be a great mercy if it could always be closed. If we could seal in continual silence the mouth of the wicked it would be like a sepulchre shut up, and would not produce much mischief. But, "their throat is an open sepulchre," consequently all the wickedness of their heart exhales, and comes forth. How dangerous is an open sepulchre; men in their journeys might easily stumble therein, and find themselves among the dead. Ah! take heed of the wicked man, for there is nothing that he will not say to ruin you; he will long to destroy your character, and bury you in the hideous sepulchre of his own wicked throat. One sweet thought here, however. At the resurrection there will be a resurrection not only of bodies, but characters. This should be a great comfort to a man who has been abused and slandered. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun." The world may think you vile, and bury your character; but if you have been upright, in the day when the graves shall give up their dead, this open sepulchre of the sinner's throat shall be compelled to give up your heavenly character, and you shall come forth and be honoured in the sight of men.

They flatter with their tongue. Or, as we might read it, "They have an oily tongue, a smooth tongue." A smooth tongue is a great evil; many have been bewitched by it. There be many human ant-eaters that with their long tongues covered with oily words entice and entrap the unwary and make their gain thereby. When the wolf licks the lamb, he is preparing to wet his teeth in its blood.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

If the whole soul be infected with such a desperate disease, what a great and difficult work it is to regenerate, to restore men again to spiritual life and vigour, when every part of them is seized by such a mortal distemper! How great a cure doth the Spirit of God effect in restoring a soul by sanctifying it! To heal but the lungs or the liver, if corrupted, is counted a great cure, though performed but upon one part of thee; but all thy inward parts are very rottenness. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. How great a cure is it then to heal thee! Such as is only in the skill and power of God to do. Thomas Goodwin.

Their throat is an open sepulchre. This figure graphically portrays the filthy conversation of the wicked. Nothing can be more abominable to the senses than an open sepulchre, when a dead body beginning to putrefy steams forth its tainted exhalations. What proceeds out of their mouth is infected and putrid; and, as the exhalation from a sepulchre proves the corruption within, so it is with the corrupt conversation of sinners. Robert Haldane's "Expositions of the Epistle to the Romans," 1835.

Their throat is an open sepulchre. This doth admonish us, (1) that the speeches of natural unregenerate men are unsavory, rotten, and hurtful to others; for, as a sepulchre doth send out noisome savours and filthy smells, so evil men do utter rotten and filthy words. (2) As a sepulchre doth consume and devour bodies cast into it, so wicked men do with their cruel words destroy others; they are like a gulf to destroy others. (3) As a sepulchre, having devoured many corpses, is still ready to consume more, being never satisfied, so wicked men, having overthrown many with their words, do proceed in their outrage, seeking whom they may devour. Thomas Wilson, 1653.

Their inward part, etc. Their hearts are storehouses for the devil. John Trapp.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

None.

Psalm 5:10 Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You.

KJV Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

NET Condemn them, O God! May their own schemes be their downfall! Drive them away because of their many acts of insurrection, for they have rebelled against you.

NLT O God, declare them guilty. Let them be caught in their own traps. Drive them away because of their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

BGT κρῖνον αὐτούς ὁ θεός ἀποπεσάτωσαν ἀπὸ τῶν διαβουλίων αὐτῶν κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀσεβειῶν αὐτῶν ἔξωσον αὐτούς ὅτι παρεπίκρανάν σε κύριε

LXE Judge them, O God; let them fail of their counsels: cast them out according to the abundance of their ungodliness; for they have provoked thee, O Lord.

CSB Punish them, God; let them fall by their own schemes. Drive them out because of their many crimes, for they rebel against You.

ESV Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

NIV Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

YLT Declare them guilty, O God, Let them fall from their own counsels, In the abundance of their transgressions Drive them away, Because they have rebelled against Thee.

Destroy (KJV): or, Make them guilty, Ro 3:19,20
let (KJV): Ps 7:9-15 9:15,16 10:15 17:13 21:8-10 28:3,4 31:18 35:1-8,26 Ps 55:15 59:12,13 64:6-8 66:7 68:1,2 69:22-25 71:13 79:12 Ps 83:9-18 109:6-20 137:7-9 140:9,10 144:6,7 De 2:30 1Sa 25:29,39 2Sa 15:31 17:14,23 2Ch 25:16 Es 7:10 Job 5:12-14 1Co 3:19
by (KJV): or, from
the (KJV): La 1:5 Ho 9:7
they (KJV): Isa 1:2,20 63:10 Da 9:5,9

Hold them guilty, O God - Red font identifies an imperative (see note)

Henry Morris - Destroy thou them. This is the first of many "imprecations" in the Psalms, wherein God-fearing men actually pray for God to torture and destroy their enemies. This seems alien to the spirit of Matthew 5:44 ("I say unto you, Love your enemies"), especially in view of the fact that these "imprecatory psalms" are divinely inspired. The distinction, however, is to be made between our personal enemies and the enemies of God. David says in a later psalm: "Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?...I hate them with perfect hatred" (Psalm 139:21-22). There is no personal vindictiveness involved in desiring and praying that God will be vindicated when His enemies are defeated and judged. David here is praying for judgment against such men, not because they have injured him personally but because "they have rebelled against thee."

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Against thee: not against me. If they were my enemies I would forgive them, but I cannot forgive thine. We are to forgive our enemies, but God's enemies it is not in our power to forgive. These expressions have often been noticed by men of over refinement as being harsh, and grating on the ear. "Oh!" say they, "they are vindictive and revengeful." Let us remember that they might be translated as prophecies, not as wishes; but we do not care to avail ourselves of this method of escape. We have never heard of a reader of the Bible who, after perusing these passages, was made revengeful by reading them, and it is but fair to test the nature of a writing by its effects. When we hear a judge condemning a murderer, however severe his sentence, we do not feel that we should be justified in condemning others for any private injury done to us. The Psalmist here speaks as a judge, ex officio; he speaks as God's mouth, and in condemning the wicked he gives us no excuse whatever for uttering anything in the way of malediction upon those who have caused us personal offence. The most shameful way of cursing another is by pretending to bless him. We were all somewhat amused by noticing the toothless malice of that wretched old priest of Rome, when he foolishly cursed the Emperor of France with his blessing. He was blessing him in form and cursing him in reality. Now, in direct contrast we put this healthy commination of David, which is intended to be a blessing by warning the sinner of the impending curse. O impenitent man, be it known unto thee that all thy godly friends will give their solemn assent to the awful sentence of the Lord, which he shall pronounce upon thee in the day of doom! Our verdict shall applaud the condemning curse which the Judge of all the earth shall thunder against the godless.

In the following verse we once more find the contrast which has marked the preceeding Psalms.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

All those portions where we find apparently prayers that breathe revenge, are never to be thought of as anything else than the breathed assent of righteous souls to the justice of their God, who taketh vengeance on sin. When taken as the words of Christ himself, they are no other than an echo of the Intercessor's acquiescence at last in the sentence on the barren fig-tree. It is as if he cried aloud, "Hew it down now, I will intercede no longer, the doom is righteous, destroy them, O God; cast them out in (or, for) the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee." And in the same moment he may be supposed to invite his saints to sympathise in his decision; just as in #Revelation 18:20, "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets." In like manner when one of Christ's members, in entire sympathy with his Head, views the barren fig-tree from the same point of observation, and sees the glory of God concerned in inflicting the blow, he too can cry, "Let the axe smite!" Had Abraham stood beside the angel who destroyed Sodom, and seen how Jehovah's name required the ruin of these impenitent rebels, he would have cried out, "Let the shower descend; let the fire and brimstone come down!" not in any spirit of revenge; not from want of tender love to souls, but from intense earnestness of concern for the glory of his God. We consider this explanation to be the real key that opens all the difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be called for on the head of the ungodly. They are no more than a carrying out of #Deuteronomy 27:15-26, "Let all the people say, Amen," and an entering into the Lord's holy abhorrence of sin, and delight in acts of justice expressed in the "Amen, hallelujah," of #Revelation 19:3. Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.

(Or imprecatory passages generally.) Lord, when in my daily service I read David's Psalms, give me to alter the accent of my soul according to their several subjects. In such Psalms wherein he confesseth his sins, or requesteth thy pardon, or praiseth for former, or prayeth for future favours, in all these give me to raise my soul to as high a pitch as may be. But when I come to such Psalms wherein he curseth his enemies, O there let me bring my soul down to a lower note. For those words were made only to fit David's mouth. I have the like breath, but not the same spirit to pronounce them. Nor let me flatter myself, that it is lawful for me, with David, to curse thine enemies, lest my deceitful heart entitle mine enemies to be thine, and so what was religion in David, prove malice in me, whilst I act revenge under the pretense of piety. Thomas Fuller, D.D., 1608-1661.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

Viewed as a threatening. The sentence, Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, is specially fitted to be the groundwork of a very solemn discourse.

QUESTION - What are the imprecatory psalms? | GotQuestions.org

ANSWER - The book of Psalms is rich with poetry, praise, joy, sorrow, and more. It was written by several authors, including King David. There are seven major types of psalms found in this book: lament psalms, thanksgiving psalms, enthronement psalms, pilgrimage psalms, royal psalms, wisdom psalms, and imprecatory psalms.

An imprecation is a curse that invokes misfortune upon someone. Imprecatory psalms are those in which the author imprecates; that is, he calls down calamity, destruction, and God’s anger and judgment on his enemies. This type of psalm is found throughout the book. The major imprecatory psalms are Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, and 140. The following are a few examples of the imprecatory language gleaned from these psalms:

“Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you” (Psalm 5:10).

“Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked” (Psalm 17:13).

“Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland” (Psalm 79:6–7).

“Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (Psalm 137:9).

When studying the imprecatory psalms, it is important to note that these psalms were not written out of vindictiveness or a need for personal vengeance. Instead, they are prayers that keep God’s justice, sovereignty, and protection in mind. God’s people had suffered much at the hands of those who opposed them, including the Hittites, Amorites, Philistines, and Babylonians (the subject of Psalm 137). These groups were not only enemies of Israel, but they were also enemies of God; they were degenerate and ruthless conquerors who had repeatedly tried and failed to destroy the Lord’s chosen people. In writing the imprecatory psalms, the authors sought vindication on God’s behalf as much as they sought their own.

While Jesus Himself quoted some imprecatory psalms (John 2:17; 15:25), He also instructed us to love our enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44–48; Luke 6:27–38). The New Testament makes it clear that our enemy is spiritual, not physical (Ephesians 6:12). It is not sinful to pray the imprecatory psalms against our spiritual enemies, but we should also pray with compassion and love and even thanksgiving for people who are under the devil’s influence (1 Timothy 2:1). We should desire their salvation. After all, God “is patient . . . not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Above all things, we should seek the will of God in everything we do and, when we are wronged, leave the ultimate outcome to the Lord (Romans 12:19).

The bottom line is that the imprecatory psalms communicate a deep yearning for justice, written from the point of view of those who had been mightily oppressed. God’s people have the promise of divine vengeance: “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly” (Luke 18:7–8; cf. Revelation 19:2).

Related Resource:

What is imprecatory prayer? | GotQuestions.org

Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.

KJV But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

NET But may all who take shelter in you be happy! May they continually shout for joy! Shelter them so that those who are loyal to you may rejoice!

NLT But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy.

BGT καὶ εὐφρανθήτωσαν πάντες οἱ ἐλπίζοντες ἐπὶ σέ εἰς αἰῶνα ἀγαλλιάσονται καὶ κατασκηνώσεις ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ καυχήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντες οἱ ἀγαπῶντες τὸ ὄνομά σου

LXE But let all that trust on thee be glad in thee: they shall exult for ever, and thou shalt dwell among them; and all that love thy name shall rejoice in thee.

CSB But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them shout for joy forever. May You shelter them, and may those who love Your name boast about You.

ESV But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

NIV But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

YLT And rejoice do all trusting in Thee, To the age they sing, and Thou coverest them over, And those loving Thy name exult in Thee.

But (KJV): Ps 35:27 40:16 58:10 68:3 70:1-4 Jud 5:31 Isa 65:13-16 Rev 18:20 Rev 19:1-7
shout (KJV): Ps 47:1-5 65:13 Job 38:7 Zec 9:9
defendest (KJV): Heb. coverest over, or, protectest
love (KJV): Ps 69:36 Ro 8:28 1Co 2:9 Jas 1:12 2:5

TAKE REFUGE
IN YAHWEH

But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy - Be encouraged as you study the following XR's on take refuge - esp Ps 64:10, Zep 3:12, 2Sa 22:3 22:31 Ps 2:12 5:11 7:1 11:1 14:6 16:1 17:7 18:2 18:30 25:20 31:19 34:8,22 36:7 37:40 46:1 57:1 61:3,4 64:10 62:7 73:28 71:7; 91:2,9 94:22 118:8 118:9 141:8 142:5 143:9 144:2 Pr 14:32 30:5 Isa 57:13 Jer 16:19 17:17 Na 1:7 Zep 3:12 Ru 2:12

The bighorn sheep in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park will often allow visitors to approach them from below and take close-up photos. But don’t try to get above them or the entire herd will run away. The bighorns’ escape route from predators is always upward. On level ground a bobcat or cougar can easily overtake the wild sheep, but scrambling up a boulder-strewn slope, the bighorns will get away every time. As someone said “No matter what danger you face from trouble or temptation, don’t let it get between you and God.” As Christians, our escape route is always upward toward the Lord, never downward into sin or self-pity. - David C. McCasland

Refuge (verb- seek/take refuge/shelter in) (02620) (chasah) means to flee for protection. The picture is that of one who confides or puts their trust in another (usually God - see 36 uses below). The verb can mean to put trust in or have hope in (this would be one's attitude or mindset) but can also mean to flee for protection to (this would be one's action consistent with a mind that trusted & hoped in God).

God is ever the sole refuge of His people and trust in Him protects the "trustee!" It is always better to trust in God rather than to trust (batah) in princes (Ps 118:8-9).

In 2Sa 22:31 the Septuagint translates chasah with peitho (to come to a settled persuasion concerning some truth or fact).

With one exception (Isa 30:2) chasah refers to the Lord as the One in Whom refuge is sought and is portrayed by various metaphors - Rock (Dt 32:37, 2Sa 22:3, Ps 18:2), Wings (cp a "mother hen" protecting her chicks Ru 2:12, Ps 36:7, Ps 57:1, Ps 61:4, Ps 91:4), Shield (Ps 144:2, 2Sa 22:31, Ps 18:30, Pr 30:5 - paralleled with the "Word of God"), at God's "right hand" (Ps 17:7),

Those who take refuge in Jehovah are those who fear (reverential awe and respect) Him (Ps 31:19), those who are His servants (Ps 34:22, 64:10), those who trust in God rather than men (Ps 118:8,9), the righteous (Pr 14:32), afflicted (Isa 14:32), "a humble and lowly people" (Zeph 3:12). To seek refuge" stresses the insecurity and helplessness of even the "strongest" individual.

The result of taking refuge in God is to be "blessed" (Ps 2:12), to be "saved" (Ps 17:7), experience joy (Ps 5:11), experience and possess His "great goodness" (Ps 31:19), become inheritors of "the land" (Isa 57:13).

Application: Do we recall to our minds the greatness of our sovereign, omnipotent Creator and Sustainer, so that when times of affliction and testing come we are fully convinced of His ability to protect us and we run to Him for refuge without hesitation? Let us ever turn first to Him and may the Spirit enable us to recall our past deliverances by the mighty hand of our Deliverer (Ps 18:2 40:17, 70:5, 144:2) so that we do not waver in unbelief when the storm comes but instead run confidently into our Rock of Refuge.

How do we take refuge in Him? (1). Know His Word (2). Heed His Word like Noah did in Heb 11:7. God does not stutter or equivocate. He speaks very clearly concerning His will for men. Our part is to hide ourselves in that true word. It is close to the idea of taking up the shield of faith in Eph 6:16 (believing what God has promised is true...e.g., that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure...the truth is if we are falling to a repetitive temptation, we need to be very circumspect...it is probably because we want to fall into the passing pleasures of sin! Fall into the Cleft of the Rock (1 Co 10:4) instead...and be shielded from the fiery trials even though the fire is heated extremely hot (Da 3:22, Isa 43:2.)

In the NET version chasah is translated "take shelter" (NET translations of 2Sa 22:3, 31; Ps 2:12; 5:11; 18:2, 30; 31:19; 34:22; 57:1; 64:10; 118:8f; 141:8; 144:2) where "Taking shelter" in the Lord is an idiom for seeking His protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject's loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who "take shelter" in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Joy is the privilege of the believer. When sinners are destroyed our rejoicing shall be full. They laugh first and weep ever after; we weep now, but shall rejoice eternally. When they howl we shall shout, and as they must groan for ever, so shall we ever shout for joy. This holy bliss of ours has a firm foundation, for, O Lord, we are joyful in thee. The eternal God is the well-spring of our bliss. We love God, and therefore we delight in him. Our heart is at ease in our God. We fare sumptuously every day because we feed on him. We have music in the house, music in the heart, and music in heaven, for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

None.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

1. The character of the righteous: faith and love.

2. The privileges of the righteous. (1) Joy great, pure, satisfying, triumphant, (shout) constant (ever). (2) Defence by power, providence, angels, grace, etc.

Joy in the Lord both a duty and a privilege.

A Matter Of Trust

Read: Psalm 5

Let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them. —Psalm 5:11

A news item from Australia told the story of Pascale Honore, a paraplegic woman who, after 18 years of being confined to a wheelchair, has taken up surfing. How?

Ty Swan, a young surfer, straps her to his back with duct tape. After getting the balance perfect, Ty paddles out into the ocean so they can catch a wave and Pascale can experience the exhilaration of surfing. This requires a tremendous amount of trust; so many things could go wrong. Yet her confidence in Ty is enough to enable her to enjoy a dream come true, in spite of the danger.

Life is like that for the follower of Christ. We live in a dangerous world, filled with unpredictable challenges and unseen perils. Yet, we have joy because we know Someone who is strong enough to carry us through the churning waves of life that threaten to overwhelm us. The psalmist wrote, “Let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You” (Ps. 5:11).

In the face of life’s great dangers and challenges, we can know a joy borne out of our trust in God. His strength is more than enough! By Bill Crowder (Reprinted by permission from Our Daily Bread Ministries. Please do not repost the full devotional without their permission.)

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
—Stead

Our faith is stretched
by exchanging our weakness for God’s strength.

Faith grows strongest where our strength runs out.

Our weakness becomes the stage on which God's strength is displayed.

When our strength ends, God's strength has only begun.

Faith exchanges “I cannot” for confidence that God can.

Our weakness is no obstacle to God's strength; it is an opportunity for it.

The weaker we feel, the more we learn to lean on His strength.

Faith grows when we stop measuring our weakness and start trusting His strength.

God often brings us to the end of ourselves so we will discover the sufficiency of Him.

Weakness drives faith from self-reliance to God-dependence.

Faith is strengthened when our weakness teaches us to depend on His strength.

God does not always remove our weakness; sometimes He reveals His strength through it.

Our weakness becomes strength when it drives us into the arms of God.

Faith learns to say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Co 12:10)

The end of self-sufficiency is often the beginning of stronger faith.

We discover how strong God is when we finally admit how weak we are.

Our faith is strengthened when we exchange dependence on our weakness for dependence on God's strength.

Faith grows stronger as we trade self-reliance for God-dependence.

Psalm 5:12 For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.

KJV For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

NET Certainly you reward the godly, LORD. Like a shield you protect them in your good favor.

NLT For you bless the godly, O LORD; you surround them with your shield of love.

BGT ὅτι σὺ εὐλογήσεις δίκαιον κύριε ὡς ὅπλῳ εὐδοκίας ἐστεφάνωσας ἡμᾶς

LXE For thou, Lord, shalt bless the righteous: thou hast compassed us as with a shield of favour.

CSB For You, LORD, bless the righteous one; You surround him with favor like a shield.

ESV For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

NIV For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

YLT For Thou blessest the righteous, O Jehovah, As a buckler with favour dost compass him!

bless (KJV): Ps 1:1-3 3:8 29:11 112:1 115:13
wilt (KJV): Ps 32:10
compass (KJV): Heb. crown
shield (KJV): Ps 3:3 84:11

Related Passages:

Genesis 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God

Comment - How was he "righteous"? There is only one way -- by faith in God's promises -- ultimately in His promised Seed (Gal 3:16), the Deliverer, Christ Jesus.

Genesis 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

2 Samuel 4:11 “How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand and destroy you from the earth?”

Romans 3:10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Study the cross references related to the righteous man - Ge 6:9 Ge 15:6 Hab 2:4 2Sa 4:11 Ps5:12 64:10 92:12 Pr9:9 12:10 13:5 20:7 24:16 25:26 Ec3:17 7:15 7:20 Isa57:1 Eze3:20, 21 18:24, 26 33:12 Mt1:19 10:41 27:19 Lu23:50 Ro1:17 5:7 Ga3:11 1Ti1:9 Ja5:6,16 2Pe2:8

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON - Jehovah has ordained his people the heirs of blessedness, and nothing shall rob them of their inheritance. With all the fulness of his power he will bless them, and all his attributes shall unite to satiate them with divine contentment. Nor is this merely for the present, but the blessing reaches into the long and unknown future.

Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous. This is a promise of infinite length, of unbounded breadth, and of unutterable preciousness.

As for the defence which the believer needs in this land of battles, it is here promised to him in the fullest measure. There were vast shields used by the ancients as extensive as a man's whole person, which would surround him entirely. So says David,

With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield. According to Ainsworth there is here also the idea of being crowned, so that we wear a royal helmet, which is at once our glory and defence. O Lord, ever give to us this gracious coronation!

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

When the strong man armed comes against us, when he darts his fiery darts, what can hurt us, if God compass us about with his lovingkindness as with a shield? He can disarm the tempter and restrain his malice, and tread him under our feet. If God be not with us, if he do not give us sufficient grace, so subtle, so powerful, so politic an enemy, will be too hard for us. How surely are we foiled, and get the worse, when we pretend to grapple with him in our own strength! How many falls, and how many bruises by those falls have we got, by relying too much on our own skill? How often have we had the help of God when we have humbly asked it! And how sure are we to get the victory, if Christ pray for us that we do not fail! #Luke 22:31. Where can we go for shelter but unto God our Maker! When this lion of the forest does begin to roar, how will he terrify and vex us, till he that permits him for awhile to trouble us, be pleased to chain him up again! Timothy Rogers, 1691.

As with a shield. Luther, when making his way into the presence of Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned him to answer for his heretical opinions at Augsburg, was asked by one of the Cardinal's minions, where he should find a shelter, if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert him? "Under the shield of heaven!" was the reply. The silenced minion turned round, and went his way.

With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield. The shield is not for the defence of any particular part of the body, as almost all the other pieces are: helmet, fitted for the head; plate, designed for the breast; and so others, they have their several parts, which they are fastened to; but the shield is a piece that is intended for the defence of the whole body. It was used therefore to be made very large; for its broadness, called a gate or door, because so long and large, as in a manner to cover the whole body. And if the shield were not large enough at once to cover every part, yet being a movable piece of armour, the skilful soldier might turn it this way or that way, to catch the blow or arrow from lighting on any part they were directed to. And this indeed doth excellently well set forth the universal use that faith is of to the Christian. It defends the whole man: every part of the Christian by it is preserved ... The shield doth not only defend the whole body, but it is a defence to the soldier's armour also; it keeps the arrow from the helmet as well as head, from the breast and breastplate also. Thus faith, it is armour upon armour, a grace that preserves all the other graces. William Gurnall.

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

(first clause). The divine blessing upon the righteous. It is ancient, effectual, constant, extensive, irreversible, surpassing, eternal, infinite.

(second clause). A sense of divine favour a defence to the soul.

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