Text -- Psalms 17:1-12 (NET)

Psalm 17

17:1 A prayer of David. Lord, consider my just cause! Pay attention to my cry for help! Listen to the prayer I sincerely offer! 17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! Decide what is right! 17:3 You have scrutinized my inner motives; you have examined me during the night. You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin. I am determined I will say nothing sinful. 17:4 As for the actions of people– just as you have commanded, I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men. 17:5 I carefully obey your commands; I do not deviate from them. 17:6 I call to you for you will answer me, O God. Listen to me! Hear what I say! 17:7 Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds, you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies. 17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! Hide me in the shadow of your wings! 17:9 Protect me from the wicked men who attack me, my enemies who crowd around me for the kill. 17:10 They are calloused; they speak arrogantly. 17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; they intend to throw me to the ground. 17:12 He is like a lion that wants to tear its prey to bits, like a young lion crouching in hidden places.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 17:1

¹ sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.

² tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”

³ tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”

NET Notes: Psa 17:2

¹ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

² tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

NET Notes: Psa 17:3

¹ tn Heb “you tested my heart.”

² tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”

³ tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammotiy) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmatiy, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.

NET Notes: Psa 17:4

¹ tn Heb “with regard to the deeds of man[kind].”

² tn Heb “by the word of your lips, I, I have watched the paths of the violent” (i.e., “watched” in the sense of “watched for the purpose of avoiding”).

NET Notes: Psa 17:5

¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

NET Notes: Psa 17:6

¹ tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”

² tn Heb “my word.”

NET Notes: Psa 17:7

¹ tn Heb “Set apart faithful acts.”

² tn Heb “[O] one who delivers those who seek shelter from the ones raising themselves up, by your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver.

sn Those who look to you for protection from their enemies. “Seeking 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 (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

NET Notes: Psa 17:8

¹ tc Heb “Protect me like the pupil, a daughter of an eye.” The noun בַּת (bat, “daughter”) should probably be emended to בָּבַת (bavat, “pupil”). See Zech 2:12 HT (2:8 ET) and HALOT 107 s.v. *בָּבָה.

² sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.

NET Notes: Psa 17:9

¹ tn Heb “from before”; or “because.” In the Hebrew text v. 9 is subordinated to v. 8. The words “protect me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “destroy.” The psalmist uses the perfect verbal form to emphasize the degree of danger. He describes the wicked as being already in the process of destroying him.

³ tn Heb “my enemies, at the risk of life they surround me.” The Hebrew phrase בְּנֶפֶשׁ (bÿnefesh) sometimes has the nuance “at the risk of [one’s] life” (see 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23; Lam 5:9).

NET Notes: Psa 17:10

¹ tn Heb “their fat they close.” The Hebrew term חֵלֶב (khelev, “fat”) appears to stand by metonymy for their calloused hearts. They attack the psalmist without feeling any pity or remorse. Some propose emending the text to חֵלֶב לִבָּמוֹ (khelev libbamo, “fat of their heart[s]; cf. Ps 119:70, “their heart is insensitive like fat”). This assumes haplography of the לב (lamed-bet) consonantal sequence.

² tn Heb “[with] their mouth they speak with arrogance.”

NET Notes: Psa 17:11

¹ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

² tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”

NET Notes: Psa 17:12

¹ tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.

² tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”

³ tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”

⁴ tn Heb “sitting.”