Psalms 54:2-7

Context

54:2 O God, listen to my prayer!

Pay attention to what I say!¹

54:3 For foreigners² attack me;³

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life.⁴ (Selah)

54:4 Look, God is my deliverer!⁵

The Lord is among those who support me.⁶

54:5 May those who wait to ambush me⁷ be repaid for their evil!⁸

As a demonstration of your faithfulness,⁹ destroy them!

54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice¹⁰ to you!

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good!

54:7 Surely¹¹ he rescues me from all trouble,¹²

and I triumph over my enemies.¹³

[54:2] ¹tn Heb “to the words of my mouth.”

[54:3] ²tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

[54:3] ³tn Heb “rise against me.”

[54:3] ⁴tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”

[54:4] ⁵tn Or “my helper.”

[54:4] ⁶tn Or “sustain my life.”

[54:5] ⁷tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2.

[54:5] ⁸tn The Kethib (consonantal text) reads a Qal imperfect, “the evil will return,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Hiphil imperfect, “he will repay.” The parallel line has an imperative (indicating a prayer/request), so it is best to read a jussive form יָשֹׁב (yashov, “let it [the evil] return”) here.

[54:5] ⁹tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[54:6] ¹⁰tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve/vow to praise.

[54:7] ¹¹tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7] ¹²tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7] ¹³tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”