Psalms 7:1

Context

Psalm 7¹

A musical composition² by David, which he sang to the Lord concerning³ a Benjaminite named Cush.⁴

7:1 O Lord my God, in you I have taken shelter.⁵

Deliver me from all who chase me! Rescue me!

Psalms 1:5

Context

1:5 For this reason⁶ the wicked cannot withstand⁷ judgment,⁸

nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly.⁹

[7:1] ¹sn Psalm 7. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from his enemies. He protests his innocence and declares his confidence in God’s justice.

[7:1] ²tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term שִׁגָּיוֹן (shiggayon; translated here “musical composition”) is uncertain. Some derive the noun from the verbal root שָׁגָה (shagah, “swerve, reel”) and understand it as referring to a “wild, passionate song, with rapid changes of rhythm” (see BDB 993 s.v. שִׁגָּיוֹן). But this proposal is purely speculative. The only other appearance of the noun is in Hab 3:1, where it occurs in the plural.

[7:1] ³tn Or “on account of.”

[7:1] ⁴sn Apparently this individual named Cush was one of David’s enemies.

[7:1] ⁵tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[1:5] ⁶tn Or “Therefore.”

[1:5] ⁷tn Heb “arise in,” but the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “stand”; “endure,” as in 1 Sam 13:14 and Job 8:15. The negated Hebrew imperfect verbal form is here taken as indicating incapability or lack of potential, though one could understand the verb form as indicating what is typical (“do not withstand”) or what will happen (“will not withstand”).

[1:5] ⁸tn Heb “the judgment.” The article indicates a judgment that is definite in the mind of the speaker. In the immediate context this probably does not refer to the “final judgment” described in later biblical revelation, but to a temporal/historical judgment which the author anticipates. Periodically during the OT period, God would come in judgment, removing the wicked from the scene, while preserving a godly remnant (see Gen 6-9; Ps 37; Hab 3).

[1:5] ⁹tn Heb “and sinners in the assembly (or “circle”) of [the] godly.” The negative particle and verb from the preceding line are assumed by ellipsis here (“will not arise/stand”).