Psalm 59

¹ Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me.

² Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

³ For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, LORD.

⁴ I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me!

⁵ You, LORD God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah.

⁶ They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city.

⁷ Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, “For”, they say, “who hears us?”

⁸ But you, LORD, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations.

⁹ Oh, my Strength, I watch for you, for God is my high tower.

¹⁰ My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.

¹¹ Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.

¹² For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.

¹³ Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah.

¹⁴ At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.

¹⁵ They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.

¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress.

¹⁷ To you, my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

Around Psalm 59

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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