Psalm 7

¹ LORD, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

² lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.

³ LORD, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,

⁴ if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have plundered him who without cause was my adversary),

⁵ let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah.

⁶ Arise, LORD, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

⁷ Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high.

⁸ The LORD administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, LORD, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.

⁹ Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

¹⁰ My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day.

¹² If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.

¹³ He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴ Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.

¹⁵ He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.

¹⁶ The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the LORD according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Around Psalm 7

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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