Psalm 17
15 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 119×2Psalms 44×21 Samuel 2×2Psalms 91×2Psalms 142×1Psalms 61×1
Summary
Chapter summary
A prayer of David for vindication: 'Thou hast proved my heart… I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.' He asks to be kept as the apple of the eye, hidden under the shadow of Jehovah's wings, from deadly enemies who compass him about, men of the world whose portion is in this life. The last verse looks past them all: 'As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 17The history
The psalm is headed "A Prayer of David" and is written as a plea entered before a court. "Let my sentence come forth from thy presence" asks for a verdict from the throne room. Verse 3 offers the standard supporting evidence of an ancient trial by oath: God has visited him in the night, tried him, and found nothing.
"Keep me as the apple of the eye" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning the little man of the eye — the tiny reflection you see of yourself in someone's pupil. The pupil is the most reflexively guarded part of the body; an eyelid slams shut before thought.
"Hide me under the shadow of thy wings" works on two levels a first hearer would catch at once: a bird throwing its wings over its young, and the carved cherubim whose outstretched wings covered the ark in the holy place.
"Their heart is inclosed in their own fat" is a butcher's image. In a sacrificed animal, the fat was cut away and burned on the altar as the choicest part; a heart packed in fat is a heart sealed off, insulated, unable to feel. The lion crouching "in secret places" in verse 12 is the same ambush predator as in Psalm 10 — lions still lived in the Jordan thickets in that era.
What it meant to them
The contrast in the last verses is the psalm's point. The enemies are "men of the world, which have their portion in this life" — they get their payout now, fill their bellies, and leave the rest to their children.
Against that, the singer takes a different settlement: "I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." A hunted man betting his account on God's face rather than his enemies' full barns.
Sources cited
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 17
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 17. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.