Psalms 9 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 9

I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds

¹ To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.² A Psalm of David.

9:1   I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2   I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3   When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before³ your presence.
4   For you have maintained my just cause;
    you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
5   You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6   The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.
7   But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
8   and he judges the world with righteousness;
    he judges the peoples with uprightness.
9   The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10   And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11   Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion!
    Tell among the peoples his deeds!
12   For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
    he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13   Be gracious to me, O LORD!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14   that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
    I may rejoice in your salvation.
15   The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
    in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16   The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion.⁴ Selah
17   The wicked shall return to Sheol,
    all the nations that forget God.
18   For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
19   Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
20   Put them in fear, O LORD!
    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Footnotes

[1] 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 together follow an acrostic pattern, each stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they form one psalm
[2] 9:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[3] 9:3 Or because of
[4] 9:16 Probably a musical or liturgical term

Commentary

God's faithfulness to His own, and the fate of the wicked.

This Psalm is an acrostic, with successive verses, or part verses, beginning with successive Hebrew letters (see note at Ps 10). Other acrostic psalms; 10; 25; 34; 37; 111; 112; 145.

v1-2: The conscious decision to praise God; a decision of the will as well as an experience of the emotions. We do not just drift into praise, but we choose to praise, as in Ps 34.1; even so, it is from the heart and full of feeling. We praise God for what He has done, "all His wonders."

v3: When the enemy attacks, we find that God is faithful. It is His right to judge the wicked, Ps 7.6-8. Whilst they may be victorious over frail man, they can never gain victory over God.

v4: God's justice also means that the righteous are vindicated. He makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked.

v5-6: Destruction upon the wicked, eternal judgment from the eternal God, such that past enemies are gone and forgotten. The experience of Rev 21.4, no more mourning, crying, or pain, must include our memory of past sorrows.

v7-8: In contrast to the wicked, God will endure. The enemy of God is a fool, for he can never win. Judgment and righteousness and justice; the Judge of all the earth will always do right. A man may disagree with the ways of God, but he can never find imperfection in God, nor injustice. God will always 'minister true judgement,' as one translation puts v8. This is a theme of the Psalms (Ps 68.5; 72.2; 82.2-3.). The Divine Judge is the defender and rescuer and champion, whose character and work is reflected in the Book of Judges.

v9-10: The Lord knows His sheep. He brings help, for He is the refuge of the oppressed. His people do endure times of trouble; His people trust in Him and seek Him; and He will never forsake them.

v11: The Lord's place among His people, enthroned as king in Zion; higher than any king appointed by man. We take encouragement in proclaiming His deeds amongst the people.

v12: He remembers His own, as He acts in judgment, He cannot forget His own people.

v13-14: The testimony of those who enjoy God's salvation. David himself was taken from the gates of death to the gates of praise and glory (compare 1 Sam 20.3). The testimony of one man brings encouragement to others. One important lesson from the psalms is that God's people must speak what God has done.

v15-17: The Lord destroys those who oppose Him, as in Ps 2. The schemes of the wicked turn against them, as with Haman (in Esth). Similar words are used to describe the fate of nations (here), and the fate of individuals, Ps 7.15-16.

v18: The needs and afflicted among God's people are neither forgotten nor forsaken.

v19-20: David's prayer, that God's justice be seen, that the nations, however mighty, might see that they are but men. In God's presence the wicked meet judgment, not salvation.