Psalms 17King James Version
Hear the right, O Lord. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
A prayer for vindication from false accusers, but also a meditation on desire. David asks God to examine him, test him, find no wickedness. Then he describes his adversaries with physical precision: they close up their fat hearts, their mouths speak proudly, they track like a lion. He ends with the most intimate line in Book 1: 'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.' The whole psalm is pulling toward that final image.
The only satisfaction that survives death and defeat is the sight of God's own face, and everything else this psalm asks for is the path toward that moment.
verse: "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." The awakening may be morning, resurrection, or both.
Superscription: 'A Prayer of David.' One of only five psalms explicitly labeled a prayer (17, 86, 90, 102, 142). No specific historical event. The 'men of the world' (v14) and 'deadly enemies' suggest a specific political threat, possibly Saul's network of informants and assassins during David's time as fugitive.
David as petitioner and self-examined speaker; God as examiner and protector; enemies described as rich, prideful, surrounding like lions; the dear ones David hides in God's shadow.
Psalm 17 is one of the psalms that press toward resurrection hope most clearly before the NT makes it explicit. The final verse's 'satisfied when I awake with thy likeness' has fueled Christian contemplative longing from Augustine ('our heart is restless until it rests in thee') forward. The psalm's combination of legal self-examination and mystical longing is unusual.
For when you are being falsely accused and need somewhere to go with the injustice. And for when you want to articulate what you actually want from life beyond the resolution of the immediate crisis.
1[A Prayer of David.] Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
3Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
5Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
6I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
8Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
11They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
12Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
14From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.