Psalms 3King James Version
A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. A psalm for the middle of the night when you cannot stop counting your enemies.
David's morning prayer after fleeing his son Absalom. It opens in raw exposure: enemies multiplying, voices saying God has abandoned him. But it moves swiftly to a declaration of trust, then to sleep, then to morning, then to confident petition and blessing. The emotional arc from overwhelming odds to quiet rest is the psalm's whole point.
Surrounded by enemies and abandoned by a son, David sleeps, wakes, and trusts, because God's protection is more real than the number of his adversaries.
verse: "I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me." Sleep in crisis is the radical act of trust, not avoidance.
Superscription: 'A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.' One of the most historically located psalms. Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam 15) was the most personal and public humiliation of David's life, his own son driving him from Jerusalem. The morning context (v5) suggests a night of precarious sleep in the wilderness.
David as speaker and subject; God addressed directly; many adversaries (literally 'ten thousands') including Absalom by implication from the superscription; the soul addressed briefly.
The first psalm with a historical superscription, anchoring the psalm to 2 Samuel 15-18. Psalm 3 establishes a pattern repeated throughout Book 1: crisis named honestly, trust declared against the evidence, petition made, praise anticipated. It models how to pray in the worst domestic betrayal imaginable.
For when betrayal comes from inside your own household and even God seems to have vacated the premises. This psalm is permission to name the overwhelming odds before asking for morning.
1[A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.] LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.
2Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
4I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
5I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
6I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
7Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.