Prayer and Consolation at the Time of Persecution.
To the chief musician on Neginoth, the music to be played on stringed instruments as the psalm was rendered in the liturgical service, Maschil, a didactic poem, a psalm of David, when the Ziphims, the inhabitants of the wilderness of Ziph in the southern part of Judah, came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us? This event, narrated 1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 26:1, occasioned the writing of this hymn, a prayer for deliverance.
1 Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.
7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.