Psalms 20:9 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call. Save, Lord. The renewed prayer has relation to Psalms 20:6, "the Lord saveth;" "Save Lord," Psalms 20:9; "he will hear him," Psalms 20:6; "let the king hear us," Psalms 20:9. As prayer led to the confident anticipation of faith there, so the anticipation of faith in God's promise there leads to renewed prayer here. Thus the psalm closes similarly to its beginning, "The Lord hear" (Psalms 20:1). The article is emphatic, "Let THE king hear us;" the true King, of whom David is the type and vice-gerent, Yahweh Messiah to whom the kingdom in the fullest sense belongs (Ezekiel 21:27). A powerful plea for being heard. The heavenly King cannot but hear us when we call, seeing that it is the honour and interest of His own kingdom that are at stake in our case. DeBurgh, etc., follow Septuagint and the Vulgate, 'O Lord, save the king: hear us when we call. But the accents are against this. Moreover. "Save, Lord" is more impressive in its abruptness, and the parallelism is not so good as the English version. "Lord," in the first clause, is parallel to "the King" in the second. There is no good authority for altering the Hebrew third person, "let the king hear us," into 'hear thou us.' The third person in the English version beautifully corresponds to the third person in Psalms 20:1, "The Lord hear thee" (our earthly king); Psalms 20:9, "let the (heavenly) king hear us."

When we call (Deuteronomy 4:7). The Church prays God for salvation through the mediation of King Messiah.

Psalms 20:9

9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.