R2 M p 1,2. For audience.
q 3. For discrimination.
N 4,5. Enemies. Imprecation.
M p 6. For audience.
q 7,8. For help.
N 9. Enemies. Imprecation.
(This Psalm is a continuation of Psalm 27, and stands in relation to Ps. 18.)
Psalm 27)
1 To You will I cry, O LORD my rock (the reference is to Psalm 18); be not deaf (and so dumb, i.e. silent) to me:
Lest, if You be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit. (A sepulcher, as hewn [Gen. 21:19].)
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands (put for praying) toward Your holy speaking place. (See 2 Sam. 16:23.)
3 Draw me not away with the lawless,
And with the workers of iniquity,
Which speak peace to their neighbors,
But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deed (or work), and according to the wickedness of their practices:
Give them after the work of their hands;
Render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the deeds of the LORD,
Nor the actual operation of His hands,
He shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; (Here is the link with Ps. 18. Cp. "strength", v.8 below.)
My heart confided in Him, and I am helped:
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices;
And with my song will I praise Him. (Note the reference to past, present, and future.)
8 The LORD is [the] strength to His People,
And He is the great saving strength to His Messiah. (As in 2:2.)
9 Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance:
Tend as a shepherd them also (cp. Ps. 23), and lift them up for ever.)