Psalms · psalm 9 of 150
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Psalm 9 is a hymn of thanksgiving by David. He praises the Lord with his whole heart for judging the nations in righteousness, presents him as the eternal king and a refuge for the oppressed who does not forget the cry of the afflicted, and ends by asking him to rise so that the nations know they are only men.
The title directs the psalm to the choirmaster, according to Muth-labben, a direction whose meaning is uncertain. Psalms 9 and 10 are linked by an incomplete alphabetic pattern, in which the stanzas begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Some ancient versions treat them as one poem. Here thanksgiving dominates; in Psalm 10 the note shifts to the question of God's apparent absence.
David begins by thanking the Lord with his whole heart and telling of all his wonderful deeds. He rejoices and sings praise to the name of the Most High. His enemies turned back and fell before God, because the Lord upheld his cause and sat on the throne as a righteous judge.
The Lord has rebuked the nations, destroyed the wicked and blotted out their name forever. But the Lord sits enthroned forever and has established his throne for justice; he judges the world with righteousness. He is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, and he does not forsake those who seek him. David calls on others to sing to Zion and declare his deeds among the peoples, for God avenges blood and does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
Then David pleads for mercy: let God lift him up from the gates of death so that he may recount his praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. The nations have sunk in the pit they made, and the wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. The wicked shall return to Sheol, but the needy will not always be forgotten. He ends by asking the Lord to rise up and let the nations know they are but men.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
David thanks the Lord with his whole heart and tells of all his wonderful deeds. The praise God desires is not partial: it is telling with enthusiasm what he has done.
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. The psalm speaks of the poor and the afflicted as people on whom God looks with special attention.
Those who know God's name put their trust in him, for he has never forsaken those who seek him. Trust grows out of knowing who God is, not out of a mood.
The needy will not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor will not perish. This verse encourages those who feel that God is slow to respond.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: With his whole heart, telling of all his wonderful deeds. — Psalm 9:1
Answer: He has rebuked them, destroyed them and blotted out their name forever. — Psalm 9:5
Answer: In righteousness and with equity. — Psalm 9:8
Answer: A stronghold in times of trouble. — Psalm 9:9
Answer: The cry of the afflicted. — Psalm 9:12
Answer: That the Lord rise up and that the nations know they are but men. — Psalm 9:19-20
Psalm 9 teaches us to give thanks by remembering what God has done. Before asking, David tells of the Lord's wonders; that memory gives him strength to pray for what is still missing. In the group you can set aside time to share answers to prayer or help received.
The psalm also presents a God who notices the oppressed. If God does not forget the cry of the afflicted, the Christian community cannot ignore them either. Asking who the poor and afflicted are around us is a way of joining what God is already doing.
Psalm 9 ends by asking the Lord to rise up and the nations to know their place. Psalm 10, joined to this one by the alphabetic pattern, now raises a painful question: why does God seem to stand far off while the wicked oppress?
Together they form an incomplete acrostic in which the stanzas follow the order of the Hebrew alphabet, and Psalm 10 has no title. Some ancient versions count them as a single psalm; in the Hebrew Bible and in our Bibles they are separate.
It is a word in verse 16 whose meaning is uncertain. It may indicate meditation or a musical passage. It appears with Selah, which invites a pause.
Not directly. In Acts 17:31 Paul says God will judge the world in righteousness, in words close to those of verse 8.