Psalm 9 “Celebrate God’s Justice”

Translation By NAW

1. For the concert-master, Alamoth for the son, a Psalm belonging to David.

I will respond to Yahweh with all my heart;

I will recount all of Your wonders.

2. I will be happy and exuberant in You.

I will play music about Your preeminent Name -

3. While my enemies turn back.

They will stumble and perish before Your face,

4. For You effected my justice and my adjudication;

You sat on the bench, judging righteously.

5. You repulsed nations;

You destroyed the wicked – You obliterated their name forever and ever!

6. As for the enemy, [his] swords were finished off indefinitely;

You even uprooted [his] cities.

The memory of them perished noisily,

7. But as for Yahweh, He will be in office forever; He has prepared His bench for the judgment.

8. And He Himself will judge the world with righteousness;

He will adjudicate for peoples with things that are right.

9. And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the one who is beaten down, a stronghold for times that include trouble.

10. Then those who know Your name will trust in You,

for You did not forsake those who were seeking You, Yahweh!

 

11. Y’all, play music for Yahweh (the One who inhabits Zion).

Declare among the peoples His exploits,

12. For the One who is out for blood has remembered them;

He did not forget a [single] cry of lowly ones.

13. “Yahweh, see my misery [caused by] those who hate me.

Be gracious to me by raising me from the gates of death,

14. In order that

I may recount all Your praises within the gates of the daughter of Zion,

[and] rejoice in Your salvation.”

15. Nations have sunk into a pit they made;

their foot has been caught in a net which they hid!

16. Yahweh is known; He did justice, snaring a wicked man by work of his hands.

Meditative Selah.

 

17. Wicked men will turn in the direction of the grave – all nations which forget God,

18. For it will not be that the needy is forgotten indefinitely

[or that] the hope of lowly ones will perish for ever.

 

19. Arise, Yahweh, don’t let mortal man be strongest;

let the nations be judged before Your face.

20. Pin rebellion on them, Yahweh;

let the nations know that they are mortal men.

Selah.

Exposition

1. For the concert-master, Alamoth for the son, a Psalm belonging to David.

 

I will respond to Yahweh [praise/thank the LORD] with all my heart;

I will recount [shew forth/tell] all of Your wonders/marvelous deeds.

2. I will be glad/happy

and I will be exuberant/exult/rejoice in You.

I will sing praise/play music about Your preeminent Name –

·       The word translated “sing praise” in most English Bibles is the word for “Psalm” in Hebrew (zamar), which has to do with plucking strings. It’s possible to praise God with instrumental music.

·       Note that this is not half-hearted praise; this is “all” his heart, and he isn’t going to stop with just some of God’s “wonders;” he’s going to recount them ALL. Later on in v.14, we see he’s going to sing of ALL God’s praises. This would have taken some time and dedication to compile an unabridged account of God’s praises and marvelous deeds!

·       What sorts of deeds are called “wonderful/marvelous” in the Bible?

·       JMB – It is… often true that Christian complain of how God has been treating them, carry on excessively about their personal needs or desires, or gossip.” Instead try every day to acknowledge “God’s goodness in some area to another person.”

·       CHS“It sometimes needs all our determination to face the foe and bless the Lord in the teeth of his enemies; vowing that whoever else may be silent we will bless his name… Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousands of others. One silver link in the chain draws up a long series of tender remembrances. Here is eternal work for us, for there can be no end to the showing forth of all his deeds of love.”

 

3. While my enemies turn back. They will stumble and perish before Your face,

 

4. For You effected my justice and my adjudication; You sat on the bench, judging righteously.

 

5. You [rebuked] repulsed nations; You destroyed the wicked [made them perish] – You [put out/blotted out] obliterated their name forever and ever!

 

6. As for the enemy, [his] swords were finished off indefinitely; You even uprooted [his] cities. The memory of them perished noisily,

 

7. But as for Yahweh, He will be in office forever; He has prepared His bench for the judgment.

8. And He Himself will judge the world with righteousness; He will adjudicate for peoples with things that are right/with equal rights/equity/uprightness[4].

 

9. And Yahweh will be a stronghold [refuge] for the one who is beaten down [oppressed], a stronghold for times that include trouble.

 

10. Then those who know Your name will trust in You, for You did not forsake those who were seeking You, Yahweh!

 

11. Y’all, play music for [sing praises/Psalms to] Yahweh (the One who inhabits Zion). Declare among the peoples His exploits,

 

12. For the One who is out for blood/inquires/requires/avenges blood has remembered them; He did not forget/ignore a [single] cry of lowly ones/humble/afflicted.

 

KING HENRY V
Now, herald, are the dead number'd?

HERALD
Here is the number of the slaughter'd French….

KING HENRY V
This note doth tell me of ten thousand French
That in the field lie slain: of princes, in this number,
And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead
One hundred twenty six: added to these,
Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen,
Eight thousand and four hundred; of the which,
Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights:
So that, in these ten thousand they have lost,
There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries;
The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires,
And gentlemen of blood and quality.
…Here was a royal fellowship of death!
Where is the number of our English dead?

Herald shews him another paper
…But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here;
And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on the other? Take it, God,
For it is none but thine!

EXETER
'Tis wonderful!

KING HENRY V
Come, go we in procession to the village.
And be it death proclaimed through our host
To boast of this or take the praise from God
Which is his only.

FLUELLEN
Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell
how many is killed?

KING HENRY V
Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgement,
That God fought for us.

FLUELLEN
Yes, my conscience, he did us great good.

KING HENRY V
Do we all holy rites;
Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and 'Te Deum;[6]'
The dead with charity enclosed in clay:
And then to Calais; and to England then:
Where ne'er from France arrived more happy men.



[1] (agreeing with the Cairo Geniza from the 4th century which places a hyphen between ‘al and moot)

[2] The uprooting of cities was also prophecied of Israelite cities as part of the covenantal curses of Deut 29:28. When Israel went apostate, many of their cities were obliterated by the Assyrian and Chaldean armies (2 Chron. 7:20, Micah 5:14), but that would be far into the future from David’s perspective.

[3] Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

[4] This word is always plural in the Bible. Interestingly, when comparisons are made in scripture, these “equal rights” are compared to the finish of a fine wine!

[5] GHW:  “[M]ost  [contemporary praise] choruses are concerned with a more limited spectrum of human experience (praise)… often ignoring those portions of psalms that reflect anger, confession, sin, and need… What we need,” wrote Gerald Wilson in the NIV Application Commentary, is a new generation of hymn writers who will use their skills to translate the breadth of individual experience into communal moments of confession, lament, thanksgiving, confidence, and question as well as praise.”

[6] Non Nobis: “Not to us O Lord, but to Thy name be glory.” Te Deum: “O God we extol Thee. O Lord God we sing Thy Praises…”