Psalm 59:9-17 – What To Do In The Doldrums

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 25 Oct. 2026

Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words that are in common with the Biblical language text of the sermon passage. Otherwise, underlining indicates words to emphasize vocally when reading this transcript out loud.

Introduction:

“‘The doldrums’ is the informal name for the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the belt near the equator where the northeast and southeast trade winds converge, warm air rises, and the result is a band of low atmospheric pressure characterized by… near-total absence of wind for days or weeks at a time…. [The word “doldrums” seems to be a combination of the English roots for “dull” and “numb.”] For sailing ships dependent on wind for propulsion, the doldrums were a genuine navigation hazard and an endurance ordeal. A ship becalmed in [this zone] could sit motionless for days with its sails hanging limp, losing provisions, water, and crew morale while the equatorial sun beat down without relief and the humid air made every activity exhausting. The Atlantic trade routes between Europe and the Americas or between Europe and West Africa required crossing the doldrums, and the duration of the crossing was entirely dependent on wind conditions that sailors could not predict or influence. The experience of the doldrums… [inspired] Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (1798)... 'Day after day, day after day, / We stuck, nor breath nor motion; / As idle as a painted ship / Upon a painted ocean.' ...”¹
Sometimes our lives feel like we’re in “the doldrums.” It’s hard to keep on being faithful when every day feels like slogging through mire with no end in sight, when God doesn’t seem to be doing anything through your work, when illness is chronic, and the pain and weariness just go on and on and on. It feels like God has set you and your dreams on the back burner, and you just have to do the same hard things over and over every day, waiting for a breakthrough that never seems to come.
What do you do when you have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus and you have prayed to Him about a situation, and you believe He will take care of it, but He hasn’t taken care of it yet, so you are in that inbetween time when nothing promising is happening?
In the first half of Psalm 59, we studied David’s example of how to pray when under attack: The superscription of this Psalm says that it was written about the time that King Saul sent hit men to David’s house to kill him, so David was physically under attack, but he prayed for God to save him, he established that he was innocent of any offense deserving this attack, and he aligned himself with the way God sees things, trusting that God would deliver him.
In the rest of Psalm 59, we see David continue to put his trust in God by waiting confidently on God’s salvation, by praying for God’s justice to be revealed to the world, and by singing praises to God. These are all things we too can do to take refuge in God, even during the dull, numb, inbetween times when things are hard and nothing promising is happening.
Read my translation, starting at Psalm 59:9
I will keep /my\ strength directed toward You, for it is God who is my high-fortress. As for my God, it is His lovingkindness that will go before me; God Himself will cause me to see [it] amidst my opponents. Don’t slaughter them, lest my people forget it; cause them to go to and fro with Your force, and bring them down! My Master is /my\ shield. The sin of their mouth, the word of their lips – therefore let them be captured in their arrogance – also as a result of the cursing and of the fraud they recount. Finish in fury; finish, and they will be no more; then they will know that it is God who rules through Jacob to the ends of the earth. SELAH
They return at evening, /and\ they growl like the dog, and they surround the compound. As for them, they go to and fro to devour; and they spend the night without being satisfied. But as for me, I will sing of Your strength and I will cheer for your lovingkindness at dawn, for You have been a high-fortress for me and a refuge during my time of crisis. My Strength, it is to You that I will make music, because it is God who is my high-fortress – the God of lovingkindness for me.

1. Wait Confidently On God’s Salvation (vs.9-10)

In the opening of verse 9
- The ancient Greek and Aramaic manuscripts dating back to the third Century AD, followed in the 21^th Century by the NIV, ESV, and NLT, read “my strength.”
- while the 10^th Century Hebrew text, followed by the 17^th century KJV and the 20^th century ASV/NASB instead read “his strength.”
- The difference in Hebrew is just half of a pen-stroke, but despite the difference between “His strength” and “my strength,” it does not change the message of this verse,
  - for we see that no matter whose strength David is talking about at the beginning of the verse, the end of the verse says that God is David’s “stronghold/strong tower of defense,” so either way, God is the source of David’s strength, so the KJV and NASB speak truly that David will watch for the Lord because of “His strength” and the NIV and ESV speak truly that David considers the LORD to be “my strength.”
  - At the same time, we see that this passage is about what David is doing with himself in this crisis – where David is putting his trust – who he’s investing himself in – to save him, so it is also about what David is going to do with his own strength, and so the ancient Greek and Aramaic versions also speak truly when they say that David will direct his human strength toward trusting in God and taking refuge in God.
  - No matter which variant you follow, it all points to God as the source of our strength and God as the one we should look to for refuge.
The main verb in v.9 therefore is “I will wait upon/watch for/keep toward You.”
- It should be noted that this is not the Hebrew verb for passively “loitering” and waiting around doing nothing, nor is it the Hebrew verb for “looking around” and being a spectator; it is the verb root shamar, which is usually translated “to keep,” and it implies active control to protect something valuable and to act in accordance with its value.
- What David is saying is, “I am going to direct all my energies toward trusting and taking refuge in God,
  - “waiting” like a good waiter in a restaurant to jump in and serve in any way God wants me to serve,
  - “keeping watch” like a vigilant guard on guard duty, keeping myself in that place of ultimate safety – that “defensive stronghold/high-fortress” of a covenant relationship with God as my God and me as one of God’s people.
- “David may allude to the guards which had been sent to besiege his house, and be considered as opposing to this a ‘watch’ of a very different description, which he himself maintained, as he looked out for the divine issue with quietness and composure.” ~J. Calvin, 1554 AD
- “It is our wisdom and duty, in times of danger and difficulty, to wait upon God; for he is our defence, our high place, in whom we shall be safe.” ~M. Henry, 1714 AD
The Hebrew grammar² emphasizes the direction in which David is pointing himself, and that is to God, his Savior.
The reason he gives is that God is his “defence/stronghold/high-fortress.” This is one of the great themes throughout the Psalms:
- Psalm 27:1b “...Yahweh is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be in dread?” (NAW)
- Psalm 33:20 “Our soul waits (חכתה) for Yahweh; He is our helper and our shield...” (NAW)
- Psalm 62:2&5 “He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved... My soul, wait silently (דומי) for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.” (NKJV, cf. 9:7-10, 18:1-2, 46:1, 71:3)
Now, in what way is God like a high fortress?³
- He is a Spirit; He can’t be physically entered-into. He doesn’t have bullet-proof walls that you can crawl behind.
- But He is Almighty and can do whatever He wants to break arrows, or stop bullets, or change minds of enemies, or stop evil spirits in their tracks, in order to protect those He loves and keep them safe. God is also the only source of absolute truth, so we can mentally take refuge in the truth of the Bible and be protected from the dangers of every lie in this world. There is a great security in knowing this; our soul can be at rest, knowing that we are safe with Him forever.
In verse 10 we see that God will show His loyal, covenant love to David by preveniently “going before” him and taking care of David’s need for justice against his “enemies/foes/opponents,” and that David will get to “see” it – maybe even “gloat” over it.
- The way the word “God” is spelled in Hebrew at the beginning of verse 10, it could mean “The God of...” or it could mean “My God...” and, of 12 Bible versions I surveyed from ancient to contemporary times, it was literally “six one – half-dozen the other”! Both interpretations square with the rest of the Bible:
  - Did David call Yahweh “My God”? YES!
  - Is God the “God of mercy/love”? YES!
  - God is the God of lovingkindness and He can be your God too!
- The same thing happens with the next phrase in verse 10: “Is it ‘my mercy’ or ‘His mercy’? Once again, of the versions I surveyed from ancient to contemporary times, they were again split about half and half.
  - Does God have steadfast love/mercy? YES!
  - Does God give that love to us? YES!
  - It can’t be mine” if it wasn’t “His” in the first place, so this only serves to underscore David’s main point that because Yahweh is his God, and because Yahweh loves David, Yahweh will deliver David and bring justice against his enemies.
  - “Whatever mercy there is in God, it is laid up for us, and is ready to be laid out upon us. Justly does the psalmist call God's mercy his mercy, for all the blessings of the new covenant are called ‘the sure mercies of David’ [in] Isaiah 55:3...” ~M. Henry, 1714 AD
The Hebrew word translated “meet/pre-vent/go before” literally means “to get out in front of” someone else. It involves getting to your destination ahead of you and controlling the situation before you arrive. God will do this for all who take refuge in Jesus.
- Psalm 54:5-7 “The evil will turn back toward my opponents. In Your faithfulness, You will annihilate them… From every crisis /You\ have rescued me, while my eye has seen into my enemies (‎אֹיְבַי).” (NAW)
- Psalm 21:3 “...You welcome him with good blessings, You position on his head a crown of fine gold.” (NAW)
So, David is waiting confidently for God to save him. He will also...

2. Pray For God’s Justice To Be Revealed To The World (vs. 11-13)

David prays for six things. The first in verse 11 is that God will not cause a bloodbath, the next four are that God will shake them, bring them down, capture them, and then consume/destroy/finish them off. Finally he prays that “they will know” that God is the one who rules among His people and to the ends of the earth.
The first prayer request in v.11 is unexpected: “Do not kill/slay/slaughter lest my people forget.”
- Almost all the commentators I read⁴ interpreted this as a request to punish the wicked slowly so as to make a more lasting impression of His justice with the righteous.
- For instance, Gerald Wilson wrote in The NIV Application Commentary, “He does not ask for a complete decimation of the opponents… but he does want God to reduce their power and make them wander rootlessly through society as a constant reminder of the consequences of opposing the righteous. The picture may well depict the kind of rootless sense of homelessness that the exiled [Jewish] communities experienced in the Diaspora.”
The middle four things David prays for in verses 11-13, during his doldrums, hardly need comment, because they are exactly what you’d expect as solutions for a man in his situation who is being hunted down by assassins:
- “Shake my enemies, bring them down, capture them, then finish them off.”
- The very things they are trying to do to harm me, let it be done to them, as justice requires in the law.⁵
- Common-sense is good material for prayer, as long as you do it with the understanding that God knows more than you do and is not obligated to take care of justice your way.
Like he had earlier done in verses 3-4, David establishes the moral offenses of his enemies against God and against himself in v.12, as deserving the punishment he prays for, focusing on sins of the tongue: their “pride/arrogance” (against God’s authority), their “cursing⁶” those whom God had declared blessed, and their “lying.” God takes very seriously these sins of the tongue. The apostle James wrote in the New Testament that sins of the tongue are enough to send a person to hell.
- The punishments against his foes are similar to other things David prayed for in other Psalms. For instance: Psalm 109:10, 17 “Let his children continually be vagabonds [wander to and fro], and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places… As he loved cursing (‎קְלָלָה), so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.” (NKJV)
- Psalm 144:6 “Flash forth lightning and scatter (תְפִיצֵם) them; Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.” (NKJV)
- and Psalm 55:23 “But You, O God, will send them down to the grave to rot. As for murderous and deceitful men, their days will not receive dividends, meanwhile, as for me, I will trust in You!” (NAW, cf. 56:7, 1 Sam. 2:6)
- The New Testament tells us (using the same words found in the Greek translation of this Psalm) that there will continue to be those “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:14) and who “...will be …. boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient... unholy...” (2 Tim. 3:2, NKJV), so we may still find it appropriate at times to pray like David did here.
But when we come to verse 13, the sixth prayer request is different: that “they will know that it is God who rules over/in/through Jacob to the ends of the earth.” There is an important reason why this is the final thing on David’s prayer list, and it is very important that we land on this same request in our prayers too.
- David understands what it is that God ultimately wants. God doesn’t just want all the wicked punished; God wants some from every tongue, tribe, and nation to be saved and to be incorporated into His house forever. So David does not end his prayer requests with “finishing off” his opponents, he ends it with the prayer that the nations will come to “know” who God is (cf. Isa. 26:9)! The mission of God is what keeps our imprecatory prayers from going overboard into petty vengefulness.
- I am reminded of the time that Jesus and His disciples stopped for the night at a Samaritan village and asked for lodging, but the Samaritans refused to let them stay there. “And when... James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of, For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.’...” (Luke 9:54-56, NKJV)
- And, just as David put it in verse 13, the work of God first comes “to/through” His people (characterized here as “Jacob”) and goes to the “ends of the earth” as we make disciples of all the nations in obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission. (Matt. 28:18-20)⁷
- So, when you pray for justice, pray also in terms of fulfilling God’s goal of the earth being “filled to know the glory of Yahweh like the waters cover over the sea.” (Hab. 2:14, NAW)
- Consider some other examples of how David prayed this way:

Psalm 83:17-18 “Let them be confounded (יֵבֹשׁוּ) and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish (יֹאבֵדוּ) That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.” (NKJV, cf. Ezek. 38:23, Dan. 4:25)
Psalm 46:10-11 “[Be still] and know that it is I who am God. I will be exalted throughout the nations; I will be exalted throughout the earth! Yahweh Commander of armies is with us; a high-fortress for us is the God of Jacob...” (NAW)
Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Your face,” (NAW)

So far, we have seen David waiting confidently for God’s salvation and praying for God’s justice to be revealed to the world, now in verses 14-15 we have a bit of an intermission, where David’s attention moves back to the dull, numb reality of the situation at hand:

vs. 14-15 The Enemy Described

Verse 14 is a repeat of verse 6. Dogs are not pets in the Middle East. They roam the streets scavenging trash, and if a pack of them gathers around a person, growling, howling, and snarling, it’s a life-threatening situation. That’s the picture David paints of Saul’s soldiers sent in the night to assassinate him at sunrise.
Now, I don’t have dogs for pets either, but I do have cats. Every morning, no matter how early I get up and walk to the kitchen to make my cup of coffee, there, outside the sliding glass door is a roiling mass of cats, meowing and scratching at the door and pacing back and forth across the doormat, scolding me and giving me reproachful and pitiful stares, impatiently awaiting the moment when I give them their morning feeding. I don’t know how much of the night they spend doing that, but that’s the picture that comes to my mind from v.15, only the roiling mass, in David’s case is not of cats but of soldiers who have been there all night outside his door, just waiting for the moment when they can kill David.
Finally, we get to the last two verses of Psalm 59, where we see the third thing David does during this patience-trying, inbetween time, as he waits on God’s timing to act on his prayer:

3. Sing About God’s Strength, Love, & Protection! (vs.16-17)

In Psalm 30:5 David wrote, “During the evening weeping may be company, but by the morning there will be cheering!” (NAW) and that’s what’s happening here in Psalm 59 too!
And so it is in verses 16-17 that David uses three Hebrew words which denote “singing”:

the first is for vocal music with lyrics (‎אָשִׁיר – from the Hebrew root shiyr),
the second is singing-out loudly like a cheer (אֲרַנֵּן – from the Hebrew root ranan),
and the third is singing praise while playing musical instruments (אֲזַמֵּרָה – from the Hebrew root zamar).

God’s people sing during the doldrums!⁸
And if you can’t play an instrument, we now have the technology to play an audio recording to accompany your singing!

And how does David go about praising God? He does it by highlighting who God is and what God has done for him. That’s how you praise God – by highlighting who He is and what He has done for you. In verses 16-17, David sings praise to God:

First for Him being “strong/powerful,” then in v.17 for Him sharing that “power/strength” with “me”!

That theme of God’s power shared with us has fueled all sorts of hymns like “...thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul my Savior, God, to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art!”

Next, David praises God for His “lovingkindness/steadfast love/mercy” in v.16 and then for how God loves “me” in v.17.

What another wonderful theme of song is God’s covenant love for us!
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong…”
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness!”

The third theme of David’s praise is how God is “my high-fortress/defensive stronghold” and a “refuge during my time/day of crisis/distress/trouble.”

This too has been the theme of Christian song for ages: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing…”
“The Lord’s my Rock, in Him I hide – a shelter in the time of storm”
“Under the shadow of thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is thine arm alone, And our defense is sure.” And on and on we could go!

Matthew Henry tied these three themes of God’s power, love, and protection together in his commentary thoughtfully, writing, “Power, without mercy, is to be dreaded; mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much benefit from; but God's power by which he is able to help us, and his mercy by which he is inclined to help us, will justly be the everlasting praise of all the saints... God brings his people into trouble, that they may experience his power and mercy in protecting and sheltering them, and may have occasion to praise him.”

So, sing in the doldrums! Sing of these mighty truths! God is your strength. God’s love is for you. And God is the One you can go to for safety when there is stress.
- Psalm 21:13 “Yahweh, be exalted in Your strength! We will sing and play music about Your might (גְּבוּרָתֶךָ)!” (NAW)
- Psalm 28:7 “Yahweh is my strength and my shield; it is in Him that my heart has trusted, so I will be helped out, and my heart will rejoice, and through my song I will respond to Him.” (NAW)
- Psalm 31:7 “I will rejoice and be happy there in Your lovingkindness, in which You regarded my low condition and you considered my soul during crises,” (NAW)
- Psalm 89:1 “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.” (NKJV)

Conclusion: When you’re in the Doldrums...

Wait confidently on God’s salvation,
Pray for God’s justice to be revealed to the world, and
Sing about God’s strength, love, and protection.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says “...He will make together with the test also the way out for the ability to undergo it.”
Some day the doldrums will end, the sails will billow, and you’ll see the end in sight, but until then, may God give us faith to wait, pray, and sing to Him!

Psalm 59:9-17 – Side-by side comparison of versions^A

Douay^B (Vulgate)	LXX^C (Ps. 58)	Brenton^D (Vaticanus)	KJV^E (1769)	NASB^F (1995)	NIV^G (1984)	ESV^H (2025)	NAW (2026)	Hebrew^I	Bauscher^J (Peshitta)	E.M.Cook^K (Targums)
10) I will keep my strength to thee: for ~~thou~~ art my protector:	10 τὸ κράτος μου, πρὸς σὲ φυλάξω, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου [εἶ].	9 will keep my strength, [looking^L] to thee; for [thou,] O God, [art] my helper.	9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.	9 Because of his strength I will watch for You, For God is my stronghold.	9 O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress,	9 O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.	9 I will keep /my\ strength directed toward You, for it is God who is my high-fortress.	^יעֻ֭זּוֹ^M אֵלֶ֣יךָ אֶשְׁמֹ֑רָה^N כִּֽי־אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים^O מִשְׂגַּבִּֽי׃	9 X ~~God~~, I shall ~~praise~~ you, because [you are the place of] my refuge, oh, God!	10. O my strength, for you I will keep watch, for God is my deliverance.
11) My God, his mercy shall prevent me. 12) God shall let me see over my enemies:	11 ὁ θεός μου, τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ προφθάσει με· ὁ θεὸς δείξει μοι ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου.	10 As for my God, his mercy shall go before me: my God will shew^P me [vengeance] on mine enemies.	10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.	10 My God [in] His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes.	10 my loving God. God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who ~~slander~~ me.	10 My God [in] his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look [in triumph] on my enemies.	10 As for my God, it is His lovingkindness that will go before me; God Himself will cause me to see [it] amidst my opponents.	^יאאֱלֹהֵ֣י^Q חסדו^R יְקַדְּמֵ֑נִי אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים יַרְאֵ֥נִי בְשֹׁרְרָֽי^S׃	10 God, your kindness will go before me; God will ~~avenge~~ me of my enemies.	11. God will precede me with my favor, God will show me [vengeance] on my oppressors.
slay them not, lest at any time my people forget. Scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my protector:	12 μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς αὐτούς, μήποτε ἐπιλάθωνται τοῦ λαοῦ μου· διασκόρπισον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ δυνάμει σου καὶ κατάγαγε^T αὐτούς, ὁ ὑπερασπιστής μου κύριε.	11 Slay them not, lest they forget thy ~~law~~;^U scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my defender.	11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.	11 Do not slay them, or my people will forget; Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.	11 [But] do not kill them, O Lord our shield, or my people will forget. In your might make them wander about, and bring them down.	11 Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!	11 Don’t slaughter them, lest my people forget it; cause them to go to and fro with Your force, and bring them down! My Master is /my\ shield.	^יבאַל־תַּהַרְגֵ֤ם ׀ פֶּֽן־יִשְׁכְּח֬וּ^V עַמִּ֗י הֲנִיעֵ֣מוֹ בְ֭חֵילְךָ וְהוֹרִידֵ֑מוֹ מָ֖גִנֵּ֣נוּ אֲדֹנָֽי׃	11 Do not kill them, lest my people forget, but shake them by your power and ~~chase~~ them LORD JEHOVAH, my ~~trust~~.	12. Do not kill them [immediately], lest my people forget; exile them [from their houses] by your might, and impoverish them [from their wealth^W], our shield, O Lord.
13) [For] the sin of their mouth, [and] the word of their lips: and let them be taken in their pride. And for [their] cursing and X lying they shall be talked of,	13 ἁμαρτίαν ^X στόματος αὐτῶν, λόγον χειλέων αὐτῶν, καὶ συλλημφθήτωσαν ἐν τῇ ὑπερηφανίᾳ αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐξ ἀρᾶς καὶ ψεύδους διαγγελήσ~~ονται~~	12 [For] the sin of their mouth, [and] the word of their lips, let them be even taken in their pride. 13 And for [their] cursing and X falsehood shall be denounced	12 For the sin of their mouth and the word[s] of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and X lying which they speak.	12 On account of the sin of their mouth and the word[s] of their lips, Let them even be caught in their pride, And on account of curse[s] and X lie[s] [which] they utter.	12 For the sin[s] of their mouth[s], [for] the word[s] of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. X For the curse[s] and X lies they utter,	12 For the sin of their mouth[s], the word[s] of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. X For the cursing and X lie[s] that they utter,	12 The sin of their mouth, the word of their lips – therefore let them be captured in their arrogance – also as a result of the cursing and of the fraud they recount.	^יגחַטַּאת־פִּ֗ימוֹ דְּֽבַר־שְׂפָ֫תֵ֥ימוֹ וְיִלָּכְד֥וּ בִגְאוֹנָ֑ם וּמֵאָלָ֖ה וּמִכַּ֣חַשׁ^Y יְסַפֵּֽרוּ׃	12 The sin of their mouth[s] speaks; X their lips rejoice in their boasting X because they tell a curse and X lies.	13. Because of the sin of their mouth, [and] the speech of their lips, let them be caught in their arrogance, for they will speak ~~with~~ oath[s] and X lie[s].
14) [When they are] consumed: [when they are] consumed by [thy] wrath, and they shall be no more. And they shall know that God will rule X Jacob, [and] ~~all~~ the ends of the earth.	Συντέλε~~ιαι~~ 14 ἐν ὀργῇ^Z συντελε~~ίας~~, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξωσιν· καὶ γνώσονται ὅτι ὁ θεὸς δεσπόζει ~~τοῦ~~ Ιακωβ, ~~τῶν~~ περά των τῆς γῆς. διάψαλμα.	utter destr~~uction~~: [they shall fall] by the wrath [of] utter destr~~uction~~, and shall not be; so shall they know that the God of Jacob is ~~Lord~~ of the ends of the earth. Pause.	13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.	13 Destroy them in wrath, destroy them that they may be no more; That men may know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. Selah.	13 consume [them] in wrath, consume [them] ~~till~~ they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules ~~over~~ Jacob. Selah	13 consume [them] in wrath; consume [them] ~~till~~ they are no more, that they may know that God rules ~~over~~ Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah	13 Finish in fury; finish, and they will be no more; then they will know that it is God who rules through Jacob to the ends of the earth. SELAH	^ידכַּלֵּ֥ה^AA בְחֵמָה֮ כַּלֵּ֢ה וְֽאֵ֫ינֵ֥מוֹ וְֽיֵדְע֗וּ כִּֽי־אֱ֭לֹהִים מֹשֵׁ֣ל בְּֽיַעֲקֹ֑ב לְאַפְסֵ֖י הָאָ֣רֶץ סֶֽלָה׃	13 Destroy [them] in your wrath; destroy [them] and they will not be [found], that they may know that God is the Ruler over Jacob and over the ends of the Earth. X	14. Destroy them in anger, destroy them ~~until~~ they are no more, that they may know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth forever.
15) X They shall return at evening and shall ~~suffer hun~~~~ger~~ like dog[s]: and shall go round about the city.	15 X^AB ἐπιστρέψουσιν εἰς ἑσπέραν καὶ ~~λιμώξουσιν~~ ὡς κύων καὶ κυκλώσουσιν πόλιν.	14 X They shall return at evening, and be ~~hun~~~~gry~~^AC as a dog, and go round about the city.	14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.	14 X They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go around the city.	14 X They return at evening, snarling like dog[s], and prowl about the city.	14 X Each evening they come back, howling like dog[s] and prowling about the city.	14 /\ They return at evening, /and\ they growl like the dog, and they surround the compound.	^טווְיָשֻׁ֣בוּ לָ֭עֶרֶב יֶהֱמ֥וּ כַכָּ֗לֶב וִיס֥וֹבְﬞבוּ עִֽיר׃	14 X They shall be turned back in the evening and they will growl like dog[s] and will surround the city.	15. And they will return at evening, they will raise a tumult like a dog, and they will encircle the city.
Douay (Vulgate)	LXX (Ps. 58)	Brenton (Vaticanus)	KJV (1769)	NASB (1995)	NIV (1984)	ESV (2025)	NAW (2026)	Hebrew	Bauscher (Peshitta)	E.M.Cook (Targums)
16) They shall be scattered abroad to eat, and shall ~~murmur~~ if they be not filled^AD.	16 αὐτοὶ διασκορπισθήσονται τοῦ φαγεῖν· ἐὰν [δὲ] μὴ χορτασθῶσιν, καὶ γογ~~γύσουσιν~~^AE.	15 They shall be scattered^AF hither and thither for meat; [and] if they be not satisfied, they shall even ~~murmur~~.	15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and ~~grudge~~ if they be not satisfied.	15 They wander about for food And ~~growl~~ if they are not satisfied.	15 They wander about for food and ~~howl~~ if not satisfied.	15 They wander about for food and ~~growl~~ if they do not get their fill.	15 As for them, they go to and fro to devour; and they spend the night without being satisfied.	^טזהֵ֭מָּה ינועון^AG לֶאֱכֹ֑ל אִם־לֹ֥א יִ֝שְׂבְּע֗וּ וַיָּלִֽינוּ^AH׃	15 They will ~~beg~~ to eat [and] will not be satisfied and they will not spend the night.	16. They will wander about to [take spoil to] eat, and they will not [rest until they are] full and take lodging.
17) But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the morning. For thou art become my support, and [my] refuge, in the day of my trouble.	17 ἐγὼ δὲ ᾄσομαι τῇ δυνάμει σου καὶ ἀγαλλιάσομαι τὸ πρωὶ^AI τὸ ἔλεός σου, ὅτι ἐγενήθης ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου καὶ καταφυγὴ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς μου.	16 But I will sing to thy strength, and in the morning will I exult in thy mercy; for thou hast been my supporter, and [my] refuge in the day of mine affliction.	16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, X I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.	16 But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress.	16 But I will sing of your strength, X in the morning I will sing-X of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in time[s] of trouble.	16 But I will sing of your strength; X I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.	16 But as for me, I will sing of Your strength and I will cheer for your lovingkindness at dawn, for You have been a high-fortress for me and a refuge during my time of crisis.	^יזוַאֲנִ֤י ׀ אָשִׁ֣יר עֻזֶּ֮ךָ֮ ^AJ וַאֲרַנֵּ֥ן לַבֹּ֗קֶר חַ֫סְדֶּ֥ךָ כִּֽי־הָיִ֣יתָ מִשְׂגָּ֣ב לִ֑י וּ֝מָנ֗וֹס בְּי֣וֹם צַר־לִֽי׃	16 And I shall praise your power and I shall praise your kindness at dawn, because you have been a place of refuge to me and a ~~Savior~~ in ~~the~~ day of affliction!	17. But I will praise your strength, and I rejoice in your goodness in the morning, for you have been a deliverer to me, and my ~~trust~~ in the day I [am] distress[ed].
18) Unto thee, O my ~~helper~~, will I sing, for [thou art] God my defence: my God my mercy.	18 ~~βοηθ~~ός μου, σοὶ ψαλῶ, ὅτι, ὁ θεός, ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου εἶ, ὁ θεός μου, τὸ ἔλεός μου.	17 Thou art my ~~helper~~; to thee, [my God,] will I sing; X thou art my supporter, O my God, [and] my mercy.	17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the^AK God of my mercy.	17 O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God [who shows] me lovingkindness.	17 O my Strength, I sing praise to you; X [you,] O God, are my fortress, my lov~~ing~~ God X.	17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for [you,] O God, are my fortress, the God [who shows] me steadfast love.	17 My Strength, it is to You that I will make music, because it is God who is my high-fortress – the God of lovingkindness for me.	^יחעֻ֭זִּי אֵלֶ֣יךָ אֲזַמֵּ֑רָה כִּֽי־אֱלֹהִ֥ים מִ֝שְׂגַּבִּ֗י אֱלֹהֵ֥י^AL חַסְדִּֽי׃	17 ~~Oh God~~, I shall sing to you, because [you are] the God [of the house of] my refuge, [and] the God of my grace!	18. O my strength, I will give you praise, for God is my deliverance, God is my goodness.

1 https://www.etymology.life/word/doldrums Accessed 23 Oct 2026.

2With emphatic positioning of “to You” and what could be interpreted as a directional he suffix on “I will keep [in that direction].” (Most lexicographers instead read it as a cohortative “let me keep,” but it is a matter of interpretation.)

3Cf. “shield” in v. 11, for which see the following cross-references: ◦ Psalm 3:3 “Yet you, Yahweh, are a shield beside me, my glory, and you are lifting up my head.” ◦ Psalm 18:30b “...[Yahweh] is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.” ◦ Psalm 28:7 “Yahweh is my strength and my shield; it is in Him that my heart has trusted, so I will be helped out, and my heart will rejoice, and through my song I will respond to Him.” ◦ Psalm 33:20 “Our soul waits for Yahweh; He is our helper and our shield...” (NAW) ◦ Psalm 84:9 “O God, behold our shield, And look upon the face of Your anointed… 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield...” (NKJV) All the manuscripts previous to 800 AD read “my shield,” whereas the Hebrew manuscripts after 800AD read “our shield.”

4Including Rachi, Kimchi, Calvin, Henry, Delitzsch, Cohen, & Gerald Wilson. Augustine was the lone exception, interpreting this as a prayer for the survival of the Jews. “But what is it to be ‘slain’? To forget the law of the Lord. It is real death, to go into the pit of sin; this indeed may be also understood of the Jews.”

5“...make their sin their punishment... Their sin was their hunting for David to make a prey of him; their punishment should be that they should be reduced to such extreme poverty that they should hunt about for meat to satisfy their hunger, and should miss of it as they missed of David.” ~M. Henry

6Matthew Henry pointed out one such curse on the lips of Saul in 1 Sam. 14:28 which almost resulted in his son’s execution.

7Calvin suggested rearranging the words of the Hebrew in such a way as to avoid this interpretation and instead get, “...that they may know, even to the ends of the earth, that God ruleth in Jacob.”

8“James the inspired apostle exhorts those who are merry to sing psalms, (James 5:13.)” ~J. Calvin

AWhen a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing Psalm 59 is 11Q8 Psalms^d, containing fragments of verses 3-7, and it agrees completely with the Masoretic text (including having appropriate spaces between legible words to match what it in the MT). Where the DSS and/or ancient versions support each other against the MT in such a way that I suspect they are the original reading, I have highlighted them with yellow.

BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword Aug 5, 2026.

CThe Septuagint (LXX), edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935; public domain. As published on E-Sword Aug 5, 2026

DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published on E-Sword Aug 5, 2026

E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword Aug 8, 2019.

HThis publication contains The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright ©2001, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV® Text Edition: 2025. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

IFrom the Wiki Hebrew Bible https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8_%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com

L“looking” is not in the LXX; it was added by Brenton.

MLXX, Vulgate, Targums, and even some Hebrew manuscripts read as though the last letter were a first-person yod (“my” – NIV, RV/ESV, NET, NLT) rather than a vav (“Him” – GB, KJV, ASV/NASB), thus matching this verse with the last verse of this Psalm. Calvin, following Jewish commentators, interpreted the “him” as Saul, with whom the temporal strength lay at the moment. Delitzsch preferred “my strength,” writing, “all attempts to understand עֻזִּו as being genuine prove its inaccuracy. With the old versions it has to be read עֻזִּי...”

NAlthough some morphologies interpret the final he as cohortative, I suggest it could be directional, underscoring “to You.”

OApparently both the Peshitta and Vulgate read אלהים (“God”) as אתה (“you”).

PCf. Symmachus’ 2^nd century translation, “God will make me oversee those who wall me off (αποτειχιζουσι).”

QPeshitta & Targums (followed by KJV, RV, NIV1984, & NET) interpreted this as a construct spelling (“God of”), whereas LXX & Vulgate & MT (followed by Geneva, Delitzsch, NASB, ESV, NLT, & NIV2011) interpreted this as having a 1^st person singular pronominal suffix (“my god”). Either is possible in the unpointed original Hebrew.

RQere marginal note reads חַסְדִּ֣י “my lovingkindness” (followed by Targums, KJV/NKJV, RV, NIV, NET) instead of “his lovingkindness” (LXX, Vulgate, ASV/NASB, ESV, NLT), and Peshitta reads as though the final letter were coph instead of vav (“your lovingkindness”). Geneva Bible dropped the pronoun altogether. Jerome’s second edition of the Psalter translated from Hebrew went with the 1^st person pronoun.

SCf. same “opponents” in v.3.

TSymmachus confusedly translated the previous verb as “raise up,” but got this one right with a Greek synonym to the verb for “take down” used by the LXX.

UThe Vaticanus (on which Brenton based his translation) reads νομου σου (“Your law”), but Rahlf’s edition of the LXX (and the Sinaiticus) reads like the MT, the Peshitta, and the 2^nd century Greek versions by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion with “my people.”

V“They forget” is plural, but “my people” is singular, which makes it grammatically-unlikely to be the subject, but all the English versions and all the commentaries I read accepted “my people” as the subject of “forget.”
As for the meaning, Calvin, following traditional Jewish commentators, suggested, “We are apt to think, when God has not annihilated our enemies at once, that they have escaped out of his hands altogether; and we look upon it as properly no punishment, that they should be gradually and slowly destroyed. Such being the extravagant desire which almost all, without exception, have, to see their enemies at once exterminated, David checks himself, and dwells upon the judgment of God to be seen in the lesser calamities which overtake the wicked.” Matthew Henry and G. Wilson agreed and followed Calvin in seeing the mark and expulsion of Cain as a previous type of this sort of punishment, but that seems a bit of a stretch to me. The only other time in the Bible that this Hebrew phrase occurs is in Exodus 23:7 “... do not kill the innocent and righteous...” (NKJV) And the only other time that the phrase “lest/or [someone] forget” is in Deuteronomy 4:9 “...keep watch over your soul, otherwise you will forget the things which your eyes saw… 23... 6:12 “Take care lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” & 8:11 (NAW)

WThe Hebrew word for “might” is sometimes translated “wealth,” so that may have suggested this enlargement on the text.

XSymmachus suggested the instrumental case “by the ...”

YRare word only here and Job 16:8, Hos. 7:3, 10:13, 12:1; and Nah. 3:1.

ZCf. synonyms in 2^nd century versions: Aq. = χολω (“bile”) and Sym. = θυμω (“hot fury”).

AAAugustine interpreted this as “perfect” and related the entire prayer to Jesus’ atonement, but that seems far-fetched.

AB2^nd Century versions by Symmachus and Theodotian also don’t start with a conjunction.

ACTwo 2^nd century versions translated this word more like the MT: Aquila (οχλασουσιν - “make a disturbance”), and Symmachus (θορυβειτωσαν – “make noise”).

ADJerome changed his translation to “murmur” later when he re-translated from Hebrew.

AEAquila, presumably looking at the Hebrew in the 2^nd Century, agreed with “murmur” although the MT reads “lodge temporarily,” as can be seen in the Aramaic versions.

AFCf. Aquila “they shall be shaken...” (the closest meaning to the Qere) and Symmachus: “wandering about so that they may not camp unsatisfied.”

AGThis verb was in v.12. Qere marginal note here changes the third letter to read Hiphil instead of Qal stem יְנִיע֣וּן – but the meaning is not substantially different.

AHSymmachus, Geneva, Calvin, Street, Delitzsch, Cohen, RV, ASV, AJV, NET, and NLT followed the Hebrew and Aramaic with “lodge/spend the night/tarry all night/sleep.” Delitzsch noted, “וַיָּלִינוּ [“spend the night”] and לַבֹּקֶר [“at the morning”] stand in direct contrast to one another, and in addition to this לָעֶרֶב [“at evening”] has preceded. The reading of the lxx (Vulgate, Luther, [and authorized version]) [“and murmur”] = וַיַּלִּינוּ or וַיִּלֹּנוּ, is thereby proved to be erroneous.”
KJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV followed the Greek and Latin translations (with the exception of Symmachus) that rendered this verb as making a murmuring noise. No such definition is in Holladay for לין, but BDB, Strong, and Davidson considered it a form of לון, for which they offered two definitions (1. “lodge” and 2. “murmur”), a position which Calvin’s English editor also held in the mid 19^th century (before Strong, BDB, and Davidson), presumably following Gesenius’ lexicon.
Calvin made an interesting point about the repetition: “The words which he had formerly used he repeats, but with a different application, ironically declaring that they would be ravenous in another sense, and that matters would issue otherwise than they had looked for. Above he had complained that they made a noise like dogs, adverting to the eagerness and fierceness with which they were bent upon mischief; now he derides their malicious efforts, and says, that after wearying themselves with their endless pursuit all day, they would go disappointed of their purpose.”

AICf. Symmachus’ synonymous version, ‘υμνησω κατ’ ορθρον.

AJ“your strength” cf. “my/his strength” in v.9.

AKNKJV= “my God”

ALNKJV & NIV followed the LXX and Vulgate which interpreted the consonantal Hebrew text to mean “my God,” while the KJV, RV, ASV/NASB, NET & ESV followed the Masoretic Text and Syriac versions which interpreted the Hebrew to mean “God of.” Either is grammatically possible, and both are consistent with the rest of Scripture.