Psalm 28 | |
Subtitle: | "Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock" |
Other Name: | "Exaudi vocem deprecationis meae" |
Language: | Hebrew (original) |
Psalm 28 is the 28th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock;". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 27. In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "Latin: Exaudi vocem deprecationis meae|italic=no".[1] Psalm 28 is used in both Jewish and Christian liturgies. It has often been set to music.
The following table shows the Hebrew text[2] [3] of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
Verse | Hebrew | English translation (JPS 1917) |
---|---|---|
1 | [A Psalm] of David. Unto thee, O LORD, do I call; My Rock, be not Thou deaf unto me; Lest, if Thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit. | |
2 | Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto Thee, When I lift up my hands toward Thy holy Sanctuary. | |
3 | Draw me not away with the wicked, And with the workers of iniquity; Who speak peace with their neighbours, But evil is in their hearts. | |
4 | Give them according to their deeds, and according to the evil of their endeavours; Give them after the work of their hands; Render to them their desert. | |
5 | Because they give no heed to the works of the LORD, Nor to the operation of His hands; He will break them down and not build them up. | |
6 | Blessed be the LORD, Because He hath heard the voice of my supplications. | |
7 | The LORD is my strength and my shield, In Him hath my heart trusted, And I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, And with my song will I praise Him. | |
8 | The LORD is a strength unto them; And He is a stronghold of salvation to His anointed. | |
9 | Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; And tend them, and carry them for ever. | |
Charles and Emilie Briggs describe the psalm as
The Briggs suggest that it is to be dated to the reign of King Jehoiakim in "the late Babylonian period shortly before the exile", which occurred in 587 or 586 BCE.[4] [5] They identify verses 5 and 9 as glosses which "give a reason for the imprecation upon enemies (verse 5) and a liturgical petition for salvation (verse 9)".
Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands.
In Psalm 28:5 is, according to Charles Spurgeon's exegesis, an example of general revelation: with God's hand clearly seen in nature and history. God works in creation: nature teems with proofs of his wisdom and goodness, yet atheists refuse to see him: he works in providence, ruling and overruling, and his hand is manifest in human history.[6]
The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.The Jerusalem Bible suggests that the word "anointed" here refers to the people of God consecrated to his service, and not the king or the high priest.[7]
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the fifth day of the month.[9]
A setting of Psalm 28 in English, "Thou art, O Lord, my strength and stay", by John Bennet was published in Richard Langdon's Divine Harmony in 1774. Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase of the psalm in German, "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Gott, mein Hort", SWV 125, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628. Felix Mendelssohn used verse 1 of Psalm 28 for a recitative in his oratorio Elijah, first performed in 1846. Alan Hovhaness set verses 1, 2, and 9 for his choir and organ work Unto Thee Will I Cry, op. 162.[10] [11]