Psa 17 | EE | STEP | LORD, hear what I am saying to you. What I am asking is righteous. Listen to me when I cry. Answer me when I pray to you. My lips do not tell lies.

Psalms 17

David Prays for Help

1 LORD, hear what I am saying to you.

What I am asking is righteous.

Listen to me when I cry.

Answer me when I pray to you.

My lips do not tell lies.

2 I want justice from you.

I want your eyes to see what is right.

3 You can look at the secrets of my heart.

You can test me at night.

Though you test me, you will find nothing wrong.

I promise myself that my mouth will not sin.

4 People do bad things.

The words of your mouth have given me help.

They gave me help not to do bad things.

5 I put my feet on your path.

My feet did not trip over. ^{▼▼17:5 Verses 1-5: David asks God to look at the secrets of his heart. These are things that people cannot see. Only God can see them. David says, ‘Test me’ at night. Probably that was when David was by himself. David says that he will not tell lies to God. Some of Psalm 17 is very difficult to translate.}

6 God, I pray to you, because you will answer me.

Listen to me when I pray to you.

7 Show that your great love is wonderful.

Your right hand saves the people that ask for your help.

It makes them safe from their enemies.

8 Make me as safe as the apple of your eye.

Hide me under the shadow of your wings. ^{▼▼17:8 Verses 6-8: Here are some wonderful Bible words. ‘Great love’ is ‘chesed’ in Hebrew. It means that God loves us and is kind to us. We are the ‘apple of God’s eye’. This means that people that hurt us also hurt God. We are special to God. Also, as a bird hides baby birds under its wing, so God hides us! We hide under his wings, like baby birds. The right hand of God here means what God does on earth.}

9 Very bad men have attacked me.

Enemies that want to kill me are all round me.

10 Their hearts have become hard.

They speak very proud words.

11 They found me. They are all round me.

Their eyes are open wide.

They want to put me on the ground.

12 They are like a hungry lion.

They are like a great lion that is hunting for its food. ^{▼▼17:12 Verses 9-12: David now tells God about his enemies. Really, they are the enemies of God as well. They want to knock David on to the ground. Then they want to kill him. Psalm 17:10 says, ‘Their hearts have become hard’. We are not sure what this means. Perhaps it means that they will not change their minds.}

13 LORD, get up! Stand in front of them. Knock them down.

Save me from wicked men by your sword.

14 LORD, by your hand take them from the earth.

Remove them from the world. Their reward is in this life.

You give plenty of food to the people that you love.

Their sons also have plenty.

They will give much to their children. ^{▼▼17:14 Verses 13-14: David tells God what he wants. He wants God to kill his enemies and to save David. That is what ‘remove them from the world’ means. They will get nothing in the next world. This is because ‘their reward is in this life’. We learn that David did not want to kill his enemies. Though it is hard to believe sometimes, God does care for his own people.}

15 And I, because I am righteous, I will see your face, LORD.

It will be enough for me when I awake.

Then I will really see you. ^{▼▼17:15 Verse 15: This is a wonderful part of the psalm. It tells us that David believes that he is righteous. He also believes that he will rise from the dead. ‘When I awake’ means ‘awake from the sleep of death’. That is when David would see God.}