Psa 7 | EE | STEP | David showed what he felt. He sang to the LORD because of what Cush said. Cush was from Benjamin. LORD, my God, I am hiding in you. Keep me safe from all those people that are trying to catch me. Make me safe,

Psalms 7

David and Cush

David showed what he felt.

He sang to the LORD because of what Cush said.

Cush was from Benjamin.

1 LORD, my God, I am hiding in you.

Keep me safe from all those people that are trying to catch me.

Make me safe,

2 or he will tear me to pieces as a wild animal would.

He will tear me to pieces and nobody will find me.

3 ^{▼▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Psa 7:4.} ^{▼▼In this translation, this verse contains text which in some other translations appears in verses Psa 7:3-Psa 7:4.}4 LORD, my God, if I did this:

· if my hand did something wrong

· if I did something bad to a friend

· if I robbed my enemy without a reason

5 then I want him to catch me.

I want him to knock me to the ground.

I want him to kill and bury me.

SELAH ^{▼▼7:5 Verses 1-5: David asks God to keep him safe from his enemy. In verse 2, the wild animal is a lion. David probably means that Cush is like a wild animal. David says that Cush can kill David if Cush is right. David says this because he knows that Cush is wrong! The friend in verse 4 is probably Saul. In verse 5, ‘him’ is probably Cush.}

6 LORD, get up and show that you are angry.

Fight my angry enemies.

Wake up, my God, and tell us who is right.

7 I want everybody to stand round you.

Rule over them from above.

8 LORD, tell us who is right when people argue.

LORD Most High, say that I am righteous and honest.

9 Stop the godless from fighting. Make the righteous safe.

God of the righteous, look at how we think and feel.

10 God Most High is a shield over me.

He makes everyone that has a clean heart safe.

11 God is a righteous judge.

God shows his anger every day. ^{▼▼7:11 Verses 6-11: David asks God to be the judge. This means David wants God to give David help. This help will show everybody that David is right. David does not want to kill Saul. In verse 6, David tells God to wake up! He thinks God is asleep as God is not doing anything. But then David remembers that God never sleeps. In verse 11 David says that God gives help to people every day. He does this by showing his anger in many ways.}

12 if he does not change his mind, he will make his sword sharp.

He will bend his bow and make it ready. ^{▼▼7:12 Verses 12-16: These verses are three pictures.}

13 He will prepare weapons of death for bad people.

He will make ready arrows of fire. ^{▼▼7:13 Verses 12-13: God uses weapons as a soldier does. This is a picture. God has many ways to punish people. Punish means ‘hurt people who do wrong.’}

14 Look! The bad man is pregnant with evil.

He conceives trouble. He gives birth to false ideas. ^{▼▼7:14 Verse 14: Cush is like a woman having a baby. Cush is not having a real baby. The ‘baby’ is the bad things that he does.}

15 He digs a hole. He makes it deep.

Then he himself falls into the hole that he has made!

16 The trouble that he makes for others falls on his own head.

His own violence comes down on the top of himself! ^{▼▼7:16 Verses 15-16: Cush digs a hole and falls in it himself. This means that God judged that David was right. So God punished Cush. We do not know how God did to Cush what Cush wanted to do to David.}

17 I will thank the LORD because he is righteous.

I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. ^{▼▼7:17 Verse 17: The end of the psalm looks back to the LORD Most High. David probably wrote this part later.}