Psalm 17


Psalm 17 is the 17th psalm from the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible ; one of the 41 psalms in Book One.

Analysis

Charles and Emilie Briggs summarize this psalm as follows: "Psalm 17 is a prayer for divine interposition on behalf of the righteous. The psalmist has been tested by God in mind and conduct and approved ; he has kept the divine ways and avoided wicked deeds, therefore he invokes God with confidence. He prays again that his Saviour may show kindness and keep him as the pupil of the eye ; that he may be sheltered from his greedy and arrogant enemies, who surround him to prey upon him. Again he prays for divine interposition and deliverance by the slaying of the wicked ; that penalty may be visited on them to the third generation, but that he himself may enjoy the divine presence."
The Briggses believed Psalm 17 to have been written in the Persian period, after Zerubbabel but before Ezra's reforms, possibly by the same author as Psalm 16.

Uses

Judaism