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This the last of the penitential psalms. The authorship and occasion of it uncertain. Pervaded by a deep tone of sorrow and anguish and a deep sense of sin. Roughly divided, the first part (vers. 1-6) contains the complaint; and the second (vers. 7-12), the prayer founded on that complaint.

I. THE COMPLAINT.

1. His enemies overwhelmed with a sense of desolation. (Vers. 3, 4.) "His life was smitten down;" he dwelt as in the darkness of death; his heart was desolate. No friend was left; no protection from the cruel injustice of men. He was as if forsaken of God. All this was the means of revealing the sinfulness and misery of his own heart.

2. The contrast between his past and present experience. (Ver. 5.) This embittered his anguish and added to the sense of his desolation.

3. He stands as one imploring help. (Ver. 6.) But to whom, as yet, help has not come. As parched land thirsts for rain, so he pants for the help of God.

II. THE PRAYER. The petitions in vers. 7-12 may be thus grouped:

1. Prayer for speedy loving-kindness and direction. (Vers. 7, 8.)

2. For deliverance from enemies and fuller knowledge of God's will. (Vers. 9, 10.) And for power to obey that will when thus made known.

3. For new life and deliverance from the sufferings caused by his enemies. (Vers. 11, 12.) A new internal and external life - a complete change.

4. The ground of the several petitions is the personal relation of the psalmist to God. "Thou art my God;" "In thee have I trusted;" "I am thy servant;" etc. Man is God's child. These the strongest appeals that could be made. - S.

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KJV: {A Psalm of David.} Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

WEB: Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.