A plea for God to have mercy and to deliver from scornful enemies–to save from the miry depths.
Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 4-5
st. 2 = vv. 4-5
st. 3 = vv. 6-8
st. 4 = vv. 9-12
st. 5 = vv. 13-15
st. 6 = vv. I6-18
st. 7 = vv. 19-20
st. 8 = v. 21
st. 9 = vv. 22-28
st. 10 = v. 29
st. 11 = vv. 30-33
st. 12 = vv. 34-36
In this prayer a godly king pleads for God to save him from a host of enemies who conspire against him at a time when God has "wounded" him (v. 26) for some sin in his life (v. 5). The authors of the New Testament viewed this prayer as foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ. Only Psalm 22 is quoted or alluded to more often in the New Testament.
The psalmist begins with a cry to God from the depths (st. 1); he is troubled by countless enemies and by personal sins (st. 2). He asks that God spare the saints from suffering shame on his account (st. 3); his zeal for God has brought only reproach from enemies (st. 4). In faith the psalmist turns to God for deliverance (st. 5), asking to be set free in God's mercy (st. 6). LORD, you know how I have been scorned, says the psalmist (st. 7); my enemies have fed me gall and curses (st. 8). Bring on them the judgment due them (st. 9), and grant my poor, troubled soul salvation (st. 10). This Messianic psalm closes with a vow to praise God, who "still hears the needy" (st. 11), and with a call to all creation to do the same, for God makes his people secure in Zion (st. 12).
Marie J. Post (PHH 5) prepared this Versification in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.
Liturgical Use
Good Friday (especially st. 7-8); stanza groups 5-6 and 10-12 may be used as prayers for deliverance.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
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