Psalm 28

What Psalm 28 means

David's fear in verse 1 is not that God will say no but that God will say nothing. If God is silent, David will be like them that go down into the pit. He lifts up his hands toward God's holy oracle, the innermost room of the sanctuary, as he cries for help.

In verses 3-5 he asks not to be drawn away with the wicked, people who speak peace to their neighbours while mischief is in their hearts. He asks God to give them according to their deeds, because they regard not the works of the LORD. He leaves the reckoning to God.

Verse 6 is the turn: Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. Verse 2 asked God to hear the voice of my supplications, and now David says that same prayer has been heard. Many readers take this as an answer that came while he prayed, or as David praising in faith before he saw the result.

Verse 7 gives the testimony in order: my heart trusted in him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song I will praise him. Trust comes first, then help, then joy, then song.

The psalm ends by turning outward. The LORD is the strength of his people and the saving strength of his anointed, the king. David's last line is a prayer for everyone: save thy people, bless thine inheritance, feed them, and lift them up for ever.

Background and context

The superscription calls it A Psalm of David. The psalm names no occasion, and it is traditionally read as a prayer from a time of danger in David's reign.

It belongs to Book I of the Psalms (Psalms 1-41). Like Psalm 27 just before it, it moves between pleading and confidence.

Key verses

Cross references

• Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my strength and my bucklerThe LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
• Psalm 3:3 Thou, O LORD, art a shield for meBut thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
• Psalm 141:2 The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice, like verse 2Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
• Jeremiah 9:8 One speaketh peaceably to his neighbour, but in heart he layeth his waitTheir tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
• Psalm 33:20 The LORD is our help and our shieldOur soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
• 1 Samuel 2:10 Hannah's song: God gives strength to his king and exalts his anointedThe adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.