Psalms 7:1-17
1 O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God judgetha the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit,b and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
This is a song of the singer's confidence and appeal in circumstances of the most trying description. He is persecuted by enemies, some among them being violent and cruel. The basis of their attack would seem to be some charge of wrongdoing they make against him. He vehemently denies the charge and cries to Jehovah for vindication, which he firmly believes the God who tries the hearts of men will surely grant.
In the first part of the psalm the story of personal need is told. The ruthlessness of the foe is the reason for his appeal. The declaration of personal innocence follows. If the charges were true, then would the heaviest judgments be just. They are untrue, as God is witness. Then let Jehovah appear on behalf of the innocent against the guilty.
Then follows the general affirmation of the equity of God on which the singer builds his confidence. God is righteous. The way of wickedness cannot prosper. It creates its own destruction. The pit digged is the grave of the man who digs it. The mischief and violence meditated return as retribution on the evildoer. The psalm is a song of confidence in the reign of God in equity over all men, and the consequent certainly that innocence will be vindicated in this particular case. Thanksgiving is according to Jehovah's righteousness.