Psalms 9:1-20

Psalms 9:10 are combined in LXX, and there is certainly a real, though obscure, relationship between them. The two together form one 'acrostic,' the vv. beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, though in both Pss. there is a gap in the arrangement. The subject matter of the two Pss., however, does not suggest that we have in tbem the two halves of what was originally a single Ps. Psalms 9 is distinctly national and Psalms 10 as distinctly personal, and though both may be by the same author, the problem of their connexion must be left unsolved.

Psalms 9 is the song of a king who has gained a victory over a foreign enemy, and finds in this a proof of God's righteous rule over the whole earth—a rule which he prays may be yet more fully displayed. Only in Psalms 9:13 is the note of personal affliction and need to be heard.

Title.—Upon Muth-labben] 'Muth-labben' means 'Death to the son,' and probably indicates some well-known song, to the tune of which the Ps. was directed to be sung.