A High Tower in Times of Trouble
1 For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm by David. I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously. 5 You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished. 7 But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. 8 He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness. 9 Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done. 12 For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted. 13 Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may show all of your praise. I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion. 15 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. 16 Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah. 17 The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. 19 Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. 20 Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.
Thanksgiving for judgment already executed, and a reminder that the nations are only men.
For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm by David. I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.
The ninth and tenth psalms share a single alphabetical scheme running across both, which is why some traditions count them as one. Together they make a pair: this one thanks God for judgment carried out, and the next asks why he is doing nothing.
5 You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
The verbs are past. Something has happened, and the psalm does not say what. The blotting out of a name was the most complete erasure the ancient world could imagine, and the following line presses it: the very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
The contrast is between two kinds of permanence. Empires are remembered until they are not; the throne set against them was prepared and stays. And the psalm immediately says what the throne is for: he will judge the world in righteousness, which in this book is consistently good news rather than a threat, because the people saying it are the ones currently losing.
Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.
A high tower is not a hiding place but a strong point with a view — somewhere a person can be seen and still not be reached. Then the line that names the condition: those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you Psalms 9:10. Trust follows knowing, and the knowing is of a name, which in this collection always means a character disclosed rather than a word learned.
The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
The image from the previous psalm returns, and it is now applied to empires rather than individuals. The mechanism of judgment is the same at any scale.
Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.
The closing request is not for their destruction. It is that they should find out what they are, which the psalm evidently regards as the cure for most of what they do.
settled What this mark means