Psalm 9:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!

NIV: Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence.

NASB: Arise, Lord, do not let mankind prevail; Let the nations be judged before You.

CSB: Rise up, Lord! Do not let mere humans prevail; let the nations be judged in your presence.

NLT: Arise, O Lord! Do not let mere mortals defy you! Judge the nations!

KJV: Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

NKJV: Arise, O Lord, Do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged in Your sight.

David exclaims, "Arise O LORD." When the Hebrews traveled through the Negev, the ark of the covenant went before them. Numbers 10:35 quotes Moses as saying, "Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you." Like Moses, David recognized that God is all-powerful, but His enemies were weak. "Man," as used here, means weak, frail human beings. David knew the Lord would not allow such enemies to have ultimate victory.

The prayer offered here is for God to judge "the nations." This phrase is most commonly used in the Old Testament in reference to all people groups other than the nation of Israel. In other words, it is mostly a reference to Gentiles—non-Jews—and often serves as a symbolic reference to the ungodly world.

Someday the Lord Jesus Christ will judge the nations. He will judge in the sense of punishing them (Revelation 19:15–16). He will adjudicate by determining who will enter His earthly kingdom and who will perish. The judging will be based on how nations treated the saved Jews during the tribulation (Matthew 25:40). The saved Gentiles believed the saved Jews' gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 24:14), which provided sanctuary for them.

Psalm 9:9–20 turns David's attention to various groups of people of Israel. He mentions the oppressed, those who trust in the Lord, the afflicted, the needy, and the poor. He sees the Lord as a safe, secure place, a God who is mindful of His people, and the supplier of hope to the poor.

David praises God in a song which follows an acrostic pattern: the psalm is divided into phrases which begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The pattern continues through Psalm 10, leading some to suggest they were intended as a single work, or as closely related halves. In this psalm, David promises to praise God for His great deeds, including awesome victory over evil. The Lord's eternal justice is also praised, as David asks for further rescue from those who seek to kill him. The passage ends with a prayer for God to remind mankind of His authority.

This is a thanksgiving song, where David shows appreciation for the Lord's rescue. This shares similar themes to Psalm 10, though from a very different tone. Some scholars think Psalms 9 and 10 were originally a single work. This is part of the first section of the book of Psalms, including Psalms 1 through 41.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.