1 Bow down Thine ear, Jehovah, answer me, For I am afflicted and poor. 2 Keep my soul, for I am favoured [by Thee], Save Thy servant, O Thou my God, That trusts in Thee. 3 Be gracious to me, Lord, For to Thee I cry all the day. 4 Rejoice the soul of Thy servant, For to Thee, Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For Thou, Lord, art good and forgiving, And plenteous in loving-kindness to all who call on Thee.
6 Give ear, Jehovah, to my prayer, And take heed to the voice of my supplications. 7 In the day of my straits will I call [on] Thee, For Thou wilt answer me. 8 There is none like Thee among the gods, O Lord, And no [works] like Thy works. 9 All nations whom Thou hast made Shall come and bow themselves before Thee, And shall give glory to Thy Name, 10 For great art Thou and doest wonders, Thou art God alone. 11 Teach me, Jehovah, Thy way, I will walk in Thy troth, Unite my heart to fear Thy Name. 12 I will thank Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Thy Name for ever. 13 For Thy loving-kindness is great towards me, And Thou hast delivered my soul from Sheol beneath.
14 O God, the proud have risen against me, And a crew of violent men have sought after my soul, And have not set Thee before them. 15 But Thou, Lord, art a God compassionate and gracious, Long-suffering and plenteous in loving-kindness and troth. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, Give Thy strength to Thy servant, And save the son of Thy handmaid. 17 Work for me a sign for good, That they who hate me may see and be ashamed, For Thou, Jehovah, hast helped me and comforted me.
This psalm is little more than a mosaic of quotations and familiar phrases of petition. But it is none the less individual, nor is the psalmist less heavily burdened, or less truly beseeching and trustful, because he casts his prayer into well-worn words. God does not give "originality" to every devout man; and He does not require it as a condition of accepted prayer. Humble souls, who find in more richly endowed men's words the best expression of their own needs, may be encouraged by such a psalm. Critics may think little of it, as a mere cento; but God does not refuse to bow His ear, though He is asked to do so in borrowed words. A prayer full of quotations may be heartfelt, and then it will be heard and answered. This psalmist has not only shown his intimate acquaintance with earlier devotional words, but he has woven his garland with much quiet beauty, and has blended its flowers into a harmony of colour all his own.
There is no fully developed strophical arrangement but there is a discernible flow of thought, and the psalm may be regarded as falling into three parts.
The first of these (vv. 1-5) is a series of petitions, each supported by a plea. The petitions are the well-worn ones which spring from universal need, and there is a certain sequence in them. They begin with "Bow down Thine ear," the first of a suppliant's desires, which, as it were, clears the way for those which follow. Trusting that he will not ask in vain, the psalmist then prays that God would "keep" his soul as a watchful guardian or sentry does, and that, as the result of such care, he may be saved from impending perils. Nor do his desires limit themselves to deliverance. They rise to more inward and select manifestations of God's heart of tenderness, for the prayer "Be gracious" asks for such, and so goes deeper into the blessedness of the devout life than the preceding. And the crown of all these requests is "Rejoice the soul of Thy servant," with the joy which flows from experience of outward deliverance and of inward whispers of God's grace, heard in the silent depths of communion with Him. It matters not that every petition has parallels in other psalms, which this singer is quoting. His desires are none the less his, because they have been shared by a company of devout souls before him. His expression of them is none the less his, because his very words have been uttered by others. There is rest in thus associating oneself with an innumerable multitude who have "cried to God and been lightened." The petition in ver. 1 is like that in Psalm lv. 2. Ver. 2 sounds like a reminiscence of Psalm xxv. 20; ver. 3 closely resembles Psalm lvii. 1.