1 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
<html><b>yonath elem rehokim</b> He said this concerning himself, for he was with Achish, far from the land of Israel, and Goliath’s brothers were requesting permission from Achish to kill him, as it is said (I Sam. 21:12): “Is this not David, the king of the land?” And he was among them as a mute dove.</html>
<html><b>yearn</b> Heb. שאפנו, yearn to swallow me up, goloseir or goloser, to long, to be impatient. (Cf. Rashi to Amos 2:7.) As (Jer. 2:24): “that snuffs up (שאפה) the wind.” <b>the warrior</b> Heb. לחם, an expression of war (מלחמה).</html>
<html><b>O Most High</b> The Holy One blessed be He, Who dwells on High.</html>
<html><b>With God, I will praise His word</b> Even when He deals with me with the Divine standard of justice I will praise His word and trust in Him.</html>
<html><b>All day long, my words grieve [me]</b> My pursuers grieve me until all the words of my mouth are grief and cries.</html>
<html><b>They lodge, they hide</b> They lurk and lodge in the place they hope I will go, and they watch my steps (traces in French, tracks, explained in Gen. 49:19, Song of Songs 1:8) to spy on me and to lead pursuers there. All this he would complain about the wicked of Israel: that they would lie in wait for him and out of fear of them he had fled to Achish.<b>they hide</b> They lurk. <b>when they hope for my life</b> When they know [that I will pass] and hope for me, “He will go this way.”</html>
<html><b>For iniquity, they expect rescue</b> To find rescue and riches for a matter of iniquity and wickedness. And פַלֶט is like לפלט, to rescue. They expect reward from Saul for that. <b>Bring down…with anger</b> With Your anger, bring down this nation in whose midst I am, from their wisdom and from the plots that they devise to kill me.</html>
<html><b>You counted my wanderings</b> You know the number of the places to which I wandered, to flee. <b>place my tears in Your flask</b> Place my tears in Your flask, and let them be preserved before You. <b>Is it not in Your accounting</b> Place them in Your accounting, to count them with the rest of my troubles. Menachem, however, associated it (p. 128) as an expression of an actual book.</html>
<html><b>With God I will praise a word; with the Lord I will praise</b> For the Divine standard of justice and for the Divine standard of mercy I will praise.</html>
<html><b>in the light of life</b> To return to the Land of Israel.</html>