Psalms 28

KJV · Chapter 28/150

1Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

3Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

4Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

5Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

6Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

David cries out not to be treated like the wicked, asks God to repay each person according to their deeds, and ends by praising Him because his prayer was heard, asking for a blessing on all the people.

Explanation

The psalm begins with urgency ('be not silent to me') and ends with confident gratitude that the prayer was answered — a common pattern in psalms of lament, in which confidence arises even before any visible evidence of an answer. The request that God repay 'according to their deeds' reflects a common principle in Old Testament theology: divine justice responds to human actions, even though the final outworking of that justice often only becomes clear over time. Today's application: handing over to God the desire for justice, without taking revenge into one's own hands.

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