Psalm 5

 ¹Give ear to my words, O Lord,

Consider my meditation.

²Give heed to the voice of my cry,

My King and my God,

For to You I will pray.

³My voice You shall hear in the morning,

O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You,

And I will look up.

⁴For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,

Nor shall evil dwell with You.

⁵The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;

You hate all workers of iniquity.

⁶You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;

The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;

In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

⁸Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;

Make Your way straight before my face.

⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;

Their inward part is destruction;

Their throat is an open tomb;

They flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰Pronounce them guilty, O God!

Let them fall by their own counsels;

Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,

For they have rebelled against You.

¹¹But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.

¹²For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;

With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹Give ear to my words, O Lord,

Consider my meditation.

²Give heed to the voice of my cry,

My King and my God,

For to You I will pray.

This Psalm begins with a heartfelt cry to God to hear our words, and to give attention to our meditation, (i.e., the thoughts and intents of our hearts), to give heed to the words of our voice. Which is not just the substance of our words, but the emotions behind them. Now in doing so God Himself is acknowledged as our King, the only One that we pray too. This prayer then is not for the one who is causal with God, but for all of us who want Him to draw near to us.

Vs. 3 “My voice You shall hear in the morning,

O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You,

And I will look up.”

With then our focus on God, the man (or woman) of God makes their prayers and supplications to Him in the morning, committing their day to Him. For He is the only Just and Righteous God whom we know will be watching over us through this day. Therefore, with boldness and confidence we can also say, “I will look up.” That is in the hope of His Kingdom, we look to God for all justice, righteousness, and truth, because down here all these things are grossly perverted.

Vs. 4-6 ⁴For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,

Nor shall evil dwell with You.

⁵The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;

You hate all workers of iniquity.

⁶You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;

The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

 In order to settle his heart while being faced with adversity at the hands of the wicked, David now reasserts the Character of God. For God takes no pleasure in wickedness, (as the sons of men do), who in their deceived and depraved minds often make light of it, or sport of it, or in "normalizing" it in their conscience and cultures these things become okay. Nonetheless we know that God does not change, therefore He shall never let evil dwell with Him (vs. 4). For He alone sets the standards of righteousness and justice that all of mankind is to live by. Neither then does God endure the boastful, who in their pride exalt themselves against Him, His Word, or others. For they are those who love to parade themselves around in the presence of men, they are those who love to speak boastfully, whose persons walk shamelessly through the earth. Therefore, they shall not stand in His sight, nor will they have any place with Him, for they will never be seen, or heard in His Holy Presence! For the Lord hates all workers of iniquity (vs. 5), He shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man (vs. 6). Those then who speak falsehood, who slander and defame others through the same, or create and or forward all kinds of conspiracy theories and lies so as to create turmoil or conflict amongst men, or simply just to promote their own name and fame so as to get rich, or get elected to office off of the same, should all repent of their ways, because the Lord will destroy all of those who speak falsehood, this the Scripture Promises, how much more than will He do so to everyone who does so in His Name. For the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man, He will render His Judgment and His verdict against every one who does so. His silence now then is not His Full Judgment deferred, only withheld, until He brings it fully forth on His Day. 

Vs. 7 “But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;

In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.” 

Having denounced the works and ways of the wicked, the proud, and the violent and scheming man, David now refocuses his thoughts on our merciful Lord and Savior, on seeking Him in His house, and finding His unending and manifold mercies there. And this he (and we) will do in the fear of the Lord, that is in reverence of Him, we will worship and adore Him in His holy temple, that is those places where He is truly worshiped. 

Vs. 8 “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;

Make Your way straight before my face.” 

David now begins with his supplications, asking the Lord to lead him in His righteousness, so that he might choose to do what is right in the sight of God; because his enemies are always watching him, always looking for some reason to accuse him. Therefore, David asks that the Lord make His way straight before him, so he can choose to follow it, and put all of his unjust accusers to silence by it.

Vs. 9-10 “For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;

Their inward part is destruction;

Their throat is an open tomb;

They flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰Pronounce them guilty, O God!

Let them fall by their own counsels;

Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,

For they have rebelled against You.

 Their nature then is one falsehood and lies, of rank hypocrisy and evil, of only being skillful plotters and charmers who speak evil of others, while only doing and or desiring the same. Their very words then only bring forth death, (that is with smiles on their faces they speak with all manner of deceitful and sinful tongues, and often with inducements to sin, or down playing the same), nothing Godly then comes out of their mouths. Indeed, their mouths are full of flattery by which they seek to seduce people through the same. Therefore, David asks our God to pronounce them guilty, to let them fall by their own counsels, to cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, because by doing so they clearly show themselves to have openly rebelled against God. 

Vs. 11-12 ¹¹But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.

¹²For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;

With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

David’s finial supplication then is that the Lord fill our hearts with rejoicing; for we have turned away from our own sins and transgressions, we have turned away from the lies of this world that only promote sexual sins and the same, for we believe in Him. Therefore, let us (i.e., the righteous, everyone whom God declares righteous by faith in His Son Jesus Christ, who thus now seeks to live righteous lives), ever shout for joy, because it is the Lord who defends us! The Lord's blessing then is on the righteous for with His favor He will surround us as with a shield! 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.