The Psalter is remarkable because in it you can find examples of many life situations. The author of Psalm 16 offers prayers to God during a time of persecution. A characteristic feature of the prayer is that the person saying it is completely confident that he is right. He is in danger, he is threatened by enemies, but still finds reliable refuge - the Lord Himself, whose righteousness is beyond doubt. Therefore, not everyone will dare to talk with the Creator the way David did.
About the author About the book
Circumstances of writing the psalm
There is no reliable date for the appearance of the prayer. There is also no information about the place where the psalm was written. All that is known is the author and the approximate circumstances in which the work appeared. Thus, Psalm 16, like the others, was written in the desert by the future king David, who fled from Saul. Being in the power of the Lord, the author asked God for deliverance from torment and for help. The suffering that he bears on his shoulders, according to David, is undeserved, and this makes it even harder.
Psalm 16 is a sacred song
History of writing
Jewish and Slavic sources confirm that the authorship of Psalm 16 belongs to the prophet David. The work was composed during the reign of Saul over Israel. The future king had to endure persecution from the current ruler. Left without support, he found himself on the verge of despair, which is emphasized in the text of the prayer.
It also talks about saving the life of the persecutor by David. He preserved it by preventing the wicked from killing Saul when they had the chance. The song included in the collection of Psalms speaks not only about the enemies of the future king, their anger and deceit, but also about the author’s innocence before the Almighty.
Interpretation of Psalm 16
Generally speaking, the meaning of the song is that the Lord is the only protection for every person. David speaks of his innocence, as in other psalms, and asks for help from the Creator. The work was created to glorify the Lord as the only hope for all believers . The song itself consists of 15 verses, in each of which the future king addresses the Almighty. Let's look at these parts in more detail:
- From verses 1 to 4, David proves his innocence, talks about disasters and loyalty to God. Here he proves the inviolability and strength of his hope in the mercy of the Lord;
- from 5 to 7 asks the Lord for support in faith. David needs protection; he calls himself a slave, expressing the greatest humility before God;
- From verses 10 to 12 there follows a description of the enemies, both their actions and character. They appear to us as wicked, proud people who do not know God's law.
In the last lines, David openly asks God for protection and patronage. Here the author shows himself to be a humble servant of the Lord, hoping for his mercy and deliverance from his enemies.
The entire text of the psalm expresses the strength of the author’s faith and his hope in God alone as the Creator, as a protector and patron.
How to talk to God correctly
The future king in this text gives an excellent example of how to talk with heaven. First, you need to analyze your own life. David, when composing Psalm 16, was fully confident that he had behaved correctly. Even in his thoughts he did not hold anything against his opponent, but only fulfilled the will of God.
- In verse 3, the author says that God tested him and found no sins or unrighteous deeds;
- Verse 4 tells us to watch what comes out of people's lips, because words can be the source of unrighteous deeds;
- In verse 5 he instructs that one should always walk according to the commandments, that is, walk in the ways of God.
Next comes the denunciation of the persecutors. Although they are noble and rich, David hopes that the Lord will hear and be fair. After all, real righteousness does not depend on the opinion of society, worldly fame, awards, etc. God's recognition cannot be bought with money. The author of Psalm 16 is confident that the dispassionate judge will carry out His judgment in ways that are available only to the Lord of heaven.
The future great king shows a wonderful example of humility and faith. Even finding himself in the middle of the desert, surrounded by strong enemies, he does not lose confidence that God will not forget him. In the final verse, David says that he will not follow the example of the wicked, but will fulfill the commandments and do righteous deeds.
- Psalm 103 - text in Russian, interpretation;
- Look here Psalm 34 - text in Russian;
- Psalm 67 - text in Russian: https://bogolub.info/psalom-67/.
How to read a psalm correctly when turning to God
In temples and churches the song is read in Old Church Slavonic. It should be said when God’s support in difficult situations, his protection and support is needed.
In churches the Psalter is read in Old Church Slavonic
God hears sincere prayer
Psalm 16 is read in difficult situations
What is the purpose of reading Psalm 16?
It is recommended in the following cases:
- in a moment of difficult testing, when spiritual work is important;
- when attacked by enemies (including internal ones, for example, passions, temptations);
- when many problems have accumulated, trouble threatens;
- for spiritual protection.
Patronage from above comes to those who pray diligently, pondering the meaning of Psalm 16. To do this, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the easy-to-understand Russian version of the text.
Text of Psalm 16 in Russian
1 Hear, O Lord, [my] truth, listen to my cry, accept my prayer from the lips of the untruthful.
2 Let judgment come to me from Your presence; let Thy eyes look upon righteousness.
3 You tried my heart, you visited me by night, you tempted me and found nothing; My lips do not depart from my thoughts.
4 In the affairs of men, according to the word of Your mouth, I have kept myself from the ways of the oppressor.
5 Establish my steps in Your ways, so that my feet do not falter.
6 I cry to You, for You will hear me, O God; incline Your ear to me, hear my words.
7 Show Your wondrous mercy, O Savior of those who trust [in You] from those who resist Your right hand.
8 Guard me like the apple of your eye; shelter me in the shadow of your wings
9 From the presence of the wicked who attack me, from the enemies of my soul who surround me:
10 They are wrapped up in their fat, they speak arrogantly with their lips.
11 They surround us now at every step we take; they fixed their eyes to cast me down to the ground;
12 They are like a lion thirsty for prey, like a skim sitting in hidden places.
13 Arise, O Lord, warn them, bring them down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by Your sword,
14 from men by Thy hand, O Lord, from the people of the world, whose portion is in this life, whose bellies Thou fillest from Thy treasuries; their sons are satisfied and will leave the remainder to their children.
15 But I will look upon Your face in righteousness; Having awakened, I will be satisfied with Your image.
A believer does not need any special occasion, conditions or situation at all. You can read the psalm whenever your heart wants, then God will hear your prayer, the power of faith and will definitely help and support.
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We read the Psalter. Psalm 16
Audio |
Conversation with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin about the Psalter. – We continue to talk with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin, rector of the Church of St. Euphrosyne, Grand Duchess of Moscow, about the Psalter.
Father Alexy, you and I have been talking about psalms for quite a long time - today we already have the 16th psalm - and every time we say how amazing and optimistic this or that psalm is. Probably the whole charm, to put it in secular terms, of the Psalter is that you can speak about everyone in superlatives.
– Indeed, each psalm is very strong and edifying, revealing something of its own. And therefore, I think, the Psalter is full of consolation for any person who is going through one or another test in life. It is impossible to experience everything in life - it is very difficult, it is unbearable for a person living on earth to bear everything. Everyone has their own adventures, their own troubles, illnesses, infirmities, experiences. And the psalmist David, with his prophetic word, the Divine word, pours oil on the soul and heart, heals it.
Some say that there are strong and weak psalms. Probably, when the psalm speaks of another pain, I somehow don’t perceive it - and it seems that this psalm is not so strong... We don’t analyze the Psalter in too much detail, but how much strong, how much edifying and comforting we see here , joyful! And this not only consoles, but also builds a spiritual perspective.
- Well, let's get started.
- So, the 16th Psalm. It is simply called prayer. You and I have said more than once that the psalmist David experienced great temptations at the beginning of his ministry, when he was anointed as king. Saul did not perceive him, constantly sought his death, and David hid, defended himself, was in a terrible state, but still preserved his face, and then the Lord, having tested him completely through these temptations, made him king of the people. It must be said that the psalmist David not only led his people in an earthly way, but also left a very rich spiritual legacy, showing everyone that if you rely only on economic and political power, then it is illusory, and everything you do will not have such long-term success as a kingdom where the spiritual life of the people is at the forefront.
“Hear, O Lord, my truth, attend to my prayer, make my prayer not come from flattering lips.” Again the psalmist David says, so that the Lord will hear his prayer, “attend to my prayer,” “instill my prayer not in flattering lips,” that is, he says that “before You I give the righteousness of my service, that in my life I have not done untruth and whatever lawlessness he might have committed, he always acted according to the commandments of God. So today, Lord, accept my prayer.” After all, God never accepts a prayer from someone who tells Him a lie. God sees the heart and thoughts of men, so He needs to be revealed in truth. We know that the Lord hears the righteous and does not hear sinners. If a person prays, but does not achieve what he wants and says: “I pray a lot, I ask God, but the Lord does not help me,” then it means that he needs to pay attention to his life, repent to the Lord, sanctify himself and only after sanctification turn to God . And the Lord will hear you. The psalmist David draws attention to this. He calls to God, one might say, reproaches God: I turn to You in truth and purity, hear me, Lord, “hear, Lord, my righteousness.” Not just my prayers, but my truth, that is, “my righteous life”: “Look at me, Lord, I come to You with such truth and in purity to receive help from You!”
“From Your presence my destiny will come, let my eyes see righteousness. You have tempted my heart, you have visited me at night, you have tempted me, and iniquity is not found in me.” These words echo the words of the 15th Psalm. The psalmist speaks about his life: my destiny will come from Your presence, that is, he never sought the kingdom, he was a shepherd, but the Lord came and through the prophet anointed him. And “let my eyes see what is right” - he always lived in truth. “You have tempted my heart, you have visited me at night” - that is, you have tested his heart and visited it at night, and again “you have tempted me, and iniquity is not found in me.” That is, the psalmist invites the Lord to look at him both day and night: he always avoided all untruth, which, perhaps, even in moments of testing, nightly reasoning appears. And, of course, the psalmist asks the Lord to show righteous judgment so that people understand that if they continue to act against him, they will be condemned by God, because David did not commit that unrighteousness for which he could be blamed.
“For let not my mouth speak of the deeds of men; for the words of thy lips I have kept cruel ways.” Here, again, the psalmist says that he never sought cruel paths - paths of earthly service combined with untruth and sin. He always sought in his life only the right path, serving God.
“Make my steps in Your paths, so that my steps may not move.” David calls the commandments of God paths. His life has always been according to the commandments of God, he can testify to this before Him at any moment.
“I cried, because you heard me, O God, incline Your ear to me and hear my words.” Again the psalmist David cries out to the Lord so that the Lord will hear him: “Incline Your ear to me.” Of course, God’s ears are not inclined, but the image is very bright. What does “incline your ear” mean? We want to say something intimate, sincere.
- Hidden.
“We don’t say secret things out loud, we speak into someone’s ear, and the person bows his head and leans his ear towards you.” It is very important for us that he hears every word. Therefore, the psalmist says: bow down, Lord, I will tell you in your ear, this is very important, and I want you to hear every word. “And hear my words” - this was the strong experience of the psalmist David, look what words he says! Strong, strong and at the same time very strongly expressing his inner experience and desire for God’s help and protection to be with him.
“Amazing Your mercy, saving those who trust in You from those who resist Your right hand. Save me, Lord, like the apple of your eye, and cover me in the shelter of Your wing.” The psalmist asks the Lord to show His mercy, to save those who trust in Him, to shame those who resist the right hand of God. The most important thing to remember is that the psalmist did not seek his own, he only fulfilled the will of God, he lived according to the truth of God. There was no guile in him, in his actions, in his searches. He could not leave this path, such was the will of God. Therefore he says: Lord, show Your mercy, save me, who trusts in You, “Keep me, O Lord, like the apple of your eye.” But how does the Lord preserve our eyes? By nature itself: there are eyelids, and the eyes are closed so that neither midges nor dust can harm. We have eyebrows, we also have eyelashes that protect our eyes even from sweat from our foreheads. “Lord, look how You have preserved man’s sight, how You have preserved the apple of his eye. Am I worse than this? Protect me like the apple of your eye”... “In the shelter of Your wing You cover me,” that is, David asks: as a bird covers its chicks with its wings, so You, Lord, cover me with Your grace.
“On behalf of the wicked, who have enraged me, conquer my soul.” Here David talks about enemies who want his life. Of course, they thought that they would take the life of the psalmist David and it would be all of them again. They flattered Saul, understood that they would lose everything after David’s coming, and, relying on their untruth, their iniquity, their wealth, they sought David’s death.
“You shut your fat, and their lips spoke pride.” They, proud, laughed at David, saying that they would deal with him. “Lock your shutter here.” Fat – fat; this is wealth, of course. And, perhaps, internally: interpreters explain that fat speaks not only of wealth, it is located around important human organs.
“Those who cast me out have now passed me by, casting their eyes upon the earth. Having embraced me like a lion ready to hunt and like a skiman who dwells in the secret.” Again the psalmist speaks of those who seek his death - that they “set their eyes on the earth.” That is, he talks about their earthly attachment, about the wealth that they have and on which they rely and continue to commit lies. What position did they take in relation to the psalmist and King David? “Having declared me like a lion ready to hunt, and like a skiman who dwells in secret.” Here is one very interesting comparison - “like a lion is ready to catch” “and like a skiman.” Skimen is a lion cub: like a lion cub, dwell in secrets. We must clearly understand that the lion is filled with strength, strength, and confidence in his actions, so he attacks the victim, looking directly at her. And the lion cub, although it already has strength, does not yet have confidence. So the lion's hunt is direct, and the lion cub hides in the bushes, and then approaches the prey and attacks it, lacking self-confidence. The psalmist David compares his enemies with both lions and skinns, that is, with lion cubs, because they occupy exactly this position - some directly, and some on the sly. That’s why he writes: surprise, Lord, Your mercy is upon me. Yet he showed how much he was preserved by the mercy which the Lord had shown. Grace preserved David: look what a trick was used against him!
“Arise, O Lord, I will advance and stifle them, deliver my soul from the wicked, Thy weapon from the enemy of Thy hand.” Then the psalmist David says very well:
“Lord, from the little ones of the earth, I divided them in their bellies, and filled their bellies with Thy hidden ones, being satisfied with sons, and leaving the remains as my infants.” The psalmist asks the Lord to separate these people from the righteous (and he calls the righteous, the elect “from the least of the earth”), so that it can be seen where there is holiness and where there is unrighteousness. “The belly is filled with Thy hidden ones”: he says that the hidden things are wealth, that is, they are rich, and this wealth is associated not only with gold, silver and other valuable materials, but with the untruth and malice that is in them. And this malice is not only with them, it is “filled with the sons,” that is, it has already been passed on to the sons, and “leaving the remains with their children”: not only they, but also their children and their grandchildren are saturated with this wealth.
“I will appear before Your face in righteousness, I will be satisfied, and I will always show Your glory to me” - here, of course, the Lord speaks through the psalmist David about the future life. He who endures to the end will be rewarded by the Lord Himself with immutable glory, which will appear to man in eternity. What is this glory? We, of course, cannot fully understand, but this will be complete consolation for every person. In the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, through the Apostle Paul, amazing words are revealed to us about what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him: neither the ear has heard, nor the eyes have seen, nor has it entered into the heart, all that the Lord has prepared for those who love Him. As a consolation, the Lord says that a person will be satisfied with the righteousness of God only when it is revealed. And before that, of course, everything in this life will be filled with untruth.
Psalm 16 is very comforting. Not only did the psalmist find himself in a difficult situation when his enemies rebelled against him. We have a lot of such experiences when our loved ones, those at work, and those at home rebel against us. And then the person says: “It seems like I haven’t done anything so sinful, why do they rebel against me like that?” Here you go, Psalm 16 for understanding. There will be a lot of these uprisings, but you always need to pray, and then the Lord will show His mercy, will give those saints and righteous people who will cover and intercede for such a person. Well, full glory and the reward for patience will be given to man in eternity.
