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PSALM 57

To him that presides; Al-taschith: Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.

1. Be merciful to me, O god, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge with you, and in the shadow of your wings do I trust until calamities be overpast.
2. I cry to god, Most High, to god who performs for me.
3. He will send from heaven and save me, he will put him to shame that would swallow me up; Selah; god shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4. My soul is in the midst of lions; I dwell amongst men who are flames of fire; their teeth are as spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
5. Exalt yourself, O god, above the heavens, your glory above all the earth.
6. They have prepared a net for my steps; they have bowed down my soul; they have dug a pit before me, they have fallen into the midst of it. Selah.
7. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise.
8. Awake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp; I will awake in the morning.
9. I will praise you, O lord, amongst the peoples; I will praise you amongst the nations.
10. For your mercy is great even to the heavens; and your truth even to the skies.
11. Be you exalted, O god, above the heavens, your glory above all the earth.

Verse 4. My soul is in the midst of lions; I dwell amongst the sons of man that are flames of fire; their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. By lions are signified those who despoil the church of truths, and thus destroy it; by the sons of man who are flames of fire are signified those who are in the truths of the church, and abstractedly truths themselves, who are said to be flames of fire by the conceit of self-intelligence, whence come falsities, their teeth are a spear and arrows signify reasonings from external sensual principles, and thus from the fallacies and falsities of religion, by which truths are destroyed; teeth signify the ultimates of the life of man, which are external sensual principles, in this case reasonings from them; and tongue signifies the falses of religion, wherefore their tongue is called a sharp sword, for by a sword is signified the destruction of truth by falsities. AE 455.

By lions are signified those who by falses destroy the truths of the church; their teeth, which are a spear and arrows, signify scientifics, which they apply to confirm falses and evils, and thus to destroy the truths and goods of the church; their tongue a sharp sword signifies cunning reasonings from falses, which are called a sharp sword, because a sword signifies what is false destroying what is true. AE 556.

Verses 7, 8, 9. I will sing and give praise; awake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp; I will praise you, O lord, amongst the peoples, I will praise you amongst the nations. Confession and glorification from the good of truth, or from spiritual good, and from the truth of good, or from spiritual truth, are expressed in every particular of this passage; the good of truth is expressed by singing, by awaking with the psaltery, and by praising amongst the nations; and the truth of good by awaking with the psaltery and harp, and praising amongst the people; for by nations, in the Word, are meant those who are in good, and by peoples, those who are in truth, in this case in spiritual truth: the reason why it is so said is because in the Word, where mention is made of good, mention is also made of truth, and this on account of their marriage. AE 323.

Verse 10. Your mercy is great even to the heavens, your truth, even to the aethers. That the Lord in the angelic heaven appears as a sun, and that the Divine Truth proceeding from the lord, as a sun, forms all the light of heaven; thus all the intelligence and wisdom belonging to the angels, may be seen in the work concerning heaven and hell, HH 116 to 125, and HH 126 to 140; the reason why it is also said that the air is obscured is because the light of truth is meant, for the air has light from the sun. The like is signified by aethers in David, "Your mercy is great even to the heavens, your truth is even to the aethers," mercy signifies the Divine good of the Divine love, and truth the Divine Truth, and whereas the Divine Truth is the light of heaven, as was just now said, therefore it is said, "Your truth is even to the aethers;" by the aethers, therefore in the plural number is signified the Divine light even to the highest heaven, where it is in the highest degree. AE 541.

The Translator's Notes and Observations

Verse 8. I will awake in the morning. In the received English version of the Psalms, which is here rendered in the morning is expressed by the single term early, which has respect to a period of time, but not immediately to the morning itself, consequently not to the divine and spiritual idea intended to be expressed by the term morning. For, according to the testimony of our enlightened expositor, the term morning has relation to the lord himself, who, in the supreme sense of the word, is the morning, and is thus expressive of a variety of ideas connected with that relation, which ideas are not at all suggested by the term early.