Psalm 28 is a prayer by David in two halves. In the first he begs God not to stay silent — being ignored by God frightens him more than his enemies do. In the second, with no explanation of what changed in between, he thanks God for hearing him. Sitting between the halves is the hardest part of the psalm: David asks God to repay people who speak warmly to their neighbours while planning to hurt them. It ends by widening out from himself to everyone God calls his own.
Read Psalm 28 in another translation: NASB2020 · NASB1995 · AMP · BSB
He calls God his Rock, then says what he dreads — that the Rock will say nothing back. If God stays quiet, he says, he may as well be dead already. Notice that his enemies have not been mentioned yet. The silence is the first problem.
Lifting both hands palm-up was the ordinary posture for asking, the way kneeling is for us. He turns toward the one room in the temple where God had promised to speak. This is a man praying at the address he was given.
He asks not to share the fate of people who "speak peace to their neighbours while malice is in their hearts". That is a specific kind of wickedness — not violence, but friendliness used as cover. David wants to be sorted separately from them.
This is the part modern readers flinch at, and it should be read carefully. David does not plan to do anything to these people. He states what he thinks justice would look like and then leaves it with God. Verse 5 gives his reason: they treat everything God does as if it did not matter.
One verse, and the psalm turns over completely. "Blessed be the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy." Nothing in the text says the trouble ended. What changed is that David became sure he had been heard.
Strength, shield, trust, help, joy, song — six things stacked in one verse. This is the line people quote, and it is the far side of verse 1, not a replacement for it. He is not saying he was never afraid.
The same God who was David's strength is called the strength of a whole people. Whatever David has just received, he immediately assumes is not only for him.
Four requests in one sentence — save them, bless them, shepherd them, carry them. A prayer that started as one frightened man's emergency ends with him asking for other people, and asking for more than he asked for himself.
Most of us would say the worst thing is the trouble itself. David says otherwise. In verse 1 the enemies have not even been named yet, and what he is already braced against is silence — God present but not answering. He says that if God does not speak, he is no better off than a man in the grave. This is worth sitting with, because it names something people feel and rarely say out loud: that unanswered prayer can be more frightening than the problem it was about.
Verse 3 describes a very particular person — someone who speaks peace to their neighbour while malice is in their heart. Not an enemy across a battlefield. A colleague, a relative, someone in your congregation. The Bible takes this seriously enough to make it the specific wrong David names, and if you have ever discovered that a friendly person was working against you, the psalm is not asking you to pretend it did not happen.
Verse 4 asks God to repay these people according to what they have done. Christians disagree about how to pray verses like this, and it is fair to find it uncomfortable. But notice what David does not do. He does not threaten them, warn them, or plan anything. He says out loud, to God, what he wants to happen, and then it is God's business. That is a different act from revenge — it is the alternative to it.
Between verse 5 and verse 6 something happens that the psalm never describes. David goes from pleading to praising in the space of a line, and the text gives no news, no outcome, no rescue. Matthew Henry, writing in 1706, admitted he could not tell whether David wrote this while still in trouble or afterwards. That ambiguity is probably the point: the psalm shows what it looks like to be certain you have been heard before you can see any evidence of it.
The last two verses do something you would not predict from the first seven. David has been saying "me" and "my" throughout — my Rock, my strength, my shield — and then in verse 8 he says God is the strength of his people, and in verse 9 he prays for all of them. Relief did not make him more inward. It made him remember there were others in the same position.
Church language, in ordinary English. Nothing here assumes you have heard the word before.
The verse that sets the whole psalm's temperature. David is not asking for an outcome yet; he is asking not to be met with silence. It is the honest opening line for anyone who has prayed about something for a long time and heard nothing back.
The clearest description in the Psalms of a specific and very ordinary wrong: people who are warm to your face and working against you behind it. David's request is not that they be exposed but that he not be counted among them.
The turn, and the most quoted lines in the chapter. Verse 7 is where "the LORD is my strength and my shield" comes from. Read together with verse 6 you can see what it is — not a confident slogan, but what a frightened man said the moment he became sure he had been heard.
The closing prayer, and the reason this psalm is used in public worship. Having asked for himself for eight verses, David spends the last one asking for everyone else — save, bless, shepherd, carry. The verb "carry" is what a shepherd does with an animal that cannot walk any further.
Verse 4 — "Repay them according to their deeds" — is the verse people either skip or misuse. It is not permission to get even. It is close to the opposite: David says out loud what he wishes would happen and then leaves it with God, and there is no plan in this psalm to do anything to anybody. Read as a licence for revenge, it inverts the thing it is doing. Verse 7 has the opposite problem. "The LORD is my strength and my shield" gets lifted off the page and printed on things, away from the fear in verse 1 that produced it. It is not a slogan about being confident; it is what a frightened man said after a long silence finally broke, and it means much less cut loose from that. Finally, the turn at verse 6 is not a promise that praying this psalm will change your circumstances. Nothing in the text says David's enemies went away.
It is a prayer in two parts. In verses 1 to 5 David asks God to answer him, says he is afraid of God's silence more than of his enemies, and asks not to be lumped in with people who are friendly to their neighbours while meaning them harm. In verses 6 to 9 he thanks God for hearing him and prays for God's people as a whole. The psalm never says what happened in between, which is part of what makes it useful.
The heading in the Hebrew text says "of David", who reigned over Israel around 1000 BC. Nothing in the psalm dates it precisely. Some older commentators, including Jamieson, Fausset and Brown in 1871, suggested the rebellion of David's son Absalom as the setting, because verse 8 mentions "his anointed" — the king — and the psalm ends by praying for the nation. That is a reasonable guess, not something the text states.
Strength is what holds you up; a shield is what stands between you and what is coming at you. David is saying God does both at once — supplies what he does not have and blocks what he cannot stop. The line matters most when you read it where it sits, six verses after he was afraid God had gone quiet on him. It is not a statement of general optimism. It is relief.
The grave, and the world of the dead beyond it. It is not a reference to hell, and translations that render it "the grave" are saying the same thing. David's point is about being cut off: a dead man cannot be helped and cannot be spoken to, and that is exactly how he says he would feel if God did not answer him.
It is asking God for justice, in strong language, and Christians have always found verses like this difficult. Psalms that ask God to deal with wrongdoers are called imprecatory psalms. What is worth noticing is that David takes no action himself and proposes none — he states what he thinks these people deserve and hands the matter over. The New Testament makes the same move in Romans 12:19: leave room for God's judgement rather than taking it up yourself.
Nobody can say for certain, and commentators have argued about it for centuries. Matthew Henry, writing in 1706, offered two possibilities: that David was still in trouble and thanking God in advance because he was sure of being heard, or that he was already safe and recording the prayer he had prayed earlier. Either way the psalm deliberately gives no news between verse 5 and verse 6. The confidence does not rest on a visible result.
Pray it in its own order rather than skipping to the good part. Say the thing you are actually afraid of first, as verse 1 does. Name the people or situation honestly, as verse 3 does. Hand over what you would like to see happen instead of acting on it, as verse 4 does. Then thank God for hearing you before you know how it ends, as verse 6 does. And finish by praying for somebody other than yourself, as verse 9 does.
Yes — specifically an individual lament, meaning one person's complaint brought to God rather than the whole nation's. Roughly a third of the Psalms are laments, which is worth knowing if you assumed the Bible expects you to be upbeat when you pray. Psalm 28 is unusual among them for turning to praise inside the same poem rather than ending in the dark.
Read all nine verses before reading anything about them. It takes a minute, and it is the only way to feel the join between verse 5 and verse 6 — which is the most interesting thing in the psalm and the easiest to miss if someone explains it to you first.
Two things to watch for. The first is that David’s opening fear is not his enemies but God’s silence; the enemies do not appear until verse 3. The second is that the psalm changes its mind halfway through and never tells you why. Verse 5 is still braced for the worst. Verse 6 is grateful. Nothing in between reports a rescue.
If verse 4 stops you — where David asks God to pay these people back — you are reading it correctly. It is meant to be uncomfortable. It is also the last thing David says about them; he does not act, and the psalm moves on.
Both of these are free to read and neither can be reproduced here — The Gospel Coalition and BibleProject keep their work under their own copyright. They are worth the click, especially if you are new to reading the Bible.
A free, modern, chapter-by-chapter commentary written by working pastors and scholars. The closest thing to a current study Bible you can read online at no cost.
An animated eight-minute walkthrough of the whole book, tracing how its parts fit together. The fastest way to see where this chapter sits in the larger story.
What the commentaries say about Psalm 28
Three commentaries, oldest last. Each is shown in full with its author and licence, and every scripture reference inside them links through to the verse.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalm 28
Tyndale House Publishers, released openly in 2023
Short, plain-English notes written for people reading the Bible for the first time. They explain what a word meant to its original audience, why a detail is there, and where else in Scripture the same idea shows up. If you only read one set of notes on this page, read this one.
7 notes on Psalm 28
Verse 1
Ps 28 In this individual lament, the psalmist pleads for justice and mercy. He expresses confidence in the Lord’s strength and faithfulness, and he intercedes for the Lord’s people.
28:1-2 The psalmist urges the Lord to listen; his urgency flows out of the tension between his deep relationship with the Lord and the adversity he faces.
28:1 if you are silent: The psalmist appeals to the Lord to take action (35:22; 50:3; 83:1; 109:1).
Verse 2
28:2 It was common to lift up one’s hands in a gesture of devoted prayer (63:4; 134:2).
Verse 3
28:3-5 The psalmist curses his enemies, asking God for retribution and vindication.
Verse 5
28:5 The wicked do not acknowledge the difference between the sacred and the common, so they have no respect for the Lord’s creation, redemption, or revelation.
Verse 6
28:6-8 The psalmist anticipates rescue because of his confidence in the Lord’s justice.
Verse 7
28:7 my strength and shield: The Lord protects the psalmist (see 59:9, 17).
Verse 9
28:9 The poem closes with intercession for the Lord’s people. • Bless Israel, your special possession: See 29:11; 133:3.
Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Read the original
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible on Psalm 28
Matthew Henry, 1706–1714
A pastor writing for his own congregation three hundred years ago. Henry is less interested in historical background than in what a chapter asks of the person reading it, which is why he is still quoted in sermons today. He is warm, direct, and unafraid to apply a text to you.
Before you start: Written in the early 1700s. The sentences are long and some words have shifted meaning since — "conversation" means how a person lives, "want" means to lack something. Read it slowly; it rewards that.
Chapter overview and 2 notes on Psalm 28
What this chapter is doing
The former part of this psalm is the prayer of a saint militan and now in distress (Psa 28:1-3), to which is added the doom of God's implacable enemies (Psa 28:4, Psa 28:5). The latter part of the psalm is the thanksgiving of a saint triumphant, and delivered out of his distresses (Psa 28:6-8), to which is added a prophetical prayer for all God's faithful loyal subjects (Psa 28:9). So that it is hard to say which of these two conditions David was in when he penned it. Some think he was now in trouble seeking God, but at the same time preparing to praise him for his deliverance, and by faith giving him thanks for it, before it was wrought. Others think he was now in triumph, but remembered, and recorded for his own and others' benefit, the prayers he made when he was in affliction, that the mercy might relish the better, when it appeared to be an answer to them.
A psalm of David.
Verse 1
In these verses David is very earnest in prayer.
I. He prays that God would graciously hear and answer him, now that, in his distress, he called upon him, Psa 28:1, Psa 28:2. Observe his faith in prayer: O Lord, my rock, denoting his belief of God's power (he is a rock) and his dependence upon that power - "He is my rock, on whom I build my hope." Observe his fervency in prayer: "To thee will I cry, as one in earnest, being ready to sink, unless thou come in with seasonable succour." And observe how solicitous he is to obtain an answer: "Be not silent to me, as one angry at my prayers, Psa 80:4. Lord, speak to me, answer me with good words and comfortable words (Zac 1:13); though the thing I pray for has not been given me, yet let God speak to me joy and gladness, and make me to hear them. Lord, speak for me, in answer to my prayers, plead my cause, command deliverances for me, and thus hear and answer the voice of my supplications." Two things he pleads: - 1. The sad despair he should be in if God slighted him: "If thou be silent to me, and I have not the tokens of thy favour, I am like those that go down into the pit (that is, I am a dead man, lost and undone); if God be not my friend, appear not to me and appear not for me, my hope and my help will have perished." Nothing can be so cutting, so killing, to a gracious soul, as the want of God's favour and the sense of his displeasure. I shall be like those that go down to hell (so some understand it); for what is the misery of the damned but this, that God is ever silent to them and deaf to their cry? Those are in some measure qualified for God's favour, and may expect it, who are thus possessed with a dread of his wrath, and to whom his frowns are worse than death. 2. The good hopes he had that God would favour him: I lift up my hands towards thy holy oracle, which denotes, not only an earnest desire, but an earnest expectation, thence to receive an answer of peace. The most holy place within the veil is here, as elsewhere, called the oracle; there the ark and the mercy-seat were, there God was said to dwell between the cherubim, and thence he spoke to his people, Num 7:89. That was a type of Christ, and it is to him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through him all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven (Heb 9:24); and from God as our Father in heaven we are taught to expect an answer to our prayers. The scriptures are called the oracles of God, and to them we must have an eye in our prayers and expectations. There is the word on which God hath caused and encouraged us to hope.
II. He deprecates the doom of wicked people, as before (Psa 26:9, "Gather not my soul with sinners): Lord, I attend thy holy oracle, draw me not away from that with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity," Psa 28:3. 1. "Save me from being entangled in the snares they have laid for me. They flatter and cajole me, and speak peace to me; but they have a design upon me, for mischief is in their heart; they aim to disturb me, nay, to destroy me. Lord, suffer me not to be drawn away and ruined by their cursed plots; for they have, can have, no power, no success, against me, except it be given them from above." 2. "Save me from being infected with their sins and from doing as they do. Let me not be drawn away by their fallacious arguments, or their allurements, from the holy oracle (where I desire to dwell all the days of my life), to practise any wicked works;" see Psa 141:4. "Lord, never leave me to myself, to use such arts of deceit and treachery for my safety as they use to my ruin. Let no event of Providence be an invincible temptation to me, to draw me either into the imitation or into the interest of wicked people." Good men dread the way of sinners; the best are sensible of the danger they are in of being drawn aside into it; and therefore we should all pray earnestly to God for his grace to keep us in our integrity. 3. "Save me from being involved in their doom; let me not be led forth with the workers of iniquity, for I am not one of those that speak peace while war is in their hearts." Note, Those that are careful not to partake with sinners in their sins have reason to hope that they shall not partake with them in their plagues, Rev 18:4.
III. He imprecates the just judgments of God upon the workers of iniquity (Psa 28:4): Give them according to their deeds. This is not the language of passion or revenge, nor is it inconsistent with the duty of praying for our enemies. But, 1. Thus he would show how far he was from complying with the workers of iniquity, and with what good reason he had begged not to be drawn away with them, because he was convinced that they could not be made more miserable then to be dealt with according to their deeds. 2. Thus he would express his zeal for the honour of God's justice in the governing world. "Lord, they think all well that they do, and justify themselves in their wicked practices. Lord, give them after the work of their hands, and so undeceive those about them, who think there is no harm in what they do because it goes unpunished," Psa 94:1, Psa 94:2. 3. This prayer is a prophecy that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to their deserts. If what has been done amiss be not undone by repentance, there will certainly come a reckoning day, when God will render to every man who persists in his evil deeds according to them. It is a prophecy particularly of the destruction of destroyers: "They speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts; Lord, give them according to their deeds, let the spoilers be spoiled, and let those be treacherously dealt with who have thus dealt treacherously;" see Isa 33:1; Rev 18:6; Rev 13:10. Observe, He foretels that God will reward them, not only according to their deed, but according to the wickedness of their endeavours; for sinners shall be reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they would have done, which they designed, and did what they could to effect. And, if God go by this rule in dealing with the wicked, surely he will do so in dealing with the righteous, and will reward them, not only for the good they have done, but for the good they have endeavoured to do, though they could not accomplish it.
IV. He foretels their destruction for their contempt of God and his hand (Psa 28:5): "Because they regard not the works of the Lord and the operations of his hands, by which he manifests himself and speaks to the children of men, he will destroy them in this world and in the other, and not build them up." Note, A stupid regardlessness of the works of God is the cause of their ruin. Why do men question the being or attributes of God, but because they do not duly regard his handiworks, which declare his glory, and in which the invisible things of him are clearly seen? Why do men forget God, and live without him, nay, affront God, and live in rebellion against him, but because they consider not the instances of that wrath of his which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men? Why do the enemies of God's people hate and persecute them, and devise mischief against them, but because they regard not the works God has wrought for his church, by which he has made it appear how dear it is to him? See Isa 5:12.
In singing this we must arm ourselves against all temptations to join with the workers of iniquity, and animate ourselves against all the troubles we may be threatened with by the workers of iniquity.
Verse 6
In these verses,
I. David gives God thanks for the audience of his prayers as affectionately as a few verses before he had begged it: Blessed be the Lord, Psa 28:6. How soon are the saints' sorrows turned into songs and their prayers into praises! It was in faith that David prayed (Psa 28:2), Hear the voice of my supplications; and by the same faith he gives thanks (Psa 28:6) that God has heard the voice of his supplications. Note, 1. Those that pray in faith may rejoice in hope. "He hath heard me (graciously accepted me) and I am as sure of a real answer as if I had it already." 2. What we win by prayer we must wear by praise. Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his name.
II. He encourages himself to hope in God for the perfecting of every thing that concerned him. Having given to God the glory of his grace (Psa 28:6), he is humbly bold to take the comfort of it, Psa 28:7. This is the method of attaining peace: let us begin with praise that is attainable. Let us first bless God and then bless ourselves. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God: "The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on, through all my services and sufferings. He is my shield, to protect me from all the malicious designs of my enemies against me. I have chosen him to be so, I have always found him so, and I expect he will still be so." 2. His experience of the benefits of that dependence: "My heart trusted in him, and in his power and promise; and it has not been in vain to do so, for I am helped, I have been often helped; not only God has given to me, in his due time, the help I trusted to him for, but my very trusting in him has helped me, in the mean time, and kept me from fainting." Psa 27:13. The very actings of faith are present aids to a dropping spirit, and often help it at a dead lift. 3. His improvement of this experience. (1.) He had the pleasure of it: Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. The joy of a believer is seated in the heart, while, in the laughter of the fool, the heart is sorrowful. It is great joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. The heart that truly believes shall in due time greatly rejoice; it is joy and peace in believing that we are to expect. (2.) God shall have the praise of it: when my heart greatly rejoices, with my song will I praise him. This must we express our gratitude; it is the least we can do; and others will hereby be invited and encouraged to trust in him too.
III. He pleases himself with the interest which all good people, through Christ, have in God (Psa 28:8): "The Lord is their strength; not mine only, but the strength of every believer." Note, The saints rejoice in their friends' comforts as well as their own; for, as we have not the less benefit from the light of the sun, so neither from the light of Gods' countenance, for others' sharing therein; for we are sure there is enough for all and enough for each. This is our communion with all saints, that God is their strength and ours, Christ their Lord and ours, Co1 1:2. He is their strength, the strength of all Israel, because he is the saving strength of his anointed, that is, 1. Of David in the type. God, in strengthening him that was their king and fought their battles, strengthened the whole kingdom. He calls himself God's anointed because it was the unction he had received that exposed him to the envy of his enemies, and therefore entitled him to the divine protection. 2. Of Christ, his anointed, his Messiah, in the anti-type. God was his saving strength, qualified him for his undertaking and carried him through it; see Psa 89:21; Isa 49:5; Isa 50:7, Isa 50:9. And so he becomes their strength, the strength of all the saints; he strengthened him that is the church's head, and from him diffuses strength to all the members, has commanded his strength, and so strengthens what he has wrought for us; Psa 68:28; Psa 80:17, Psa 80:18.
IV. He concludes with a short but comprehensive prayer for the church of God, Psa 28:9. He prays for Israel, not as his people ("save my people, and bless my inheritance"), though they were so, but, "thine." God's interest in them lay nearer his heart than his own. We are thy people is a good plea, Isa 64:9; Isa 63:19. I am thine, save me. God's people are his inheritance, dear to him, and precious in his eyes; what little glory he has from this world he has from them. The Lord's portion is his people. That which he begs of God for them is, 1. That he would save them from their enemies and the dangers they were exposed to. 2. That he would bless them with all good, flowing from his favour, in performance of his promise, and amounting to a happiness for them. 3. That he would feed them, bless them with plenty, and especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. Rule them; so the margin. "Direct their counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Feed them, and rule them; sets pastors, set rulers, over them, that shall do their office with wisdom and understanding." 4. That he would lift them up for ever, lift them up out of their troubles and distresses, and do this, not only for those of that age, but for his people in every age to come, even to the end. "Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift them up as high as heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and those only, whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and guided, and governed, by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Matthew Henry, 1706–1714). Public domain. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. Public domain · Read the original
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Psalm 28
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871
Three Scottish scholars working phrase by phrase through the whole Bible. Where a translation had to choose one English wording, they tell you what the Hebrew or Greek actually says and what the alternatives were. Useful when you want to know why two Bibles word the same verse differently.
Before you start: Written in 1871 and organised around short quoted phrases followed by a dash, then the explanation. It reads more like reference notes than prose, and it assumes you have the verse in front of you.
Chapter overview and 8 notes on Psalm 28
What this chapter is doing
An earnest cry for divine aid against his enemies, as being also those of God, is followed by the Psalmist's praise in assurance of a favorable answer, and a prayer for all God's people. (Psa 28:1-9)
my rock— (Psa 18:2, Psa 18:31).
be not silent to me—literally, "from me," deaf or inattentive.
become like them, &c.—share their fate.
go down into the pit—or, "grave" (Psa 30:3).
Verse 2
lift up my hands—a gesture of prayer (Psa 63:4; Psa 141:2).
oracle—place of speaking (Exo 25:22; Num 7:89), where God answered His people (compare Psa 5:7).
Verse 3
Draw me not away—implies punishment as well as death (compare Psa 26:9). Hypocrisy is the special wickedness mentioned.
Verse 4
The imprecation is justified in Psa 28:5. The force of the passage is greatly enhanced by the accumulation of terms describing their sin.
endeavours—points out their deliberate sinfulness.
Verse 5
Disregard of God's judgments brings a righteous punishment.
destroy . . . build . . . up—The positive strengthened by the negative form.
Verse 6
supplications—or, "cries for mercy."
Verse 7
The repetition of "heart" denotes his sincerity.
Verse 8
The distinction made between the people.
their strength—and the anointed—may indicate Absalom's rebellion as the occasion.
Verse 9
The special prayer for the people sustains this view.
feed them—as a shepherd (Psa 23:1, &c.).
Next: Psalms Chapter 29
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary (Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871). Public domain. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. Public domain · Read the original