Psalms 20:9

Verse 9. Save, Lord] This verse was spoken by all the congregation, and was the chorus and conclusion of the piece.

The verse may be read, Lord, save the king! He will hear as in the day of our calling. The Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, Anglo-Saxon, read the verse thus: Lord, save the king! and hear us whensoever we shall call upon thee. The Syriac reads differently: The Lord will save us: and our king will hear us in the day in which we shall call upon him. This refers all to GOD: while the others refer the latter clause to DAVID. Lord, save David; and David will save us. "If thou preservest him, he will be thy minister for good to us." This appears to be the easiest sense of the place, and harmonizes with all the rest.

ANALYSIS OF THE TWENTIETH PSALM

This Psalm is a form of prayer delivered by David to the people, to be used by them for the king, when he went out to battle against his enemies.

In this Psalm there are the following parts: -

I. A benediction of the people for their king, Ps 20:1-4.

II. A congratulation or triumph of the people after the victory, supposed to be already obtained, Ps 20:5-8.

III. A petition, Ps 20:9.

I. The benediction directed to David's person. The particulars; that he may have,

1. Audience in his necessity: "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble."

2. Protection: "The name of the God of Jacob defend thee," Ps 20:1.

3. Help and strength in battle: "Send thee help-strengthen thee;" which is amplified, 1. By the place: "Help from the sanctuary;" 2. "Strength out of Zion."

4. Acceptance of his person; testified by the acceptance of his offerings and sacrifices, Ps 20:3.

5. Answers to his petitions: "Grant thee according to thy own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel," Ps 20:4; which is plainly set down in the next verse: "The Lord fulfil all thy petitions," Ps 20:5.

This benediction being ended, they persuade themselves that the prayer of it shall be granted, because it will redound to God's glory; and they will be thankful, and honour him for the victory.

1. "We will rejoice in thy salvation." Or Do this, "that we may rejoice."

2. "In the name of our God will we set up our banners." We will enter the city joyfully, with displayed banners, which we still erect as trophies to the honour of God.

II. Now follow the congratulation and triumph of their faith: for they give thanks as for a victory already obtained; as to their faith it was certain. Before they prayed for audience and protection: here they testify they are certain and secure of both.

1. Of protection: "Now know I that the Lord will save," c.

2. Of audience: "He will hear from his holy heaven."

3. Of help: "With the saving strength of his right hand," Ps 20:6.

The certainty they had of this victory proceeded solely from their confidence in God. And this they illustrate by an argument drawn a dissimili: they were not like others who trust more to their arms than to their prayers more to their numbers than to God.

1. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;" as the Ammonites, Ps 20:2; Ps 10:6.

2. But we do not so: "We will remember the name of the Lord our God; the Lord of hosts, mighty in battle." Arms may be used by good or bad men; but the difference lies in the object, the end, and the confidence. A bad cause cannot have God's concurrence: a good cause will have his countenance and support.

3. And therefore the success was according to the confidence. 1. They who trusted in their arms, c., are brought down, and fallen. 2. We who trusted in the Lord our God, are risen, and stand upright, Ps 20:8.

III. The third part contains a short ejaculation, and is the sum of the Psalm.

1. "Save, Lord!" Thou alone canst save us: in thee, and in none other, do we put our trust.

2. "Let the king hear us." We propose to continue in prayer and faith therefore, when we call, let the king, the Messiah, which thou hast set on thy holy hill, Ps 2:6, hear us. Or, according to another arrangement of the words: 1. Lord, save our king. Make him wise and good, preserve his person, and prosper his government; that we may have peace in our time, and secular prosperity. 2. Hear thou us when we call. Let us have also spiritual prosperity, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy name.-[Anglo-Saxon] "O thou Lord, health give the king."-Anglo-Saxon.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 20:9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

Ver. 9. Save, Lord] A short but pithy prayer: Quam multa quam paucis.

Let the king hear us] They beg of God that the king may hear them, so as to govern and defend them in equity and tranquillity; or, Respondent Rex (so Aben Ezra rendereth it), Let the king say Amen to our prayers to thee and our requests to him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Save, Lord—By a slight change in the punctuation of the Hebrew text, placing the Athnach after king instead of “save,” the verse would read:—

O Jehovah, save the king,

He will answer in the day of our calling.

This view accords with Psa_20:6, where “anointed” answers to “king” in Psa_20:9, and both refer to the petition Psa_20:1. With this, also, the Septuagint and Vulgate agree; and in the Messianic application of the psalm, it coincides with the phrases “O Jehovah, save now,” of Psa_118:25, and “Hosanna to the Son of David,” of Mat_21:9. See notes on the last two passages quoted.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(Heb.: v. 10) After this solo voice, the chorus again come on. The song is closed, as it was opened, by the whole congregation; and is rounded off by recurring to its primary note, praying for the accomplishment of that which is sought and pledged. The accentuation construes המּלך with יעננוּ as its subject, perhaps in consideration of the fact, that הושׁיעה is not usually followed by a governed object, and because thus a medium is furnished for the transition from address to direct assertion. But if in a Psalm, the express object of which is to supplicate salvation for the king, המלך הושׁיעה stand side by side, then, in accordance with the connection, המלך must be treated as the object; and more especially since Jahve is called מלך רב, in Psa 48:3, and the like, but never absolutely המלך. Wherefore it is, with Hupfeld, Hitzig, and others, to be rendered according to the lxx and Vulgate, Domine salvum fac regem. The New Testament cry Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυίδ is a peculiar application of this Davidic "God bless the king (God save the king)," which is brought about by means of Psa 118:25. The closing line, Psa 20:9, is an expanded Amen.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

10. (Psa 20:9). Jehovah, save! Let the King hear us in the day we call, or still more closely, in the day of our calling. The Septuagint and Vulgate make the king a part of the first clause: "Jehovah, save the king" (Domino salvum fac regem). But this not only violates the masoretic accents, which, though not ultimately binding, are entitled to respect as a traditional authority, but separates the verb in the last clause from its subject, so that both the ancient versions just referred to have been under the necessity of changing the third into the second person (hear us). The first clause is besides more expressive and emphatic without the king than with it. Nothing could be more pregnant or sonorous than the laconic prayer, Jehovah, save! The object is, of course, to be supplied from Psa 20:7 (6), and from the tenor of the whole psalm. The other construction, it is true, enables us to make the King of this verse the same person with the Anointed of Psa 20:7 (6). But far from any disadvantage, there is great force and beauty, in referring the expected blessing to the true King of Israel, whom David and his followers only represented. See Deu 33:5, Psa 48:3 (2), Mat 5:35.—By taking the last verb as a future proper (the King will hear us) the psalm may be made to close with a promise, or rather with a confident anticipation of God's blessing. Most interpreters, however, prefer to make it optative, and thus to let the psalm conclude as it began, with an expression of intense desire.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the king be able to deliver us by thy strength, when we seek unto him for succor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

let the king hear--as God's representative, delivered to deliver. Perhaps a better sense is, "LORD, save the king; hear us when we call," or pray.

Next: Psalms Chapter 21

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9. Save, O Jehovah! etc. Some read in one sentence, O Jehovah! save the king; This is the reading of the Septuagint. Its words are, Κυριε σωσον τον βασιλεα. The reading of the Vulgate is the same. Calvin’s rendering, which is also that of our English version, agrees with the masoretical punctuation; but the Septuagint has followed a different pointing.

“The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.” (Lamentations 4:20)

Whenever, therefore, God promises the restoration of his church, he sets forth a symbol or pledge of its salvation in the kingdom. We now see that it is not without very good reason that the faithful are introduced asking succor from their king, under whose guardianship and protection they were placed, and who, as the vicegerent of God, presided over them; as the Prophet Micah says, (Micah 2:13,) “Their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them;” by which words he intimates, that their king will be as it were a mirror in which they may see reflected the image of God. To return to the present passage:— The expression, Save, O Jehovah, is elliptical, but it has greater emphasis than if the object for which salvation is sought had been mentioned; for by this means David shows that this salvation belongs in common to the whole body of the church. In Psalm 118:25, there is a prayer in the same words, and it is certain that it is the very same prayer. In short, this is a prayer, that God, by blessing the king, would show himself the Savior of the whole people. In the last clause of the verse there is expressed the means of this salvation. The people pray that the king may be furnished with power from God to deliver them whenever they are in distress, and cry to him for help. Let the king hear us in the day that we call upon him. God had not promised that his people would be saved in any other way than by the hand and conduct of the king whom he had given them. In the present day, when Christ is now manifested to us, let us learn to yield him this honor — to renounce all hope of salvation from any other quarter, and to trust to that salvation only which he shall bring to us from God his Father. And of this we shall then only become partakers when, being all gathered together into one body, under the same Head, we shall have mutual care one of another, and when none of us will have his attention so engrossed with his own advantage and individual interest, as to be indifferent to the welfare and happiness of others.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Save Lord . . .—The Authorised Version follows the accentuation of the Masoretic text, but spoils the rhythm, and interrupts the sense. The LXX. and Vulg., followed by all modern commentators, dividing the verse differently render, “Jehovah, save the king,” whence our National Anthem. Jehovah thus becomes the subject of the verb hear in the last clause. “May He hear us in the day of our calling.” The change from second to third person is characteristic of the Hebrew manner of conquering emotion, and allowing the close of a poem to die away in calm and subdued language. (Comp. Psa_110:7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Concluding prayer of the people.

The rendering of A.V. and R.V. follows the punctuation of the Massoretic text. The prayer for the earthly king is addressed to the heavenly King whose representative he is. But Jehovah is not elsewhere styled absolutely the King (Psa_145:1 and Isa_6:5 are not complete parallels); and the verse appears to correspond to Psa_20:6. It seems best to follow the LXX and Vulg. in reading O Lord, save the king; and answer us &c. The rendering of the Vulg. Domine salvum fac regem is the origin of the familiar God save the king. See note on 1Sa_10:24. The P.B.V., Save Lord, and hear us, O King of heaven, when we call upon thee, is a free combination of the Heb. and Vulg. (LXX).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Save, Lord,.... Not "the king", as the Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions read the words, joining the word "king" to them, which is in the next clause; but this, as Aben Ezra observes, is not right, because of the accent "athnach", which divides these words from the following; rather the word us may be supplied; and so the Syriac version renders it, "the Lord will deliver us"; and the Targum is, "O Lord", , "redeem us", or "save us"; that is, with a temporal, spiritual, and eternal salvation: this petition is directed to Jehovah the Father, as the following is to the King Messiah;

let the King hear us when we call; for not God the Father is here meant, though he is an everlasting King, the King of kings; and who hears his people, when they call upon him, and while they are calling; yet he is rarely, if ever, called "the King", without any other additional epithet; whereas the Messiah often is, as in the next psalm, Psa 20:1; and prayer is made to him, and he hears and receives the prayers of his people; and, as Mediator, presents them to his Father perfumed with his much incense; for he is a Priest as well as a King.

Next: Psalms Chapter 21

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Save, Lord - “Yahweh, save.” This is still an earnest prayer. Confident as they are of success and triumph, yet they do not forget their dependence on God; they do not forget that victory must come from his hand. There was, indeed, exultation, but it was exultation in the belief that God would grant success - an exultation connected with, and springing from prayer. Prayer is not inconsistent with the most confident anticipation of success in any undertaking; and confidence of success can only spring from prayer.

Let the King - That is, let “God,” spoken of here as the Great King. The connection and the parallelism demand this interpretation, for to God only is this prayer addressed. He is here invoked as the supreme monarch. A king going forth to war implores the protection of a greater king than himself - the King of all nations; and who, therefore, had the disposal of the whole result of the conflict in which he was about to engage.

Hear us when we call - As we now call on him; its we shall call on him in the day of battle. Thus the close of the psalm corresponds with the beginning. In the beginning Psa 20:1-4 there is an earnest “desire” that God would hear the suppliant in the day of trouble; in the close there is an earnest “prayer” to him from all the people that he “would” thus bear. The desire of the blessing goes forth in the form of prayer, for God only can grant the objects of our desire. The whole psalm, therefore, is an expression of a strong confidence in God; of a sense of the most complete dependence on him; and of that assurance of success which often comes into the soul, in an important and difficult undertaking, when we have committed the whole cause to God. The psalm, too, is a model for us to imitate when we embark in any great and arduous enterprise. The desire for success should be accompanied with earnest prayer and supplication on our part; and when our friends express the desire that we may be successful, there should have been on our part such acts of devotion - such manifest reliance on God - such religious trust - that they can simply pray for our success to be in accordance with our own prayer. Never should we look for success unless our undertaking has been preceded by prayer; and when our best preparations have been made, our hope of success is not primarily and mainly in them, but only in God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Either,

1. David. So the sense is, O Lord, preserve and assist the king, that when we are distressed and cry to him for help, he may be able and ready to help us. Or,

2. God, the supreme Monarch, the King of kings, and in a peculiar manner the King of Israel, hear and answer us, when we pray for our king and people. And for the change of persons in this verse, nothing is more common. Or,

3. Christ, called

the King both in the Old and New Testament. But this verse is by divers learned men rendered thus, Lord, save the king; he (i.e. the Lord)

will hear us (or, let him hear us; for the future tense is oft put imperatively)

when we cry or call upon him. And this version is very agreeable to the Hebrew text. For whereas the only ground of the other translation is, that the Hebrew accent called athnach is put under the word save, which is supposed to stop the sense there, it is sufficiently evident that athnach doth not always make such a distinction in these poetical books, as appears from Psa 11:5; 17:10; 19:4; 22:31, and therefore this may seem to be the better version.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 9. The Psalm is here recapitulated. That Jesus might himself be delivered, and might then, as our King, hear us, is the two fold desire of the Psalm. The first request is granted, and the second is sure to all the seed; and therefore we may close the Psalm with the hearty shout, "God save the King." "God save King Jesus, and may he soon come to reign."

None.

Ver. 9. Save, Lord. One of the shortest and most pithy prayers in the Bible.

Ver. 9. (last clause).

1. To whom we come, and what then. To a king.

2. How we come, and what it means. We call.

3. What we want, and what it implies. Hear us.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Save, Lord! This punctuation is adopted by Delitzsch, Kay, Professor Alexander, Hengstenberg, and our Revisers; but is opposed by Rosenmuller, Bishop Horsley, Ewald, Hupfeld, Cheyne, and the "Speaker"s Commentary." It has the Hebrew Masoretie text in its favour, the Septuagint and Vulgate against it. Authorities are thus nearly equally balanced on the point; and we are at liberty to translate either, "Save, Lord: may the King hear us when we call!" or, "O Lord save the king: maybe hear us when we call (upon him)!" On the whole, perhaps, the former is preferable (see the arguments of Professor Alexander, "Commentary on the Psalms," p. 94).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the king - God, the supreme monarch, the king of kings, and in a peculiar manner the king of Israel.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Yahweh, rescue the king

Possible interpretations are 1) the people ask God to protect the king or 2) the king continues to speak about himself in the third person.

the king; help us when we call

Some translations understand the Hebrew differently. Some translate it as the people speaking to Yahweh their king. AT: "King, help us when we call you"

translationWords

Yahweh

king

call

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

but we rise and gain strength We gain strength over them, as (below 147:6): “strengthens (מעודד) the humble,” an expression of strength.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.