Psalms 59:2

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מִפֹּ֣עֲלֵי

pâʻal

H6466

“from · doing”

Preposition + Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Construct

Appears 56× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 15:17

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1792

to do, make - (Qal) - to do - to make

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מִפֹּ֣עֲלֵי to do H6466 occurs in 55 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns

Verb forms

הַ֭צִּילֵנִי Hiphil · Imperative
מִפֹּ֣עֲלֵי Qal · Participle Active
הוֹשִׁיעֵֽנִי Hiphil · Imperative

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 13 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Psalms 59:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 139:19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
Psalms 26:9 Don't gather my soul with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men;
Psalms 55:23 But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, But I will trust in you.
Psalms 27:2 When evil-doers came at me to eat up my flesh, Even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 58 (Hebrew Psalm 59). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Psalms 59:2 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

הַ֭צִּילֵנִי מִפֹּ֣עֲלֵי אָ֑וֶן וּֽמֵאַנְשֵׁ֥י דָ֝מִ֗ים הוֹשִׁיעֵֽנִי

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 58:2 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐκαἱρέω ἐγώ ἐκ ὁ ἐχθρός ἐγώ ὁ θεός καί ἐκ ὁ ἐπι ἀναἵστημι ἐπί ἐγώ λυτρόω ἐγώ

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 59:2 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 59:2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

Ver. 2. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity] Saul’s assassins and bloodhounds, hired to despatch me.

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.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

3. (Psa 59:2). Free me from workers of iniquity, and from men of blood save me. The same words and phrases have occurred repeatedly before. See above, Psa 5:5; Psa 6:8; Psa 14:4; Psa 26:9; Psa 28:3. This verse and the one before it constitute the general introductory petition, the ground and reason of which are afterwards assigned.

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

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

(Compare Psa 5:5; Psa 6:8).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2. The workers of iniquity] Principally Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian; who were the chief enemies of the poor returned captives.

Bloody men.] The above, who sought the destruction of the Israelites; and particularly, that of Nehemiah, whom four several times they endeavoured to bring into an ambush, that they might take away his life. See Ne 6:1-4.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

2. from bloody men] Better, from bloodthirsty men (Psa_5:6; Psa_55:23; Psa_139:19; Pro_29:10).

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,.... See Gill on Psa 6:8;

and save me from bloody men; such as Saul sent to kill David, as appears from the title of the psalm; and such as were concerned in the death of Christ; and such, are the enemies of God's people, the followers of the man of sin. The heap of words, the various expressions used in a way of petition, in this verse and Psa 59:1, show the distress the psalmist was in, and whom he represents; his importunity, earnestness, and fervency in prayer.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity - The workers of iniquity here referred to were Saul and those whom he employed to carry out his murderous purpose - the people that had been sent to slay him.

And save me from bloody men - Hebrew, “Men of bloods;” that is, men whose trade is blood; who seek to shed my blood, or who seek my life. See Psa 5:6, note; Psa 26:9, note; Psa 55:23, note.

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

The Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 2. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Saul was treating him very unjustly, and besides that was pursuing a tyrannical and unrighteous course towards others, therefore David the more vehemently appeals against him. Evil men were in the ascendant at court, and were the ready tools of the tyrant, against these also he prays. Bad men in a bad cause may be pleaded against without question. When a habitation is beset by thieves, the good man of the house rings the alarm bell; and in these verses we may hear it ring out loudly, "deliver me, ""defend me, ""deliver me, ""save me." Saul had more cause to fear than David had, for the invincible weapon of prayer was being used against him, and heaven was being aroused to give him battle.

And save me from bloody men. As David remembers how often Saul had sought to assassinate him, he knows what he has to expect from that quarter and from the king's creatures and minions who were watching for him. David represents his enemy in his true colours before God; the bloodthirstiness of the foe is a fit reason for the interposition of the righteous God, for the Lord abhors all those who delight in blood.

None.

Ver. 2. (first clause). From being tempted by their promises, cowed by their threats, corrupted by their teaching, influenced by their example, injured by their slander, hindered in usefulness by their opposition.

Psalms 59:3*

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

2. Workers of iniquity—Whom God abhors, Psa_5:5

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. Foreign enemies are never reproached with being "bloody men," since war is their trade, and it is their business to wound and slay.

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

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pâʻal (“to do”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word pâʻal carries the sense “to do.” How does it shape the verse?
Exodus 15:17 shares the word «to do» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «הַ֭צִּילֵנִי» is Hiphil Imperative. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and J. A. Alexander on Psalms read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.