Psalm 28 is the 28th psalm of the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

, beginning in English in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

: "Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock;". The Book of Psalms is part of the

third section The Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery (russian: Tretiye Otdeleniye, or ''III otdeleniye sobstvennoy E.I.V. kantselyarii'' - in full: Третье отделение Собственной Его Императорского � ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

and Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 27. In Latin, it is known by the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it b ...

, "". Psalm 28 is used in both Jewish and Christian liturgies. It has often been set to music.

Text

Hebrew Bible version

Following is the Hebrew text of Psalm 28:

King James Version

# Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. # Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. # Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. # Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. # Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. # Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. # The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. # The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. # Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Interpretation

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and Emilie Briggs describe the psalm as The Briggs suggest that it is to be dated to the reign of King

Jehoiakim Jehoiakim, also sometimes spelled Jehoikim; la, Joakim was the eighteenth and antepenultimate king of Judah from 609 to 598 BC. He was the second son of king Josiah () and Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. His birth name was Eliakim.; ...

in "the late Babylonian period shortly before the exile", which occurred in 587 or 586 BCE.For the date of the exile, see They identify verses 5 and 9 as glosses which "give a reason for the imprecation upon enemies (verse 5) and a

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

petition for salvation (verse 9)".

Verse 5

: Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands. In Psalm 28:5 is, according to

Charles Spurgeon Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers". He wa ...

's exegesis, an example of

general revelation In theology, general revelation, or natural revelation, refers to knowledge about God and spiritual matters, discovered through natural means, such as observation of nature (the physical universe), philosophy, and reasoning. Christian theologia ...

: with God's hand clearly seen in nature and history. God works in creation: nature teems with proofs of his wisdom and goodness, yet

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

refuse to see him: he works in providence, ruling and overruling, and his hand is manifest in human history.

Verse 8

: The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.'' The

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonica ...

suggests that the word "anointed" here refers to the

people of God ''People of God'' ( he, עם האלהים) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the Israelites and used in Christianity to refer to Christians. In the Bible Hebrew Bible and Old Testament In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the Isr ...

consecrated to his service, and not the king or the

high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rev ...

Uses

Judaism

*Verse 9 is the first verse of the paragraph Hoshia Et Amecha of Pesukei Dezimra. This verse, because of its 10 words, is often used for counting for the ten people needed for a

minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Ju ...

, as Jewish law forbids the numerical counting of people.

Book of Common Prayer

In the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

's ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'', this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the fifth day of the month.

Musical settings

A setting of Psalm 28 in English, "Thou art, O Lord, my strength and stay", by John Bennet was published in

Richard Langdon Richard Langdon (1729 – 8 September 1803) was a British organist, mainly at Exeter Cathedral, where he spent his early years, and later at Bristol Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland), Armagh Cathedral. He also compo ...

's ''Divine Harmony'' in 1774.

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

wrote a setting of a paraphrase of the psalm in German, "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Gott, mein Hort", SWV 125, for the ''

Becker Psalter The ''Becker Psalter'' is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Leipzig in 1602 under the title ''Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis''. Several composers set the psalms cont ...

'', published first in 1628.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

used verse 1 of Psalm 28 for a recitative in his oratorio ''

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

'', first performed in 1846. Alan Hovhaness set verses 1, 2, and 9 for his choir and organ work ''Unto Thee Will I Cry'', op. 162.

References

External links

* * * in Hebrew and English - Mechon-mamre * Text of Psalm 28 according to th
1928 Psalter

Of David. / To you, LORD, I call; my Rock, do not be deaf to me
text and footnotes, usccb.org United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

introduction and text, biblestudytools.com
Psalm 28 – Praise from Prayer Heard and Answered
enduringword.com
Psalm 28 / Refrain: The Lord is my strength and my shield.

Psalm 28
at biblegateway.com
Hymns for Psalm 28
hymnary.org {{Psalms 6th-century BC literature 028 Works attributed to David