Psalms 17

World English Bible 89 include this book

1 Hear, LORD, my righteous plea. Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.

2 Let my sentence come out of your presence. Let your eyes look on equity.

3 You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

4 As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.

6 I have called on you, for you will answer me, God. Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech.

7 Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9 from the wicked who oppress me, my deadly enemies, who surround me.

10 They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.

11 They have now surrounded us in our steps. They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.

12 He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13 Arise, LORD, confront him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14 from men by your hand, LORD, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

15 As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

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28 places named in this book — no place is named in this chapter, so the whole book is shown.

Where this was written

Jerusalem traditional Assembled for temple worship over several centuries.

When this was written

The traditions broadly agree on this one.

Broad agreement: 1010 BC–400 BC David and many others
The Psalter is a collection assembled over centuries; individual psalms range widely in date.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (1010 BC–400 BC).

1200 BC–1000 BC Iron working spreads in the Levant Levant
Iron gradually displaced bronze for tools and weapons across the eastern Mediterranean.
1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.
1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
776 BC First recorded Olympiad Greece
The traditional starting point of Greek historical chronology.
753 BC Traditional founding of Rome Rome
The legendary date of Rome's founding, later used as the anchor of the Roman calendar.
745 BC–609 BC Neo-Assyrian empire at its height Mesopotamia
Assyria dominated the Near East, deporting conquered populations as policy, including the northern kingdom of Israel.
620 BC–560 BC Coinage invented in Lydia Anatolia
Stamped electrum coins of guaranteed weight, an idea that spread across the ancient world within a century.

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