Mazmur 59:14

59:14 They return in the evening;

they growl ¹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ²  the city.

Mazmur 59:1

Psalm 59 ³ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁴  a prayer ⁵  of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. ⁶ 

59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!

Protect me ⁷  from those who attack me! ⁸ 

1 Samuel 19:11

19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself ⁹  tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

[59:14]  ¹ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:14]  ² tn Heb “go around.”

[59:1]  ³ sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.

[59:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.

[59:1]  ⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[59:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”

[59:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Saul sent assassins to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning (see 1 Sam 19:11). However, the psalm itself mentions foreign enemies (vv. 5, 8). Perhaps these references reflect a later adaptation of an original Davidic psalm.

[59:1]  ⁷ tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”

[59:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”

[19:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “your life.”