"To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before your presence.
4 For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!
Tell among the peoples his deeds!
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
I may rejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah
17 The wicked shall return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah"
Psalm 9
In the last Psalm, it was the biblical doctrine of man created in the image of God and destined to share His glory that was the source and inspiration of the Psalmist's worship. Here, it is the knowledge of God and His great Name - the divine character - that leads to the thanksgiving that runs through the whole Psalm, and is the key to an under- standing of it. We might well call it 'An exercise in praise and prayer'. It divides into two sections, 1-12 and 13-20, with a similar pattern unfolding in each: Praise and prayer (1- 4 and 13, 14); accomplished judgment (5, 6 and 15, 16); future judgment (7-10 and 17, 18); and finally, praise and prayer (11, 12 and 19, 20). The development of thought from the first section to the second is this: In the first, the Psalmist is thinking solely in terms of a recent deliverance, and on the basis of that assures himself. In the second, however, he has become conscious again that although one great victory has been won, there are other enemies to fight, and that 'the time for praise mingled with petition has not yet come for him, as it never comes for any in this life'. But this is the point - his prayer takes note of the dangers still threatening, but it only glances at these, and then once more turns to look at the accomplished deliverance, and the thought of how he had once been brought from the very gates of death heartens him to pray for all further help needed. In other words, the confidence of the prayer is strengthened and conditioned by the reality of the praise that has emerged from the experience of God's grace. This is very practical. There are times when we are carried away in praise for God's grace and mercy to us, as He has led us into victory and deliverance, and we feel as if there is not a cloud left in the sky. And this is true. But then there is tomorrow and there are fresh problems and challenges to face. There is no victory in life which will end the possibility of having more battles to fight. But our experience of God's victory once will give confidence to our prayer.