Psalm 5:1–12

May 5th, 2026| Topic: aBeLOG, Psalms | 0

The righteous, in a personal relationship with their God that involves reverential awe—having the assurance of access to God, of their prayers of distress being heard, and of being ultimately protected by God—rejoice in him forever as blessed ones, unlike the wicked who, with their evil words and deeds, are loathed by God, found guilty, and ultimately destroyed for their anti-God rebellion.

Strikingly, this psalm is entirely addressed to God, except for 5:6b, that has five words in Hebrew; and “Yahweh” occurs five times in this song (5:1a, 3a, 6a, 8a, 12a) and, of course, this is the fifth psalm.

Though the psalmist is in trouble of some sort, what exactly the problem is we are not told. But he groans (5:1), he cries for help, he prays (5:2), he voices his pain, he lays out his petition to God, and he waits (5:3). His petition is audible: he wants Yahweh to “give ear” (5:1a) and “attend to the sound” of his plea (5:2a), and he knows Yahweh will “hear my voice” (5:3a).

On the other hand, the wicked are bereft of this access to God, made clear in deity’s reactions to them. There are three negations (“not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness”; “with You no evil dwells,” 5:4; and “the arrogant cannot stand before Your eyes,” 5:5) and three assertions (“You hate,” 5:5; “You destroy”; and “Yahweh abhors” (5:6). God takes exception to the offenses of evil and to the offenders, the doers of evil.

“But”—5:7 begins with a strong adversative that is emphatic. A forceful assertion is made that the psalmist enjoys privileges of access to God, unlike the depredators of the previous section. There is always access to God’s presence for the righteous (5:7–8). And in contrast to God’s hate and his abhorring of evil and evildoers, the righteous are the recipients of his abundant lovingkindness, his manifold grace by which they gain access to him. Besides, their reverential awe (“fear,” 5:7) makes their entry into divine presence acceptable. The righteous “enter” and they “bow down” (5:7); and they seek to have God “lead” them in his righteousness, and “make [his] path straight” for them (5:8)—i.e., they desire to walk in God’s way. Entrance for the suppliant to the temple is not because of his own holiness but through the greatness of Yahweh’s “lovingkindness.”

Returning to the wicked in 5:9–10, their guilt (5:9) and rejection by God (5:10) are detailed. Again, showing the focus of the psalm on speech (prayer of the psalmist [5:1–3]; and falsehoods [5:6] of the unrighteous), here in 5:9 three of the body parts mentioned are involved in speech: “mouth,” “throat,” and “tongue.” If the “inward part” (5:9) is the fount where words are formulated, then these four elements participating in speech balance the four nouns describing the psalmist’s petition in 5:1–3: “words,” “groaning,” “cry,” and “voice.”

In 5:11–12, the camera swings back to the righteous to conclude the psalm. With this concluding fate of the righteous, we see three synonymous expressions of gladness from God’s people: they “rejoice,” they have “joy,” and they “exult” (5:11); correspondingly there are three acts of God’s blessing upon his people: “You put a cover upon them” (5:11); “You—You bless the righteous one,” and “You surround him” (5:12). Such are the ones who pray, such are the privileges of prayer they have access to, and such are the benefits of prayer afforded them by the lovingkindness of God!

For more details, see my commentary on Psalms.