of David
1. To You, O Yahweh, I will cry.
My Rock, do not be silent to me,
Lest, if You are silent to me,
I am likened with those descending to the pit.
2. Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift my hands to the oracle of Your holiness.
3. Do not drag me off with the wicked ones,
And with the doers of iniquity,
Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their heart.
4. Give to them according to their deeds,
And according to the evil of their practices.
According to works of their hands give to them.
Return their reward to them.
5. Because they will not understand the deeds of Yahweh
And the works of His hands,
He will overthrow them,
And he will not build them up.
6. Blessed be Yahweh,
because he has heard the voice of my supplications.
7. Yahweh is my strength and my shield.
In Him my heart trusts and I am helped,
And my heart exults,
And with my song I will give thanks to Him.
8. Yahweh is strength to them,
And the fortress of the salvations of His anointed one is He.
9. Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance,
And shepherd them,
And lift them up forever.
Psalm 28 has two parts. In the first part (v. 1-5), David lifts “the voice of his supplications” to the Lord, asking both for the destruction of the wicked and his own separation from them so that he may not suffer their judgment. In the second part (v. 6-9), David blesses the Lord for hearing “the voice of his supplications” and exults and gives thanks for salvation.
It is important that we recognize this as a psalm of David because in it he prays as the anointed king of the Lord’s people. In verse 8 he celebrates Yahweh as “the fortress of the salvations of His anointed.” And on this ground in verse 9 he extends his pray from himself to all his people, that the Lord will save, bless, shepherd and lift them up forever. Through the saving of His anointed one the Lord becomes also the strength of His people.
The connection to Christ, the fulfillment of the Davidic kingship, is obvious. It is He who prays here first for Himself and then for the people over whom the Lord has made Him king. Because the Lord saved Him from His enemies and from death, the Lord in Him has become the savior, shepherd, blessing, lifter up, and strength of His people. It is His prayer and His song.