Psalm 57

Structure

The Psalm consists of two parts. In the first, David gives expression to the anxiety which he felt, imploring Divine assistance against Saul and his other enemies. In the second, he proceeds upon the confident expectation of deliverance, and stirs up his soul to the exercise of praise.

Authorship

The Psalm is attributed as a Michtam of David, when he fled from the face of Saul, in the cave. It was addressed to a leader of Worship.

Possibly this psalm was sung to a melody known as “Do Not Destroy” although there is considerable uncertainty about this. A number of translations have chosen to transliterate the Hebrew expression—“al tashheth” (Tanakh) and “Al-tashheth” (Margolis).

Judaism