Psalm 17 Overview

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Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 17

This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 17 as a whole. It includes the following sections:


Introduction to Psalm 17

Author:

Purpose:

To petition YHWH to deliver the upright psalmist from enemies.

Content:

David claims to be upright, petitions YHWH fordeliverance, describes his enemies' wickedness, and asksYHWH to provide for his people and that he may see YHWH's face.

Message:

The righteous should appeal to YHWH for vindication.

Psalm 17 At-a-Glance

These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content. Ps 17 Synthesis.jpg

Background Orientation for Psalm 17

Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.

  • It was the prerogative of those considered to be upright by the standards of YHWH's law to "assume the privilege of the righteous and pray for vindication" (Craigie 2004, 163; TWOT, 752-753). Moreover, it was expected that those who lived a righteous life would, therefore, be heard by God, especially when they entreated him for justice (Pss 5; 7:4-6, 9-11; 34:16-18; 66:18-19; 84:12; Prov 15:8-9; 29; 2 Chron 7:14) (Delitzsch 1883, 291-293).
  • Appealing to YHWH to punish one's enemies involved presenting a convincing depiction of one's enemies with regard to egregious nature of the evil they were guilty of (Keel 1997, 85, 96-97). Vivid descriptions of the treacherous ways of the wicked are seen to accompany the imprecations spoken against them (Pss 5:10-11; 28:3-5; 56:2-3, 6-7; 58:3-6; 109:2-5, 16-20) (Keel 1997, 97).
  • "The experience of God in the temple is described as 'seeing God' or 'the face of God' (Pss 42:2; 63:2; 84:7)" (Keel 1997, 201). However, there is no firm indication in Psalm 17 that David is taking part in an incubation ritual of some sort.

Background Situation for Psalm 17

The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon. Psalm 017 - Story background.jpg

Participants in Psalm 17

This resource is in the process of reformatting.
These are the participants in Psalm 17:
Psalm 017 - Participants.jpg.