Psalm 7: Concerning Cush the Benjamite

"O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver."

Then an oath: "O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me… Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah."

"Arise, O LORD, in thine anger… The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me… God is a righteous judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day."

"Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made… I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high."

An oath of clearance

"If I have done this… let the enemy take me" is a conditional self-curse, the form of an oath taken before God when evidence was lacking (Exodus 22:8–11; 1 Kings 8:31–32). Job 31 is the longest example. A person accused falsely could appeal to God's court.

The pit-digger

The wicked man's trap catching himself (7:15–16) is a proverbial idea (Proverbs 26:27; Ecclesiastes 10:8). Ancient hunters dug pits covered with branches for animals.

Hearts and reins

7:9 says God "trieth the hearts and reins." The reins (kelayot) are the kidneys, thought of as the seat of feeling and conscience, paired with the heart as the seat of thought. Jeremiah uses the pairing (11:20; 17:10), and Revelation 2:23 takes it up: "I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts."

Shiggaion and Cush

Shiggaion (also Habakkuk 3:1, "upon Shigionoth") may mean a wild or irregular song, a lament, or be a technical term; its meaning is uncertain. "Cush the Benjamite" appears nowhere else. Proposals: a nickname for Saul (a Benjamite), for Shimei (2 Samuel 16), or for the Cushite messenger of 2 Samuel 18:21 (though he is not a Benjamite). The Vulgate reads "pro verbis Chusi, filii Jemini," following the Greek "Chousi." The title's event cannot be identified.

Hebrew titles count as verses

The Hebrew numbers the title as verse 1, so Hebrew 7:2–18 = English 7:1–17. The library's reader lines them up and shows each edition's own numbers.