--- title: "Psalms 57 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Psalms 57 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calami" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57" --- [ Read](/kjv/psalms/57)[ Commentary](/study/psalms/57)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/psalms/57) Audio 1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until *these* calamities be overpast.** 2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth *all things* for me. 3 He shall send from heaven, and save me *from* the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.* 4 My soul *is* among lions: *and* I lie *even among* them that are set on fire, *even* the sons of men, whose teeth *are* spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; *let* thy glory *be* above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen *themselves*. Selah. 7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.* 8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I *myself* will awake early. 9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. 10 For thy mercy *is* great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: *let* thy glory *be* above all the earth. [Psalms 56](/study/psalms/56) [Psalms 58](/study/psalms/58) ## Commentary To verse 1 The *title* is, *To the chief Musician, Al-taschith*, (destroy not,) *a golden Psalm of David*, (or one to be engraven,) *where he fed* *from Saul in the cave*. It is very likely that this Psalm was made to commemorate his escape from Saul in the cave of *En-gedi*, where Saul had entered without knowing that David was there, and David cut off the skirt of his garment. And it is not improbable that, when he found that Saul was providentially delivered into his hand, he might have formed the hasty resolution to take away his life, as his companions counselled him to do; and in that moment the Divine monition came, אל תשצת *al tascheth! Destroy not! lift* *not up thy hand against the Lord's anointed*! Instead, therefore, of taking away his *life*, he contented himself with taking away his *skirt*, to show him that he had been in his power. When, afterwards, he composed the Psalm, he gave it for *title* the words which he received as a Divine warning. See the history [1 Samuel 24:1-22](/kjv/1-samuel/24/1-22). See also my note upon the *fourth* verse of that chapter. [1 Samuel 24:4](/kjv/1-samuel/24/4). Verse [Psalms 57:1](/kjv/psalms/57/1). ***Be merciful unto me*** — To show David's deep earnestness, he repeats this *twice*; he was in great danger, surrounded by implacable enemies, and he knew that God alone could deliver him. ***My soul trusteth in thee*** — I put my *life* into thy hand; and my *immortal spirit* knows no other portion than thyself. ***In the shadow of thy wings*** — A metaphor taken from the brood of a hen taking shelter under her wings when they see a bird of prey; and there they continue to *hide themselves* till their *enemy* *disappears*. In a *storm*, or *tempest of rain*, the mother covers them with her wings to afford them shelter and defence. This the psalmist has particularly in view, as the following words show: "Until these calamities be overpast." ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57","name":"Psalms 57 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Psalms 57 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calami","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","name":"clarkes commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","name":"Psalms"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/57","name":"57"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```