Embrace the Word for Friday, January 16, 2026
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Psalm 9 is both a praise and a plea. David praises God for the judgment of the wicked (9:1-12), but he also offers a plea before God to judge the wicked (9:13-20). The superscription may provide a helpful piece of historical information: “To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.” The term “Muth-labben” could possibly be rendered as, “on the death of a son,” or, “to the death of a son.” It’s hard to be certain about these possibilities, but if they are correct, then Psalm 9 completes a unit that began in Psalm 3. Whereas in Psalm 3, David is on the run because of his son’s attempted coup, now here in Psalm 9, Absalom has been killed and the coup is over (see 2 Samuel 18). With this possibility in mind, the first segment of Psalm 9 is David’s praise for the deliverance that he has experienced through the judgment upon those who rebelled against his rule. Then the second segment of the Psalm is David’s plea concerning a new threat to his rule.
Psalm 9 has some important connection to Psalm 10. The lack of a superscription to Psalm 10 suggests that it shares in the superscription details of Psalm 9. Throughout history, there have been times that Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 were joined together as one Psalm, while at other times they were kept distinct. The internal arrangement of Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 also suggest some sort of connection between the two. In addition to the two Psalms sharing many themes with each other, Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 together form a partial acrostic as many of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used to provide flow through each Psalm. It seems best to treat Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 as separate Psalms, but acknowledge that have a connection to each other that makes them inseparable companions.
Psalm 9 opens with praise: “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High” (9:1-2). David worships with five synonymous verbs: “give thanks,” “recount,” “be glad,” “exult,” “sing praise” (9:1-2). Praise mustn’t be merely with the lips but from the heart. David is not just saying things, he means it—his whole being is involved. His heart is engaged, for he not only acknowledges what God has done, but he is full of gratitude and joy over it. Then, the conclusion of the first segment of Psalm 9 closes with praise: “Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted” (9:11-12). These final notes of praise emphasize that the earnest and sincere, that is, whole hearted praise, is no mere privatized experience. In fact, the joy and gratitude that one truly feels in their heart is not fully complete until it finds outward expression. Praise is to go public! Expressing praise to God publicly is a means of being witness to the world.
As Psalm 9 continues, David explains the reason for his praise to God. First, David praises God for what He has done: “When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment” (9:3-4). This description brings Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 back into the picture. The turning back of David’s enemies revisits Psalm 2, while the perishing of the wicked before the presence of God rehearses Psalm 1. That David’s cause has been maintained reflects the flourishing of the well-watered tree in Psalm 1, while the Lord, from His throne, judging the rebels recalls the just victory affirmed in Psalm 2. While somewhat indistinguishable from the first, David also praises God for who He is-God is a God who is King and Judge: “But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice” (9:7). As judge, God judges against the wicked and for the righteous: “and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness” (9:8). God is also a God who is a hope and comfort watching out for and protecting His own: “The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (9:9). Thus, implicit in the praise of God is an invitation to trust Him: “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you” (9:10).
As Psalm 9 unfolds, the second segment of the Psalm shifts to a plea: “Be gracious to me, O LORD! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation” (9:13-14). First of all notice that while the Psalm has moved to a plea, it has not moved past praise. Praise still is essential to David, for it even seems to fold into the plea as David vows that upon his rescue praise will result. Second, it is hard to be absolutely sure of the relationship between the first segment of Psalm 9 and the second segment. Is the praise declared in Psalm 9:1-12 in response to a completed rescue or an anticipation to a promised rescue? Is the plea offered in Psalm 9:13-20 the request for the completion of a promised rescue or an altogether new request over the need for a new or another rescue? Its is hard to be absolutely sure, but I suggest that the second segment of Psalm 9 is a fresh emergency, a new wave of affliction. David’s time on the throne was not a brief encounter with opposition and affliction, but involved rounds of opposition and affliction, both within the nation itself (like Absalom’s rebellion), but also from the other nations that surrounded Israel. David’s war against the Philistines lingered long into his life.
David’s plea is for justice: “The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah” (9:15-16). As David has already acknowledged in an earlier Psalm (see Psalm 7:12-16), the workings of God’s judgment is weaved into the fabric of wickedness itself. God’s judgment is not just at the end of time, but also beforehand as justice is built into the way the world works. Those who dig a pit to trap others often fall into it themselves; those who set a trap get caught in it themselves; there is a self-destructive snare in the very work of the hands of the wicked. God is not mocked: sin carries its own punishment [By the way, “Haggaion” is most likely a musical term that directs a silence for reflection]. There are immediate consequences of wickedness that operate in real time, and then comes the final judgment: "The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God” (9:17).
While David’s plea for justice involves judgment against the wicked, it also includes help for the righteous: “For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever” (9:18). As David has confessed previously (see Psalm 7:9), when the wicked are judged, the righteous will be relieved of their oppression and given a new future. To that end, David’s plea is an urgent plea: “Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah” (9:19-20). David had requested for God to arise previously (see Psalm 3:8; 7:6). Psalm 2 has already promised that when God judges the wicked rebels, they would be terrified (see Psalm 2:5); so now that promise informs David’s request for the Lord to bring terror upon the wicked. David also prays that the wicked would be put in their place and understand that they are but men. Earlier David told us that God created man “a little lower than the heavenly beings” (see Psalm 8:5). Yet the wicked have lifted themselves up as if they took the place of God. They will be brought to a new understanding that they are but just men.
As we reflect on Psalm 9 we should be clear headed regarding the certain judgment of the wicked. And we should not dismiss the language of judgment found in Old Testament passages such as Psalm 9. The judgment of the wicked is not a matter that has expired with the arrival of the New Testament. The New Testament affirms the reality of judgment as an essential aspect of the church carrying out its mission of proclaiming Christ. As Paul preached at the Areopagus in Athens, he warned: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (see Acts 17:30-31). The same Jesus who unjustly suffered at the hands of the wicked, has now been raised as the ascended Lord who has been appointed as the One who will judge the world in righteousness. As Paul explains elsewhere, our Lord’s judgment upon the wicked will be severe: “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction” (see 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). These words were addressed to a persecuted and afflicted church. Relief will come to the Lord’s people, and until it comes may the Lord’s people follow the pattern of Psalm 9. May we praise and may we plea.
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Friday, January 16, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Monday, January 19, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 10.