Bible Strands
Psalms 59:4
For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses the LORD during a crisis where fierce men conspire against him without cause. He issues this plea as his pursuers move swiftly to attack him.
The words — The Hebrew עָ֭וֹן ('A.von) denotes iniquity, emphasizing the speaker’s claim of innocence, while ע֖וּרָ/ה ('U.ra/h) is a command to awake, directing God’s attention to the immediate threat.
The thread — The call for God to awake and intervene echoes the plea in Psalms 35:23. The theme of divine justice against deceitful pursuers aligns with the description in Psalms 5:6 of God destroying liars and abhorring bloodshed.
Why it lands — The text demands that the reader recognize the speaker’s reliance on divine intervention rather than self-defense. It requires acknowledging that the appeal for God’s attention is grounded in the absence of personal guilt.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
Cross-references
- Psalms 35:23 Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!
- 1 Samuel 19:12 So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.
- Psalms 5:6 You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
- Psalms 35:19 Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.
- Psalms 44:23 Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
- Proverbs 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
- Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Acts 23:15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”
- Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;