Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 9 inaugurates the famous LXX/MT Psalter numbering divergence: MT Psalms 9 and 10 are joined as a single acrostic poem in the Hebrew (the aleph-bet sequence continues across both), and the LXX preserves them as a single psalm — LXX Psalm 9. From here through LXX Psalm 146/147, LXX Psalm numbers run one behind MT numbers (MT Ps 11 = LXX Ps 10, MT Ps 100 = LXX Ps 99, etc.). TCR preserves MT numbering; this file corresponds to the first half of LXX Psalm 9.
Notable Variants
The LXX unity of Psalms 9 and 10 as one acrostic; the 'gates of Daughter Zion' at 9:15 (anachronistic for Davidic period, implying later redaction); 'the nations know they are only human' at 9:21 as monotheistic-polemic.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 9 / LXX Ps 9a. The English Psalter (following MT) treats 9 and 10 as separate; the Vulgate (following LXX) treats them as one (Vulgate Ps 9). TCR follows MT with 21 verses. LXX Ps 9 contains material for both MT Ps 9 (the first half, roughly) and MT Ps 10 (the second half).
For the director of music. According to 'The Death of the Son.' A psalm of David.
Superscription 'according to the Death of the Son' (al-muth la-ben) — an obscure musical-technical term. LXX renders hyper tōn kryphiōn tou huiou ('concerning the secrets of the son'), a markedly different reading. Early Christian tradition read this Christologically — the 'son' being prophetically Christ.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will recount all Your wonders.
'With all my heart' (en holē kardia mou) tracks MT. The aleph (first-Hebrew-letter) opens the acrostic.
I will rejoice and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
'Sing praise to Your name, O Most High' tracks MT — the second acrostic letter.
When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before You.
Enemy-stumbling tracks MT.
For You have upheld my case and my cause; You sit on the throne, judging with righteousness.
Judicial-throne imagery tracks MT. 'Sits on the throne judging with righteousness' recurs in Revelation 20:11 ('a great white throne and him who sat on it').
You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked. You have wiped out their name forever and ever.
'Destroyed the wicked / wiped out their name' tracks MT.
The enemy is finished — perpetual ruins! You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has perished.
'Perpetual ruins' tracks MT.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for judgment.
'The LORD sits enthroned forever' tracks MT. The permanence-of-divine-throne contrasts with v. 7's perpetual-ruins of enemies — eternal vs. permanently-destroyed.
He judges the world with righteousness; He governs the peoples with equity.
'He judges the world with righteousness' tracks MT. Acts 17:31 ('he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed') cites this LXX-Psalms-9 judgment-theology Christologically.
The LORD is a stronghold for the crushed, a stronghold in times of distress.
'Stronghold for the crushed' tracks MT. The LXX's katafygē tō penēti ('refuge for the poor') supplies the NT's poor-favoring theology (Luke 4:18, Jas 2:5).
Those who know Your name trust in You, for You have not abandoned those who seek You, O LORD.
'Those who know your name trust in you' tracks MT. The 'knowing the name' pattern becomes the NT's 'believing in the name' pattern (John 1:12, 3:18, 1 John 3:23).
Sing praises to the LORD who dwells in Zion; declare His deeds among the peoples.
'Sing praises to the LORD who dwells in Zion' tracks MT.
For He who avenges blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
'Avenger of blood' tracks MT. The go'el ha-dam (avenger of blood) theological category — developed in Numbers 35 — is here applied to God himself as avenger.
Be gracious to me, O LORD; see my affliction at the hands of those who hate me, You who lift me from the gates of death,
'Lift me from the gates of death' tracks MT. The 'gates of death' image recurs at Job 38:17, Psalm 107:18, and — most strikingly — at Matt 16:18 ('the gates of hades will not prevail against it').
so that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of Daughter Zion, that I may rejoice in Your salvation.
'Gates of Daughter Zion' tracks MT. 'Daughter Zion' (thygatēr Siōn) personification becomes standing Hebrew Bible language (Isa 1:8, Jer 4:31, Zech 2:10), inherited by Matt 21:5's Palm-Sunday citation of Zech 9:9.
The nations have sunk into the pit they made; their own foot is caught in the net they hid.
Pit-digging-self-trapping echoes Ps 7:16.
The LORD has made Himself known — He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
'Higgaion. Selah.' — the paired liturgical-musical marker — tracks MT. Both terms are obscurely-understood; the LXX renders higgaion as 'meditation.'
The wicked will return to Sheol — all the nations that forget God.
'The wicked will return to Sheol — all the nations that forget God' tracks MT. 'Forgetting God' (epilanthanomenōn tou theou) is one of the prophetic-moral categories that Romans 1:28 ('they did not see fit to acknowledge God') develops theologically.
For the needy will not always be forgotten; the hope of the afflicted will not perish forever.
'The needy will not always be forgotten' tracks MT. The hope-of-the-afflicted (elpis tōn penētōn) theology grounds the beatitudes' 'blessed are the poor' (Luke 6:20).
Rise up, O LORD! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before You.
'Rise up, O LORD' — the divine-judicial-activity summons — tracks MT.
Strike fear into them, O LORD; let the nations know they are only human. Selah.
'Let the nations know they are only human' (gnōtōsin ethnē hoti anthrōpoi eisin) tracks MT. The monotheistic-polemic: pagan kings and peoples are not divine but merely human. The same critique underlies Acts 12:23 (Herod struck down for accepting divine acclamation) and Acts 14:15 (Paul and Barnabas' 'we also are men, of like nature with you').