“Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.”
The plea for deliverance from the wicked and cruel oppressor articulates specific fear of evildoers. The characterization of the oppressor as wicked and cruel establishes their fundamental depravity. This verse focuses the petition on specific enemies threatening the psalmist.
Church Fathers on Psalms 71:4
1. In all the holy Scriptures the grace of God that delivers us commends itself to us, in order that it may have us commended. This is sung of in this Psalm, whereof we have undertaken to speak....This grace the Apostle commends: by this he got to have the Jews for enemies, boasting of the letter of the law and of their own justice. This then commending in the lesson which has been read, he says thus: “For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!