Alone and Persecuted

This prayer psalm is for those who are alone: “no one is concerned for me” (v. 4; note also the superscription “When he was in the cave”). “The righteous will gather about me” (v. 7) is described as a future event, only after the psalm has been answered. This psalm, therefore, does not seem suited to public performance. Devoid of supportive social relationships, the speaker directs his “voice . . . before him,” that is, to Yahweh. He is the special protector of those who are alone, the alien, the fatherless, and the widow (Pss. 10:14, 18; 68:5; 146:9). The depictions of threat and distress are varied—trappers (v. 3), pursuers (v. 6), and prison (v. 7)—thus indicating they are not describing actual circumstances but are portraying images that denote feelings of attack an…