Psalm 57 is a prayer psalm of the individual, but one that presents the individual’s need within the wider context of God’s glory with its cosmic revelation (v. 5 = v. 11) and international proclamation (vv. 9–10). Initially, the psalm appears to have several internal inconsistencies. How do we explain the transition from lament motifs in the first half (vv. 1–4) to hymnic motifs in the second (vv. 5–11)? How do we explain that the concerns of an individual seeking protection become overshadowed by concerns for God’s international and cosmic manifestation? How do we explain the spatial discrepancy that the speaker takes “refuge in the shadow of” God’s “wings” (v. 1) and that God “sends from heaven and saves” the speaker (v. 3)? Could these inconsistencies be explained by an artificial spli…