If we attempt to explain this psalm’s development on purely literary grounds, we will be frustrated because psalms were also governed by liturgical and ritual considerations. Otherwise, how do we explain the following features? (a) The psalm shifts between addressing Yahweh directly (vv. 1–4, 9) and referring to him in the third person (vv. 5–8). (b) Without explanation, the speaker shifts from praying, “Hear my cry for mercy” (v. 2), to asserting, “he has heard my cry for mercy” (v. 6). (c) In verses 1–4, the psalm petitions Yahweh to hear, to exclude the speaker from the fate of the wicked, and to give the wicked their just reward. But once the speaker announces that Yahweh has heard this cry for mercy, he expresses the realization that now Yahweh is his strength and shield and that he i…