Psalm 5

Psalm 5 stands near the beginning of Book One (Psalms 1–41) of the Psalms. It follows Psalm 3, read as a morning prayer, and Psalm 4, read as an evening prayer, and it returns to a prayer offered in the morning. Its superscription reads, "To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David"; Korean Bibles render "upon Nehiloth" as a song set to wind instruments. The chief musician was the director who led the singing.

Structure

• Verses 1–3 The psalmist cries out to "my King, and my God," declaring that he will pray in the morning and wait for an answer.
• Verses 4–6 He confesses that God takes no pleasure in wickedness and hates the arrogant, evildoers, liars, and those who delight in shedding blood.
• Verses 7–8 Relying on the Lord's abundant mercy, the psalmist resolves to enter the Lord's house and worship, and he asks the Lord to lead him in His righteousness in the face of his enemies.
• Verses 9–10 He describes the deceitful mouths and wicked hearts of his enemies and pleads with God to judge them so that they fall by their own counsels.
• Verses 11–12 Those who take refuge in the Lord will shout for joy; the Lord blesses the righteous and surrounds them with favor as with a shield.

Key Verses

• Psalm 5:3 "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up" — frequently cited as a model of morning prayer.
• Psalm 5:7 "I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy" — grounds the approach to worship not in one's own righteousness but in God's steadfast love (hesed).
• Psalm 5:12 "With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield" — compares God, who protects the righteous, to a shield.

People and Places

• David: named in the superscription as the author of the psalm.
• The LORD: the one to whom the prayer is addressed, whom the psalmist calls "my King, and my God."
• The Lord's house / temple: the place of worship. Because the Temple in Jerusalem had not yet been built in David's day, some take this to refer to the Tabernacle; others hold that the psalm was refined as it came to be used in later temple worship.

Points for Reflection

• Korean Bibles do not count the superscription as a verse, so the psalm has 12 verses, whereas the Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as verse 1, giving 13 verses.
• The expression in verse 9, "their throat is an open sepulchre," is quoted by Paul in Romans 3:13 to show that all people are under sin.
• Interpreters differ on how passages such as verse 10, which ask for judgment on enemies, should be read alongside the teaching of love for enemies. Many read them not as expressions of personal vengeance but as prayers that entrust judgment to God's justice.

In the Korean Church

The words of verse 3, "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee," are frequently cited when introducing or encouraging the early morning prayer meeting.