A Prayer for Vindication

71 O Jehovah my God, in thee do I take refuge: Save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me, 2 Lest they tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 3 O Jehovah my God, if I have done this; If there be iniquity in my hands; 4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (Yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary;) 5 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth, And lay my glory in the dust. [Selah] 6 Arise, O Jehovah, in thine anger; Lift up thyself against the rage of mine adversaries, And awake for me; thou hast commanded judgment. 7 And let the congregation of the peoples compass thee about; And over them return thou on high. 8 Jehovah ministereth judgment to the peoples: Judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness, and to mine integrity that is in me. 9 O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous: For the righteous God trieth the minds and hearts.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 7:1-9

Commentary on Psalm 7:1-9

(Read Psalm 7:1-9)

David flees to God for succour. But Christ alone could call on Heaven to attest his uprightness in all things. All His works were wrought in righteousness; and the prince of this world found nothing whereof justly to accuse him. Yet for our sakes, submitting to be charged as guilty, he suffered all evils, but, being innocent, he triumphed over them all. The plea is, "For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins." He knows the secret wickedness of the wicked, and how to bring it to an end; he is witness to the secret sincerity of the just, and has ways of establishing it. When a man has made peace with God about all his sins, upon the terms of grace and mercy, through the sacrifice of the Mediator, he may, in comparison with his enemies, appeal to God's justice to decide.