Someone is set on rattling you, and part of you wants to run.
If someone is set on unsettling you, keep your trust in the Lord and sing Psalm 11.
Letter to Marcellinus
Psalm 11
What St Athanasius said to pray when someone is set on rattling you, in a letter from the 300s.
- 7Verses
- 1Situation
St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus
When to pray it
In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.
Psalm 11:4
Where it turns
The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
7 verses, Berean Standard Bible
The whole psalm
Psalm 11
Its own heading For the choirmaster. Of David.
- 1In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
- 2For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
- 3If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
- 4The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
- 5The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
- 6On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.
- 7For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
Psalm 11 is 10 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.
When people turn against you
Close to this
- They keep trying to frighten you, lying in wait and digging up whatever they can against you.
- You've been hiding from someone who is after you, and now they've come right into your hiding place.
- They're ganging up on you, more of them all the time, looking down on you as if you're nobody yet.
- People set against you have driven you out, and now you're on your own.
All 53 situations, in one guide.
Suggest a correction. Corrections that are applied are recorded in the public changelog.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.