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Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 26

What St Athanasius said to pray when you want God to judge who is in the right, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 12Verses
  • 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.

They won't stop trying to ruin you, and you want someone to finally judge who's in the right.

When your enemies keep on, trying to drag you down and ruin you, don't let any human verdict be the last word, because everything human is open to doubt. Ask God to be the Judge, for He alone is just, and say Psalms 26, 35 and 43.

Letter to Marcellinus

Leaving the verdict with God doesn't mean staying silent: Paul himself appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11).

For the same situation he also named Psalm 35 and Psalm 43.

Psalm 26:12

Where it turns

My feet stand on level ground; in the congregations I will bless the LORD.

12 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 26

Its own heading Of David.

  1. 1Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
  2. 2Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
  3. 3For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.
  4. 4I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
  5. 5I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.
  6. 6I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
  7. 7to raise my voice in thanksgiving and declare all Your wonderful works.
  8. 8O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
  9. 9Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,
  10. 10in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes.
  11. 11But I will walk with integrity; redeem me and be merciful to me.
  12. 12My feet stand on level ground; in the congregations I will bless the LORD.

Psalm 26 is 25 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

When people turn against you

Close to this

All 53 situations, in one guide.

Your turn

Which Psalm are you living right now?

A few honest taps about your life right now, and the psalm an early Church Father gave for exactly that.

  • 3 min
  • 7 questions
Start

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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.