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

Psalm 28

What St Athanasius said to pray when people scheming against you fill your thoughts, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 9Verses
  • 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.

The people scheming against you have no shame, and they've taken over your thoughts.

Because human nature is weak, if the people scheming against you turn shameless again, don't give them your attention. Cry out to God with Psalm 28.

Letter to Marcellinus

Psalm 28:6

Where it turns

Blessed be the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.

9 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 28

Its own heading Of David.

  1. 1To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
  2. 2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
  3. 3Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.
  4. 4Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.
  5. 5Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.
  6. 6Blessed be the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.
  7. 7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
  8. 8The LORD is the strength of His people, a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.
  9. 9Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them forever.

Psalm 28 is 27 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.