What St Athanasius said to pray when you are hunted and people want you handed over, in a letter from the 300s.
St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus
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.
You're being hunted, and people are informing on you because they want you handed over.
When you are hunted, and people inform on you because they want to hand you over, as the Ziphites and the Philistines did to David, don't lose heart. Trust in the Lord, praise Him, and say Psalms 54 and 56.
Letter to Marcellinus
For the same situation he also named Psalm 56.
Psalm 54:4
Surely God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
7 verses, Berean Standard Bible
Its own heading For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “Is David not hiding among us?”
Psalm 54 is 53 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.
When people turn against you
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.
