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

Psalm 62

What St Athanasius said to pray when people are out to destroy you, 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're coming at you savagely, out to destroy you, and you've stopped fighting and put yourself in God's hands.

Against people who come at you savagely and want your life, set your submission to God, not to them, and take heart: the more they rage, the more you give yourself to the Lord. Say Psalm 62.

Letter to Marcellinus

Psalm 62:5

Where it turns

Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

12 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 62

Its own heading For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

  1. 1In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him.
  2. 2He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken.
  3. 3How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence?
  4. 4They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah
  5. 5Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.
  6. 6He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.
  7. 7My salvation and my honor rest on God, my strong rock; my refuge is in God.
  8. 8Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
  9. 9Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
  10. 10Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
  11. 11God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,
  12. 12and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.

Psalm 62 is 61 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

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.