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

Psalm 64

What St Athanasius said to pray when people keep trying to frighten you, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 10Verses
  • 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 keep trying to frighten you, lying in wait and digging up whatever they can against you.

When your enemies keep trying to frighten you, lying in wait and searching out everything against you, however many they are, don't give in. In the Greek Psalter Athanasius sang, their blows are no more than children's arrows. Sing Psalms 64, 65, 70 and 71.

Letter to Marcellinus

For the same situation he also named Psalm 65, Psalm 70 and Psalm 71.

Psalm 64:7

Where it turns

But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be wounded.

10 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 64

Its own heading For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

  1. 1Hear, O God, my voice of complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
  2. 2Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the mob of workers of iniquity,
  3. 3who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
  4. 4ambushing the innocent in seclusion, shooting suddenly, without fear.
  5. 5They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.
  6. 6They devise injustice and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.
  7. 7But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be wounded.
  8. 8They will be made to stumble, their own tongues turned against them. All who see will shake their heads.
  9. 9Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
  10. 10Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart exult.

Psalm 64 is 63 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
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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.