Psalms 62 · ESV Study Bible

My Soul Waits for God Alone

PSALM 62 [†] For God alone y my soul z waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

2 a He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my b fortress; c I shall not be greatly shaken.

3[†] How long will all of you attack a man

to batter him,

like d a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4 They only plan to thrust him down from his e high position.

They take pleasure in falsehood.

f They bless with their mouths,

but inwardly they curse. Selah

5[†] For God alone, O y my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

6 a He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God rests my g salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, h my refuge is God.

8[†] i Trust in him at all times, O people;

j pour out your heart before him;

God is h a refuge for us. Selah

9 k Those of low estate are but a breath;

those of high estate l are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

k they are together lighter than a breath.

10 Put no trust in extortion;

m set no vain hopes on robbery;

n if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

11[†] o Once God has spoken;

o twice have I heard this:

that p power belongs to God,

12[†] and that to you, O Lord, q belongs steadfast love.

For you will r render to a man

according to his work.

A Psalm of David, s when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalm 62. God’s people sing this psalm to foster confidence in his care, especially as they are faced with people who use power and wealth to oppress them. The strong temptation in such a case is either to despair or else to seek security in power and wealth rather than in God. The simplest way to follow the flow of thought in the psalm is to observe how the addressees shift: from a description of “my soul” and God (vv. 1–2), to speaking directly to and about the attackers (vv. 3–4), then back to “my soul” and God (vv. 5–7), on to exhorting the whole of the worshiping congregation (vv. 8–10), and finally back to a description of God’s trustworthiness (vv. 11–12).

PSALM—NOTE ON 62:1–2 My Soul Waits for God Alone. On its surface, this section is descriptive of my soul as relying on God alone in silence, and of God, who is a rock and fortress. God alone. … He alone lays stress on God as the only reliable hope, though it does not exclude all human activity: the psalm makes a contrast between God’s salvation (which is received through faith and faithfulness) and the kind that comes through unjust means (cf. v. 10, “put no trust in extortion”). The description of a trusting soul is there to set an ideal for God’s people: each one should aspire to this kind of quiet faith. On salvation, see note on 3:2. On shaken (62:2), see note on 16:8.

PSALM—NOTE ON 62:12 render to a man according to his work. The Greek translation of this phrase is almost identical to the Greek of Prov. 24:12 (the Hb. is different, but conveys the same idea), and Paul uses it in Rom. 2:6. If Paul is speaking specifically to a Jew who passes judgment in Rom. 2:1 (which seems likely), then he is reminding such a person that mere Jewishness does not guarantee eternal life; one must embrace the covenant and prove the genuineness of one’s faith by one’s deeds (i.e., along the lines of the original intent of both Ps. 62:12 and Prov. 24:12). If, however, Paul is speaking to moralizers without respect to their place in the covenant, then he is using Ps. 62:12 as an instance of the more general principle of God’s just judgment. The idea that the final judgment will use believers’ deeds to vindicate the reality of their faith appears in Matt. 12:33–37; 16:27; John 5:28–29; James 1:12; Rev. 20:13; and possibly (though debatably) in Rom. 2:13; 2 Cor. 5:10; and Gal. 6:7–8.