In Psalm 5 the psalmist comes before God confident that God will hear both his spoken words and his thoughts ("my groaning" in verse 1). These come out as a cry for help (v 2).
With a new day comes renewed hope. God's mercies are "new every morning" (Lam 3:23). In the morning the psalmist reaches out for help (v 3). He faces difficulty caused by evildoers, and he knows that God hates and judges evil (vv 4-5).
While the wicked are not admitted into God's presence, the psalmist believes, based on God's mercy, that he will be accepted when he bows before God in submission (v 7). He asks for God's guidance in taking the right path (v 8), and for God's righteous judgment upon the wicked (vv 9-10).
In verses 11-12, his prayer expands to include all who seek refuge in God. Commentator Willem VanGemeren sees this prayer as prefiguring Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17. The psalmist concludes with the confident assertion that God blesses and protects the righteous.
This psalm is quoted once in the New Testament. Paul quotes verse 9 in Rom 3:13 ("their throat is an open grave") as part of a chain of verses describing human sinfulness.
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