Psalms 27 FOR [by] DAVID In Hebrew "leDavid" which can mean "for David" but can also connote "from David". [Psalms 27:1] THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION; WHOM SHALL I FEAR? THE LORD IS   THE STRENGTH OF MY LIFE; OF WHOM SHALL I BE AFRAID? [Psalms 27:2] WHEN THE WICKED, EVEN MINE ENEMIES AND MY FOES, CAME UPON ME TO EAT UP MY FLESH, THEY STUMBLED AND FELL. [Psalms 27:3] THOUGH AN HOST SHOULD ENCAMP AGAINST ME, MY HEART SHALL NOT FEAR: THOUGH  WAR SHOULD RISE AGAINST ME, IN THIS WILL I BE CONFIDENT. [Psalms 27:4] ONE THING HAVE I DESIRED OF THE LORD, THAT WILL I SEEK AFTER; THAT I MAY  DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE, TO BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD, AND TO ENQUIRE IN HIS TEMPLE. David often repeats his desire to always dwell in the House of God. S.R. Hirsch points out that this cannot mean the physical temple but rather a spritiual reality for which the Temple served as a model here on earth. To feel the constant closeness and reality of the Almighty should be a goal we set ourselves as if we were dwelling in His House. [Psalms 27:5] FOR IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE HE SHALL HIDE ME IN HIS PAVILION: IN THE SECRET OF HIS   TABERNACLE SHALL HE HIDE ME; HE SHALL SET ME UP UPON A ROCK. The secret places of our mind, our ultimate reality, where we go for refuge from trouble and upsetting circumstances Should be the House of God. This is what will give us strength and make us impervious to the enemy. The "enemy" in the psalms of David is a real thing, physical entities that seek our harm and the harm of those we hold dear. The "enemy" is also our own inner darkness that prevents us from living as we should and as we can and from doing as well as we can on every plane of our existence. [Psalms 27:6] AND NOW SHALL MINE HEAD BE LIFTED UP ABOVE MINE ENEMIES ROUND ABOUT ME: THEREFORE WILL I OFFER IN HIS TABERNACLE SACRIFICES OF JOY; I WILL SING, YEA, I WILL SING  PRAISES UNTO THE LORD. <<SACRIFICES OF JOY>>: When we realize that good has been done for us we should show our thanks by doing some good deed beyond that which we normally would do. It used to be the custom that when a new baby came into the world the proud father would give out cigars to all present including complete strangers. The idea was that good had been done to him and he wished to share his happiness by causing others to feel good. This is the same principle. It is a kind of sacrifice of thanksgiving even though something more beneficial than cigars may be more appropriate. [Psalms 27:7] HEAR, O LORD, WHEN I CRY WITH MY VOICE: HAVE MERCY ALSO UPON ME, AND ANSWER ME. [Psalms 27:8] WHEN THOU SAIDST, SEEK YE MY FACE; MY HEART SAID UNTO THEE, THY FACE, LORD, WILL I SEEK. [Psalms 27:9] HIDE NOT THY FACE FAR FROM ME; PUT NOT THY SERVANT AWAY IN ANGER: THOU HAST BEEN MY HELP; LEAVE ME NOT, NEITHER FORSAKE ME, O GOD OF MY SALVATION. [Psalms 27:10] WHEN MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER FORSAKE ME, THEN THE LORD WILL TAKE ME UP. Every one of us in some way at some stage feels abandoned by his parents and by those whom he depended upon. In such cases we should turn to the Almighty for support and he will be there for us. [Psalms 27:11] TEACH ME THY WAY, O LORD, AND LEAD ME IN A PLAIN PATH, BECAUSE OF  MINE ENEMIES. God will help us if we go in His ways. We therefore request that the Almighty make His will and His ways known unto us. [Psalms 27:12] DELIVER ME NOT OVER UNTO THE WILL OF MINE ENEMIES: FOR FALSE WITNESSES ARE  RISEN UP AGAINST ME, AND SUCH AS BREATHE OUT CRUELTY. We do not want to be given over into the power of those who are against us or who work in ways harmful to us.  These days women (and also men in some cases) in the work force often have problems with those above them  (within whose "power" they find themselves) who want their downfall. We pray that God will enable us not to get into such situations but if we do that we will be given the wherewithal to escape from them.   Anyone who wants something bad for us, against the will of God, is our enemy and we should realize this and ask God to help us from such enemies. [Psalms 27:13] I HAD FAINTED, UNLESS I HAD BELIEVED TO SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD IN  THE LAND OF THE LIVING.   <<I HAD FAINTED>>: Not in  the original Hebrew but perhaps implied. A difficult construct but implying that I would have gone under and been destroyed by my enemies unless I had believed in God and called upon him as described above. I was able to do all this because that the Almighty would pull me through into a better life in a land of vitality where His Goodness would be even more visible and palpable than it has been. [Psalms 27:14] WAIT ON THE LORD: BE OF GOOD COURAGE, AND HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE   HEART: WAIT, I SAY, ON THE LORD. <<WAIT>>:  Hebrew "kaveh" often translated as "wait" in the KJV but perhaps more correctly rendered as "hope for" or "hope in".   The root "KVH" actually connotes "line" or "string".  Therefore the word could also be correctly rendered in modern parlance as "put a line on",  tie a string to".i.e. hope and wait for and trust in. Rabbi Avraham Feld in his Approbation to our book, "Lost Israelite Identity. The Hebrew Ancestry of Celtic Races",  expanded on the different applications of the word "kaveh" ('wait" or "hope for") in the Bible. PSALMS HOME