# Psalms 62.1-2

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-05-31 | updated: 2026-05-31 -->

**Book:** [Psalms](/codex/psalms/) · ASV

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> **1. <sup>For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.</sup> My soul waiteth in silence for God only: From him cometh my salvation. 2. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my high tower; I shall not be greatly moved.**
>
> 3. How long will ye set upon a man, That ye may slay him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? 4. They only consult to thrust him down from his dignity; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah (Psalms 62:1-4, ASV)

**WEB** ([[WEB)
> **1. <b>For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. </b> My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him. 2. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I will never be greatly shaken.**
>
> 3. How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? 4. They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. <i>Selah.</i> (Psalms 62:1-4, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> **1. To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. <sup>Truly: or, Only</sup> <sup>waiteth: Heb. is silent</sup> 2. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. <sup>defence: Heb. high place</sup>**
>
> 3. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. 4. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. <sup>inwardly: Heb. in their inward parts</sup> (Psalms 62:1-4, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> **1. To the Overseer, for Jeduthun., A Psalm of David. Only, toward God [is] my soul silent, From Him [is] my salvation. 2. Only, He [is] my rock, and my salvation, My tower, I am not much moved.**
>
> 3. Till when do ye devise mischief against a man? Ye are destroyed all of you, As a wall inclined, a hedge that is cast down. 4. Only, from his excellency They have consulted to drive away, They enjoy a lie, with their mouth they bless, And with their heart revile. Selah. (Psalms 62:1-4, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** David (per superscription)
- **Audience:** Israel, congregational worship
- **Location:** Jerusalem / various; precise Sitz im Leben uncertain; tone fits a Davidic-crisis context
- **Time period:** Davidic, c. 1000-970 BC

## Theological reading

Psalm 62:1-2 (and the repeated refrain at 62:5-6) deploys *yeshuʿah* in the contemplative-confessional register. The Hebrew *ak el-Elohim dummiyah napshi mimennu yeshuʿati*, *"only toward God is my soul silent; from him is my salvation"*, frames *yeshuʿah* as the object of a particular *posture*: silent, waiting, exclusive trust. The thrice-repeated *only* (*ak*) is the load-bearing word: *only God*, *only from him*, *he only is my rock*. The text is a major OT source for the Christian doctrine that saving faith is *exclusive trust*, not a quantitative degree of confidence but a qualitative *to-whom-do-you-look* commitment. The NT echo is direct: Jesus' *"come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden"* (Matt 11:28) calls for the same exclusive *yeshuʿah*-orientation that Ps 62 confesses. The repeated refrain makes Ps 62 a model for sustained *yeshuʿah*-meditation in the contemplative tradition (Augustine, Bernard, the Puritan affectional-theology writers, modern lectio-divina practice).

## Key words

- [H3444 - yeshuah](/codex/h3444-yeshuah/), *yeshuʿah* (Strong's H3444). The salvation-noun confessed as YHWH's exclusive possession.

## See also

- [H3444 - yeshuah](/codex/h3444-yeshuah/), the lexicon entry
- [Psalms](/codex/psalms/), the book hub
- [Psalms 27.1](/codex/psalms-27-1/), the parallel *"YHWH is my light and my yeshuʿah"* confession
- Matt 11:28, the NT *come unto me* parallel

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## Quoted in

**Arguments and defeaters:**

- [Argument from Restlessness](/codex/argument-from-restlessness/), via [Psalms 62.1](/codex/psalms-62-1/)

**Lexicon:**

- [G4991 - soteria](/codex/g4991-soteria/)

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## Notes

_Stub. Promote to rich hub when warranted._

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.