Passage

Psalms 62.1-2

Book: Psalms · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. ^{For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.} 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. For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. 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. Selah." (Psalms 62:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. ^{Truly: or, Only} ^{waiteth: Heb. is silent} 2. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. ^{defence: Heb. high place}"

"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. ^{inwardly: Heb. in their inward parts}" (Psalms 62:1-4, KJV)

YLT (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, yeshuʿah (Strong's H3444). The salvation-noun confessed as YHWH's exclusive possession.

Quoted in

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 (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
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 for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.