Verse 1
"To the chief musician, Al-Tashchet, of David, a Michtam, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house to kill him."
This is the heading of the psalm, and it also gives the background: Saul sent men to watch David's house and put him to death.
"Michtam" is a precious kind of psalm.
Out of this very real danger the song was born.
Verse 2
"Deliver me from my enemies, my God; set me on high above those who rise against me."
David asks his God to rescue him from his enemies.
And to lift him high above all who rise up against him.
His plea is for protection that places him out of their reach.
It is a cry of trust, not of despair.
Verse 3
"Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from men of blood."
David repeats his plea with force: rescue me from the wicked.
From those whose every deed is injustice and violence.
"Men of blood" are violent people who shed blood.
Verse 4
"For behold, they lie in wait for my soul; the fierce gather against me, not for my transgression nor my sin, O Lord."
David stresses that they ambush his life and gather against him.
And it is not because of any sin or wrong that he has done.
He insists on his own innocence before God.
Innocence does not remove the danger, but it shapes the prayer.
Verse 5
"Without my fault they run and prepare themselves; awake to meet me, and see."
With no guilt on his part, they run and organize to harm him.
David calls to the Lord: awake, come toward me, and see my distress.
It is a cry for God to notice and to act.
Verse 6
"You, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah."
David turns to God by all His titles, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.
He asks Him to rise and do justice, and not to spare the treacherous wicked.
"Selah" marks a pause to take the words in.
This part teaches that even in a moment of real danger to one's life, it is possible to turn to God honestly and with trust. David does not deny his fear, but he does not break under it; he turns it into prayer. The cry "deliver me" is not despair, but an expression of faith that there is One who hears, One who can lift us beyond the reach of those who rise against us. That is perhaps why a psalm born of danger can be sung, in melody, as a song of confidence and even joy.