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Psalm 17 Bible study: The apple of your eye

"Your sons have plenty" (17:14) and "I shall be satisfied … with seeing your form" (17:15) are the same Hebrew verb, sava. And the psalmist who says "I have kept myself" (17:4) asks, with the same verb, "Keep me as the apple of your eye" (17:8).

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“Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,”
Psalm 17:8 · World English Bible

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“In Psalm 17 the psalmist says he has kept himself from the ways of the violent.”

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What's really going on

A prayer, from lips without deceit

In the text

The title is "A Prayer by David" (17:1), and names no occasion. In Hebrew its Prayer is tefillah, and the psalm's first line uses the word again: "Hear, LORD, my righteous plea. Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips" (17:1). Five psalm titles have the word: Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102 and 142 (Psalm 86:1, 90:1, 102:1, 142:1), and Psalm 86's title is the same, "A Prayer by David" (Psalm 86:1). The psalm asks to be heard, and asks again a few verses on: "Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech" (17:6). In Hebrew Hear is the same verb both times. Lips come twice as well: the prayer "doesn’t go out of deceitful lips" (17:1), and the psalmist has kept himself "by the word of your lips" (17:4), with the same Hebrew word for lips. Then he asks for a verdict: "Let my sentence come out of your presence. Let your eyes look on equity" (17:2).

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Psalm 17

That was a taste

The rest of Psalm 17 is waiting in Favor

  • Proved, visited, tried, and kept
  • The apple of your eye, the shadow of your wings
  • Plenty, and satisfied
  • From your presence to your face
  • Seeing your form
  • A lion in hiding, and a hiding place
  • 7 questions as you read
  • 13 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

אִישׁוֹןishonsay ee-SHOHN

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "pupil of eye". Strong's: "the little man of the eye; the pupil or ball". "Keep me as the apple of your eye" (17:8). Moses's song has it: "He kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10), and Proverbs has it of teaching: "Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye" (Proverbs 7:2). Zechariah's "he who touches you touches the apple of his eye" (Zechariah 2:8) has a different Hebrew word for apple, one the Hebrew Bible has only there.

For your group

Psalm 17 Bible study questions

  1. 1"Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings" (17:8). When you have felt surrounded, what picture of God's care has helped you most, and why?
  2. 2"You have tried me, and found nothing" (17:3). Is it easier for you to pray about what you've done wrong, or to ask God to look at a time you were in the right? What makes the other kind of prayer hard?
  3. 3Psalm 17 sets "men of the world, whose portion is in this life" (17:14) beside "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form" (17:15). What do you find yourself looking to, to feel satisfied?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 17 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home