Psalms 27:9
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Hide not thy face from me; Put not thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Let not your face be covered from me; do not put away your servant in wrath; you have been my help: do not give me up or take your support from me, O God of my salvation.
Webster's Revision
Hide not thy face 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.
World English Bible
Don't hide your face from me. Don't put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don't abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Hide not thy face from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Clarke's Psalms 27:9 Bible Commentary
Hide not thy face - from me - As my face is towards thee wheresoever I am, so let thy face be turned towards me. In a Persian MS. poem entitled Shah we Gudda, "The King and the Beggar," I have found a remarkable couplet, most strangely and artificially involved, which expresses exactly the same sentiment one meaning of which is: -
Our face is towards Thee in all our ways;
Thy face is towards us in all our intentions.
Something similar, though not the same sentiment is in Hafiz, lib. i., gaz. v., cap. 2: -
How can we with the disciples turn our face towards the kaaba,
When our spiritual instructer turns his face to wards the wine-cellar?
I shall subjoin a higher authority than either: -
Ὁτι οφθαλμοι Κυριου επι δικαιους,
Και ωτα αυτου εις δεησις αυτων·
Προσωπον δε Κυριου επι ποιουντας κακα.
Barnes's Psalms 27:9 Bible Commentary
Hide not thy face far from me - Compare the notes at Psalm 4:6. To "hide the face" is to turn it away with displeasure, as if we would not look on one who has offended us. The favor of God is often expressed by "lifting the light of his countenance" upon anyone - looking complacently or "pleasedly" upon him. The reverse of this is expressed by hiding the face, or by turning it away. The word "far" introduced by the translators does not aid the sense of the passage.
Put not thy servant away in anger - Do not turn me off, or put me away in displeasure. We turn one away, or do not admit him into our presence, with whom we are displeased. The psalmist prayed that he might have free access to God as a Friend.
Thou hast been my help - In days that are past. This he urges as a reason why God should still befriend him. The fact that He had shown mercy to him, that He had treated him as a friend, is urged as a reason why He should now hear his prayers, and show him mercy.
Leave me not - Do not abandon me. This is still a proper ground of pleading with God. We may refer to all His former mercies toward us; we may make mention of those mercies as a reason why He should now interpose and save us. We may, so to speak, "remind" him of His former favors and friendship, and may plead with Him that He will complete what He has begun, and that, having once admitted us to His favor, He will never leave or forsake us.
Wesley's Psalms 27:9 Bible Commentary
27:9 Away - From thy face or presence, or from the place of thy worship.
