Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
The goodness David expects is on this side of the grave, and he still has to be told twice to wait for it.
Today's reflection
The psalm has been swinging. It opens with the LORD as light and stronghold: whom shall I fear? By verse 7 David is pleading. Hear me, do not hide your face, do not leave me. False witnesses are breathing out violence against him. Even father and mother might forsake him.
Then verse 13. Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD.
In Hebrew the verse starts oddly, with a word that means unless, and the sentence never finishes. Unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living… and then nothing. Older translations fill in the gap with something like I would have perished. The BSB turns it into a clean statement. Either way you can hear a man who knows what would have become of him without this one conviction, and cannot quite bring himself to say it.
Notice where he expects the goodness. In the land of the living. It is the phrase Hezekiah uses when he is sure he is dying and will never again see the LORD there. David means this life, with the enemies still in it.
And the psalm does not end on certainty. Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD! Twice. Being sure of God’s goodness does not cancel the waiting. It is what makes the waiting bearable.
It sounds like someone talking to himself, and many readers take it that way, the psalmist turning to his own heart and speaking firmly, the way you do when nobody else is awake to say it to you.
The psalm repeats the word because one hearing rarely lasts. Say it to your heart in the morning. Say it again when the afternoon drags.
Why this passage
Context checked: Psalm 27 is headed "Of David." It opens in confidence (27:1-6) and turns to urgent petition from 27:7, with enemies, false witnesses and the fear of being forsaken (27:9-12). In Hebrew, verse 13 begins with a word meaning "unless" or "if not," and the sentence is left unfinished; the Masoretic text marks that word with unusual dots. Translations resolve it differently: the BSB renders it as a statement of certainty, while older versions supply an ending such as "I would have perished." "The land of the living" means life in this world, as in Hezekiah's lament in Isaiah 38:11. Verse 14 closes the psalm by repeating the call to wait, most likely the psalmist speaking to his own heart or to the hearer.
Scripture in English is from the Berean Standard Bible, which its publisher placed in the public domain on 30 April 2023.