John Trapp on Psalms 17:1

PSAL. XVII.

A Prayer of David] Hee was a man of prayer; but this was his appeal to God the ſupreme Judge, as the word importeth.

Verſ. 1. Hear the right O Lord] Heb. Righteouſneſſe, which cryeth unto God no leſſe than blood doth, Gen. 4. Or, hear the right, that is, my prayer, faith R. David, rightly made with heart and voice. Or, Hear O righteous Lord, as Chriſt alſo faith, O righteous Father, Joh. 17.

Attend unto my cry] Some prophane perſons bear well their croſſes, becauſe their cauſe is good; but they cry not when God bindeth them, Job 36.13. Or,Thucyd; Dio. if they cry, they cry out of hard fortune, as the Athenians did when their good Generall Nicias was ſlain, and their army routed in Cicily; or againſt Dame Vertue, as if it were no more than a meer name, as Brutus did, when beaten out of the field. Or, againſt Providence, as if there were a miſt over the eye of it, as Pompei did, when diſcomfited by Caeſar; ſo blaming the Sun, becauſe of the ſoreneſſe of his own blear eyes. But David (greatly wronged by Saul and his Courtiers) by humble and hearty prayer maketh his requeſt known to God with thankſgiving, Phil. 4.6. And this, like his harp, drove away the Evill ſpirit of grief and diſcontent.

That goeth not out of feigned lips] His devotion was not ludibrious, as is that of Hypocrites; it was not an empty ring, a meer out-ſide, the labour of the lips, but the travell of the hurt; it was ſincere and thorough-wrought, as St. James hath it; Wicked men ſpeak God fair, but it is as the Devill did our Saviour, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Jam. 5.16: to bee rid of him, or as thoſe, Pſal. 78.36. who flattered him with their mouthes, and lyed unto him with their tongues.