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You Prepare A Table Before Me in the Presence of My Enemies - Retribution

Psalms 23:5 – “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” 


            In this passage the Great Shepherd promises to prepare a table before you in the presence of my enemies. This is retribution. There have been some who planned your demise. They rejoiced when you failed, and it looked like it was all over. The good news is that the Lord always has the final word. It is not over till God says it is over. The enemy might have written your obituary, but God said, “I have will have the final say.” What looked like a death has turned into a resurrection.


            The Cambridge Dictionary defines retribution as “deserved and severe punishment.” Deuteronomy 32:35 from the New American Standard Version says, “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution; In due time their foot will slip. For the day of their disaster is near, And the impending things are hurrying to them.” I believe we are going to see divine retribution beginning in this current year. 


            Francis Dixon writes, “In the east, the pastureland is so covered with insects and harmful creatures that the shepherd used to place the food for his flock on little raised ‘tables’ to enable them to feed safely in the presence of these ‘enemies’. Our enemies are constantly around us, seeking to harm us, but our Shepherd protects us by raising us above them, and in that exalted position.”[I]


Psalms 23:5 from the New Living Translation reads, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.” Tony Cooke in his book, Because the Lord is my Shepherd, “In the midst of all life’s challenges and disappointments, we have a Great Shepherd. It is one thing to think of God nourishing us and providing us with sustenance in the normal course of life, but this banquet is prepared for us in the presence of our enemies. It is as though God is declaring to every opposing force, “I don’t care how much you threaten My people—you will not prevail!”[ii]


[1] Dixon, Frances, Retrieved from internet 3/21/23, www.wordsoflife.co.uk/bible-studies/study-4-the-sweetest-psalm-of-all.

[1] Cooke, Tony, Because the Lord is My Shepherd, Harrison House Publishers, Shippensburg, PA, 2020, Page 63.



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