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Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
6I have called on you, for you will answer me, God. Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech.
7Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.
8Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9from the wicked who oppress me, my deadly enemies, who surround me.
10They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.
Notice
“Keep me” and “Hide me” are pleas for God's close protection, spoken while deadly enemies still surround the person praying.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does being guarded as the apple of God's eye suggest about the care you seek?
Write on thisWhere do you need shelter while trouble remains unresolved?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 91:1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.Both passages describe shelter with God through the image of resting or hiding in his shadow.
Isaiah 26:20Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.Both passages speak of hiding during danger; the psalm asks God for shelter, while Isaiah tells the people to enter their rooms.
Deuteronomy 32:10He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.The psalm asks for the care Deuteronomy describes: being kept as the apple of God's eye.
Psalm 91:4He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.Both passages picture God's protection as shelter beneath wings, where someone exposed to danger seeks refuge.
Zechariah 2:8For the LORD of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.Both use the apple of God's eye to describe people under threat in relation to his care.
Psalm 27:5For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.Both speak of God hiding someone in trouble, with wings in one passage and a pavilion and tabernacle in the other.
Numbers 6:24‘The LORD bless you, and keep you.Both ask for God's keeping: Psalm 17 voices a personal plea, while Numbers pronounces a blessing.
Ruth 2:12May the LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”Both describe refuge under God's wings, connecting the plea for shelter with the refuge Ruth has sought.
Proverbs 7:2Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.Both use the apple of an eye for something to guard, though Proverbs concerns teaching and the psalm concerns a person.
Psalm 61:4I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.Both prayers picture refuge beneath God's wings as the shelter the speaker seeks.
Luke 13:34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers …Both use wings as an image of shelter; the psalm seeks protection, while Jesus laments Jerusalem's refusal to be gathered.
Matthew 23:37“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen …Both portray shelter through wings; the psalm asks to be hidden, while Jesus describes his desire to gather Jerusalem's children.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. fear for the future. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
There is room in this prayer for fear that has not passed. The enemies remain near, and the plea for shelter is addressed to God.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).