The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom.
Ibn Ezra
A psalm of David when he fled (mizmor le-David be-vorcho): The Gaon, Rav Saadia, desired to link all the psalms one to another. And he said, after [discussing the verse] "Why do nations assemble?" (Psalm 2:1), that what befell Absalom would [also] befall them [i.e., the rebellious nations of Psalm 2]. However, the commentator does not have the ability [or it is not possible] to link [them all] thus. This psalm [Psalm 3] is written in the First Book [of the five books of Psalms]. Therefore, one should not wonder if we find, in the Fifth Book, the prayer [composed] when he was in the cave (Psalm 142), an event which preceded the incident involving Absalom. And [this] psalm is in the manner of prophecy, in that [David] prophesied he would be victorious, [anticipating the outcome expressed later in verse 5] "and He answered me from His holy mountain." This is like the prayer of Jonah [who confidently declared from the fish's belly, (Jonah 2:8)], "My prayer came in unto You."
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.