Psalms 54:6

"With a freewill-offering will I sacrifice unto thee:

I will give thanks unto thy Name, O Jehovah, for it is good.

For he hath delivered me out of all trouble;

And mine eye hath seen my desire upon mine enemies."

That sudden cessation of Saul's pursuit of David in the wilderness of Maon was as dramatic and evident an answer to prayer as anyone could imagine; and David no doubt understood it to mean that God would indeed deliver him and preserve him, hence the confidence of these last verses.

"Confidence having now mounted up to certainty, and regarding his deliverance as already surely accomplished, David promises to make a freewill-offering as soon as he is able to approach the sanctuary. The freewill-offering mentioned here is the one mentioned in Numbers 15:3."[5]

"And mine eye hath seen my desire upon mine enemies" (Psalms 54:7). We believe this translation is defective because, as Rawlinson said, "There is nothing about `desire' in the original."[6] That is the reason the word `desire' is written in italics in many versions, including the ASV. Rawlinson proposed this as a better rendition, "Mine eye has looked calmly and leisurely upon my defeated enemies."[7]

Certainly this is a thousand times better than that of J. M. P. Smith, who rendered it, "My eye has gloated over my foes." He then called it a "Nasty note of personal vengeance."[8]

"This is probably not personal vindication, but an affirmation of how things must work in a world ruled by God's faithfulness."[9]