The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies.

Meshech and Kedar (or Qedar) were "typical enemies [of Israel], who forced their way into the kingdom of Judah and vexed the people of God".

At the Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna, an inscription on the facade quotes verse 2 in Hebrew.

William Byrd set the psalm to eight voices, with minor variations in the text.

Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase of the psalm in German, "Ich ruf zu dir, mein Herr und Gott", SWV 225, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.