1 Deliver me, Jehovah, from the evil man,
From the man of violence guard me,
2 Who plot evils in heart,
Every day they stir up wars.
3 They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent,
Adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
4 Keep me, Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked man,
From the man of violences guard me,
Who have plotted to overthrow my steps.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me and cords,
They have spread a net hard by the path,
They have set gins for me. Selah.
6 I said to Jehovah, My God art Thou,
Give ear, Jehovah, to the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah, Lord, my stronghold of salvation!
Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle
8 Grant not, Jehovah, the desires of the wicked,
Further not his plan. Selah.
9 They who compass me about lift up the head--
The mischief of their own lips cover them!
10 [Jehovah] rain hot coals on them! (?)
Let Him cause them to fall into fire,
Into floods, that they rise no more!
11 The man with a [slanderous] tongue shall not continue on earth;
The man of violence--evil shall hunt him with blow upon blow.
12 I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
The right of the needy.
13 Surely the righteous shall thank Thy name,
The upright shall dwell with Thy face.
In tone and contents this psalm has many parallels in the earlier
books, especially among the psalms ascribed to David. Its originality
lies principally in its use of peculiar words, and in the extreme
obscurity of a part of it. The familiar situation of a man ringed
about by slanderous enemies, the familiar metaphors of snares and
traps, the familiar venture of faith flinging itself into God's arms
for refuge, the familiar prayers for retribution, are all here. One
cannot argue about impressions, but the present writer receives the
impression strongly from the psalm that it is cast in the Davidic
manner by a later singer, and is rather an echo than an original
voice, while, no doubt, the feelings expressed, both of distress and
of confidence, are none the less felt by the singer, though he falls
back on familiar forms for their expression.
The arrangement is in four strophes of approximately equal length,
the first and third of which consist of three verses of two clauses
each, while the fourth is abnormally elongated by having three
clauses in ver. 10, and the second (vv. 4, 5) has two verses of three
clauses each. Selah again appears as dividing the strophes, but is
omitted at the end of the fourth, to which a closing strophe of two
verses is appended.
The first two strophes (vv. 1-3 and 4, 5) cover the same ground. Both
set forth the psalmist's need, and plead for deliverance. The first
verse of the second strophe (ver. 4) is almost identical with ver.
1. Both paint the psalmist's enemies as evil and violent, plotting
against him privily. The only difference in the two strophes is in the
metaphors describing the foes and their devices, and in the prominence
given in the first to their slanderous and sharp tongues. The forms
of their malice are like those in earlier psalms. A characteristic of
the Psalter is the prominence given to hostility which has but bitter
speech for its weapon (Psalm x. 7, lviii. 4). The slanderer's tongue is
sharp like a serpent's, with which the popular opinion supposed that
the venom was injected. The particular kind of serpent meant in ver.
3_a_ is doubtful, as the word is only found here.
The figures for hostility in the second strophe are the other equally
familiar ones of setting snares and traps. The contrivers are here
called "proud," since their hostility to God's servant implies
haughty antagonism to God. But they are not too proud to resort to
tricks. Cunning and pride do not go well together, but they are
united in these enemies, who spread a net "by the hand of the path."
In the third strophe, Faith rouses itself to lay hold on God. The
psalmist turns from contemplating what his foes are doing, to realise
what Jehovah is to him, and is wont to do for him. Since He is the
singer's God and protects him in all conflict, he "finds it in his
heart" to ask confidently that the plots of the foe may be wrecked.
Consciousness of danger drove the poet in the former strophes to
prayer; Jehovah's character and loving relations to him draw him, in
this one.
"The day of battle" is literally "the day of armour"--when weapons
clash and helmets are fitting wear. Then Jehovah will be as a
head-piece to him, for He always gives the shape to His help which is
required at the moment. The words in ver. 8 for "desires" and "plan"
are found here only.
The text here is evidently in some disorder, and the word
which is now awkwardly attached to the end of ver. 8 is by most
commentators carried over to ver. 9. The change of position clears
away difficulties in both verses, but a considerable crop remains in
this fourth strophe. The language becomes gnarled and obscure under
the stress of the poet's emotion, as he prays for the destruction of
his persecutors. If the transference of the word from ver. 8 to ver.
9 is accepted, that verse describes in vivid fashion what in prose
would have been cast into the form of, "_When_ my encompassers lift
up the head [_i.e._, in proud assault], _then_," etc. The psalmist
omits the particles which would give a hypothetical form, and prefers
to set the two things side by side, and leave sympathetic readers
to feel their connection. Ver. 10 is very obscure. According to the
Hebrew text, the first clause would have to be rendered, "Let coals
be thrown on them"; but such a rendering is "contrary to the usage of
the language." The Hebrew margin, therefore, corrects into, "Let them
[_i.e._, men indefinitely] cast down coals"; but this is harsh, and
the office is strange as one attributed to men. The emendation which
finds favour with most moderns substitutes for the inappropriate
verb of the present text that which is used in precisely the same
connection in Psalm xi. 6, and gives the reading, "Let Him [_i.e._,
Jehovah] rain coals on them." The following clause then swiftly adds
another element of horror. Fire rains down from above; fire yawns
below. They are beaten down by the burning storm, and they fall into
a mass of flame. The noun in ver. 10_c_ is found only here, and is by
some rendered "pits," by others "floods," and by others is corrected
into "nets." If "floods" is taken as the meaning, destruction by
water is set by the side of that by fire, as if the antagonistic
elements forgot their opposition and joined in strange amity to sweep
the wicked from the earth. The terrible strophe ends with the assured
declaration of the Divinely appointed transiency of the evil-doers,
especially of the slanderers against whom the psalmist took refuge
in Jehovah. They shall be soon cut off, and the hunters (ver. 5)
shall become the hunted. "Evil"--_i.e._, the punishment of their evil
deeds--shall dog their heels, and with stroke after stroke chase them
as dogs would follow vermin.
In vv. 13, 14, the poet comes back to brighter thoughts, and his
words become limpid again with his change of mood. He "knows," as
the result of meditation and experience, that not only he, but all
the afflicted and needy, who are righteous and upright, have God on
their side. He will stand by their side in their hour of distress; He
will admit them to dwell by His side, in deep, still communion, made
more real and sweet by the harassments of earth, which drive them for
shelter and peace to His breast. That confidence is a certitude for
the psalmist. He announces it with an "I know," and seals it with
a "surely." Such is the issue of trouble which was spread before
Jehovah, and vented itself in prayer.