10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; and iniquity and mischief are in the midst of it.
And in the evening they shall return, they shall howl like a dog, and go round about the city. They shall wander about for meat, and stay all night if they be not satisfied.
And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death.
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art become odious with thy father; and the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong. So they spread a tent for Absalom upon the roof; and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me, I pray, choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David to-night; and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only;
They return in the evening; they howl like a dog, and go round about the city:
Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths; the way of peace they know not, and there is no judgment in their goings; they have made their paths crooked: whoso goeth therein knoweth not peace. Therefore is justice far from us, and righteousness overtaketh us not: we wait for light, and behold darkness; for brightness, [but] we walk in obscurity. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at midday as in the twilight; amongst the flourishing we are as the dead. We roar all like bears, and mourn grievously like doves: we look for judgment, and there is none; for salvation, [but] it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and lying against Jehovah, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth stumbleth in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. And truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw [it], and it was evil in his sight that there was no judgment.
and Jehovah said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.
For they have applied their heart like an oven to their lying in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth like a flaming fire.
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
Woe to her that is rebellious and corrupted, to the oppressing city! She hearkened not to the voice; she received not correction; she confided not in Jehovah; she drew not near her God. Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, that leave nothing for the morning.
Judas therefore, having got the band, and officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 55
Commentary on Psalms 55 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 55
Ps 55:1-23. In great terror on account of enemies, and grieved by the treachery of a friend, the Psalmist offers an earnest prayer for relief. He mingles confident assurances of divine favor to himself with invocations and predictions of God's avenging judgments on the wicked. The tone suits David's experience, both in the times of Saul and Absalom, though perhaps neither was exclusively before his mind.
1. hide not thyself, &c.—(compare Ps 13:1; 27:9), withhold not help.
2. The terms of the last clause express full indulgence of grief.
3. oppression—literally, "persecution."
they … iniquity—literally, "they make evil doings slide upon me."
4, 5. express great alarm.
5. come upon—or literally, "into."
6. be at rest—literally, "dwell," that is, permanently.
7, 8. Even a wilderness is a safer place than exposure to such evils, terrible as storm and tempest.
9. Destroy—literally, "swallow" (Ps 21:9).
divide their tongues—or, "confound their speech," and hence their counsels (Ge 11:7).
the city—perhaps Jerusalem, the scene of anarchy.
10, 11. which is described in detail (compare Ps 7:14-16).
11. Wickedness—literally, "Mischief," evils resulting from others (Ps 5:9; 52:2, 7).
streets—or literally, "wide places," markets, courts of justice, and any public place.
12-14. This description of treachery does not deny, but aggravates, the injury from enemies.
13. guide—literally, "friend" (Pr 16:28; 17:9).
acquaintance—in Hebrew, a yet more intimate associate.
14. in company—literally, "with a crowd," in a festal procession.
15. Let death, &c.—or, "Desolations are on them."
let them go—literally, "they will go."
quick—or, living in the midst of life, death will come (compare Nu 16:33).
among them—or, "within them," in their hearts (Ps 5:9; 49:11).
16-18. God answers his constant and repeated prayers.
18. many with me—that is, by the context, fighting with me.
19. God hears the wicked in wrath.
abideth—or, "sitteth."
of old—enthroned as a sovereign.
Because … no changes—Prosperity hardens them (Ps 73:5).
20, 21. The treachery is aggravated by hypocrisy. The changes of number, Ps 55:15, 23, and here, enliven the picture, and imply that the chief traitor and his accomplices are in view together.
22. thy burden—literally, "gift," what is assigned you.
he shall sustain—literally, "supply food," and so all need (Ps 37:25; Mt 6:11).
to be moved—from the secure position of His favor (compare Ps 10:6).
23. bloody … days—(compare Ps 5:6; 51:14), deceit and murderous dispositions often united. The threat is directed specially (not as a general truth) against the wicked, then in the writer's view.