2 Mischiefs doth thy tongue devise, Like a sharp razor, working deceit.
Death and life `are' in the power of the tongue, And those loving it eat its fruit.
My soul `is' in the midst of lions, I lie down `among' flames -- sons of men, Their teeth `are' a spear and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
Lo, they belch out with their mouths, Swords `are' in their lips, for `Who heareth?'
And the chief priests, and the elders, and all the council, were seeking false witness against Jesus, that they might put him to death,
but did renounce for ourselves the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor deceitfully using the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth recommending ourselves unto every conscience of men, before God;
for having found this man a pestilence, and moving a dissension to all the Jews through the world -- a ringleader also of the sect of the Nazarenes --
then they suborned men, saying -- `We have heard him speaking evil sayings in regard to Moses and God.' They did stir up also the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and having come upon `him', they caught him, and brought `him' to the sanhedrim; they set up also false witnesses, saying, `This one doth not cease to speak evil sayings against this holy place and the law,
And they say, Come, And we devise against Jeremiah devices, For law doth not perish from the priest, Nor counsel from the wise, Nor the word from the prophet, Come, and we smite him with the tongue, And we do not attend to any of his words.
And they bend their tongue, their bow `is' a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah! Each of his friend -- beware ye, And on any brother, do not trust, For every brother doth utterly supplant, For every friend slanderously doth walk,
A generation -- swords `are' their teeth, And knives -- their jaw-teeth, To consume the poor from earth, And the needy from `among' men.
These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven `are' abominations to His soul. Eyes high -- tongues false -- And hands shedding innocent blood -- A heart devising thoughts of vanity -- Feet hasting to run to evil -- A false witness `who' doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
O Jehovah, deliver my soul from a lying lip, From a deceitful tongue!
For the mouth of wickedness, and the mouth of deceit, Against me they have opened, They have spoken with me -- A tongue of falsehood, and words of hatred!
Hidest me from the secret counsel of evil doers, From the tumult of workers of iniquity. Who sharpened as a sword their tongue, They directed their arrow -- a bitter word. To shoot in secret places the perfect, Suddenly they shoot him, and fear not. They strengthen for themselves an evil thing, They recount of the hiding of snares, They have said, `Who doth look at it?' They search out perverse things, `We perfected a searching search,' And the inward part of man, and the heart `are' deep.
Thy mouth thou hast sent forth with evil, And thy tongue joineth deceit together,
And I heard a great voice saying in the heaven, `Now did come the salvation, and the power, and the reign, of our God, and the authority of His Christ, because cast down was the accuser of our brethren, who is accusing them before our God day and night;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 52
Commentary on Psalms 52 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 52
David, no doubt, was in very great grief when he said to Abiathar (1 Sa. 22:22), "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house,' who were put to death upon Doeg's malicious information; to give some vent to that grief, and to gain some relief to his mind under it, he penned this psalm, wherein, as a prophet, and therefore with as good an authority as if he had been now a prince upon the throne,
In singing this psalm we should conceive a detestation of the sin of lying, foresee the ruin of those that persist in it, and please ourselves with the assurance of the preservation of God's church and people, in spite of all the malicious designs of the children of Satan, that father of lies.
To the chief musician, Maschil. A psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
Psa 52:1-5
The title is a brief account of the story which the psalm refers to. David now, at length, saw it necessary to quit the court, and shift for his own safety, for fear of Saul, who had once and again attempted to murder him. Being unprovided wit harms and victuals, he, by a wile, got Ahimelech the priest to furnish him with both. Doeg an Edomite happened to be there, and he went and informed Saul against Ahimelech, representing him as confederate with a traitor, upon which accusation Saul grounded a very bloody warrant, to kill all the priests; and Doeg, the prosecutor, was the executioner, 1 Sa. 22:9, etc. In these verses,
Psa 52:6-9
David was at this time in great distress; the mischief Doeg had done him was but the beginning of his sorrows; and yet here we have him triumphing, and that is more than rejoicing, in tribulation. Blessed Paul, in the midst of his troubles, is in the midst of his triumphs, 2 Co. 2:14. David here triumphs,