9 Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city.
As the digging of a well, is `for' its waters, So she hath digged `for' her wickedness, Violence and spoil is heard in her, Before My face continually `are' sickness and smiting.
Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.' And Jehovah doth scatter them from thence over the face of all the earth, and they cease to build the city; therefore hath `one' called its name Babel, for there hath Jehovah mingled the pronunciation of all the earth, and from thence hath Jehovah scattered them over the face of all the earth.
And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, `Let me choose, I pray thee, twelve thousand men, and I arise and pursue after David to-night, and come upon him, and he weary and feeble-handed, and I have caused him to tremble, and all the people have fled who `are' with him, and I have smitten the king by himself, and I bring back all the people unto thee -- as the turning back of the whole `is' the man whom thou art seeking -- all the people are peace. And the thing is right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. And Absalom saith, `Call, I pray thee, also for Hushai the Archite, and we hear what `is' in his mouth -- even he.' And Hushai cometh in unto Absalom, and Absalom speaketh unto him, saying, `According to this word hath Ahithophel spoken; do we do his word? if not, thou -- speak thou.' And Hushai saith unto Absalom, `Not good `is' the counsel that Ahithophel hath counselled at this time.' And Hushai saith, `Thou hast known thy father and his men, that they `are' heroes, and they are bitter in soul as a bereaved bear in a field, and thy father `is' a man of war, and doth not lodge with the people; lo, now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places, and it hath been, at the falling among them at the commencement, that the hearer hath heard, and said, There hath been a slaughter among the people who `are' after Absalom; and he also, the son of valour, whose heart `is' as the heart of the lion, doth utterly melt, for all Israel doth know that thy father is a hero, and sons of valour `are' those with him. `So that I have counselled: Let all Israel be diligently gathered unto thee, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, as the sand that `is' by the sea for multitude, and thou thyself art going in the midst; and we have come in unto him in one of the places where he is found, and we `are' upon him as the dew falleth on the ground, and there hath not been left of him and of all the men who `are' with him even one. And if unto a city he is gathered, then they have caused all Israel to bear unto that city ropes, and we have drawn it unto the brook till that there hath not been found there even a stone.' And Absalom saith -- and all the men of Israel -- `Better `is' the counsel of Hushai the Archite than the counsel of Ahithophel;' and Jehovah willed to make void the good counsel of Ahithophel for the sake of Jehovah's bringing unto Absalom the evil.
And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me -- all of them -- as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah.
`Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that art killing the prophets, and stoning those sent unto thee, how often did I will to gather thy children together, as a hen doth gather her own chickens under the wings, and ye did not will. Lo, left desolate to you is your house;
the officers came, therefore, unto the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, `Wherefore did ye not bring him?' The officers answered, `Never so spake man -- as this man.' The Pharisees, therefore, answered them, `Have ye also been led astray? did any one out of the rulers believe in him? or out of the Pharisees? but this multitude, that is not knowing the law, is accursed.' Nicodemus saith unto them -- he who came by night unto him -- being one of them, `Doth our law judge the man, if it may not hear from him first, and know what he doth?' They answered and said to him, `Art thou also out of Galilee? search and see, that a prophet out of Galilee hath not risen;' and each one went on to his house, but Jesus went on to the mount of the Olives.
and Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, `Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee -- son of a Pharisee -- concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.' And he having spoken this, there came a dissension of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided, for Sadducees, indeed, say there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part having arisen, were striving, saying, `No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;' and a great dissension having come, the chief captain having been afraid lest Paul may be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiery, having gone down, to take him by force out of the midst of them, and to bring `him' to the castle.
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.