Psalm 64:1–10 |
David’s Enemies Conspire Against Him |
These studies are designed for believers in Jesus Christ only. If you have exercised faith in Christ, then you are in the right place. If you have not, then you need to heed the words of our Lord, Who said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son, so that every [one] believing [or, trusting] in Him shall not perish, but shall be have eternal life! For God did not send His Son into the world so that He should judge the world, but so that the world shall be saved through Him. The one believing [or, trusting] in Him is not judged, but the one not believing has already been judged, because he has not believed in the Name of the only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son of God.” (John 3:16–18). “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life! No one comes to the Father except through [or, by means of] Me!” (John 14:6).
Every study of the Word of God ought to be preceded by a naming of your sins to God. This restores you to fellowship with God (1John 1:8–10). If there are people around, you would name these sins silently. If there is no one around, then it does not matter if you name them silently or whether you speak aloud.
These exegetical studies are not designed for you to read each and every word. For instance, the Hebrew exegesis is put into greyish tables, so that if you want to skip over them, that is fine. If you question a translation, you can always refer back to the appropriate Hebrew tables to sort it all out.
The intent is to make this particular study the most complete and most accurate examination of Psalm 64 which is available in writing. The idea is to make every phrase, verse and passage understandable; and to make application of all that is studied.
Introduction An Introduction to Psalm 64
Inscription Psalm 64 Inscription
vv. 1–2 David Calls Upon God to Hide Him from the Revolutionaries
vv. 3–6 What the Revolutionaries Are Doing
vv. 7–9 What God will Do to the Revolutionaries
v. 10 The Righteous Taking Refuge in the Lord
Addendum Psalm 64 Addendum
Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:
Introduction Psalm 64 as a Chiasmos
Introduction The Principals of Psalm 64
Introduction The Historical Context of Psalm 64
Introduction A Synopsis of Psalm 64
Inscription
v. 1 The Abbreviated Doctrine of Fear
v. 1 Links to the Doctrine of Fear
v. 2 Hacker’s Typology of Terrorists
v. 3 Links to Sins of the Tongue
v. 5 Links to the Doctrine of Scar Tissue of the Soul
v. 10 The Upright of Heart
Addendum A Complete Translation of Psalm 64
Addendum Psalm 64 Applied to Jesus, David’s Greater Son
Addendum Psalm 64 as a Chiasmos Part II
Addendum Psalm 64 as a Chiasmos Part III
Pre-Introduction Links |
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Chapters of the Bible Alluded To or Psalms Appropriately Exegeted with this Chapter |
Doctrines Alluded To |
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Other Chapters of the Bible Appropriately Exegeted with this Chapter |
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Many who read and study this chapter are 1st or 2nd generation students of R. B. Thieme, Jr., so that much of this vocabulary is second nature. One of Bob’s contributions to theology is a fresh vocabulary along with a number of concepts which are theologically new or reworked, yet still orthodox. Therefore, if you are unfamiliar with his work, the definitions below will help you to fully understand all that is being said. In addition to this, I will use a number of other more traditional technical theological terms which will be used and therefore defined as well. |
This is a psalm where the first passage can be matched to the final passage; the second passage can be matched to the second-to-the-last passage, etc. It is called a chiasmos (or, chiasmus) based upon the letter chi (Χ). Many times, this structure can be used to find the key element of the psalm or to rearrange the psalm. |
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The interlocking systems of arrogance refers to many clusters of sins which have a tendency to interlock with one another. That is, a believer who goes into interlocking systems of arrogance through one gate (or entrance), is likely to interlock with another cluster of sins if he remains out of fellowship. |
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Scar tissue is what develops on the soul as a result of negative volition toward God and/or Bible Doctrine. The heart becomes hardened toward God. |
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This is the points where sexual desire overrides all else in a person’s psyche. It overrides reason, compassion, protocol. Just as the drug addict might be willing to do nearly anything for a fix; so the sexually addicted will be willing to do and even risk anything in order to fulfill their lusts. For the sexual addict, the object of his sexual lust is simply an object; his sexual lust does not indicate any sort of love is involved; not even like. |
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J. Vernon McGee, as a part of his commentary on Psalm 64: As I look at the world today, I have come to the conclusion that our hope is no longer in statesmen or politicians; our hope is no longer in science or education—they are all more or less failures. We are going to have to do what David did and what Israel will do in the future—start looking up. God is our only hope today.
Kukis: The big changes wrought in your life—even if they came at the hands of your enemy—are changes which God means for good.
The Apostle Paul: I have worked hard, I have been in prison frequently, I have been beaten severely, and I have been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. (2Cor. 11:22–31; mostly the NIV).
I ntroduction: Psalm 64 is clearly a psalm about revolution or political intrigue. We find this covered once in the history of David, and so have applied it to that period of time (2Sam. 15–19). However, this psalm certainly could be from a different period of time (also during a revolution) and it should contain doctrinal principles which can be applied throughout human history. As we will see, there are even applications to contemporary politics and spiritual things.
Most of this psalm sets up a problem (vv. 1–6) with God’s solution being provided in the final 4 verses. Although this psalm is brought to a satisfactory conclusion, we do not know if this is David looking into the future, believing that all will be resolved, or if David wrote this after he had been delivered by God, successfully putting down Absalom’s revolution. Although David clearly has a period of time when he doubts his own future as king (2Sam. 15:13–14, 19–20), before he leaves the Jerusalem vicinity—when he has ascended the Mount of Olives—David is assured of success by God when God answers his prayer in the person of Hushai the Archite (see 2Sam. 15:31–37). Many of these references will go over your head unless you understand 2Samuel 15 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
Like many of David’s psalms, this gives us a look into David’s psyche, so that we get an idea as to what he is thinking and feeling, which information is limited in the Samuel narratives.
There are two very difficult verses in this short psalm, and the chiasmos allows us to piece together a meaning for those verses. |
We will look at this chiasmos two more times, once we have the translation completed. |
From http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/19/19-3/19-3-pp191-200_JETS.pdf accessed December 5, 2012. Some editing was done. This was a rather straightforward chiasmos, not really requiring a reference. Key words throughout make the chiasmos fairly obvious. |
Check http://psalms.schechter.edu/2011/05/psalm-64-poetic-justice-text-hebrew.html |
We need to know who the people are who populate this chapter. |
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Characters |
Commentary |
God |
It is God to Whom David appeals in this psalm, and Who clearly involves Himself in David’s problems. |
David |
David is the author of this psalm and the one who is being slandered by evil revolutionaries. |
The revolutionaries |
These men are not called revolutionaries in the psalm, but, by their actions, are clearly slanderers and men who plot against others. |
The righteous man |
David’s consideration is toward the person who trusts in Yehowah and expects to live in an orderly society. |
This is fairly orderly throughout the psalm; David speaks of himself in the 1st person singular; God in the 2nd person masculine singular; and the revolutionaries in the 3rd person masculine plural. |
It is important to understand what has gone before. |
A great deal of the Davidic narrative is related to his illicit relationship with Bathsheba and to the resultant fallout, as are many of the psalms. We can pinpoint this psalm, but based upon some assumptions. If you will recall, King David took time while his army was at war to chase skirt in Jerusalem. He saw from his house roof a naked Bathsheba bathing and desired her, despite the fact that she turned out to be married to one of his soldiers (Uriah the Hittite). When she became pregnant and David was unable to manipulate this soldier, David had the man killed. 2Samuel 11 (HTML) (PDF). Nathan spoke to David and David condemned himself by means of a parable. Part of his discipline was to include unrest in his home, which began with one son, Amnon, raping his half-sister, Tamar. Since David did not punish Amnon, Absalom, Tamar’s full-brother, killed Amnon, and then left the country for a few years. 2Samuel 12 (HTML) (PDF) 2Samuel 13 (HTML) (PDF). Joab, David’s general, finally got David to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem, after several years; and David agreed to that, but he did not agree to see Absalom. Absalom then burned Joab’s field, and Joab went to David, and David finally agreed to see Absalom, where they reconciled. However, it is clear that, during that time, Absalom had become a sophisticated criminal. 2Samuel 14 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). Then Absalom puts a plan into motion to overthrow David’s kingdom. He is not going to wait any longer. This plan is going to include a coordinated verbal attack upon David. He will be slandered by Absalom and his allies1 in order to turn public opinion against him. The example given in the Davidic narrative is the justice system, which is, for the most part, honest and fair. However, if lies and half-truths are repeated enough, many time, they become true in the minds of the people. This psalm speaks of the vicious slander leveled against King David. 2Samuel 15 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). It should be noted that, throughout this narrative and these psalms, David is experiencing recovery from interlocking systems of arrogance and his falling deep into the control of sexual lust. This allows David’s second act as king (post-Absalom revolution) to be even greater than his first act (going from being a young man to king over all Israel). |
However, a psalm is not confined to an historical context. That is just from where it comes. J. Vernon McGee suggests that this will be a psalm that man in the Tribulation will hold to. When we complete the psalm, I suggest that you think about all it says and believers in the Tribulation.
As above, the context appears to be David on the run from Absalom. The synopsis will take that into account. |
David begins this psalm the way that he begins many of them, asking God to hear him (v. 1). |
He asks God to guard him from those who would do him harm and those who would conspire against him (v. 2) as well as those who attack him with sins of the tongue, speaking of their words as arrows (v. 3). |
The shoot arrows at David without fear (v. 4) and they work each other up in evil plans to be executed against David, believing that no one knows what they are up to (v. 5). They believe that they have everything set up in order to defeat David (v. 6). |
However, suddenly, God begins to fire arrows at them (v. 7) and they trip over their own tongues running away (v. 8). |
Those who observe these things will have a new found fear/respect for God and for His wisdom (v. 9). They will rejoice (v. 10). |
This psalm will probably be words of encouragement to believers in the Tribulation and this might be applied to our Lord. |
Barnes outlines this chapter fairly simply: it contains first, a prayer for deliverance from enemies, with a description of their character (Psalm 64:1–6); and second, a confident expectation of deliverance and that his prayer would be answered, and that God would interpose in his behalf (Psalm 64:7–10).
Spurgeon divides up the psalm the same way, writing: From Psalm 64:1–6 he describes the cruelty and craftiness of his foes, and from Psalm 64:7–10 he prophesies their overthrow.
To speak in generalities, we, as believers, all have enemies, and these enemies will slander us behind our backs. Now, of course some believers just seem to cultivate these enemies; but if you are a growing believer, then enemies will seek you out. This psalm assures us that God is able to withstand these enemies and that He has made provision for them as far back as eternity past.
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Slavishly literal: |
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Moderately literal: |
To the preeminent one; a psalm to David. |
Psalm |
To the Preeminent One; a psalm by David. |
For the choir director; a psalm written by David. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts: Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.
The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.
When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.
The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.
In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).
Underlined words indicate differences in the text.
Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.
Aramaic text not represented in some way in the Hebrew original is signaled by italics. The absence of italics should not be construed to mean that the targum translates literally. Aramaic verbs are translated literally; that is, perfects are generally translated as past tense, imperfects as future or jussive, participles as general present.
Latin Vulgate Unto the end, a psalm for David.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) To the preeminent one; a psalm to David.
Syriac (according to Clarke ) Composed by David when warned by Gad the prophet, who said, Stay not in Masrob, because Saul seeks your life.
Septuagint (Greek) For the end, A Psalm of David.
Significant differences: It seems like, for this beginning, the Latin and Greek always have for the end, unto the end instead. The Syriac is filled with extra stuff (which does not come from my normal source for the Syriac, but according to Clarke, as noted above).
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Contemporary English V. (A psalm by David for the music leader.)
Easy English (This is) for the music leader.
(It is) a psalm of David.
The Message A David psalm.
New Berkeley Version Divine Judgment on the Wicked
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David
New Century Version A Prayer Against Enemies
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
New Life Bible Prayer For A Safe Place.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
Beck’s American Translation Men’s Arrows and God’s
For the choir leader; a psalm by David.
God’s Word™ For the choir director; a psalm by David.
New American Bible For the leader. A psalm of David. A lament of a person overwhelmed by the malice of the wicked who are depicted in the Psalms as the enemies of the righteous (Ps 64:2-7). When people see God bringing upon the wicked the evil they intended against others, they will know who is the true ruler of the world (Ps 64:8-10). The final verse is a vow of praise (Ps 64:11).
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear To the conductor, a psalm from David.
Bible in Basic English To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.
Ferar-Fenton Bible To his Bandmaster
A Psalm by David.
JPS (Tanakh—1917) For the Leader. A Psalm of David.
Judaica Press Complete T. For the conductor, a song of David.
New Advent Bible Unto the end, a psalm for David.
NET Bible® For the music director; a psalm of David. The psalmist asks God to protect him from his dangerous enemies and then confidently affirms that God will destroy his enemies and demonstrate his justice in the sight of all observers.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
Concordant Literal Version A Davidic Psalm.
English Standard Version Hide Me from the Wicked
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
exeGeses companion Bible To His Eminence: A Psalm by David.
LTHB To the chief musician. A Psalm of David.
NASB Prayer for Deliverance from Secret Enemies.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
New King James Version Oppressed by the Wicked but Rejoicing in the Lord
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
Syndein {David's Detailed Counter-Insurgency Prayer (from II Samuel 15:30 and following)}
{Verses 1-6: 'Prayer under pressure'/'Motus Operendi of Conspiracy'}
{Subscript - Title} To the chief Musician {of the musical division - the band and choir - 4000 people} . . . a Psalm of David.
Young's Literal Translation To the Overseer. --A Psalm of David.
The gist of this verse: This is one of David’s many psalms designed for the chief musician.
Psalm 64 inscription a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
lâmed (לְ) [pronounced le] |
to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to, belonging to |
directional/relational preposition |
No Strong’s # BDB #510 |
nâtsach (נָצַח) [pronounced naw-TZAHKH] |
to oversee, to supervise to be; preeminent, to be enduring; the Preeminent One |
Piel participle with the definite article |
Strong’s #5329 BDB #663 |
The Piel participle of nâtsach is given a wide variety of renderings: overseer (Young), the music leader (CEV), choir director (NASB, NLT), choirmaster (Owens), leader (NRSV, NEB, NAB) and chief musician (Rotherham). |
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Both the Greek and Latin have to the end instead. |
Translation: To the Preeminent One;... As we have seen with the numerous translations above, no one is clear as to who this person is. This psalm could be dedicated to God, which is essentially how I have translated it; however, it could be designed to be conducted by the chief musician, which is how Rotherham understands it. Most translators assume that this is given over to the choir director or the conductor or the one in charge of those who sang.
We find this word as a Piel infinitive in 1Chron. 15:21 23:4 2Chron. 34:12 Ezra 3:8–9. 1Chron. 23:4 indicates that this does not have to be a supervisory position, as it reads: Of these [38,000 Levites], 24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of Yahweh; and 6000 were officers and judges. Quite obviously, you cannot have 24,000 chiefs and no Indians, these were all of the Levites assigned to work on the Temple (Ezra 3:8–9 finds this word used in this same way). However, the supervisory nature of this word seems to be clear in 1Chron. 15:21 2Chron. 34:12.
Unfortunately, the exact meaning of the lâmed preposition is also hard to determine. We find several psalms which are ascribed to David written to David; but the idea is, the psalm belongs to David. The lâmed preposition is used more often when something is given to someone else or something is for someone else, the chief meanings of the lâmed preposition. Despite the use of the lâmed preposition with David throughout the book of Psalms, I have taken this to me that this psalm is written for whomever this Preeminent person is.
Barnes comments on this portion of the inscription: This phrase in the title, “To the chief Musician,” occurs at the beginning of 53 psalms, and at the close of the hymn in Habak. 3:19. It is uniformly rendered “to the chief Musician,” and means that the psalm was intended for him, or was to be given to him, probably to regulate the manner of performing it. In no one instance does the title imply that he was the author. The word rendered “Chief Musician” is derived from [ a Hebrew word] properly meaning “to shine,” but not used in the Qal. In the Piel form it means to be conspicuous; to be over anything; to be chief; to be superintendent (2Chron. 2:2, 18 34:12) and then it means to lead in music. The meaning of the form used here, and in the other places where it occurs as a title to a psalm, is “Chief Musician,” or precentor; and the idea is, that the psalm is to be performed under his direction; or that the music is to be directed and adapted by him.
Even though we have the same preposition used here as we find used with David, when he is the author, the many times that this phrase is found in combination with the author’s name suggests more that there is a musical organization and that this song was delivered over to the Choirmaster (or conductor) of that organization to be sung and performed at various functions.
When the Ark was moved successfully into Jerusalem, specific psalms were sung. I would think that these psalms that David wrote were performed or sung with groups of attendants not unlike songs are sung today in church services.
The NIV Study Bible has its opinion on this matter: [For the director of music is] probably a liturgical notation, indicating either that the psalm was to be added to he collection of works to be used by the director of music in Israel’s worship services, or that when the psalm was used in the temple worship, it was to be spoke [or, sung?] by the leader of the Levitical choir—or by the choir itself (see 1Chron. 23:4–5, 30 [Of the overseers over the works of the house of the Lord there were twenty-four thousand, and there were six thousand scribes and judges; and four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand to praise the Lord with instruments which he made to praise the Lord...to stand in the morning to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and so in the evening] 25 [assignments are given to the sons of Korah, among others]). In this liturgical activity the Levites functioned as representatives of the worshiping congregation. Following their lead the people probably responded with “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” (Hallelujah); see 1Chron. 16:36 Neh. 5:13; compare 1Cor. 14:16 Rev. 5:14 7:12 19:4.
Psalm 64 inscription b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
mizemôwr (מִזְמוֹר) [pronounced miz-MOHR] |
melody, song, poem, psalm |
masculine singular noun |
Strong’s #4210 BDB #274 |
lâmed (לְ) [pronounced le] |
to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to; belonging to; by |
directional/relational preposition |
No Strong’s # BDB #510 |
Dâvid (דָּוִד); also Dâvîyd (דָּוִיד) [pronounced daw-VEED] |
beloved and is transliterated David |
masculine proper noun |
Strong’s #1732 BDB #187 |
Translation: ...a psalm by David. David is listed as the human author; God the Holy Spirit is the Divine Author of this psalm. From time to time, there will be a verse or a passage where David seems to be thinking about one thing when he writes; and God the Holy Spirit appears to have something else in mind (that is, the same set of words can mean more than two things).
What these psalms often do is, give us a view into David’s thinking and motivation, something which is sometimes lacking in the narrative of Samuel.
This is exactly the same inscription as is found in Psalm 19 20 41. Although some of the words in the inscriptions have been explained semi-reasonably, I have not yet found a satisfying explanation for most of these words and how they might tie various psalms together.
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David Calls Upon God to Hide Him from the Revolutionaries
Slavishly literal: |
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Moderately literal: |
Hear, O Elohim, my voice in my complaint: from a fear of an enemy, You will guard my lives. |
Psalm 64:1 |
Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. |
Listen to my voice O God, and hear my concern: I ask that You protect my life (and my happiness and prosperity) from the fear of my enemy. |
Here is how others have handled this verse:
Ancient texts: Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.
The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.
When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament.
The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.
In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).
Underlined words indicate differences in the text.
Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.
Aramaic text not represented in some way in the Hebrew original is signaled by italics. The absence of italics should not be construed to mean that the targum translates literally. Aramaic verbs are translated literally; that is, perfects are generally translated as past tense, imperfects as future or jussive, participles as general present.
Dead Sea Scrolls This is one of the psalms not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Targum (trans. By Cook) Hear my voice, O God, in the time of my prayer; guard my life from the fear of the enemy.
Latin Vulgate Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to You: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) Hear, O Elohim, my voice in my complaint;
from a fear of an enemy, You will guard my lives.
Peshitta (Syriac) HEAR my voice, O God, as I pray to You; preserve my life from fear of my enemy.
Septuagint (Greek) Hear my prayer, O God, when I make my petition to You; deliver my soul from fear of the enemy.
Significant differences: The English translation for the Latin, Syriac and Greek all appear to insert a second phrase with a verb; however, in the Hebrew there is no verb in that phrase. In all fairness, the Hebrew is moderately difficult at that point. However, what the Greek actually has at this point is: in/among/by the to-be-being-NEED/REQUIRE-ed of me; which is essentially the same as the Hebrew. It is somewhat disconcerting to me, to see the English translation of the Latin and Greek line up so well together in opposition to the Hebrew; but find out that the actual Greek agrees with the Hebrew.
In the final phrase, both the Greek and the Latin have the verb deliver; but the Hebrew has protect, guard. The Hebrew has my lives; the Latin and Greek both have my soul. The Syriac inserts the 1st person masculine singular suffix to enemy, which is found nowhere else.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible Listen to me when I complain, God!
Protect my life from the enemy's terror!
Contemporary English V. Listen to my concerns, God, and protect me from my terrible enemies.
Easy English God, hear my voice as I tell you my troubles. (Then):
· you will make me safe from the enemy that I am afraid of.
Easy-to-Read Version God, listen to me.
My enemy threatened me.
Protect my life from him!
Good News Bible (TEV) I am in trouble, God---listen to my prayer! I am afraid of my enemies---save my life!
The Message Listen and help, O God. I'm reduced to a whine And a whimper, obsessed with feelings of doomsday.
New Century Version God, listen to my complaint.
I am afraid of my enemies;
protect my life from them.
New Living Translation O God, listen to my complaint.
Protect my life from my enemies' threats.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible O God; please hear my voice, for I am begging before You. Of my enemies I am afraid, so please come save my life!
Beck’s American Translation Hear my voice, O God, when I complain
Protect my life agaist an enemy who frightens me.
Christian Community Bible Hear, O God, my voice as I plead, protect my life from the enemy’s threat.
God’s Word™ Hear my voice, O God, when I complain. Protect my life from a terrifying enemy.
New American Bible O God, hear my anguished voice;
from a dreadful foe protect my life.
NIRV God, hear me as I tell you my problem.
Don't let my enemies kill me.
New Jerusalem Bible Listen, God, to my voice as I plead, protect my life from fear of the enemy;...
New Simplified Bible Listen to my concerns, O God, and protect me from my terrible enemies..
Today’s NIV Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear God, hear my voice and my meditation. Guard my life from the terror of the enemy.
Bible in Basic English O God, let the voice of my grief come to your ear: keep my life from the fear of those who are against me.
Ferar-Fenton Bible Listen, God, to the sound of my plaint,
Guard my life from the rage of my foes;...
HCSB God, hear my voice when I complain. Protect my life from the terror of the enemy.
JPS (Tanakh—1985) Hear my voice, O God, when I plead;
guard my life from the enemy’s terror.
New Advent Bible Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to you: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy.
NET Bible® Listen to me [Heb "my voice."], O God, as I offer my lament!
Protect [The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist's request.] my life from the enemy's terrifying attacks [Heb "from the terror of [the] enemy." "Terror" is used here metonymically for the enemy's attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist's life.].
The Scriptures 1998 Hear my voice, O Elohim, in my meditation; Guard my life from the threats of the enemy.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
American KJV Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Concordant Literal Version Hear, O Elohim, my voice in my concern; From alarm of the enemy preserve my life.
exeGeses companion Bible Hear my voice, O Elohim, in my meditation;
guard my life from dread of the enemy:...
LTHB O God, hear my voice in my complaint; guard my life from the terror of the enemy.
Syndein Hear my voice, O 'Elohiym/Godhead . . . in my prayer . . . guard my life from the terror {pressure} of the enemy.
A Voice in the Wilderness Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
World English Bible Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Young’s Updated LT Hear, O God, my voice, in my meditation, From the fear of an enemy You keep my life.
The gist of this verse: David asks God to hear him and to preserve him from his enemy.
Psalm 64:1a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
shâmaʿ (שָמַע) [pronounced shaw-MAHĢ] |
listen [intently], hear, listen and obey, [or, and act upon, give heed to, take note of], hearken to, be attentive to, listen and be cognizant of |
2nd person masculine singular, Qal imperative |
Strong's #8085 BDB #1033 |
ʾĚlôhîym (אלֹהִים) [pronounced el-o-HEEM] |
God; gods, foreign gods, god; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; transliterated Elohim |
masculine plural noun |
Strong's #430 BDB #43 |
qôwl (קוֹל) [pronounced kohl] |
sound, voice, noise; loud noise, thundering |
masculine singular noun with the 1st person singular suffix |
Strong’s #6963 BDB #876 |
be (בְּ) [pronounced beh] |
in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within |
a preposition of proximity |
No Strong’s # BDB #88 |
sîyach (שִׂיחַ) [pronounced SEE-ahkh] |
complaint; concern, voiced concern; communication, declaration, talk; mediation, study, contemplation |
masculine singular noun with the 1st person singular suffix |
Strong’s #7879 BDB #967 |
Although we could probably get away with generally rendering sîyach as a voiced concern, even that seems a bit too weak for the passages in Job. My thinking would be that this noun (and verb) went through a transformation over the years. In Job’s day, sîyach meant complaint; however, this became a vocalized concern and then simply a communication. Since communication works both ways, this also has a more passive sense, where the person receives the communication; in other words, he studies or meditates. |
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Instead of in my concern, the English translations of the Greek and Latin both have: ...when I make my petition to You. However, the actual Greek is not actually different from the Hebrew. |
Translation: Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern:... Many of David’s psalms begin this way (although these words are not formulaic). David has a serious matter before him and he is in a difficult spot, so he does not simply ask, but he orders God to listen to him. We have a God Who is actively involved in our lives. We are told to come to Him in prayer, and David does this quite often; and frequently takes his requests and puts them in writing.
David has a fascinating relationship with God because there seems to be very little which occurs which can be clearly seen as miraculous in David’s life. In the Bible, he consults the Ephod of God once; but, apart from that, there does not appear to be a direct communication between David and God (God will speak to David through prophet intermediaries). So David knows God through the Word, through prophets and he speaks to God in prayer. In other words, David’s relationship to God is not much different than ours.
We tend to overemphasize some of the miraculous things which occur in Scripture, but, given 6000 years of human history, miracles are relatively rare, and much less powerful than we would think. Moses led the children of Abraham out of Egypt, and many mighty signs were done in the process. However, rather than being strong in faith, the older generation to leave Exodus (whom I have dubbed Gen X), nearly all died the sin unto death out in the desert, most of them never setting one foot in the Land of Promise. They saw the sea parted, they saw the various plagues, the water turned to blood—and yet they died the sin unto death. Jesus and the disciples performed many miracles, and yet, most of Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah. We tend to think of these miracles as being all that is needed to seal the deal; but the Bible narrative tells us something very different. The power is to be found in the Word of God rather than in a set of miracles.
Given that, you may ask, “Well, then, what’s with all the miracles by Jesus?” These miracles were His credit card; they gave him an audience; they got the attention of the people of Palestine. However, these miracles did not insure that people would believe in Him. Secondly, our Lord had a very short earthly ministry. He could not simply come and die for our sins and leave. People needed to know Him; people needed to recognize Who He was. People needed to be with Him, and then realize that He went to the cross and was raised again.
Even though His earthly ministry was quite short and very limited geographically, what Jesus did was leave enough of an impression, through His miracles, but mostly through His teaching, that He was Who He claimed to be.
So far, this verse reads: Listen to my voice O God, and hear my concern:... Interestingly enough, even though there are bits and pieces of the inscription which are found over and over again, the same is not true of these psalms, even though many of David’s psalms appear to begin in a similar way. That is, David calling for God’s help—for God to hear him—has parallels in other psalms, but we do not tend to find one entire first verse repeated in several psalms.
David has a serious concern which he wants to raise with God.
By the way that this is phrased, it is possible that David wants God to understand and to hear his emotions, which have been stirred up due to the situation he is in (where his own son is leading a revolution against him). So, there is more than simply a concern here; this is a very difficult situation that David finds himself in.
So far, this verse reads: Listen to my voice O God, and hear my concern:... Barnes writes: The use of the word voice here would seem to imply that this was audible prayer, or that, though alone, he gave utterance to his petitions aloud. We have this same use of the word often in the Psalms, making it probable that even private prayers were uttered in an audible manner. David’s prayers like this, which he turned into psalms, would become public—they would become psalms that Jews would sing for many generations.
As an aside, if God hears us, whether we speak audibly or think prayers to Him, why would we ever speak our prayers aloud? Because angels cannot read our thoughts and we are in the midst of the Angelic Conflict. Therefore, prayer which is given audibly (and correctly) becomes a part of the Angelic Conflict.
Psalm 64:1b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
min (מִן) [pronounced min] |
from, off, out from, of, out of, away from, on account of, since, than, more than |
preposition of separation |
Strong's #4480 BDB #577 |
pachad (פַּחַד) [pronounced PAH-khahd |
fear, terror, dread, a thing which is feared, that which is feared |
masculine singular construct |
Strong’s #6343 BDB #808 |
ʾâyab (אָיַב) [pronounced aw-YABV] |
enemy, the one being at enmity with you; enmity, hostility |
Qal active participle |
Strong’s #340 & #341 BDB #33 |
As a singular substantive, this is spelled ʾôyêb (אֹיֵב) [pronounced oh-YAYBV]. As Strong’s #340, this is the Qal active participle of the verb; as Strong’s #341, this is the substantive. It is precisely the same word, despite the different Strong’s #’s. |
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nâtsar (נָצַר) [pronounced naw-TSAR] |
to keep, to guard, to watch over, to protect; to observe; to keep secret |
2nd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect |
Strong’s #5341 BDB #665 |
chayyîym (חַיִּים) [pronounced khay-YEEM] |
life, lives; a life of long duration, immortality; living, sustenance; refreshment; prosperity, welfare, happiness |
masculine plural adjective with the 1st person singular suffix |
Strong's #2416 BDB #311 |
Translation: ...You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. David, as a soldier quickly coming up through the ranks; and later as king over Israel, faced a great deal of opposition throughout his life. Furthermore, as a believer in Jesus Christ, he faces a great deal of opposition. Despite the fact that David was honest and fair, he was also human and he also made mistakes. He faced many people who desired his job—many from his own household in fact.
Application: No matter what a great guy you are, if you have a position of authority, you will be opposed and denigrated. If you are a believer, you will have enemies in your life, even if you do nothing intentionally to gain them.
I also want you to remember the sort of father that David was—he was, for all intents and purposes, an absentee father. He clearly spent time raising Solomon, but he did not give this same time to his other sons. He had 10 wives and 10 mistresses, and children by many of them, so how could he be a father to all of these and still be king? It was impossible. Essentially, these were welfare wives and welfare children. They were supported by the state (David, as king, was in a unique position to do this). So, these young men grew up without David’s consistent strong hand (we have seen over and over again how indulgent David was as a father); just as if they are welfare children. What sort of an attitude does a welfare child learn to have? He learns to think that he is entitled to much in his life. And what attitude does a king’s son have? He learns to consider himself entitled. As a result, once these boys become teens and young adults, in their minds, unless their mother was great, they considered themselves entitled to a life of ease and to eventually become king. With this attitude, they become David’s worst enemies.
In the narrative of David’s life, this is explored with two of his sons: Absalom and Adonijah. However, no doubt, David’s first set of sons were, on the whole, probably a very miserable lot (compare Micah 7:6 Matt. 10:35–36). However, when it comes to David’s sons, their arrogance and entitlement attitudes were his fault.
Application: If you are a welfare mother or you are a absentee father, your children are going to be substandard; they are going to be more likely to feel entitled, they will be less likely to value education, they will be more likely to be criminals and more likely to use drugs than their contemporaries in two-parent homes. Female children are more likely to get pregnant at an early age without being married.
Our verse reads: Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. David is not telling God that He will protect his life from the fear of his enemy, but that God will protect all that his life is about from the fear of his enemy. Life is in the plural. Literally, this reads: You will protect my lives from fear of the enemy. So, David is not actually concerned for his own life. If that was what he wanted, he would have written: You will protect my life from my enemy. He is not asking God for protection, per se. He is asking for his well-being, his welfare, his happiness to be free of the fear of his enemy (who is Absalom in this context; but this certainly applies to the enemy of anyone who has authority).
Application: You will have enemies in your life. You do not want to spend all of your life sleepless, in fear of what they might do, of the vicious things that they say or the ways that they attack you (these can be verbal attacks). You do not want your happiness and your well-being destroyed because you are constantly thinking about your enemies and all that they are doing to you.
Here are a few points on fear. |
1. There are two kinds of fear in the Bible: the fear of man and the fear of God. We are not to fear man, because man cannot do anything to us that God does not allow. However, we are to fear God, because He can discipline us so that it hurts and He can cast us into the Lake of Fire. Psalm 118:6 Matt. 10:28 Luke 12:5 2. Fear of the Lord is simply occupation with Christ. Psalm 119:38 3. Blessings associated with the fear of the Lord, Ps.115:13. 1) Prolonged life. Prov.10:27; 14;27 2) Details of life. Prov.22:4; Ps.112:1ff 3) Deliverance. Ps.34:47; 25:1215; 33:1822; 34:7 4) Every legitimate desire. Ps.145:19 5) Bible Doctrine. Ps.25:12,14 4. Being afraid of your enemy is sometimes much worse than anything that your enemy can actually do to you. The exegesis of Psalm 64:1. 5. Fear can be a sign of national reversionism. 1Sam.17:11,24 18:12,29 28:20 cp. Mat.8:26 1) As an aside, I believe that many people in the U.S. 2012 election voted out of fear. Their life sucked economically and they were afraid of any new approach to our economy (despite the fact that President Obama has had the most radical approach to our economy of any president since FDR and LBJ). What they had were food stamps and other subsidies to their lives, which they valued more than economic freedom. They rejected Luke 12:22–32 and placed their unwarranted trust in President Obama instead. 6. When we are afraid, we are out of fellowship and no longer producing divine good. Fear neutralizes us in the Angelic Conflict. Gen.3:7,10 cp. Heb.2:14,15 10:27,31 Rev.21:8 7. Those in the armed forces are taught to deal with fear in battle. They are trained so that their actions are automatic, based upon the circumstance. A soldier seized by fear is unable to apply his training to experience (and is parallel to us as believers being paralyzed by fear). 8. A list of those things the believer is not to fear. 1) Living grace provision. Mt.10:31. 2) Persecution. Mt.10:26,28; Lk.12:5,7,32; Heb.13:6; Rev.2:10. 3) Intimidation of human viewpoint. Gal.2:12 (Peter's legalism); Phil.1:14. 4) Sudden danger. Prov.3:25,26. 5) War, depression, verbal maligning. Job.5:17-24 Lk.21:9 Ps.27:3. 6) Death. Ps.23:4. 9. Perfect love casts out all fear means, when in the sphere of love (i.e., the filling of the Holy Spirit), you are not afraid. You are not giving your mind over to paralyzing fears. 1John 4:18 |
Some of these points were taken from the doctrines below and some points are no doubt from what I learned in Berachah Church as well. |
Application: Spending much of your life fearing or dreading your enemies is often worse than anything that they may actually do to you. |
Bible Doctrine Resource (these are probably notes from R. B. Thieme, Jr.): http://gracebiblechurchwichita.org/?page_id=230 Maranatha Church: http://www.versebyverse.org/doctrine/fear.html Pastor L.G. Merritt (The Doctrine of Fear/Respect): http://www.westbankbiblechurch.com/LGMerrittBooks/PDFLlessons/Fear_Respect2.pdf |
Merritt starts out with the thought: We are told to fear God and yet we are also told perfect love casts out all fear. |
v. 1 reads: Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. Despite David’s changing circumstances and his exit from Jerusalem, he can have perfect stability and happiness. He knows that God will protect his inner peace and stability from inordinate fear of his enemy.
The big changes wrought in your life—even if they came at the hands of your enemy—are changes which God means for good.
Application: Because of your enemies, the circumstances of your life will change, and many times, dramatically. You have to realize that, you have a limited number of years, and that you will go through many different stages of your life. If God allows your enemies to, for instance, be forced out of a job, remember that God means this for good, even if your enemies are looking to ruin your life (Gen. 50:20). Where you have to be careful is in your mental attitude. Let’s say you are forced out of your job (as David was by Absalom). You cannot spent the next 5 years of your life being bitter toward your enemies, the ones who forced you out of a job (or, say, kept you from moving up in your company, or kept you from moving up in rank). You put their future in God’s hands and move on. Gen. 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” The big changes wrought in your life—even if they came at the hands of your enemy—are changes which God means for good.
Application: Let’s take this to a different realm entirely: I write this in 2012 and Barack Obama, the worst president of my lifetime, has been reelected. In his partisan ideology, he believes that government can do everything better and that government ought to be in control of everything. He also has no problem with buying votes. So, do I, as a conservative, join a secession movement? Do I spend the next four years in sadness and fear of what this man can do (and how feckless conservative Republicans appear to be)? Do I join an underground militia and plot a revolution? No, no and no. Obama’s reelection is a part of God’s plan. Of course President Obama is going to pull us in a far left direction; of course he believes that we ought to look to government rather than to God, family or friends. But this is all a part of God’s great plan, for our individual lives and for corporate America. And, whatever you do, you do not become a part of a revolution against our government, no matter how crazy they get.
Listen to my voice O God, and hear my concern: I ask that You protect my life (and my happiness and prosperity) from the fear of my enemy. Do not allow me to become consumed in my life with the fear of my enemy. This is achieved with Bible doctrine in our souls.
Application: It is clear by David’s psalms that he had very difficult times in his life (which is not quite as clearly taught in the narrative of his life). We are in the devil’s world. We are going to face difficult circumstances, intransigent enemies, and unreasonable groups of people. There are some times that, in the difficulties that we face, that we are forced to go to God in prayer. This difficulties are for our benefit and these difficulties move along the plan of God. The analogy that comes to mind is, having a root canal. This is not a pleasant experience and it can be expensive, if you pay for your own dental. Most people, during a root canal, can think of a million places that they would rather be. However, the end result is, after the crown has been attached, that you have a tooth that is better than new. You cannot be bitter about your life or about the circumstances of your life. If you are upset, then you join with David and you make your concerns known to God. God will deal with those things which we cannot. This is all done to His glory and it is all a part of His plan.
Look at Paul for a moment, when he was defending his apostleship to the Corinthians: Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. (2Cor. 11:23–31; NIV). Most of us have not had a life like that. We have had difficulties, but few of us have faced the problems that Paul faced. What do we get from Paul’s life? The epistles, which guide us in the spiritual life. We understand our day-to-day existence based upon what Paul writes, and he wrote those things under pressures that most of us cannot fathom. He does not mention until later the physical malady which was a part of his life for decades (1Cor. 12:5–10). When I read passages like this, my life is a cakewalk existence by comparison. I have had a few problems and a few enemies, but God has blessed me far more than I deserve. So I try not to complain too much when a difficulty is thrown my way. Heck, most of them are somewhat of my own making anyway.
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You will hide me from an assembly of those doing evil; [You will hide me] from a crowd of those making trouble;... |
Psalm 64:2 |
You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble;... |
[I pray that] You will protect me from revolutionaries and You will hide me from the political rabble rousers. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) You will hide me from the secret [council] of those who do evil, from the turmoil of those who practice deceit.
Latin Vulgate You have protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) You will hide me from an assembly of those doing evil;
[You will hide me] from those making trouble.
Peshitta (Syriac) Hide me from the wickedness of the evil one; from the corruption of the workers of iniquity,...
Septuagint (Greek) You have sheltered me from the conspiracy of them that do wickedly; from the multitude of them that work iniquity;...
Significant differences: We cannot necessarily call the group of evil men secret of a conspiracy. However, this participle is a masculine plural, so it cannot mean the evil one (Syriac).
In the English translations above, when dealing with a conspiracy (in the Greek) or corruption (in the Syriac), that may come out of the exegesis, but it does not match the Hebrew exactly.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Contemporary English V. Keep me safe from secret plots of corrupt and evil gangs.
Easy English ...you will hide me from the secret ideas of bad people
· you will keep me from *noisy crowds of *evil people.
Easy-to-Read Version Protect me from the secret plans of my enemies.
Hide me from those wicked people.
Good News Bible (TEV) Protect me from the plots of the wicked, from mobs of evil people.
The Message Don't let them find me-- the conspirators out to get me,...
New Century Version Hide me from the conspiracy of wicked men,
from the noisy gangs of the evil-doers [Like a few frogs in a pond, so those on the wrong side manage to seem many.],....
New Life Bible Hide me from the secret plans of the sinful and from the noise of those who do bad things.
New Living Translation Hide me from the plots of this evil mob,
from this gang of wrongdoers.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible From the conspiracy of the wicked give me shelter. from the crowd of all the unrighteous.
Beck’s American Translation Hide me from men secretly talking about doing evil,
from the mob of wicked men.
Christian Community Bible Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the designs of the evil-plotters,...
God’s Word™ Hide me from the secret plots of criminals, from the mob of troublemakers.
New American Bible Hide me from the malicious crowd,
the mob of evildoers.
NIRV Hide me from those who make evil plans against me.
Hide me from that crowd of people who are doing evil.
New Jerusalem Bible ...hide me from the league of the wicked, from the gang of evil-doers.
New Simplified Bible Keep me safe from secret plots of corrupt evildoers.
Revised English Bible Protect me from the intrigues of the wicked,
from the mob of evildoers.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear Hide me from the secrets of the evildoers, and from the mob crafting vice.
Bible in Basic English Keep me safe from the secret purpose of wrongdoers; from the band of the workers of evil;...
Ferar-Fenton Bible Hide me from the plots of the bad,
From the mob, who would do me a wrong;...
HCSB Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the mob of evildoers,...
Judaica Press Complete T. You shall hide me from the counsel of evildoers, from the gathering of workers of iniquity,...
New Advent Bible You have protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.
NET Bible® Hide me from the plots of evil men,
from the crowd of evildoers [Heb "workers of wickedness."].
New Heart English Bible Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;...
The Scriptures 1998 Hide me from the secret plans of the evil-doers, From the tumult of the workers of wickedness,...
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
Concordant Literal Version Conceal me from the deliberation of evildoers, From the foregathering of the contrivers of lawlessness,...
Darby Translation Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, from the tumultuous crowd of the workers of iniquity.
Updated Emphasized Bible Will you hide me, From the conclave of evil-doers, From the crowd of workers of iniquity.
English Standard Version Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,...
exeGeses companion Bible ...hide me from the private counsel of vilifiers
- from the conspiracy of doers of mischief ...
The Geneva Bible Hide me from the [That is, from their secret malice] secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection [That is, their outward violence. ] of the workers of iniquity: ...
LTHB Hide me from the counsel of those who injure, from the tumult of evildoers,...
Modern KJV Hide me from the council of those who injure, from the rebelling of the workers of iniquity,...
New King James Version Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity,...
New RSV Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers,...
Syndein Cause me to be hid from the conspiracy of the wicked/'evil ones' . . . {Ahithophel, Absalom and David's nephew Amasa (commander of revolutionary army} from the revolt/insurrection/mob of the workers of iniquity. {primarily believers out of fellowship} {Note: This is the revolt of David's son Absalom. These 'wicked' are those who reject David's authority.}.
A Voice in the Wilderness Hide me from the counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity,...
World English Bible Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, From the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;...
Young's Updated LT Hide me from the secret counsel of evil doers, From the tumult of workers of iniquity.
The gist of this verse: David asks to be protected from the evil conspiracies of his enemies and the mobs of people who are against him.
Translation: You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil;... David is concerned about an organized group here that does evil. When dealing with a group, it is reasonable to assume that this is an organized conspiracy or revolution. This suggests that this psalm is correctly placed with the Absalom revolution. It is the revolution against David which is covered in the most detail. What we find recorded here seems to be very close to what David had to deal with.
We need to consider David’s words. You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil;... David is on the run, and there are conspirators throughout all of Israel. David is asking God to keep him hidden from those who are working against him; from those who would kill him.
If you studied 2Sam. 15 (which helps here to understand this psalm) (HTML) (PDF) (WPD), then you know that Absalom has plotted to become king over all Israel, and that David is leading a small army out of Jerusalem by way of the Mount of Olives. At this point, he does not know how powerful Absalom’s support is. David does not know if Absalom will be leading an army of thousands or tens of thousands against him. So David is asking God to keep him hidden as he moves in a northeasterly direction, along the mountains outside of Jerusalem, along the Dead Sea and across the Jordan River. David does not know exactly what Absalom is going to do. The normal approach would be to figure out where David is, and then cut him off with a large army before he crosses over the Jordan. It would be ideal to pin David’s army with the Jordan River and the Dead Sea at their backs, so David wants God to keep him hidden from Absalom until he can figure out what to do next.
Barnes writes: Here the reference is to the consultations of his enemies for the purpose of doing him wrong. Of course, as they took this counsel together, he could not know it, and the word secret is not improperly applied to it. The idea here is, that although he did not know what that counsel or purpose was, or what was the result of their consultations, yet God knew, and he could guard him against it.
So far, this verse reads: You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil;... David is leading several military groups, including his own bodyguards. He cannot really hide. He is not really asking God to find him a cave where he can go and not be seen. David with this army is going to be quite visible to anyone nearby. So what David is really asking for is to be protected from his enemies. Bullinger correctly suggests that the verb to hide is a metonym for what David is actually asking God for: protection.
Translation:...[and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble;... We repeat the min preposition here, which suggests that the verb at the beginning of this verse should also be repeated. David expects God to hid him from a crowd, company or throng of those who are doers of iniquity and makers of trouble (troublemakers).
When there is a revolution, there are two primary groups of people. There are those who want the power, and they use revolution as the means to grab power. They may or may not personally subscribe to the political ideology that they use to gain power. These are the criminal revolutionaries. They are generally charismatic with the ability to put up a great facade.
The Geneva Bible suggests a twofold opposition in this way: those who act from secret malice (who gather and plot surreptitiously); and those who act in outward violence against David. The former do not want to be known as in clear opposition to David, even though they are (Absalom meeting with his cohorts in Hebron—2Sam. 15:6–12); and there are those who just dislike David and will harass him whenever given the opportunity (2Sam. 16:5–8).
The first group are the criminal element who want the power; the second group are the crusaders, who have been convinced that removing David from being king is a good thing. The first group are secretive and organized; the second group is incohesive and emotional.
The latter group are the idealistic types, who recognize that things are not good right now, and if they could just replace those in power with someone else, things would be much better (to their own way of thinking). And they may associate this with a myriad of reasons and slogans (equality, fairness, justice, etc.). This is the larger group, and there need to be enough of these crusader types to overthrow the existing power structure. These are the ones who must be manipulated, both to enter into the revolution and then to accept the new leaders after the revolution has come to a close.
This second group of people do not know that they are participating in evil (although most of them will clearly see evil acts done by those on their own side); and they often have an idealized view of who the criminal revolutionaries are. These are the kids who would wear a Mao or a Che Guevara shirt. When they see evil acts done against those they oppose, they generally will accept it, believing that this will serve the greater good in the end; believing that the ends justify the means.
This gives us: You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble. The first group are those who work behind the scenes and they do everything that they can to put the revolution into motion; but it is the second group, who are the patsies—the useful idiots, the crusaders—who are propagandized into doing the will of the criminals. They are the ones who are thinking that they are doing good.
Application: We had a good example of this in the revolution in Egypt (circa 2010). People began to gather in Tahrir Square, and they tweeted each other and facebooked each other and they made plans to demonstrate and they developed talking points. However, as soon as they overthrew the former ruler, the Muslim Brotherhood stepped in and were organized to win the elections. Prior to this, the Muslim brotherhood played a very small part, which outside observers expected would be the part that they played after the revolution. Such pundits were completely wrong. This is not difficult; all you have to do is understand that revolution is evil; and then you understand when a revolution like this goes bad.
See the Doctrine of Revolution (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) for more details on this (this doctrine was updated as of December 7, 2012).
Thieme taught the two kinds of revolutionaries back in the 1980's. Hacker has a similar breakdown of terrorists. |
Type of Terrorist |
Motive/Goal |
Willing to Negociate? |
Expectation for Survival |
Criminal |
Personal gain or profit |
Usually, in return for profit and/or safe passage |
Strong |
Crusader |
“Higher cause” (usually a blend of religious and political) |
Seldom, since to do so could be seen as a betrayal of the cause |
Minimal, since death offers reward in “afterlife” |
Crazy |
Clear only to the perpetrator |
Possible, but only if negotiator can understand |
Strong, but not based on reality |
From: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205851657.pdf So you can see that such a breakdown of revolutionaries is both found in this passage of Scripture as well as in modern evaluations of similar groups. |
This is true, to a lesser extent, of allegiance to a political party—they will justify whatever members of their party do. We saw this when liberals railed against George W. Bush for his deficit spending; but then saw no problem with Barack Obama, his successor, was running up deficits 3x and 4x as much (which is nearly unprecedented). The exact same people who said, over and over and over again, “Clinton gave us a surplus, but Bush took us into deficits” voted for Obama a second time, even after he ran unheard of deficits 4 years in a row. My point in this example is, there are people out there who can be guided and molded into supporting a revolution. They will riot in the streets, they will throw rocks, and they can even been persuaded to carry firearms and to kill those who are preserving the status quo.
It is certainly well worth contemplating, what ought the United States government do when another country is in revolution?
Application/tangent: It is certainly well worth contemplating, what ought the United States government do when another country is in revolution? This is an important question for citizens and leaders alike, as we witness, in any given year, several (and sometimes many) revolutions. We as individual believers actually have little say in such matters, and our actions are to pray for the wise decisions of our leaders. However, we need to understand that a revolution is evil, despite the fact that the people are rebelling against vicious dictators. We have to recognize that there is an undercurrent of criminals who desire power who may not be quite as apparent from the beginning. At the same time, we have to realistically understand that you cannot stop a train and that some dictators are brutal beyond imagination (like Saddam Hussain). There are times when we ought to be involved (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq) and times when we ought not be involved directly. However, no matter what the situation, we support our own nation and our military. Once we have committed troops, then we need to support those troops and the direction our government is going in. And the stronger and more righteous that America is, the greater chance that our influence might be for good. However, as believers, what is always key is evangelization and the teaching of the Bible. If this is not going on, then the best we are doing is accomplishing human good. Although George W. Bush was a good president, the military policy of keeping Bibles out of Iraq and Afghanistan was a misguided one. A lack of emphasis upon religious freedom, when we held all the cards, what a great mistake. If we do not allow the gospel to permeate their darkness, then we have no business being there.
Application/tangent: We have the misguided impression that, what is key in these Muslim countries is establishing a Jeffersonian democracy. These are Muslims, many of whom are so indoctrinated with evil, that they behave quite irrationally. The key is not democracy; the key is Christianity. No matter what government is established, if Christianity is permitted and the Word of God is taught, we have a greater chance for a long-term positive relationship with that government.
Application/tangent: This may help you to see how evil the movement is to downplay any religious talk or symbols in relation to government. Our nation and our government was founded by Christian believers—our founders were not a bunch of deists, as many of our high school history books lie about. They believed in an active involvement by our Creator, and many at the constitutional convention saw the Constitution as being, to some degree, sacred, and as an act of God’s influence upon them. Since these things are a part of our American heritage, it is wrong to remove all vestiges of the Christian influence in the creation of the United States. Because the more politically correct we become, the less that our government will support evangelism overseas. And if missionary activity from the United States dries up, we will be replaced as a client nation.
Application/tangent: Now, to bring this to a full circle, if you want an explanation as to why Barack Obama got reelected as president, this is your answer: In Korea and Japan, we sent in missionaries and Bibles. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we did not. We failed as a client nation by being politically correct; and God has given us the government that we deserve.
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What the Revolutionaries Are Doing
...Who they have sharpened as the sword their tongue; they have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow word bitter;... |
Psalm 64:3 |
...Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword; [and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word;... |
They have sharpened their tongue to act as a sword; and they have spread bitter words about as if shooting arrows. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword, bent their bows, smeared their arrows with deadly and bitter poison.
Latin Vulgate For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing,...
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) Who they have sharpened as the sword their tongue;
they have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow word bitter.
Peshitta (Syriac) ...Who whet their tongues like a sword, and charge their words with poison like an arrow,...
Septuagint (Greek) ...who have sharpened their tongues as a sword; they have bent their bow maliciously;...
Significant differences: There do appear to be missing words provided possibly by the targum; or these words would be understood by someone who knows the language. The English translation from the Latin uses the word for rather than the word who. Tongues appears to be in the plural in the Latin, Greek and Syriac; but it is singular in the Hebrew.
We have the verb to bend which is usually applied to a bow, which word is not found here. The targum supplies this word. The Latin and Greek also supply the word bow (I confirmed this for the Greek). The targum and the Syriac appear to add in the word poison (which would refer to the tips of the arrows). However, the Hebrew is clear that a bitter word is what is being spoken of.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible Hide me from the secret plots of wicked people;
hide me from the schemes of evildoers
3 who sharpen their tongues like swords.
They aim their arrow-a cruel word-
4 from their hiding places
so as to shoot an innocent person. Several verses are given to provide full context.
Contemporary English V. Their words cut like swords, and their cruel remarks sting like sharp arrows.
Easy English (These *evil people):
· make their *tongues sharp *like *swords
· shoot words that hurt *like *arrows...
Easy-to-Read Version They have told many bad lies about me.
Their tongues are like sharp swords,
their bitter words like arrows.
Good News Bible (TEV) They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like arrows.
The Message Using their tongues as weapons, flinging poison words, poison-tipped arrow-words.
New Berkeley Version ...who sharpen their tongues like a sword,
who aim poisoned words like arrows [Poisoned arrows are usually fatal if they hit.].
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible For, they've sharpened their tongues just like broadswords, and in bitterness stretched tight their bows,...
God’s Word™ They sharpen their tongues like swords. They aim bitter words like arrows...
New American Bible They sharpen their tongues like swords,
bend their bows of poison words. Ps 11:2; 37:14; 55:22; 57:5.
NIRV They make their tongues like sharp swords.
They aim their words like deadly arrows.
New Jerusalem Bible They sharpen their tongues like a sword, aim their arrows of poisonous abuse,...
New Simplified Bible Their words cut like swords, and their cruel remarks sting like sharp arrows.
Revised English Bible They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim venomous words like arrows...
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Bible in Basic English Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words;...
Ferar-Fenton Bible Whose teeth are as sharp as a sword,
Whose tongue shoots, like darts, bitter words,...
JPS (Tanakh—1985) ...who whet their tongues like swords;
they aim their arrows—cruel words—...
NET Bible® They [Heb "who." A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.] sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge [Heb "a bitter word."],...
NIV, ©2011 They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
American KJV Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:...
The Amplified Bible ...Who whet their tongues like a sword, who aim venomous words like arrows,...
Concordant Literal Version Who whet their tongue like a sword; They position their arrow--a bitter word--...
English Standard Version ...who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,...
The Geneva Bible Who whet their tongue like a sword, [and] bend [their bows to shoot] their arrows, [even] bitter words [False reports and slanders].
LTHB ...who sharpen their tongue like a sword; they tread their arrows, a bitter word,...
Syndein {Description of the Pressure}
Who sharpen their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows . . . even bitter words. {maligning, slander, judging, gossip, etc.}.
World English Bible Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And aim their arrows, deadly words,...
Young's Literal Translation Who sharpened as a sword their tongue, They directed their arrow--a bitter word.
The gist of this verse: David’s enemies have first used words against him; they sharpened their arguments against him to inflict the greatest damage.
Psalm 64:3a |
|||
Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
ʾăsher (אֲֹשֶר) [pronounced uh-SHER] |
that, which, when, who, whom |
relative pronoun |
Strong's #834 BDB #81 |
shânan ( ׂשָנַן) [pronounced shaw-NAHN] |
to whet, to sharpen |
3rd person plural, Qal perfect |
Strong’s #8150 BDB #1041 |
kaph or ke (כְּ) [pronounced ke] |
like, as, just as; according to, after; about, approximately |
preposition of comparison, resemblance or approximation |
No Strong’s # BDB #453 |
chereb (חֶרֶב) [pronounced khe-REBV] |
sword, knife, dagger; any sharp tool |
feminine singular noun with the definite article |
Strong’s #2719 BDB #352 |
lâshôwn (לָשוֹן) [pronounced law-SHOHN] |
tongue; speech; language; lapping; tongue-shaped |
masculine singular noun with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #3956 BDB #546 |
Translation: Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword;... Who refers back to the conspirators of the previous verse. They have used their tongues like swords; they have sharpened their tongues as swords. This means, the things that they have said cut into David. These things have undermined his authority as king. It is because of these things that were said that so many people were convinced to revolt against David.
Essentially what happened was, maligning, judging and gossiping were used to destroy David as a king, and this worked. Some of the things which were said were probably true; some were exaggerated. Such things were not simply spread by Absalom, but many people because of David’s adultery and then his killing of Bathsheba’s husband were noised about. This, along with his inability to properly judge his own sons were some of the true things that were spoken of.
Spurgeon describes it in this way: Fresh faults discovered, evil motives imputed, exaggerations invented, lies forged, innuendoes suggested, old slanders furbished, and ancient hatreds rekindled.
The sharpening of these tongues indicate that the people who spoke against him did not just willy nilly say bad things about David. They thought about these things and planned them out and determined what would have the greatest negative affect upon David.
Application: In the previous 2012 presidential election, we saw such poisonous ads used during the republican primary and during the general election. In the general election, candidate Romney was presented as someone who like to fire people; whose actions sometimes resulted in people dying; and who hated dogs. These approaches for many conservatives seems both vicious and silly. However, these things worked. The Obama campaign and their allies knew how to sharpen their words to have the maximum negative impact on candidate Romney. As a result, many people who would have voted against Obama stayed away from the polls simply because they did not like either candidate.
Application: We have seen all kinds of language used against the TEA party faction. They are called extreme, racist, tea-baggers (which is actually a gay slur), tea people, incestuous xenophobes, etc. Now, this is a loosely organized group of people who are dissatisfied with Washington D.C. who oppose government overreach, government overspending, government over-regulation, and government limiting of freedoms. In other words, this is a very reasonable movement with very reasonable and realistic goals. People of all ages and races belong to the TEA party (many Black politicians are favorites of the TEA party, like Herman Cain, Tim Scott and Allen West). The point being is, these are not extreme racist tea-baggers. The problem with the TEA party is, their goals do not coincide with political goals in Washington, which is to drain the treasury dry and then some. This is not just a Democrat problem, although that is, for all intents and purposes, their party platform. It is also true of Republicans, who pretend to be concerned about government over-regulation and overspending, but who have participated in overspending which is as bad as Democrats (they have signed off on all of the Obama spending). Throw in those from the TEA party who are not looking to go to Washington just to get along, and that is problematic for both parties.
So, just as a respectable group of people are slandered mercilessly, so it was true for David in his time. My point is not that David was a perfect man and his detractors were not; David was a flawed king, whose flaws are studied in great detail between 2Sam. 11–15. However, David believed strongly in the Revealed Member of the Godhead and loved the Word of God. His detractors, not so much.
And because I see no reason to reinvent the wheel, here are several sources, which appear to be reliable, on the sins of the tongue. |
|
Source |
Website Address |
Kukis |
An abbreviated doctrine of the Sins of the Tongue (HTML) (PDF). |
Robert McLaughlin |
|
Grace Notes (a ministry of Austin Bible Church, Austin, Texas) |
http://www.gracenotes.info/documents/TOPICS_DOC/SinsOfTheTongue.pdf |
Lake Erie Bible Church (P-T Ken Reed) |
http://www.lakeeriebiblechurch.org/doctrine/pdf/sins_of_the_tongue.pdf |
James L. Melton |
James 3:5–6 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold how little a fire kindles how large a forest! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by hell. |
Bear in mind that this entire revolution against David is based upon sins of the tongue. No verbal sins and there is no revolution.
Application: Let’s bring this up to date: there is no election of Barack Obama without sins of the tongue directed against George W. Bush. Many of these are ingrained in our thinking, such as, “Bush lied; people died”; “Bush inherited a surplus of turned it into a deficit”; “cowboy diplomacy”; etc. Anyone who reads this up until 2025, perhaps, knows these sayings.
Because of the sin nature in all of us, politicians exploit sins of the tongue.
Application: Sins of the tongue were used by the Republican challengers in 2012 against one another, each trying to brand others with a label which might stick. However, the greatest attack of sins of the tongue were the women making accusations against Herman Cain. Now, I have no idea which accusations were true, if any. No proof or substantiation was ever provided. However, one thing was certain: nothing that Cain did was even close to what President Bill Clinton did, which ought to be clear when he paid off Paula Jones $850,000 in a court settlement (insofar as I know, no woman has sued Herman Cain). It was also quite suspicious that one of Cain’s most vocal accusers lived in the same apartment building as David Axelrod.
Psalm 64:3b |
|||
Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
dârake (דָּרַ) [pronounced daw-RAHK] |
to march, to trample, to walk over, to walk; to bend [a bow—by stepping on it]; to enter [a place by walking] |
3rd person plural, Qal perfect |
Strong’s #1869 BDB #201 |
chêts (חֵץ) [pronounced khayts] |
arrow; a wound [inflicted by an arrow]; a spear shaft |
masculine singular noun with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #2671 BDB #346 |
dâbâr (דָּבָר) [pronounced dawb-VAWR] |
word, saying, doctrine, thing, matter, command; business, occupation; case; something; manner |
masculine singular noun |
Strong's #1697 BDB #182 |
mar (מַר) [pronounced mahr] |
bitter, bitterness |
adjective/ substantive; masculine singular form |
Strong’s #4751 BDB #600 |
Translation:...[and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word;... Here is a verse which is fairly easy to understand, although there appear to be some missing words. Now, it is not clear whether these words dropped out of the text or whether they could be left out, and the reader of the Hebrew language would have the wherewithal to figure out what was missing. The word to bend is applied to a bow (not found in the Hebrew, but it is found in the Greek). Something about arrow is found here; whether it is to be shot from the bow or whether it is to be covered with a poison on its tip, we do not know. However, it is closely associated with bitter word. So, what these conspirators say—their bitter words—these are like arrows which poison the people against King David. They are even more effective than a small army attacking David; these bitter words turn the people of Israel against David.
Barnes comments: That is, they prepare for this - as they make ready to shoot who bend their bows, and fix their arrows on the string. The idea here is, that this was deliberate, or was the result of counsel and purpose. It was not an outbreak of mere passion and excitement; it was by fixed design and careful preparation.
Part of the conspiracy against David was, people knew about his affair with Bathsheba, that he may have had something to do with the killing of her husband, and that he ordered his daughter Tamar to go to his son Amnon’s home, where he raped her—and David did nothing about that. Those are the things which are true, and there would have been reasons for people to know about these things (as has been discussed in the narrative). As is true with all interesting gossip, likely people put their own spin on these incidents, added in a few details, and spread the rumors. These rumors were poisonous to David. The people of Israel had develop a thoroughly self-righteous attitude toward David (which would explain why Absalom was able to cause Israel to rebel against David). These words combined with the self-righteousness of some people made it as if they were shooting poisoned arrows about, poisoning the public about David. So, although many commentators speak of David as being innocent, that is not the case. However, his position as king was a matter of divine authority. God put David in charge and God could remove him at any time.
The psalms speak of verbal sins on several occasions: Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery (Psalm 52:2). I am in the midst of lions; I lie down with those who devour men. Their teeth are spears and arrows; their tongues are sharp swords (Psalm 57:4). Look, they spew from their mouths--sharp words from their lips. "For who," they say, "will hear?" (Psalm 59:7). And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. For every creature--animal or bird, reptile or fish--is tamed and has been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:6–8). See also Prov. 12:18 30:14 Isa. 54:17.
——————————
To shoot [arrows] in a secret place; a blameless one—suddenly they shoot him, and they are not afraid. |
Psalm 64:4 |
To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent— and they are not afraid. |
They shoot arrows at him from a secret place. Suddenly they shoot him—an innocent man—and they are not afraid of the consequences. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) To shoot in secret, without blame; [or, at the one without blame.] suddenly they will shoot him and they will not fear.
Latin Vulgate To shoot in secret the undefiled. They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear. The second two phrases are actually a portion of the following verse.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) To shoot [arrows] in a secret place;
a blameless one—suddenly they shoot him,
and they are not afraid.
Peshitta (Syriac) ...That they may shoot in secret at the innocent; suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
Septuagint (Greek) ...to shoot in secret at the blameless; they will shoot him suddenly, and will not fear.
Significant differences: The chief different in the first phrase is the addition of a preposition at in the English translation of the Syriac and Greek. I place blameless one with the second phrase, which is a matter of interpretation. Given the lack of a preposition, I believe it fits there.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible ...so as to shoot an innocent person.
They shoot without warning and without fear.
Contemporary English V. They fearlessly ambush and shoot innocent people.
Easy English ...shoot from secret places at good people
· shoot when people do not think it will happen
· are not afraid (when they have done it)... V. 5a included for context.
Easy-to-Read Version Then suddenly, without fear [Or, "without honor" or "without respect."],
they shoot from their hiding places,
at a simple, honest man.
The Message They shoot from ambush, shoot without warning, not caring who they hit.
New Berkeley Version To shoot from ambush at the innocent
they shoot unexpectedly and without self-reproach.
New Century Version From their hiding places they shoot at innocent people;
they shoot suddenly and are not afraid.
New Life Bible They shoot at the man without blame from their hiding place. They are quick to shoot at him and are not afraid.
New Living Translation They shoot from ambush at the innocent,
attacking suddenly and fearlessly.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible ...to shoot from hiding at the unblemished. they'll shoot at him and not fear.
Beck’s American Translation ...to shoot at the innocent from their hiding-places.
They shoot suddenly, without warning.
Christian Community Bible 3 Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the designs of the evil-plotters, 4 who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim bitter words like arrows, 5 shooting at the innocent from cover, shooting suddenly without fear. Vv. 3–5 included for context.
God’s Word™ ...to shoot at innocent people from their hiding places. They shoot at them suddenly, without any fear.
New American Bible They shoot at the innocent from ambush,
they shoot him in a moment and do not fear.
NIRV They shoot from their hiding places at people who aren't guilty of doing anything wrong.
They shoot quickly. They aren't afraid of being caught.
New Jerusalem Bible ...shoot at the innocent from cover, shoot suddenly, with nothing to fear.
New Simplified Bible They fearlessly ambush and shoot innocent people.
Revised English Bible ...to shoot down the innocent from cover,
shooting suddenly, themselves unseen.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear They whet their tongues as a sword, and tread their bitter words as an arrow
directed to the faultless from the covert. Suddenly they direct to him, and fear nothing. Vv. 3–4 are placed together for context.
Bible in Basic English So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen.
Ferar-Fenton Bible ...Which they cast from their dens on the good!
HCSB ...shooting from concealed places at the innocent. They shoot at him suddenly and are not afraid.
New Advent Bible ...to shoot in secret the undefiled. Because this is a Catholic Bible, the rest of this verse is found with the following verse.
NET Bible® ...in order to shoot down the innocent [The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.] in secluded places.
They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation [Heb "and are unafraid." The words "of retaliation" are supplied in the translation for clarification.].
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
The Amplified Bible Who shoot from ambush at the blameless man; suddenly do they shoot at him, without self-reproach or fear.
Concordant Literal Version To shoot at the flawless from concealment. Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
A Conservative Version Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, from the tumult of the workers of iniquity, who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrows, even bitter words, that they may shoot in secret places at a blameless man. Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. Vv. 2–4 given for context.
Context Group Version That they may shoot in secret places at the whole { or fully-developed }: Suddenly they shoot at him, and aren't afraid.
English Standard Version ...shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
exeGeses companion Bible ...to shoot the integrious from the coverts;
shoot suddenly, and not awe.
The Geneva Bible That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not [To be without fear of God and reverence of man, is a sign of reprobation.].
Green’s Literal Translation 2 Hide me from the counsel of those who injure, from the tumult of evildoers, 3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword; they tread their arrows, a bitter word, 4 so that they may shoot at the innocent from a lurking place; suddenly they shoot at him, and fear not. Vv. 2–4 included for context.
Hebrew Names Version ...to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly.
LTHB ...so that they may shoot at the innocent from a lurking place; suddenly they shoot at him, and fear not.
Modern KJV ...so that they may shoot at the blameless one from a lurking place; suddenly they shoot at him, and fear not.
NASB ...To shoot from [Lit in] concealment at the blameless;
Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear.
Syndein They who shoot 'from ambush'/'in secret' at the equipped/complete/honorable {doctrine in the soul - mature and in some form of authority} . . . suddenly . . . do they shoot at him . . . and fear not.
Updated Bible Version 2.11 That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect: Suddenly they shoot at him, and aren't afraid.
World English Bible To shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly.
Young's Updated LT To shoot in secret places the perfect, Suddenly they shoot him, and fear not.
The gist of this verse: They ambush David, shooting him without any fear of recrimination.
Psalm 64:4a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
lâmed (לְ) [pronounced le] |
to, for, towards, in regards to |
directional/relational preposition |
No Strong’s # BDB #510 |
yârâʿ (יָרָא) [pronounced yaw-RAW] |
to throw, to cast; to lay, to set; to shoot arrows |
Qal infinitive construct |
Strong’s #3384 BDB #432 |
be (בְּ) [pronounced beh] |
in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within |
a preposition of proximity |
No Strong’s # BDB #88 |
miçetâr (מִסְתָּר) [pronounced mihs-TAWR] |
a secret place, a hiding place, the place of an ambush |
masculine plural noun with the definite article |
Strong’s #4565 BDB #712 |
Translation: To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. This appears to be a continuation of what has gone before. Many of the psalms have been broken up into verses at unfortunate places. David has been shot at from all over, and he did not necessarily know that it was going on. For years, all of this gossiping and maligning had been occurring, and it damaged him as a ruler. Death by a thousand cuts, you might say.
This is a metaphorical statement. People did not hide and pull others aside and tell them about David. The picture is or an archer shooting arrows from a hidden place. That simply means that the person who is shot does not see it coming. This is what happened to David when he lost the respect of half of Israel.
Or as Barnes phrase it: [This] was not an open and manly fight, where he could see his enemy, but it was a warfare with a concealed foe. Spurgeon writes: Observe the meanness of malicious men; they will not accept fair combat, they shun the open field, and skulk in the bushes, lying in ambush against those who are not so acquainted with deceit as to suspect their treachery, and are too manly to imitate their despicable modes of warfare.
These arrows are sins of the tongue directed at King David: gossip, maligning, backbiting, bitterness. They are expressed, passed along, and the nation Israel was filled with these sins, turning the people against David.
Application: Despite David’s weaknesses, he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, king of all time. However, in these few chapters of 2Samuel, he is brought down by sins of the tongue.
Psalm 64:4b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
tâm (תָּם) [pronounced tawm] |
one who has personal integrity; perfected, completed, finished, innocent, blameless; having no intention to do evil |
masculine singular adjective; substantive |
Strong’s #8535 BDB #1070 |
pitheʾôm (פִּתְאֹם) [pronounced pith-OHM] |
suddenness, suddenly; in a moment |
adverb/substantive |
Strong’s #6597 BDB #837 |
yârâʿ (יָרָא) [pronounced yaw-RAW] |
to throw, cast; to shoot; to point out, show; to direct, teach, instruct; to throw water, rain |
3rd person masculine plural, Hiphil imperfect with the 3rd person masculine singular suffix |
Strong’s #3384 BDB #432 |
Translation: Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent—... Again, this is metaphorical. This person hidden in a blind suddenly shoots out, but who he hits is an innocent. And that is what happened to his country when it went into revolution. Many innocents would be harmed.
As Spurgeon says: They give their unsuspecting victim no chance of defending himself; they pounce on him like a wild beast leaping on its prey.
This could certainly be looked at as David being the innocent—and he was of much of what was said about him. This does not mean that David was innocent; and he was certainly not perfect. But before God, he should stand, as God made him king.
Psalm 64:4c |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
lôʾ (לֹא or לוֹא) [pronounced low] |
not, no |
negates the word or action that follows; the absolute negation |
Strong’s #3808 BDB #518 |
yârêʾ (יָרְא) [pronounced yaw-RAY] |
to fear, to be afraid; to fear-respect, to reverence, to have a reverential respect |
3rd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect; pausal form |
Strong’s #3372 BDB #431 |
Translation: ...and they are not afraid. You may recall that David had a great deal of respect for God’s anointed (King Saul). So even when given the chance to kill Saul, David chose not to. But, these people rebelling against him—they are not even afraid. The people shooting the arrows of gossip and maligning? They are not afraid.
We have another parallel here to Psalm 55: God, the One enthroned from long ago, will hear, and will humiliate them Selah because they do not change and do not fear God (Psalm 55:19; HCSB).
Together, the previous 3 verses read: You will hide me from an assembly of those who do evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble; Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword; [and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word; To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent—and they are not afraid. The two groups of people who are against David are in view here: the conspirators and the crusaders. They begin by sharpening their tongues as if a sword, and then firing poisoned arrows, which are their words, designed to destroy David. They are in a secret place when firing these arrows, meaning that these rumors come from all over. David does not see where they come from; and they cause his harm by a thousand cuts. Many of these rumors, David is innocent of; but they fire out these vicious words, without fear of reprisal.
We seem to have a very similar passage in Psalm 10: His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, He will never see it." (Psalm 10:7–11). In the final phrase, the man who mouth is filled with cursing, believes that God has turned away; that God does not see what it is that he is doing.
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They bind to themselves a word evil; they recall [or, celebrate] to lay a traps. They have said, Who sees to them? |
Psalm 64:5 |
They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word; they recount of concealing snares; [and] they said, “Who sees us?” |
They work themselves up with evil words; they remember concealing snares for me, saying, “No one will see us.” |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) They will strengthen themselves with an evil word; they will talk of hiding traps, saying, "Who sees them?"
Latin Vulgate They are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) They bind to themselves a word evil;
they recall [or, celebrate] to lay a traps.
They have said, “Who sees to them?
Peshitta (Syriac) They encourage themselves with evil speech; they plan to hide snares; they say, Who shall see us?
Septuagint (Greek) They have set up for themselves an evil matter, they have given counsel to hide snares; they have said, Who shall see them?
Significant differences: In the second phrase, the Hebrew verb seems to look back and speak of something which they have already done. Most English translations treat this verb of speaking of activity they will participate in.
The final phrase ends with them in the Hebrew, and not with us (as in the English translation of the Syriac).
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible They encourage themselves with evil words.
They plan on laying traps in secret.
"Who will be able to see them?" they ask.
Contemporary English V. They are determined to do evil, and they tell themselves, "Let's set traps! No one can see us."
Easy English ...are not afraid (when they have done it)
· will not change their *evil ideas
· talk about hiding *traps and say, "Who will see them?" They included a portion of v. 4 in v. 5.
Easy-to-Read Version They encourage each other to do wrong.
They talk about setting their traps.
They tell each other,
“No one will see the traps!”
Good News Bible (TEV) They encourage each other in their evil plots; they talk about where they will place their traps. "No one can see them," they say.
The Message They keep fit doing calisthenics of evil purpose, They keep lists of the traps they've secretly set. They say to each other, "No one can catch us,...
New Berkeley Version They confirm for themselves an evil agreement;
they talk of laying snares secretly;
they say, “Who shall detect them?”
New Century Version They encourage each other to do wrong.
They talk about setting traps,
thinking no one will see them.
New Life Bible They talk each other into doing sinful things. They talk about setting hidden traps. They say, "Who will see them?"
New Living Translation They encourage each other to do evil
and plan how to set their traps in secret.
"Who will ever notice?" they ask.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible They've decided to do something evil; they've described how to hide all their snares; and then they asked, 'Who will see them?'
Beck’s American Translation They encourage one another by checking their evil plan
to secretly lay snares.
They think: Who will see us?
Christian Community Bible They invite each other to evildoing, they conspire to lay snares, saying, “No one will see us, 7 who will uncover our scheme?” A portion of v. 7 was added for context.
New American Bible They resolve on their wicked plan;
they conspire to set snares;
they say: "Who will see us?"
NIRV They help each other make evil plans.
They talk about hiding their traps.
They say, "Who can see what we are doing?"
New Jerusalem Bible They support each other in their evil designs, they discuss how to lay their snares. 'Who will see us?' they say.
New Simplified Bible They are determined to do evil, and they tell themselves: Let us set traps! No one can see us.
Revised English Bible They confirm their wicked resolves;
they talk of hiding snares
and say, ‘Who will see us?’
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear They fortify themselves by evil words. They account for camouflaging the snares, saying, "Who will see them?"
Bible in Basic English They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it,...
Complete Jewish Bible They support each other's evil plans; they talk of hiding snares and ask, "Who would see them?
Ferar-Fenton Bible They encourage themselves in vile things,
And lay down their well-contrived traps,
And say to themselves, “Who can see?”
JPS (Tanakh—1985) They arm themselves with an evil word,
when they speak, it is to conceal traps [meaning of Hebrew uncertain];
they think, “Who will see them?”
Judaica Press Complete T. They strengthen the evil word for themselves; they tell to hide snares. They say, "Who will see us?"
New Advent Bible They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?
NET Bible® They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed [Heb "they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or "word"]."].
They plan how to hide [Heb "they report about hiding."] snares,
and boast [Heb "they say."], "Who will see them [If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun "them" refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to "us," referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).]?"
The Scriptures 1998 They arm themselves with an evil word; They talk of hiding snares; They have said, “Who sees them?”
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
The Amplified Bible They encourage themselves in an evil purpose, they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who will discover us?
Concordant Literal Version They are encouraging themselves in an evil matter; They are recounting plans to bury traps; They say, Who shall see us?
A Conservative Version They encourage themselves in an evil purpose. They converse of laying snares secretly. They say, Who will see them?
Darby Translation They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they concert to hide snares; they say, Who will see them?
English Standard Version They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, "Who can see them?"
The Geneva Bible They encourage themselves [The more the wicked set Gods children in misery, the more bold and impudent are they in oppressing them. ] [in] an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
NASB They hold fast [Lit make firm] to themselves an evil purpose;
They talk of [Lit tell of] laying snares secretly;
They say, "Who can see them?"
Syndein They encourage themselves in an evil matter. They decide to lay snares privately. They say/think, 'Who shall see them?' {Conspiring in secret}.
Updated Bible Version 2.11 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose; They commune of laying snares secretly; They say, Who will see them?
World English Bible They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, "Who will see them?"
Young's Updated LT They strengthen for themselves an evil thing, They recount of the hiding of snares, They have said, `Who looks at it?'
The gist of this verse: The conspirators encourage one another in their evil plans. They have hidden snares and believe that no one realizes what they have done.
Psalm 64:5a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK] |
to bind someone with a girdle; to make strong, to strengthen; to fortify [a city]; to heal; to harden, to make obstinate |
3rd person masculine plural, Piel imperfect |
Strong’s #2388 BDB #304 |
lâmed (לְ) [pronounced le] |
to, for, towards, in regards to |
directional/relational preposition with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
No Strong’s # BDB #510 |
dâbâr (דָּבָר) [pronounced dawb-VAWR] |
word, saying, doctrine, thing, matter, command; business, occupation; case; something; manner |
masculine singular noun |
Strong's #1697 BDB #182 |
raʿ (רַע) [pronounced rahģ] |
evil, bad, wicked; evil in appearance, deformed; misery, distress, injury; that which is displeasing [disagreeable, unhappy, unfortunate, sad] |
masculine singular noun |
Strong’s #7451 BDB #948 |
Translation: They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word;... The word used here could be understood to willingly fill their own souls with scar tissue. They are working one another up; they are strengthening their own resolve with one another to be revolutionaries.
In order to be a revolutionary, a person must be worked up to some degree. David says that they are doing this among one another. We may wonder how David knows this. There are 3 possibilities: (1) David may simply understand the mind of the revolutionary; (2) this is revealed to him by God the Holy Spirit; or (3) David has counterinsurgency forces all over Jerusalem, including a man in the most upper echelon of Absalom’s cabinet (Hushai the Archite). It is likely that Hushai communicated this information to a runner who got it then to David.
Revolutionaries cannot be propped up with divine viewpoint thinking. It requires evil words for them to work one another up. They have to work together in order to develop scar tissue on their souls. The verb here suggests that they are affecting the souls of one another. Speaking these evil things to one another, which things they then choose to believe, builds scar tissue on their souls.
From Bible doctrine resources: Scar tissue of the soul is also called hardness of the heart, the uncircumcised heart, and stubbornness of heart. It is a divine judgment of the soul that restricts capacity for life and love. Unlike divine discipline that produces temporary suffering with no lasting side effects, scar tissue of the soul leaves a debilitating loss of capacity for life or love. However, since it is part of the soul's immaterial essence like emotion, it has no known physical properties. However, it does restrict the capacity of the soul. It blocks Spiritual light, which leads to affinity to the Cosmic System as well as soulish and physical ailments. Psychosis and psychopathic personality are examples of scar tissue of the soul. Although behavior can be altered by psychotherapy and psychiatric drugs, the only cure for such problems is the divine solution, which requires Rebound and application of Bible Doctrine.
R. B. Thieme, Jr.’s definition of scar tissue of the soul: The concept of "hardening of the heart." Negative volition toward God or Bible doctrine puts scar tissue on the soul; i.e., the heart becomes "hardened" toward God and doctrine. Promiscuity, drug addiction, alcoholism, or any other frantic search for happiness puts scar tissue on the soul; i.e. no capacity for soul activity with other people or with God. |
We find allusions to scar tissue throughout the Bible. Ephesians 4:17-19 (corrected translation ) Therefore, I explain this and make an emphatic demand by means of the Lord, that you no longer walk as Gentiles walk, in the vacuum of their mind [blackout of the soul], having become darkened in their understanding [scar tissue of the soul], having been alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the scar tissue of their right lobe [or, the heart]. And they, having become callous [= hardened, covered with scar tissue], have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. |
Probably the most thorough treatment of this subject: http://gracebiblechurchwichita.org/?page_id=1501 The Doctrine of Blackout and Scar Tissue of the Soul http://www.gbible.org/index.php?proc=d4d&sf=rea&did=3 Brief overview: |
To the doctrines added above, let it be noted, both from this passage and from life itself, that people cause one another to build up scar tissue against God. My cousin Mark observed this at a family picnic when many liberal elements of our family were gathered, and began berating Bush and Cheney (this conversation took place about 3 years into the presidency of Barack Obama). |
R. B. Thieme, Jr. came up with this designation; unfortunately, the booklet from R. B. Thieme, Jr. ministries is now out of print (which book does need to be updated anyway). |
These revolutionaries are working one another up, and it is being done with evil words. Their souls, a vacuum for lack of doctrine, sucks in these false words, and they cover the soul with darkness.
Matthew Henry seemed to have some limited understanding of this concept of scar tissue: It is bad to do a wrong thing, but worse to encourage ourselves and one another in doing it; this is doing the devil's work for him. It is a sign that the heart is hardened to the highest degree when it is thus fully set to do evil and fears [no one].
Barnes: They take counsel; they encourage each other; they urge one another forward; they suggest to each other methods by which what they purpose may be done, and by which difficulties may be overcome. This was a part of their “secret counsel” or their consultation...they tell each other how it may be done, or suggest different methods by which it may be successfully accomplishled. They compare views, that they may select that which will be most likely to be successful. All this indicates plan, consultation, design. Or, as the Geneva Bible says: The more the wicked set God's children in misery, the more bold and impudent are they in oppressing them.
Psalm 64:5b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
çâphar (סָפַר) [pronounced saw-FAHR] |
to recount, to enumerate, to tell with praise, to celebrate, to recall, to declare, to narrate, to tell or declare something from memory, to declare the facts or particulars of, to tell in a specific order |
3rd person masculine plural, Piel imperfect |
Strong’s #5608 BDB #707 |
lâmed (לְ) [pronounced le] |
to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to; belonging to; by |
directional/relational preposition |
No Strong’s # BDB #510 |
ţâman (טָמַן) [pronounced taw-MAHN] |
to hide, to conceal; to bury |
Qal infinitive construct |
Strong’s #2934 BDB #380 |
môwqêsh (מוֹקֵש) [pronounced moh-KAYSH] |
properly the bait or lure for a trap; figuratively trap, snare |
masculine plural noun |
Strong’s #4170 BDB #430 |
Translation: ...they recount of concealing snares;... Although almost every translation speaks of this occurring in the future—as if one of them has a brilliant idea of setting traps for David and they agree to try it—the verb actually suggests looking backward. Remember, this revolution was years in the making. Absalom did not wake up one day and decide to revolt and against his father, and, two days later, he is down in Hebron working out his alliances and his next moves. Absalom, as we have seen in the historical narrative, spent 4 years on the set up for this (2Sam. 15:7).
Barnes: The reference here is to some secret plan by which they intended that the author of the psalm should be entrapped and ruined. It was not a plan of open and manly warfare, but a purpose to destroy him when he would have no opportunity of defense.
Psalm 140 appears to be a parallel psalm. Psalm 140:5 reads: The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
Application: I recall the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, when it appeared as if the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate would completely turn his presidential bid around. Not only were the questions poking a searching for weakness, but then the interview was then edited in such a way that it made Palin look worse than she really did (she was not prepared for the interview or what the media would do to her in general). They were far different that the first few Steve Kroft interviews with Barack Obama (or the dearth of tough interviews with Joe Biden). The media laid snares for Obama’s opponents.
As Matthew Henry recounted an old proverb: Fortiter calumniari, aliquid adhaerebit - Lay on an abundance of reproach; part will be sure to stick. Or, as we know it today, throw enough mud against a wall, and some of it will stick.
Translation:...[and] they said, “Who sees us?” This was an artfully done revolution. Absalom and his allies managed to turn a huge number of people against King David. And they managed to do this without David realizing what they were doing.
There is another point to be made here: revolutionists do not consider what God’s view is; they are not concerned that God is watching them. It does not bother them that God is anti-revolution, because God is not in their thoughts (Psalm 10:4, 11).
What it appears also that they are saying is, they have set all of these snares for David, but no one actually saw them do this. No one realizes what was being done.
V. 5 reads: They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word; they recount of concealing snares; [and] they said, “Who sees us?” What these revolutionaries say to one another is evil, and they strengthen their own evil thinking by what they say. The speak of the evil that they have already done, laying snares for David, claiming that their fingerprints are nowhere to be found.
Let’s look again at Psalm 10:7–11 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, He will never see it." See also Psalm 59:7 94:7. Their very secrecy tells us that they know what they are doing is wrong. It is an important consideration to them that God does not see them and no one else sees them. Or, as Jesus told the pharisee Nicodemus: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works are not exposed.” (John 3:19–20).
Application: At the time when having the internet in the home became a normal thing (for me, in the early 2000's), I was only slightly political, not really giving much thought to politics at all. I recall after the first Bush election; and then particularly after the second, the number of anti-Bush emails which I began to get. They seemed to come on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, condemning either the people who voted for him or the president himself and his nearly every move. And, when there was an issue to speak of, then I would get videos that would make fun of the president. This is a modernization of the campaign that was run against David. There were no prints on these emails. They came from friends, who got them from friends, who got them from friends—but I have no idea where these things originated. Rarely if ever did I see a by-line or someone taking credit for any of these emails. Their intention was to, bit by bit, week by week, form a very negative attitude toward George Bush; and, interestingly enough, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 did not really run against John McCain, his opponent; he ran against George Bush. It was almost as if democrat headquarters had a few hundred people putting together stories, videos and cartoons, and then somehow releasing them to the public through a variety of means, including forwarded emails. As a result, this flood of emails, which did not come all at once, but at regular intervals, seemed to have the intent to tear down George W. Bush as a president.
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They search out unrighteousnesses; they have completed a plot, hidden [or, devised, searched out]; and a midst of a man and heart [are] deep [or, unsearchable]. |
Psalm 64:6 |
They have sought out unrighteousness; [and] they have accomplished a hidden plot. However [lit., and], the inner man and the heart [are] unsearchable. |
They have looked for unrighteousness in me and they have completed their evil plotting; but the inner man cannot be truly searched out. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) They will search to find pretexts to destroy the pure, a search carried out in the body of a son of man, and the thoughts of a secret heart.
Latin Vulgate They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) They search out unrighteousnesses;
they have completed a plot, hidden [or, devised, searched out];
and a midst of a man and heart [are] deep [or, unsearchable].
Peshitta (Syriac) They plan wickedness, but they are destroyed in order to consume evil from among men and from the depths of the heart.
Septuagint (Greek) They have searched out iniquity; they have wearied themselves with searching diligently, a man shall approach and the heart is deep,...
Significant differences: Although what they search out is in the plural, most tend to give is a singular translation.
The second phrase was quite difficult to translate. However, there appear to be all kinds of extra words in the English translation from the other ancient languages compared to the Hebrew.
The final phrase is also difficult to translate, and, again, there seems to be little agreement in the various ancient translations.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible "Let someone try to expose our crimes!
We've devised a perfect plot!
It's deep within the human mind and heart." Heb uncertain
Contemporary English V. They make evil plans and say, "We'll commit a perfect crime. No one knows our thoughts."
Easy English · say "Who will find out the *crimes that we have done?"
· say "We have made a plan that nobody will discover!"
What men think in their *hearts is very deep.
Easy-to-Read Version They have hidden their traps.
They are looking for victims [Or, "They look for evil plans saying, ’We have the perfect plan.’"].
(People can be very tricky.
It is hard to know
what people are thinking.)
Good News Bible (TEV) They make evil plans and say, "We have planned a perfect crime." The human heart and mind are a mystery.
The Message ...no one can detect our perfect crime." The Detective detects the mystery in the dark of the cellar heart.
New Berkeley Version They work out wicked schemes;
they are ready with a well-conceived plan [The godly must have a definite plan, being “wise as serpents.”];
for the inner man and the heart are fathomless.
New Century Version They plan wicked things and say,
"We have a perfect plan."
The mind of human beings is hard to understand.
New Life Bible They think of ways to do bad things, and say, "We have made a perfect plan!" For the inside thoughts and the heart of a man are deep.
New Living Translation As they plot their crimes, they say,
"We have devised the perfect plan!"
Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible Lawless ways they've searched out, but they have failed in their search; for, not a single man would come forward, who had any depth in his heart.
Beck’s American Translation Who will investigate our perfect crime?
But the Investigator does investigate
what is inside a man, even the depths of the heart.
Christian Community Bible They invite each other to evildoing, they conspire to lay snares, saying, “No one will see us, 7 who will uncover our scheme?”
Who peers into man will uncover them. Vv. 6–7 combined for context.
God’s Word™ They search for the perfect crime and say, "We have perfected a foolproof scheme!" Human nature and the human heart are a mystery!
New American Bible They devise wicked schemes,
conceal the schemes they devise;
the designs of their hearts are hidden. Ps 140:3; Prv 6:14.
NIRV They make plans to do what is evil.
They say, "We have thought up a perfect plan!"
The hearts and minds of people are so clever!
New Jerusalem Bible ...'or will penetrate our secrets?' He will do that, he who penetrates human nature to its depths, the depths of the heart.
New Simplified Bible They devise evil plans and say: We will commit the perfect crime. The thoughts and the heart of man are deep.
Revised English Bible They hatch their evil plots;
they conceal the schemes they have devised,
deep in their inmost heart.
Today’s NIV They plot injustice and say,
"We have devised a perfect plan!"
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear They disguise injustice. Finalize the search: search deep in the center of the man's heart!
Bible in Basic English Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep.
Complete Jewish Bible They search for ways to commit crimes, bringing their diligent search to completion when each of them has thought it through in the depth of his heart.
Ferar-Fenton Bible They seek mischief with diligent search,
And dive in man’s breast and heart.
HCSB They devise crimes and say, "We have perfected a secret plan." The inner man and the heart are mysterious.
JPS (Tanakh—1985) Let the wrongdoings they have concealed [Reading tamnu with some manuscripts...; tamnu traditionally rendered, “They have accomplilshed.”],
each one inside him, his secret thoughts,
be wholly exposed. Meaning of verse uncertain.
New Advent Bible They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart.
NET Bible® They devise [Heb "search out, examine," which here means (by metonymy) "devise."] unjust schemes;
they disguise [The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).] a well-conceived plot [Heb "a searched-out search," which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.].
Man's inner thoughts cannot be discovered [Heb "and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep." The point seems to be that a man's inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies' well-disguised plots.].
NIV – UK They plot injustice and say,
`We have devised a perfect plan!'
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
American KJV They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.
The Amplified Bible They think out acts of injustice and say, We have accomplished a well-devised thing! For the inward thought of each one [is unsearchable] and his heart is deep.
Concordant Literal Version They are searching into iniquity, Saying, We will finish a thorough search. The inward thought of each and the heart are deep.
Darby Translation They devise iniquities: We have it ready, the plan is diligently sought out. And each one's inward [thought] and heart is deep.
English Standard Version They search out injustice, saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search." For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep!
English Standard V. – UK They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, "Who can see them?"
6 They search out injustice,
saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search."
For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep! Vv. 5–6 are shown together for context.
exeGeses companion Bible They search for wickednesses;
in searching, they consummate a search:
both the inward man and the heart is deep.
The Geneva Bible They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward [thought] of every one [of them], and the heart, [is] deep. There is no way so secret and subtle to do hurt, which they did not invent for his destruction.
LTHB They search into injustice, saying, We have finished a well laid plan. Yea, the inward part of man and the heart are deep!
NASB They devise [Or search out] injustices, saying,
"We are ready [Lit complete] with a well-conceived plot";
For the inward thought [Or inward part] and the heart of a man are deep [Or unsearchable].
New King James Version They devise iniquities:
"We have perfected a shrewd scheme."
Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep.
New RSV Who can search out our crimes?*
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.'
For the human heart and mind are deep.
Syndein {Invasion of David's Privacy}
They 'search out iniquities'/'spy iniquities'/'plot injustice'. They accomplish a diligent search. {observe David until can find a sin/failure they can exploit} Both the inward thought of every one of them . . . and the right lobe {heart} . . . is deep/devious. {deep in evil to the point of being devious} .
A Voice in the Wilderness They devise injustice; they have finished searching out a plot. Yea, the inward part of man and the heart are unfathomable.
World English Bible They plot injustice, saying, "We have made a perfect plan!" Surely man's mind and heart are cunning.
Young's Literal Translation They search out perverse things, `We perfected a searching search,' And the inward part of man, and the heart are deep.
The gist of this verse: They devise and search out injustice. Man’s inner nature is fathomless in its evil.
This is a much more difficult verse to understand than it appears to be at first.
Psalm 64:6a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
châphas (חָפַשׂ) [pronounced khaw-FAHS] |
to search, to search for, to seek |
3rd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect |
Strong’s #2664 BDB #344 |
ʿâvel (עָוֶל) [pronounced ĢAW-vel] |
unrighteousness, injustice, unjust; unjust violence; wickedness, depravity |
masculine plural noun |
Strong’s #5766 BDB #732 |
I am not sure of the difference between the singular and the plural. It could simply refer to a variety of different sorts of unrighteousness. |
Translation: They have sought out unrighteousness;... They refers to David’s enemies, those who have been plotting against him. Most people understand that this to be Absalom and his fellow revolutionaries.
There may be a double-meaning here, as is often found in poetry. They may have been searching out any unrighteousness in David in particular to use against him; to spread about against him, to undermine his authority. However, essentially they were simply seeking out unrighteousness. What they sought for was wrong; what they sought for was unjust and depraved. This second interpretation seems to collate well with the final phrase in this verse.
Barnes writes: The original word - חפשׂ châphaś - is a word which is used to denote the act of exploring - as when one searches for treasure, or for anything that is hidden or lost - implying a deep and close attention of the mind to the subject. So here they examined every plan, or every way which was suggested to them, by which they could hope to accomplish their purpose.
Translation:...[and] they have accomplished a hidden plot. The Qal perfect indicates that this is a completed action; they sought unrighteousness and they found it; they were plotting against David, and they managed to do it; they have brought this to pass. They have accomplished the beginnings of their revolution. In fact, the success of what Absalom pulled off is quite amazing. However, we have seen many instances of him plotting and hanging back and then striking suddenly. This is something which he learned how to do well. The plural verb indicates that Absalom conspired with people to pull this off. Prior to Hebron, we do not know about any of Absalom’s cohorts—however, he did send trumpeters all over Israel along with men to proclaim that he is king. Therefore, there had to be a group that Absalom was working with.
This plot was hidden from David. He did not realize what Absalom had going on. So, this caught David completely by surprise.
Barnes writes: This would be better translated by rendering it, “We have perfected it!” That is, We have found it out; it is complete; meaning that they had found a plan to their liking. It is the language of self-congratulation. The idea is, they came up with a set of steps which would get them to the revolution that they wanted.
In this verse—and I am not confident that I have been able to exploit this fact—there are 3 words that mean search, searchable or unsearchable. This is probably intentional on David’s part as the write of this psalm, but I am not 100% confident of explaining what he means by the use of these similar words.
Concerning this, Clarke writes: The word חפש chaphash, which is used three times, as a noun and a verb, in this sentence, signifies to strip off the clothes. “They investigate iniquities; they perfectly investigate an investigation.” The problem with this approach is, they use 3rd person plural, Qal perfect of a verb as a Qal participle instead (making it function as a verb).
Psalm 64:6c |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
qereb (קֶרֶב) [pronounced KEH-rebv] |
midst, among, from among [a group of people]; an [actual, physical] inward part; the inner person with respect to thinking and emotion; as a faculty of thinking or emotion; heart, mind, inner being; entrails [of sacrificial animals] |
masculine singular construct |
Strong’s #7130 BDB #899 |
ʾîysh (אִיש) [pronounced eesh] |
a man, a husband; anyone; a certain one; each, each one, everyone |
masculine singular noun (sometimes found where we would use a plural) |
Strong's #376 BDB #35 |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
lêb (לֵב) [pronounced laybv] |
heart, inner man, mind, will, thinking; midst |
masculine singular noun |
Strong's #3820 BDB #524 |
ʿâmôq (עָמֹק) [pronounced ģaw-MOHK |
deep; unsearchable, what cannot be sought out; possibly, what cannot be found |
masculine singular adjective |
Strong’s #6013 BDB #771 |
Compare this to the final word in the previous phrase. |
Translation: However [lit., and], the inner man and the heart [are] unsearchable. This seems to be an unusual statement; and my interpretation of it is, David adds that, even though these men sought out unrighteousness in David, they cannot look into his soul and see these things. His person is unsearchable; his inner being cannot be found. They are trying to assign motivations and thoughts to David that they cannot see.
This suggests that much of the rumors that these men spread about concerning David were rumors based upon no real information, as David’s true motivation and spirituality cannot be known by a simple observation of him.
Another interpretation that might be given to this (and I normally do not give several interpretations for a verse, but this one is moderately difficult) is, these men were able to pull off this great conspiracy because David could not look into the heart and soul of Absalom to determine what he was up to. However, I would probably reject that approach because the psalms are not a place where David ought to be making excuses. It is his job to correctly evaluate those under him, and that includes Absalom. David already knows that Absalom has deceived him before. For that reason, David’s guard should have been up.
——————————
What God will Do to the Revolutionaries
And so casts [at] them Elohim an arrow; suddenly, were their wounds. |
Psalm 64:7 |
Therefore, God shoots an arrow [at] them; suddenly, they are wounded [lit., their wounds are]. |
Therefore, God shoots an arrow back at them, and suddenly, they find themselves to have been wounded. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) But God will shoot arrows at them suddenly; and they will tell of their wounds.
Latin Vulgate And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) And so casts [at] them Elohim an arrow;
suddenly, were their wounds.
Peshitta (Syriac) But God is great; suddenly he shall shoot at them with an arrow.
Septuagint (Greek) ...and God shall be exalted, their wounds were caused by the weapon of the foolish children,...
Significant differences: Interestingly enough, the first line of the Hebrew text (presumed to be the original) matches up with the targum, but not the others.
The second phrase has children in the Greek and Latin, for whatever reason.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible But God will shoot them with an arrow!
Without warning, they will be wounded!.
Contemporary English V. But God will shoot his arrows and quickly wound them.
Easy English But God will shoot an *arrow at them when they do not think it will happen.
It will hurt them a lot.
Easy-to-Read Version But God can shoot his “arrows” too!
And before they know it,
the evil people are wounded.
The Message The God of the Arrow shoots! They double up in pain,...
New Berkeley Version But God will shoot an unlooked for arrow at them [They get what is coming to them.]; they will be wounded.
New Life Bible But God will shoot at them with an arrow. They will be hurt very soon.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible Yes, may God be praised; for, the inexperienced ways of [their bowmen], is what brought calamity upon them.
God’s Word™ But God will shoot them with an arrow. Suddenly, they will be struck dead.
New American Bible God shoots an arrow at them;
in a moment they are struck down. Ps 7:13-14; 38:3; Dt 32:42.
New Jerusalem Bible God has shot them with his arrow, sudden were their wounds.
New Simplified Bible But God will shoot his arrows and quickly wound them.
Revised English Bible But God with his arrow shoots them down,
and sudden is their overthrow.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear God directs an arrow. Suddenly, they have blows!
Bible in Basic English But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded.
Complete Jewish Bible Suddenly God shoots them down with an arrow, leaving them with wounds;...
New Advent Bible And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds...
NET Bible® But God will shoot [The prefixed verb with vav (?) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God's judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist's lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist's confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w] at them;
suddenly they will be [The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist's certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.] wounded by an arrow [The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, "But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded" (cf. NIV, NRSV).].
NIV – UK But God will shoot them with his arrows;
they will suddenly be struck down.
The Scriptures 1998 But Elohim does shoot at them with an arrow; Their wounds shall be sudden.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
American KJV But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them; and suddenly shall they be wounded.
Concordant Literal Version Yet Elohim shall shoot an arrow at them. Suddenly smitings will come on them,...
English Standard Version But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly.
exeGeses companion Bible And Elohim shoots them an arrow;
suddenly they are struck: ...
Hebrew Names Version But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
Keil and Delitzsch Then will Elohim shoot them, a sudden arrow become their wounds.
LTHB But God shall shoot an arrow at them; their wounds shall suddenly appear.
NASB But God will shoot [Or shot] at them with an arrow;
Suddenly they will be wounded [Or they were wounded; lit their wounds occurred].
Syndein {Verses 7-10: Divine Punishment for the Conspiracy}
{Intervention of God - Sins of the Tongue Discipline}
But 'Elohiym/Godhead will shoot at them with an arrow . . . {divine punishment} suddenly . . . shall they be wounded. {Note: Self-induced misery and compounded discipline. In judging for example, 1) self-induced misery; 2) your sin has its own discipline; and 3) if you mention a sin, then God 's judgement of their sin is applied to YOU - also see Matthew.}.
World English Bible But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
Young's Updated LT And God shoots them with an arrow, Sudden have been their wounds,...
The gist of this verse: Unexpectedly, God shoots the arrow at the conspirators and they find themselves suddenly wounded.
Psalm 64:7a |
|||
Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
wa (or va) (וַ) [pronounced wah] |
and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore, consequently; because |
wâw consecutive |
No Strong’s # BDB #253 |
In a narrative, the wâw consecutive often moves the action along. It appears to have a much different use in poetry—perhaps introducing a new point of view or a new topic and a new section. |
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yârâʿ (יָרָא) [pronounced yaw-RAW] |
to throw, to cast; to lay, to set; to shoot arrows |
3rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #3384 BDB #432 |
ʾĚlôhîym (אלֹהִים) [pronounced el-o-HEEM] |
God; gods, foreign gods, god; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; transliterated Elohim |
masculine plural noun |
Strong's #430 BDB #43 |
When I begin to see words repeated in a psalm, then my exegetical ears perk up, knowing that the psalmist is probably drawing a parallel of some sort. All 3 words of this phrase have already been used in this very short psalm. |
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chêts (חֵץ) [pronounced khayts] |
arrow; a wound [inflicted by an arrow]; a spear shaft |
masculine singular noun |
Strong’s #2671 BDB #346 |
Translation: Therefore, God shoots an arrow [at] them;... These enemies of David have been plotting against him, looking to harm him and looking to destroy him as king. They have laid the trap to revolt against him and bring the public against him. However, as a result of all this, God casts an arrow at them.
This does not mean that David finds a park bench somewhere and sits down and waits for it to be over. He has a place as king over Israel. He does not have the luxury of kicking back and watching things happen (as did, say, Gen X under Moses). So it is possible that, David, in his military response, is God shooting an arrow back at the conspirators.
With the repetition of several words here, there is obviously a parallel being drawn to a previous verse. We are going to see several parallelisms in this psalm, and we will put all that information together into a table at the end of the exegesis of all the verses of this psalm (Psalm 64 is going to turn out to be a chiasmos).
Psalm 64:7b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
pitheʾôm (פִּתְאֹם) [pronounced pith-OHM] |
suddenness, suddenly; in a moment |
adverb/substantive |
Strong’s #6597 BDB #837 |
hâyâh (הָיָה) [pronounced haw-YAW] |
to be, is, was, are; to become, to come into being; to come to pass |
3rd person plural, Qal perfect |
Strong's #1961 BDB #224 |
makkâh (ה ָ ַמ) [pronounced mahk-KAW] |
a blow, a wounding, a wound, a slaughter, a beating, a scourging |
feminine plural noun with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #4347 BDB #646 |
Translation: ...suddenly, they are wounded [lit., their wounds are]. The suddenness that God turns the tables on them is contrasted with them suddenly shooting arrows at David, mentioned earlier in this psalm. It is as if these men are ready to attack; as if they are ready to come after David, and suddenly, they are struck by God’s arrows. They look down, and they see their wounds. These conspirators believed that they had everything worked out. They believed that they could outsmart David and take over the kingship, so to find that they are suddenly wounded—well, it shocks them. The killing they expected to do has been turned around against them.
Barnes: The sentiment [at this point in the psalm]...is also in accordance with what we often find in the writings of David, when in the close of a psalm he expresses a confident expectation that the prayer which he had offered in the beginning would be heard, or rejoices in the assurance that he had been heard. The idea, also, is involved in this part of the psalm that God will deal with men as they purpose to deal with others; that is, according to their true character.
Now lets take v. 4 in conjunction with this verse: They shoot arrows at him from a secret place. Suddenly they shoot him—an innocent man—and they are not afraid of the consequences. Therefore, God shoots an arrow back at them, and suddenly, they find themselves to have been wounded. Do you see how smoothly these fit together? Often that is the case when parallel verses are found throughout a psalm.
The Open Bible: Divine judgment corresponds to the acts of the wicked (v. 3). It is swift and appropriate.
There are quite a number of passages where God uses His arrows against man: Psalm 7:12–13 18:14; Deut. 32:23, 42 Job. 6:4 Lam. 3:12–13. However, we will study these at another time.
——————————
There are a great many problems with translating the next verse; accordingly, it will be difficult to interpret. The only thing which helps us is, if the previous verse has a parallel in this psalm, then probably this verse has a parallel as well.
And so they cause him to stumble against them their tongue; they flee away all seeing in them. |
Psalm 64:8 |
Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., they cause him to stumble against them their tongue; or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...]; all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. |
Therefore, God caused them to stumble over their own tongue; and all who saw them, made fun of them.. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) And their tongue will make them stumble; all who see them shall move aside [shake their heads.].
Latin Vulgate And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled;...
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) And so they cause him to stumble against him their tongue;
they flee away all seeing in them.
Peshitta (Syriac) So shall their tongues be silenced, and all that see them shall be frightened.
Septuagint (Greek) ...and their tongues have set him at nought, all that saw them were troubled;...
NETS (Greek) A dart of infants their blows became,
8 and against them their tongues became weak.
All who saw them were troubled. A portion of the previous verse was added for context.
Kata Biblon (Greek) καὶ and/also ἐξησθνησαν ἐπ’ upon/over (+acc,+gen,+dat) αὐτοὺς them/same (acc) αἱ the (nom) γλσσαι tongues/languages (nom|voc) αὐτν them/same (gen) ἐταρχθησαν they-were-AGITATE-ed πντες all (nom|voc) οἱ the (nom) θεωροντες while VIEW-ing (nom|voc) αὐτος them/same (acc)
Brenton’s Septuagint ...and their tongues have set him at nought, all that saw them were troubled...
Significant differences: The Hebrew text undoubtedly is corrupt; and we do not have a satisfactory alternate reading for it in the other languages.
Because of the difficulty of this verse, I have quoted an abundance of translations, including many which came out of commentaries:
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Contemporary English V. They will be destroyed by their own words, and everyone who sees them will tremble with fear.
Easy English Really, they will destroy themselves with their *tongues!
All the people that see it will *shake their heads.
Easy-to-Read Version Evil people plan to do bad things
to other people.
But God can {ruin their plans,}
and make those bad things
happen to them.
Then everyone that sees them
will shake their heads in amazement.
Good News Bible (TEV) He will destroy them because of those words; all who see them will shake their heads.
The Message Fall flat on their faces in full view of the grinning crowd.
New Berkeley Version They will be made to stumble, their own tongue being against them;
all who see them shall wag the head.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible Though they spoke in contempt with their tongues, and all who viewed them were frightened...
Beck’s American Translation Their evil tongues ruin them.
All who see them shake their heads.
God’s Word™ They will trip over their own tongues. Everyone who sees them will shake his head.
New American Bible They are brought down by their own tongues;
all who see them flee. Ps 5:11; 44:14; 52:6.
NIRV He will turn their own words against them.
He will destroy them.
All those who see them will shake their heads
and look down on them.
New Jerusalem Bible He brings them down because of their tongue, and all who see them shake their heads.
New Simplified Bible They will be destroyed by their own words, and everyone who sees them will tremble with fear.
Revised English Bible He will make them fall, using their own words against them.
All who see them will flee in horror.
Today’s NIV He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear They stumble over their tongue, and all will see them retreat.
Bible in Basic English The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them.
Ferar-Fenton Bible And their tongue will recoil on themselves,
And all looking upon them will fly!
HCSB They will be made to stumble; their own tongues work against them. All who see them will shake their heads.
JPS (Tanakh—1985) Their tongue shall be their downfall,
all who see them shall recoil in horror;...
New Advent Bible And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled;...
NET Bible® Their slander will bring about their demise [The MT reads literally, “and they caused him to stumble, upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (’al) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ’aley lÿshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the MT arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַל (kashal) elsewhere. It is likely that the MT is corrupt, but a satisfying emendation has not yet been proposed.].
All who see them will shudder [The Hitpolel verbal form is probably from the root נוּד (nud; see HALOT 678 s.v. נוד), which is attested elsewhere in the Hitpolel stem, not the root נָדַד (nadad, as proposed by BDB 622 s.v. I נָדַד), which does not occur elsewhere in this stem.],...
NIV, ©2011 He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
American KJV So they shall make their own tongue to fall on themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
The Amplified Bible And they will be made to stumble, their own tongues turning against them; all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away.
Barnes And they have cast him down; upon them is their own tongue [or, Upon them their own tongue has come];
All that see them shall flee away.
Concordant Literal Version And they shall stumble by it: their own tongue against them. All seeing them shall bolt away,...
Emphasized Bible When they were to have ruined another, their tongue smote themselves, All who observe them take flight.
English Standard Version They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads.
The Geneva Bible So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away [To see Gods heavy judgments against them, and how he has caught them in their own snares.].
LTHB So they shall be confounded; their tongue falls upon themselves; everyone seeing them shall flee.
New RSV Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin [Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;* all who see them will shake with horror];
all who see them will shake with horror.
Owen They will bring to ruin him against them their tongue; will wage their heads (will flee away) all who see them.
Pulpit Commentary So shall they be made to stumble; their own tongue shall be against them. All that see them shall wag the head in derision.
Syndein So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves {tongue weighs a ton and will smash you to bits} . . . all that see them shall flee away.
World English Bible Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
Young’s Updated LT And they cause him to stumble, Against them is their own tongue, Every looker on them flees away.
The gist of this verse: They will be caused to stumble over their own tongues, and those who see them will just shake their heads.
What will help is to take vv. 2–3 and 8 together, as translated by the ESV: Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers, who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows. They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads [in derision ]. Even though the translation of v. 8 is somewhat of a guess, vv. 2–3 provide the correct contrast for us, allowing us to better figure out what v. 8 should be saying.
Psalm 64:8a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
wa (or va) (וַ) [pronounced wah] |
and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore, consequently; because |
wâw consecutive |
No Strong’s # BDB #253 |
kashal (כַּשַל) [pronounced kaw-SHAHL] |
to cause to fail; to cause one to stumble and fall; in a moral sense, to cause to stumble morally, to seduce |
3rd person masculine plural, Hiphil imperfect with the 3rd person masculine singular suffix |
Strong’s #3782 BDB #505 |
ʿal (עַל) [pronounced ģahl] |
upon, beyond, on, against, above, over; on the ground of, because of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, with, by, besides, in addition to, to, toward, together with, in the matter of, concerning, as regards to |
preposition of proximity with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #5921 BDB #752 |
lâshôwn (לָשוֹן) [pronounced law-SHOHN] |
tongue; speech; language; lapping; tongue-shaped |
masculine singular noun with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
Strong’s #3956 BDB #546 |
The NET Bible has this note: The MT reads literally, “and they caused him to stumble, upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (’al) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ’aley lÿshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the MT arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַל (kashal) elsewhere. It is likely that the MT is corrupt, but a satisfying emendation has not yet been proposed. |
Translation: Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., and so they cause him to stumble; against them their tongue or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...];... If you read the NET Bible commentary above, it is clear that this phrase is a mess, and we have few places where we can go to straighten it out.
What we have studied so far is, the conspirators used their tongues as arrows; and God suddenly shot them with arrows. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that, if they sharpened their tongues to use against David, then God used their own tongues against them. The NET Bible translation suggests this; but, let me be quick to point out, we really do not know what this phrase originally was. We are putting together a translation based more upon what has come before rather than what is actually found in the original Hebrew text.
Barnes on this first half of v. 8: In Psalm 64:3, their tongue is represented as a sword; and here, keeping up the figure, the tongue, as a sword, is represented as falling on them, or as inflicting the wound on themselves which they had intended to inflict on others. This might be rendered, “And they have cast him down; upon them is their own tongue;” or, “Upon them their own tongue has come.” That is, someone would cast them down, and they would fall as if smitten by their own tongue like a sword. It is not said who would do this, but the most natural interpretation is that it would be done by God. The idea is, that the instrument which they had employed to injure others would be the means of their own ruin.
Taking what Barnes has to say, perhaps we could revamp this to say, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;... Although we are taking some liberties with this verse (primarily with the word although; the rest is quite close to the original Hebrew, and allows us to work with that. The intent of the conspirators is to make David fall, and they have caused him to stumble; but God uses their own tongue against them.
What will defeat Absalom is his own arrogance combined with the advice of Hushai the Archite, David’s mole in Absalom’s organization. His words will actually defeat them. However, their mandate from the people is not particularly compelling. That is, when a group has to use lies and slander in order to defeat their enemy, they may get a sympathetic response, but it will not be people who are able to be effective.
Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;... Psalm 59:12 has a similar theme: Sin is in their mouths, sin on their lips, so let them be trapped in their pride for the curses and lies that they utter. (NJB). Psalm 57:6 takes a similar approach: They [the enemies of the psalmist] have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me; they have fallen into it. The conspirators have trapped themselves in their own pit.
Psalm 10:2 is similar: The wicked in his pride will pursue the poor [or grace oriented; or those they see as inferior to themselves]; they will be caught in the schemes which they have devised. They will receive their just rewards.
Application: The Democratic party, this time around, is dramatically maligning the Republicans. This allows them to draw in the low information voters and to get people who are quite emotional and committed. In a nation of mostly believers, truth will connect with enough people, so that the current direction of the Democratic party (which is socialism; I write this in 2012) will not ultimately be successful (unless, of course, large numbers of believers abandon their faith or abandon the Word of God).
Application: I used to do a column in a little ezeen (Say What?), and I reveled in taking the words of liberals and presenting them as is, in context. In my opinion, to a person with some knowledge of the truth, they condemn themselves in what they say.
Psalm 64:8b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
nâdad (נָדַד) [pronounced naw-DAHD] |
to flee [away] |
3rd person masculine plural, Hithpoel imperfect |
Strong’s #5074 BDB #622 |
In the alternative, this may read: |
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nûwd (נוּד) [pronounced nood] |
to be moved [to and fro]; to move oneself [to and fro]; to sway, to totter, to be agitated; to move the head; to lament, to bemoan oneself |
3rd person masculine plural, Hithpael imperfect |
Strong’s #5110 BDB #626 |
kôl (כֹּל) [pronounced kohl] |
every, each, all of, all; any of, any |
masculine singular construct not followed by a definite article |
Strong’s #3605 BDB #481 |
râʾâh (רָאָה) [pronounced raw-AWH] |
seeing; observing; understanding; a seer, perceiver |
Qal active participle |
Strong's #7200 BDB #906 |
be (בְּ) [pronounced beh] |
in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within |
a preposition of proximity with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix |
No Strong’s # BDB #88 |
Translation: ...all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. All who see the conspirators—those who were allied with them—run away from them. They disassociate themselves from them.
The revolution against David requires followers. There needs to be followers of these conspirators. Conspirators in and of themselves cannot begin a revolution. The infamous 1960's organization the Weather Underground figured that, they would start the revolution and everyone else would join in. That doesn’t work. There needs to be more organization than that. If Absalom’s supporters leave him, then he is left with nothing.
Barnes suggests that the judgment of God is so great upon Absalom, that others flee from him. They shall see that God is just, and that He will punish the wicked; and they will desire to escape from a ruin so dreadful as that which comes upon the ungodly. The idea is, that when God punishes sinners, the effect on others is, and should be, to lead them to wish not to be associated with such people, but to escape from a doom so fearful.
Psalm 31:11 applies this same verb to the psalmist: Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
Notes on the Geneva Bible say at this point: [here, we] see God's heavy judgments against them, and how He has caught them in their own snares.
The entire verse reads: Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., they cause him to stumble against them their tongue; or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...]; all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. The testimony of their own tongues is against them; and when the general public realizes this, they will flee.
It is possible that the verb here means, to wag [the head]; which would indicate that friends and foes alike saw what God had done to them, and they wagged their heads, a gesture which suggests that the conspirators were belittled; made fun of. This would have been the ultimate result, after Absalom had been defeated.
You may recall this alternate reading to apply to our Lord. We will examine that at the end of this psalm.
——————————
And so they are afraid every man and so they make conspicuous a work of Elohim and His work they turn to [or, they teach]. |
Psalm 64:9 |
And so, each man, they are afraid; therefore, they declare the work of Elohim and they contemplate what He has done. |
As a result, each man is fearing and respectful of God; therefore, they declare the works of God and they contemplate His works. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) And all the sons of men will be afraid, and tell of the work of the Lord God; and His works will be understood.
Latin Vulgate And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God, and understood His doings.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) And so they are afraid every man
and so they make conspicuous a work of Elohim
and His work they turn to [or, they teach].
Peshitta (Syriac) And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider the work of His hands.
Septuagint (Greek) ...and every man was alarmed, and they related the works of God, and understood His deeds.
Significant differences: The targum generally has a number of extra words added to it, which appear to be there with the idea of explaining the verse.
To tell, to declare, to relate are reasonable translations of the second verb. Work, in the Hebrew, is in the singular.
The final verb can be translated in a multitude of ways. The Syriac adds the word hands to the final phrase.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible Then all people will honor God,
will announce the act of God,
will understand it was God's work.
Contemporary English V. They will be afraid and say, "Look at what God has done and keep it all in mind."
Easy English Everyone will be afraid and talk about what God has done.
They will understand what has happened.
Easy-to-Read Version People will see what God has done.
They will tell other people about him.
Then everyone will learn more about God.
They will learn to fear and respect him.
Good News Bible (TEV) They will all be afraid; they will think about what God has done and tell about his deeds.
The Message Everyone sees it. God's work is the talk of the town.
New Berkeley Version Then shall all men be in awe,
proclaim the act of God
And learn to know His work.
New Life Bible Then all men will be afraid. They will tell about the work of God. And they will think about what He has done.
New Living Translation Then everyone will be afraid;
they will proclaim the mighty acts of God
and realize all the amazing things he does.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible ...of the works of my God their men were in awe, once they saw that He [truly was with me].
Beck’s American Translation Everybody will be afraid and declare, “God did that,”
and will learn a lesson from what He did.
God’s Word™ Everyone will be afraid and conclude, "This is an act of God!" They will learn from what he has done.
New American Bible Every person fears and proclaims God's actions,
they ponder his deeds.
NIRV Everyone will respect God.
They will tell about his works.
They will think about what he has done.
New Jerusalem Bible Everyone will be awestruck, proclaim what God has done, and understand why he has done it.
New Simplified Bible They will be afraid and say: Look at what God has done and remember it..
Revised English Bible ...every one terrified.
‘This is God’s work,’ they declare,
they understand what he has done.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear All the humans will fear and tell of the craftwork of God. For they comprehend his handiwork.
Bible in Basic English And in fear men make public the works of God; and giving thought to his acts they get wisdom.
Complete Jewish Bible Everyone is awestruck they acknowledge that it is God at work, they understand what he has done.
Ferar-Fenton Bible All who see them will tell of God’s act,—
And how He has made them to fall.
HCSB Then everyone will fear and will tell about God's work, for they will understand what He has done.
JPS (Tanakh—1985) ...all men shall stand in awe;
they shall proclaim the work of God
and His deed which they perceived.
Judaica Press Complete T. Then all men feared, and they declared the work of God and understood His deed.
New Advent Bible ...and every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God, and understood his doings.
NET Bible® ...and all people will fear [Many medieval Hebrew mss read וַיִּרְאוּ (vayyir’u, “and they will see”) instead of וַיִּירְאוּ (vayyirÿ’u, “and they will proclaim”).].
They will proclaim [Heb "the work of God," referring to the judgment described in v. 7.] what God has done,
and reflect on his deeds.
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
The Amplified Bible And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.
Concordant Literal Version And every human shall fear. Then they shall tell of Elohim's deeds And will contemplate His handiwork.
A Conservative Version And all men shall fear. And they shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely consider of his doing.
English Standard Version Then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done.
exeGeses companion Bible All humanity awes and tells the deeds of Elohim;
for they comprehend his work: ...
LTHB And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God; yea, they shall in wisdom consider His work.
New RSV Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.
Syndein {Human Reaction}
And all men shall fear, {will have respect for God's laws for establishment and authority} and shall declare the work of Elohim/Godhead. For they shall wisely consider of His doing.
A Voice in the Wilderness And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall prudently comprehend His works.
World English Bible All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, And shall wisely ponder what he has done.
Young's Literal Translation And all men fear, and declare the work of God, And His deed they have considered wisely.
The gist of this verse: When the revolution is over, and David is still standing, men will declare that this has been the work of God.
Psalm 64:9a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
wa (or va) (וַ) [pronounced wah] |
and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore, consequently; because |
wâw consecutive |
No Strong’s # BDB #253 |
yârêʾ (יָרְא) [pronounced yaw-RAY] |
to fear, to be afraid; to fear-respect, to reverence, to have a reverential respect |
3rd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect |
Strong’s #3372 BDB #431 |
kôl (כֹּל) [pronounced kohl] |
every, each, all of, all; any of, any |
masculine singular construct not followed by a definite article |
Strong’s #3605 BDB #481 |
ʾâdâm (אָדָם) [pronounced aw-DAWM] |
a man, a human being, mankind; transliterated Adam |
masculine singular noun |
Strong's #120 & #121 BDB #9 |
Translation: And so, each man, they are afraid;... As we have observed, many portions of the end of this psalm match up with what has come before. They sharpen their tongues as if a sword, and then aim their arrows, which are deadly words, to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and they do not fear (Psalm 64:3–4). They were not afraid before; they were enthusiastic about attacking David in the revolution. However, suddenly, the tables have been turn on them, and now the revolutionaries are in fear. They believed that they had the upper hand; they believed that they were doing all that was necessary to take David down, but the evil of their tongues has been exposed, and many of their supporters flee from them. Suddenly, they find themselves with a much less powerful army and fewer supporters than they expected.
Psalm 64:9b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
wa (or va) (וַ) [pronounced wah] |
and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore, consequently; because |
wâw consecutive |
No Strong’s # BDB #253 |
nâgad (נָגַד) [pronounced naw-GAHD] |
to make conspicuous, to make known, to expound, to explain, to declare, to inform, to confess, to make it pitifully obvious that |
3rd person masculine plural, Hiphil imperfect |
Strong's #5046 BDB #616 |
pôʿal (פֹּעַל) [pronounced POH-ģahl] |
work, deed, act, doing; that which is made; acquisition; that which is produced by working (wages) |
masculine singular construct |
Strong’s #6467 BDB #821 |
ʾĚlôhîym (אלֹהִים) [pronounced el-o-HEEM] |
God; gods, foreign gods, god; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; transliterated Elohim |
masculine plural noun |
Strong's #430 BDB #43 |
Translation: ...therefore, they declare the work of Elohim... Now, who exactly is declaring the works of God? The revolutionaries do not appear to repent of their evil. Or, perhaps some of them did? Perhaps some of those who sympathized with the revolution against David realized what they had done wrong and changed their minds about it?
It is likely that the revolutionaries do not simply, in chorus, proclaim the work of God; but the way that the tide turned against them, and their fear—these things proclaim the work of God. Their fear, their supporters fleeing from them—these things make known the work of God. When these same return home from battle, possibly even having deserted Absalom’s army, they tell to their loved ones as to the outcome of the battle, which testifies to the work of God.
Barnes writes: Such should always be the effect of the judgments of God, for they illustrate His true character; they make known His attributes; they convey to the world lessons of the utmost importance. Nothing is more proper than to talk about the judgments of God, and to endeavor to derive from them the instructions which they are adapted to convey about the divine nature, and the principles of the administration under which the universe is placed. Wars, pestilences, famines, earthquakes, conflagrations, inundations, diseases, all teach important lessons about God; and each one bears its own special message to mankind.
Psalm 64:9c |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
maʿăseh (מַאֲשֶׂה) [pronounced mah-ğa-SEH] |
deed, act, action, work, production, that which is done; that which is produced [property, goods, crops]; that which anyone makes or does; a course of action; a business |
masculine singular noun with the 3rd person masculine singular suffix |
Strong's #4639 BDB #795 |
sâkal (שָכַל) [pronounced saw-KAHL] |
to look at, to attend to, to turn the mind to; to be or become understanding, to be prudent; to be successful, to act prosperously; to instruct, to teach, to make prudent; possibly, to acknowledge, contemplate, consider |
3rd person plural, Hiphil perfect |
Strong’s #7919 BDB #968 |
Translation: ...and they contemplate what He has done. Apparently, there are revolutionary types—or, sympathizers—who realize that they have done wrong. The consider God’s work through David; and, by their actions, they declare God’s work as well.
So, again, there are these two groups of people in a revolution: the hard core revolutionaries—the criminals—who want power; and their dupes, the useful idiots, the crusaders. These people have been made to recognize that their government is not perfect and they have been convinced that replacing the current administration with a new administration is what is called for—by means of revolution. However, God turns the tables on the criminals, so that many of the crusaders begin to rethink their position and to refocus upon God.
What David means is, after Absalom is defeated in the revolution, those who had been duped by him, reconsider their participation in the revolution. They reconsider their previous support for Absalom, in the light of what God has done.
Barnes: God [through His works and His judgments] is always speaking to human beings; and nothing is more proper for human beings than to give their minds to a careful consideration of what is really intended to be taught us by the events which are occurring in his providential dealings.
So, David is going all the way from calling upon God to listen to him, to a confident expectation of a victory against the revolutionaries (and, this psalm could have been completed after the revolution).
Our verse reads: And so, each man, they are afraid; therefore, they declare the work of Elohim and they contemplate what He has done. David’s ability to win the war against Absalom causes his enemies—those who supported Absalom—to become afraid. By their very actions—fear, retreat, denial—the dupes declare the work of God. When they are back home, they consider and contemplate what God did.
Barnes makes these comments: That is, a deep impression would be made, not only on the associates and companions of the wicked, but on all that should hear of what was done. People, in view of the just punishment of the wicked, would learn to reverence God, and to stand in awe of One so powerful and so just. Judgments, punishment, wrath, are adapted and designed to make a deep impression on mankind. On this principle, the final punishment of the wicked will make a deep and salutary impression on the universe forever.
As an aside, the two final phrases could be translated to mean roughly the same thing. John Calvin points out that it is rare for David to simply repeat the same principle. Most translations were careful to present these as different, but possibly related thoughts:
New American Bible Every person fears and proclaims God's actions,
they ponder his deeds.
New Jerusalem Bible Everyone will be awestruck, proclaim what God has done, and understand why he has done it.
The Amplified Bible And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.
Psalm 107:43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the grace of the LORD. Hosea 14:9 draws the conclusion for us: Whoever is wise, let him understand these things [Bible doctrine]; whoever is discerning, let him know these things; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them [the truths of God’s Word], but revolutionists stumble in them.
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The Righteous Taking Refuge in the Lord
Rejoices a righteous one in Yehowah and he has taken refuge in Him and they celebrate every uprightnesses in heart. |
Psalm 64:10 |
The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah and he takes refuge in Him; furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. |
The righteous man rejoices in Jehovah and he takes refuge in Him. Furthermore, those who are upright in heart celebrate Him. |
Here is how others have translated this verse:
Ancient texts:
Targum (trans. By Cook) The righteous man will rejoice in the Lord, and trust in his word, and all the upright of heart will boast.
Latin Vulgate The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.
Masoretic Text (Hebrew) Rejoices a righteous one in Yehowah
and he has taken refuge in Him
and they celebrate every uprightnesses in heart.
Peshitta (Syriac) The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glorify him.
Septuagint (Greek) The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord, and hope in Him, and all the upright in heart shall be praised.
Significant differences: The verb in the 2nd phrase is different in the Latin, Greek and Syriac.
In the 3rd phrase, all the upright in heart is possibly the subject of the verb, although it is a difficult call. It should be taken more as a reflexive than a passive (see the Greek and Latin); or it can be understood to mean they celebrate with one another. The Syriac adds in the 3rd person masculine singular suffix, which is not there. See the top two Kukis translations above for the alternate ways this can be understood.
Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:
Common English Bible Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord;
let them take refuge in him;
let everyone whose heart is in the right place give praise!
Contemporary English V. May the LORD bless his people with peace and happiness and let them celebrate.
Easy English Good people will be very happy with the *LORD.
They will *trust in him.
Everybody with an honest *heart will *praise (God)!
Easy-to-Read Version A good person is happy {to serve} the Lord.
He depends on God.
And when good honest people
{see what happens},
they praise the Lord!
Good News Bible (TEV) All righteous people will rejoice because of what the LORD has done. They will find safety in him; all good people will praise him.
The Message Be glad, good people! Fly to GOD! Good-hearted people, make praise your habit.
New Berkeley Version The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in Him;
and all the upright in heart shall offer praise [the finals are always with God, to whom praise is due].
New Century Version Good people will be happy in the Lord
and will find protection in him.
Let everyone who is honest praise the Lord.
New Life Bible The man who is right and good will be glad in the Lord and go to Him to be safe. All those whose hearts are right will give Him praise.
New Living Translation The godly will rejoice in the Lord
and find shelter in him.
And those who do what is right
will praise him.
Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:
American English Bible May the upright find joy in Jehovah, and in Him put all their trust, for He blesses those with straight hearts.
Beck’s American Translation The righteous are delighted in the Lord and find shelter in Him,
and all who are right at heart will feel happy.
God’s Word™ Righteous people will find joy in the LORD and take refuge in him. Everyone whose motives are decent will be able to brag.
New American Bible The righteous rejoices and takes refuge in the LORD;
all the upright give praise. Ps 36:8; 57:2.
NIRV Let godly people be full of joy because of what the Lord has done.
Let them go to him for safety.
Let all those whose hearts are honest praise him.
New Jerusalem Bible The upright will rejoice in Yahweh, will take refuge in him, and all the honest will praise him.
Revised English Bible The righteous rejoice and seek refuge in the Lord,
and all the upright in heart exult.
Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):
Ancient Roots Translinear The righteous joy in Yahweh and take-refuge in him. All the upright in heart praise him.
Bible in Basic English The upright will be glad in the Lord and have hope in him; and all the lovers of righteousness will give him glory.
Complete Jewish Bible The righteous will rejoice in ADONAI; they will take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will exult.
Ferar-Fenton Bible Then the good will rejoice in the Lord,
And the upright in heart give Him thanks.
HCSB The righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in Him; all the upright in heart offer praise.
Judaica Press Complete T. The righteous will rejoice with God and take shelter in Him, and all upright of heart will boast.
New Advent Bible The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.
NET Bible® The godly will rejoice in the LORD
and take shelter in him.
All the morally upright [Heb "upright in heart."] will boast [That is, about the Lord's accomplishments on their behalf.].
Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:
The Amplified Bible The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise.
Context Group Version The vindicated shall be glad in YHWH, and shall take refuge in him; And all the upright in heart shall [ find ] public honor.
English Standard Version Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!.
exeGeses companion Bible ...the just cheer in Yah Veh
and seek refuge in him;
and all the straight in heart halal.
The Geneva Bible The righteous shall be glad [When they will consider that he will be favourable to them as he was to his servant David.] in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
LTHB The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
NASB The righteous man will be glad in the Lord and will take refuge in Him;
And all the upright in heart will glory.
Syndein The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah/God . . . and shall trust/'take refuge' in Him. And all the upright/honorable in the 'right lobe'/heart' . . . shall rejoice/glory.
World English Bible The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, And shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!
Young’s Updated LT The righteous rejoices in Jehovah, And has trusted in Him, And boast themselves do all the upright of heart!
The gist of this verse: This concludes the psalm. David is the righteous man, but this applies to all righteous men. Such a one rejoices in Jehovah God; takes refuge in Him; and celebrates the victory of establishment government.
Psalm 64:10a |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
sâmach (שָמַח) [pronounced saw-MAHKH] |
to rejoice, to be glad, to be joyful, to be merry |
3rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect |
Strong’s #8055 BDB #970 |
tsaddîyq (צַדִּיק) [pronounced tsahd-DEEK] |
just, righteous, justified, vindicated; absolute or perfect righteousness [if applied to God] |
masculine singular adjective, often used as a substantive |
Strong’s #6662 BDB #843 |
be (בְּ) [pronounced beh] |
in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within |
a preposition of proximity |
No Strong’s # BDB #88 |
YHWH (יהוה) [pronunciation is possibly yhoh-WAH] |
transliterated variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Yehowah |
proper noun |
Strong’s #3068 BDB #217 |
Translation: The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah... The victory is not David’s; the victory is God’s. Those who are righteous rejoice in Jehovah Elohim. Absalom was not rejoicing in God. Absalom used God as a cover for his revolutionary activity (2Sam. 15:7–12). Absalom was evil in his use of God to advance his own evil agenda.
The righteous are those who have initially trusted in the Revealed Member of the Trinity; particularly those who know the Word of God and function within the plan of God.
Clarke writes: God does not abandon His followers to the malice of bad men. Poole writes: The righteous, delivered from their imminent peril, naturally "rejoice in the Lord," and feel their confidence in Him increased.
Gill points out that the rejoicing of the righteous is more than simply their defeat (or anticipated defeat) of the wicked. God is glorified by the application of His justice, as is His grace to David and his companions.
Glorifying God is not that God is the consummate egotist Who needs to have His ego stroked; but the glorification of God presents righteousness and justice to the angels in conflict; and attention is upon God, and not upon David (or upon us). When someone asks me how to be saved, I don’t point at myself and say, “Just do what I do, and God will love you.” That is self-glorification. I point toward Jesus Christ. He alone is able to save. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, He who is able to save and to destroy (James 4:12a). Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1Cor. 1:31b; Jer. 9:24).
Psalm 64:10b |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
châçâh (חָסָה) [pronounced khaw-SAW] |
to take (seek) refuge; to flee for protection; and hence to trust [put confidence, have hope] [in] |
3rd person masculine singular, Qal perfect |
Strong’s #2620 BDB #340 |
When followed by the bêyth preposition, the place of refuge is then noted. |
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be (בְּ) [pronounced beh] |
in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within |
a preposition of proximity with the 3rd person masculine singular suffix |
No Strong’s # BDB #88 |
Translation: ...and he takes refuge in Him;... The righteous man takes refuge in God, which is what David did. Having to leave Jerusalem was highly emotional for David; and so he places his faith in God. Jerusalem was no longer his stronghold, so God became his stronghold.
Quite obviously, God is supposed to always be David’s stronghold. However, David has spent a great deal of time in interlocking systems of arrogance, having gone through the sexual arrogance gate, and, over the past several years, he has been in recovery. Getting into interlocking systems of arrogance and remaining there for awhile takes time; therefore, recovery from same also takes time.
Because of this, David is being supercharged toward recovery and spiritual growth, which is testified to in this psalm. Realizing that his safety rests in God is key to his recovery.
Psalm 64:10c |
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Hebrew/Pronunciation |
Common English Meanings |
Notes/Morphology |
BDB and Strong’s Numbers |
we (or ve) (וְ or וּ) [pronounced weh] |
and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though |
simple wâw conjunction |
No Strong’s # BDB #251 |
hâlal (הָלַל) [pronounced haw-LAHL] |
to be praised; to glory, to boast onself, to be celebrated |
3rd person masculine plural, Hithpael imperfect |
Strong’s #1984 BDB #237 |
kôl (כֹּל) [pronounced kohl] |
every, each, all of, all; any of, any |
masculine singular construct not followed by a definite article |
Strong’s #3605 BDB #481 |
yâshâr (יָשָר) [pronounced yaw-SHAWR] |
right, correct, accurate, lacking in contradictions, upright, straight, uniform, having internal integrity, even |
masculine plural construct |
Strong’s #3477 BDB #449 |
lêb (לֵב) [pronounced laybv] |
heart, inner man, mind, will, thinking; midst |
masculine singular noun |
Strong's #3820 BDB #524 |
Translation: ...furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. Those who are believers in Jehovah Elohim, who have Bible doctrine in their souls; or who have divine establishment thinking, they celebrate the results, which will be David overcoming Absalom.
Again, we do not know the time frame here, but David is either proclaiming this at the end of Absalom’s rebellion; or he is proclaiming it future to his writing, recognizing that there will be a satisfactory ending. In other words, Absalom has already been defeated, or David is looking forward to the defeat of the revolutionaries.
As an aside, this is a great illustration of how men tend to compartmentalize. Joab will eventually kill Absalom, and this will cause David incredible grief—so much so, that Joab has to straighten David out. However, in writing about the revolutionaries, David does not, in his emotions, consider Absalom among them, even though he is leading the revolution. David understands fully that there is a revolution against him, and that he will need to defeat them, but, he is somehow able to think that this will come to pass with Absalom still being alive. This also reveals David’s incredible overindulgence. We will study this in 2Samuel 18 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
The final verse reads: The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah and he takes refuge in Him; furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. After David reached the top of the Mount of Olives, I believe that he began to have total confidence in God.
The word uprightness is yâshâr (יָשָר) [pronounced yaw-SHAWR], which means, right, correct, accurate, lacking in contradictions, upright, straight, uniform, having internal integrity, even. Strong’s #3477 BDB #449. It occurs 124 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. There is also a masculine noun yôsher (יֹשֶר) [pronounced YOH-shur], which means, straightness, uprightness, moral integrity. Strong’s #3476 BDB #449. Although they are listed separately by Strong and others, I don’t know that there is any significant difference between these words (the vowels were added after the fact). For the purpose of this study, I will not distinguish between the two words. |
|
Scripture |
Text/Commentary |
Job 33:2–4 |
“Listen, now I have begun to speak and my words shall be from my upright heart, and my lips will clearly speak knowledge. The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” These words are spoken from Elihu to Job; and Elihu is not among the 3 friends of Job who speak to him in the first part of the book. However, in these words, he ties an upright heart to knowledge (or lips that speak knowledge). We know that Elihu had more on the ball than the rest, because his problem with Job was, Job made himself righteous in his own eyes (Job 32:1 34:5). |
Deut. 9:1–6 |
Moses is speaking to the people of Israel, before they enter the land: “Hear, O, Israel! You are to pass over Jordan today, to go in to expel nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the giants, whom you know and have heard it said, Who can stand before the sons of Anak! Therefore, understand today that Jehovah your God is He who goes over before you. Like a consuming fire, He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before your face. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as Jehovah has said to you. Do not speak in your heart, after Jehovah your God has cast them out from before you, saying: For my righteousness, Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations, Jehovah your God drives them out from before you. [God does] Not [do this] because of your righteousness, or because of the uprightness of your heart, do you go to possess their land. But for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah your God drives them out from before you, so that He may perform the Word which Jehovah swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, understand that Jehovah your God does not give you this good land, to possess it, for your righteousness. For you are a stiff-necked people.” What the generation of promise lacked was, uprightness of heart; and God did not give them the Land of Promise because they are upright of heart. The very words themselves suggest that they have the correct norms and standards in their thinking (in their heart). While this people were a better than their mothers and fathers (Gen X), they still failed on numerous occasions. |
Psalm 7:10 |
My shield is with God, Who delivers the upright in heart. Given what has come before, the upright in heart seem to be more than simply being righteous with imputed righteous. One might compare Abraham and Lot; both were righteous by their faith in Yehowah Elohim; but Abraham would be considered upright of heart; he understood Bible doctrine and acted upon it. Lot did not, and made a number of mistakes because of this lack. Abraham was spiritually mature; Lot was not. This verse tells us that there is a greater deliverance for the person who is spiritually mature. |
Psalm 11:2 |
Behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. Those who are wicked are the automatic enemy of upright in heart. |
Psalm 32:11 |
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! There is happiness associated with being upright in heart. |
Psalm 36:10 |
Oh, continue Your grace to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart! God gives grace to those who know Him and the upright of heart enjoy experiential righteousness. |
Psalm 64:10 |
Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult! This is our passage, and part of the meaning is, there is happiness in being spiritually mature, even when under pressure from those who are evil. |
Psalm 78:72 |
With upright heart [or, heart of integrity] He [God] shepherded them and guided them with His skillful hand. Applying this phrase or a similar one to God suggests God’s great wisdom in guiding us. |
Psalm 94:14–15 |
For Jehovah will not leave His people; nor will He forsake His inheritance. Justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. God will not forsake His people Israel; those who are spiritually mature will follow God’s lead. |
Psalm 97:11 |
Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. The idea here is, those who are God’s reap what He sows. |
Psalm 119:7 |
I will praise You with an upright heart, when I learn Your righteous rules. Praise from a mature believer means something. Praise from a believer who is merely aping someone else means little or nothing. |
There are a lot of words and phrases in the Bible which receive very little attention. |
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It may be helpful to see this chapter as a contiguous whole: |
|
A Reasonably Literal Translation |
A Reasonably Literal Paraphrase |
Inscription |
|
To the Preeminent One; a psalm by David. |
For the choir director; written a psalm by David. |
David Asks for Protections by God |
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Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: |
Listen to my voice O God, and hear my concern; |
You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. You will hide me from an assembly of those doing evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble. |
I ask that You protect my life (and my happiness and prosperity) from the fear of my enemy. [I pray that] You will protect me from revolutionaries and You will hide me from the political rabble rousers. |
The Acts of the Revolutionaries |
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Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword; [and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word; To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. |
They have sharpened their tongue to act as a sword; and they have spread bitter words about as if shooting arrows. They shoot arrows at him from a secret place. |
Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent— and they are not afraid. |
Suddenly they shoot him—an innocent man—and they are not afraid of the consequences. |
They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word; they recount of concealing snares; [and] they said, “Who sees us?” |
They work themselves up with evil words; they remember concealing snares for me, saying, “No one will see us.” |
They have sought out unrighteousness; [and] they have accomplished a hidden plot. However [lit., and], the inner man and the heart [are] unsearchable. |
They have looked for unrighteousness in me and they have completed their evil plotting; but the inner man cannot be truly searched out. |
God’s Response to the Revolutionaries |
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Therefore, God shoots an arrow [at] them; suddenly, they are wounded [lit., their wounds are]. |
Therefore, God shoots an arrow back at them, and suddenly, they find themselves to have been wounded. |
Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., and so they cause him to stumble; against them their tongue or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...]; all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. |
Therefore, God caused them to stumble over their own tongue; and all who saw them, made fun of them. |
And so, each man, they are afraid; therefore, they declare the work of Elohim and they contemplate what He has done. |
As a result, each man is fearing and respectful of God; therefore, they declare the works of God and they contemplate His works. |
Conclusion |
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The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah and he takes refuge in Him; furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. |
The righteous man rejoices in Jehovah and he takes refuge in Him. Furthermore, those who are upright in heart celebrate Him. |
Now go back and re-read this psalm and think of it in terms of believers in the Tribulation, holding on to these words for comfort and assurance during a time of such great pressure. They will be persecuted, men will lie about them, and men will be out to kill them, even though they have done nothing wrong. If this seems melodramatic to you, then look at what is going on in the Middle East. There are several countries which routinely persecute Christians without any reason other than they are not Muslim. One thing man has a penchant for is, persecution. |
J. Vernon McGee: As I look at the world today, I have come to the conclusion that our hope is no longer in statesmen or politicians; our hope is no longer in science or education—they are all more or less failures. We are going to have to do what David did and what Israel will do in the future—start looking up. God is our only hope today.
In most psalms, most of the time, I automatically look for the parallels to our Lord. This time I did not see it until reading Gill, who mentions it in the introduction to this psalm. |
So there is no misunderstanding, David is probably not taking his own situation and thinking, “Now, how can I apply this to the Messiah to come, my Greater Son?” There are two authors to this psalm: David and God the Holy Spirit. Having studied in depth many of the psalms that David wrote, it is clear that David speaks of his own life and his own difficulties; but it is also clear that God the Holy Spirit often uses these same words to speak of the Messiah. See The Dual Authorship of Scripture (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). |
Now that we have the corrected translation of Psalm 64... |
|
Scripture |
Text/Commentary |
A |
Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. You will hide me from an assembly of those doing evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble. |
B |
Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword; [and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word; |
C |
To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent— and they are not afraid. |
D |
They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word; they recount of concealing snares; [and] they said, “Who sees us?” They have sought out unrighteousness; [and] they have accomplished a hidden plot. However [lit., and], the inner man and the heart [are] unsearchable. |
C |
Therefore, God shoots an arrow [at] them; suddenly, they are wounded [lit., their wounds are]. |
B |
Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., and so they cause him to stumble; against them their tongue or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...]; all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. |
A |
And so, each man, they are afraid; therefore, they declare the work of Elohim and they contemplate what He has done. The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah and he takes refuge in Him; furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. |
Now let’s look at Psalm 64, starting from the middle and working out, and note how the psalm stands up to this new order: |
|
Scripture |
Text/Commentary |
D |
They strengthen themselves [or, make themselves obstinate] [with] an evil word; they recount of concealing snares; [and] they said, “Who sees us?” They have sought out unrighteousness; [and] they have accomplished a hidden plot. However [lit., and], the inner man and the heart [are] unsearchable. |
C |
To shoot [arrows] from [lit., in] a secret place. Suddenly, they shoot him—an innocent— and they are not afraid. |
C |
Therefore, God shoots an arrow [at] them; suddenly, they are wounded [lit., their wounds are]. |
B |
Who have sharpened their tongue as a sword; [and who] have bent [the bow to shoot] their arrow [as if poisoned with] a bitter word; |
B |
Therefore, He caused them to stumble over their tongue [lit., and so they cause him to stumble; against them their tongue or, Although they cause him to stumble, their [own] tongue [is] against them;...]; all seeing them, flee away [or, wag (their heads)]. |
A |
Hear my voice, O Elohim, within my concern: You will protect my life [or, happiness, prosperity] from the fear of [my] enemy. You will hide me from an assembly of those doing evil; [and You will hide me] from a crowd those who make trouble. |
A |
And so, each man, they are afraid; therefore, they declare the work of Elohim and they contemplate what He has done. The righteous [man] rejoices in Yehowah and he takes refuge in Him; furthermore, [those who are] upright in heart celebrate. |
Now, I don’t know if David’s mind worked like this, but when dealing with a chiasmic psalm, it is amazing how they rearrange, and still make perfect sense—as if they were written in this manner. |
The following chapters of the Bible would be appropriately studied at this time: 2Samuel 15 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
Although Barnes places this as a psalm that is quite similar to Psalm 58, suggesting, perhaps, that Psalm 58 was composed at the time of Saul and this psalm during the time of Absalom. What the psalms have in common is, arrows are mentioned and David is speak of his enemies. However, his language is so rough in Psalm 58 that, I believe that psalm is better suited for David’s military enemies.
Psalms 62 and 140 may be parallel to this psalm.