1 Hear, O God, my voice in my complaint, From the fear of the enemy guard my life. 2 Hide me from the secret assembly of evil-doers, From the noisy crowd of workers of iniquity:
3 Who whet, like a sword, their tongue, [Who] aim [as] their arrow a bitter word, 4 To shoot in hiding-places [at] the upright: Suddenly they shoot [at] him, and fear not.
5 They strengthen themselves [in] an evil plan, They talk of laying snares, They say, Who looks at them? 6 They scheme villainies, We have perfected [say they] a scheme [well] schemed: And the inward part of each, and [his] heart, is deep.
7 But God shoots [at] them [with] an arrow, Suddenly come their wounds. 8 And they are made to stumble, Their own tongue [comes] upon them, All who look on them shake the head.
9 And all men fear, And declare the act of God, And understand His work. 10 The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and take refuge in Him, And all the upright in heart shall glory.
Familiar notes are struck in this psalm, which has no very distinctive features. Complaint of secret slanderers, the comparison of their words to arrows and swords, their concealed snares, their blasphemous defiance of detection, the sudden flashing out of God's retribution, the lesson thereby read to and learned by men, the vindication of God's justice, and praise from all true hearts, are frequent themes. They are woven here into a whole which much resembles many other psalms. But the singer's heart is none the less in his words because many others before him have had to make like complaints and to stay themselves on like confidence. "We have all of us one human heart," and well-worn words come fresh to each lip when the grip of sorrow is felt.
The division into pairs of verses is clear here. The burdened psalmist begins with a cry for help, passes on to dilate on the plots of his foes, turns swiftly from these to confidence in God, which brings future deliverance into present peril and sings of it as already accomplished, and ends with the assurance that his enemies' punishment will witness for God and gladden the upright.
In the first pair of verses complaint is sublimed into prayer, and so becomes strengthening instead of weakening. He who can cry "Hear, O God, guard, hide" has already been able to hide in a safe refuge. "The terror caused by the enemy" is already dissipated when the trembling heart grasps at God; and escape from facts which warrant terror will come in good time. This man knows himself to be in danger of his life. There are secret gatherings of his enemies, and he can almost hear their loud voices as they plan his ruin. What can he do, in such circumstances, but fling himself on God? No thought of resistance has he. He can _but_ pray, but he _can_ pray; and no man is helpless who can look up. However high and closely engirdling may be the walls that men or sorrows build around us, there is always an opening in the dungeon roof, through which heaven is visible and prayers can mount.
The next two pairs of verse (3-6) describe the machinations of the enemies in language for the most part familiar, but presenting some difficulties. The metaphors of a slanderous tongue as a sword and mischief-meaning words as arrows have occurred in several other psalms (_e.g._, lv. 21; lvii. 4; lix. 7). The reference may either be to calumnies or to murderous threats and plans. The latter is the more probable. Secret plots are laid, which are suddenly unmasked. From out of some covert of seeming friendship an unlooked-for arrow whizzes. The archers "shoot, and fear not." They are sure of remaining concealed, and fear neither man's detection of them nor God's.