Psalms 41:6

6 They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.

Psalms 41:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 41:6

And if he come to see [me]
Meaning anyone of his enemies, when they came, as pretended, to pay him a friendly visit. A late learned writer ^F24 interprets this of Absalom, who visited his father when he had the smallpox, which he thinks, after mentioned, of which his enemies expected he would die, when Absalom pretended great concern for his life; though he, with others, were plotting against him, should he live, to destroy him;

he speaketh vanity;
lies and falsehoods, in an hypocritical manner, with a double heart; his mouth and his heart not agreeing together; see ( Matthew 22:16 ) ;

his heart gathereth iniquity to itself;
amasses to itself greater treasures of wickedness still, thought that itself is desperately wicked, and very wickedness: this is to be understood of the enemies of Christ observing his words and actions, and laying them up, with a wicked intention, against a proper time;

[when] he goeth abroad, he telleth [it];
as in the instances concerning giving tribute to Caesar, destroying the temple, and saying he was the son of God, ( Matthew 22:17 Matthew 22:18 ) ; compared with ( Luke 23:2 ) ( John 2:19 John 2:21 ) ; compared with ( Matthew 26:60 Matthew 26:61 ) ( John 5:17 John 5:18 ) , compared with ( John 19:5 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 157, 158.

Psalms 41:6 In-Context

4 “O LORD,” I prayed, “have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5 But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. “How soon will he die and be forgotten?” they ask.

6 They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.

7 All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst.

8 “He has some fatal disease,” they say. “He will never get out of that bed!”