Psalms 63:4-11

4 quia exacuerunt ut gladium linguas suas intenderunt arcum rem amaram

5 ut sagittent in occultis inmaculatum

6 subito sagittabunt eum et non timebunt firmaverunt sibi sermonem nequam narraverunt ut absconderent laqueos dixerunt quis videbit eos

7 scrutati sunt iniquitates defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio accedet homo et cor altum

8 et exaltabitur Deus sagittae parvulorum factae sunt plagae eorum

9 et infirmatae sunt contra eos linguae eorum conturbati sunt omnes qui videbant eos

10 et timuit omnis homo et adnuntiaverunt opera Dei et facta eius intellexerunt

11 laetabitur iustus in Domino et sperabit in eo et laudabuntur omnes recti corde

Psalms 63:4-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 63

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David, either when he was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to hide himself in desert places, as in the forest of Hareth, the wildernesses of Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, \1Sa 22:5 23:14,24,25 24:1\; all which were in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55,62; or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, which obliged him to flee from Jerusalem, and go the way of the wilderness, where Ziba and Barzillai sent him food, lest his young men that were with him should faint there, \2Sa 15:23 16:2 17:29\. The Septuagint version, and those that follow that, call it the wilderness of Idumea, or Edom, as the Arabic version; and so the Chaldee paraphrase, ``in the wilderness which was on the border of the tribe of Judah;'' as Edom was, Jos 15:21; so the Messiah, David's son, was in a wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil, and where he was hungry and thirsty in a literal sense, as David was here in a spiritual sense, as the psalm shows, Mt 4:1,2; and the church of God, whom David sometimes represents, is said to be in a wilderness, where she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, even during the whole reign of the antichristian beast, Re 12:14; and, indeed, all the saints are, at one time or another, in a desert condition, and while they are here are in the wilderness of the people, Ho 2:14, Eze 20:35.