Psalms 55:15

15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the realm of the dead, for evil finds lodging among them.

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Psalms 55:15 in Other Translations

KJV

15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

ESV

15 Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

NLT

15 Let death stalk my enemies; let the grave swallow them alive, for evil makes its home within them.

MSG

15 Haul my betrayers off alive to hell - let them experience the horror, let them feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

CSB

15 Let death take them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, because evil is in their homes and within them.

Psalms 55:15 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 55:15

Let death seize upon them
Ahithophel and his accomplices, Judas and the men with him; as a mighty man, as the king of terrors, and shake them to pieces. Or, "let him exact upon them" {a}; as a creditor upon the debtor, and demand the debt of punishment for sin: or let him come upon them at an unawares; let them not die a natural, but a violent death. The Targum mentions Doeg and Ahithophel;

[and] let them, go down quick into hell:
as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, went down quick or alive into the earth; so let these men die, and descend into the grave, in their full strength; and accordingly Absalom and Ahithophel died sudden and violent deaths, ( 2 Samuel 17:23 ) ( 18:9 ) ; and so did Judas, ( Matthew 27:5 ) ; and the beast and false prophet, another part of the antitype, will be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire, ( Revelation 19:20 ) ;

for wickedness [is] in their dwellings;
and dwells in them; wherever they go or sojourn, this goes and abides with them, being the reigning principle in their hearts and lives;

[and] among them;
in the midst of them; their inward part is very wickedness. The Targum is, "in their bodies". But rather the sense is, in their hearts; wickedness was both in their houses and in their hearts, and is the reason of the imprecation on them; which arises not from a revengeful spirit, but from a zeal for the glory of God; and is to be considered as a prophecy of what would be, and not to be drawn into an example for private Christians to act by.

FOOTNOTES:

F1 (yvy) "exigat debitum", Pagninus; "aget vel agat exactorem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Amama.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible