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<< PSALM LXIV. >>
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1. Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint:
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2. Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers,
From the tumult of the workers of iniquity;
3. Who have whet their tongue like a sword,
And have aimed their arrows, even bitter words,
4. That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect:
Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5. They encourage themselves in an evil purpose;
They commune of laying snares privily;
They say, WTho will see them ?
6. They search out iniquities;
We have accomplished, say they, a diligent search:
And the inward thought and the heart of every one is
deep.
7. But God will shoot at them;
With an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded.
8. So they shall be made to stumble, their own tongue
being against them:
All that see them shall wag the head.
9. And all men shall fear;
And they shall declare the work of God,
And shall wisely consider of his doing.
10. The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall take
refuge in him;
And all the upright in heart shall glory.
1. Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint:
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2. Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers,
From the tumult of the workers of iniquity;
1-6. The lying in wait of the evil against the Lord. P. P.
4. See Psalm lvii. 5. R- 52.
See Psalm lvii. 5. E. 131.
3. Who have whet their tongue like a sword,
And have aimed their arrows, even bitter words,
4. That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect:
Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5. They encourage themselves in an evil purpose;
They commune of laying snares privily;
They say, Who will see them ?
6. They search out iniquities;
We have accomplished, say they, a diligent search:
And the inward thought and the heart of every one is
deep.
4, 5. The wicked are here said to sharpen their tongue like a sword, because a sword signifies falsity combating against truth, they are also said to bend their bows to shoot their arrows even bitter words, because an arrow signifies the falsity of doctrine. To shoot in secret at the perfect signifies the same as to shoot privily at the upright in heart, namely, to deceive those who are principled in truths from good. E. 357.
4-6. See Psalm xi. 2. A. 2709.
7. Here the inward thought stands for the intellectual where the truth ought to reside, and the heart for the will where the good ought to be, but in the present case both perverted, the latter into evil and the former into what is false. E. 313.
Here by the belly of a man are signified the thoughts of what is false, and by the deep heart the affections of evil, the latter pertaining to the will, the former to the understanding. E. 622.
7. But God will shoot at them;
With an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded.
8. So they shall be made to stumble, their own tongue
being against them:
All that see them shall wag the head.
9. And all men shall fear;
And they shall declare the work of God,
And shall wisely consider of his doing.
8, 9. They will perish. P. P.
10, 11. Thus the good will be saved. P. P.
Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)
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