Psalms 64:1-7

Context

Psalm 64¹

For the music director; a psalm of David.

64:1 Listen to me,² O God, as I offer my lament!

Protect³ my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks.⁴

64:2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,

from the crowd of evildoers.⁵

64:3 They⁶ sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge,⁷

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent⁸ in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation.⁹

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed.¹⁰

They plan how to hide¹¹ snares,

and boast,¹² “Who will see them?”¹³

64:6 They devise¹⁴ unjust schemes;

they disguise¹⁵ a well-conceived plot.¹⁶

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered.¹⁷

64:7 But God will shoot¹⁸ at them;

suddenly they will be¹⁹ wounded by an arrow.²⁰

[64:1] ¹sn Psalm 64. The psalmist asks God to protect him from his dangerous enemies and then confidently affirms that God will destroy his enemies and demonstrate his justice in the sight of all observers.

[64:1] ²tn Heb “my voice.”

[64:1] ³tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s request.

[64:1] ⁴tn Heb “from the terror of [the] enemy.” “Terror” is used here metonymically for the enemy’s attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist’s life.

[64:2] ⁵tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[64:3] ⁶tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3] ⁷tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4] ⁸tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4] ⁹tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[64:5] ¹⁰tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5] ¹¹tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5] ¹²tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5] ¹³tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[64:6] ¹⁴tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6] ¹⁵tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6] ¹⁶tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6] ¹⁷tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[64:7] ¹⁸tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w.

[64:7] ¹⁹tn The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.

[64:7] ²⁰tn The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. NIV, NRSV).