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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 64:1 - 64:1
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The Psalm opens with an octostich, and closes in the same way. The infinitive noun שִׂיחַ signifies a complaint, expressed not by the tones of pain, but in words. The rendering of the lxx (here and in Psa 55:3) is too general, ἐν τῷ θέεσθαί με. The “terror” of the enemy is that proceeding from him (gen. obj. as in Deu 2:15, and frequently). The generic singular אֹויֵב is at once particularized in a more detailed description with the use of the plural. סֹוד is a club or clique; רִגְשָׁה (Targumic = הָמֹון, e.g., Eze 30:10) a noisy crowd. The perfects after אֲשֶׁר affirm that which they now do as they have before done; cf. Psa 140:4 and Psa 58:8, where, as in this passage, the treading or bending of the bow is transferred to the arrow. דָּבָר מָר is the interpretation added to the figure, as in Psa 144:7. That which is bitter is called מַר, root מר, stringere, from the harsh astringent taste; here it is used tropically of speech that wounds and inflicts pain (after the manner of an arrow or a stiletto), πικροὶ λόγοι. With the Kal לִירֹות (Psa 11:2) alternates the Hiph. יֹרֻהוּ. With פִּתְאֹם the description takes a new start. וְלֹא יִירָאוּ, forming an assonance with the preceding word, means that they do it without any fear whatever, and therefore also without fear of God (Psa 55:20; Psa 25:18).