2 Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
My soul is among lions; I lie among them that are set on fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
Behold, they belch out with their mouth; Swords are in their lips: For who, `say they', doth hear?
Now the chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus, that they might put him to death;
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and `against' God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and seized him, and brought him into the council, and set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, and the law:
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
And they bend their tongue, `as it were' their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.
There is a generation whose teeth are `as' swords, and their jaw teeth `as' knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
There are six things which Jehovah hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood; A heart that deviseth wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief, A false witness that uttereth lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.
Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, `And' from a deceitful tongue.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me: They have spoken unto me with a lying tongue.
Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, From the tumult of the workers of iniquity; Who have whet their tongue like a sword, And have aimed their arrows, even bitter words, That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect: Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil purpose; They commune of laying snares privily; They say, Who will see them? They search out iniquities; We have accomplished, `say they', a diligent search: And the inward thought and the heart of every one is deep.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, And thy tongue frameth deceit.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 52
Commentary on Psalms 52 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 52
David, no doubt, was in very great grief when he said to Abiathar (1 Sa. 22:22), "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house,' who were put to death upon Doeg's malicious information; to give some vent to that grief, and to gain some relief to his mind under it, he penned this psalm, wherein, as a prophet, and therefore with as good an authority as if he had been now a prince upon the throne,
In singing this psalm we should conceive a detestation of the sin of lying, foresee the ruin of those that persist in it, and please ourselves with the assurance of the preservation of God's church and people, in spite of all the malicious designs of the children of Satan, that father of lies.
To the chief musician, Maschil. A psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
Psa 52:1-5
The title is a brief account of the story which the psalm refers to. David now, at length, saw it necessary to quit the court, and shift for his own safety, for fear of Saul, who had once and again attempted to murder him. Being unprovided wit harms and victuals, he, by a wile, got Ahimelech the priest to furnish him with both. Doeg an Edomite happened to be there, and he went and informed Saul against Ahimelech, representing him as confederate with a traitor, upon which accusation Saul grounded a very bloody warrant, to kill all the priests; and Doeg, the prosecutor, was the executioner, 1 Sa. 22:9, etc. In these verses,
Psa 52:6-9
David was at this time in great distress; the mischief Doeg had done him was but the beginning of his sorrows; and yet here we have him triumphing, and that is more than rejoicing, in tribulation. Blessed Paul, in the midst of his troubles, is in the midst of his triumphs, 2 Co. 2:14. David here triumphs,