Bible Commentaries
Psalms 64

Verses 1-2

1. A plea for protection 64:1-2

David opened his psalm with a complaint in which he asked God to preserve him from dreading the plots of wicked enemies who conspired in secret against him.

Verses 1-10

Psalms 64

David asked God to judge the enemies of the righteous in this individual lament psalm. He requested divine protection and voiced confidence that God would judge his wicked foes.

Verses 3-4

David’s enemies were attacking him verbally. They were using their words as weapons to injure him (cf. Psalms 55:21; Psalms 57:4; Psalms 59:7).

Verses 3-6

2. The ploys of persecutors 64:3-6

Verses 5-6

David’s foes were evidently conspiring against him with a careful plan designed to humiliate him, and their purpose was evil and unjust.

Verses 7-8

David’s enemies had assailed him with words that they used like deadly arrows, but God would shoot these foes with His arrow of judgment. With it God would make them fall in battle. The NASB is a bit misleading in Psalms 64:8. The NIV is clearer. It reads, "He will turn their own tongues against them."

Verses 7-10

3. A prediction of punishment 64:7-10

Verses 8-10

David identified the reactions of two groups of people to God’s activity of judging his evil assailants. Those who observed the judgment would do two things. They would fear doing the same thing themselves and would declare to others what He did, having considered it themselves. Second, the righteous would also have a double response. They would rejoice in God’s will being done and would renew their trust in the Lord.

The godly should commit their case to God in prayer when they become targets of malicious gossip. They can also rest in the assurance that God will eventually turn the antagonism of the wicked back on them (cf. 1 Samuel 25). He will do so for His own glory and for the welfare of those who trust in Him. [Note: See Chun Leung Ho, "God Will Repay: An Exegetical Exposition of Psalm Sixty-four," Exegesis and Exposition 3:1 (Fall 1988):34-44.]