Bible Commentaries
Psalms 7

Verses 1-17

VII. A and VII. B.— Here two Pss. have been welded together. In Psalms 7:1-5, Psalms 7:12-17 a man hard bestead in spite of his innocence pleads his cause before God. In Psalms 7:6-11 Israel personified asks for justice at God’ s hands and begs Him to summon all nations to the great assize, that they may attest the Divine sentence which declares Israel innocent.

A. Psalms 7:1-5 , Psalms 7:12-17 . The parenthesis in Psalms 7:4 is difficult. Read with slight change of MT and with support of Syr. and Targ., “ And oppressed him that without cause was mine enemy.” In this way we recover sense and grammar, nor do we lose anything by removing the love of enemies from the OT and confining it to its proper place in the NT. In Psalms 7:12 follow mg. The enemy is the subject in Psalms 7:12-15. In Psalms 7:13 translate, “ It is for himself that he has (unwittingly) prepared the instruments of death.”

B. Psalms 7:6-11 . Read in Psalms 7:7 b “ over them be enthroned on high.’”

Psalms 7:9 b may be a reminiscence of Jeremiah 11:20.

Psalms 7:10 f. is hopelessly corrupt. Read, perhaps, “ My shield over me is God.”