death (natural or violent) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + noun, common masculine singular absolute
seize
נָשָׁאnâshâʼ
H5377
to lead astray
down
יֵרְד֣וּye.re.Du
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
quick
חַיִּ֑יםchai.Yim
H2416
alive · adjective, masculine plural absolute
hell
שְׁא֣וֹלshe.'ol
H7585
Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
wickedness
רָע֖וֹתra.'ot
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine plural absolute
dwellings
בִּמְגוּרָ֣םbim.gu.Ram
H4033
a temporary abode · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
among
בְּקִרְבָּֽםbe.kir.Bam
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 59:13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Psalms 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psalms 109:6-20 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
Acts 1:18-20 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed o…
Numbers 16:30-34 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down qui…
2 Samuel 18:14 Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he…
Matthew 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 55:9-15
David here complains of his enemies, whose wicked plots had brought him, though not to his faith's end, yet to his wits' end, and prays against them by the spirit of prophecy. Observe here,
I. The character he gives of the enemies he feared. They were of the worst sort of men, and his description of them agrees very well with Absalom and his accomplices. 1. He complains of the city of Jerusalem, which strangely fell in with Absalom and fell off from David, so that he had none there but how own guards and servants that he could repose any confidence in: How has that faithful city become a harlot! David did not take the representation of it from others; but with his own eyes, and with a sad he…
Let death, &c.--or, "Desolations are on them."
let them go--literally, "they will go."
quick--or, living in the midst of life, death will come (compare Num 16:33).
among them--or, "within them," in their hearts (Psa 5:9; Psa 49:11).
John Gill on Psalms 55:15
Let death seize upon them,.... Ahithophel and his accomplices, Judas and the men with him; as a mighty man, as the king of terrors, and shake them to pieces. Or, "let him exact upon them" (a); as a creditor upon the debtor, and demand the debt of punishment for sin: or let him come upon them at an unawares; let them not die a natural, but a violent death. The Targum mentions Doeg and Ahithophel;
and let them, go down quick into hell: as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, went down quick or alive into the earth; so let these men die, and descend into the grave, in their full strength; and accordingly Absalom and Ahithophel died sudden and violent deaths, 2 Samuel 17:23; and so did Judas, Matthew 27:…
Psalm 55:12-15
12. Of a truth, it was not an enemy that cast reproach upon me, for then I could have borne it: [305] it was not an adversary that did magnify himself against me, for then I would have hid [306] myself from him. 13. But it was thou, a man of mine own order, my leader, and mine acquaintance. 14. We sweetly exchanged our most secret thoughts; [307] we walked into the house of God in company. 15. Let death seize upon them, let them descend alive into the grave for wickedness is in their dwelling, and in the midst of them.
12 Of a truth, it was not an enemy that cast reproach upon me He informs us of one circumstance which added bitterness to the injuries under which he suffered…
The Church Fathers
One of old used to say that those only descend alive into Hades who are instructed in the knowledge of things divine; for he who has not tasted of the words of life is dead.
"Let there come death upon them, and let them go down unto Hell living" [Psalm 55:15]. How has he cited and has made us call to mind that first beginning of schism, when in that first people of the Jews certain proud men separated themselves, and would without have sacrificed? A new death upon them came: the earth opened herself, and swallowed them up alive. [Numbers 16:31] "Let there come," he says, "death upon them, and let them go down into Hell living." What is "living"? knowing that they are perishing, and yet perishing. Hear of living men perishing and being swallowed up in a gulf of the earth, that is, being swallowed up in the voraciousness of earthly desires. You say to a man, What ails you, brother? Brethren we are, one God we invoke, in one Christ we believe, one Gospel we hear, one Psalm we sing, one Amen we respond, one Hallelujah we sound, one Easter we celebrate: why are you without and I am within? Ofttimes one straitened, and perceiving how true are the charges which are made, says, May God requite our ancestors! Therefore alive he perishes. In the next place you continue and thus givest warning. At least let the evil of separation stand alone, why do you adjoin thereto that of rebaptism? Acknowledge in me what you have; and if you hate me, spare thou Christ in me. And this evil thing does frequently and very greatly displease them....Because they themselves have the Scriptures in their hands, and know well by daily reading how the Church Catholic through the whole world is so spread, that in a word all contradiction is void; and that there cannot be found any support for their schism they know well: therefore unto the lower places living they go down, because the evil which they do, they know evil to be. But the former a fire of divine indignation consumed. For being inflamed with desire of strife, from their evil leaders they would not depart. There came upon fire a fire, upon the heat of dissension the heat of consuming. "For naughtiness is in their lodgings, in the midst of them." "In their lodgings," wherein they tarry and pass away. For here they are not always to be: and nevertheless in defence of a temporal animosity they are fighting so fiercely. "In their lodgings is iniquity; in the midst of them is iniquity:" no part of them is so near the middle of them as their heart.
Dictionary and topics
Neginoth — I.e., songs with instrumental accompaniment, found in the titles of Ps. 4; 6; 54; 55; 67; 76; rendered “stringed instruments,” Hab. 3:19, A.V. It denotes all kinds of stringed instruments, as the…
Hell · And it is translated “pit” in — And it is translated “pit” in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In the second group anger is the prevailing feeling. In the city all kinds of party passions have broken loose; even his bosom friend has taken a part in this hostile rising. The retrospective reference to the confusion of tongues at Babel which is contained in the word פּלּג (cf. Gen 10:25), also in remembrance of בּלל (Gen 11:1-9), involves the choice of the word בּלּע, which here, after Isa 19:3, denotes a swallowing up, i.e., annihilation by means of confounding and rendering utterly futile. לשׁונם is the object to both imperatives, the second of which is פּלּג (like the pointing usual in connection with a final guttural) for the sake of similarity of sound. Instead of חמס וריב, the poin…
The psalmist’s enemy was once a friend; memories of that close relationship bring him pain (see 31:11).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 55:15
Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
Not thus would Jesus pray, but the rough soldier David so poured out the anguish of his spirit, under treachery and malice seldom equalled and altogether unprovoked. The soldier, as such, desires the overthrow of his foes, for this very end he fights; and viewed as a matter of law and justice, David was right in his wish; he was waging a just, defensive war against men utterly regardless of truth and justice. Read the words as a warrior's imprecation. Let death seize upon them. Traitors such as these deserve to die, there is no living with them, earth is polluted by their t…
Putting aside, therefore, conceptions due to common usage, let us reflect on the meaning of "to live in life" and "to die in death" and also "to live in death" and "to die in life." I believe that, in accord with the Scriptures, "to live in life" signifies a wonderful life of happiness and that it seems to point toward an experience of life's natural functions joined and, by participation, mingled with the grace of a blessed life. This concept, "to live in life," means "to live in virtue," to bring about in the life of this body of ours a participation in the life of blessedness. On the other hand, what does "to die in death" mean if not the disintegration of the body at the time of death, when the flesh is devoid of its customary function of carrying on life and the soul is unable to partake in life eternal? There is also the person who "dies in life," that is to say, one who is alive in body but, because of his acts, is dead. These are the people who, as the prophet says, "go down alive into hell," and she of whom the apostle speaks: "For she is dead while she is still alive." There remains the fourth category, for there are those who "live in death" like the holy martyrs who give up their lives so that they may live. The flesh dies, but what is good does survive. Far from us, therefore, be the thought of living as participants in death. On the contrary, we should face death and thus become sharers in life. The saint does not desire to be a participant in this life of ours when he states, "To depart [this life] and be with Christ." This has been much better stated by another: "Woe to me that my sojourning has been prolonged." The psalmist was grieving because he had certain limitations due to the frailty of this life, since he hopes for a share in life eternal. Therefore I can … state that, although "to live in life" is a good thing, "to live for life" would be of doubtful benefit. One can speak of "living for life," that is, for the life of eternity with its struggle with the life of the body. One can also speak of "living for life" in another sense. Anyone, even a pious person, can have a desire for this corporeal life of ours. We can take the example of one who thinks that he ought to live so virtuously as to arrive by his good actions at a ripe old age. Many people who are in weak health, but who still find life a pleasurable thing, are in this…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
