Psalms 64:5

They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
encourage	יְחַזְּקוּ ye.cha.ze.ku-	H2388	to fasten upon · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
evil	רָ֗ע Ra'	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
matter	דָּ֘בָ֤ר da.Var	H1697	a word · noun, common masculine singular absolute
commune	יְֽ֭סַפְּרוּ Ye.sa.pe.ru	H5608	properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
laying	לִטְמ֣וֹן lit.Mon	H2934	to hide (by covering over) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
snares	מוֹקְשִׁ֑ים mok.Shim	H4170	a noose (for catching animals) (literally or figurative… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
privily	טָמַן ṭâman	H2934	to hide (by covering over)
say	אָ֝מְר֗וּ 'a.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
see	יִרְאֶה yir.'eh-	H7200	to see · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

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 140:5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
Psalms 10:11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Job 22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
Ezekiel 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his i…
Psalms 59:7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
Psalms 94:7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Exodus 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand…
Numbers 22:6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them,…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 64:1-6

David, in these verses, puts in before God a representation of his own danger and of his enemies' character, to enforce his petition that God would protect him and punish them. I. He earnestly begs of God to preserve him (Psa 64:1, Psa 64:2): Hear my voice, O God! in my prayer; that is, grant me the thing I pray for, and this is it, Lord, preserve my life from fear of the enemy, that is, fro the enemy that I am in fear of. He makes request for his life, which is, in a particular manner, dear to him, because he knows it is designed to be very serviceable to God and his generation. When his life is struck at it cannot be thought he should altogether hold his peace, Est 7:2, Est 7:4. And, if he…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 64:5

A sentiment here more fully presented, by depicting their deliberate malice.

John Gill on Psalms 64:5

They encourage themselves in an evil matter,.... Or "strengthen him" (c); that is, Saul, by making use of arguments and reasonings to induce him to go on in his wicked persecution of David; or they strengthened and hardened themselves in their wickedness, as Saul's courtiers and the enemies of Christ did, and as all wicked men do, when they observe the sentence against them is not speedily executed, Ecclesiastes 8:11; they commune of laying snares privily; that is, they conversed together, and consulted how to lay snares for the perfect man in the most private manner, that they might entrap him and destroy him; they say, who shall see them? either the snares laid, or the persons that laid…

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John Calvin on Psalms 64:1-6

Psalm 64:1-6 1. Hear my voice, O God: in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 2. Hide me from the counsel of the wicked; from the assembly of the workers of iniquity. 3. For they have whetted their tongue like a sword; they have directed [or aimed [439] ] for their arrow a bitter word, [or report.] 4. To shoot in secret at the perfect; suddenly will they shoot, and not fear. 5. They assure themselves in an evil work, they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? 6. They have searched out iniquities, they have accomplished a diligent search, [lit. a search searched out,] both the inward part of each of them, and the heart, is deep. 1. Hear my voice, O G…

The Church Fathers

"They told, in order that they might hide traps: they said, Who shall see them?" [Psalm 64:5]. They thought they would escape Him, whom they were killing, that they would escape God. Behold, suppose Christ was a man, like the rest of men, and knew not what was being contrived for Him: does God also know not? O heart of man! Wherefore have you said to yourself, Who sees me? When He sees that has made you? "They said, Who shall see them?" God did see, Christ also was seeing: because Christ is also God. But wherefore did they think that He saw not? Hear the words following.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 64

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sin · The wicked: Encourage themselves in — The wicked: Encourage themselves in
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL

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).

Psalms 64:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 64:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 64:5

John Gill on Psalms 64:5

John Calvin on Psalms 64:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 64:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 64:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 64:5

John Gill on Psalms 64:5

John Calvin on Psalms 64:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 64:5-6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 64:3

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 64:5