“For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. privily: Heb. in darkness”
Save. David, persecuted by Saul, (Bossuet) or Absalom; (Grotius) the captives at Babylon; (Calmet) our Saviour suffering, or coming to judge; (St. Augustine) in a word, any just man who sees the corruption of men, may use this language. (Haydock) — We cannot open the writings of the prophets, or of the Fathers, without meeting with such complaints. Hebrew, “no saint;” chasid, “pious” (Pagnin; Haydock) clement person. (Calmet) — Truths. Hebrew, “people of veracity.” (Calmet) — Bias said, “All men are bad;” (Clement of Alexandria, strom. 1.) or, as Laertius expresses it, “Most people are wicked.” Hence few are chosen. (Haydock) — Christ is the truth. If we admire his doctrine, let us put it in practice. (Berthier)
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Deceitful. Hebrew, “flattering;” and of course not fee from deceit. (Berthier) —
“The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.”
Lips. “The saints do not curse, but foretell what will happen.” (St. Jerome) — Hebrew, “the Lord will destroy” the deceitful, (Berthier) who mean to injure men; (Haydock) and the proud, who attack God and religion, which they pretend they can prove (Berthier) to be a mere fiction, by their superior eloquence! (Haydock)
“The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”
Own. “We have lips,” (Symmachus) or eloquence to gain our cause against these miserable exiles. (Calmet) — Lord. Hebrew adon, “master.” We admit of no superior, neither in heaven nor on earth. (Haydock) — Such was the haughtiness of Pharao, &c., Exodus v. 2., and 4 Kings xviii. 19., and Daniel iii. 15. (Calmet)
“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. an horrible: or, a burning tempest”
Arise, and redeem lost man; (Theodoret) or, protect my servants (Calmet) from such insolent oppressors. (Haydock) — Regard. This may be put in the mouth of the afflicted. (Calmet) — “I will place my confidence in the Saviour, and will act boldly in him.” (Haydock) — His promises give me full assurance, ver. 7. The Hebrew seems to be incorrect, and very different from what the ancients read. (Calmet) — St. Jerome has, “I will place their aid in salvation;” (Haydock) which he explains of Jesus Christ. See Isaias xii. 2. (Calmet) — Moderns insert many words. “I will save him, that they may learn to trust in me.” (German.) — “I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.” (Protestants) Or “would ensnare him.” (Marginal note) We may better translate, “I will put in safety, the Lord will act freely herein;” or, “safety which will act freely upon him,” the poor. (Berthier) — “I will raise up a Saviour, who with his breath will destroy the wicked.” (Prin. disc.)
“For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.”
Pure words, very different from those of the deceitful, ver. 3. (Calmet) — Earth, dross, or in the crucible, or “for the ruler of earth:” (Pagnin; Haydock) current money. If we alter the Hebrew a little, it may be, “with care, (bahalil, which is never elsewhere used for a crucible) gold refined seven times;” often, (Proverbs xxiv. 16.) or as much as possible. (Calmet)
This corrupt generation; or, both in this world and in the next. Hebrew, “preserve them;” the just, or thy words. (Calmet) — “And thou wilt keep him.” (Pagnin) — Protestants marginal note, i.e., “Every one of them.” St. Jerome reads, “us.” (Haydock)
About. Their life is a circle of relapses; or rather they continually attack the just, (Calmet) but their designs are made subservient to their advancement in virtue, by the power of God. (Tirinus) — Hebrew, “They (the just) shall go round the wicked, when baseness shall have raised herself up, on account of the children of men.” When God shall have restored the Jews to liberty, the Babylonians shall be, in their turn, oppressed by Cyrus and the Persians, whom they now despise: or, when the miserable shall be placed in power, the wicked shall not dare to approach them. (Calmet) — “The wicked shall walk round about, when the vilest of the sons of men shall be exalted.” (St. Jerome) (Haydock) — The former have spent their life in vanity, and shall be kept for ever out of the kingdom of heaven; as the error of the Platonists, who assert that all things will come to pass again, the world being compared to a wheel, is manifestly refuted by Scripture, which assures us that God will preserve the just from this generation, (St. Augustine) and the wicked will knock at the door, like the foolish virgins, and will be rejected with, I never knew you, Matthew xxv. (St. Jerome or some other learned author.) (Worthington) — For some suspect that the commentary which goes under the name of St. Jerome, is not in the state in which it came from his hands. — (Haydock)