Charles Spurgeon

For Your loving devotion reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the clouds.

“For thy mercy is great unto the heavens. Right up from man's lowliness to heaven's loftiness mercy reaches. Imagination fails to guess the height of heaven, and even thus the riches of mercy exceed our highest thoughts.”

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; may Your glory cover all the earth.

“Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. A grand chorus. Take it up, ye angels and ye spirits made perfect, and join in it, ye sons of men below, as ye say, Let thy glory be above all the earth.”

Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

“Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? The enemies of David were a numerous and united band, and because they so unanimously condemned the persecuted one, they were apt to take it for granted that their verdict was a right one.”

No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.

“Yea, in heart ye work wickedness. Down deep in your very souls ye hold a rehearsal of the injustice ye intend to practise, and when your opportunity arrives, ye wreak vengeance with a gusto; your hearts are in your wicked work, and your hands are…”

The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

“The wicked are estranged from the womb. It is small wonder that some men persecute the righteous seed of the woman, since all of them are of the serpent's brood, and enmity is set between them.”

Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

“Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. Is man also a poisonous reptile? Yes, and his venom is even as that of a serpent.”

refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.

“Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Ungodly men are not to be won to right by arguments the most logical, or appeals the most pathetic. Try all your arts, ye preachers of the word!”

O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.

“Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. If they have no capacity for good, at least deprive them of their ability for evil. Treat them as the snake charmers do their serpents, extract their fangs, break their teeth.”

Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.

“As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away. As the snail makes its own way by its slime, and so dissolves as it goes, or as its shell is often found empty, as though the inhabitant had melted away, so shall…”

Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.

“Before your pots can feel the thorns. So sudden is the overthrow of the wicked, so great a failure is their life, that they never see joy.”

The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He will have no hand in meting out, neither will he rejoice in the spirit of revenge, but his righteous soul shall acquiesce in the judgments of God, and he shall rejoice to see justice triumphant.”

Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

“So that a man shall say. Every man however ignorant shall be compelled to say, Verily, in very deed, assuredly, there is a reward for the righteous. If nothing else be true this is.”

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise against me.

“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God. They were all round the house with the warrant of authority, and a force equal to the carrying of it out. He was to be taken dead or alive, well or ill, and carried to the slaughter.”

Deliver me from workers of iniquity, and save me from men of bloodshed.

“Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Saul was treating him very unjustly, and besides that was pursuing a tyrannical and unrighteous course towards others, therefore David the more vehemently appeals against him.”

See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.

“For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul. They were in ambuscade for the good man's life. He knew their design and cried to God to be rescued from it.”

For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice.

“They run and prepare themselves without my fault. They are all alive and active, they are swift to shed blood. They prepare and use their best tactics; they besiege me in my house, and lay their ambuscades as for some notable enemy.”

O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah

“Thou, thyself, work for me personally, for the case needs thine interposition. Therefore, because I am unjustly assailed, and cannot help myself.”

They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.

“They return at evening. Like wild beasts that roam at night, they come forth to do mischief. If foiled in the light, they seek the more congenial darkness in which to accomplish their designs.”

See what they spew from their mouths— sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

“Behold they belch out with their mouth. The noisy creatures are so remarkable in their way, that attention is called to them with a behold. Ecce homines, might we not say, Ecce canes! Their malicious speech gushes from them as from a bubbling fountain.”

But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

“But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them. He speaks to God, as to one who is close at hand. He points to the liers in wait and speaks to God about them.”

I will keep watch for You, O my strength, because You, O God, are my fortress.

“Because of his strength will I wait upon thee. Is my persecutor strong? Then, my God, for this very reason I will turn myself to thee, and leave my matters in thy hand.”

My God of loving devotion will come to meet me; God will let me stare down my foes.

“The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God who is the giver and fountain of all the undeserved goodness I have received, will go before me and lead my way as I march onward. He will meet me in my time of need.”

Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

“Slay them not, lest my people forget. It argues great faith on David's part, that even while his house was surrounded by his enemies he is yet so fully sure of their overthrow, and so completely realises it in his own mind, that he puts…”

By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

“For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride. Such dreadful language of atheism and insolence deserves a fit return.”

Consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, so it may be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah

“Consume them in wrath. As if he had changed his mind and would have them brought to a speedy end, or if spared would have them exist as ruins, he cries, consume them, and he redoubles his cry, consume them; nay, he gives a triple…”