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Salmos 64

ARC · Chapter 64/150

1Ouve, ó Deus, a minha voz na minha oração: guarda a minha vida do temor do inimigo.

2Esconde-me do secreto conselho dos maus, e do tumulto dos que obram a iniquidade.

3Que afiaram as suas linguas como espadas; e armaram por suas frechas palavras amargas,

4A fim de atirarem em logar occulto ao que é recto; disparam sobre elle repentinamente, e não temem.

5Firmam-se em mau intento; fallam de armar laços secretamente, e dizem: Quem os verá?

6Andam inquirindo malicias, inquirem tudo o que se pode inquirir; e o intimo pensamento de cada um d'elles, e o coração, é profundo.

7Mas Deus atirará sobre elles uma setta, e de repente ficarão feridos.

8Assim elles farão com que as suas linguas tropecem contra si mesmos; todos aquelles que os virem fugirão.

9E todos os homens temerão, e annunciarão a obra de Deus; e considerarão prudentemente os feitos d'elle.

10O justo se alegrará no Senhor, e confiará n'elle, e todos os rectos de coração se gloriarão.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

David asks for protection from enemies who secretly plot bitter words like arrows, trusting that God will shoot a sudden arrow at them, causing everyone to recognize divine justice.

Explanation

This psalm focuses specifically on the danger of maliciously planned words — 'who whet their tongue like a sword' — describing a verbal conspiracy carefully devised to slander or harm someone without being detected. God's response, described as a sudden 'arrow,' turns the enemy's own weapon (words shot like arrows) back against him. Today's application: recognizing the destructive power of maliciously planned words, whether in gossip, slander, or manipulation, and trusting that the truth eventually comes to light.

Fun facts

  • The metaphor of words as 'arrows' and the tongue as a 'sharp sword' appears repeatedly in the psalms (compare Psalm 57:4, 59:7), reflecting a constant biblical concern with the destructive power contained in human speech, later taken up in James 3:5-8.
  • This is one of the shortest psalms classified as 'confident imprecatory,' as it combines a plea against enemies with a quick and secure turn toward trust, without the lengthy development of lament seen in psalms like 35 or 69.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Salmos 64:1The request for God to "preserve my life from fear of the enemy" shows that the fear itself is already an evil David wants to be delivered from, beyond the real danger the enemies represent.
  2. Salmos 64:2"The secret counsel of the wicked" describes a conspiracy hatched in hiding — a group meeting in secret to plan evil, unlike a threat declared openly.
  3. Salmos 64:3It compares malicious speech to weapons of war — lies and accusations that wound as much as a blade, a recurring image in the psalms of lament against enemies who attack through slander.
  4. Salmos 64:4It continues the image of words as arrows from the previous verse: the enemies shoot from hiding at an innocent person, catching him by surprise, without hesitating or fearing consequences.
  5. Salmos 64:5"Who shall see them?" reveals the conspirators' logic: they feel safe because they think no one will discover their secret plan — a confidence the psalm goes on to dismantle.
  6. Salmos 64:6It shows careful, obsessive planning of evil: the enemies search out every possible detail, and their innermost thoughts are worked out with a cunning hard to detect from the outside.
  7. Salmos 64:7It reverses the image of the enemies' weapons from the previous verses: just as they use words like arrows, God answers with a real arrow of judgment — a poetic contrast between the human weapon and the divine response.
  8. Salmos 64:8The enemies' own tongue, used as a weapon in the previous verses, now turns against them: the same words they shot at others end up causing their own downfall.
  9. Salmos 64:9The conspirators' downfall stops being a secret: it becomes a public example, told by everyone, of the kind of thing God does — the opposite of the secret plan they had so wanted to hide.
  10. Salmos 64:10The psalm ends with a shift in tone: from the fear at the start and the lament over the conspiracy, it arrives at the joy of the righteous, who trust in God instead of defending themselves alone.

Chapters

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