Psalms 64: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

A prayer asking God for protection from enemies who plot in secret and attack with cruel words. The psalmist describes how they aim their words like arrows at the innocent, hide their traps, and believe no one will catch them. He then says God will shoot at them so that their own words turn back on themselves, and that people will see what God has done and speak of it. The psalm closes with the righteous rejoicing in the LORD and taking shelter in him.

Claim by Claim

1. 64:1
   • The psalmist asks God to hear his voice in his complaint.
   • The psalmist asks God to preserve his life from dread of the enemy.
2. 64:2
   • The psalmist asks God to hide him from the secret plotting of the wicked.
   • The psalmist asks God to hide him from the noisy throng of workers of iniquity.
3. 64:3
   • The wicked sharpen their tongue like a sword.
   • The wicked aim their arrows, which are bitter words.
4. 64:4
   • The wicked shoot at the blameless from hiding places.
   • They shoot at him suddenly.
   • They are not afraid.
5. 64:5
   • They strengthen themselves in an evil purpose.
   • They talk together about hiding snares.
   • They say, Who will see them?
6. 64:6
   • They search out injustices.
   • They complete a thoroughly devised plan.
   • The inward thought of each man and his heart are deep.
7. 64:7
   • God will shoot at them with an arrow.
   • They will suddenly be wounded.
8. 64:8
   • Their own tongue will be turned against them and bring them down.
   • All who see them will flee away.
9. 64:9
   • All men will fear.
   • All men will declare the work of God.
   • They will consider wisely what God has done.
10. 64:10
    • The righteous will be glad in the LORD.
    • The righteous will take refuge in him.
    • All the upright in heart will glory.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

64:1

"Complaint" here renders a Hebrew word (siach) meaning a spoken lament or troubled brooding said out loud, the anxious talk of someone in distress, not a petty grumble or a formal grievance.

64:2

KJV's "insurrection" translates a Hebrew word meaning a noisy throng or uproar, a mob in loud commotion rather than an organized revolt against a government. "Workers of iniquity" is a standard Hebrew phrase for habitual wrongdoers: people whose trade is doing harm.

64:3

Sharpened tongues and drawn bows are stock Hebrew images for slander and false accusation. The complaint through this psalm is about words used as weapons (malicious testimony, rumor, the ruin of a reputation), not physical assault.

64:4

KJV "the perfect" does not mean flawless. The Hebrew word (tam) means whole, blameless, innocent of the particular charge, a person who has given no cause for the attack. The word's English sense has narrowed since 1611.

64:5

In KJV, "commune" means to talk something over together, and "privily" means secretly. "Snares" are hunter's traps, hidden and triggered by the animal itself; laying them for a person is a standard image for entrapment by words or false charges.

64:6

This is one of the most damaged and disputed verses in the Psalms; the Hebrew of the middle clause is barely construable, and translations differ widely on who is speaking and what is being said. The final line ("the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep") can be read as the plotters boasting that no one can fathom them, or as the poet's own remark that the human interior is unsearchable. The rendering keeps both possibilities open. "Heart" in Hebrew usage means the seat of thought, intention and decision, closer to "mind" than to feeling.

64:7

The Hebrew deliberately reuses the vocabulary of verses 3–4 (arrows, shooting, suddenness), so that what God does is described in exactly the words used for what the plotters did. The mirroring is a feature of the poem, not a coincidence of translation.

64:8

The Hebrew here is compressed and uncertain, which is why KJV and modern versions diverge. The verb behind KJV's "flee away" (nud) covers both wandering off and shaking the head; head-shaking was a public gesture of dismay or scorn at someone's downfall, so the line can mean onlookers recoil, or that they shake their heads at what they see.

64:9

"Fear" in this sense means awe, the shock and reverence of witnessing something overwhelming, not fright or cowering. The same word carries both senses in Hebrew, as it did in 1611 English.

64:10

Printed as "LORD" in small capitals, this stands in for the personal name of Israel's God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), which readers traditionally did not pronounce. Where the text has the ordinary word for "lord" or "master", English versions print "Lord" normally. KJV's "trust in him" translates a verb meaning to take shelter, as under a rock or a bird's wing; "glory" here is the older English sense of exulting or boasting aloud, not splendor.