Psalms Chapter 63

Exaudi Deus orationem.

A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God that he will bring to nought the machinations of persecutors.

63:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David.

63:2. Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy.

63:3. Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.

63:4. For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing,

63:5. To shoot in secret the undefiled.

63:6. They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?

63:7. They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart:

A deep heart. . .That is, crafty, subtle, deep projects and designs; which nevertheless shall not succeed; for God shall be exalted in bringing them to nought by his wisdom and power.

63:8. And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds:

The arrows of children are their wounds. . .That is, the wounds, stripes, or blows, they seek to inflict upon the just, are but like the weak efforts of children's arrows, which can do no execution: and their tongues, that is, their speeches against them come to nothing.

63:9. And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled;

63:10. And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God, and understood his doings.

63:11. The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.