Verse 1

"A Song of a degrees." In my b distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

(a) That is, of lifting up the tune and rising in singing.

(b) Even though the children of God should rejoice when they suffer for righteousness sake, yet it is a great grief to the flesh to hear evil for well doing.

Verse 3

What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou c false tongue?

(c) He assured himself that God would turn their craft to their own destruction.

Verse 4

d Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

(d) He shows that there is nothing so sharp to pierce, nor so hot to set on fire, as a slanderous tongue.

Verse 5

Woe is me, that I sojourn in e Mesech, [that] I dwell in the tents of f Kedar!

(e) These were people of Arabia, who came from Japheth, (Genesis 10:2).

(f) That is, of the Ishmaelites.

Verse 7

I [am for] g peace: but when I speak, they [are] for war.

(g) He declares what he means by Meshech and Kedar, that is, the Israelites who had degenerated from their godly fathers, and hated and contended against the faithful.