New English Translation

Psalms 52:1-6

1 1 2 3Why do you boast about your evil plans, O powerful man? God’s loyal love protects me all day long!

2Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.

3You love evil more than good, lies more than speaking the truth. (Selah)

4You love to use all the words that destroy, and the tongue that deceives.

5Yet God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. He will scoop you up and remove you from your home; he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

6When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe, and will mock the evildoer, saying:

Read all of Psalms 52

Notes

1. Psalms 52:1 Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly. ↩
2. Psalms 52:1 The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7. ↩
3. Psalms 52:1 Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd (1 Sam 21:7), informed Saul of David’s whereabouts (see 1 Sam 21-22). ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Psalms 52