Psalms 55:19

The judgement of his enemies.

God shall hear, and afflict them Or, humble them. This, which is the rendering of the Ancient Versions, is probably right. But it requires a change of the vocalisation. The text as it stands must be rendered with R.V., God shall hear, and answer them, meaning apparently, that God will hear their raging and answer them with judgement. But this is an unnatural form of expression. The object to the verbs -hear" and -answer" could hardly be other than the Psalmist or his prayer.

even he that abideth of old Render, He that sitteth enthroned eternally, as Judge of the world. (Cp. "Thou most worthy Judge Eternal.") Cp. Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalms 9:7-8; Psalms 29:10; Psalms 74:12; Habakkuk 1:12.

Because they have no changes This is best taken as a relative clause, dependent on the preceding sentence. Render with R.V. (placing a comma only after of old),

(The men) who have no changes,

And who fear not God.

-Changes" will mean vicissitudes of fortune. God will humble these men, who, because their prosperity is unbroken, fear Him not. Cp. Psalms 10:4-6; Psalms 73:4 ff. The truth is a general one, but the Psalmist is thinking particularly of his own enemies. The P.B.V., for they will not turn, nor fear God, takes changesin the sense of change of mind, repentance, an interpretation adopted by some critics, but not justified by usage. The text is not free from difficulty, but the explanation given above is sufficiently probable to make it unnecessary to assume a further corruption or displacement of the text.

Selahin the middle of a sentence is quite inexplicable, and must be misplaced, as it seems to be in Psalms 55:7.