Fathers

Psalms 7

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Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver. Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary), let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment. Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high. Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me. Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God. My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day. If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow. He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows. Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood. He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made. The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head. I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 7:6

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger" (ver. 6). Why yet does he, who we say is perfect, incite God to anger? Must we not see, whether he rather be not perfect, who, when he was being stoned, said, "O Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"? Or does the Psalmist pray thus not against men, but against the devil and his angels, whose possession sinners and the ungodly are? …

Exposition on Psalm 7 ↗

Jerome

'Arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded, and a congregation of peoples shall surround thee.' This we say, this believing we speak. For the persons are always changing in the psalms. It would be a great matter now, if we wished to say in the psalms into how many and how great persons they change. 'Arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded.' This we say: For us thou hast suffered, for us thou hast been crucified; arise and save us. …

Homily 3, on Psalm 7 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Above he set forth a prayer for himself, asking to be delivered and saved; here he petitions against the enemies. Here he does two things. First, he asks for their punishment. Second, the fruit of their punishment, at "and be exalted." Let us first read the text according to history, as it could have applied to David. "Arise" is said to two kinds of people: to one who sleeps and to one who lies down. Now God, when he does not punish sins, seems to sleep, as though he did not have the vigilance of prudence: Ps. 43: "Arise! …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗