Psalm 7    

“he tears.” The Hebrew text shifts from plural to singular, which is common in Hebrew idiom.

“lay my glory in the dust.” That is, bring the person to a state of poverty, humiliation, degradation, and shame (see commentary on Isa. 52:2).

“hearts.” In the Bible, the “heart” generally refers to a person’s thought life, not their emotional life.

“kidneys.” The Word of God points to the fact that our kidneys, bowels, and belly (or womb) are part of our mental/emotional life, not “just physical organs.” Our “gut,” including our intestines, bowels, kidneys, and stomach contain as many nerve cells as our brain, and studies are now showing that our “gut” contributes significantly to our emotional life and health.

[For more on the heart referring to the thought life, see commentary on Proverbs 15:21. For more on kidneys referring to the emotional life, see commentary on Revelation 2:23, “kidneys.”]

“is borne by God.” The Hebrew is more literally, “is upon God,” but the meaning is that God is carrying the believer’s shield so it is God who ultimately protects the believer.

“and he is a God who has indignation every day.” Wicked and disobedient people fill the earth, and God is angry about that. The wicked need to know that their thoughts and actions are being noticed and have consequences, the most severe of which will be on Judgment Day.

“the unrepentant person.” The Hebrew text simply reads “he,” but that is so jarring in the context that many versions nuance the text to make the English easier to read and understand (cp. CJB; HCSB; ESV; NLT; cp. NET; NIV2011). However, the reader should be aware that the Bible has many such places where the subject changes abruptly and without an easy transition. The unrepentant person is being referenced from Psalm 7:12.

“digs.” The verbs in this verse are past tense, “has dug…has hollowed…has fallen,” but the past tense is often used for emphasis—what will happen—rather than to accurately represent time, which explains why many English versions do not use the past tense in this verse (cp. CJB; ESV; NAB; NET; NIV; NLT; NRSV). In this case, the point is that that person who does evil by digging a pit (physically or metaphorically) to trap others will himself be trapped.

“he falls into the pit that he made.” It is a consistent theme through Scripture that evil people bring evil upon themselves (see commentary on Prov. 1:18).

“The trouble he causes will return to his own head.” It is stated many times in the Bible that people who cause trouble for others will end up caught up in their own trouble; evildoers will be caught up in evil (see commentary on Prov. 1:18).