Psalm Chapter 64 - To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David

Psalm 64: The Arrow That Returns

Words, David tells us, can be weapons — and not the obvious kind. He is not afraid of swords here; he is afraid of tongues whetted like swords, of bitter words shot from secret places by men who have made a craft of slander. There is a particular cruelty in arrows you cannot see coming, and the wicked of this psalm are connoisseurs of the unseen wound. They congratulate themselves: "Who shall see them?" And then, with the suddenness of a closing trap, the psalm pivots: "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded." The hidden archers are themselves seen. And the most terrible turn of all: "they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves." The weapon comes home. There is, it turns out, a Witness who watches the secret counsel — and a justice that does not need to invent new arrows when the old ones come back on their own.

00:00 Hear My Voice, O God
00:15 Tongues Whetted Like Swords
00:30 Arrows Shot in Secret
00:45 Who Shall See Them?
01:00 But God Shall Shoot
01:15 Their Own Tongue Returns
01:30 The Righteous Shall Be Glad