Psalm 64:1-2

New Catholic Bible

Footnotes

1. Psalm 64:1 The psalmist shows that the righteous are often defenseless before the cynicism of the machinations and calumnies to which they are prey. Those who weave their intrigues act in shadows and believe they are hidden from view. However, God sees everything, even secret human actions and designs. His judgment overtakes those who evade justice. Basing himself on the law of talion (“an eye for an eye”), the author imagines that, even here below, God will turn their evil against the wicked while publicly acquitting the righteous. Each life will be brought before the judgment of God; the righteous will find their joy in the Lord. Such is the lesson of the psalm, even though the ways of God follow a more mysterious course than its author yet suspected.
   This psalm was applied to the Passion of Jesus by St. Augustine. It also finds a ready place in the prayer of the Church and the faithful who experience the physical and spiritual attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil as we await the coming of Christ to dispense true justice (see Rev 19:1f).
2. Psalm 64:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation.