2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
2 You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.
2 Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
2 You scheme catastrophe; your tongue cuts razor-sharp, artisan in lies.
2 Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
2 All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you're an expert at telling lies.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;
10 Day and night spoiling for a fight, trash piled in the streets,
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.
10 Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders, but the real danger is wickedness within the city.
(Read Psalm 55:9-15)
No wickedness so distresses the believer, as that which he witnesses in those who profess to be of the church of God. Let us not be surprised at the corruptions and disorders of the church on earth, but long to see the New Jerusalem. He complains of one that had been very industrious against him. God often destroys the enemies of the church by dividing them. And an interest divided against itself cannot long stand. The true Christian must expect trials from professed friends, from those with whom he has been united; this will be very painful; but by looking unto Jesus we shall be enabled to bear it. Christ was betrayed by a companion, a disciple, an apostle, who resembled Ahithophel in his crimes and doom. Both were speedily overtaken by Divine vengeance. And this prayer is a prophecy of the utter, the everlasting ruin, of all who oppose and rebel against the Messiah.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 52:2
Commentary on Psalm 52:1-5
(Read Psalm 52:1-5)
Those that glory in sin, glory in their shame. The patience and forbearance of God are abused by sinners, to the hardening of their hearts in their wicked ways. But the enemies in vain boast in their mischief, while we have God's mercy to trust in. It will not save us from the guilt of lying, to be able to say, there was some truth in what we said, if we make it appear otherwise than it was. The more there is of craft and contrivance in any wickedness, the more there is of Satan in it. When good men die, they are transplanted from the land of the living on earth, to heaven, the garden of the Lord, where they shall take root for ever; but when wicked men die, they are rooted out, to perish for ever. The believer sees that God will destroy those who make not him their strength.