Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 31:13

"For I have heard the defaming of many, Terror on every side: While they took counsel together against me, They devised to take away my life." — Psalms 31:13 (ASV)

For I have heard the slander of many - The reproach; the false accusations; the unjust aspersions. We are here more definitely informed about another of the sources of the trouble that came upon him. It was slander.

He had already referred to two sources of trouble: one (Psalms 31:11) that he was reproached by his friends and neighbors, and that his society was shunned by them; a second, that he was forgotten by those who ought to have remembered him, and that they treated him as though he were dead (Psalms 31:12). The third is referred to now; namely, that he was the subject of slander, or of false reports.

What the nature of those false charges was, we are not informed. But it is not necessary that we should know precisely what they were.

It is enough, in order to see the depth and aggravation of his trouble, to know that he was exposed to this; and that, to all that he had to endure from other sources, this was added - that his name was reproached and cast out as evil - that he was subjected to slander.

“Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds; and does belie
All corners of the world.”
Cymbeline, Act III, Scene IV.

Fear was on every side - From the causes already specified. He did not know whom to trust. He seemed to have no friend. He was afraid, therefore, of every one that he met.

While they took counsel together against me - See the notes at (Psalms 2:2). They entered into a conspiracy or combination.

They devised to take away my life - They devised measures, or they laid a plot, thus to kill me. These are the grounds of the earnest prayer which he urges in (Psalms 31:9): Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.