Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 52:5

"God will likewise destroy thee for ever; He will take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent, And root thee out of the land of the living. Selah" — Psalms 52:5 (ASV)

God shall likewise destroy thee for ever - Margin, “beat thee down.” The Hebrew word means “to tear, to break down, to destroy” (Leviticus 14:45; Judges 6:30). The reference here is not to the “tongue” alluded to in the previous verses, but to Doeg himself.

The language in the verse is intensive and emphatic. The main idea is presented in a variety of forms, all designed to denote utter and absolute destruction—a complete and entire sweeping away, so that nothing should be left.

The word used here would suggest the idea of “pulling down”—as one pulls down a house, a fence, or a wall; that is, the idea of completely “demolishing” it. The meaning is that destruction would come upon the informer and slanderer like the destruction that comes upon a house, wall, or fence when it is entirely pulled down.

He shall take thee away - This is an expression indicating in another form that he would be certainly destroyed. The verb used here—חתה châthâh—is elsewhere used only in the sense of taking up and carrying fire or coals (Isaiah 30:14; Proverbs 6:27; Proverbs 25:22). The idea here may be that he would be seized and carried away with haste, as when one takes up fire or coals, he does it as rapidly as possible, lest he should be burned.

And shall pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place - Literally, “out of the tent.” The reference is to his abode. The allusion here in the verb that is used—נסח nâsach—is to the act of pulling up plants. The idea is that he would be plucked up as a plant is torn from its roots.

And root thee out of the land of the living - As a tree is torn up from the roots and thus destroyed. He would be no more among the living. Compare Psalm 27:13. All these phrases are intended to denote that such a man would be utterly destroyed.