Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 7:2

"Lest they tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver." — Psalms 7:2 (ASV)

Lest he—Lest “Cush” should do this. See the title and the introduction to the psalm, Section 2.

Tear my soul like a lion—This means to tear or rend my “life”—that is, “me”—like a lion. The word rendered “soul” here—נפשׁ (nephesh)—refers, as it properly does elsewhere, to the “life,” and not to the soul as we use the term, denoting the thinking, immortal part.

The simple idea is that David was apprehensive of his “life,” and to indicate his great peril, he uses language derived from the fierceness of the lion. Such imagery would be well understood in a country where lions abounded. Nothing could more strikingly denote the danger David was in, or the fierceness of the enemy's wrath that he dreaded.

Rending it in pieces—This means rending me in pieces.

Or rather, perhaps, it means breaking or crushing the bones. For the word used—פרק (pâraq) (from our English word “break”)—means “to break” or “to crush.” This meaning would apply to the act of the lion crushing or breaking the bones of his victim as he devoured it.

While there is none to deliver—This denotes the complete destruction that he feared would come upon him. The figure is that of a solitary man seized by a powerful lion, with no one at hand to rescue him. So David felt that if God did not interfere, he would fall into the hands of this fierce and wrathful enemy.