Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 118:12

"They compassed me about like bees; They are quenched as the fire of thorns: In the name of Jehovah I will cut them off." — Psalms 118:12 (ASV)

Like bees.—The image of the “bees” may be derived from Deuteronomy 1:44 , but the Septuagint suggests that the poet employed an original and far more expressive image, for they read, “as bees surround the comb.” Possibly the word comb dropped out of the Hebrew text, because the copyist was thinking of Deuteronomy 1:44.

The fire of thorns.—See Psalm 58:9. The rapidity with which a fire made of thorns burns gives the point of the comparison. The Septuagint and Vulgate gave this more plainly by rendering, “they burnt out like a fire in thorns.” Shakespeare may have had this verse in his thought when he wrote:

“Shallow jesters and rash bavin (i.e., brushwood) wit,
Soon kindled and soon burnt.”
—King Henry IV.