John Calvin Commentary Psalms 7:9

"O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous: For the righteous God trieth the minds and hearts." — Psalms 7:9 (ASV)

Let the malice of the wicked come to an end, I implore you. David, in the first place, prays that God would restrain the malice of his enemies and bring it to an end; from which it follows that his affliction had been of long duration. Others suppose that this is rather a dreadful imprecation, and they explain the Hebrew word גמר, gamar, somewhat differently.

Instead of rendering it as to cease, and to come to an end, as I have done, they understand it as to make to cease, which is equivalent to destroy or to consume. Thus, according to them, David wishes that God would cause the mischief which the wicked devise to fall upon their own heads: Let the wickedness of the wicked consume them. But, in my opinion, the former interpretation is simpler, namely, that David asks God to bring his troubles to an end.

Accordingly, the corresponding prayer follows immediately after: Direct you the righteous, or establish him; for it is of little importance which of these two readings we adopt. The meaning is that God would re-establish and uphold the righteous, who are wrongfully oppressed, and thus make it evident that they are continued in their state by the power of God, notwithstanding the persecution to which they are subjected.—For God searches the hearts. The Hebrew copulative is very properly translated here by the causal particle for, since David, without doubt, adds this clause as an argument to enforce his prayer.

He now declares, for the third time, that, trusting to the testimony of a good conscience, he comes before God with confidence; but here he expresses something more than he had done before, namely, that he not only showed his innocence by his external conduct, but had also cultivated purity in the secret affection of his heart.

He seems to set this confidence in opposition to the insolence and boasting of his enemies, by whom, it is probable, such slanders had been circulated among the people concerning him, which constrained him in his deep affliction to present his heart and reins to be tried by God.

Perhaps, also, he speaks in this manner to strip them of all those plausible but false and deceitful pretenses they used to deceive people; if they succeeded in this, they were satisfied.

He shows that, although they might triumph before the world and receive the applause of the multitude, they nevertheless gained nothing, because they would eventually have to appear before the judgment seat of God. There, the question would not be about their titles or the splendor of their actions, but about the state of purity in their hearts.