John Gill Commentary Psalms 17:10

"They are inclosed in their own fat: With their mouth they speak proudly." — Psalms 17:10 (ASV)

They are enclosed in their own fat
Or "their fat has enclosed them"; either their eyes, that they can hardly see out of them, or their hearts, so that they are stupid and senseless, and devoid of the fear of God;

the phrase is expressive of the multitude of their wealth and increase of power, by which they were swelled with pride and vanity, and neither feared God nor regarded man; so the Targum paraphrases it,``their riches are multiplied, their fat covers them;'' see (Deuteronomy 32:15) (Psalms 73:8Psalms 73:9) ;

some read it, "their fat shuts their mouths", so Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or "with their fat they shut them" ^F8 ; but the accent "athnach" will not admit of this reading; the last word belongs to the next clause;

---

with their mouth they speak proudly ;
against God and his people, belching out blasphemies against the one, and severe menaces and threatenings against the other.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: So De Dieu.