John Gill Commentary Psalms 55:9

"Destroy, O Lord, [and] divide their tongue; For I have seen violence and strife in the city." — Psalms 55:9 (ASV)

Destroy, O Lord
Or "swallow up" ^F19 , as Pharaoh and his host were swallowed up in the Red sea; or as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were swallowed up in the earth; so all the enemies of Christ and his church will be destroyed; and death, the last of them, will be swallowed up in victory, (Isaiah 25:8) . The Targum interprets it, "destroy", or "scatter their counsel": but this seems to be intended in the next clause;

[and] divide their tongues :
as at the confusion of languages at Babel, to which the allusion is: this had its accomplishment in Absalom's counsellors according to David's wish, (2 Samuel 15:31) (17:14) ; and in the Jewish sanhedrim in Christ's time, and in the witnesses they produced against him, (Luke 23:51) (Mark 14:59) ; and of which there is an instance in the council of the Jews, held on account of the Apostle Paul, (Acts 23:7) ;

for I have seen violence and strife in the city :
in the city of Jerusalem, now left by David, and possessed by Absalom, by whom "violence" was done to David's wives, through the advice of Ahithophel; and "strife", contention, and rebellion, were fomented among the people: this David saw, understood, and perceived, by the intelligence brought him from time to time: and in the times of Christ the kingdom of heaven suffered "violence" in this place, and he endured the "contradiction" of sinners against himself.

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (elb) "degluti", Montanus, Tigurine version; "absorbe", Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.