“Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.”
The petition that God would confuse the enemies' schemes and divide their intentions articulates a shift in the psalm: from the desire to escape to the prayer that enemies be rendered ineffective. The imagery of confusing and dividing suggests that God would introduce discord among the enemies, turning them against one another so that their unified threat dissolves. The reference to violence and strife in the city indicates that the psalmist experiences the problem as rooted in the social order itself; the city is characterized by discord. This verse begins the movement from retreat to petition for divine judgment, establishing that destruction of enemies' plans is preferable to mere escape.
Church Fathers on Psalms 55:9
1. Of this Psalm the title is: “At the end, in hymns, understanding to David himself.” What the “end” is, we will briefly call to your recollection, because you have known it. “For the end of the Law is Christ, for righteousness unto every man believing.” Romans 10:4 Be the attention therefore directed unto the End, directed unto Christ. Wherefore is He called the end? Because whatever we do, to Him we refer it, and when to Him we shall have come home, more to ask we shall…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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