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1 O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: 2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 3 O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; 4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) 5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. 6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. 7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high. 8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. 9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. 10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. 11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
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[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 7:1
While my son trusts in numbers, weapons, horses and above all the audacity and frenzy of those with him, I hope in you alone, who are capable of saving me not only from him but also from all those conspiring with him against me.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 7
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Psalms 7:1-17
That same adversary, Absalom, as if he has been born again from ourselves, prepares the war against us. Our sound judgment concerning the matter, or rather our alliance with God, turns him who is bloodthirsty against us back. For because he attributes the cause of the good things that have been accomplished for him through “the words of Cush” to God, he composes this thanksgiving.… It would be worthwhile to apply the figures of the story to the virtuous life, how the advice that saves us becomes the strangling of the adversary; and this saving advice has been recorded, on the one hand, in the history, and on the other, in the psalm.

Source: INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2:11.148-49
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Psalms 7:1
David wrote the psalm, offering songs of thanksgiving to God.… Not in Hushai, nor in human wisdom, nor in that man’s shrewdness nor in my advice but “in you have I hoped.” Let us therefore act likewise: even if some achievement comes to us through human beings, let us give thanks for them to God, both for the benefits that fall to us through our own means as well as through others.… See the wonderful frame of mind with which he speaks, which was customary with him. He did not say, note, “O Lord God,” but “O Lord my God”; and elsewhere, “O God, my God, I look for you at break of day.” … This is the way God acts with righteous people, and being God of everyone equally he says he belongs to righteous people individually. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:1-2
"O Lord my God, in You have I hoped: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me" [Psalm 7:1]. As one to whom, already perfected, all the war and enmity of vice being overcome, there remains no enemy but the envious devil, he says, "Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me [Psalm 7:2]: lest at any time he tear my soul as a lion." The Apostle says, "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." [1 Peter 5:8] Therefore when the Psalmist said in the plural number, "Save me from all them that persecute me:" he afterwards introduced the singular, saying, "lest at any time he tear my soul as a lion." For he does not say, lest at any time they tear: he knew what enemy and violent adversary of the perfect soul remained. "Whilst there be none to redeem, nor to save:" that is, lest he tear me, while Thou redeemest not, nor savest. For, if God redeem not, nor save, he tears.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on Psalms 7:2
Who is that one except he who says, “There is no one who can save except me,” the one who has come to seek and to save that which has been lost13 and to give his soul as a ransom for many? These things show that God the Father saves through God the Son. Through this the deity of the Father and the Son must not be distinguished by the words above and must not be seen as different from one another.

Source: FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 7:2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Psalms 7:2
For proof that the devil is called a lion in Scripture, listen to it saying, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a lion roaring and looking for someone to devour.” And this inspired author himself says elsewhere, “You will tread on the lion and the serpent.” This beast is wily, you see; but if we are on the alert, this lion and serpent will be less than dirt in importance, neither will it mount an assault against us directly, but if it does mount an assault, it will be trodden on. “Walk on snakes and scorpions,” Scripture says, remember. He goes around in an awful rage, in fact, like a lion; but if he attacks those who have Christ, and his cross on their forehead, and the fire of the Spirit and the lamp that is never spent, he will not succeed even in looking them in the eye but will turn tail, not daring even to face about. And for you to learn that the words are not froth and bubble, consider, pray, the example of Paul. I mean, he too was human, but this lion had a such a healthy respect for him as to shun his garments and his shadow. Rightly so: he could not bear the fragrance of Christ emanating and ascending from him and had not the strength to raise his eyes to the lamp of his virtue.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:3
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Psalms 7:2
To be sure, he had assembled an army and had a large number with him; so why does he say, “with no one to ransom or save me”? Because he considers not even the whole world as help should he not enjoy influence from on high, nor does he think of it as solitude if he is alone, as long as he shares in help from God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:3
[AD 9999] Pseudo-Athanasius on Psalms 7:2
Cush is the one who went to Abasalom in the guise of a traitor, and brought to naught the counsel of Ahithophel and saved David from death. When David learned of these things, he knew that his Savior was not a man but God.

Source: EXPOSITION ON PSALM 7
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Psalms 7:3
This must everywhere be our concern, not simply to pray but to pray in such a way as to be heard. It is not sufficient that prayer effects what is intended, unless we so direct it as to appeal to God. For the Pharisee too prayed and achieved nothing, and again the Jews prayed but God turned away from them in their prayer. They did not pray, you see, as they should have prayed. Hence we were bidden to pray the prayer most likely to be heard.… Being heard happens in this fashion: first, of course, worthiness to receive something; then, praying in accordance with God’s laws; third, persistence; fourth, asking nothing earthly; fifth, seeking things to our real benefit; sixth, contributing everything of our own.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:3-4
And that it might be clear that the already perfect soul, which is to be on her guard against the most insidious snares of the devil only, says this, see what follows. "O Lord my God, if I have done this" [Psalm 7:3]. What is it that he calls "this"? Since he does not mention the sin by name, are we to understand sin generally? If this sense displease us, we may take that to be meant which follows: as if we had asked, what is this that you say, "this"? He answers, "If there be iniquity in my hands." Now then it is clear that it is said of all sin, "If I have repaid them that recompense me evil" [Psalm 7:4]. Which none can say with truth, but the perfect. For so the Lord says, "Be perfect, as your Father which is in heaven; who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains on the just and the unjust." [Matthew 5:43, 45] He then who repays not them that recompense evil, is perfect. When therefore the perfect soul prays "for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini," that is, for the knowledge of that secret and silence, which the Lord, favourable to us and merciful, wrought for our salvation, so as to endure, and with all patience bear, the guiles of this betrayer: as if He should say to this perfect soul, explaining the design of this secret, For you ungodly and a sinner, that your iniquities might be washed away by My blood-shedding, in great silence and great patience I bore with My betrayer; will you not imitate me, that you too may not repay evil for evil? Considering then, and understanding what the Lord has done for him, and by His example going on to perfection, the Psalmist says, "If I have repaid them that recompense me evil:" that is, if I have not done what You have taught me by Your example: "may I therefore fall by mine enemies empty." And he says well, not, If I have repaid them that do me evil; but, who "recompense." For who so recompenses, had received somewhat already. Now it is an instance of greater patience, not even to repay him evil, who after receiving benefits returns evil for good, than if without receiving any previous benefit he had had a mind to injure. If therefore he says, "I have repaid them that recompense me evil:" that is, If I have not imitated You in that silence, that is, in Your patience, which You have wrought for me, "may I fall by mine enemies empty." For he is an empty boaster, who, being himself a man, desires to avenge himself on a man; and while he openly seeks to overcome a man, is secretly himself overcome by the devil, rendered empty by vain and proud joy, because he could not, as it were, be conquered. The Psalmist knows then where a greater victory may be obtained, and where "the Father which sees in secret will reward." [Matthew 6:6] Lest then he repay them that recompense evil, he overcomes his anger rather than another man, being instructed too by those writings, wherein it is written, "Better is he that overcomes his anger, than he that takes a city." [Proverbs 16:32] "If I have repaid them that recompense me evil, may I therefore fall by my enemies empty." He seems to swear by way of execration, which is the heaviest kind of oath, as when one says, If I have done so and so, may I suffer so and so. But swearing in a swearer's mouth is one thing, in a prophet's meaning another. For here he mentions what will really befall men who repay them that recompense evil; not what, as by an oath, he would imprecate on himself or any other.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:5
The soul of the one who is just, severing itself from affection for the body, has its life hidden with Christ in God, so that it can say like the apostle: “It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live in faith.” But the soul of the sinner and of one who lives according to the flesh and is defiled by the pleasures of the body is wrapped up in the passions of the flesh as in mud; and the enemy, trampling on this soul, strives to pollute it still more and, as it were, to bury it, treading on him who has fallen, and with his feet trampling him into the ground.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:3 (PS 7)
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:5
"Let the enemy" therefore "persecute my soul and take it" [Psalm 7:5]. By again naming the enemy in the singular number, he more and more clearly points out him whom he spoke of above as a lion. For he persecutes the soul, and if he has deceived it, will take it. For the limit of men's rage is the destruction of the body; but the soul, after this visible death, they cannot keep in their power: whereas whatever souls the devil shall have taken by his persecutions, he will keep. "And let him tread my life upon the earth:" that is, by treading let him make my life earth, that is to say, his food. For he is not only called a lion, but a serpent too, to whom it was said, "Earth shall you eat." [Genesis 3:14] And to the sinner was it said, "Earth you are, and into earth shall you go." [Genesis 3:19] "And let him bring down my glory to the dust." This is that dust which "the wind casts forth from the face of the earth," to wit, vain and silly boasting of the proud, puffed up, not of solid weight, as a cloud of dust carried away by the wind. Justly then has he here spoken of the glory, which he would not have brought down to dust. For he would have it solidly established in conscience before God, where there is no boasting. "He that glories," says the Apostle, "let him glory in the Lord." [1 Corinthians 1:31] This solidity is brought down to the dust if one through pride despising the secrecy of conscience, where God only proves a man, desires to glory before men. Hence comes what the Psalmist elsewhere says, "God shall bruise the bones of them that please men." Now he that has well learned or experienced the steps in overcoming vices, knows that this vice of empty glory is either alone, or more than all, to be shunned by the perfect. For that by which the soul first fell, she overcomes the last. "For the beginning of all sin is pride:" and again, "The beginning of man's pride is to depart from God."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Psalms 7:6
The mass of adversaries cannot otherwise be destroyed, if the Lord has not risen on our behalf, and death must by all means precede the resurrection. He, then, who has revealed the resurrection of the Lord has, at the same time, shown that which is bound up together with the resurrection, I mean, of course, the mystery related to the passion. For this reason, having been inspired by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he says, “Rise up, O Lord, in your anger; be exalted in the ends of my enemies.” By “anger” he indicates the retributive power of the just judge, and by the rest he indicates the destruction of evil. For that which is perceived as contrary to the good, being only hostile by nature, is the evil whose end is destruction and a passing over into nonexistence. He, then, who said, “Be exalted in the ends of my enemies,” predicts, through the evil of his enemies “being brought to an end,” that the course to evil no longer remains in [his] life.

Source: ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2:10.125-26
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on Psalms 7:6
So, it is spoken: He asks that God on high appear at the borders of his enemies. Then, he says, their iniquities that make them my enemies will end. Perhaps the boundaries of the enemies refer to the “pride” in which they have rejoiced. They think they are going to dwell with stability in the furthermost boundaries.

Source: FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 7:6
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 7:6
Arise, in order that a vast multitude may believe in you, for after you have risen, what else would we pray for? Return to the Father. “Above them on high be enthroned.” For whose sake? For the assembly of the peoples. In that you suffered, you suffered for us; in that you rose again, you rose for us; in that you ascended to the Father, ascend for us. “Above them on high be enthroned.” “And no one has ascended into heaven except him who has descended from heaven: the Son of man who is in heaven.”

Source: HOMILY ON PSALM 7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:6
"Arise, O Lord, in Your anger" [Psalm 7:6]. Why yet does he, who we say is perfect, incite God to anger? Must we not see, whether he rather be not perfect, who, when he was being stoned, said, "O Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"? [Acts 7:60] Or does the Psalmist pray thus not against men, but against the devil and his angels, whose possession sinners and the ungodly are? He then does not pray against him in wrath, but in mercy, whosoever prays that that possession may be taken from him by that Lord "who justifies the ungodly." [Romans 4:5] For when the ungodly is justified, from ungodly he is made just, and from being the possession of the devil he passes into the temple of God. And since it is a punishment that a possession, in which one longs to have rule, should be taken away from him: this punishment, that he should cease to possess those whom he now possesses, the Psalmist calls the anger of God against the devil. "Arise, O Lord; in Your anger." "Arise" (he has used it as "appear"), in words, that is, human and obscure; as though God sleeps, when He is unrecognised and hidden in His secret workings. "Be exalted in the borders of mine enemies." He means by borders the possession itself, in which he wishes that God should be exalted, that is, be honoured and glorified, rather than the devil, while the ungodly are justified and praise God. "And arise, O Lord my God, in the commandment that You have given:" that is, since You have enjoined humility, appear in humility; and first fulfil what You have enjoined; that men by Your example overcoming pride may not be possessed of the devil, who against Your commandments advised to pride, saying, "Eat, and your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods." [Genesis 3:5]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms 7:7
“A great crowd of people will surround you” when you [Lord Jesus] root out your enemies, when the lie of the demons is destroyed, when the assembly of the elect is established and when it becomes the one who calls the nations. Then you, placed in the midst of it as if in a chorus, will bring a hymn to that church worthy of your Father, and so by you, O Lord, it is spoken: “I will tell your name to my brothers; I will praise you in the midst of the church.” David prophesies all these things through the Holy Spirit, indicating a theophany of the Savior, things that are not to be passed over as for himself alone but for every race of humankind.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 7:7-8
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:7
“And a congregation of people shall surround you.” It is evident that if one unjust person is chastened, many will be converted. Punish, therefore, the wickedness of this person, in order that a great congregation of people may surround you.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:4 (PS 7)
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:8
These words seem to contain some boastfulness and to be very much like the prayer of the Pharisee who was exalting himself, but, if one considers them reasonably, the prophet will be seen to be far from such a disposition.… “According to my justice” [means] according to that attainable by people and possible for those living in the flesh. “And according to my innocence,” [in this] he names his innocence as if it were simplicity and ignorance of things useful to know according to the saying in the Proverbs: “The innocent believes every word.” Since, therefore, we people through ignorance fall unguardedly into many sins, he entreats God and asks to meet with pardon because of his innocence. From this it is evident that these words show the humility of the speaker rather than arrogance.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:6 (PS 7)
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on Psalms 7:8
There is an important difference between human righteousness and that of God; the Psalmist wishes to be judged according to the righteousness of the Lord, knowing for sure that this will mean salvation for him.

Source: FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 7:9
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 7:8
In these words the divine David has not left a testimony to his own righteousness: we hear him protesting the opposite, “because I acknowledge my lawlessness, and my sin is always before me”; and, “I said, ‘I shall declare my lawlessness against myself to the Lord,’ ” but he calls it justice in the matter before us. I committed no wrong, in fact, he is saying, against Absalom, or Ahithophel or those arrayed in battle with them against me. So I beg to be judged in the light of this righteousness and innocence and not in the light of the faults previously committed by me. I ask for judgment on these current grounds and not for a payment of penalty at this time for other sins.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:5
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:9
"But let the wickedness of sinners be consummated" [Psalm 7:9]. He says, "be consummated," be completed, according to that in the Apocalypse, "Let the righteous become more righteous, and let the filthy be filthy still." [Revelation 22:11] For the wickedness of those men appears consummate, who crucified the Son of God; but greater is theirs who will not live uprightly, and hate the precepts of truth, for whom the Son of God was crucified. "Let the wickedness of sinners," then he says, "be consummated," that is, arrive at the height of wickedness, that just judgment may be able to come at once. But since it is not only said, "Let the filthy be filthy still;" but it is said also, "Let the righteous become more righteous;" he joins on the words, "And You shall direct the righteous, O God, who searches the hearts and reins." How then can the righteous be directed but in secret? When even by means of those things which, in the commencement of the Christian ages, when as yet the saints were oppressed by the persecution of the men of this world, appeared marvellous to men, now that the Christian name has begun to be in such high dignity, hypocrisy, that is pretence, has increased; of those, I mean, who by the Christian profession had rather please men than God. How then is the righteous man directed in so great confusion of pretence, save while God searches the hearts and reins; seeing all men's thoughts, which are meant by the word heart; and their delights, which are understood by the word reins? For the delight in things temporal and earthly is rightly ascribed to the reins; for that it is both the lower part of man, and that region where the pleasure of carnal generation dwells, through which man's nature is transferred into this life of care, and deceiving joy, by the succession of the race. God then, searching our heart, and perceiving that it is there where our treasure is, that is, in heaven; searching also the reins, and perceiving that we do not assent to flesh and blood, but delight ourselves in the Lord, directs the righteous man in his inward conscience before Him, where no man sees, but He alone who perceives what each man thinks, and what delights each. For delight is the end of care; because to this end does each man strive by care and thought, that he may attain to his delight. He therefore sees our cares, who searches the heart. He sees too the ends of cares, that is delights, who narrowly searches the reins; that when He shall find that our cares incline neither to the lust of the flesh, nor to the lust of the eyes, nor to the pride of life, [1 John 2:16] all which pass away as a shadow, but that they are raised upward to the joys of things eternal, which are spoilt by no change, He may direct the righteous, even He, the God who searches the hearts and reins. For our works, which we do in deeds and words, may be known unto men; but with what mind they are done, and to what end we would attain by means of them, He alone knows, the God who searches the hearts and reins.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:10
My help is not from wealth or from corporal resources or from my own power and strength nor from human ties of kinship, but “my help is from God.” What assistance the Lord sends to those who fear him, we have learned elsewhere in a psalm that says, “The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him and shall deliver them.” And in another place: “The angel who has delivered me.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:7 (PS 7)
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:10
"My righteous help is from the Lord, who makes whole the upright in heart" [Psalm 7:10]. The offices of medicine are twofold, on the curing infirmity, the other the preserving health. According to the first it was said in the preceding Psalm, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;" according to the second it is said in this Psalm, "If there be iniquity in my hands, if I have repaid them that recompense me evil, may I therefore fall by my enemies empty." For there the weak prays that he may be delivered, here one already whole that he may not change for the worse. According to the one it is there said, "Make me whole for Your mercy's sake;" according to this other it is here said, "Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness." For there he asks for a remedy to escape from disease; but here for protection from falling into disease. According to the former it is said, "Make me whole, O Lord, according to Your mercy:" according to the latter it is said, "My righteous help is from the Lord, who makes whole the upright in heart." Both the one and the other makes men whole; but the former removes them from sickness into health, the latter preserves them in this health. Therefore there the help is merciful, because the sinner has no desert, who as yet longs to be justified, "believing on Him who justifies the ungodly;" [Romans 4:5] but here the help is righteous, because it is given to one already righteous. Let the sinner then who said, "I am weak," say in the first place, "Make me whole, O Lord, for Your mercy's sake;" and here let the righteous man, who said, "If I have repaid them that recompense me evil," say, "My righteous help is from the Lord, who makes whole the upright in heart." For if he sets forth the medicine, by which we may be healed when weak, how much more that by which we may be kept in health. For if "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, how much more being now justified shall we be kept whole from wrath through Him." [Romans 5:8-9]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:10
Medicine has two functions, one whereby infirmity is cured, the other whereby good health is maintained.… In the former case it is said, “Save me, Lord, because of your mercy.” In the latter case, “my righteous help is from the Lord, who saves the upright in heart.” Both in fact save us, but while the former effects the transition from sickness to health, the latter upholds us in that state of good health. Therefore in the former case the assistance is merciful, because the sinner has no merit of his own but still longs to be justified by believing in the one who justifies the ungodly. In the latter case, the assistance is just, because it is given to one who is already righteous. Therefore, the sinner who confessed, “I am weak,” was right to say there, “Save me, Lord, because of your mercy,” and the just person who said previously, “If I have repaid those who paid me back with evil,” can say now, “My righteous help is from the Lord who saves the upright in heart.” For if God dispenses the medicine by which in our weakness we are healed, how much more should he provide the means by which we are preserved once we are well? If Christ died for us when we were still sinners, how much more, now that we are justified, shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him?

Source: EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 7:10
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms 7:11
God alone is the just Judge, he alone is the one who sees hearts. He gives to each one according to his works. Truly, “man looks at the outward appearance,” but the Lord is a judge of thoughts and the feelings of the spirit. There is no judgment hidden from him.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 7:10, 11
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:11
Do not be so poorly disposed toward God as to think that he is too weak to avenge, for he is also strong. What reason is there, then, that swift vengeance is not inflicted on the sinner? Because he is patient, “he is not angry every day.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:7 (PS 7)
[AD 390] Diodorus of Tarsus on Psalms 7:11
If long-suffering were not associated with his justice, there would have been nothing to stop him punishing day in day out, since sinners always provide grounds for just punishment. Sinners, however, should not for this reason be disposed to indifference: those of right mind rightly respect long-suffering as a threat and take delay in wrath as an aggravation of punishment; this should also be the attitude of those on whom the imposition of judgment does not fall promptly.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:11
"God the righteous judge, strong (in endurance) and long-suffering" [Psalm 7:11]. What God is judge, but the Lord, who judges the people? He is righteous; who "shall render to every man according to his works." [Matthew 16:27] He is strong (in endurance); who, being most powerful, for our salvation bore even with ungodly persecutors. He is long-suffering; who did not immediately, after His resurrection, hurry away to punishment, even those that persecuted Him, but bore with them, that they might at length turn from that ungodliness to salvation: and still He bears with them, reserving the last penalty for the last judgment, and up to this present time inviting sinners to repentance. "Not bringing in anger every day." Perhaps "bringing in anger" is a more significant expression than being angry (and so we find it in the Greek copies); that the anger, whereby He punishes, should not be in Him, but in the minds of those ministers who obey the commandments of truth through whom orders are given even to the lower ministries, who are called angels of wrath, to punish sin: whom even now the punishment of men delights not for justice' sake, in which they have no pleasure, but for malice' sake. God then does not "bring in anger every day," that is, He does not collect His ministers for vengeance every day. For now the patience of God invites to repentance: but in the last time, when men "through their hardness and impenitent heart shall have treasured up for themselves anger in the day of anger, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, [Romans 2:5] then He will brandish His sword."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 7:11
“God is a righteous judge, … who does not give free rein to his wrath every day.” Instead, he also shows lovingkindness, by which he bears people’s faults for a longer time. For whenever he sees people not reaping profit from it, he gives them further opportunity with the addition of threats, putting the punishments off; but if they scorn the opportunity and persist in sinning, he immediately brings on their ruin in keeping with justice.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:6
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:12-13
Just as men who are polishing up their arms indicate by this action the attack in war, so Scripture, wishing to bespeak a movement of God toward vengeance, says that he polishes his sword. “He has bent his bow.” … There is no bowstring that stretches the bow of God, but a punitive power, now strained tight, again loosened. Scripture threatens the sinner that future punishments are prepared for him, if he remains in his sin.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:7 (PS 7)
[AD 399] Evagrius Ponticus on Psalms 7:12-13
The ones who are burning are those who have received the flaming arrows of the devil.

Source: NOTES ON THE PSALMS 7:14
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 7:12-13
Many maintain that these words of the psalm refer to the devil; they mean, unless you will have been converted, unless you will have repented, you will be in the power of the devil. “He will bend and aim his bow.” The devil always has his bow ready, and he is ever alert to shoot his arrows and strike us down.… They whose hearts are burning with lust and passion are the very ones whom the devil conquers.… The psalm did not say for those who are about to burn—that is, about to burn from his arrows. The hearts of those he sees already burning, no matter whose they are, are his target.

Source: HOMILY ON PSALM 7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:12
"Unless ye be converted," He says, "He will brandish His sword" [Psalm 7:12]. The Lord Man Himself may be taken to be God's double-edged sword, that is, His spear, which at His first coming He will not brandish, but hides as it were in the sheath of humiliation: but He will brandish it, when at the second coming to judge the quick and dead, in the manifest splendour of His glory, He shall flash light on His righteous ones, and terror on the ungodly. For in other copies, instead of, "He shall brandish His sword," it has been written, "He shall make bright His spear:" by which word I think the last coming of the Lord's glory most appropriately signified: seeing that is understood of His person, which another Psalm has, "Deliver, O Lord, my soul from the ungodly, Your spear from the enemies of Your hand. He has bent His bow, and made it ready." The tenses of the words must not be altogether overlooked, how he has spoken of "the sword" in the future, "He will brandish;" of "the bow" in the past, "He has bent:" and these words of the past tense follow after.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 7:12-13
These are not words of punishment, note, but of threat: he said wield, not inflict; bent his bow, not fired the arrow. And to teach us against whom he will fire the arrows, he immediately attached the words “he made his arrows into flaming shafts,” that is, those taking combustible material of sin, building with wood, hay and stubble, as the divine apostle says, will be struck with these fiery arrows.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:13
"And in it He has prepared the instruments of death: He has wrought His arrows for the burning" [Psalm 7:13]. That bow then I would readily take to be the Holy Scripture, in which by the strength of the New Testament, as by a sort of string, the hardness of the Old has been bent and subdued. From thence the Apostles are sent forth like arrows, or divine preachings are shot. Which arrows "He has wrought for the burning," arrows, that is, whereby being stricken they might be inflamed with heavenly love. For by what other arrows was she stricken, who says, "Bring me into the house of wine, place me among perfumes, crowd me among honey, for I have been wounded with love"? By what other arrows is he kindled, who, desirous of returning to God, and coming back from wandering, asks for help against crafty tongues, and to whom it is said, "What shall be given you, or what added to you against the crafty tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with devastating coals:" that is, coals, whereby, when you are stricken and set on fire, you may burn with so great love of the kingdom of heaven, as to despise the tongues of all that resist you, and would recall you from your purpose, and to deride their persecutions, saying, "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded," he says, "that neither death, nor life, nor angel, nor principality, nor things present, not things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Thus for the burning has He wrought His arrows. For in the Greek copies it is found thus, "He has wrought His arrows for the burning." But most of the Latin copies have "burning arrows." But whether the arrows themselves burn, or make others burn, which of course they cannot do unless they burn themselves, the sense is complete.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 7:15
We do not find the name of “pit” ever assigned in the divine Scriptures in the case of something good or a “well” of water in the case of something bad. As to the reason for the pits being assigned among the worse things and the wells among the better, we think it is this. The water in the pit is something acquired, having fallen from the sky; but in the wells, streams of water, buried before the places were dug out, are revealed when the heaps of earth covering them and the material of any sort whatsoever, lying on them, which is also all earth, have been removed. Now, it is as if there were a pit in souls in which the better things, changed and debased, fall down, when a person, having resolved to have nothing good and noble of his own, puts to flight the thoughts of the good and noble that have slipped into it, twisting them to evildoing and to contradictions of truth. And again, there are wells, when a light and a stream of water unimpaired in word and in doctrines break forth after the baser materials that had been covering it are removed. Therefore, it is necessary for each one to prepare a well for himself, in order that he may guard the command mentioned previously, which says, “Drink water out of your own cistern and the streams of your own well. Thus we shall be called the sons of those who have dug the wells, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But a pit must not be dug lest we fall into the hole, as it is said in this place, and so fail to hear the words written in Jeremiah in reproach of sinners, for, God says concerning them what we have briefly mentioned before: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:8 (PS 7)
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on Psalms 7:15
Truly, he sins first against himself, then he injures another; since sin is harmful and ruinous, foremost it harms and roughly handles the one sinning.… “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit”. In this saying it must be realized that teachers and students become blinded by foolishness and wantonness.

Source: FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 7:15
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:15
"He has opened a ditch, and dug it" [Psalm 7:15]. To open a ditch is, in earthly matters, that is, as it were in the earth, to prepare deceit, that another fall therein, whom the unrighteous man wishes to deceive. Now this ditch is opened when consent is given to the evil suggestion of earthly lusts: but it is dug when after consent we press on to actual work of deceit. But how can it be, that iniquity should rather hurt the righteous man against whom it proceeds, than the unrighteous heart whence it proceeds? Accordingly, the stealer of money, for instance, while he desires to inflict painful harm upon another, is himself maimed by the wound of avarice. Now who, even out of his right mind, sees not how great is the difference between these men, when one suffers the loss of money, the other of innocence? "He will fall" then "into the pit which he has made." As it is said in another Psalm, "The Lord is known in executing judgments; the sinner is caught in the works of his own hands."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms 7:16
These words seem to me to have been fulfilled literally in Ahithophel. At the time of the uprising of Cush, he was a man harboring envy, branded by disgrace, falling out as the watchman, who used his skill to be able to see ahead and predict future events that the affairs of Absalom would fail. Before he himself could be substituted by the men of David, he removed himself, and, withdrawing from the household, he hanged himself with a noose. While he gathered the seeds of evil in his thinking and devised against David whatever he had conceived in his thoughts, he brought forth the same seeds for his own destruction.… These words express the general opinion that as anyone plans evil in his spirit against his neighbor and wishes to harm others and builds a pit for their ruin, he does these things against himself, and his trouble will return on his own head. Each one will cause his own sentence on the day of judgment by his own deeds and will receive the fruits of his own labors.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 7:15-17
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 7:16
Just as anyone who tosses a stone straight up into the air and is foolish enough not to move out of its way is struck on the head and wounded by his own stone, in the same way, the devil downs himself by his own arrogance; the pride that exalts him is the same pride that defeats him. “His mischief shall recoil on his own head.” All the devil wants is to hold his head up high, but he cannot. Why can he not? Because his “mischief shall recoil on his own head” and crush him down.

Source: HOMILY ON PSALM 7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:16
"His toil shall be turned on his head, and his iniquity shall descend on his pate" [Psalm 7:16]. For he had no mind to escape sin: but was brought under sin as a slave, so to say, as the Lord says, "Whosoever sins is a slave." [John 8:34] His iniquity then will be upon him, when he is subject to his iniquity; for he could not say to the Lord, what the innocent and upright say, "My glory, and the lifter up of my head." He then will be in such wise below, as that his iniquity may be above, and descend on him; for that it weighs him down and burdens him, and suffers him not to fly back to the rest of the saints. This occurs, when in an ill regulated man reason is a slave, and lust has dominion.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms 7:17
He has built traps for no one. He has dug a pit for no one. He has despised iniquity. Knowing the future destruction of the wicked at judgment, he said, “I will give thanks to the Lord according to his righteousness,” my righteous works having been brought forth at the tribunal; and “I will sing to the name of the Lord most high,” bound by the hope that I am going to be received into the choir of those who are going to follow after salvation through him, through his merit.

Source: COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 7:18
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 7:17
"I will confess to the Lord according to His justice" [Psalm 7:17]. This is not the sinner's confession: for he says this, who said above most truly, "If there be iniquity in my hands:" but it is a confession of God's justice, in which we speak thus, Verily, O Lord, You are just, in that You both so protect the just, that You enlighten them by Yourself; and so order sinners, that they be punished not by Your malice, but by their own. This confession so praises the Lord, that the blasphemies of the ungodly can avail nothing, who, willing to excuse their evil deeds, are unwilling to attribute to their own fault that they sin, that is, are unwilling to attribute their fault to their fault. Accordingly they find either fortune or fate to accuse, or the devil, to whom He who made us has willed that it should be in our power to refuse consent: or they bring in another nature, which is not of God: wretched waverers, and erring, rather than confessing to God, that He should pardon them. For it is not fit that any be pardoned, except he says, I have sinned. He, then, that sees the deserts of souls so ordered by God, that while each has his own given him, the fair beauty of the universe is in no part violated, in all things praises God: and this is not the confession of sinners, but of the righteous. For it is not the sinner's confession when the Lord says, "I confess to You, O Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise, and revealed them to babes." [Matthew 11:25] Likewise in Ecclesiasticus it is said, "Confess to the Lord in all His works: and in confession you shall say this, All the works of the Lord are exceeding good." Which can be seen in this Psalm, if any one with a pious mind, by the Lord's help, distinguish between the rewards of the righteous and the penalties of the sinners, how that in these two the whole creation, which God made and rules, is adorned with a beauty wondrous and known to few. Thus then he says, "I will confess to the Lord according to His justice," as one who saw that darkness was not made by God, but ordered nevertheless. For God said, "Let light be made, and light was made." [Genesis 1:3] He did not say, Let darkness be made, and darkness was made: and yet He ordered it. And therefore it is said, "God divided between the light, and the darkness: and God called the light day, and the darkness He called night." [Genesis 1:4-5] This is the distinction, He made the one and ordered it: but the other He made not, but yet He ordered this too. But now that sins are signified by darkness, so is it seen in the Prophet, who says, "And your darkness shall be as the noon day:" [Isaiah 58:10] and in the Apostle, who says, "He that hates his brother is in darkness:" [1 John 2:11] and above all that text, "Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." [Romans 13:12] Not that there is any nature of darkness. For all nature, in so far as it is nature, is compelled to be. Now being belongs to light: not being to darkness. He then that leaves Him by whom he was made, and inclines to that whence he was made, that is, to nothing, is in this sin endarkened: and yet he does not utterly perish, but he is ordered among the lowest things. Therefore after the Psalmist said, "I will confess unto the Lord:" that we might not understand it of confession of sins, he adds lastly, "And I will sing to the name of the Lord most high." Now singing has relation to joy, but repentance of sins to sadness.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 7