English · KJV

Psalm 27:2

“Confidence in God, Light and Salvation”Psalm 27:1–3
King James Version
When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
When the wicked H7489, even mine enemies H6862 and my foes H341, came H7126 upon me to eat up H398 my flesh H1320, they stumbled H3782 and fell H5307.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh, Even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
When the wicked, euen mine enemies and my foes came vpon mee to eate vp my flesh; they stumbled and fell.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
When evil doers come near to me to eat my flesh, My adversaries and mine enemies to me, They have stumbled and fallen.

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
12 Hebrew words
  1. בִּקְרֹבbik·Rowhen drew nearH7126Prep-b ¦ V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Constructבִּwhenקְרֹבdrew near
  2. עָלַי'a·Laion meH5921Prep ¦ 1csPreposition Definiteעָלַonיme
  3. מְרֵעִיםme·re·'Imevil-doersH7489V-Hiphil-Prtcpl-mpVerb Hiphil Participle Plural Masculine Absolute
  4. לֶאֱכֹלle·'e·Kholto devourH398Prep-l ¦ V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Constructלֶtoאֱכֹלdevour
  5. אֶת'et[obj.]H853DirObjMParticle Object Indicator
  6. בְּשָׂרִיbe·Sa·Rimy fleshH1320N-msc ¦ 1csNoun Singular Masculine Construct with suffixבְּשָׂרִfleshיmy
  7. צָרַיtza·Raimy opponentsH6862N-mpc ¦ 1csNoun Plural Masculine Construct with suffixצָרַopponentsיmy
  8. וְאֹיְבַיve·'o·ye·Vaiand my enemiesH341Conj-w ¦ V-Qal-Prtcpl-mp ¦ 1csVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Construct with suffixוְandאֹיְבַenemiesיmy
  9. לִיLito [the] mePrep-l ¦ 1csSuffix Personal 1st Singular common genderלִto [the]יme
  10. הֵמָּהHe·mahtheyH1992Pro-3mpPronoun Personal 3rd Plural Masculine
  11. כָשְׁלוּkha·she·Luthey stumbledH3782V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
  12. וְנָפָלוּve·na·Fa·luand they fellH5307Conj-w ¦ V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common genderוְandנָפָלוּthey fell
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

Translation
Details
In the KJVVerse 14,288 of 31,102 · 45.9%

Study this verse

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This verse

David remembers how evil men who came at him to destroy him completely stumbled and fell, and that past rescue grounds his confidence in God.

“When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,”

Three names for one group of attackers, stressing how many they were and how hostile.

“came upon me”

A direct attack that really happened, so David’s trust is grounded in experience.

“to eat up my flesh,”

A picture of enemies who wanted to destroy him entirely, his life and everything that was his.

“they stumbled and fell.”

They lost their footing before they could reach him. David gives the glory for it to the LORD of verse 1.

Fearless Because the LORD Is My Light

Psalm 27:1–3

Summary

Psalm 27 opens with David’s confession: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” God is the light that shows him the way, the one who rescues him, and the stronghold where his life is kept safe. With God in those three places, the two questions of verse 1 answer themselves. Verse 2 looks back on a time when evil men came at David to destroy him, and they stumbled and fell. Verse 3 looks ahead to the worst a man could face, an army camped against him and war breaking out, and David says his heart will stay unafraid and confident. These verses rest our courage on who the LORD is and on what he has already done.

The LORD is my light

The word for light, ʼôwr, is the ordinary word for illumination, the light of the day or of a lamp. David uses it of the LORD himself. In Scripture light is a picture of guidance, truth, favour and joy, while darkness pictures confusion, evil and distress. So when David calls the LORD “my light”, he means that God shows him the way when the way is dark, makes the truth plain to him, and lifts the gloom that danger brings with his favour.

God gives this light above all through his word. The psalmist says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). By his word the LORD guides our decisions and shows us what is true in a world full of confusion and deception. The same light exposes sin, brings conviction and leads us to repentance. Micah speaks with David’s confidence when he says, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me” (Micah 7:8).

The LORD is my salvation

The word for salvation, yeshaʻ, is a broad one. It covers deliverance, safety, liberty and prosperity, every kind of rescue God works for his people, whether from enemies, sickness or death. For David it very often meant rescue from real enemies and real danger, as when he prays, “Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone” (Psalm 3:7). The same saving power runs through Israel’s history, from the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) to the prophets’ promises of restoration. Isaiah joins salvation and fearlessness just as this verse does: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2).

Salvation also reaches deeper than the body. God rescues us from the power and penalty of sin and brings us into eternal life and peace with him, so he saves us from present danger and, in the end, from spiritual death. The name Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, means “the LORD saves”, and the angel gave it because “he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

The LORD is the strength of my life

The word behind “strength” is mâʻôwz, a stronghold, refuge or place of safety, and it is used of a person or of God as the one who gives that security. Its root means to be strong, which is why the KJV reads “strength”, and other places render the same word “fortress” or “defence”. “The strength of my life” is the stronghold of David’s life, the fortress where his life is kept safe. God holds his life secure, and that is why he can stand firm. Another psalm uses the same picture: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

Whom shall I fear?

Each half of verse 1 makes a confession about the LORD and then asks a question. The second half echoes the first and strengthens it, a common pattern in Hebrew poetry. The questions ask for no information. They are a bold way of declaring that when the LORD is our light, our salvation and our stronghold, there is none left to dread, whether human or demonic.

David uses two different verbs. “Whom shall I fear?” is yârêʼ, to fear, to be afraid or to dread, the word that can also mean reverence and awe, and here means dread of danger. “Of whom shall I be afraid?” is pâchad, to be startled by a sudden alarm, and so to be afraid. Between them they cover both the long dread and the sudden fright.

The same confidence sounds through Scripture. “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Psalm 118:6). God tells his people, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee” (Isaiah 41:10), and Paul asks, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Our security lies in the greatness of God, who is with us, and the size of the threat is measured against him.

The danger behind David’s confidence

The heading calls this “A Psalm of David”, and the occasion is unnamed. David’s life held many times of mortal danger, such as his flight from Saul (1 Samuel 19), his campaigns as a soldier and king, and the rebellion of his own son Absalom (2 Samuel 15). In a world where safety was always under threat from hostile nations and strife at home, David relied on the army he led, but above all on the LORD’s own protection.

These three verses open a psalm that moves from confidence (verses 1–3) to David’s longing to dwell in God’s house (Psalm 27:4), then to an earnest plea for help in distress (Psalm 27:7–14), and finally to renewed hope. Verses 1–6 together form the declaration of trust. Verse 1 is the foundation for everything that follows, all the way to David’s assurance that he will “see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13) and the closing call to “wait on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). David makes this confession with his eyes open, since the same psalm speaks of enemies coming to devour him and false witnesses rising against him (Psalm 27:12).

When the wicked came to eat up my flesh

Verse 2 gives the evidence for verse 1. David remembers a real attack, and his trust rests on what God has actually done. He piles up names for his attackers, “the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes”, to show how many they were and how hostile. “The wicked” translates a form of râʻaʻ, here those who do evil. The verb also covers being bad or displeasing and, in Strong’s account, being broken to pieces and so good for nothing. “Came upon me” describes a direct assault.

Does “eat up my flesh” mean they meant to eat him?

The phrase is a vivid picture of enemies set on destroying David completely. Bâsâr means flesh, and by extension the body, the person, or a frail mortal creature, so “to eat up my flesh” means to consume the man himself. Scripture uses the same kind of language elsewhere, of the workers of iniquity “who eat up my people as they eat bread” (Psalm 14:4), and of those who “devour widows’ houses” (Matthew 23:14). Such enemies want total ruin, and they may pursue it by the sword or by false accusation, which is why the same psalm speaks of false witnesses rising against him (Psalm 27:12). Nobody is being threatened with cannibalism here.

They stumbled and fell

The verb kâshal means to totter, waver, stumble or fall, the picture of someone losing his footing. The men who came to devour David lost their footing on the way and fell. David leaves the manner of their fall unstated, and the whole psalm gives the credit to the LORD, his light and his salvation. “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name” (Exodus 15:3), the song Israel sang after Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea (Exodus 14:27–28). “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect” (Psalm 33:10). David’s other psalms tell the same story, of God who smites his enemies (Psalm 3:7) and who prepares a table before him “in the presence of mine enemies” (Psalm 23:5).

Remembering what God has done is how David strengthens his trust for what lies ahead, and it is the bridge from verse 2 to verse 3.

Though an host should encamp against me

Verse 3 imagines the worst. A “host” is machăneh, a camp, the place where people live in tents for a time, and by extension the company or army camped there. “Encamp” is chânâh, to pitch a tent or camp. An army camped against a man was a near and direct threat, the step that often came before a siege or a battle. For David, a seasoned warrior and king, this was a picture drawn from life, and he had seen God deliver him before, from Goliath (1 Samuel 17) to the taking of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5).

The second half of the verse goes further. “War”, milchâmâh, is battle itself, and “rise”, qûwm, is the ordinary word for rising up, so the fighting has broken out against him. Each half of the verse pairs a threat with David’s answer, and the threat grows from an army camped to war in earnest while his confidence keeps pace with it.

“My heart” is lêb, the inner self, the seat of feeling, will and understanding. David speaks for the whole of his inner life when he says his heart will stay unafraid, and this is the same verb, yârêʼ, as “whom shall I fear?” in verse 1. He says the same thing of armies in another psalm: “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about” (Psalm 3:6).

What does “in this will I be confident” refer to?

“In this” (b’zot) points back to verse 1, to the LORD as David’s light, his salvation and the strength of his life. David’s confidence is in God himself, in his character, his protecting presence, his power and his faithfulness. The word for “confident”, bâṭach, means to trust, to lean on, to be secure and to feel safe. It is an active trust, the leaning of one’s whole weight on something sure, and so it is far more than an absence of fear.

Does this psalm promise that God’s people will escape trouble?

These verses promise God’s protection in the middle of trouble. David speaks of wicked men who really came upon him and of an army that might really camp against him, so the danger is real and he faces it with open eyes. The promise is that God will be present, that he will defeat the destructive plans of the enemy, and that evil will lose in the end. Paul says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Scripture shows this kind of steady trust in the face of danger. Jesus slept in the boat while the storm raged and then calmed it (Mark 4:38–39), and Paul in the shipwreck said, “I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me” (Acts 27:25). The peace David speaks of lives in the heart while the world around rages. It is “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and God promises, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). The sons of Korah sang the same: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed” (Psalm 46:1–3).

Christ our light, our salvation and our victory

Everything David confesses about the LORD in these verses we find in Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), our salvation from the eternal consequences of sin and death, who reconciled us to God by his death (Romans 5:10). He is the strength of our life, and Paul could say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). He has triumphed over every foe, sin, death and the devil, and he has promised, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

The enemies of verse 2 came upon Jesus too. Betrayal, false accusation and the cross were aimed at his complete destruction. When the band came to arrest him in the garden, at his word they “went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). At the cross his enemies fell in earnest, for there he spoiled principalities and powers and “made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). His resurrection took away death’s sting (1 Corinthians 15:55). Those who belong to him share his victory, and he promises that none can pluck his sheep out of his hand (John 10:28). At the end every knee will bow to him and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11).

Jesus also met the war of verse 3. In Gethsemane his heart was distressed, yet he trusted his Father: “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). On the cross, bearing the sin of the world, he cried, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46), taking up the words of Psalm 31:5. Because he has won, his people can face any host or war with David’s confidence. He told his disciples, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), and John writes, “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Making David’s confession our own

Verse 1 is a confession anyone who trusts the LORD can say aloud as their own. When the way ahead is dark, he is our light, and his word is a lamp for the next step. When we need rescue, he is our salvation, and in Christ that rescue reaches all the way to eternal life. When everything else gives way, he is the stronghold where our life is kept.

David also shows us how such confidence grows. He remembered the enemies who stumbled and fell, and that memory carried him into whatever might come next. You can look back on the times God has kept you and let them strengthen your trust for what lies ahead. The courage of these verses faces danger squarely, because it rests on the LORD, who is greater than any host that could camp against us.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Psalm 27:1–6. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 6 verses
Passage under commentPsalm 27:1–6
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details

We may observe here,

I.With what a lively faith David triumphs in God, glories in his holy name, and in the interest he had in him.

1. The Lord is my light. David's subjects called him the light of Israel, 2 Samuel 21:17. And he was indeed a burning and a shining light: but he owns that he shone, as the moon does, with a borrows light; what light God darted upon him reflected upon them: The Lord is my light. God is a light to his people, to show them the way when they are in doubt, to comfort and rejoice their hearts when they are in sorrow. It is in his light that they now walk on in their way, and in his light they hope to see light for ever. 2. "He is my salvation, in whom I am safe and by whom I shall be saved." 3. "He is the strength of my life, not only the protector of my exposed life, who keeps me from being slain, but the strength of my frail weak life, who keeps me from fainting, sinking, and dying away." God, who is a believer's light, is the strength of his life, not only by whom, but in whom, he lives and moves. In God therefore let us strengthen ourselves.

II.With what an undaunted courage he triumphs over his enemies; no fortitude like that of faith.

If God be for him, who can be against him? Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? If Omnipotence be his guard, he has no cause to fear; if he knows it to be so, he has no disposition to fear. If God be his light, he fears no shades; if God be his salvation, he fears no colours. He triumphs over his enemies that were already routed, Psalm 27:2. His enemies came upon him, to eat up his flesh, aiming at no less and assured of that, but they fell; not, "He smote them and they fell," but, "They stumbled and fell;" they were so confounded and weakened that they could not go on with their enterprise. Thus those that came to take Christ with a word's speaking were made to stagger and fall to the ground, John 18:6. The ruin of some of the enemies of God's people is an earnest of the complete conquest of them all. And therefore, these having fallen, he is fearless of the rest: "Though they be numerous, a host of them, - though they be daring and their attempts threatening, - though they encamp against me, an army against one man, - though they wage war upon me, yet my heart shall not fear." Hosts cannot hurt us if the Lord of hosts protect us. Nay, in this assurance that God is for me "I will be confident." Two things he will be confident of: - 1. That he shall be safe. "If God is my salvation, in the time of trouble he shall hide me; he shall set me out of danger and above the fear of it." God will not only find out a shelter for his people in distress (as he did Jeremiah 36:26), but he will himself be their hiding-place, Psalm 32:7. His providence will, it may be, keep them safe; at least his grace will make them easy. His name is the strong tower into which by faith they run, Proverbs 18:10. "He shall hide me, not in the strongholds of En-gedi (1 Samuel 23:29), but in the secret of his tabernacle." The gracious presence of God, his power, his promise, his readiness to hear prayer, the witness of his Spirit in the hearts of his people - these are the secret of his tabernacle, and in these the saints find cause for that holy security and serenity of mind in which they dwell at ease. This sets them upon a rock which will not sink under them, but on which they find firm footing for their hopes; nay, it sets them up upon a rock on high, where the raging threatening billows of a stormy sea cannot touch them; it is a rock that is higher than we, Psalm 61:2. 2. That he shall be victorious (Psalm 27:6): "Now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies, not only so as that they cannot reach it with their darts, but so as that I shall be exalted to bear rule over them." David here, by faith in the promise of God, triumphs before the victory, and is as sure, not only of the laurel, but of the crown, as if it were already upon his head.

III.With what a gracious earnestness he prays for a constant communion with God in holy ordinances, Psalm 27:4.

It greatly encouraged his confidence in God that he was conscious to himself of an entire affection to God and to his ordinances, and that he was in his element when in the way of his duty and in the way of increasing his acquaintance with him. If our hearts can witness for us that we delight in God above any creature, that may encourage us to depend upon him; for it is a sign we are of those whom he protects as his own. Or it may be taken thus: He desired to dwell in the house of the Lord that there he might be safe from the enemies that surrounded him. Finding himself surrounded by threatening hosts, he does not say, "One thing have I desired, in order to my safety, that I may have my army augmented to such a number," or that I may be master of such a city or such a castle, but "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, and then I am well." Observe,

1.What it is he desires - to dwell in the house of the Lord. In the courts of God's house the priests had their lodgings, and David wished he had been one of them. Disdainfully as some look upon God's ministers, one of the greatest and best of kings that ever was would gladly have taken his lot, have taken his lodging, among them. Or, rather, he desires that he might duly and constantly attend on the public service of God, with other faithful Israelites, according as the duty of every day required. He longed to see an end of the wars in which he was now engaged, not that he might live at ease in his own palace, but that he might have leisure and liberty for a constant attendance in God's courts. Thus Hezekiah, a genuine son of David, wished for the recovery of his health, not that he might go up to the thrones of judgment, but that he might go up to the house of the Lord, Isaiah 38:22. Note, All God's children desire to dwell in God's house; where should they dwell else? Not to sojourn there as a wayfaring man, that turns aside to tarry but for a night, nor to dwell there for a time only, as the servant that abides not in the house for ever, but to dwell there all the days of their life; for there the Son abides ever. Do we hope that praising God will be the blessedness of our eternity? Surely them we ought to make it the business of our time.

2.How earnestly he covets this: "This is the one thing I have desired of the Lord and which I will seek after." If he were to ask but one thing of God, this should be it; for this he had at heart more than any thing. He desired it as a good thing; he desired it of the Lord as his gift and a token of his favour. And, having fixed his desire upon this as the one thing needful, he sought after it; he continued to pray for it, and contrived his affairs so as that he might have this liberty and opportunity. Note, Those that truly desire communion with God will set themselves with all diligence to seek after it, Proverbs 18:1.

3.What he had in his eye in it. He would dwell in God's house, not for the plenty of good entertainment that was there, in the feasts upon the sacrifices, nor for the music and good singing that were there, but to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple. He desired to attend in God's courts,

(1.)That he might have the pleasure of meditating upon God. He knew something of the beauty of the Lord, the infinite and transcendent amiableness of the divine being and perfections; his holiness is his beauty (Psalm 110:3), his goodness is his beauty, Zechariah 9:17. The harmony of all his attributes is the beauty of his nature. With an eye of faith and holy love we with pleasure behold this beauty, and observe more and more in it that is amiable, that is admirable. When with fixedness of thought, and a holy flame of devout affections, we contemplate God's glorious excellencies, and entertain ourselves with the tokens of his peculiar favour to us, this is that view of the beauty of the Lord which David here covets, and it is to be had in his ordinances, for there he manifests himself.

(2.)That he might have the satisfaction of being instructed in his duty; for concerning this he would enquire in God's temple. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? For the sake of these two things he desired that one thing, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life; for blessed are those that do so; they will be still praising him (Psalm 84:4), both in speaking to him and in hearing from him. Mary's sitting at Christ's feet to hear his word Christ calls the one thing needful, and the good part.

4.What advantage he promised himself by it. Could he but have a place in God's house,

(1.)There he should be quiet and easy: there troubles would not find him, for he should be hid in secret; there troubles would not reach him, for he should be set on high, Psalm 27:5. Joash, one of David's seed, was hidden in the house of the Lord six years, and there not only preserved from the sword, but reserved to the crown, 2 Kings 11:3. The temple was thought a safe place for Nehemiah to abscond in, Nehemiah 6:10. The safety of believers however is not in the walls of the temple, but in the God of the temple and their comfort in communion with him.

(2.)There he should be pleasant and cheerful: there he would offer sacrifices of joy, Psalm 27:6. For God's work is its own wages. There he would sing, yea, he would sing praises to the Lord. Note, Whatever is the matter of our joy ought to be the matter of our praise; and, when we attend upon God in holy ordinances, we ought to be much in joy and praise. It is for the glory of our God that we should sing in his ways; and, whenever God lifts us up above our enemies, we ought to exalt him in our praises. Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph, 2 Corinthians 2:14.

Historical interpretation

Historical reception

4 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

4 quotes · AD 390–458
Post-Nicene
400

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 390Diodorus of TarsusPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON PSALM 27
Having referred to the victory in the introduction, he states these two clauses by way of narrative; lest he seem to be giving thanks needlessly, he introduces as well the reason for thanksgiving in the words “When some enemies assembled against me who were so fierce and unrelenting as even to take a piece of me, as it were, then in particular I clearly sensed God’s help, with their fall and our conquest.”
d. AD 430Augustine of HippoPost-NiceneSourceExposition on Psalm 27
"Whilst the guilty approach unto me to eat up my flesh" [Psalm 27:2]. Whilst the guilty come near to recognise and insult me, that they may exalt themselves above me in my change for the better; that with their reviling tooth they may consume not me, but rather my fleshly desires. "Mine enemies who trouble me." Not they only who trouble me, blaming me with a friendly intent, and wishing to recall me from my purpose, but mine enemies also. "They became weak, and fell." Whilst then they do this with the desire of defending their own opinion, they became weak to believe better things, and began to hate the word of salvation, whereby I do what displeases them.
d. AD 458Theodoret of CyrusPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 27:3
Those who stole an advantage over me in their pursuit like wild animals and their attempts to make a meal of me while still alive, far from doing me any harm, were themselves the victims of total destruction.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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