Psalms 53:5

“There were they in great, fear, [where] no fear was, etc.] Before; neither of God nor man, nor any dread of punishment, but the utmost security, (<661807>Revelation 18:7,8,10); also (see Gill on “<191405>Psalm 14:5”); for God hath scattered the bones of [him] that encampeth [against] thee; either against Christ, or against his church and people; who set themselves against the person, office, and grace of Christ, and seek to distress and destroy his interest: “the bones [of such] God will scatter”: that is, he will destroy antichrist and his armies, which are his strength, as the bones are the strength of the human body; and make such a carnage of them, that the fowls of the air shall eat…”

“Instead of assurances of God's presence with the pious, and a complaint of the wicked, Psa 14:5-6 portrays the ruin of the latter, whose "bones" even "are scattered" (compare Psa 141:7), and who are put to shame as contemptuously rejected of God. Next: Psalms Chapter 54”

“There were they in great fear ... - Margin, as in Hebrew, “they feared a fear.” For the general meaning of the verse, see the notes at Psalms 14:5. There is, however, an important change introduced here - the most important in the psalm. The general sentiment of two verses Psalms 14:5-6 in Psalms 14:1-7 is here compressed into one, and yet with such an important change as to show that it was by design, and apparently to adapt it to some new circumstance. The solution of this would seem to be that the original form Psalms 14:1-7 was suited to some occasion then present to the mind of the writer, and that some new event occurred to which the general sentiment in the psalm might be easily…”

“Scattered - Hath not only broken their bones, their strength, and force, but also dispersed them hither and thither, so as there is no hope of a restoration. Thee - Against my people. Thou - Thou oh Jerusalem, which they besiege. Next: Psalms Chapter 54”

“53:5 scatter the bones: Israel’s enemies would suffer shameful defeat and lack the peaceful rest of a decent burial (cp. 141:7; 2 Kgs 9:10; Jer 8:1-2; Ezek 6:5).”

“There: Lev 26:17, Lev 26:36; Deu 28:65-67; Sa1 14:15; Kg2 7:6, Kg2 7:7; Job 15:21; Pro 28:1 were they in great fear: Heb. they feared a fear, Psa 14:5 scattered: Psa 141:7; Eze 6:5, Eze 37:1-11 thou hast: Psa 35:4, Psa 35:26, Psa 40:14, Psa 83:16, Psa 83:17 because: Psa 2:4, Psa 73:20; Isa. 37:22-38; Jer 6:30; Lam 2:6 Psalms 53:6”

“The last two lines of this tristich are in letters so similar to the two distichs of Psa 14:1-7, that they look like an attempt at the restoration of some faded manuscript. Nevertheless, such a close following of the sound of the letters of the original, and such a changing of the same by means of an interchange of letters, is also to be found elsewhere (more especially in Jeremiah, and e.g., also in the relation of the Second Epistle of Peter to Jude). And the two lines sound so complete in themselves and full of life, that this way of accounting for their origin takes too low an estimate of them. A later poet, perhaps belonging to the time of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, has here adapted the…”