There were they. — Literally, there they feared a fear, i.e., terror overtook them. Psalms 53 adds, “which was no fear.” The local “there” brings the scene before us as in a picture. We see them there before us, these wicked men; there in the midst of their intrigues, or their exactions, or their pleasures, the hand of God seizes them, and lo! they are struck with fear. We evidently have not here any indication by which to fasten on a particular event. Whether the addition in Psalms 53 gives any is discussed there.
For God is. — For the singular variation in Psalms 53 consult Note on Psalms 14:5 of that psalm. The uneasy sense that, after all, the good have God on their side — this general truth is implied in the phrase “generations of the righteous,” even if first employed of faithful Israel — is always a cause of fear to the wicked.