A Description Of The Consequences To Himself Resulting From His Sinfulness (Psalms 52:4-5).
The Psalmist now tells us that what a man sows he will reap. In the final analysis God will do to men what they have done to others. Thus those who devour with their words will themselves be devoured.
‘You love all devouring words,
O you deceitful tongue.'
In the same way God will destroy you for ever,
He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,
And root you out of the land of the living.' [Selah
‘Devouring words' are literally ‘words which swallow up'. They cause harm, and even death. The deceiver loves such words, for they enable him to obtain his ends, at whatever cost to those whom he denigrates. Doeg's words certainly ‘swallowed up' Ahimelech and the priests of Nob. And they were certainly ‘plucked from their tents (homes) and rooted out of the land of the living'. Thus the application to Doeg as a recompense for what he had done is very apposite.
And the warning to all who love devouring words which ‘swallow people up', is that they also will be ‘taken up' by God, will be ‘plucked from their tents', and will be ‘rooted out of the land of the living'. What they have done to others will be done to them. God will destroy them for ever.
The verbs are forceful, almost violent. ‘Plucked from their tents'. Compare how in Deuteronomy Israel were warned that if they did not observe YHWH's Instruction (His Torah - Law) they too would be plucked out of the land which YHWH had given them (Deuteronomy 26:63). ‘Tents' was a synonym for their homes, commonly found throughout the Old Testament. ‘Rooted out of the land of the living' may have in mind weeds which, in order to be destroyed, were torn up by their roots. This was precisely what had happened to the priests at Nob.
‘O you deceitful tongue.' In other words, ‘you man with a deceitful tongue'. The man is spoken of in terms of his tongue.