Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing [was] as to devour the poor secretly.
Ver. 14. Thou didst strike through with his staves, the heads of his villages] Heb. Thou didst pierce, or bore through, as with an auger, with his staves (a metaphor from shepherds, according to that, Psalms 23:4, "thy rod and thy staff"), or, with his tribes (the Dωδεκαφυλον, Act 26:7), that entered the land of promise; with these men, or with these weapons, though never so unlikely, thou didst, by the hand of David, wound the hairy scalp of thine enemies, those pagans and persecutors; and much more wilt, by the Son of David, subdue Satan and his complices.
They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me] Heb. They tempested, they raised a hurly-burly, being turbulent spirits, as the devil is, to disperse me, as the dust of the mountains is scattered before a whirlwind.
Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor] i.e. Poor me, they devoured in secret, as if God had been nothing aware of their doings; and this was their exultation, or rejoicing; they took pleasure in their cruelty, and promised themselves impunity.