Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
Ver. 8. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity] What a strange change is here all of a sudden! Well might Luther say, Oratio est hirudo animae, Prayer is the leech of the soul, that sucks out the venom and swelling thereof. Prayer, saith another, is an exorcist with God, and an exorcist against sin and misery. The prophet Isaiah calleth it a charm, Isaiah 26:16, because it lays our soul distempers, and, like David's harp, drives away the evil spirit that is upon us. Pray, therefore, when out of order, though not so fit to pray; fall upon the duty, by David's example here, and that will further fit thee for the duty. Thy leaden lumpish heart, cast into this holy fire, will heat and melt. Quoties me oratio, quem pene desperantem susceperat, reddidit exultantem et praesumentem de venia? saith Bernard: How oft hath prayer found me despairing almost, but left me triumphing and well assured of pardon! The same in effect saith David here, "Depart from me," &c. What a word is that to his insulting enemies, Avoid, come out, vanish! These be words used to devils and dogs, but good enough for a Doeg or a Shimei. And the Son of David shall say the same to his enemies when he comes to judgment.
For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping] Tears then have a voice (as well as blood hath), and God hath an ear for them. And as music upon the waters soundeth farther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so do prayers joined with tears: Portae lachrymarum ne sint clausae, let not the wounds of godly sorrow be ever so healed up in us but that they may bleed afresh upon every just occasion (R. Obad. Gaon in Psa 6:1-10).