Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take [it]; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
Ver. 5. Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it] Thus he cleareth himself by a holy imprecation (the Spanish Bible hath the Shiggaion Davidis, in the title, Purgatio Davidis, as the same Hebrew word חשׁא signifieth both sin and purification from sin, Psa 51:1-19), taking God to witness his innocence and good conscience, and wishing evil to himself if it were otherwise. This he did from a good cause, in a good manner, and for a good end. And not as many profane ones do today, who, taxed, though never so truly, with some evil they have done, seek to justify themselves by appealing to God, and calling for his curse upon them if guilty; who, therefore, striketh such impudent imprecators immediately, as Anne Averies and others. See Mr Clark's Mirror.
And tread down my life] Heb. my lives; so usually called, saith an interpreter, for the many faculties and operations that are in life, the many years, degrees, estates thereof.
And lay mine honour in the dust. Selah] Let him brand me for a most treacherous, ignominious wretch, and let me lie buried in a bog of indelible infamy.