Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
Concerning the works of men - i:e., their ordinary actings, which are naturally and essentially corrupt (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Psalms 51:5). David's language undesignedly coincides with that attributed to him in 1 Samuel 24:9, "MEN'S words." Where men's words or acts are spoken of, unless some epithet mark them to be regenerate men, they are thought of only as evil, so universal is man's corruption. So Hosea 6:7. Compare my note, Job 23:12. Nor does David except himself naturally from men's general corruption, but includes himself among them as by nature prone to evil (cf. Psalms 18:23). This constitutes the difficulty of avoiding the paths of the transgressor, that these are the paths of men, and believers are still men, and therefore apt to slip naturally into such paths.
By the word of thy lips. It is only by the light of God's Word that the believer can see the danger and guilt of the ways of men, and the blessedness and holiness of the way of God, so as to shun that, and to press onward in this way (Psalms 119:9; Psalms 119:11).
I - emphatic, in contrast to 'the wicked.'
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer - literally, 'I have observed (in order that I might shun) the paths of the wanton transgressor' х paariyts (H6530), one who BREAKS THROUGH all restraints, from paarats (H6555), to break] (Hosea 4:2).