Hear my prayer, O God! The language is expressive of his earnestness. He was led to this fervor of supplication by the extremity of his present circumstances, which is alluded to in the following verse, where he complains of being surrounded by men fierce, barbarous, and unrestrained by a sense of religion. There was no necessity for his informing God of a fact which was already known to him; but he disburdens his own heart by venting the cause of his fear and disquietude. By calling his enemies strangers, [1] he seems to refer to their barbarity, whether he applied the name to the Ziphites only, or, in general, to the whole army of Saul. Others consider him, in this term, to advert to their degeneracy as children of Abraham; and it is true that the Jews are repeatedly stigmatised by the prophets under this form of expression, when they had cast themselves out of the Church of God by their profligacy or impiety. But in this passage it seems to be used in a different sense. As even enemies are accustomed, in some measure, to respect the ties of kindred and relationship, David would point out to us the monstrous inhumanity of the men who now surrounded him, by the fact that they assaulted him as strangers, as persons who had never known him, or as if he had been born in some distant part of the world. He calls them, also, terrible ones, [2] not mighty, or powerful ones, as some have rendered the word; for that falls short of the meaning intended by David, which was, that they were divested of all humanity, and ready to rush upon him like wild beasts. Hence the fear with which he resorted to the protection of God. He adds, that they sought after his soul, to denote that nothing would content their insatiable cruelty but his life. And the better to express the unbridled nature of their fury, he tells us that they had no respect to God. The only thing which could be supposed, in the circumstances, to act as a restraint upon their minds, was the consideration of there being a judge in heaven to whom they were amenable for their conduct; and being insensible to this, what moderation could be expected of them?

Footnotes

1 - For zrym, zairim, strangers, upwards of twenty MSS. have zdym, zoidim, the proud; and this is the sense given by the Chaldee Paraphrast. As the Ziphites were Jews, and of the same tribe with David, (Joshua 15:24,) and therefore not, strictly speaking, "strangers," some think that the proud is the true reading. But the Ziphites, as our Author justly observes, may be called "strangers," because they acted towards David the part of strangers and enemies, in seeking to deliver him into the hands of his unjust and cruel persecutor, Saul.

2 - Ainsworth reads, "Daunting tyrants." "Terrible dismayers, as Saul and his retinue, whose terror daunted many. See Psalm 10:18."

Hear my prayer, O God - My earnest cry for deliverance from the designs of those who would betray me.
Give ear to the words of my mouth - Incline thine ear to me, as one does who wishes to hear. See the notes at Psalm 17:6.

Hear my prayer - In his straits he had recourse to God; for from him alone, for the reasons alleged above, his deliverance must proceed.

Hear my prayer, O God,.... The psalmist first puts up his petitions, and then desires to be heard; his distress, and the fervency of his spirit, not suffering him to observe order;
give ear to the words of my mouth; for the prayer which was conceived in his mind, and inwrought there by the Spirit of God, was expressed vocally.

(Compare Psalm 4:1; Psalm 5:1).