God shall hear and afflict them,.... That is, either he shall hear the prayers of his servant, imprecating evils upon his enemies, Ps 55:9; and shall bring them down upon them, in answer to his requests; or it may be, rendered, "God shall hear and answer them" ; he shall hear their blasphemies, and take notice of their wickedness, and answer them by terrible things in righteousness;even he that abideth of old; or "is the inhabitant of eternity" Isa 57:15; the eternal God, from everlasting to everlasting, who was before all creatures and before all time, and will ever remain the same, out of whose hands there is no escaping.
The Targum is,"and he inhabiteth the heavens from of old to everlasting.''Selah; of this word, See Gill on "Ps 3:2".Because they have no changes; Kimchi renders it, who hath no changes; taking wml to be the same with wl, and interprets it of God; connecting it with the former clause, that he that abideth of old hath no changes.
There is no variableness nor shadow of turning with him; he never changes his mind, nor alters his counsel, whether it be for good or evil; and yet wicked men fear him not. But rather this is to be understood of sinners, as the Targum paraphrases it,"who are not of old, and who do not change their evil way;''who have no changes in their hearts, nor in their lives, but continue in their natural and sinful estate, without any impression of the power and grace of God upon them.