Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.

Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it.

Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

Day and night they go about it upon its walls: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.

By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness are in its midst,

Day and night they go about it on the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the middle of it.

By day and night they go round the town, on the walls; trouble and sorrow are in the heart of it.

Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue; For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

Day and night they go about it, upon the walls thereof - That is, continually. The word "they" in this place probably refers to the violence and strife mentioned in the preceding verse. They are here personified, and they seem to surround the city; to be everywhere moving, even on the very walls. They are like a besieging army. Inside and outside; in the midst of the city and on the walls, there was nothing but violence and strife - conspiracy, rebellion, and crime.
Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it - Crime abounded, and the result was anguish or sorrow. This language would well describe the scenes when Absalom rebelled; when the city was filled with conspirators and rebels; and when crime and anguish seemed to prevail in every part of it.

Day and night they go about - This and the following verse show the state of Jerusalem at this time. Indeed, they exhibit a fair view of the state of any city in the beginning of an insurrection. The leaders are plotting continually; going about to strengthen their party, and to sow new dissensions by misrepresentation, hypocrisy, calumny, and lies.

Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: (h) mischief also and sorrow [are] in the midst of it.
(h) All laws and good orders are broken and only vice and dissolution reigns under Saul.

Day and night they go about it, upon the walls thereof,.... That is, "violence" and "strife" go about the walls of it continually; men of violence and contention are the only watchmen of it: a city must be sadly guarded that has no better watch than this;
mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it; it was full of wickedness within and without; the city, as Aben Ezra observes, was like a circle; violence and strife were as a line round about it, and mischief and sorrow the centre of it: and these two commonly go together; where mischief is, sorrow follows.

which is described in detail (compare Psalm 7:14-16).

They - Violence and strife. Go about - Do encompass it, as it were a garrison. Walls - In the outward parts, as also in the very midst of it. So that all parts were horribly corrupted.