What does Psalm 7:15 mean?

David expresses his assurance that his enemies will meet with retribution. The prior verse imagined sinful impulses like a perverse form of pregnancy: they are conceived in evil and lead to even more trouble (Psalm 7:14). Here, the theme continues by emphasizing how those who plan evil will eventually suffer from their own schemes (Proverbs 6:12–15; 11:17). In a symbolic sense, the slanderer (Psalm 7:3–5) or the plotter is digging a trap for others, only to fall in it himself (Psalm 7:16).

Scripture includes specific examples of this "poetic justice." An Egyptian Pharaoh issued an order to drown all the Hebrew infants in the Nile, but Egypt's own cavalry drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 1:22; 14:26–28). King Saul was David's bitter and relentless foe. At one time he hurled a spear at David, hoping to pin him to the wall, but David escaped. He hunted David in the wilderness with intent to kill him, but David escaped. Ultimately, Saul was wounded by an arrow and then died by his own sword (1 Samuel 31:3–4). Haman, the wicked enemy of the Jews in Persia, constructed gallows that he intended for Mordecai, but it was Haman who was hanged (Esther 7). Herod planned to kill the apostle Peter, but the Lord delivered Peter, and struck Herod, causing Herod to die a horrible death (Acts 12).