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Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary

Psalms 38:20

They render evil for good; they hate and persecute me, not only without any injury or provocation on my part, but as it were in requital of the good which I have done to them. Because I follow the thing that good is; because I love and diligently practise justice and godliness, which they hate, and which they take to be a reproach to them, and which I did exercise, as I had opportunity, in the punishment of such as they are. Compare 1 Thessalonians 15:19 1 John 3:12.

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See also Psalms 38:20 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Psalms 38:20. _BECAUSE L FOLLOW_ THE THING THAT _GOOD_ IS.] The translation is as bad as the sentence is awkward. תחת רדפי טוב _tachath rodpi tob, because I follow goodness_. There is a remarka...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    THEY ALSO THAT RENDER EVIL FOR GOOD - They whose characteristic it is to return evil for good, are opposed to me. This implies that those who were now seeking his ruin had been formerly benefitted by...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 38 The Suffering Saint and Confession of Sin _ 1. Suffering and Humiliation (Psalms 38:1)_ 2. Looking to the Lord (Psalms 38:9) 3. Confession and prayer ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    XXXVIII. A PENITENTIAL PSALM. After a short prayer for pity (verbally identical with Psalms 6:2), the poet describes his bodily and mental pains, the desertion of his friends, and the unscrupulous att...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    EVIL. Hebrew. _ra'a'._ App-44. TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. See App-64. EVEN TO JEDUTHUN. See App-65....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Fresh pleadings with God....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Yea, and rewarding evil for good They are adversaries unto me, for my following of good. Not, in return for my pursuit of good in general, but, in return for the good I have striven to do for them....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 38 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Prayer for Deliverance from Disease and from Enemies. ANALYSIS Part I. _Against Disease._ Stanza I., Psalms 38:1-2, Jehovah's Anger Deprecated. Stanza II., Psalms 38:3-5...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _THEY ALSO THAT RENDER EVIL FOR GOOD ARE MINE ADVERSARIES; BECAUSE I FOLLOW THE THING THAT GOOD IS._ They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    38:20 adversaries (k-9) Heb. plural of _ Satan_ , as Psalms 71:13 ; Psalms 109:4 ,Psalms 109:20 ,Psalms 109:29 . Sin...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    This Ps. may be compared with Psalms 6. It is the prayer of one who, like Job, is in great bodily suffering (Psalms 38:1), and is also deserted by his friends (Psalms 38:11), and beset by treacherous...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    While the Psalmist admits his own sin he is at the same time a sufferer for righteousness: see on Psalms 25:21....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Psalms 1:41 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ Words in boxes are from the Bible. The notes explain some of the words with a *star by them. Tap the * before a word to show an explanation. The translated Bible tex...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Psalms 38:21]_ וּ מְשַׁלְּמֵ֣י רָ֭עָה תַּ֣חַת טֹובָ֑ה...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 38:1 THIS is a long-drawn wail. passionate at first, but gradually calming itself into submission and trust, though never passing from the minor key. The name of God is invoked thrice (Psalms 3...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE CRY OF THE NEEDY PENITENT Psalms 38:1 A long drawn-out sigh of pain. Some think it should be classed with Psalms 32:1; Psalms 51:1, as belonging to the time of David's fall and repentance. It is...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    This is the third of what are known as the penitential psalms. The circumstances of the singer were most distressing. He was suffering from some terrible physical malady, deserted by his friends, and...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow [the thing that] (o) good [is]. (o) He would rather have the hatred of all the world, than fail in any part of his duty to G...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I need not enlarge on these verses, they all express the same blessed truths, and bear a gracious correspondence to the whole tenor of this Psalm. Jehovah is the salvation of his people, and Christ is...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    Psalms 38 _ Proper Psalm for Ash Wednesday_ (_Morning_). PSALMS 38-40 = _ Day 8_ (_Morning_)....

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    This is more fully confirmed in the following verse, in which he declares that they requited him evil for the good which he had done them. More than this, however, is implied in the language of David....

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS PSALMS 38 AND 39. Psalms 38 and 39 have, as I have said, a distinct and peculiar character. The deliverance has been sought and looked for by the upright, and forgivene...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    THEY ALSO THAT RENDER EVIL FOR GOOD ARE MINE ADVERSARIES,.... Psalms 35:12; BECAUSE I FOLLOW [THE THING THAT] GOOD [IS]; or "follow good"; a good God, whom his soul followed hard after, Psalms 63:8;...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow [the thing that] good [is]. Ver. 20. _They also that render evil for good_] While they rejoice at my misery, who fasted for...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Mine enemies are lively_ Hebrew, _living;_ that is, thriving, flourishing, and prosperous. _They that render evil for good_ That hate and persecute me, not only without any injury or provocation on m...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that good is, the persecution of the pious on the part of the wicked being the ordinary, the usual thing in the wor...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    PRAYER FOR RELIEF FROM A BURDEN OF GUILT. A psalm of David, to bring to remembrance, to remind God of His great mercy toward poor sinners, the hymn probably being intended for that part of worship wh...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    12-22 Wicked men hate goodness, even when they benefit by it. David, in the complaints he makes of his enemies, seems to refer to Christ. But our enemies do us real mischief only when they drive us f...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 38:20 render H7999 (H8764) evil H7451 good H2896 adversaries H7853 (H8799) follow H7291 (H8800) good...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    3). HE CALLS ON YHWH HIS LORD FOR DELIVERANCE FROM HIS ENEMIES IN VIEW OF HIS OWN DEEP REPENTANCE AND HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE TRUE FAITHFULNESS TO HIM OF YHWH, HIS GOD AND LORD (PSALMS 38:15). As we hav...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    I am going to read two portions of Scripture. In the first, the 38 th Psalm, we shall hear a suffering servant of Jehovah crying out to his God. Psalms 38:1. _O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neit...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Remember, although this is a very sorrowful Psalm, it was written by a man of God. It will show you what a terrible thing sin must be, for even a child of Go...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: David's grief, complaints and confession. CHARACTERS: God, David. CONCLUSION: God often contends with His children to awaken their consciences and to set their sins in order before them fo...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    In Psalms 38:19, David intimates that he was hated wrongfully, because he followed good. This psalm was composed under some new outbreaking of Saul's persecution, when his mind sunk under depression,...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath: neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure._ GREAT PERSONAL AFFLICTION I. Elements of aggravation. 1. A dread of Divine displeasure (Psalms 38:1). 2. A crushing...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 38:1. In this lament the singer lays his troubles before God, fully realizing that those troubles result from his own sin. The psalm describes anguish of body and mind, dese...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 38:15 The singer shows true faith in confessing his sin (v. Psalms 38:18) and in calling the Lord his SALVATION (v....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    INTRODUCTION This is a psalm of David to call to remembrance his past life, and, no doubt, has especial reference to his sin with Bathsheba. It calls up to the view of his memory the sins of the past,...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION THIS is the third of the penitential psalms, and is appropriately recited by the Church on Ash Wednesday. Of all the penitential psalms it is the one which shows the deepest marks of utter...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Psa 38:1-22. This is read on Yom Kippur. Now David, through some sin, and he doesn't tell us what, became very sick. And this psalm is occasion by this great sickness that David had because of some si...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 John 3:12; 1 Peter 3:13; 1 Peter 3:17; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:14;...

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