1._I will praise the Lord. _David begins the psalm in this way, to
induce God to succor him in the calamities with which he was now
afflicted. As God continues his favor towards his own people without
intermission, all the good he has hitherto done to us should serve to
inspire us with confidence an... [ Continue Reading ]
2._I will rejoice and exult in thee. _Observe how the faithful praise
God sincerely and without hypocrisy, when they do not rest on
themselves for happiness, and are not intoxicated with foolish and
carnal presumption, but rejoice in God alone; which is nothing else
than to seek the matter of their... [ Continue Reading ]
3._While my enemies are turned back. _In these words he assigns the
reason why he undertakes to sing the praises of God, namely, because
he acknowledges that his frequent victories had been achieved, not by
his own power, nor by the power of his soldiers, but by the free favor
of God. In the first p... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist proceeds a step farther in the 4th verse, declaring that
God stretched forth his hand to give him succor, because he was
unrighteously afflicted by his enemies. And surely if we desire to be
favored with the assistance of God, we ought to see to it that we
fight under his standard. Davi... [ Continue Reading ]
6._O thou enemy, desolations are come to an end for ever. _This sixth
verse is explained in different ways. Some read it interrogatively,
viewing the letter ה, as a mark of interrogation, as if David,
addressing his discourse to his enemies, asked whether they had
completed their work of devastation... [ Continue Reading ]
8._And he shall judge the world in righteousness. _As David has just
now testified, that the power of God is not inactive, so that he
dwells in heaven only indulging himself in pleasures; but that it is a
constantly operating power which he exercises in preserving his
authority, and governing the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
9._And Jehovah will be a refuge for the poor. _David here furnishes a
remedy for the temptation which greatly afflicts the weak, when they
see themselves, and those who are like them, abandoned to the will of
the ungodly, while God keeps silence. (173) He puts us in mind that
God delays his aid, and... [ Continue Reading ]
In the tenth verse, the Psalmist teaches us, that when the Lord
delivers the righteous, the fruit which results from it is, that they
themselves, and all the rest of the righteous, acquire increasing
confidence in his grace; for, unless we are fully persuaded that God
exercises a care about men and... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Sing unto Jehovah. _David, not contented with giving thanks
individually, and on his own account, exhorts the faithful to unite
with him, praising God, and to do this not only because it is their
duty to stir up one another to this religious exercise, but because
the deliverances of which he tre... [ Continue Reading ]
12._For in requiring blood. _In the original, it is _bloods, _in the
plural number, and, therefore, the relative which follows immediately
after, _And remembereth _THEM, may very properly be referred to that
word in this way, He requireth bloods, and remembereth them. But as it
is sufficiently commo... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah. _I think that this is the second
part of the psalm. Others, however, are of a different opinion, and
consider that David, according to his frequent practice, while giving
thanks to God for the deliverance wrought for him, mingles with his
thanksgiving an account of... [ Continue Reading ]
14._That I may recount. _David’s meaning simply is, that he will
celebrate the praises of God in all assemblies, and, wherever there is
the greatest concourse of people, (for at that time it was the custom
to hold assemblies at the gates of cities;) but, at the same time,
there seems to be an allusi... [ Continue Reading ]
15._The heathen are sunk. _David being now raised up to holy
confidence, triumphs over his enemies. In the first place, he says
metaphorically, that they were taken in their own craftiness and
snares. He next expresses the same thing without figure, that they
were snared in their own wickedness. And... [ Continue Reading ]
16._The Lord is known in executing judgment. _The reading of the words
literally is this, The _known Lord has done judgment. _This manner of
speech is abrupt, and its very brevity renders it obscure. It is
therefore explained in two ways. Some explain it thus:- God begins
then to be known when he pu... [ Continue Reading ]
17._The wicked shall be turned into hell. _Many translate the verb in
the optative mood, _Let the wicked be turned into hell, _as if it were
an imprecation. But, in my judgment, David here rather confirms
himself and all the godly with respect to the future, declaring that
whatever the wicked may at... [ Continue Reading ]
18._For the poor shall not always be forgotten. _The assertion that
God will not forsake the poor and afflicted for ever, is a
confirmation of the preceding sentence. By it he intimates, that they
may indeed seem to be forsaken for a time. Let us, therefore, remember
that God has promised his assist... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Arise, O Jehovah. _When David beseeches God to arise, the
expression does not strictly apply to God, but it refers to external
appearance and to our senses; for we do not perceive God to be the
deliverer of his people except when he appears before our eyes, as it
were sitting upon the judgment-s... [ Continue Reading ]
20._Put them in fear, O Jehovah. _The Septuagint translates מורה,
_morah, _[ νομοθέτης,]_a lawgiver, _deriving it from
ירה,_yarah, _which sometimes signifies _to teach. _(185) But the
scope of the passage requires that we should understand it of fear or
dread; and this is the opinion of all sound ex... [ Continue Reading ]