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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Psalms 3:2

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalms 3:2 As is usually the case in the OT, salvation here refers to both physical and spiritual deliverance from danger. The fact that the enemies are saying this of David’s soul means they are implying that his sins are so bad that God cannot save him.

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See also Psalms 3:2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Psalms 3:2. _NO HELP FOR HIM IN GOD._] These were some of the _reproaches_ of his enemies, _Shimei_ and others: "He is now down, and he shall never be able to rise. God alone can save him from...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    :Title A PSALM OF DAVID - literally, belonging to David; that is, belonging to him as the author. This is marked in the Hebrew as the first verse, and so in the Syriac version, the Latin Vulgate, and...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    MANY THERE BE WHICH SAY OF MY SOUL - Or rather, perhaps, of his “life,” for so the word used here - נפשׁ _nephesh_ - frequently means Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 12:23;...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 3 SORROWS AND TRIALS OF THE GODLY REMNANT (3-7) _ 1. Persecution and comfort (Psalms 3:1)_ 2. Arise Jehovah! Save me, O my God (Psalms 3:5) The five Psalms which follow bring before us the g...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    III. A MORNING HYMN OF TRIUMPH AND PEACE. It is a king or party leader who speaks, but who he was or when he wrote we cannot say. The conjecture in the title is of no value except as an extreme instan...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    MANY. Figure of speech _Anaphora._ MY SOUL. me, or myself. Hebrew. _nephesh_. App-13. HELP. salvation, or deliverance. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ App-4. SELAH. Connecting the contrast between "man" (as...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    LORD, HOW ARE THEY INCREASED THAT TROUBLE ME!— This psalm answers in every part of it to the inscription. When David was resettled on his throne he penned it, to commemorate both his danger and his de...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    SELAH— Various are the conjectures about the meaning of this word, says Dr. Chandler; but, whatever has been hitherto offered in explication of it, is no more than conjecture, and I am far from being...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 3 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Conspiracy, Confidence, Courage and Victory. Chief Conspirator left Unnamed! ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 3:1-2, A Surprising Conspiracy. Stanza II., Psalms 3:3-4, Unshaken...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _MANY THERE BE WHICH SAY OF MY SOUL, THERE IS NO HELP FOR HIM IN GOD. SELAH._ Say of my soul, х_ LªNAPSHIY_ (H5315)] - better 'say TO my soul, There is no help for him in God.' Then Psalms 35:3 forms...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    3:2 Selah. (a-14) 'Selah' is said to mean a pause. Some take it as a direction to the singers to raise their voices. Selah occurs 74 times in the O.T.. 71 in the Psalms, 17 in first book, 30 in second...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    This is the first of the 'Davidic' Psalms. It is a morning prayer as Psalms 3:6 suggests. The heading of the Ps. provides a historical setting for it in the revolt of Absalom, and it is the only Ps. s...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    OF MY SOUL] i.e. of myself....

  • 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...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THERE IS NO HELP. — According to the current creed, misfortune implied wickedness, and the wicked were God-forsaken. David, too, had sent back Zadok with the Ark, which in the popular view meant sendi...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Psalms 3:3]_ רַבִּים֮ אֹמְרִ֪ים לְ נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י אֵ֤ין...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 3:1 ANOTHER pair of psalms follows the two of the Introduction. They are closely connected linguistically, structurally, and in subject. The one is a morning, the other an evening hymn, and pos...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    MORNING AND EVENING PRAYERS Psalms 3:1; Psalms 4:1 These psalms probably date from David's flight before Absalom, 2 Samuel 16:1. It is the perfection of trust to be able to sleep when our foes are ma...

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

    This is a morning psalm. It is the song of a soul in grave peril as a new day dawns. The consciousness of difficulty is first uttered. Adversaries are increased, and the bitterest part of the pain is...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Many [there be] which say of my soul, [There is] no help for him in God. (b) Selah. (b) Selah here signifies a lifting up of the voice, to cause us to consider the sentence as a thing of great import...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Why. Let me know the enormity of my sins. All Israel follows Absalom, 2 Kings xv. 13. So all rose up against Christ. (Worthington) --- The Church was assailed on all sides, (Calmet) and every soul mu...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Most probably David referred to the curses of Shimei in what he here saith. See 2 Samuel 16:8. But still yet more striking are these words if considered, as referring to the persecutions of the Lord J...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    The translation of some, _Many say _OF _my soul, _does not give the true meaning of this passage. The letter ל lamed is indeed sometimes used as meaning _of _in Hebrew, but David here intended to expr...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The first, Psalms 3, gives the condition in general in contrast with Psalms 2, and the support and confidence of faith in it. The troublers of the godly man are multiplied, haughty, and triumphing ove...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    MANY [THERE BE] WHICH SAY OF MY SOUL,.... Or "to my soul" u, the following cutting words, which touched to the quick, reached his very heart, and like a sword pierced through it: [THERE IS] NO HELP F...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Many [there be] which say of my soul, [There is] no help for him in God. Selah. Ver. 2. _Many there be which say of my soul_] These scoffs and sarcasms _leniter volant, non leniter violant._ David fe...

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

    _Many there be that say of my soul_ Of me; the soul being commonly put for the person: _There is no help for him in God_ God hath utterly forsaken him for his many crimes, and will never help him more...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    MORNING PRAYER OF A CHRISTIAN IN DANGER AND AFFLICTION. A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son, 2 Samuel 15:14, probably written on the morning after the day of the flight, when David s...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. David's condition at that time, as history shows, 2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Samuel 15:30, was such as to make all men doubt the poss...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-3 An active believer, the more he is beaten off from God, either by the rebukes of providence, or the reproaches of enemies, the faster hold he will take, and the closer will he cleave to him. A ch...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    OF MY SOUL, i.e. of me; the soul being commonly put for the person, as ISAIAH 46:2 AMOS 6:8, compared with GENESIS 22:16. THERE IS NO HELP FOR HIM IN GOD; God hath utterly forsaken him for his many cr...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 3:2 Many H7227 say H559 (H8802) me H5315 help H3444 God H430 Selah H5542 no -...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    SECTION 1. THE DISTRESS IN WHICH HE FOUND HIMSELF. ‘YHWH, how are my adversaries multiplied, Many are those who rise up against me, Many are those who say of my life (nephesh), “There is no help ...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    These may be called very properly morning and evening Psalms. The third Psalm is the morning Psalm. A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. A dark hour that for David, preceded by the sha...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: A prayer of David (when he fled from Absalom). CHARACTERS: God, David. CONCLUSION: God is a shield for His trusting people. He wards off the fiery darts of Satan and the storms of trouble,...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Psalms 3:4. _Selah._ This word, as all seem agreed, refers to the singing and music only, the better to adapt changes of airs to the sentiments of the psalm; and yet the sense is given with much diver...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Lord, how are they increased that trouble me._ MORNING THOUGHTS With returning day there comes back on the monarch’s heart the recollection of the enemies who threaten him, a nation up in arms again...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _There is no help for him in God._ HELP IN GOD David had grieved God, and God had threatened to “raise up evil against him out of his own house.” The threatening was fulfilled in the rebellion of Abs...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    MINORITIES AND MAJORITIES _Introduction_ “The preceding psalm had set before us the utter vanity of all attempts to injure the throne of God’s anointed King—Messiah. The present psalm relates to tha...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION Tins psalm is entitled, "a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son;" literally, "in his flight from Absalom his son." The historical correctness of the title has been questioned (H...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    The third psalm is a psalm of David when he was fleeing from Absalom. Going over the Mount of Olives and out towards the Judean wilderness on news that Absalom was coming with an army from Hebron. And...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    2 Samuel 16:7; 2 Samuel 16:8; Habakkuk 3:13; Habakkuk 3:3; Habakkuk 3:9

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    DAVID'S TRUST IN GOD Psalms 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS As an introduction to the Third Psalm we want to give you a vision of the young man Absalom, the son of David, who is described as the basis of Da...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE PREFATORY PSALMS Psalms 1:1, _Psalms 2:1, and Psalms 3:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS The first chapter of the Psalm is its preface. You may call it, if you wish, the prefatory Psalm. It gives you the ke...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    My soul — Of me: the soul being commonly put for the person. In God — God hath utterly forsaken him. Selah — This word is no where used but in this poetical book, and in the song of Habakkuk. Probably...

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