This Psalm is another prayer for deliverance from virulent enemies who are threatening the Psalmist's life. It consists of two principal divisions (Psalms 59:1-17) each ending with a refrain. These are again subdivided; the end of the first stanza in each being marked by a _Selah_, and the initial v... [ Continue Reading ]
_Deliver me_ Song of Solomon 7:1, and frequently. _defend me_ Better, as R.V., set me on high (Psalms 20:1; Psalms 91:14). It is the verb from which is derived the epithet -high tower" so often applied to God (Psalms 59:9_; Psalms 59:16_; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 46:7; Psalms 46:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist prays for deliverance from the enemies who are bent on taking his life, pleading his innocence, and appealing to God to punish all injustice.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from bloody men_ Better, from bloodthirsty men (Psalms 5:6; Psalms 55:23; Psalms 139:19; Proverbs 29:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
For, lo, strong ones have laid wait for my life, They gather themselves together against me, For no transgression or sin of mine, Jehovah. For no iniquity (of mine) they run and station themselves: Arouse thee to meet me, and behold. Observe the tenses. Secret plots (cp. Proverbs 1:11; Micah 7:... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, do Thou, Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to visit all the nations: Be not gracious to any treacherous workers of iniquity. Thou is emphatic, and the address virtually means, -since Thou art God of hosts, and God of Israel." The first title implies that He has the power (P... [ Continue Reading ]
He compares his enemies to a troop of savage and hungry dogs (Psalms 22:16) such as still infest Oriental towns, in the day-time sleeping in the sun or slinking lazily about, but as night comes on collecting together, and traversing the streets in search of food, howling dismally. P.B.V. _grin_means... [ Continue Reading ]
Be his enemies never so threatening and insolent, he can trust in God.... [ Continue Reading ]
The figure of Psalms 59:6 is dropped. A flood of cursing and falsehood (Psalms 59:12) pours from their mouth (Proverbs 15:2; Proverbs 15:28); they menace him with death, or openly boast that he will soon be got rid of; cp. Psalms 52:2, note. -Say they" is rightly inserted. -Who doth hear"? is not th... [ Continue Reading ]
The verbs are the same as in Psalms 2:4: cp. Psalms 37:13; Isaiah 37:22. The bold phrase "expresses generally the truth that the machinations of God's enemies are not less absurd than wicked." _Speaker's Comm_. For the meaning of -heathen" or -nations," see note on Psalms 59:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
O my strength, unto thee will I watch: For God is my high tower. His enemies are -strong" (Psalms 59:3); but God is his strength; they watch his house (title), but he will -watch unto God," waiting in faith for His help; he has prayed that God will -set him up on high," and he is confident of an a... [ Continue Reading ]
The _Kthîbh_, with which the LXX agrees, has _My God shall meet me with His lovingkindness:_but the _Qrç_is, _The God of my lovingkindness shall meet me_. This variety of reading possibly points to an original text, in which Psalms 59:9 ended with the words, _the God of my lovingkindness_, and Psalm... [ Continue Reading ]
His enemies will be punished: yet let them not be utterly destroyed forthwith, but kept awhile for a warning, till they perish through their own iniquity, an evidence of the sovereignty of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Slay them not_ Apparently inconsistent with Psalms 59:13; but burning indignation does not study logical consistency. What he desires is that they may not be destroyed outright by some signal catastrophe, but visibly punished as a living example, until at last their own wickedness proves their dest... [ Continue Reading ]
The A.V. gives the sense, though the precise construction is doubtful. Perhaps, _The word of their lips is the sin of their mouth_, i.e. every word they utter is sin: or, _O the sin of their mouth! O the word of their lips! let them_&c. _let them even be taken_ Caught in their own snare, their plot... [ Continue Reading ]
_Consume_them _in wrath, consume_them] For the emphatic repetition cp. Psalms 57:1; Psalms 57:7-8; and for the wrath of divine judgement cp. Psalms 56:7. _that they_may _not_be] Better as R.V., that they be no more. _and let them know_ It is best to regard the subject of the verb as indefinite, _le... [ Continue Reading ]
A repetition of Psalms 59:6. But is it (1) as the A.V. appears to take it, an ironical repetition as a curse? let them do now perforce what they did before in malice and wantonness, wandering to and fro (cp. Psalms 59:11) in unsatisfied hunger. Or is it (2) a reiterated description of the writer's p... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist contrasts the baffled rage of his persecutors with his own calm trust in God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, Yet as for me, I shall sing of thy strength; Yea, I shall sing aloud of thy lovingkindness in the morning: For thou hast been a high tower for me, And a refuge In the day of my distress. Unto thee, O my strength, will I make melody, For God is my high tower, the God of my lovingkindnes... [ Continue Reading ]