--- title: "Psalms 52 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible" description: "Read Psalms 52 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually. 2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, work" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52" --- [ Read](/kjv/psalms/52)[ Commentary](/study/psalms/52)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/psalms/52) Audio 1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God *endureth* continually.* 2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3 Thou lovest evil more than good; *and* lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. 4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O *thou* deceitful tongue.* 5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of *thy* dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.* 6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: 7 Lo, *this is* the man *that* made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, *and* strengthened himself in his wickedness.* 8 But I *am* like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. 9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done *it:* and I will wait on thy name; for *it is* good before thy saints. [Psalms 51](/study/psalms/51) [Psalms 53](/study/psalms/53) ## Commentary To verse 1 **Why boastest thou thyself in Mischief? -**Why dost thou “exult” in that which is wrong? Why dost thou find pleasure in evil rather than in good? Why dost thou seek to triumph in the injury done to others? The reference is to one who prided himself on schemes and projects which tended to injure others; or who congratulated himself on the success which attended his efforts to wrong other people. **O mighty man -**DeWette and Luther render this, “tyrant.” The original word would be properly applied to one of rank or distinction; a man of “power” - power derived either from office, from talent, or from wealth. It is a word which is often applied to a hero or warrior: [Isaiah 3:2](/kjv/isaiah/3/2); [Eze 39:20](/kjv/eze/39/20); [2 Samuel 17:10](/kjv/2-samuel/17/10); [Psalms 33:16](/kjv/psalms/33/16); [Psalms 120:4](/kjv/psalms/120/4); [Psalms 127:4](/kjv/psalms/127/4); [Daniel 11:3](/kjv/daniel/11/3); [Genesis 6:4](/kjv/genesis/6/4); [Jeremiah 51:30](/kjv/jeremiah/51/30). So far as the “word” is concerned, it might be applied either to Saul or to any other warrior or man of rank; and Professor Alexander supposes that it refers to Saul himself. The connection, however, seems to require us to understand it of Doeg, and not of Saul, This appears to be clear (a) from the general character here given to the person referred to, a character not particularly applicable to Saul, but applicable to an informer like Doeg [Psalms 52:2-4](/kjv/psalms/52/2-4); and (b) from the fact that he derived his power, not from his rank and office, as Saul did, but mainly from his wealth [Psalms 52:7](/kjv/psalms/52/7). This would seem to imply that some other was referred to than Saul. **The goodness of God endureth continually -**literally, “all the day.” That is, the wicked man could not hope to prevent the exercise of the divine goodness toward him whom he persecuted, and whom he sought to injure. David means to say that the goodness of God was so great and so constant, that he would protect his true friends from such machinations; or that it, was so unceasing and watchful, that the informer and accuser could not hope to find an interval of time when God would intermit his care, and when, therefore, he might hope for success. Against the goodness of God, the devices of a wicked man to injure the righteous could not ultimately prevail. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52","name":"Psalms 52 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Psalms 52 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually. 2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, work","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","name":"barnes notes on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms","name":"Psalms"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/52","name":"52"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```