1.
Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
1. God of my praise—its
object, thus recognizing God as a certain helper. Be not silent
(compare Psalms 17:13; Psalms 28:1).
2.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
2. For the mouth . . . opened—or,
"They have opened a wicked mouth"
against me—literally,
"with me," that is, Their intercourse is lying, or, they
slander me to my face (Matthew 26:59).
3.
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
3. (Compare Psalms 35:7;
Psalms 69:4).
4.
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
4, 5. They return evil for good
(compare Psalms 27:12; Proverbs 17:13).
I give myself unto prayer—or
literally, "I (am) prayer," or, "as for me, prayer,"
that is, it is my resource for comfort in distress.
5.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6.
Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
6. over him—one of his enemies
prominent in malignity (Psalms 55:12).
let Satan stand—as an
accuser, whose place was the right hand of the accused (Zechariah 3:1;
Zechariah 3:2).
7.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
7. The condemnation is
aggravated when prayer for relief is treated as a sin.
8.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
8. The opposite blessing is long
life (Psalms 91:16; Proverbs 3:2).
The last clause is quoted as to Judas by Peter (Proverbs 3:2).
office—literally,
"charge," Septuagint, and Peter, "oversight"
[1 Peter 5:2].
9.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
9, 10. Let his family share the
punishment, his children be as wandering beggars to prowl in their
desolate homes, a greedy and relentless creditor grasp his substance,
his labor, or the fruit of it, enure to strangers and not his heirs,
and his unprotected, fatherless children fall in want, so that his
posterity shall utterly fail.
10.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
13. posterity—literally,
"end," as in Psalms 37:38,
or, what comes after; that is, reward, or success, or its
expectation, of which posterity was to a Jew a prominent part.
14.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
14, 15. Let the iniquity of his
fathers be remembered, &c.—Added to the terrible overthrow
following his own sin, let there be the imputation of his parents'
guilt, that it may now come before God, for His meting out its full
consequences, in cutting off the memory of them (that is, the
parents) from the earth ().
15.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16.
Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
16. Let God remember guilt,
because he (the wicked) did not remember mercy.
poor and needy . . . broken
in heart—that is, pious sufferer (Psalms 34:18;
Psalms 35:10; Psalms 40:17).
17.
As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
17-19. Let his loved sin,
cursing, come upon him in punishment (), thoroughly fill him as water and oil, permeating to every
part of his system (compare ), and become a garment and a girdle for a perpetual
dress.
18.
As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19.
Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
20. Let this . . . reward—or,
"wages," pay for labor, the fruit of the enemy's
wickedness.
from the Lord—as His
judicial act.
21.
But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
21, 22. do . . . for me—that
is, kindness.
wounded—literally,
"pierced" (Psalms 69:16;
Psalms 69:29).
22.
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23.
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
23. like the shadow—(Compare
Psalms 102:11).
tossed up and down—or,
"driven" (Exodus 10:19).
24.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
24, 25. Taunts and reproaches
aggravate his afflicted and feeble state (Psalms 22:6;
Psalms 22:7).
25.
I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
26.
Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
26, 27. Let my deliverance
glorify Thee (compare Psalms 59:13).
27.
That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.
28.
Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
28-31. In confidence that God's
blessing would come on him, and confusion and shame on his enemies
(Psalms 73:13), he ceases to
regard their curses, and anticipates a season of joyful and public
thanksgiving; for God is near to protect (Psalms 16:8;
Psalms 34:6) the poor from all
unrighteous judges who may condemn him.
29.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30.
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31.
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.