13 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 120 A Song of degrees. This psalm, and the fourteen following, are called "songs of degrees", or "ascents" (o); for what reason it is not easy to say. Some think it refers to the music of them, and that this is the name of the tune to which they were set; or the first word of a song according to which they were sung, as Aben...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In my distress I cried unto the Lord,.... Being at a distance from his own country, or, however, from the house of God; persecuted by men, under the lash of their tongues; reproached, abused, and belied by them: in this his case and circumstances, he betook himself by prayer to the Lord, and importuned help and deliverance of him, knowing that...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together under the title of "songs of degrees." It is well that it is not material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is offered towards the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be composed all...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find ourselves helpless to fight with the evil, or to act in our own...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. In my distress. Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find ourselves helpless to fight with the evil, or to act in our own defence. We could ward off the strokes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, [and] from a deceitful tongue. Not from such lips, and such a tongue of his own, which David abhorred; though every good man desires to be kept from speaking lies and deceit; nor from the company of those who have such lips and tongues, which he was determined should not dwell with him; but from the...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Lips are soft; but when they are “lying lips” they suck away the life of character and are as murderous as razors. Lips should never be red with the blood of honest men’s reputes, nor salved with malicious falsehoods. The faculty of speech becomes a curse when it is degraded...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
What shall be given unto thee?.... Or, "what shall [it] give unto thee?" (s) That is, what shall the deceitful tongue give unto thee, O my soul? or to thee, to anyone that hears and reads this psalm? It is capable of giving thee a deal of trouble, of doing thee a deal of mischief; and of injuring thy character, and hurting thy peace and comfort,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? The Psalmist seems lost to suggest a fitting punishment. It is the worst of offences — this detraction, calumny, and slander. Judgment sharp and crushing would be measured out to it if men were visited for their transgressions. But what punishment could be heavy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Some think these words describe lying lips, and a false tongue; which are like arrows, sharp ones, sent out from a bow drawn with a mighty hand, which come with great force, suddenly and swiftly, and do much mischief; see Psalms 11:2; and to "coals of juniper", very distressing and tormenting; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech,.... Meshech was a son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2; whose posterity are thought by some to be the Muscovites (z) and Scythians, a barbarous sort of people: Mesech is frequently mentioned with Tubal and his brother, and with Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38:2; the Targum here calls them Asiatics. Rather the Cappadocians,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. The God of peace, against whom their carnal minds are enmity itself; Christ, the Prince of peace, the Man, the Peace, who has made peace by the blood of his cross, whom the world hates; the sons of peace, the quiet in the land, against whom the wicked devise evil things; the Gospel of peace,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I [am for] peace,.... Am wholly peace; a man of peace, as Aben Ezra; of a peaceable disposition, devoted to peace; love it, seek and pursue it, as every good man does, who is called to it, and in whose heart it rules: such follow peace with all men, and the things which make for it; and, as much as in them lies, endeavour to live peaceably with...