16 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 129 A Song of degrees. This psalm was written in later times, after many of the distresses of Israel; very probably upon the Jews return from the Babylonish captivity, by Ezra, or some other godly person. Aben Ezra says the psalmist speaks in the language of Israel in captivity; and the same is the sense of Kimchi and Arama....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,.... That is, the enemies of Israel, afterwards called "ploughers". This may be understood of literal Israel, the posterity of Jacob; whose youth was the beginning of their constitution as a nation and church, or the first times of it; when they were greatly distressed by their enemies, and from...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This psalm relates to the public concerns of God's Israel. It is not certain when it was penned, probably when they were in captivity in Babylon, or about the time of their return. I. They look back with thankfulness for the former deliverances God had wrought for them and their fathers out of the many distresses they had been in from time to...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The trials of some of God’s people begin very early. When first we put on the armor of God, the adversary is usually very bitter against us. Some of our old friends and acquaintances cannot...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say. In her present hour of trial she may remember her former afflictions and speak of them for her comfort, drawing from them the assurance that he who has been with her for so long will not desert her in the end. The song begins abruptly. The poet has been musing, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,.... This is repeated for the confirmation of it, to excite attention to it, and to express the vehement affection of the speaker; yet they have not prevailed against me; the Egyptians could not prevail against literal Israel; the more they were afflicted, the more they grew and multiplied; in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The ploughers ploughed upon my back,.... "Sinners", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it; such that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, Job 4:8; which may be understood of their carrying Israel captive, when they put yokes and bonds upon their necks, as upon oxen when they plough, as Arama interprets it; or it may...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. Like one that has been cruelly scourged until each cut of the lash seemed to make a furrow through the quivering flesh: “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.” How truly could our blessed Lord utter these words when he was delivered up to wicked men to be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord [is] righteous,.... Or gracious and merciful; hence acts of mercy are called righteousness in the Hebrew language; the Lord has compassion on his people under their afflictions, and delivers them; or is faithful to his promises of salvation to them, and just and righteous to render tribulation to them that trouble them, and take vengeance...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. “The Lord is righteous.” There is our hope and comfort. He takes away from them the scourge, and cuts up the cords of which it is made; and those cords with which they would bind the righteous he cuts into pieces, so that they can do nothing against them: “He hath cut asunder the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let them all be confounded,.... Or "ashamed": as all the enemies of God's people will be sooner or later, either in this world, or however when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven; or let them be disappointed of their views, aims, and ends, when they will be confounded, as disappointed persons are; and turned back; from pursuing their...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. So it seems that the one aimed at, and made to suffer, is the Church of God, “Zion.” She has often been scourged and afflicted. Her experience is like that of her covenant Head, and her triumph will be like his triumph.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let them be as the grass [upon] the housetops,.... The tops of the houses in Judea were flat, and so grass grew upon them, being covered with plaster of terrace; though it was but small and weak, and being on high was exposed to the scorching sun, and soon withered (b); and Menochius says (c) he saw such roofs in the island of Corsica, flat, and...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD. So the adversaries of the Church of God may grow as fast as grass on the roof...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand,.... Such grass never rises high enough to be mowed, nor is of that account to have such pains taken with it; nor the quantity so large as to fill a mower's hand, and carry it away in his arms; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom; when corn is mowed or reaped, the binders come and gather it up in their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the Lord [be] upon you,.... As was usual with passengers, when they went by where mowers, and reapers, and binders, were at work in the field in harvest time; who used to wish the presence and blessing of God with them, and upon their labours; and who returned the salutation, as may be seen in Boaz...