2610 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They also that seek after my life,.... His avowed and implacable enemies, whom nothing would satisfy but the taking away of his life: these came too near him; for these, he says, lay snares [for me], as Satan does for the souls of men, as the Jews did for Christ, and as wicked men do for the saints, Psalms 124:7; and they that seek my hurt speak...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But I, as a deaf [man], heard not,.... He acted the part of a deaf man, and made as if he did not hear the mischievous things his enemies spoke; as Saul, when the sons of Belial spoke against him and despised him, 1 Samuel 10:27; and as our Lord when his enemies accused him, Matthew 27:12; and [I was] as a dumb man, [that] openeth not his mouth;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus I was as a man that heareth not,.... Any thing that is said unto him; he took no more notice of it than if he had never heard it; but bore all the railings and calumnies of men with calmness and patience; and in whose mouth [are] no reproofs; as if he had nothing to say for himself, in vindication of his character, and to the refutation of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For in thee, O Lord, do I hope,.... That he would plead his cause against his accusers and revilers, and who sought his hurt; that he should be delivered out of their hands, and out of all his afflictions; that he should be healed of his diseases, both of soul and body, under which he laboured; and should again enjoy the light of God's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I said, [hear me],.... This he had expressed in prayer to God; he had committed his cause to him, and entreated him that he would hear and answer him; giving this as a reason, lest [otherwise] they should rejoice over me; at his misfortunes and calamities, at the continuance of his trouble and distress, both of body and mind; when my foot...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I [am] ready to halt,.... Meaning either that there was a proneness in him to sin; see Jeremiah 20:10; or that he was subject to affliction and adversity, as the same word is rendered in Psalms 35:15; and the words are either a reason and argument used with the Lord, to hear and keep his foot from slipping, that so his enemies might not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I will declare mine iniquity,.... Either to men, to ease his mind, justify God in his proceedings with him, and for their caution and admonition: or rather to God, against whom he had sinned, and who only could pardon him; with a view to which he was determined to make a free and open confession of it before him: I will be sorry for my sin, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But mine enemies [are] lively,.... Or "living" (q) or "live"; not in a spiritual sense; for they had no lively hope, nor living faith, but were dead in trespasses and sins; nor merely in a natural sense, or corporeally, so David was living himself; but in great prosperity and worldly happiness, and so were brisk and cheerful, and lived a merry and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries,.... [See comments on Psalms 35:12]; because I follow [the thing that] good [is]; or "follow good"; a good God, whom his soul followed hard after, Psalms 63:8; the good Shepherd of the sheep, who led him into green pastures, whither he followed him, Psalms 23:1; the good Spirit of God his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Forsake me not, O Lord,.... Or continue not to forsake; for he seems to have been under divine desertion, and might be under apprehensions that God had utterly forsaken him; which he entreats he would not, though his friends had forsook him, and his own strength had failed and left him, Psalms 38:10; O my God, be not far from me; as to his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Make haste and help me,.... Or, "for my help"; his case required haste, and God does help his people when none else can, and that right early; O Lord, my salvation; by which it appears that his prayer was a prayer of faith; he saw that his salvation was in the Lord, and in no other; and though he had been and was in such a low condition, both in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 39 To the chief Musician, [even] to Jeduthun, a Psalm of David. Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and others, to understand it as the name of the chief...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I said,.... That is, in his heart; he purposed and determined within himself to do as follows; and he might express it with his mouth, and so his purpose became a promise; I will take heed to my ways; as every good man should; that is, to all his actions, conduct, and conversation: it becomes him to take heed what ways he walks in; that they are...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was dumb with silence,.... Quite silent, as if he had been a dumb man, and could not speak; so he was before men, especially wicked men, and under the afflicting hand of God; see Psalms 39:9; thus he put his resolution into practice; I held my peace, [even] from good; that is, he said neither good nor bad: this expresses the greatness of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My heart was hot within me,.... Either with zeal for God; or rather with envy at the prosperity of wicked men, and with impatience at his own afflictions; while I was musing the fire burned; not the fire of the divine word, while he was meditating upon it, which caused his heart to burn within him; nor the fire of divine love, the coals whereof...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lord, make me to know mine end,.... Not Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, as Jerom interprets it; nor how long he should live, how many days, months, and years more; for though they are known of God, they are not to be known by men; but either the end of his afflictions, or his, latter end, his mortal state, that he might be more...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, thou hast made my days [as] an handbreadth,.... These words, with the following clause, are the psalmist's answer to his own inquiries; or rather a correction of his inquiry and impatience, showing how needless it was to ask such questions, and be impatient to die, when it was so clear and certain a case that life was so short; not a yard...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Surely every man walketh in a vain show,.... Or "in an image" (z); not "in the image of the Lord", as the Targum; in the image in which God created man, for that is lost; nor in that which is stamped on men in regeneration; for every man does not walk in that; rather in the image of fallen man, in which every man is born and walks: or "in a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, Lord, what wait I for?.... Look for, or expect, in this view of things? not long life, since the days of man are so short, and his age as nothing; not help from man, since he is altogether vanity; not riches and honour, since they are such poor, fading, perishing things; but the glories of another world, and the enjoyment of the Lord...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Deliver me from all my transgressions,.... Which were the cause and occasion of all his distresses, inward and outward; and the deliverance prayed for includes a freedom from the dominion of sin, which is by the power of efficacious grace; and from the guilt of sin, which is by the application of the blood of Christ; and from obligation to...