2610 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God hath spoken once,.... One word of his is more to be confided in, and depended on, than all the men and things in the world. The meaning is not that God hath only spoke once; he has spoke often; he spoke all things out of nothing in creation; he spoke all the words of the law at Mount Sinai; he spoke by the prophets under the Old Testament...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also unto thee, O Lord, [belongeth] mercy,.... This is the other thing the psalmist had heard, and was assured of, and which encouraged his hope and trust in the Lord; that mercy belonged to him, Psalms 130:7; as appears, not only from the common bounties of his providence, daily bestowed upon his creatures; but from the special gift of his Son,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 63 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. This psalm was composed by David, either when he was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to hide himself in desert places, as in the forest of Hareth, the wildernesses of Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, 1 Samuel 22:5; all which were in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:55; or when...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O God, thou [art] my God,.... Not by nature only, or by birth; not merely as an Israelite and son of Abraham; but by grace through Christ, and in virtue of an everlasting covenant, the blessings and promises of which were applied unto him; and he, by faith, could now claim his interest in them, and in his God as his covenant God; who is a God at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To see thy power and thy glory,.... Either the ark, as the Jewish writers generally interpret it; the symbol of God's presence and glory, and which is called his strength and his glory; see Psalms 78:61; or rather the Lord Christ, who is the power of God, as well as the wisdom of God; by whom he made the world, and upholds it; by whom he has...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life,.... For life without the love of God is nothing else than death: a man that has no share in the love of God is dead while he lives; all the enjoyments of life, health, riches, honour, friends, c. are nothing without the love of God the meanest temporal blessings with it are preferable to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus will I bless thee while I live,.... With his whole heart and soul, as he had sought after him, and as under a sense of his lovingkindness; and as he now praised him with his lips, so he determined to do as long as he had life and being; by proclaiming his blessedness, by ascribing blessing and honour to him, and by giving him the glory of all...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My soul shall be satisfied as [with] marrow and fatness,.... When he should return to the house of the Lord, and partake of the provisions of it, called the fatness of his house, [See comments on Psalms 36:8]. The phrase denotes the abundance of spiritual refreshment and delight in the word and ordinances, and the great satisfaction had in them;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When I remember thee upon my bed,.... Or "beds" (q); seeing he lay in many, as Kimchi observes, being obliged to flee from place to place. The sense is, that when he was on his bed in the night season, when alone, and free from worldly cares and fatigues, and called to mind the love of God to him, the past experience of his kindness, his promises...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because thou hast been my help,.... Or, "that thou hast been my help" (s); and so the words may be considered as the subject of his meditation in the night watches, at least as a part of it; and as what gave him a great deal of pleasure to reflect upon, how the Lord had been in times past a present help to him in time of trouble; therefore in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My soul followeth hard after thee,.... In a way of duty, and in the use of means; as prayer, meditation, c. though at a distance from the house of God, and worship of it that he might not lose sight of him; that he might know more of him, and have more communion with him; being drawn after him with the cords of love, and strongly affected to him....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But those [that] seek my soul to destroy it,.... Meaning his life; for as for his soul, that was immaterial and immortal, and could never be destroyed by man: but as for his natural life, his enemies laid snares for that, and sought to take it away, and nothing less would satisfy them; shall go into the lower parts of the earth; not the grave,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall fall by the sword,.... As Saul, his sons, and mighty men, did, 1 Samuel 31:4; or, "they shall make him pour out" (u); that is, his blood, "by the hands" or "[means] of the sword"; meaning either some principal enemy, as Saul in particular, or everyone of his enemies; who should be thrust with the sword, their blood let out, and they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the king shall rejoice in God,.... Not Saul, as R. Obadiah; as if David wished him well, and that he might have reason to rejoice in God, though he sought his hurt; which sense is rejected by Abea Ezra: but either David, who speaks of himself as king, being anointed by Samuel, and who, upon the death of Saul, was so in fact; and who rejoiced,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 64 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm is applied by R. Obadiah to Haman and Mordecai. The enemy is Haman, the perfect man shot at is Mordecai; about whom Haman communed with his friends to lay snares for him, and searched diligently for occasions against him and his people, which issued in his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer,.... The prayer of the psalmist was vocal and expressed in a mournful manner, with groans and cries, as the word (z) used signifies, and with great ardour and fervency; his condition, by reason of his enemies, being very distressing, and therefore he is very eager and earnest that he might be heard; preserve my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked,.... The word used denotes both the place where wicked men meet together for consultation; see Genesis 49:6; and the counsel itself they there take; from the bad effects of which the psalmist desired to be hid and preserved. So Saul and his courtiers secretly took counsel against David, and the Jews...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who whet their tongue like a sword,.... Use cutting, wounding, killing, and devouring words; on which they set an edge, and make them keener and keener to hurt and ruin the characters and reputations of good men, and grieve and distress their minds; [and] bend [their bows to shoot] their arrows, [even] bitter words; such are the these doctrines of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That they may shoot in secret at the perfect,.... Meaning himself, who though not without sin, and far from perfection in himself, in the sight of God and with respect to his righteous law, which was exceeding broad; and therefore he saw an end of all perfection, and desired that God would not enter into judgment with him; but yet, in the case of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They encourage themselves [in] an evil matter,.... Or "strengthen him" (c); that is, Saul, by making use of arguments and reasonings to induce him to go on in his wicked persecution of David; or they strengthened and hardened themselves in their wickedness, as Saul's courtiers and the enemies of Christ did, and as all wicked men do, when they...