Psalm 19

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:4

(4) Their line.—Heb., kav, a cord, used of a plummet line (Zechariah 1:16); a measuring cord (Jeremiah 31:39, where also same verb, gone forth). In Isaiah 28:10, the word is used ethically for a definition or law. But neither of these seems very appropriate here. The verse wants sound or voice, and words of this intention actually appear in the LXX., Vulg., Symmachus, Jerome, and the Syriac.The use which St. Paul makes of these words (Romans 10:18) is as natural as striking. The march of truth... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:5

(5) Which is.—Better, and he is. The suddenness of the Oriental sunrise is finely caught in the image of the uplifted tent-curtain and appearance of the radiant hero (“strong man;” Heb., gibbor. Comp. Judges 5:31). This want of twilight, this absence of silent preparation for the supreme moment, distinguishes Eastern songs of sunrise from the poetry of the West. There are no musterings of “mute companies of changeful clouds,” no “avant couriers of the light,” no “grey lines fretting the clouds... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:7

(7) The law.—The ear catches even in the English the change of rhythm, which is as marked as the change of subject. Instead of the free lyric movement of the preceding verse, we come suddenly upon the most finished specimen of didactic poetry in regular metre, exhibiting a perfect balance of expression as well as of thought, so perfect in the original, that in Psalms 19:7-9 the number of words is the same in each clause. In each clause, too, the Law, under one or another of its many names and... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:8

(8) Right.—Here in its original sense of “straight,” or direct. A fine moral insight suggested this touch. The road of duty, when plain and unmistakable, inspires a sense of gladness, even if it be difficult and dangerous.“Stern Lawgiver, yet thou dost wearThe Godhead’s most benignant grace;Nor know we anything so fairAs is the smile upon thy face.Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,And fragrance in thy footing treads.”WORDSWORTH’S Ode to Duty.‘Enlightening the eyes.—Not here as in Psalms... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:9

(9) The fear of the Lord.—Here plainly not a moral quality of the individual, but, as in Proverbs 15:33 (comp. Deuteronomy 17:19), religion, the service demanded by the Law, which, being “pure and undented,” endures, while the false systems of idolatrous nations perish. Based on the eternal principle of right, the judgments of God, it is eternal as they are. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:10

(10) Honeycomb.—(See margin.) The honey that drops from the comb is the finest and purest. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:11

(11) Warned.—Better, illuminated, instructed. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:12

(12) His eulogium on the Law was not Pharisaic or formal, for the poet instantly gives expression to his sense of his own inability to keep it. If before we were reminded of St. Paul’s, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good,” (Romans 7:12), his own spiritual experience, contained in the same chapter, is here recalled: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil that I would not, that I do.”Who can understand.—In the original the abruptness of the question is very... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:13

(13) Presumptuous sin.—The Heb., from root meaning to “boil up” or “over,” is properly masculine, and always elsewhere means proud or arrogant men. (So Symmachus and Aquila.) Hence here explain, “Keep thy servant from the companionship of arrogant men, so that they may not get dominion over me, and lead me away from thy Law.”The great transgression.—Rather, a great transgression, though even without the article it is possible the particular sin of idolatry is intended. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:14

(14) Meditation.—Heb., higgaîon. (See Psalms 9:16; Psalms 92:3.) read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:7

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:9

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:10

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:11

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:12

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:13

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 19:14

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