Psalm 59:8-12 NIV

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:12

For the sin of their mouth - This verse has puzzled all the commentators. If we take חטאת chattath for sin-offering instead of sin, we shall get a better sense. Some of Nehemiah's enemies made a profession of the Jewish religion. Tobiah and his son were allied by marriage to the Jews; for Eliashib the priest had married his grandson to the daughter of Sanballat; and this produced a connection with Tobiah, the fast friend of Sanballat. Besides this very priest had given Tobiah one of the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:8

Verse 8 8.But thou, O Jehovah! shalt laugh at them. In the face of all this opposition, David only rises to greater confidence. When he says that God would laugh at his enemies, he employs a figure which is well fitted to enhance the power of God, suggesting that, when the wicked have perfected their schemes to the uttermost, God can, without any effort, and, as it were, in sport, dissipate them all. No sooner does God connive at their proceedings, than their pride and insolence take occasion... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:9

Verse 9 9I will intrust his strength to thee The obscurity of this passage has led to a variety of opinions amongst commentators. The most forced interpretation which has been proposed is that which supposes a change of person in the relative his, as if David, in speaking of himself, employed the third person instead of the first, I will intrust my strength to thee The Septuagint, and those who adopt this interpretation, have probably been led to it by the insufficient reason, that in the last... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:10

Verse 10 10.The God of my mercy will prevent me In the Hebrew, there is the affix of the third person, but we have the point which denotes the first. (367) The Septuagint has adopted the third person, and Augustine too ingeniously, though with a good design, has repeatedly quoted the passage against the Pelagians, in proof that the grace of God is antecedent to all human merit. In the same manner, he has again and again cited the preceding verse, to refute the arrogancy of those who boast of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:11

Verse 11 11Slay them not, lest my people forget David very properly suggests this to his own mind, as a consideration which should produce patience. We are apt to think, when God has not annihilated our enemies at once, that they have escaped out of his hands altogether; and we look upon it as properly no punishment, that they should be gradually and slowly destroyed. Such being the extravagant desire which almost all, without exception, have, to see their enemies at once exterminated, David... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:12

Verse 12 12The sin of their mouth, the words of their lips Some interpreters read, for, or, on account of the sin of their mouth, (369) supplying the causal particle, that the words may be the better connected with the preceding verse. And there can be no doubt that the reason is stated here why they deserved to be subjected to constant wanderings and disquietude. The words as they stand, however, although abrupt and elliptical, well express the meaning which David would convey; as if he had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:1-17

It is generally agreed that the composition divides into four portions, two of them closed by the pause mark, "Selah," and the other two by a refrain. It thus consists of four strophes, the first of five verses ( 1 Samuel 19:1-5 ), and the other three of four verses each ( 1 Samuel 19:6-9 , 1 Samuel 19:10-13 , and 1 Samuel 19:14-17 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:1-17

Waiting upon God. There are expressions in this psalm which sound harsh and cruel, and which Christians would shrink from using. But, on the other hand, there is much here that comes home to our experience, and that is helpful and comforting in the great trials of life. It is something to know that good men have suffered affliction before us—that they have been falsely accused and foully wronged, that they have felt the pangs of grief and the bitterness of disappointment, and that they... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:6-9

"Here a new stanza begins" (Cheyne). The "enemies" of Psalms 59:1 and the "workers of iniquity" of Psalms 59:2 are more elaborately portrayed. First they are represented as "dogs"—such hideous, half-wild dogs as frequent Eastern cities, which sleep during the greater part of the day, and rove about in packs at night—unclean, horrid, loathsome animals ( Psalms 59:6 ). Then they appear as men—abusive, slanderous, godless ( Psalms 59:7 ). In conclusion, appeal is made to God against them.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:8

But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them (comp. Psalms 2:4 ). Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision (see the comment on Psalms 59:5 , and particularly the explanation there given of "all the heathen"). read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:12

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:8

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:9

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:10

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:11

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 59:12

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:1-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:1-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:6-9

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 59:8

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