Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 19:2
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
2. This proclamation is continuous and unceasing. “Dies diem docet.” Each day, each night, hands on the message to its successor in an unbroken tradition. Day and night are mentioned separately, for each has a special message entrusted to it: the day tells of splendour, power, beneficence; the night tells of vastness, order, mystery, beauty, repose. They are “like the two parts of a choir, chanting forth alternately the praises of God.” (Bp. Horne.)
uttereth ] Lit. pours out, in copious abundance.
sheweth ] Or, proclaimeth, a different word from that of Psa 19:1. Knowledge is “that which may be known of God” (Rom 1:19). “Aristotle says [10] , that should a man live under ground, and there converse with works of art and mechanism, and should afterwards be brought up into the open day, and see the several glories of the heaven and earth, he would immediately pronounce them the works of such a being as we define God to be.” Addison in The Spectator, No. 465.
[10] The passage is a fragment of Aristotle’s Dialogue on Philosophy quoted by Cicero De Natura Deorum, ii. 37. 95, and is well worth referring to.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Day unto day – One day to another; or, each successive day. The day that is passing away proclaims the lesson which it had to convey from the movements of the heavens, about God; and thus the knowledge of God is accumulating as the time moves on. Each day has its own lesson in regard to the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of God, and that lesson is conveyed from one day to another. There is a perpetual testimony thus given to the wisdom and power of the Great Creator.
Uttereth speech – The word here rendered uttereth means properly to pour forth; to pour forth copiously as a fountain. Compare Pro 18:4; Pro 1:23; Pro 15:2, Pro 15:28. Hence, the word means to utter; to declare. The word speech means properly a word; and then, a lesson; or that which speech conveys. The idea is, that the successive days thus impart instruction, or convey lessons about God. The day does this by the returning light, and by the steady and sublime movement of the sun in the heavens, and by all the disclosures which are made by the light of the sun in his journeyings.
And night unto night showeth knowledge – Knowledge respecting God. Each successive night does this. It is done by the stars in their courses; in their order; their numbers; their ranks; their changes of position; their rising and their setting. There are as many lessons conveyed to man about the greatness and majesty of God by the silent movements of each night as there are by the light of the successive days – just as there may be as many lessons conveyed to the soul about God in the dark night of affliction and adversity, as there are when the sun of prosperity shines upon us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 19:2
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
Instruction to be derived from the revolution of day and night
I. The almighty power of the Creator and Preserver of the universe. The very act of creation, or the producing of any being out of nothing, gives us the most enlarged idea of Omnipotence. The Almighty not only at first created, but continually upholds, the work of His hands. His mighty energy is continually displayed in the preservation of all the creatures He hath made.
II. The goodness of God. Attend particularly to man, the noblest work of God. Every faculty of our nature and every circumstance of our condition afford abundant evidence of the goodness of God. Through the faculty of reason we are blessed with moral perception: we know what is right and what is wrong. The exercise of our mental powers is accompanied with pleasure. In the scheme of redeeming grace unfolded in the Gospel we have the most illustrious display of the Divine benignity which men or angels have ever witnessed. And if we consider ourselves as creatures in a state of trial we find ourselves furnished with all the direction, assistance, and encouragement that such a state requires.
III. The wisdom of God. Wisdom, whenever it is employed, must have happiness for its object; and when that is promoted by fit means, wisdom shows itself to the utmost advantage. Every object that contributes to our happiness is admirably contrived for that end; and every evidence of Divine goodness brings with it a concomitant proof of Divine wisdom, The body and the mind want the rest of night, and partake of this refreshment, The faculties of the soul cannot long bear intense application. Attend now to the religious and moral instructions which this subject suggests.
1. Let every revolution of day and night raise our thoughts to God. Let us attend to the daily revolution, not with the coldness of a philosophic inquirer, but with the ardent piety of devout worshippers of the God of nature and grace. But it is in the scheme of redemption, unfolded in the Gospel, that we behold the Divine perfections shining with the most resplendent lustre. The light of the sun of righteousness throws new beauty upon the creation of God.
2. Consider the experience we have had of the power, goodness, wisdom, and mercy of God in the by-past of our life. It were endless to enumerate the instances of the Divine goodness and mercy in which we have shared.
3. Every revolving year, every revolving day, tells us that the period of our probation is hastening to an end. Then watch against a worldly temper and disposition of mind. Watch against building our hopes on general truths and promises, without any evidence of our interest in them. (James Ross, D. D.)
Silent sounds
It sounds rather curious, does it not, to hear about one day speaking to another? Though you have listened ever so hard, yet you have not been able to hear a day speaking. That is true; and David, who wrote this Psalm, knew that also, for he says in the very next verse, No speech, no language, their voice is not heard–and yet, day unto day uttereth speech! How can theft be? Because there are more ways of speaking than one. There is the way the deaf and dumb speak–on their fingers. Their voice is not heard, yet they speak. Then a book speaks. The moment it is open, and you see the words, you understand what they mean–they speak to you. There is a tribe of savage people tar away, and what do you think is the name they give to a book? They call it the whisperer. But it does not whisper; it has no voice nor sound, and yet it speaks. Now, how do you come to understand what people say–when they speak on their fingers? or how do you ever come to know what a book says? Isnt it by first learning how to understand? And you carry the way to understand inside yourself. So is it that we understand thousands of things round about us, and that tells us of God, The way, then, to understand what the days speak is to get much of Gods spirit into our hearts. The days say–
I. Theres nothing new! Today is just like yesterday. Yesterday came up beautiful, became brighter, had clouds and sunshine, and then faded away. So it will be with today. Yesterday carried away on its white wings the spirits of thousands of men and women, and wee, wee children too; and the night came, and covered their bodies, and they were seen no more. So it will be today. Theres nothing new. But as you listen again you hear the days say–
II. Everything is new! There is nothing new about the day, but everything is new about you. The temptations you will have today wont be the same that you had yesterday; the night has come like a black wall between you and yesterday, and today you get a fair start again; and today you may do better than yesterday, or today you may do worse, but you cant blame yesterday. It is gone; this is a new day, but, take care! you will be tempted today in another way. So, you can t afford to forget Jesus: a new day means a new way, and only Jesus can guide you rightly upon it. But this also the days say–
III. Time tells of eternity! As the days pass away, we pass away with them–passing away, out into eternity. When you are in a train or a tramcar you notice that all the people do not go to the journeys end. Some go only a little way, others go farther, new ones come in; perhaps you yourself get out before the whole journey is done. Anyway, they are very few who go all the way. It is just the same with our lives. Some only go a short distance through the days–God calls them away when they are young. Some go a little farther, others a little farther still; but they are very few indeed who come to be very old. Shouldnt every day, then, make us think of what is to be the end of all? (J. Reid Howett.)
Night unto night sheweth knowledge.
The teaching of the night
God divided the sovereignty of time between day and night.
I. Night teaches the individuality of our being. For more than the day, it shows us what it is to be alone with ourselves and God. It drives all the faculties and sensibilities of the soul inward upon itself. The hours of darkness are fearful to those who are afraid to be with themselves and God. Jesus used to retire to desert places, that He might, during the night time be alone with the Father. I have myself spent the hours of night alone upon high mountains. A solemn experience.
II. The retirement of the soul, in which Gods presence is most felt, need not take us away from the crowded paths of life. Where we see most of man, there we can see most of God. A spiritually minded man once said that he felt Gods presence with him in walking the crowded and noisy streets of New York as really as he did in the sanctuary or in the solemn hour of devotion.
III. The night of the natural world is the symbol of the deeper night of sorrow and disappointment that settles down upon the soul. God surrounds us with both, that we may feel for His hand in the darkness, and find ourselves safe with His protection. We learn from the night of affliction and trouble many lessons which we could never master in the light of broad day. In the awful night hour of death we need not find ourselves alone. He has been all the way through the valley of the shadow of death, and He will not leave us to grope in vain for His hand. (D. Marsh, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Day unto day uttereth speech] Each day is represented as teaching another relative to some new excellence discovered in these manifold works of God. The nights also, by the same figure, are represented as giving information to each other of the increase of knowledge already gained.
“The labours of these our instructers know no intermission; but they continue incessantly to lecture us in the science of Divine wisdom. There is one glory of the sun, which shines forth by day; and there are other glories of the moon and of the stars, which become visible by night. And because day and night interchangeably divide the world between them, they are therefore represented as transmitting, in succession, each to other, the task enjoined them, like the two parts of a choir, chanting forth alternately the praises of God.” – Bishop Horne.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Day unto day; or rather, after (as the Hebrew lamed oft signifies, as Exo 16:1; 29:38; 2Ch 30:21; Psa 96:2) day; for the day doth not utter this to the day, but to us upon the day. The sense is either,
1. That orderly, and constant, and useful succession of days and nights one after another declare this. But of the course of the sun, the effect whereof this succession is, he speaks Psa 19:5. Or rather,
2. Every day and night renews or repeats these documents and demonstrations of Gods glory. He that neglects them one day, may learn them the next day.
Uttereth, or, poureth forth, to wit, constantly, and abundantly, and forcibly, as a fountain doth water, as this Hebrew verb signifies.
Speech; or the word, or discourse, to wit, concerning God. It hath as it were a tongue to speak the praises of its Maker, i.e. it gives men occasion to magnify and adore him.
Showeth knowledge, i. e. gives us a clear and certain knowledge or discovery of God their author.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. utterethpours forth as astream; a perpetual testimony.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Day untoday uttereth speech,…. This, with the following clause,
and night untonight showeth knowledge, some understand of the constant and continued succession of day and night; which declares the glory of God, and shows him to be possessed of infinite knowledge and wisdom; and which brings a new accession of knowledge to men; others, of the continual declaration of the glory of God, and of the knowledge of him made by the heavens and the firmament, the ordinances of which always continue; the sun for a light by day, and the moon and stars for a light by night; and so night and day constantly and successively proclaim the glory and wisdom of God: but rather this is to be understood of the constancy of the Gospel ministry, and the continuance of the evangelic revelation. The apostles of Christ persevered in their work, and laboured in the word and doctrine night and day: they were in it at all seasons; yea, were instant in season and out of season; and though they are dead, the Gospel continues, and will do as long as day and night remain: and these, like overflowing fountains, sent forth in great abundance, as the word x rendered “uttereth” signifies, the streams of divine light and knowledge; they were full of matter, and their tongues were as the pen of a ready writer; they diffused the savour of the knowledge of Christ, in great plenty, in every place where they came. These words express the continuance of the Gospel revelation, as the next do the extent of it.
x “eructat”, Musculus, Munster, Vatablus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Ainsworth; “scaturit”, Muis; “scaturiendo effundit”, Cocceius; “copiose ac constanter instar foecundae cujusdam scaturiginis protrudit, emittit”, Gejerus; so Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Day unto day uttereth speech. Philosophers, who have more penetration into those matters than others, understand how the stars are arranged in such beautiful order, that notwithstanding their immense number there is no confusion; but to the ignorant and unlettered, the continual succession of days is a more undoubted proof of the providence of God. David, therefore, having spoken of the heavens, does not here descend from them to other parts of the world; but, from an effect more sensible and nearer our apprehension, he confirms what he has just now said, namely, that the glory of God not only shines, but also resounds in the heavens. The words may be variously expounded, but the different expositions which have been given of them make little difference as to the sense. Some explain them thus, that no day passes in which God does not show some signal evidence of his power. Others are of opinion that they denote the augmentations of instruction and knowledge, – that every succeeding day contributes something new in proof of the existence and perfections of God. Others view them as meaning that the days and nights talk together, and reason concerning the glory of their Creator’, but this is a somewhat forced interpretation. David, I have no doubt, here teaches, from the established alternations of days and nights, that the course and revolutions of the sun, and moon, and stars, are regulated by the marvellous wisdom of God. Whether we translate the words Day after day, or one day to another day, is of little consequence; for all that David means is the beautiful arrangement of time which the succession of days and nights effects. If, indeed, we were as attentive as we ought to be, even one day would suffice to bear testimony to us of the glory of God, and even one night would be sufficient to perform to us the same office. But when we see the sun and the moon performing their daily revolutions, — the sun by day appearing over our heads, and the moon succeeding in its turns — the sun ascending by degrees, while at the same time he approaches nearer us, — and afterwards bending his course so as to depart from us by little and little; — and when we see that by this means the length of the days and nights is regulated, and that the variation of their length is arranged according to a law so uniform, as invariably to recur at the same points of time in every successive year, we have in this a much brighter testimony to the glory of God. David, therefore, with the highest reason, declares, that although God should not speak a single word to men, yet the orderly and useful succession of days and nights eloquently proclaims the glory of God, and that there is now left to men no pretext for ignorance; for since the days and nights perform towards us so well and so carefully the office of teachers, we may acquire, if we are duly attentive, a sufficient amount of knowledge under their tuition.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Uttereth.Literally, ours out, or makes to well up, like a fountain, undoubtedly in reference to the light streaming forth.
Sheweth.Literally, breathes out; perhaps with reference to the cool evening breeze, so welcome in the East. (See Son. 2:17, Note.) Notice that it is not here the heavens that are telling (as in Psa. 19:1) the tale of Gods glory to man, or to the listening earth, as in Addisons well- known hymn, but day tells its successor day, and night whispers to night, so handing on, as if from parent to son, the great news.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Day unto day That is, perpetually; day and night, responding to each other in their alternations.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
In like manner, the regular succession of day and night prove no less his order and government. He maketh the outgoings of the morning and evening to praise him. Psa 65:8 . And so universal are those teachings, that there is no nation under the sun but hath this book of God in creation opened to their view.
Reader, remark by the way the perpetuity of this order and regularity, as a confirmation of God’s covenant with Noah. After the deluge the Lord promised, that while the earth remained seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, should not cease. And, although this promise was made more than four thousand years since, yet God is as true to his promise as though it was made but yesterday. Mark this, Reader, as a further proof of divine faithfulness, and remember what God commanded by Moses, Know, therefore, that the Lord thy God he is God, the faithful God. Gen 8:22 ; Deu 7:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
Ver. 2. Day unto day uttereth speech ] Some read it, one day succeeding another uttereth (or welleth out, as a fountain, continually, and plentifully) speech, yet without sound, Sicut fons scaturiens (R. Menahem); by a dumb kind of eloquence, eructant; by a continual revolution and succession of days men are instructed concerning the power and providence of God, as also concerning his truth and faithfulness; for if God had hitherto kept promise with nights and days, that one shall succeed the other, will he not much more keep promise with his people? Jer 33:20 ; Jer 33:25 .
And night unto night showeth knowledge
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Day unto day = Day after day.
uttereth = constantly poureth forth. Hebrew. naba’, to tell forth, or prophesy.
speech = speaking. See note on Psa 18:30.
unto = after.
knowledge = intelligence, information.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Day unto: Psa 24:7-10, Psa 78:3-6, Psa 134:1-3, Psa 148:12, Exo 15:20, Exo 15:21, Isa 38:19
night unto: Psa 74:16, Psa 136:8, Psa 136:9, Gen 1:17, Gen 1:18, Gen 8:22
Reciprocal: Gen 1:5 – and Gen 1:31 – very good Psa 28:5 – operation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 19:2. Day unto day Or rather, day after day, uttereth speech Hebrew, , jabiang omer, poureth forth the word or discourse, (namely, concerning God,) constantly, abundantly, and forcibly, as a fountain doth water, as the word signifies. It hath, as it were, a tongue to speak the praises of its Maker. Night unto night showeth knowledge A clear and certain knowledge, or discovery of God its author, and his infinite perfections. The labour of these our instructers, says Dr. Horne, knows no intermission, but they continue to lecture us incessantly in the science of divine wisdom. There is one glory of the sun, which shines forth by day; and there are other glories of the moon and of the stars, which become visible by night. And because day and night interchangeably divide the world between them, they are therefore represented as transmitting in succession, each to other, the task enjoined them, like the two parts of a choir, chanting forth alternately the praises of God. Thus the instruction becomes perpetual. Every day and every night renews or repeats these documents and demonstrations of Gods glory: so that he who has neglected them yesterday has an opportunity put into his hands again to- day of profiting by their instruction. And, at the same time, the circumstances of their regular, constant, and beneficial vicissitude, set forth and proclaim aloud the excellence of that wisdom and goodness, which first appointed, and still continues it. How does inanimate nature reproach us with our indolence, inattention, and indevotion!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:2 {b} Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
(b) The continual success of the day and night is sufficient to declare God’s power and goodness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Every day and every night, this revelation of the power and greatness of the Creator communicates, since human beings observe it daily. The presence of the heavenly host is a non-verbal testimony to God’s existence that reaches every part of the planet. Everyone, regardless of his or her language, can understand it (cf. Rom 1:18-20). [Note: See Harry Torcszyner, "The Riddle in the Bible," Hebrew Union College Annual 1 (1924):141-49.] This is "the paradox of wordless speech." [Note: Kidner, p. 98. ] It is also an oxymoron.