Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 31:9
Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, [yea], my soul and my belly.
9. Be gracious unto me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress:
Mine eye is wasted away because of provocation, yea, my soul and my body.
Cp. Psa 6:7 a; amplified here by the addition of my soul and my body (Psa 44:25).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 18. The tone of the Psalm changes. The recollection of past mercies brings present suffering into sharper relief. “A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.” This part of the Psalm reminds us of Psalms 6, and of Jeremiah’s complaints.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble – The nature and sources of his trouble are specified in the verses following. He seems to have regarded all his trouble as the result of sin, either the sin of his heart, of which he alone was conscious, or of some open act of sin, that had been the means of bringing this affliction upon him, Psa 31:10. As a consequence of this, he says that he was subjected to the reproach of his enemies, and shunned by his neighbors and his acquaintances; that he was forgotten by them like a dead man out of mind; that he was exposed to the slander of others, and that they conspired against his life, Psa 31:11-13. In view of all this he calls earnestly upon God to save him in his troubles, and to be his helper and friend.
Mine eye is consumed with grief – That is, with weeping. See the notes at Psa 6:7.
Yea, my soul – That is, my spirit, my life, my mind. My powers are weakened and exhausted by excessive grief.
And my belly – My bowels: regarded as the seat of the affections. See the notes at Isa 16:11; compare Psa 22:14. The effect of his grief was to exhaust his strength, and to make his heart sink within him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 31:9-18
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.
The complaints of a sufferer, and the entreaties of a suppliant
I. the complaints of a sufferer.
1. His sufferings were mental and severe.
2. His sufferings told most injuriously on his health.
3. His sufferings arose from a consciousness of his own guilt, and from the conduct of others.
4. Notwithstanding the severity of his sufferings, they utterly failed to destroy his confidence in God.
II. the entreaties of a suppliant.
1. Deliverance from enemies.
2. Divine approval.
3. Freedom from disappointment.
4. The ruin of his foes. This we are bound to condemn.
5. The subjugation of falsehood. (Homilist.)
The exhausting ministry of sin
There is nothing drains away the strength like sin. At the time when sin is committed we may be unconscious of its demands; indeed, we may sometimes feel as though our strength had been increased. It is part of the subtlety of the Evil One that he often adds a little exuberance to our rebellion, and fills our life with a sense of freedom and delight. But the drain is not the less real because it is concealed. I have seen a village slaughter-house covered with ivy and climbing roses. And the destruction wrought by sin proceeds behind our apparent gains. The real exhaustion is frequently discovered in the time of storm. We are flung into some exacting circle of circumstances, and we find we do not possess the necessary resource. Now all sin is attended by this destructive ministry. It is not only the sensual excess, but the sin of the daintier kind. It is not only the presumptuous uncleanness, emerging from the life like some foul eruption, but it is the secret fault nibbling away in the inward parts. And it is not only that all sin is destructive, but all sin works with a ministry of general destruction. It is not only that a single power is impaired; the taint infects the entire life. Sin is an evil contagion, and its evil is not confined to a power; it pervades a personality. In the destructive influence of sin the most delicate powers are the first impaired. The whole being immediately suffers deterioration, created by the presence of an enervating atmosphere, but the finest powers are those which soonest reveal the insidious consumption. The coronal powers first begin to sicken, and the sickness creeps down into the basement. When a man sins, the blight first strikes the spiritual apprehension. There is no clearer indication of this than when we turn to prayer after we have committed sin. We feel as though we had no delicate hand by which to apprehend the things divine; we have been coarsened, and these delicate presences are not revealed to our touch. But it is not only that our powers are benumbed, they are also emasculated; their secret strength is drained away. But with the impoverishment of the feeling for God there goes the dulling of the moral sense. We lose our powers of refinement, our capacity for discerning between the holy and the profane. We have no cute apprehension of moral values. The very criterion of social health is found in the accuracy of this moral standard, and it is the most pathetic commonplace to watch its deterioration. When a man tells a lie his moral sense is stunned as though he had received a blow in the forehead. And with the consumption of these highest powers our emotional endowment is impaired. I do not mean that we lose our readiness to tears. Weeping may be an art or an artifice, and there are many people whose emotions have been subsidized by the devil. But a fine emotional susceptibility gives weight and pressure to sacred purpose. We can do little or nothing without it. Logical convictions may abound, but they may be inactive and inert. They may be like tramcars waiting for electrical power. We can do little without emotion in political life, and perhaps the greatest need of our time is a baptism of profound and genuine emotion. But the strength of affection is drained away by sin, and what is left is polluted. A common sin diminishes the strength of the affections; they are no longer so refined and sympathetic; affection, through the ministry of sin, can become blind and deaf and dumb. My strength faileth because of mine iniquity. Now if this destructive ministry is at work, what can we do with it? Antagonistic ministries are suggested in the way of powerful antidotes. We are recommended to rearrange and refurnish mens environments. But what sort of an environment shall we create? Do we not too frequently argue as if the iniquity were all found in the Seven Dials and not in Belgravia? And yet in one the environment appears to be propitious, while in the other it seems to be adverse. Men say, Let us make our towns more like Bournville, and as far as we can, let us restore the original Paradise. But the devil is in Bournville as the serpent was in Eden. Other men accentuate the ministry of education. Yes, and who would say otherwise? And yet many an educated man is a beast. A secret canker is the companion of many a well-stored mind. We can hear the educated men and women everywhere employing the words of the psalmist: My strength faileth because of mine iniquity. How does the man of the text face his need? He surrenders his unmade soul to its Maker. Unto Thee, O God, I commit my spirit. He commits his spirit to God as an invalid commits himself to a competent physician. And this with completeness of trust. I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God! I think there is a most tender pathos in these words. Thou . . . My! This sin-haunted, sin-persecuted man lifts his eyes to the Maker, and addresses himself to a personal God. He quietly but confidently claims that Maker for himself. Thou art my God. And then with a sense of his own complete helplessness, and of the utter confusion which his own handiwork has wrought, he places the corrupted life into other and better hands. Take it off my hands, good Lord! I have spoiled Thy work, and the beauty and the strength of it are gone! I bring it back to Thee! Into Thy hands I commit my spirit! But with this completeness of trust there goes an audacity of obedience. There is no real trust without it. There is no faith without faithfulness, and no trust without obedience. The man puts his life into the hands of the Maker, and then stands to do the Makers bidding. And what are the issues of the faithful committal? We find them described in Psa 31:19. O, how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men! The immediate issue is a state of convalescence, the gradual recovery of lost health. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Mine eye is consumed] He now returns, and speaks of his present situation. Grief had brought many tears from his eyes, many agonies into his soul, and many distressful feelings into his whole frame.
My soul and my belly.] The belly is often taken for the whole body. But the term belly or bowels, in such as case as this, may be the most proper; for in distress and misery, the bowels being the most tender part, and in fact the very seat of compassion, they are often most affected. In Greek the word signifies a bowel, and signifies to be moved with compassion; to feel misery in the bowels at the sight of a person in pain and distress.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With grief; with continual weeping. See Poole “Psa 6:7“.
My soul; my sorrows are not counterfeit or slight, but inward and hearty; my mind is oppressed, my heart is ready to sink under my burden.
My belly, i.e. my bowels contained in my belly; which are the seat of the affections, and fountains of support and nourishment to the whole body. Thus the whole man, both soul and body, inside and outside, are consumed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9, 10. mine eye, &c.denotesextreme weakness (compare Ps 6:7).
griefmingled sorrowand indignation (Ps 6:7).
soul and . . . bellythewhole person.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble,…. A sudden change of case and frame this! and so it is with the people of God; as soon as, out of one trouble, they are in another; these are what are appointed for them, and lie in their pathway to heaven, and are necessary; and under them it is quite right to betake themselves to the Lord, who is a merciful God; and it is best to cast themselves upon his mercy, having no merit of their own to plead with him; and they may freely tell him all their distresses, as the psalmist here does, and hope for grace and mercy to help them in time of need;
mine eye, is consumed with grief; expressed by tears; through the multitude of which, by reason of trouble, his sight was greatly harmed; according to Jarchi, the word signifies, that his sight was so dim as is a man’s when he puts a glass before his eyes, to see what is beyond the glass: this shows that the invention of spectacles was before the year 1105; for in that year Jarchi died; and proves it more early than any other writer has pretended to a; for the commonly received opinion is, that they were invented at the latter end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century; but the apostle, as A-Lapide thinks, respects them, in 1Co 13:12; and they are mentioned by Plautus b, who lived almost two hundred years before the birth of Christ: the same Jarchi observes on Ps 6:7;
[yea], my soul and my belly; perhaps he could not eat his food, or digest it, which brought upon him internal disorders, and even brought his soul or life into danger.
a See Chambers’s Dictionary on the word “Spectacles”. b Vid. Ainsworth’s Lat. Dict. in voce “Conspicill”. & Panciroll. Rer. Memorab. par. 2. tit. 15. & Salmath. in ib. p. 268.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 31:10-14) After the paean before victory, which he has sung in the fulness of his faith, in this second part of the Psalm (with groups, or strophes, of diminishing compass: 6. 5. 4) there again breaks forth the petition, based upon the greatness of the suffering which the psalmist, after having strengthened himself in his trust in God, now all the more vividly sets before Him. , angustum est mihi , as in Psa 69:18, cf. Psa 18:7. Psa 31:10 is word for word like Psa 6:8, except that in this passage to , the eye which mirrors the state of suffering in which the sensuous perception and objective receptivity of the man are concentrated, are added , the soul forming the nexus of the spirit and the body, and , the inward parts of the body reflecting the energies and feelings of the spirit and the soul. , with which is combined the idea of the organic intermingling of the powers of soul and body, has the predicate in the plural, as in Psa 88:4. The fact that the poet makes mention of his iniquity as that by which his physical strength has become tottering ( as in Neh 4:4), is nothing surprising even in a Psalm that belongs to the time of his persecution by Saul; for the longer this persecution continued, the more deeply must David have felt that he needed this furnace of affliction.
The text of Psa 31:12 upon which the lxx rendering is based, was just the same as ours: . But this (Jerome nimis ) would certainly only be tolerable, if it could be rendered, “I am become a reproach even to my neighbours exceedingly” – in favour of this position of we might compare Jdg 12:2, – and this rendering is not really an impossible one; for not only has frequently the sense of “even” as in 2Sa 1:23, but (independently of passages, in which it may even be explained as “and that,” an expression which takes up what has been omitted, as in Amo 4:10) it sometimes has this meaning direct (like , et – etiam ), Isa 32:7; Hos 8:6 (according to the accents), 2Ch 27:5; Ecc 5:5 (cf. Ew. 352, b). Inasmuch, however, as this usage, in Hebrew, was not definitely developed, but was only as it were just developing, it may be asked whether it is not possible to find a suitable explanation without having recourse to this rendering of the as equivalent to , a rendering which is always hazardous. Olshausen places after , a change which certainly gets rid of all difficulty. Hitzig alters into , frightened, scared. But one naturally looks for a parallel substantive to , somewhat like “terror” (Syriac) or “burden.” Still (dread) and (a burden) do not look as though could be a corruption of either of those words. Is it not perhaps possible for itself to be equivalent in meaning to ? Since in the signification it is so unsuited to this passage, the expression would not be ambiguous, if it were here used in a special sense. J. D. Michaelis has even compared the Arabic awd ( awdat ) in the sense of onus. We can, without the hesitation felt by Maurer and Hupfeld, suppose that has indeed this meaning in this passage, and without any necessity for its being pointed ; for even the adverb is originally a substantive derived from , Arab. ad (after the form from ) gravitas, firmitas, which is then used in the sense of graviter, firmiter (cf. the French ferme). , Arab. ad , however, has the radical signification to be compressed, compact, firm, and solid, from which proceed the significations, which are divided between ada , jadu , and ada , jaudu , to be strong, powerful, and to press upon, to burden, both of which meanings Arab. ‘dd unites within itself (cf. on Psa 20:9).
The number of opponents that David had, at length made him a reproach even in the eyes of the better disposed of his people, as being a revolter and usurper. Those among whom he found friendly shelter began to feel themselves burdened by his presence because they were thereby imperilled; and we see from the sad fate of Abimelech and the other priests of Nob what cause, humanly speaking, they, who were not merely slightly, but even intimately acquainted with him ( as inn Psa 55:14; Psa 88:9, 19), had for avoiding all intercourse with him. Thus, then, he is like one dead, whom as soon as he is borne out of his home to the grave, men are wont, in general, to put out of mind also ( , oblivione extingui ex corde ; cf. , Deu 31:21). All intimate connection with him is as it were sundered, he is become , – a phrase, which, as we consider the confirmation which follows in Psa 31:14, has the sense of vas periens (not vas perditum ), a vessel that is in the act of , i.e., one that is set aside or thrown away, being abandoned to utter destruction and no more cared for (cf. Hos 8:8, together with Jer 48:38, and Jer 22:28). With he gives the ground for his comparison of himself to a household vessel that has become worthless. The insinuations and slanders of many brand him as a transgressor, dread surrounds him on every side (this is word for word the same as in Jer 20:10, where the prophet, with whom in other passages also is a frequent and standing formula, under similar circumstances uses the language of the psalmist); when they come together to take counsel concerning him (according to the accents the second half of the verse begins with ), they think only how they may get rid of him. If the construction of with its infinitive were intended to be continued in Psa 31:14, it would have been or .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Sorrowful Complaints; Humble and Believing Prayer. | |
9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. 15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
In the foregoing verses David had appealed to God’s righteousness, and pleaded his relation to him and dependence on him; here he appeals to his mercy, and pleads the greatness of his own misery, which made his case the proper object of that mercy. Observe,
I. The complaint he makes of his trouble and distress (v. 9): “Have mercy upon me, O Lord! for I am in trouble, and need thy mercy.” The remembrance he makes of his condition is not much unlike some even of Job’s complaints. 1. His troubles had fixed a very deep impression upon his mind and made him a man of sorrows. So great was his grief that his very soul was consumed with it, and his life spent with it, and he was continually sighing, Psa 31:9; Psa 31:10. Herein he was a type of Christ,–who was intimately acquainted with grief and often in tears. We may guess by David’s complexion, which was ruddy and sanguine, by his genius for music, and by his daring enterprises in his early days, that his natural disposition was both cheerful and firm, that he was apt to be cheerful, and not to lay trouble to his heart; yet here we see what he is brought to: he has almost wept out his eyes, and sighed away his breath. Let those that are airy and gay take heed of running into extremes, and never set sorrow at defiance; God can find out ways to make them melancholy if they will not otherwise learn to be serious. 2. His body was afflicted with the sorrows of his mind (v. 10): My strength fails, my bones are consumed, and all because of my iniquity. As to Saul, and the quarrel he had with him, he could confidently insist upon his righteousness; but, as it was an affliction God laid upon him, he owns he had deserved it, and freely confesses his iniquity to have been the procuring cause of all his trouble; and the sense of sin touched him to the quick and wasted him more than all his calamities. 3. His friends were unkind and became shy of him. He was a fear to his acquaintance, when they saw him they fled from him, v. 11. They durst not harbour him nor give him any assistance, durst not show him any countenance, nor so much as be seen in his company, for fear of being brought into trouble by it, now that Saul had proclaimed him a traitor and outlawed him. They saw how dearly Ahimelech the priest had paid for aiding and abetting him, though ignorantly; and therefore, though they could not but own he had a great deal of wrong done him, yet they had not the courage to appear for him. He was forgotten by them, as a dead man out of mind (v. 12), and looked upon with contempt as a broken vessel. Those that showed him all possible respect when he was in honour at court, now that he had fallen into disgrace, though unjustly, were strange to him. Such swallow-friends the world is full of, that are gone in winter. Let those that fall on the losing side not think it strange if they be thus deserted, but make sure a friend in heaven, that will not fail them, and make use of him. 4. His enemies were unjust in their censures of him. They would not have persecuted him as they did if they had not first represented him as a bad man; he was a reproach among all his enemies, but especially among his neighbours, v. 11. Those that had been the witnesses of his integrity, and could not but be convinced in their consciences that he was an honest man, were the most forward to represent him quite otherwise, that they might curry favour with Saul. Thus he heard the slander of many; every one had a stone to throw at him, because fear was in every side; that is, they durst not do otherwise, for he that would not join with his neighbours to accuse David was looked upon as disaffected to Saul. Thus the best of men have been represented under the worst characters by those that resolved to give them the worst treatment. 5. His life was aimed at and he went in continual peril of it. Fear was on every side, and he knew that, whatever counsel his enemies took against him, the design was not to take away his liberty, but to take away his life (v. 13), a life so valuable, so useful, to the good services of which all Israel owed so much, and which was never forfeited. Thus, in all the plots of the Pharisees and Herodians against Christ, still the design was to take away his life, such are the enmity and cruelty of the serpent’s seed.
II. His confidence in God in the midst of these troubles. Every thing looked black and dismal round about him, and threatened to drive him to despair: “But I trusted in thee, O Lord! (v. 14) and was thereby kept from sinking.” His enemies robbed him of his reputation among men, but they could not rob him of his comfort in God, because they could not drive him from his confidence in God. Two things he comforted himself with in his straits, and he went to God and pleaded them with him:– 1. “Thou art my God; I have chosen thee for mine, and thou hast promised to be mine;” and, if he be ours and we can by faith call him so, it is enough, when we can call nothing else ours. “Thou art my God; and therefore to whom shall I go for relief but to thee?” Those need not be straitened in their prayers who can plead this; for, if God undertake to be our God, he will do that for us which will answer the compass and vast extent of the engagement. 2. My times are in thy hand. Join this with the former and it makes the comfort complete. If God have our times in his hand, he can help us; and, if he be our God, he will help us; and then what can discourage us? It is a great support to those who have God for their God that their times are in his hand and he will be sure to order and dispose of them for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand, to suit them to their times, as David here, v. 5. The time of life is in God’s hands, to lengthen or shorten, embitter or sweeten, as he pleases, according to the counsel of his will. Our times (all events that concern us, and the timing of them) are at God’s disposal; they are not in our own hands, for the way of man is not in himself, not in our friends’ hands, nor in our enemies’ hands, but in God’s; every man’s judgment proceedeth from him. David does not, in his prayers, prescribe to God, but subscribe to him. “Lord, my times are in thy hand, and I am well pleased that they are so; they could not be in a better hand. Thy will be done.”
III. His petitions to God, in this faith and confidence, 1. He prays that God would deliver him out of the hand of his enemies (v. 15), and save him (v. 16), and this for his mercies’ sake, and not for any merit of his own. Our opportunities are in God’s hand (so some read it), and therefore he knows how to choose the best and fittest time for our deliverance, and we must be willing to wait that time. When David had Saul at his mercy in the cave those about him said, “This is the time in which God will deliver thee,” 1 Sam. xxiv. 4. “No,” says David, “the time has not come for my deliverance till it can be wrought without sin; and I will wait for that time; for it is God’s time, and that is the best time.” 2. That God would give him the comfort of his favour in the mean time (v. 16): “Make they face to shine upon thy servant; let me have the comfortable tokens and evidences of thy favour to me, and that shall put gladness in my heart in the midst of all my griefs.” 3. That his prayers to God might be answered and his hopes in God accomplished (v. 17): “Let me not be ashamed of my hopes and prayers, for I have called upon thee, who never saidst to thy people, Seek in vain, and hope in vain.” 4. That shame and silence might be the portion of wicked people, and particularly of his enemies. They were confident of their success against David, and that they should run him down and ruin him. “Lord,” says he, “let them be made ashamed of that confidence by the disappointment of their expectations,” as those that opposed the building of the wall about Jerusalem, when it was finished, were much cast down in their own eye, Neh. vi. 16. Let them be silent in the grave. Note, Death will silence the rage and clamour of cruel persecutors, whom reason would not silence. In the grave the wicked cease from troubling. Particularly, he prays for (that is, he prophesies) the silencing of those that reproach and calumniate the people of God (v. 18): Let lying lips be put to silence, that speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. This is a very good prayer which, (1.) We have often occasion to put up to God; for those that set their mouth against the heavens commonly revile the heirs of heaven. Religion, in the strict and serious professors of it, are every where spoken against, [1.] With a great deal of malice: They speak grievous things, on purpose to vex them, and hoping, with what they say, to do them a real mischief. They speak hard things (so the word is), which bear hard upon them, and by which they hope to fasten indelible characters of infamy upon them. [2.] With a great deal of falsehood: They are lying lips, taught by the father of lies and serving his interest. [3.] With a great deal of scorn and disdain: They speak proudly and contemptuously, as if the righteous, whom God has honoured, were the most despicable people in the world, and not worthy to be set with the dogs of their flock. One would think they thought it no sin to tell a deliberate lie if it might but serve to expose a good man either to hatred or contempt. Hear, O our God! for we are despised. (2.) We may pray in faith; for these lying lips shall be put to silence. God has many ways of doing it. Sometimes he convinces the consciences of those that reproach his people, and turns their hearts. Sometimes by his providence he visibly confutes their calumnies, and brings forth the righteousness of his people as the light. However, there is a day coming when God will convince ungodly sinners of the falsehood of all the hard speeches that have spoken against his people and will execute judgment upon them, Jud 1:14; Jud 1:15. Then shall this prayer be fully answered, and to that day we should have an eye in the singing of it, engaging ourselves likewise by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men, 1 Pet. ii. 15.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
9. Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah! To move God to succor him, he magnifies the greatness of his misery and grief by the number of his complaints; not that God needs arguments to persuade him, but because he allows the faithful to deal familiarly with him, that they may disburden themselves of their cares. The greater the number of afflictions with which they are oppressed, the more do they encourage themselves, while bewailing them before God, in the hope of obtaining his assistance. These forms of expression may seem hyperbolical, but it is obvious that it was David’s purpose to declare and set forth what he had felt in his own person. First, he says that his eyes, his soul, and his belly, were consumed with grief. From this it appears that it was neither lightly nor for a short time that he was thus tormented and vexed by these calamities. Indeed, he was endued with so much meekness of spirit that he would not allow himself to be excited easily, and by a slight circumstance, nor vexed by immoderate sorrow. He had also been for a long time inured to the endurance of troubles. We must, therefore, admit that his afflictions were incredibly severe, when he gave way to such a degree of passion. By the word anger, too, he shows that he was not at all times of such iron-like firmness, or so free from sinful passion, as that his grief did not now and then break forth into an excess of impetuosity and keenness. Whence we infer that the saints have often a severe and arduous conflict with their own passions; and that although their patience has not always been free from peevishness, yet by carefully wrestling against it, they have at last attained this much, that no accumulation of troubles has overwhelmed them. By life some understand the vital senses, an interpretation which I do not altogether reject. But I prefer to explain it as simply meaning, that, being consumed with grief, he felt his life and his years sliding away and failing. And by these words again, David bewails not so much his pusillanimity of mind as the grievousness of his calamities; although he was by no means ashamed to confess his infirmity, for which he was anxiously seeking a remedy. When he says, that his strength failed under his sorrow, some interpreters prefer reading, under his iniquity; and I confess that the Hebrew word עון, on, bears both significations, (644) nay, more frequently it signifies an offense or a fault. But as it is sometimes used for punishment, I have chosen the sense which appears most agreeable to the context. And although it is true that David was accustomed to ascribe the afflictions which he at any time suffered to his own fault, yet, as he is only recounting his miseries here, without mentioning the cause of them, it is probable that, according to his usual manner, he expresses the same thing twice by different words.
(644) “The word עוך,” says Hammond, “as it signifies sin, so it signifies also the punishment of sin, Isa 53:6;” and in this last sense this critic here understands it, that it may be connected with grief and sighing, which are mentioned in the preceding clause, and may express those miseries which David’s sins had brought upon him. “ וזע ” observes Rogers, “signifies here and in some other places, affliction, the punishment or consequence of sin; see Gen 4:13; 1Sa 28:10; 2Kg 7:9,” etc. – Book of Psalms in Hebrew, metrically arranged, vol. 2, p.188. The Septuagint reads, in poverty or affliction, in which it is followed by the Syriac and Vulgate.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Mine eye is consumed . . .Comp. Psa. 6:7. It was an old idea that the eye could weep itself away. It is an actual fact that the disease glaucoma is very much influenced by mental emotions.
Belly.Better, bodyboth mind and body were suffering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. I am in trouble He had escaped, and his “feet” were “in a large room,” (Psa 31:8,) but he was not out of danger or suffering.
Eye soul belly The “eye” as representing the head, the seat of the senses and of external perception; the “soul” ( ) as representing the seat of life; and the “belly” ( ) as representing the innermost sensibilities, the seat of feeling and sympathy, cover the entire phenomenal being of man. Nothing is left but the , ( , spirit,) the immortal nature. All his being, so far as respected his power of manifestation of thought or feeling, was consumed with grief. It is difficult to convey the intensity of these expressions of the psalmist. See Psa 31:10
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Have mercy on me, O YHWH,
For I am in distress,
My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my body.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
And my years with sighing,
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones are wasted away.
But suddenly his expression of confidence cease to be replaced by a plaintive cry as he considers the years that have gone by which have been filled with sorrow and sighing, and with an awareness of sinfulness. He is filled with deep distress. Indeed he feels that he is wasting away with sorrow. And this is essentially seen as connected with his own sinfulness. This suggests that in the previous verses he has been praying ‘through gritted teeth’, and that he is triumphant in spite of having a difficult life, not because he is having an easy one, and now he faces up to the present reality.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 31:9. My belly Such is the signification of the original word beten; but it evidently means his body, and is therefore very properly so translated by Fenwick and Green.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
When we recollect how the sorrows of Jesus wasted his strength, so that the Jews spake of him as supposing him near fifty years of age, when he was but little more than thirty, we may discover very clear references in these words to the person of Christ; Joh 8:57 . These things could never be said of David; for, though persecuted by Saul, yet we find his health and confidence kept him above such wastings. And when Jesus bore our iniquity, which, as our Representative, is said in scripture to be laid on him , and thereby considered as his own, being made sin, and a curse, well do these words apply. Isa 53:6 ; 2Co 5:21 ; Gal 3:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 31:9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, [yea], my soul and my belly.
Ver. 9. Have mercy upon me, O Lord ] Antiquum obtine, Do now, Lord, as thou hitherto hast done.
For I am in trouble
Mine eye is consumed with grief
Yea, my soul, and my belly
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 31:9-13
9Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also.
10For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And my body has wasted away.
11Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13For I have heard the slander of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they took counsel together against me,
They schemed to take away my life.
Psa 31:9-13 This strophe uses parts of the human body to express the psalmist’s distress (BDB 865 II).
1. eye (BDB 744), Psa 31:9, cf. Psa 6:7; Psa 38:10
2. soul (BDB 659), Psa 31:9 (i.e., nephesh, see note at Psa 3:2 and Gen 35:18)
3. body (BDB 105), Psa 31:10
4. body (lit. bones, BDB 782), Psa 31:10
Stress (like sin, cf. Psa 31:10 c; Psalms 32, 51) causes physical manifestations.
1. sorrow
2. sighing
3. failure of strength
4. bones wasting away (verb, BDB 799, KB 898, Qal perfect, is used twice in this context, Psa 31:9-10 and only one other time in the OT, cf. Psa 6:7)
More and more modern medicine is understanding the link between the mind and the body. They are a unity (cf. Psa 31:12).
Psa 31:11 The slander and distress, which have had such physical consequences, also bring social consequences.
1. I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors.
2. I have become an object of dread to my acquaintances.
3. People flee from me.
4. I am forgotten (out of mind) as a dead man.
Psa 31:13 This verse describes the actions of his adversaries.
1. they slander him (i.e., their false words are the next line, terror on every side)
2. they counsel against him
3. they schemed (BDB 273, cf. Psa 37:12) to take his life (parallel to #2)
In light of these actions, the imperative be gracious to me, O Lord of Psa 31:9 is understandable!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Have mercy upon = Show favour or grace to.
belly. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part), App-6, for “body”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 31:9-13
Psa 31:9-13
THE PSALMIST’S PITIFUL SITUATION
“Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress:
Mine eye wasteth away with grief, yea, my soul and my body.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
And my years with sighing:
My strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
And my bones are wasted away.
Because of all mine adversaries, I am become a reproach,
Yea, unto my neighbors exceedingly,
And a fear to mine acquaintance:
They that did see me from without fled from me.
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:
I am like a broken vessel.
For I have heard the defaming of many,
Terror on every side:
While they took counsel together against me,
They devised to take away my life.”
The terrible strait in which David here found himself fits the occasion of his flight before Saul much better than it does his leaving Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion. The defaming engaged in by many people sprang out of the fact that Saul, in that day, was indeed the legal and recognized authority. The situation was a much better background for people’s “fleeing from” David and for his neighbors’ being fearful of being associated with him, than any events connected with Absalom’s rebellion.
What are we to think of David’s eye and his bones wasting away? Is this some kind of a disease that came upon him? No! It is David’s tearful grief that is meant by the eye wasting away, and the debilitating effect of his own iniquity, of which he is acutely conscious, that “wastes away his bones.” There is no disease that causes a man’s bones to erode, for even death generally leaves an unimpaired skeleton. These expressions appear here in a figurative sense referring to David’s dangerous and unnerving experience as a fugitive from the king, whose purpose of killing him was backed up by the wealth and military power of the nation. Only God is on David’s side; but that advantage was far more than enough.
“My soul and body also” (Psa 31:9). This indicates that David’s commending his spirit to God in Psa 31:5 was done in the hope of preserving both soul and body.
“My strength faileth because of mine iniquity” (Psa 31:10). “Some interpreters change the word `iniquity’ here to `miseries’; but “There is no good reason for this alteration. This verse removes any possibility of the psalm’s being understood as a prophecy of Jesus.
“”I am become a reproach … to my neighbors exceedingly” (Psa 31:11). Why were people afraid even to be seen with David? “We can see from the fate of Abimelech and the priests of Nob what cause, humanly speaking, the people had … for avoiding all intercourse with David.” King Saul murdered Abimelech and all the priests of Nob because David had been done a favor by them (1 Samuel 22). No wonder people were afraid even to be seen near him.
“I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind” (Psa 31:12). David, whose name had so recently been upon every lip because of his victory over Goliath, and who had been hailed enthusiastically by tremendous crowds of people, “Whose exploits had but lately been the theme of song,” was now a fugitive, being hunted like a wild animal, with everyone who even knew him afraid to be seen with him. As far as the public were concerned, he was forgotten, treated like a man who was already dead and buried.
“For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side” (Psa 31:13). These exact words are also in Jer 20:10. That great prophet was doubtless a close student of the Psalms and often found their very words in his own writings. There are also several other places in Jeremiah where we have similar quotations from the Psalms; but there are no legitimate grounds whatever for the allegation that such a quotation by Jeremiah, “Suggests a later age than David’s.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 31:9. Soul means the inner part of a man and belly means the body. It is a strong statement of David’s trials, meaning that his enemies had given him afflictions that affected him “soul and body.”
Psa 31:10. Iniquity is sometimes translated by, “punishment of iniquity.” Moffatt renders the word here by “punishment.” The verse means that David was being punished by his enemies. The punishment was so great that his strength of body was being spent and he was required to call upon the Lord for help.
Psa 31:11. David was a fighter by disposition and not afraid of the strongest of foes who would offer him physical combat. But he was made to feel depressed when his enemies treated him with contempt. The very ones who were nearest to him and who should have given him the most cordial respect, were the ones who evaded him like cowards. However, that should be considered in favor of him. When those who know a good man the best will avoid a personal contact, it is an indication that they realize their inferiority and are too low in principle to admit it.
Psa 31:12. This verse is a continuation of the treatment David was receiving from his cowardly foes, which was described in the preceding verse.
Psa 31:13. In describing the activities of his enemies, David unconsciously predicted the actions that were plotted against Christ. Took counsel against me was done in Mat 26:14-16; Luk 22:3-6. But David frequently had such plotting against his life by Saul and also by his own family relatives.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
mine: Psa 6:7, Psa 88:9, Job 17:7, Lam 4:17, Lam 5:17
my soul: Psa 6:1, Psa 6:2, Psa 22:14, Psa 22:15, Psa 38:1-10, Psa 44:25, Psa 73:14, Psa 73:26, Psa 88:3-5, Psa 102:3-5, Psa 107:10, Job 33:19-22
Reciprocal: Job 16:16 – face Psa 6:3 – My Psa 32:3 – bones Psa 38:3 – soundness Psa 56:1 – Be Lam 2:11 – eyes Lam 3:4 – My flesh 2Co 7:7 – mourning
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 31:9-10. Mine eye is consumed with grief With continual weeping; yea, my soul My sorrows are not counterfeit, or slight, but inward and penetrating: my mind is oppressed, my heart is ready to sink under my burden; and my belly So the word , bitai, signifies: but it evidently means here the whole body, especially the stomach and bowels, which were particularly affected by his trouble and grief. My life is spent The time of my life, as the next clause explains it; with grief and my years with sighing I cannot subsist long, except thou relievest me. My strength faileth I am wasted away with sorrow; because of mine iniquity Either, 1st, Through my deep and just sense of my sins, which have provoked God to afflict me in this manner; or, 2d, For the punishment of mine iniquity. And my bones are consumed The juice and marrow of them being almost dried up with excessive grief.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
31:9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine {f} eye is consumed with grief, [yea], my soul and my belly.
(f) Meaning, that his sorrow and torment had continued a great while.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. David’s lament over his danger 31:9-13
David recounted some of the reasons he needed God’s help. Among other things, he admitted his own sins were partly responsible for his sufferings (v.10). Mainly it was the opposition of evil people that accounted for his distress. They had resisted, slandered, and schemed against him. He felt alone in standing for what was right.
"In the psalmists’ world the righteous and the wicked do not peacefully coexist in the name of pluralism. Rather the wicked marshal all their cunning and power in an effort to annihilate the righteous (Psa 31:13; Psa 56:5-6; Psa 71:10; Psa 143:3)." [Note: Chisholm, "A Theology . . .," p. 279.]