Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 34:15
The eyes of the LORD [are] upon the righteous, and his ears [are open] unto their cry.
15. With the first line cp. Psa 33:18. More literally, toward the righteous, as R.V. renders here but not there, though the prepositions are the same.
his ears &c.] Lit., his cars are toward their cry for help: cp. my cry for help was in his ears (Psa 18:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous – This is another of the ways in which the psalmist says that life will be lengthened out, or that those who desire life may find it. The Lord will be the protector of the righteous; he will watch over and defend them. See the notes at Job 36:7.
And his ears are open unto their cry – That is, when in trouble and in danger. He will hear them, and will deliver them. All this seems to be stated as the result of the experience of the psalmist himself; He had found that the eyes of God had been upon him in his dangers, and that His ears had been open when he called upon Him Psa 34:6; and now, from his own experience, he assures others that the way to secure life and to find prosperity is to pursue such a course as will ensure the favor and protection of God. The general thought is, that virtue and religion – the love of truth, and the love of peace – the favor and friendship of God, will tend to lengthen out life, and to make it prosperous and happy. All the statements in the Bible concur in this, and all the experience of man goes to confirm it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 34:15-16
The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers.
The countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil.
The eye of God
We all know well how much and often the Holy Scriptures speak of the blessed God, attributing to Him, under a figure, various human things, such as bodily members and organs, and mental feelings. It is an obvious caution, to warn people against understanding all these expressions literally; but it is a caution, one would think, not very necessary in these days. The opposite one, however, is needed, for in our excessive fears of corporeal conceptions of God, the thought of Him is becoming altogether vague and unreal. Our simplicity is our best wisdom, and we should think of God as He is vividly and simply and, as far as our powers can conceive of Him, truly set forth to us in Holy Scripture. The eye of God is, then, over the righteous to protect and comfort them, and His ear open to their prayers, to hear and answer them; while His countenance, not less all-seeing, is turned in displeasure and wrath upon those who do evil, so as to punish them with destruction. His eye is turned upon the good in love, and upon the bad in anger. Consider, then, ye who know well what it is to feel and love the sight of a parents eye turned on you in approving affection, how God desires, by speaking so, to be regarded by you as looking upon you. Think how, when you have been trying to please your earthly parents, how, perhaps, when you have been trying to overcome some unkind or unworthy temper, some angry or sullen feeling, you have felt their eye turned upon you in tender and loving approbation, and have been encouraged to conquer the evil spirit who was assailing you. And God thus represents Himself to you, and bids you remember that His eye is over the righteous. But His countenance is against them that do evil. He seeth not less the sinners. His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Let none suppose that he shuns, or can shun, the eye of God by disregarding it. It is the folly of the foolish bird which shuts its own eyes, and then thinks itself unseen. I would I might, by Gods grace, waken up in the hearts of some of you the thought of the eye of God; the thought of the ever-present, ever-wakeful, heart-searching, tender, paternal eye of God, which is over you His own redeemed children! (G. Moberly, D. C. L.)
An encouraging theology
I. that God is specially interested in the existence of man on this earth (Psa 34:15-16).
1. Man is His offspring.
2. Man is His suffering offspring.
II. that God is mainly concerned with the moral distinctions of men on this earth.
1. Two classes of moral character are represented in the verses, and they are spoken of–
(1) As wicked, and righteous.
(2) As those that trust in Him and those that hate the righteous.
(3) As those that do evil, and those that are His servants. His servants are represented as broken in heart and contrite in spirit.
2. He sees all the other distinctions amongst men, physical, intellectual, social, political, religious. But these moral distinctions interest Him most, they are more affecting to His heart, more vital to the happiness of His creatures, more fundamental to the weal of His universe.
III. that God evermore treats men according to the moral character which they sustain on this earth.
1. Look at His conduct towards the righteous.
(1) He superintends them; His eyes and His ears are towards them. He keeps a vigilant watch over them.
(2) He hears them. No mothers ears are half so quick to catch the cries of a suffering child as His ears to catch the cries of His afflicted people.
(3) He is nigh them. Not in a mere local or physical sense, but in the sense of tenderest sympathy and regard.
(4) He saves them. Deep, tender, and constant is His interest in them.
2. Look at His conduct towards the wicked.
(1) He is against them for their ruin (Psa 34:16).
(2) He allows their sin to destroy them (Psa 34:21). (Homilist.)
The face of the Lord
Our eye is dimmer than the eye of the men of old time for the vision of the face of God. We have greater thoughts, no doubt, about His name, His nature, His purposes, His methods. But His countenance, flashing with intelligence, clouding with sorrow, beaming with love, as it looks out on us through the Creation, seems to escape us. Nature is very beautiful, very glorious, very terrible; but there is no speculation in the eye wherewith she beholds us. Less cultivated peoples seem to discern a presence, to hear a voice, to feel a touch of some living being in all the play and movement of the Creation. To our wise ones it is but the manifestation of vital force, the constant, pitiless swing of the wheels of a vast vital mechanism. But the face of the Lord, to those whose eye is open to behold it, is not veiled; it looks out on them still through its organs of expression in Nature and in man.
I. the lofty and patient method of god in guiding and ruling mankind. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil; not the weight of His hand as yet. God gives to man a large liberty to do evil. In truth, we hardly realize how large and high is His method. We constantly expect that His hand of force will close upon us in some self-willed, sinful course which we are bent on pursuing; and if He fails to meet us, if the path seems open, if the sun shines, if the birds sing, and the fruits of pleasure hang pendent from the boughs, we are tempted to instruct our own consciences, and to say, God cannot be so sternly set against our self-willed course after all. It is truly fearful to realize the rude limits of our power to corrupt, to torment, to madden His children; to make the world a place of wailing, and life a bitter protest against the goodness and righteousness of His reign. How much are you adding daily to the pain and sorrow of the Creation? Do you never wonder that the iron hand of Gods power does not close firmly round you, and make you feel that there are limits beyond which you shall not use your fearful prerogative of freedom–beyond which you shall not fill Gods seed-field with the seeds of misery and death? But the hand is still open; still dropping, broadcast, blessings on your life.
II. let us study the forms in which the face of God is against mans evil, and how it bears upon his life.
1. There is the face of God in the daylight of Creation (Gen 3:8-13). Shame, fear, and a great rout of base and slavish passions enter with sin, and drive out that childs frank joy and trust with which man was made and meant to look up to God. Nature is, in one sense, impassive. But the evil-doer finds an expression on her countenance, a frown on her brow, which startles and appals him. The flash of the lightning across the murderers path reveals to him something more than the splendour of electric fire. The splendour departs–a dull, sad shadow settles over the world. The evil-doer loses all sense of a living presence in Nature. Life gets drained of its interest, the world of its beauty, the future of its hope. The face of God ceases to affright. It ceases even to appear behind the veil of the invisible. What does this mean? Is it that all barriers are withdrawn, and that the evil-doer has the universe and eternity before him in which to work out his malignant will? Nay, it means that the sinner has passed out of the light of Gods countenance, out of the sphere of his freedom, into the grasp of Gods terrible hand. This is what is meant by falling into the hands of the living God.
2. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, in the moral instincts, the moral judgments, of their fellows, and in the whole order of the human world. A man, let us say, walks about burdened with a great, guilty secret. What is it which makes him feel as if every man whom he meets was acquainted with it, and was trying to shame him? What but the face of God looking out on him through the face of man, His image?
3. The face of the Lord looks out on men through the various forms of the discipline of life. There is a striking instance of what I mean in 1Ki 17:9-18. Day by day you are brought into contact with a mind and a will outside you, not only by what you see, but also by what you endure.
4. The face of the Lord looks out against them that do evil, through the gathering glooms of death. A man hardened in sin may walk at ease through nil the pathways of the world, crying, Where is the Lord? in impious defiance or presumptuous scorn. But to every man in death the face reappears–never to vanish again through eternity. Men who have been recovered from apparent death, and have gone through all the experience of dying, tell strange tales of how in one burning moment the buried past reappears. The whole scroll of life unrolled, clear and orderly, before them; every thought, passion, incident, experience, standing out with startling vividness before the minds eyed and all in the clear daylight. No mist or confusion upon them; all risen again before the face of God. And that vision is for over. The vain show vanishes; the illusion is for ever ended. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
This is added to prove his last assertion, to wit, that the practice of these duties, Psa 34:13,14, is the true and best, and indeed the only, way to see that good proposed and promised Psa 34:12; both because such righteous persons, howsoever they may meet with affronts and injuries from men, are under the special care and favour of God, in this verse; and those who do the evils there forbidden shall find to their cost that God is their enemy, Psa 34:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. eyes of the Lord are upon(Psa 32:8; Psa 33:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The eyes of the Lord [are] upon the righteous,…. These are the same with them that fear the Lord, and do good; not that they become righteous in the sight of God, or are justified before him, by their fear of him, and by their good works; but these are the fruits and effects of grace, showing them to be righteous persons; for it is only by the righteousness of Christ that men are righteous before God: and upon these the eyes of the Lord are; not only his eye of Providence, to watch over them, protect them, and supply them with good things, but his eye of love; with complacency and delight he looks upon them, as clothed with the righteousness of his son; and it is with pleasure he looks upon them, that being well pleasing in his sight; seeing by it the law is magnified and made honourable; nor does he ever withdraw his eyes from them, Job 36:7;
and his ears [are open] unto their cry; for though they are righteous, they are sometimes in distress; their afflictions are many; the good days they are to see are hereafter; and at those times they cry unto the Lord; which is to be understood of prayer, and of the vehemency and fervency of it, when they have the ear of God, and he shows himself to be a God hearing and answering prayer.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15. The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous. The best support of our patience is a firm persuasion that God regards us, and that according as every man perseveres in a course of uprightness and equity, so shall he be preserved in peace and safety under his protection. In order, therefore, that the faithful may not think that they are exposed to the caprice of the world, while they are endeavoring to keep themselves innocent, and that they may not, under the influence of this fear, go astray from the right path, David exhorts them to reflect upon the providence of God, and to rest assured that they are safe under his wings. He says, then, that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, to preserve them, in order that the good and simple may persevere the more cheerfully in their uprightness. At the same time, he encourages them to supplication and prayer, if at any time the world should unjustly persecute them. In saying that the ears of the Lord are open to their cry, he teaches that the man who is wantonly and unjustly persecuted, will find a ready and suitable remedy in all afflictions, by calling upon God as his avenger. On the other hand, he declares, that although God sometimes appears to wink at the misdeeds of men, and seems to overlook them, because he does not inflict immediate punishment upon them, yet nothing escapes his inspection. Whilst the wicked, says he, by reason of their impunity harden themselves in sin, God is watching, that he may cut off their remembrance from the earth, (1Pe 5:10.) He speaks particularly of this kind of punishment, because the ungodly not only expect that they shall be happy during their whole life, but also imagine that they shall enjoy immortality in this world. Peter, in his First Epistle, (698) applies this passage very judiciously, for the purpose of assuaging our sorrows and appeasing our impatience, as often as the pride and arrogance of the wicked may carry us beyond due limits. Nothing is more useful for preserving our moderation than to depend upon God’s help, and having the testimony of a good conscience, to rely upon his judgment. If it is objected, that good men experience the contrary, who, after having been long afflicted, at length find no help or comfort; I reply, that the aid which God affords to the righteous is not always made manifest, nor bestowed in the same measure; and yet he so alleviates their troubles as never to forsake them. Besides, even the best of men often deprive themselves of the help of God; for scarcely one in a hundred perseveres in such a course of integrity as not, by his own fault, to deserve the infliction of some evil upon himself. But as soon as they fall, lest sin should take root in them, God chastises them, and often punishes them more severely than the reprobate, whom he spares to utter destruction. (699) And yet, however much things may appear to be mingled and confused in the world, good men will find that God has not promised them help in vain against the violence and injuries of the wicked.
(698) In his First Epistle, (1Pe 3:10,) he quotes the 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 verses of this psalm. He quotes from the Septuagint.
(699) “ Lesquels il espargne pour un temps, afin de les ruiner eternellement.” — “Whom he spares for a time, to destroy them eternally.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) The eyes.A verse quoted in 1Pe. 3:12. (See New Testament Commentary). This psalm had a deep hold on the national mind. With the expression, his ears to their cry, we may compare the phrase, to have a person’s ear.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15-22. These closing words are devoted to an earnest digest of the moral government of God in redeeming the humble and contrite, and punishing the wicked.
Broken heart contrite spirit Comp. Psa 51:17 ; 1Sa 16:7.
Saveth Besides the national salvation of the covenant people, the Old Testament rises often to the New Testament apprehension of the salvation of individuals, whether Jew or Gentile, of a given class, in the text denominated those of a “contrite spirit.” Thus, also, it speaks of the “meek,” (Psa 76:9😉 the “humble,” (Psa 22:29😉 the “upright,” (Pro 28:18😉 but not of the “wicked.” Psa 18:41.
Keepeth his bones Compare Mat 10:30.
Redeemeth The word first occurs Gen 48:16, where it marks an advance in christological terminology, as the words “righteousness,” “believed,” “reckoned,” or imputed, do in Gen 15:5. Jehovah is the Redeemer, but as under the law the redeemer must be a kinsman of the redeemed, (see Lev 25:24-25; Rth 2:20; Rth 4:1-8,) so Jehovah here assumes that relation, and in this idea the doctrine of the incarnation finds its Old Testament germ. See Job 19:25; Heb 2:14-18.
Shall be desolate Better, Shall be guilty; so, also, in Psa 34:21. They shall not be classed with, and hence not treated as, the guilty. See on Psa 26:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5). He Stresses YHWH’s Deep Concern For His Own And His Deep Hatred Of Evil (15-20).
Psa 34:15-20
GH ‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous,
And his ears are open to their cry.
P The face of YHWH is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
TS The righteous cried, and YHWH heard,
And delivered them out of all their troubles.’
Q ‘YHWH is near to those who are of a broken heart,
And saves such as are of a contrite spirit.
R Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But YHWH delivers him out of them all.
SH He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.’
Note the interplay of ideas in these verses. ‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous and His ear is open to their cry — the righteous cried, and YHWH heard and delivered them out of all their troubles — many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all.’ Those who are His righteous ones are never overlooked or forgotten’ He hears their cry, and they are characterised by being of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. They know how to forgive and be forgiven.
‘The eyes of YHWH are towards the righteous, and His ears are open towards their cry.’ Compare ‘my cry before Him came to His ears’ (Psa 18:6). All God’s faculties are at work in watching over His own, as characterised by their righteousness. His eye is continually on them and towards them. They are the apple of His eye (Psa 17:8). Compare Psa 33:18. And His ears are equally busy on their behalf. They are open to their cry (see Psalm 118:62). For the whole compare 1Pe 3:12.
‘The face of YHWH is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.’ But there is no comfort in his words for the selfish, the wrongdoer and the unbelieving. For in their case ‘the face of YHWH’ is against them. In their case He is active to bring them into judgment. Instead of lives which count and live on in their reputation and in men’s memories, their lives will be cut off and forgotten. They will have done nothing worth remembering. If we would build a monument, let it by lives whose effects will echo down the ages, because their influence goes on and on in those who have been affected.
‘The righteous cried, and YHWH heard, and delivered them out of all their troubles.’ The Psalmist returns to the righteous and will now concentrate on them. The evildoers are already forgotten. He now looks back and, as it were, sees the accomplishment of what he had promised. The righteous had cried, and YHWH had heard, and He had delivered them out of all their trouble. Strictly it is ‘they cried’ with the righteous read in from Psa 34:15. It was as certain as if it had already happened.
‘YHWH is near to those who are of a broken heart, and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.’ Lest any be in doubt he now characterises the righteous. They are those whose hearts are broken over their sins and their failures, and whose spirits are contrite. It is they who dwell with YHWH in His high and holy place (Isa 57:15), and as a result He ‘saves them’. Salvation is of YHWH, and is reserved for those who are open towards Him.
‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.’ The point here is not that no one who is righteous will ever break a bone in their bodies, but that their afflictions will not be ‘bone breaking’. They will not be crushed. Through them all they will be kept ‘whole’. For YHWH gives the righteous no guarantee that they will avoid affliction. Such things will come on them, sometimes even because they are righteous. But when they do they will find that YHWH’s eye is on them (Psa 34:15), and He is there to help. ‘I will not leave you without strength, I will come to you’ (Joh 14:18). And in the end He will deliver them out of them all.
‘He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.’ Unbroken bones characterised the offerings that were made to YHWH. They had to be perfect and complete. See Exo 12:46; Num 9:12. So the point here is that spiritually the truly righteous will come through unscathed, whatever life throws at them. A combination of these verses is cited in Joh 19:36, stressing the perfection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 34:15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous i.e. He beholds them with approbation, and is constantly watchful over them to protect and supply them; and, on the other hand, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, as he views them with displeasure, and marks them out for vengeance. Mr. Mudge reads the 16th verse in a parenthesis, as coming in only by the bye; for the general subject relates to good men, and the 17th verse is connected to the 15th. His eyes are open to their cry;They cry, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
May we not, indeed ought we not to behold Christ as our Mediator, when reading, in this and similar passages of scripture, of the Lord’s looking upon us, and his ears being open to our cry, and his countenance being upon us? I beg the Reader to observe, that I do not positively assert anything on subjects of this mysterious nature. But I speak with all possible reverence when I say, I venture to believe that it is of Christ as our Mediator, God and man in one person, that these scriptures treat, which thus ascribe to God human parts and human actions. Not of Jehovah, as Jehovah alone, but of Him who is both God and man, and our glorious, gracious, lovely, and all-loving Redeemer. And I must further add upon this subject, that thus read and accepted, the words, like similar ones in various parts of the Bible, open the most blessed views of our Jesus; and open also a door for seeking sweet communion and fellowship with Christ, from the several near and dear connections in which he hath condescended to put himself with our nature, as our Brother, Husband, Surety, and the like, over and above what Jehovah hath engaged for and promised, in the everlasting covenant of redemption.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 34:15 The eyes of the LORD [are] upon the righteous, and his ears [are open] unto their cry.
Ver. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous ] He seeth and weigheth the wrongs they sustain for peace sake, and they shall be no losers thereby; provided that their pursuit of peace proceed from the filial fear of God, which David here professeth to teach, Psa 34:11 . God’s eyes are intent, his ears attent, to these righteous ones. Palam, clam (as Aben Ezra here), openly, secretly, he wilt right them and recompense them. Should not God see, as well as hear, saith another, his children should want many things. We apprehend not all our own wants, and so cannot pray for relief of all. He (of his own accord without any monitor) is wont to aid us.
And his ears are open to their cry
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 34:15-18
15The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
16The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psa 34:15-18 This strophe shows the results of godly or godless living.
1. godly
a. YHWH’s eyes (presence and care) are toward the righteous, Psa 34:15 a
b. YHWH’s ears hear their cry, Psa 34:15 b,17
c. YHWH delivers them out of all their trouble, Psa 34:17 b
d. YHWH is near to the brokenhearted, Psa 34:18 a
e. YHWH saves those who are crushed in spirit, Psa 34:18 b; Isa 57:15
2. godless
a. YHWH’s face is against evildoers, Psa 34:16 a
b. their memory is cut off (BDB 503, KB 500, Hiphil infinitive construct), Psa 34:16 b; this imagery refers to death
There are several anthropomorphisms in this strophe using the human body to describe YHWH (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS A HUMAN ).
1. eyes
2. ears
3. face
Psa 34:18 The Lord is near What a wonderful promise (cf. Deu 4:7; Psa 119:151; Psa 145:18). It is shocking that a holy God wants to fellowship with sinful humans. He seeks us out and pursues us. We were created by Him for fellowship with Him (cf. Gen 1:26-27; Gen 3:8). No matter how bad things get (i.e., the brokenhearted, cf. Psa 147:3; Isa 61:1 and those who are crushed in spirit, cf. Psa 51:17; Isa 57:15), the Lord is near to faithful followers!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
ears. Figure of speech, Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 34:15-19
Psa 34:15-19
“The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous,
And his ears are open unto their cry.
The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cried, and Jehovah heard,
And delivered them out of all their troubles. Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,
And saveth such as are of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous;
But Jehovah delivereth him out of them all.”
The principal burden of these verses is to provide motivation and encouragement for the young people David was teaching to fear the Lord.
“The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil” (Psa 34:16). “All men sin, but the reference here is to those who will not repent and who have no intention of turning away from their evil deeds. God will not even hear them when they pray (Joh 9:31).
“Nigh unto them … of a broken heart” (Psa 34:18). Our Lord himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and he is the ever ready comforter and Saviour of those whose hearts have been broken by the soul’s tragic encounter with the wicked world in which we live.
“God saveth such as are of a contrite spirit” (Psa 34:18). Again the marvelous words of Kipling come to mind:
“The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart.
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget; lest we forget!”
– Rudyard Kipling (The Recessional
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Psa 34:19). The Bible is loaded with admonitions that echo these words. “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” “Wickedness shall wax worse and worse.” Alas, “We must, like the Captain of our Salvation, be made perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10).
Seeing, therefore, that the righteous are destined to suffer during the years of our probation, we should strive to remember that the Lord himself was “made perfect” by it; and that he suffered “for us.” Moreover, we should never forget that:
“Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory!” (2Co 4:17).
This verse says that our sufferings are “working for us.” May we have the grace to believe it!
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 34:15-16. These verses are made to form one paragraph because they form one verse almost verbatim in 1Pe 3:12. Words should be understood by the connection in which they are found. We know that in the general sense the eyes of the Lord are everywhere (Pro 15:30), regardless of whether men are evil or good. But the context here shows the expression is used in a special sense and means that the eyes of the Lord are favorable toward the righteous. Because of this attitude the Lord will give a favorable ear to the cry or prayer of those who are good. Face includes the whole countenance and everything that would be used in giving attention. It means that if a man’s life is continually one of doing evil the Lord will not honor his prayers. That does not mean that a sinner cannot turn to the Lord for mercy. If he will depart from evil (Psa 34:14) and show signs or repentance the Lord will hear him.
Psa 34:17. The righteous has no words in the original, but the connection in this and the preceding verses Justifies their use. God will be merciful to the righteous.
Psa 34:18. Lord is nigh should be understood in the light of the comments on Psa 34:15. If a man is contrite, which means he is penitent and humble, the Lord will be near him with assistance.
Psa 34:19. Afflictions do not refer especially to physical diseases. The word means adversities in general, including persecutions by enemies. The New Testament teaches that righteous persons will have such afflictions (2Ti 3:12). The Lord in his own way will care for all such.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The: Psa 33:18, Job 36:7, 1Pe 3:12
and: Psa 34:6, Psa 34:17, Psa 130:2, 2Ch 6:40, Isa 37:14-21, Dan 9:17-23
Reciprocal: Gen 18:19 – For I Gen 19:21 – I Gen 24:15 – before Deu 4:37 – in his sight Deu 11:12 – the eyes 2Sa 22:7 – did hear 1Ki 8:29 – That thine 2Ch 6:20 – thine eyes 2Ch 16:9 – the eyes Ezr 5:5 – But the eye Ezr 8:22 – The hand Neh 1:6 – thine ear Job 34:21 – General Psa 4:3 – the Lord Psa 11:7 – his Psa 41:12 – settest Psa 71:2 – in thy Psa 101:6 – Mine Pro 15:29 – he heareth Isa 58:9 – shalt thou Jer 24:6 – For I will Jer 32:19 – for Amo 9:4 – set Hab 1:13 – of Zec 13:9 – they shall call Mat 6:6 – pray Joh 9:31 – we know Jam 5:16 – The effectual 1Pe 5:7 – for 2Pe 2:9 – knoweth 1Jo 3:22 – whatsoever
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 34:15-16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous This is added to show that the practice of these duties (Psa 34:13-14) is the true and best, and, indeed, the only way to see that good proposed and promised; both because such righteous persons, howsoever they may meet with affronts and injuries from men, are under the special care of God, signified in this verse, and those who do the evils there forbidden shall find, to their cost, that God is their enemy, Psa 34:16. The face of the Lord That is, his anger, often called his face, because anger discovers itself in a persons face; is against them that do evil That commit known sin in any instances, especially in those above mentioned. To cut off the remembrance of them, &c. Utterly to root them out and destroy them, and so to deprive both them and their children of that worldly happiness, which is the only thing that they desire, and seek by their wicked courses.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Righteous people can look forward to the Lord’s favor and His awareness of their needs, but the wicked can expect His antagonism and resistance.