Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 52:5
God shall likewise destroy thee forever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of [thy] dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
5. likewise ] We might have expected therefore, as P.B.V. following Vulg. loosely renders: but likewise is significant. There is a correspondence and equivalence between the sin and its punishment Cp. Mic 2:1-10, where the idea is worked out that the heartless oppressors who have driven the poor from their homes will be driven from the land into exile.
The doom of the wicked man is forcibly described by various figures. He fancies himself securely intrenched in the fortress of his wealth, but God will break him down (Jdg 8:9) and that for ever, so that there will be no restoration of the ruins. He is at ease in his home, but God will take him as a man takes a coal from the hearth with tongs or shovel, and plucking him out of his dwelling, drive him forth as a homeless wanderer (Deu 28:63; Pro 2:22; Job 18:14, R.V.). He is “spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil” (Psa 37:35), but God will uproot him out of the land of the living. Cp. for the phrase Jer 11:19; and note the contrast between the fate of the wicked and the future of the Psalmist ( Psa 52:8).
The verbs in this verse might be rendered as in the LXX, as a prayer, “May God destroy thee” &c.; but the rendering in the future is preferable. Sentence is pronounced in a tone of prophetic authority. Cp. Isa 22:17 ff.
Selah marks the conclusion of the first part of the Psalm.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever – Margin, beat thee down. The Hebrew word means to tear, to break down, to destroy: Lev 14:45; Jdg 6:30. The reference here is not to the tongue alluded to in the previous verses, but to Doeg himself. The language in the verse is intensive and emphatic. The main idea is presented in a variety of forms, all designed to denote utter and absolute destruction – a complete and entire sweeping away, so that nothing should be left. The word here used would suggest the idea of pulling down – as a house, a fence, a wall; that is, the idea of completely demolishing it; and the meaning is, that destruction would come upon the informer and slanderer like the destruction which comes upon a house, or wall, or fence, when it is entirely pulled down.
He shall take thee away – An expression indicating in another form that he would be certainly destroyed. The verb used here – chathah – is elsewhere used only in the sense of taking up and carrying fire or coals: Isa 30:14; Pro 6:27; Pro 25:22. The idea here may be that he would be seized and carried away with haste, as when one takes up fire or coals, he does it as rapidly as possible, lest he should be burned.
And shall pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place – literally, out of the tent. The reference is to his abode. The allusion here in the verb that is used – nasach – is to the act of pulling up plants; and the idea is, that he would be plucked up as a plant is torn from its roots.
And root thee out of the land of the living – As a tree is torn up from the roots and thus destroyed. He would be no more among the living. Compare Psa 27:13. All these phrases are intended to denote that such a man would be utterly destroyed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. God shall likewise destroy thee]
1. God shall set himself to destroy thee; yittotscha, “he will pull down thy building;” he shall unroof it, dilapidate, and dig up thy foundation.
2. He shall bruise or break thee to pieces for ever; thou shalt have neither strength, consistence, nor support.
3. He will mow thee down, and sweep thee away like dust or chaff, or light hay in a whirlwind, so that thou shalt be scattered to all the winds of heaven. Thou shalt have no residence, no tabernacle: that shall be entirely destroyed. Thou shalt be rooted out for ever from the land of the living. The bad fruit which it has borne shall bring God’s curse upon the tree; it shall not merely wither, or die, but it shall be plucked up from the roots, intimating that such a sinner shall die a violent death. Selah. So it shall be, and so it ought to be.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Likewise, i.e. totally and unavoidably, as thou didst destroy the priests.
Pluck thee, i.e. violently, and irresistibly, and suddenly remove thee, as the Hebrew word signifies.
Out of thy dwelling-place; from thy house and lands, and all the wages of thy unrighteousness. Or, out of his (i.e. the Lords) tabernacle; in which thou didst seek and take the matter of thy slanders, and from which thou didst cut off the Lords priests. Therefore God shall excommunicate thee from his presence, and from the society of the faithful.
Root thee out; though thou seemest to have taken very deep rooting, and to be the more firmly settled for this barbarous cruelty, yet God shall pluck thee up by the very roots, and destroy thee both root and branch.
Out of the land of the living; out of this world, as the phrase is taken, Isa 53:8; Eze 32:32, and elsewhere; which was very terrible to him, who had all his portion in this world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. likewiseor, “so,””also,” as you have done to others God will do to you (Ps18:27). The following terms describe the most entire ruin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever,…. As a just retaliation for the mischief done to others; or, “therefore God shall destroy” z, c. even body and soul in hell, with an everlasting destruction, which will be the case of every wicked man, and particularly of the antichristian party, Re 14:10 the word is used of breaking down the house in which the leprosy was, Le 14:45; and denotes the utter extinction of Doeg’s family, and the irrecoverable ruin of antichrist, Re 18:21;
he shall take thee away; as fire from the hearth, Isa 30:14; or as burning coals from the altar: a word from the root here used signifies a censer: and the meaning is, that as his tongue was a fire, and set on fire of hell, and he was as a burning coal, he was fit for nothing but to be cast into everlasting burnings;
and pluck thee out of [thy] dwelling place; “tent”, or “tabernacle” a; referring to the tents of shepherds, he being the chief of Saul’s shepherds, or to some stately palace he had built for himself to dwell in, upon his advancement at court; or rather to the tabernacle of the Lord, where he had been an hypocritical worshipper; but now should be cut off from the church of God, as a rotten member, and cast out of the tabernacle of Jacob, Mal 2:12; while David flourished as an olive tree in the house of the Lord, Ps 52:8;
and root thee out of the land of the living. In retaliation for his rooting out Ahimelech’s family, and the inhabitants of Nob; so in like manner he and his should be destroyed root and branch, and not see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, nor enjoy eternal life in the world to come.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2]. The Targum renders the word “Selah” here “for ever”, as in Ps 52:3.
z , Sept. “propterea”, V. L. “idcirco etiam”, Piscator; “ideo etiam”, Michaelis. a “de tabernaculo”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus; “e tentorio”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The announcement of the divine retribution begins with as in Isa 66:4; Eze 16:43; Mal 2:9. The is not, as one might suppose, the holy tent or tabernacle, that he has desecrated by making it the lurking-place of the betrayer (1Sa 21:7), which would have been expressed by , but his own dwelling. God will pull him, the lofty and imperious one, down ( , like a tower perhaps, Jdg 8:9; Eze 26:9) from his position of honour and his prosperity, and drag him forth out of his habitation, much as one rakes a coal from the hearth ( Biblical and Talmudic in this sense), and tear him out of this his home ( , cf. , Job 18:14) and remove him far away (Deu 28:63), because he has betrayed the homeless fugitive; and will root him out of the land of the living, because he has destroyed the priests of God (1Sa 22:18). It then proceeds in Psa 52:8 very much like Psa 40:4, Psa 40:5, just as the figure of the razor also coincides with Psalms belonging to exactly the same period (Psa 51:8; Psa 57:5, cf. , Psa 7:13). The excitement and indignant anger against one’s foes which expresses itself in the rhythm and the choice of words, has been already recognised by us since Ps 7 as a characteristic of these Psalms. The hope which David, in Psa 52:8, attaches to God’s judicial interposition is the same as e.g., in Psa 64:10. The righteous will be strengthened in the fear of God (for the play of sounds cf. Psa 40:4) and laugh at him whom God has overthrown, saying: Behold there the man, etc. According to Psa 58:11, the laughing is joy at the ultimate breaking through of justice long hidden and not discerned; for even the moral teaching of the Old Testament (Pro 24:17) reprobates the low malignant joy that glories at the overthrow of one’s enemy. By the former trust in mammon on the part of the man who is overtaken by punishment is set forth as a consequence of his refusal to put trust in God, in Him who is the true = Arab. mad , hiding-place or place of protection (vid., on 31;3, Psa 37:39, cf. Psa 17:7; 22:33). is here the passion for earthly things which rushes at and falls upon them ( animo fertur).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever. From these words it is made still more evident that his object in dwelling upon the aggravated guilt of Doeg, was to prove the certainty of his approaching doom, and this rather for his own conviction and comfort, than with a view to alarming the conscience of the offender. Accordingly, he declares his persuasion that God would not allow his treachery to pass unpunished, though he might for a time connive at the perpetration of it. The ungodly are disposed, so long as their prosperity continues, to indulge in undisturbed security; and the saint of God, when he sees the power of which they are possessed, and witnesses their proud contempt of the divine judgments, is too apt to be overwhelmed with unbelieving apprehensions. But in order to establish his mind in the truth which he announces, it is observable that the Psalmist heaps one expression upon another, — God shall destroy thee, take thee away, pluck thee out, root thee out, — as if by this multiplicity of words he would convince himself more effectually, that God was able to overthrow this adversary with all his boasted might and authority. (278) In adding that God would root him out of his dwelling-place or tent, (279) and out of the land of the living, he insinuates that the wicked will be destroyed by God, however securely they may seem to repose ir the nest of some comfortable mansion, and in the vain hope of living upon earth for ever. Possibly he may allude, in mentioning a tent, to the profession of Doeg, as shepherds have their dwelling in tents.
(278) “Wonderful,” says Bishop Horne, “is the force of the verbs in the original, which convey to us the four ideas of ‘laying prostrate,’ ‘dissolving as by fire,’ ‘sweeping away as with a besom,’ and ‘totally extirpating root and branch,’ as a tree eradicated from the spot on which it grew.” The second verb, יחתך, yachtecha, Bythner explains, “ will snatch thee away, as one snatches fire from a hearth. From חתה, chatheh, he snatched off live coals or fire from one place to another. ”
(279) There is another interpretation of this expression which may here be stated. It has been thought that the allusion is to God’s tabernacle. “ מאהל, meohel, ” says Hammond, “is literally ‘from the tabernacle,’ not ‘from thy dwelling-place:’ and so the LXX. render it, ‘ Απὸ σκηνώματος,’ ‘from the tabernacle;’ and though the Latin, and Syriac, and Arabic, have added tuo , thy, yet neither will the Hebrew bear, nor do the Chaldee acknowledge it, who read by way of paraphrase, ‘He shall cause thee to depart from inhabiting in the place of the Schechina, or tabernacle, the place of God’s presence.’” Hammond supposes that the expression is to be understood “of the censure of excommunication, which in the last and highest degree was Schammatha, delivering up the offender to the hand of heaven to be cut off, himself and his posterity.” “Doeg,” says Archbishop Secker, “had no office in the tabernacle; but it seems, by his history, that he frequented it, which he might do to seem a good man. And there seems an opposition between his being plucked out of God’s dwelling-place, and David’s continuing in the house of God, verse eighth.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Destroy.Better, tear down, as if of a building.
Take thee away.Better, lay hold of thee. The Hebrew word is always used of taking a live coal from the hearth. Notice, however, that the exactly opposite is intended of our pluck a brand from the burning. Here the idea is of pulling the house-fire to pieces, and so extinguishing domestic life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5-7. These verses describe the downfall of this wicked man. God shall
destroy thee Literally, God shall break thee down: cause thee to fall with a crash. Sudden and irretrievable ruin would end his boastful career of crime.
For ever The fall of the wicked is without relief or hope.
Pluck thee out of thy dwellingplace root thee out of the land Descriptions of the utter extirpation of his plans and social standing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 52:5. God shall likewise destroy thee The Psalmist makes use of four words to denote the utter vengeance which awaited this deceitful and bloody man: all of them have a very strong medium. The first signifies to pull down and break utterly to pieces; as when an altar or tower is demolished: Jdg 6:30; Jdg 8:9. The second signifies to twist any thing, or pluck it up by twisting it round, as trees are sometimes twisted up; see Schultens on Pro 6:27. The third signifies utterly to sweep away any thing, like dust or chaff; and the whole expression means, not “sweep thee away from thy tent,” but “sweep thee away, that thou mayest be no longer a tent:” thyself, thy family, thy fortune, shall be wholly and entirely swept away, and dissipated for ever. To which the fourth verse answers, He shall root thee out from the land of the living. It is impossible for words to express a more entire and absolute destruction. Chandler.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
These are blessed sentiments, expressive of the faith of God’s people in the sure destruction of all the enemies of the Church, and the everlasting triumphs of the faithful. Whether they be read in a private personal sense, in reference to every individual, or in reference to the whole body of Christ at large, they are the same.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of [thy] dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
Ver. 5. God shall likewise destroy thee ] Here are quot verba tot tonitrua, so many words, so many thunderclaps. As thou hast destroyed the Lord’s priests and their whole city, razing and harassing it; so God will demolish and destroy thee utterly, as a house pulled down to the ground, so that one stone is not left upon another, Lev 14:45 . So shall God pull down Doeg from that high preferment which he by sycophancy hath got at court, Iudicium ipsum lethale describitur.
He shall take thee away
And pluck thee out of thy dwelling place
And root thee out of the land of the living
Selah
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 52:5-7
5But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.
6The righteous will see and fear,
And will laugh at him, saying,
7Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches
And was strong in his evil desire.
Psa 52:5-7 This strophe contrasts what God will do with the wicked and the response of the righteous.
1. God’s actions toward the wicked result in their death.
a. He will break (lit. pull down) them down forever BDB 683, KB 736, Qal imperfect
b. He will snatch up BDB 367, KB 363, Qal imperfect; this is a rare word only here in the Psalms, but note its other three occurrences refer to fire taken to oneself, cf. Pro 6:27; Pro 25:22; Isa 30:14
c. He will tear you away from your tent BDB 650, KB 702, Qal imperfect
d. He will uproot them from the land of the living BDB 1057, KB 1658, Piel perfect with waw
2. The reaction of the righteous to God’s acts of judgment:
a. will see BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal imperfect
b. will fear (i.e., repent in awe) BDB 431, KB 432, Qal imperfect
c. will laugh at their judgment BDB 965, KB 1315, Qal imperfect; God laughs in Ps. 2:40; Ps. 37:13; personified wisdom laughs in Pro 1:26; here the righteous laugh when the judgment of God falls on those who have rejected Him and persecuted them. They laugh in the sense of they reap what they sowed. Justice defeats injustice!
Psa 52:5 This imagery of tear you away from your tent is an idiom related to the days of Israel’s nomadic living in tents (nomadic and later the Exodus). This same imagery can be seen in
1. Saul 1Sa 13:2 (i.e., to your homes)
2. Sheba 2Sa 20:1 (i.e., to your homes)
3. Jeroboam I 1Ki 12:16; 2Ch 10:16 (i.e., to our own country)
4. Paul 2Co 5:1-10 (tent as metaphor for the human body)
forever The concept of forever is mentioned in the Psalm’s three lines.
1. God’s judgment is forever, Psa 52:5 (BDB 664, cf. Job 4:20; Job 14:20; Job 20:7; Job 23:7; Psa 9:7)
2. God’s blessing is forever and ever, Psa 52:8
a. forever BDB 761 (see SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER )
b. ever BDB 723 I (compound of them both in Psa 9:5; Psa 10:16; Psa 21:4; Psa 45:6; Psa 45:17; Psa 48:14; Psa 104:5; Psa 119:44; Psa 145:1-2; Psa 145:21)
3. faithful followers’ thanksgiving is forever, Psa 52:9 BDB 761
the land of the living This construct (BDB 75, BDB 313) is an idiom for life (cf. Job 28:13; Psa 27:13; Psa 116:9; Psa 142:5; Isa 38:11; Jer 11:19). It is in contrast to the land of the dead, which would be Sheol or the Pit (see SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead? ).
Selah See note at Psa 3:2 and Intro. to Psalms, VII.
Psa 52:7 Psa 52:7 is a description of the person referred to in Psa 52:1-4.
1. he would not make God his refuge
2. he trusted in the abundance of his riches, cf. Job 31:24-28; Psa 49:6-9; Pro 11:28
3. he was strong in his evil desire
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
destroy . . . take away. . . pluck out . . . root out. Note the Figure of speech Anabasis. App-6.
Selah. Connecting God’s judgment with the righteous onlookers. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 52:5-7
Psa 52:5-7
PROPHECY OF GOD’S PUNISHMENT OF DOEG
“God will likewise destroy thee forever;
He will take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent,
And root thee out of the land of the living.
(Selah)
The righteous also shall see it and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”; “God will likewise destroy thee” (Psa 52:5). “The word `likewise’ introduces the corresponding behavior of another. Destroyers shall be destroyed. `With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again'” (Mat 7:2).
“Pluck thee out of thy tent” (Psa 52:5). This is another sarcastic word in the psalm. Saul’s mighty deputy, in all probability, was not living in a tent, but in a palace; but it was as vulnerable to the judgment of God as the flimsiest kind of a tent could have been. “This is a reference to the psalmist’s own dwelling.
“The righteous shall laugh at him” (Psa 52:6). “Laugh over him” is the rendition favored by some. “These words indicate delight in God’s moral government of the world, rather than personal vindictiveness.”
“Trusted in the abundance of his riches” (Psa 52:7). This is a recurring theme in the psalms, anticipating, as it does the teaching of the New Testament. We observed in Psalms 49 that riches can last only until certain and impending death, and not always that long. The apostle’s warning on riches is as follows:
“They that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1Ti 6:9-10).
“Charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the life which is life indeed” (1Ti 6:17-19).
“And strengthened himself in his wickedness” (Psa 52:7). “Doeg’s high position under Saul led to an excessive trust in riches and greediness for more gain. To procure wealth he became Saul’s unscrupulous tool, the willing instrument of his cruelty. Saul no doubt richly rewarded him; and thus, `He strengthened himself in his wickedness.’
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 52:5. Destroy is used in the light of devouring in the preceding verse. Just as surely as a deceitful man would wish to injure an innocent victim, so God will bring that wicked man to utter ruin in the final outcome.
Psa 52:6. When the righteous people see the fate of a wicked man they will fear or respect the judgments of God. They will laugh at or belittle the wicked man who is receiving his just deserts.
Psa 52:7. David here described the man against whom he had been writing in this psalm. The wicked man’s conduct was that of one who refused to let God lead him, but trusted in his own riches and other resources.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
God: Psa 7:14-16, Psa 55:23, Psa 64:7-10, Psa 120:2-4, Psa 140:9-11, Pro 12:19, Pro 19:5, Pro 19:9, Rev 21:8
destroy thee: Heb. beat thee down
pluck: Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Job 18:14, Job 20:6, Job 20:7, Luk 16:27, Luk 16:28
root: Pro 2:22
the land: Psa 27:13, Psa 116:9, Isa 38:11
Reciprocal: Deu 29:28 – rooted them 1Ki 14:15 – root up Israel 2Ch 7:20 – I pluck Ezr 7:26 – banishment Job 8:15 – it shall not stand Job 15:32 – and his branch Job 21:16 – Lo Job 21:28 – Where Job 28:13 – in the land Psa 37:10 – thou Psa 37:34 – when Psa 37:38 – General Psa 59:11 – scatter Psa 109:17 – General Psa 120:4 – arrows Pro 10:30 – the wicked Pro 15:25 – destroy Pro 18:11 – General Pro 21:12 – wisely Pro 24:16 – but Ecc 3:2 – a time to plant Ecc 8:8 – neither Isa 22:25 – the burden Jer 11:19 – from Eze 19:12 – she was Zep 1:18 – their silver Luk 12:19 – Soul Luk 12:20 – then
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
52:5 God shall likewise {c} destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of [thy] dwelling place, and {d} root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
(c) Though God forbear for a time, yet at length he will recompense your falsehood.
(d) Even though you seem to be never so sure settled.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Since God had promised to bless the righteous with long life and to punish the wicked with death (Deuteronomy 28), David was confident He would slay the deceiver eventually.