Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 82:7
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
7. But ] R.V., Nevertheless. Though they bear this high title, it will not exempt them from punishment. They shall die like common men, and fall like any other princes whose ruin is recorded in history (Hos 7:7). Or is there an allusion to the princes mentioned in Psa 83:9 ff.?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But ye shall die like men – You are mortal, like other people. This fact you have forgotten. You have been lifted up with pride, as if you were in fact more exalted than other people; as if you were not subject to the law which consigns all people to the grave. An ancient monarch directed his servant to address him each morning in this language: Remember, sire, that thou art mortal. No more salutary truth can be impressed on the minds of the rich and the great than that they are, in this respect, like other people – like the poorest, the meanest of the race: that they will die under similar forms of disease; that they will experience the same pain; that all which is fearful in death will be their portion as well as that of the most obscure; and that in the grave, with whatever pomp and splendor they descend to it, or however magnificent the monument which may be reared over the spot where they lie, there will be the same offensive and repulsive process of decay which occurs in the most humble grave in the country churchyard. Why, then – oh, why – should man be proud?
And fall like one of the princes – And die as one of the princes. The idea in the word fall may be, perhaps, that they would die by the hand of violence – or be cut down, as princes often are, e. g. in battle. The use of the word princes here denotes that they would die as other persons of exalted rank do; that is, that they were mortal as all people, high and low, are – as common people are, and as princes are. Though they had names – ‘El, and ‘Elohiym – that suggested the idea of divinity, yet such appellations did not make any real change in their condition as people, and as subject to the ordinary laws under which people live. Whatever name they bore. it did not afford any security against death.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. But ye shall die like men] keadam, “ye shall die like Adam,” who fell from his high perfection and dignity as ye have done. Your high office cannot secure you an immortality.
And fall like one of the princes.] Justice shall pursue you, and judgment shall overtake you; and you shall be executed like public state criminals. You shall not, in the course of nature, fall into the grave; but your life shall be brought to an end by a legal sentence, or a particular judgment of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But ye shall die: but let not this make you insolent and secure; for though you are gods by name and office, yet still you are mortal men, you must die and give up your account to me your superior Lord and Governor; and you shall die and fall by the hands of my justice, if you persist in your unjust and ungodly courses.
Like men; or, like ordinary men, as the Hebrew word adam sometimes signifies, as it doth Psa 49:2. If it be objected, that there adam is opposed to ish, which notes persons of a higher rank; in like manner it is here opposed to the same sort of men, who are here called gods.
And fall like one of the princes: so the sense is, You (who are esteemed by yourselves and others gods upon earth) shall fall (or die, as he said in the former branch; falling being oft put for dying, with this addition, that it notes not an ordinary, but a violent and judicial death, as Exo 19:21; Jer 39:18; Hos 5:5)
like one (or, like other, or others, as this very word is rendered, Jdg 16:7,11, which also is expounded there, Jdg 16:17, like every, or any) of the princes, i.e. as other unrighteous or tyrannical rulers have done in all foregoing ages, and still do, your eyes seeing it; even in like manner shall you, to whom now I speak, fall and perish, if you do not learn by their examples. But these words are by some late learned interpreters translated otherwise, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew words and accents, And you, O ye princes, (or, you that are princes, before called gods.) shall fall like one, or like every, or any, of them, i.e. of the ordinary men last mentioned. So there is only an ellipsis of the pronoun, which is frequent in the Hebrew language. Or, shall fall together, as this word is translated, Ezr 2:64; 3:9; or alike, as it is rendered Ecc 11:6, in like manner, to wit, as ordinary men do. Your godhead shall be taken away from you, and your death shall show you to be but mortal men, as others are.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. fall like, c.be cut offsuddenly (Psa 20:8 Psa 91:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But ye shall die like men,…. As men in common do, to whom it is appointed to die, Heb 9:27 or as common men, as men in the lowest class of life: the wise man dies as the fool, the king as the peasant, high as the low, rich as the poor; death levels and makes all alike: or as Adam, as the first man, so Jarchi, who was lord of the whole universe; but being in honour, abode not, but became like the beasts that perish; sinning he died, and so all his posterity, even those who have the greatest power and authority on earth; see
Ps 49:2 and not only die a corporeal death, but an eternal one, dying in their sins; as Christ threatened the Jewish rulers, Scribes, and Pharisees, if they believed not in him, Joh 8:21
and fall like one of the princes; or the chief of them, Satan, who fell like lightning from heaven, Lu 10:18 or rather as one of the giants that lived in the old world, famous for their injustice and oppression, that fell in the deluge, Ge 6:4 or any of the Heathen princes, tyrants and oppressors, such as are mentioned in the following psalm,
Ps 83:9. This may have respect to the destruction of the Jewish nation, which is called the falling of them, Ro 11:11 and the words may be rendered, “and ye shall fall together, equally and alike, O ye princes” a; when the Jewish state, civil and ecclesiastical, fell, they fell with it, and together; the princes of this world then came to nought, or were abolished, they and their authority, as the Apostle Paul says they should, 1Co 2:6 the sceptre then departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet; all rule and authority ceased among them, as Jacob foretold it would, Ge 49:10.
a “pariter; sive ex aequo”, Maius apud Gataker. Cin. c. 10. p. 292.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7. Ye shall die like men Your high office and titles will give you no immunity, from the common fate of mortal men. You “shall die” like those poor whose cause you have despised, (see Psa 49:11-14,) and like all other princes of the earth. The form of speech is similar to Jdg 16:7; Jdg 16:11; Jdg 16:17, “Then shall I be weak, and be as another man.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 82:7. Fall like one the princes Fall like one of the poor; whom ye treat with so much contempt, as to refuse them justice. See Psa 82:3. Bishop Hare: who has thus nobly restored the text here, reading harashim, instead of hassrim.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Ver. 7. But ye shall die like men ] Yea, if wicked, like beasts, but only for their pillow and bolster. Super cubilia forsan in honore moriuntur, quo a bestiis differunt, sed non in morte, saith Kimchi. God, who had so highly advanced such, will lay them low enough; even in the slimy valley (if not in hell), where are many already like them, and more shall come after them, Job 21:31-32 . Our Henry VIII was told on his death bed that he should go to the place of princes; which was no great comfort, if the old proverb be true, that hell is paved with the crowns of princes and helmets of soldiers. The Spanish friar used to say, there were but few princes in hell; for what reason? there were but few in all.
And fall like one of the princes
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
men. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.
princes. Compare Num 16:2, Num 16:35.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
But: Psa 49:12, Job 21:32, Eze 31:14
like men: Or, “like Adam,” keadam.
and fall: etc. Or, “as fall as one of them, O ye princes.” Psa 83:11
Reciprocal: Gen 6:2 – the sons Deu 14:1 – the children Deu 32:19 – of his sons 1Sa 28:13 – gods ascending 2Ch 24:23 – princes Psa 9:20 – may Psa 58:1 – O ye Psa 82:1 – the gods Ecc 6:10 – and it Isa 14:10 – Art thou also Isa 36:13 – cried Isa 43:28 – princes Eze 28:9 – thou shalt Dan 8:8 – when Mat 5:9 – for Joh 10:34 – I said
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
82:7 {e} But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
(e) No title of honour will excuse you, but you will be subject to God’s judgments, and tender account as well as other men.