Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 94:11
The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they [are] vanity.
11. The positive answer to the self-delusion of the wicked and the doubts of the faithless. Jehovah not only sees their works, but knows their very thoughts.
that they are vanity ] So the LXX, quoted by St Paul in 1Co 3:20, with the substitution of the wise for men to suit his argument. This rendering gives a good sense, and suggests an emphatic contrast between the designs of men and the designs of God (Psa 92:5). But the masculine pronoun they is more naturally referred to man than to the feminine word for thoughts, and its emphatic position further points to the rendering, For they, in contrast to Jehovah, are (but) a breath (Psa 39:5). How can man, the feeble creature of a day, escape the knowledge of the Omniscient and Eternal, or entertain designs which He cannot fathom?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man – That is, He who teaches people all that they know Psa 94:10, must understand all that there is in the mind. See the notes at 1Co 3:20.
That they are vanity – That is, that they are foolish, vain, unwise, wicked. The knowledge of the thoughts themselves carries with it also the knowledge that they are vain and foolish – for that is their character, and to know them truly is to know this of them. They do not appear to him as they do to people themselves. They are to his view stripped of all that is flattering and illusive, and are seen to be vain and foolish.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 94:11
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Gods indictment of our thoughts
In treatises on morals and in manuals of religion, much has been said about controlling ones thoughts. This is a difficult task to perform.
I. God in the text brings a severe charge against our thoughts. We are taught that only the blood of the Lord Jesus can cleanse them.
1. Consider what thought is, and how far and swiftly it can go. It allies us to the spirits above. It can go so far that the bounds of the infinite alone can check it; so swiftly, that it can distance an archangel in his most rapid flight. Think of its achievements!
2. This thought, so marvellous in its capacity, God charges with vanity. It is a heavy indictment.
II. There are many proofs of the correctness of the charge.
1. This vanity appears in mans persistent seeking to pry into the mysteries of God.
2. It is seen in this, that when man cannot see, he proceeds to conjecture; when he cannot know then he guesses.
3. It is seen in the many ways the thoughts of men lead them into arrant, nonsense.
Self-importance. Pleasures of sense, and appetite, etc.
4. It appears by a review of our past. In manhood, how foolish the thoughts of our childhood appears! We have then put away childish things. So the past period of our lives appears to us at every succeeding stage.
III. Two things are needed,
1. Purification of our thoughts.
2. Regulation of our thoughts, by–
(1) Watchfulness;
(2) Discipline;
(3) Self-examination. (M. Dix, D.D.)
The true character of mans thoughts
Suppose a man should find a great basket by the wayside carefully packed, and, on opening it, he should find it filled with human thoughts, all the thoughts which had passed through one single brain in one year, or five years, what a medley they would make! How many would be wild and foolish, how many weak and contemptible, how many mean and vile, how many so contradictory and crooked, that they could hardly lie still in the basket! And suppose he should be told that these were all his own thoughts, children of his own brain, how amazed would he be, how little prepared to see himself as revealed in these thoughts! And how would he want to run away and hide, if all the world were to see the basket, opened and see his thoughts! (J. Todd, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
This is an answer to the foregoing question, shall not he know? Yes, he knoweth all things, yea, even the most secret things, as the thoughts of men; and in particular your atheistical thoughts, and much more doth he know your wicked practices, which you said he did not see, Psa 94:6,7. And he knows that they are generally vain and foolish, and that whilst you mock God and applaud yourselves in such thoughts, you do not relieve, but only delude yourselves with them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,…. He not only hears their words, and sees their actions; but he knows their thoughts, the secret thoughts of their hearts, though he is afar off from them, and, they from him; he is the searcher of the hearts and trier of the reins of the children of men; see Ps 139:2, and so is Christ, who is the omniscient God, and is the Jehovah all along spoken to and of in this psalm; he knows the thoughts of men, and is a critical discerner of them, Mt 9:3
that they are vanity; either that their thoughts are vanity; the object of them is vanity, the riches and honours of this world, which are all vanity and vexation of spirit; and sinful lusts and pleasures, which are vain and useless, yea, pernicious and hurtful: and so they are in their issue and event; they come to nothing, they are without effect; the Lord disappoints men’s devices, and frustrates their designs; they think of this and the other, form schemes, but cannot execute them: or else the sense is, that they themselves are vanity, as man in his best estate is; even every man, whether of high or low degree; see
Ps 39:5. The Syriac version is, “for they are a vapour”; with which compare Jas 4:14. Thales, an Heathen philosopher e, being asked whether men’s deeds could be hid from God, answered, no, nor their thoughts.
e Apud Laert. Vit. ejus, Valer. Maxim. l. 7. c. 2. extern. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of men, etc. He again insists upon the folly of men in seeking to wrap themselves up in darkness, and hide themselves from the view of God. To prevent them from flattering themselves with vain pretexts, he reminds them that the mists of delusion will be scattered at once when they come to stand in God’s presence. Nothing can avail them, so long as God from heaven stamps vanity upon their deepest counsels. The Psalmist’s design in citing them before the Judge of all, is to make them thoroughly search and try their own hearts; for the great cause of their self-security lay in failing to realize God, burying all distinction between right and wrong, and, so far as that was possible, hardening themselves against all feeling. They might contrive to soothe their minds by means like these, but he tells them that God ridiculed all such trifling. The truth may be a plain one, and well known; but the Psalmist states a fact which many overlook, and which we would do well to remember, That the wicked, when they attempt to hide themselves under subtile refuges, cannot deceive God, and necessarily deceive themselves. Some read — They (that is, men themselves) are vanity; but this is a forced rendering, and the form of expression is one which both in the Greek and Hebrew may be translated, God knows that the thoughts of men are vain.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) That they are vanityThe literal rendering, for they are breath, referring not to thoughts, but to man collectively, gives equally good sense, and would, notwithstanding the order of the words, be natural, since the masculine pronoun is used. But the LXX. stands as the Authorised Version, and is so quoted by St. Paul (1Co. 3:20), with the substitution of wise men for men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. The Lord knoweth A direct affirmation of what had been put interrogatively in Psa 94:9-10. He knoweth the thoughts, devices, of men, not only as an intellectual conception, but by way of judicial cognizance, with the intent to punish then.
Vanity Literally, a breath. The idea is, not only that of emptiness, but of wickedness also, as the word often denotes. Deu 32:21; Pro 13:11. God is not an indifferent spectator. He fathoms all the devices of the wicked oppressors, and will requite them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 94:11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they [are] vanity.
Ver. 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity ] Or worse; that they are ever weaving spiders’ webs, or else hatching cockatrices’ eggs, Isa 59:5 . This sentence St Paul allegeth against the world’s wizards, 1Co 3:20 , who, the wiser they were the vainer they were, Rom 1:21 . As Austin, writing to a man of great parts, saith, Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit, The devil would fain be tricked up by thee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
knoweth, &c. See 1Co 3:20.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 49:10-13, Job 11:11, Job 11:12, Rom 1:21, Rom 1:22, 1Co 1:19, 1Co 1:21, 1Co 1:25
Reciprocal: Psa 119:113 – hate Psa 139:2 – understandest 1Co 3:20 – the lord
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 94:11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man This is an answer to the foregoing question, Shall not he know? Yes, he knoweth all things, yea, even the most secret things, as the thoughts of men; and in particular your thoughts, and much more your practices, which you supposed he did not see, Psa 94:6-7. And he knows that they are generally vain and foolish; and that, while you applaud yourselves in such thoughts, you do not benefit, but only delude yourselves with them.