Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 102:8
Mine enemies reproach me all the day; [and] they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
8. His enemies aggravate his sufferings by mocking him as one forsaken by God (Psa 42:10; Psa 44:13).
are sworn against me ] Rather as R.V., do curse by me; using my name in formulas of execration, ‘God make thee like yonder miserable wretch.’ Cp. Isa 65:15; Jer 29:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mine enemies reproach me all the day – Continually. They reproach me as one of thy people; or, I bear reproaches in common with others, and it becomes to me a personal matter, so entirely are my feelings and interests identified with those of thy people. Perhaps there were also, mingled with this, personal reproaches and calumnies.
And they that are mad against me – Angry; excited even to madness.
Are sworn against me – literally, swear by me, or against me. The meaning is, that they have conspired together under the solemnity of an oath to do me harm. It is not the wrath of an individual that I am to meet, but the combined wrath of those who act under the solemnities of an oath. Compare Act 23:12.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. They that are mad against me are sworn against me.] The Chaldeans are determined to destroy us; and they have bound themselves by oath to do it. See a similar case related Ac 23:12-14, where a number of Jews had bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had slain Paul.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, and being mad or enraged at or against me, they swear against me; they swear they will do me yet more mischief: or, they swear by me; they make use of my name and misery in their forms of swearing and imprecation; as when they would express their malicious and mischievous intentions against another, they swear that they will use him or make him as miserable as a Jew. See the like expressions Num 5:21; Isa 65:15; Jer 29:22.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. sworn against meorliterally, “by me,” wishing others as miserable as I am (Nu5:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Mine enemies reproach me all the day,…. For his principles and practices, being different from theirs; for his religion, and preciseness in it; for his faith and profession of it, and for his holy walk and conversation. Good men have their enemies, and always had; but then they are such who are also enemies to God and Christ, and true religion; and these, not content to reproach now and then, continually throw out their scoffs and jeers; which is not grateful, and is here mentioned as an article of complaint; though the saints should reckon reproach for the sake of Christ and religion greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt:
and they that are mad against me; as the Jews were against Christ, because of his miracles, doctrine, and success, and therefore sought to take away his life; and as the Apostle Paul before conversion was, even exceeding mad against the saints, and persecuted them to strange cities, Lu 6:11, so were the psalmist’s enemies quite outrageous and implacable, being his sworn enemies, as follows:
are sworn against me: laid themselves under a curse, to do him all the mischief they could, and it may be to take away his life; as those who sware they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul,
Ac 23:12 or they sware to lies, false charges and accusations brought against him, like those that Jezebel suborned against Naboth: or “they sware by me” r; as the words may be rendered; they sware by his calamities and distresses, and wished they might be as he was, if they did not do so and so; and took his name for a curse.
r “per me jurant”, Tigurine version, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. My enemies have reviled me daily The faithful, to excite the compassion of God towards them, tell him that they are not only objects of mockery to their enemies, but also that they swore by them. The indignity complained of is, that the ungodly so shamefully triumphed over God’s chosen people, as even to borrow from their calamities a form of swearing and imprecation. This was to regard the fate of the Jews as a signal pattern in uttering the language of imprecation. When, therefore, at the present day the ungodly, in like manner, give themselves loose reins in pouring forth against us contumelious language, let us learn to fortify ourselves with this armor, by which such kind of temptation, however sharp, may be overcome. The Holy Spirit, in dictating to the faithful this form of prayer, meant to testify that God is moved by such revilings to succor his people; even as we find it stated in Isa 37:23,
“
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? even against the Holy One of Israel;”
and in the verse immediately preceding the prophet had said, “He hath despised thee, O daughter of Zion! against thee hath he shaken the head, O daughter of Jerusalem!” It is surely an inestimable comfort that the more insolent our enemies are against us, the more is God incited to gird himself to aid us. In the second clause the inspired writer expresses more strongly the cruelty of his enemies, when he speaks of their being mad against him As the verb הלל, halal, which we have rendered mad, generally signifies to praise, it might here be understood as having, by the figure antiphrasis, a sense the very opposite — those who dispraised or reproached me. But it is better to follow the commonly received interpretation. Some maintain that they are called mad, because they manifested their own folly, making it evident from the manner in which they acted, that they were worthless persons; but this opinion does too much violence to the text. The more satisfactory sense is, that the people of God charge revilers with cruelty or furious hatred.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Sworn against me.Rather, swear by me, i.e., make his name a byeword of execration, to be explained by Isa. 65:15; Jer. 29:22. LXX. and Vulg., were swearing against me.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Mine enemies reproach me This was a chief source of his distress. They taunted him as one forsaken of God. Psa 42:3; Psa 42:10; Mic 7:10.
Mad against me They rage “against me.” They act like men devoid of reason.
Sworn against me The peculiar form of the expression would indicate that they used him as a common formula of cursing, as in the passage, “The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab,”
Jer 29:22. See, also, Isa 65:15. We know this was the reproach of the exiles while in Babylon, Zec 8:13. This accords well with the historic occasion of the psalm.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 102:8. And they that are mad against me, &c. And my slanderers, &c. Mudge renders, And in their madness swear against me; and Green, The insolent boasters use my name in their oaths: Psa 102:9. Because I eat ashes, &c.: Psa 102:10. On account of thy indignation and wrath, &c. According to him, the phrase, Use my name in their oaths, means, “Their form of swearing is this; if we break our oaths, may the gods pour down their vengeance upon us, and make us as miserable as this captive Jew!”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 102:8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; [and] they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
Ver. 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day ] This is an evil that man’s nature is most impatient with. See Psal. cxxxvii.
And they that are mad against me
Are sworn against me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 102:8-11
8My enemies have reproached me all day long;
Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.
9For I have eaten ashes like bread
And mingled my drink with weeping
10Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
11My days are like a lengthened shadow,
And I wither away like grass.
Psa 102:8-11 This strophe continues the description of the hurting psalmist.
1. his enemies (possibly invaders) reproach him continuously, Psa 102:8
2. his enemies deride him
3. his enemies use his name as a curse (cf. Isa 65:15; Jer 29:22)
4-5. he has eaten ashes and drunk tears (these were signs of mourning, see SPECIAL TOPIC: GRIEVING RITES , cf. Psa 42:3; Psa 80:5)
6. his days are like a lengthened shadow (i.e., his pain lasts a long time)
7. he withers away like grass (cf. Gen 6:3; Job 10:4; Job 14:1-2; Psa 78:39; Psa 90:5-6; Psa 102:4; Psa 103:15-18; Isa 40:6; 1Pe 1:24-25)
The theological issue is why was he suffering. Psa 102:10 reveals that he was experiencing divine judgment (cf. Psalms 38). One wonders if he is a symbol or representative of the nation (cf. Psa 102:12-22).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
are sworn against me = are sworn [together] against me; as in Act 23:12-21.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mine: Psa 31:11-13, Psa 55:3, Psa 69:9, Psa 69:10, Psa 69:20, Psa 89:51, Rom 15:3
mad: Psa 2:1, Luk 6:11, Act 7:54, Act 26:11
sworn: Act 23:12-35
Reciprocal: Psa 41:5 – Mine Ecc 4:1 – the tears
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 102:8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day This my misery hath exposed me to the scorn of mine enemies, who do nothing but upbraid me with my calamities. And they that are mad against me Or, my slanderers, as Dr. Waterland renders, , moholalai, are sworn against me, Or, they swear by me. They make use of my name and misery, in their forms of swearing and imprecation; for when they would express their malicious and mischievous intentions against any one, they swear they will make him as miserable as a Jew. Or, their form of swearing is this, If we break our oaths, may the gods pour down their vengeance upon us, and make us as miserable as this captive Jew.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
102:8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; [and] they that are mad against me are {f} sworn against me.
(f) Have conspired my death.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
His enemies had also ridiculed him continually, even using him as an example of someone God had cursed. The ashes he had put on his head as a sign of his mourning had evidently fallen down on his food. He had eaten so many of them he could say he had consumed them like bread. Likewise his many tears had dropped into the cup from which he drank. Perhaps these are figurative ways of describing his grief.