Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:61
The bands of the wicked have robbed me: [but] I have not forgotten thy law.
61. The cords of the wicked have entangled me] A metaphor from the snare or noose of the hunter. Cp. Psa 119:110; Psa 18:5. Though the wicked lay snares for him, he will not cast in his lot with those who forget God. P.B.V. and A.V. follow some Jewish authorities, and Luther.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The bands of the wicked – Margin, companies. The Hebrew word properly means a cord, a rope; then a snare, gin, net; then, a band or a company of men. The reference is to some time in the life of the psalmist when he was surrounded by wicked men.
Have robbed me – Rather, have surrounded me; have environed me – for so the Hebrew word means.
But I have not forgotten thy law – I have not been deterred from keeping it by the dangers to which I have been exposed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 61. The bands of the wicked have robbed me] chebley, the cables, cords, or snares of the wicked. They have hunted us like wild beasts; many they have taken for prey, and many they have destroyed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Robbed me; or, made a prey of me; done me many injuries for my respect to thy law.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
61, 62. This the more, ifopposition of enemies, or love of ease is overcome in thus honoringGod’s law.
have robbed mebetter,surrounded me, either as forcible constraints like fetters, or as thecords of their nets. HENGSTENBERGtranslates, “snares.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The bands of the wicked have robbed me,…. Very probably Saul and his ministers seized on his effects, when he fled from him; and the Amalekites plundered him of all his substance, when they took Ziklag; and Absalom and the conspirators with him robbed him, when he was obliged, because of them, to flee from his palace and court, which they entered and took possession of. But Aben Ezra rejects this sense of the word, which Jarchi and Kimchi espouse, and we follow, and renders it, “took hold of me”; and so the Targum,
“the company of the wicked were gathered together against me:”
they surrounded him and put him into fear, great numbers of them encompassing him about; see Ps 18:4;
[but] I have not forgotten thy law; this was written in his heart; he kept it in his memory, and retained an affection for it; and could not be deterred from obedience to it by the numbers and violence of wicked men, who hated and persecuted him for his attachment to it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law.
Here is, 1. The malice of David’s enemies against him. They were wicked men, who hated him for his godliness. There were bands or troops of them confederate against him. They did him all the mischief they could; they robbed him; having endeavoured to take away his good name (v. 51), they set upon his goods, and spoiled him of them, either by plunder in time of war or by fines and confiscations under colour of law. Saul (it is likely) seized his effects, Absalom his palace, and the Amalekites rifled Ziklag. Worldly wealth is what we may be robbed of. David, though a man of war, could not keep his own. Thieves break through and steal. 2. The testimony of David’s conscience for him that he had held fast his religion when he was stripped of every thing else, as Job did when the bands of the Chaldeans and Sabeans had robbed him: But I have not forgotten thy law. No care nor grief should drive God’s word out of our minds, or hinder our comfortable relish of it and converse with it. Nor must we ever think the worse of the ways of God for any trouble we meet with in those ways, nor fear being losers by our religion at last, however we may be losers for it now.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
61. The cords of the wicked have caught hold of me. Those who translate חבלי , cheblei, by sorrows, bring out no natural meaning, and perplex themselves as well as wrest the passage. Two readings then remain, either of which may be admitted: The cords of the wicked have caught hold of me, or The companies of the wicked have robbed me (423) Whether we adopt the one or the other of these readings, what the prophet intends to declare is, that when Satan assailed the principles of piety in his soul, by grievous temptations, he continued with undeviating steadfastness in the love and practice of God’s law. Cords may, however, be understood in two ways; either, first, as denoting the deceptive allurements by which the wicked endeavored to get him entangled in their society; or, secondly, the frauds which they practiced to effect his ruin. If the first sense is preferred, David intimates that he had manifested a rare virtue, in continuing in the observance of God’s law, even when the wicked seemed to have involved him in their nets; but as it is more generally agreed that the verb עוד, ived, signifies to despoil or rob, let us adopt this interpretation — That the prophet being assailed by troops of the ungodly, and afterwards robbed and rifled at their pleasure, never deserted his ground. This was a proof of singular fortitude; for when we are exposed to dangers and wrongs of a more than ordinary kind, if God does not see our us we immediately begin to doubt of his providence: it seems to be of no advantage for a man to be godly; we imagine also that we may lawfully take revenge; and amidst these waves, the remembrance of the Divine law is easily lost, and, as it were, submerged. But the prophet assures us:, that to continue to love the law, and to practice righteousness, when we are exposed as a prey to the ungodly, and perceive no help from God, is an evidence of genuine piety.
(423) “ The congregation of the ungodly have robbed me. — Common Prayer Book. Rather the cords of the wicked have unfolded me; i. e. , their machinations have been directed against me, and not without effect. A cord, however, from its being composed of many strings twisted together, was used metaphorically by the Hebrews, as, the word band is by us, to denote a collection of men: and it is accordingly, in 1Sa 10:5, rendered in our English Bible by company, in which sense it is here taken in the version of our Book of Common Prayer, after the Chaldee: the Septuagint gives the literal translation of the word.” — Cresswell.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(61) The bands . . .Rather, cords of the wicked surrounded me. (See Psa. 18:5-6.) So all ancient versions except the Targum.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:61. The bands of the wicked, &c. The troops, &c. “I have been beset with troops of wicked men, who stripped me of all I had.” Houbigant, after the LXX and Vulgate, reads, The cords or snares of the wicked have bound, or entangled me. See 1Sa 23:26.
TETH.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 119:61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me: [but] I have not forgotten thy law.
Ver. 61. The bands of the wicked have robbed me ] In these late stripping times many a poor man’s whole life’s settings were lost in an instant.
But I have not forgotten thy law
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
robbed = surrounded. Compare Sennacherib’s investment of Hezekiah. See App-67.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The bands: or, The companies, Psa 119:95, Psa 3:1, 1Sa 30:3-5, Job 1:17, Hos 6:9
but I: Psa 119:176, 1Sa 24:9-11, 1Sa 26:9-11, Pro 24:29, Rom 12:17-21
Reciprocal: Psa 119:83 – yet do I Psa 119:87 – but I forsook Hos 4:6 – seeing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:61 The bands of the wicked have {c} robbed me: [but] I have not forgotten thy law.
(c) They have gone about to draw me into their company.