Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 59:7
Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords [are] in their lips: for who, [say they], doth hear?
7. The figure of Psa 59:6 is dropped. A flood of cursing and falsehood ( Psa 59:12) pours from their mouth (Pro 15:2; Pro 15:28); they menace him with death, or openly boast that he will soon be got rid of; cp. Psa 52:2, note.
‘Say they’ is rightly inserted. ‘Who doth hear’? is not the Psalmist’s complaint that there is no one to take his part, but the scornful sneer of his enemies, who do not believe that God cares for His servant. Cp. Psa 10:4; Psa 10:11; Psa 10:13; Psa 64:5; Psa 73:11; Psa 94:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, they belch out with their mouth – The word rendered belch out means properly to boil forth; to gush out, to flow; and then, to pour forth copiously, or in a running stream, as a fountain does. Hence, the word means also to pour out words – words that flow freely – words of folly, abuse, or reproach. Pro 15:2, the mouth of fools poureth out (Margin, belcheth or babbleth) foolishness. Pro 15:28, the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things; that is, gushes over with wicked things – as a fountain overflows. In this place, the word means that the enemies of David who were in pursuit of his life, poured out reproaches and threatenings like a gushing fountain.
Swords are in their lips – Their words are as sharp swords. See the notes at Psa 57:4.
For who, say they, doth hear? – That is, no one hears who will be able to punish us. They dread no man; and they have no fear of God. Compare the notes at Psa 10:11. The words say they are, however, supplied here by the translators, and are not in the original; and the language may be understood as that of David himself, as if no one heard; that is, It is no wonder that they thus pour out words of reproach, for who is there to hear and to punish them? The former interpretation, however, is to be preferred. The language expresses the feelings of the enemies of David, who indulged freely in language of abuse and reproach as if there were none to hear.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. They belch out with their mouth] They use the lowest insult, the basest abuse. They deal in sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They belch out; or, they pour forth, (to wit, words, for what else should come out of the mouth? even sharp and bitter words, as the next clause explains it,) abundantly and vehemently, as a fountain doth waters, as this word signifies. See Pro 15:28; Jer 6:7.
Swords, i.e. words as keen and mischievous as swords, as Psa 55:21; 57:4.
Who, say they, doth hear? David doth not hear us, either to discover, and so to prevent our plots; Or to punish us for them; and God either doth not hear or not regard what we say and do against David; and therefore we may speak and act what we think fit.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. for who, say theyFor thefull expression with the supplied words, compare Ps64:5.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, they belch out with their mouth,…. Bark like dogs, so Aben Ezra; or “bubble out” u, as a fountain bubbles out with water; so they cast out their wickedness in great abundance; see Jer 6:7; the phrase denotes the abundance of evil things and wicked speeches that came out of their mouths, which showed the naughtiness of their hearts; so David’s enemies blustered and threatened what they would do to him could they find him; and Christ’s enemies poured out their wicked charges of blasphemy and sedition against him, in great plenty, and without proof;
swords [are] in their lips; the words of their lips were like sharp swords; see Ps 55:21; threatening the most severe and cruel things: or, besides their lips, and what they belched out with their mouths, they took swords in their hands in a literal sense; as Saul’s messengers did to kill David, and as Judas and his band of men, who came to take Christ as a thief, with swords and staves, Mt 26:55;
for who, [say they], doth hear? what they uttered with their mouths and lips, in a blustering and threatening manner; though they were overheard by men, who carried what they said and designed to do to Michal, David’s wife. The meaning may be, they would say what they pleased, and did not care who heard them, having nothing to fear from any, they having their orders from the king; see Ps 12:4; and so the Targum,
“behold they belch out with their mouths words which are sharp as swords, and with their lips saying, we shall prevail; for who is he that hears, and can punish?”
Aben Ezra’s note is,
“they thought that God did not hear their counsels;”
and therefore the next words are in direct opposition to them; but so to think is monstrous stupidity and brutishness, Ps 94:4; some take the words to be the words of David, complaining that the civil magistrate, none of the judges, took notice of or punished such who belched out their lies and calumnies against him, saying, “for who doth hear?” no man.
u “scaturient”, Montanus; “copiose eructant”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the verse which follows, he describes their fierceness. The expression, prating, or belching out with their mouth, denotes that they proclaimed their infamous counsels openly, and without affecting concealment. The Hebrew word נבע, nabang, means, metaphorically, to speak, but properly, it signifies to gush out, (364) and here denotes more than simply speaking. He would inform us, that not content with plotting the destruction of the innocent secretly amongst themselves, they published their intentions abroad, and boasted of them. Accordingly, when he adds, that swords were in their lips, he means that they breathed out slaughter, and that every word they spoke was a sword to slay the oppressed. He assigns as the cause of their rushing to such excess of wickedness, that they had no reason to apprehend disgrace. It may be sufficiently probable, that David adverts here, as in many other places, to the gross stupidity of the wicked, who, in order to banish fear from their minds, conceive of God as if he were asleep in heaven; but I am of opinion that he rather traces the security with which they prosecuted their counsels, and openly proclaimed them, to the fact, that they had long ere now been in possession of the uncontrolled power of inflicting injury. They had succeeded so completely in deceiving the people, and rendering David odious by their calumnies, that none had the courage to utter a word in his defense. Nay, the more atrociously that any man might choose to persecute this victim of distress, from no other motive than to secure the good graces of the king, the more did he rise in estimation as a true friend to the commonwealth.
(364) Ainsworth reads, “ to utter or well out, as from a fountain; belch or babble, as Pro 15:2, ‘As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her malice.’” “ Le mot Hebrieu signifie se repandre en paroles , etc.;” i. e. , “The Hebrew word signifies to break out in words, and it here denotes the oft repeated and passionate expressions which proceed from the mouth of persons actuated by hatred and rage, as in Psa 94:4. To it the word bark answers very well, which is borrowed from dogs, and expresses the noise made by these animals; and this word is here the more apposite, that David in the preceding verse compares his enemies to dogs which incessantly run about and do nothing but bark.” — Martin.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Behold.Without question this word should, as Mr. Burgess suggests, be emended to spears (chanth instead of hinneh), to give
Spears they pour out with their mouths,
Swords with their lips.
(Comp. Psa. 57:5, and
She speaks poniards.As You Like It.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. They belch out with their mouth A continuation of the figure, Psa 59:6. As applied to David’s enemies it is an expression of the lowest contempt.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 59:7. They belch out The original verb bangah, properly signifies the bubbling noise of water rising out of a spring. Hence it is used in a good and bad sense of what is uttered by the mouth, according as that is good or evil. In the good sense we have it, Pro 1:23. In the place before us, it is taken in the bad sense, and denotes those numerous threatenings, calumnies, and imprecations, which David’s pursuers poured out against him. Swords are in their lips, says he. Their threatenings were cruel and deadly: Psa 57:4 and the calumnies which they privately insinuated to Saul, such as made him determine his destruction, especially as David had not the liberty of vindicating himself. Therefore it is added, For who heareth? They vented their calumnies more freely and dangerously, because privately; so that none could refute them. Chandler.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 59:7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords [are] in their lips: for who, [say they], doth hear?
Ver. 7. Behold, they belch out with their mouth ] Calling me traitor wherever they come, and seeking to double murder him, viz. by detraction, and by deadly practice. As a fountain casteth out waters, so do graceless men wickedness, Jer 6:7 .
Swords are in their lips
For who, say they, doth hear?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
belch: Pro 15:2, *marg. Mat 12:34
swords: Psa 55:21, Psa 57:4, Psa 64:3-5, Psa 109:2, Psa 109:3, Pro 12:18
who: Psa 10:11, Psa 10:13, Psa 73:11, Psa 94:7-9, Job 22:12, Job 22:13, Jer 33:24
Reciprocal: Job 19:2 – break me Psa 52:1 – told Psa 52:2 – like Psa 64:5 – Who Psa 94:4 – shall Psa 120:4 – Sharp Psa 140:3 – sharpened Pro 6:12 – walketh Isa 29:15 – Who seeth Lam 3:62 – lips Luk 6:45 – and an Jam 3:8 – an unruly
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
59:7 Behold, they {f} belch out with their mouth: swords [are] in their lips: for who, [say they], doth hear?
(f) They boast openly in their wicked devises, and every word is as a sword: for they neither fear God nor are ashamed of men.