Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 62:3
How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall [shall ye be, and as] a tottering fence.
3. How long ] For the indignant remonstrance cp. Psa 4:2, noting also the connexion of that verse with Psa 62:4 ; Psa 62:7 ; Psa 62:9 of this Psalm. God is on his side; they cannot harm him; how long will they persist in the futile attempt?
will ye imagine mischief against a man? ] This rendering, adopted from Jewish authorities by the scholars upon whom Coverdale largely relied, and passing on from him to the later versions, rests upon an impossible derivation. Render with R.V., following LXX and Vulg., will ye set upon a man. The corresponding Arabic word is said to be still used in Damascus in the sense of ‘to intimidate,’ ‘to threaten with violence.’
ye shall be slain ] This is the reading of R. Aaron ben Asher, a famous Jewish scholar of the 10th century, whose authority was generally followed in the West. But the reading of his rival, R. Moses ben Naphtali, which makes the verb active (the difference is one of vowel points only) suits the context better. Render with R.V., that ye may slay him, or better still, returning to the primary meaning of the verb in connexion with the metaphor of the next line,
Battering him, all of you,
Like a toppling wall, like a tottering fence.
The blows of calamity have already taken effect, and they are eager to complete his ruin. Wycliffe gives a graphic rendering of the Vulg.; ‘a wal bowid, and a wal of stoon with out morter cast down.’ “The metaphor of the falling wall is common in Eastern proverbs. ‘The wall is bowing,’ is said of a man at the point of death. ‘By the oppression of the headman the people of that village are a ruined wall.’ ” (Aglen.)
all of you ] In contrast to ‘a man’; fur though the Psalmist was not alone ( Psa 62:8) he was the principal object of attack. Cp. 2Sa 17:1 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? – The original word here rendered imagine mischief, from hathath, occurs only in this place. It means, according to Gesenius (Lexicon), to break in upon; to set upon; to assail: How long will ye break in upon a man? that is, set upon him. So the Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate. It does not refer to their merely forming purposes of mischief against a man, but to their making assaults upon him; to their endeavoring to take his life or to destroy him. The address here is to the enemies of David, and the language would apply well to the attempts made upon his life by Absalom and his followers. The question here is, how long they would continue to do this; how long they would show this determined purpose to take his life; whether they would never cease thus to persecute him. They had already done it long; they had showed great perseverance in this course of wickedness; and he asks whether it would never come to an end? Who these persons were he does not intimate; but there can be no great danger of mistake in referring the description to Absalom and his adherents.
Ye shall be slain all of you – Prof. Alexander renders this entire passage, Will ye murder (that is, seek to murder him) all of you (combined against a single person, who is consequently) like wall inclined (or bent by violence), fence (or hedge) crushed (broken down). So, substantially, DeWette renders it. Those who thus interpret the passage give it an active signification, meaning that his enemies pressed upon him, like a wall that was bent by violence, or a fence that was likely to fall on one. The original word rendered ye shall be slain, traatschuw – teratsechu, is in the active form (Piel), and cannot without violence be rendered in the passive, as it is in our translation. But the active form may still be retained, and a consistent meaning be given to the whole passage without the forced meaning put on it in the rendering by Prof. Alexander. It is not natural to speak of enemies as so coming on a man as to make him like a falling wall, or a tottering fence. The evident idea is, that they themselves would be as a falling wall; that is, that they would be defeated or disappointed in their purpose, as a wall that has no solid foundation tumbles to the ground. The meaning of the original may be thus expressed: How long will ye assail a man, that ye may put him to death? All of you shall be as a bowing wall, etc. That is, You will not accomplish your design; you will fail in your enterprise, as a wall without strength falls to the ground.
As a bowing wall – A wall that bows out, or swells out; a wall that may fall at any moment. See the notes at Isa 30:13.
And as a tottering fence – A fence that is ready to fall; that has no firmness. So it would be with them. Their purposes would suddenly give way, as a fence does when the posts are rotted off, and when there is nothing to support it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. How long will ye imagine mischief] The original word, tehothethu, has been translated variously; rush upon, rage against, stir yourselves up, thrust against: the root is hathath or hathah, to rush violently upon, to assault. It points out the disorderly riotous manner in which this rebellion was conducted.
As a bowing wall – a tottering fence.] Ye are just ready to fall upon others, and destroy them; and in that fall yourselves shall be destroyed: “Ye shall be slain the whole of you.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ye, mine enemies, to whom now he turneth his speech.
Against a man, i.e. against me, a man like yourselves, whom common humanity obligeth you to pity; a single man, who is no fit match for you; a poor, contemptible, miserable, and impotent creature, as the word
man is oft used, as Psa 9:20; 82:7, &c., a dead dog, or a flea, or a partridge, as upon the same account he calleth himself, 1Sa 24:14; 26:20, whom you cannot thus pursue without reflecting disparagement upon yourselves, as he there saith. Ye shall be slain all of you; the mischief which you design for me shall fall upon your own heads. And accordingly Saul and the generality of these men were slain, 1Sa 31.
As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence, i.e. as suddenly and easily overthrown as these are.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Their destruction will come;as a tottering wall they already are feeble and failing.
bowing wall shall yebebetter supply “are.” Some propose to apply thesephrases to describe the condition of “a man”that is, thepious suffer: thus, “Will ye slay him,” c. but the other isa good sense.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?…. Against a good man, as the Targum; or against any Israelite, as Kimchi; or rather he means himself, a single man, a weak man, and an innocent one; which aggravated their sin, in devising his hurt, and contriving ways to take away his life, as did Saul and his courtiers; and, Absalom, and those that were with him. R. Jonah, from the Arabic language, interprets the word here used of putting or drawing out the tongue to a great length; that is, multiplying words, as lies and calumnies, in agreement with Ps 62:4; but Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, explain it as we do, of devising mischief. The Targum is,
“how long do ye rage against a good man?”
Ye shall be slain all of you; this is a further aggravation of their folly, since it would issue in their own ruin; the mischief they devised for him would fall upon themselves. Some understand this
, “by way of prayer”; as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech,
“may ye be slain all of you:”
there is a double reading of these words; Ben Napthali, who is followed by the eastern Jews, reads them actively, “ye shall slay”; with which agree the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; and so the Targum,
“ye shall become murderers all of you.”
Ben Asher, who is followed by the western Jews, reads passively as we do, “ye shall be slain”; and which is approved by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and others;
as a bowing wall [shall ye be, and as] a tottering fence; which are easily and suddenly pushed down; and so these similes denote the easy, sudden, and certain destruction of those men; see Isa 36:13; though some connect the words with the men against whom mischief was imagined by his enemies, who was like a bowing wall and a tottering fence; and so are expressive of his weakness, and of the easy destruction of him; and read the words, “ye shall be slain all of you”, in a parenthesis; but the former sense seems best.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. How long will ye continue mischief? The Hebrew word תהותתו , tehotethu, (412) which I have translated continue, or lengthen out, mischief, is rendered by some, to meditate, or imagine mischief, while others suppose an allusion to the putting forth of the tongue in sign of mockery. It has been rendered also, to rush upon, or assault. The sense of the passage seems to be, How long will ye meditate evil against a man, and persist in mischievous devices for accomplishing his ruin? He has in view the obstinate malice of his enemies, moving every stone for his destruction, and forming new plans daily for effecting it. The instruction to be learned from his experience is, that we should exercise patience, even when our enemies show unwearied cruelty in their attempts to destroy us, and are instigated by the devil to incessant artifices for our persecution. We may just advert to the meaning of the figure which is subjoined. Some think that the wicked are compared to a bowing wall, because it threatens every moment to fall to the ground, and they, upon every sin which they commit, tend more and more downwards, till they are precipitated into destruction. But it would seem as if the allusion were somewhat different. A wall, when ill built, bulges out in the center, presenting the appearance of nearly twice its actual breadth; but, as it is hollow within, it soon falls to ruins. The wicked, in like manner, are dilated with pride, and assume, in their consultations, a most formidable appearance; but David predicts that they would be brought to unexpected and utter destruction, like a wall badly constructed, and hollow in the interior, which falls with a sudden crash, and is broken by its own weight into a thousand pieces. (413) The word גדר, gader, which I have rendered, a fence, means, properly, an enclosure built of slight and insufficient materials; (414) and an epithet is added still more to express the violence and impetuosity of their fall. The Psalmist, then, would teach us that, high as our enemies may appear to stand, and proud and swelling as their denunciations may be, they shall be suddenly and signally overthrown, like a smitten wall.
(412) Hammond observes, that this verb “is but once used in the Scriptures, and so will not be easily interpreted but either by the notion which we find put upon it by the ancient interpreters, or else by the Arabic use of it.” The Chaldee renders it, raise tumults; the Syriac, stir up, instigate, incite, or provoke; the Septuagint and Vulgate, assail, or rush upon; and the Arabic, use violence or injustice Gesenius gives the sense of the Septuagint. Kimchi and Aben Ezra read, pravitatis cogitabitis “Abu Walid compares תהותתו with the Arabic תהתהתו, with t, not with th, which signifies to multiply words; and so he would have it, according to the use of it in that tongue, to signify speaking much against, backbiting, defaming, spreading evil reports of, lashing out with your tongues against, for hurt. What he thus observes of תהותתו, with t, not th, may have place also with the word, as we have it; for the root with ת, th also in Arabic signifies mentiri , to lie, and confusion, injustice, violence; which as well agree to his sense as that of the root with t. ” When David says, against a man, and uses also the third person in the fourth verse, it is of himself that he speaks. “ Against a man; i e. , against me, a man like yourselves, whom common hmnanity obliges you to pity; a single man, who is no fit match for you.” — Poole ’ s Annotations
(413) Isaiah has also made use of this image to express sudden and utter destruction, (Isa 30:13.)
(414) In the East it is common for the inhabitants to enclose their vineyards and gardens with hedges, consisting of various kinds of shrubs, and particularly such as are armed with spines. They have also mounds of earth-walls about their gardens. Rawwolff describes the gardens about Jerusalem as surrounded by mud-walls, not above four feet high, easily climbed over, and washed down by rain in a very little time. Stone-walls are also frequently used. Thus Egmont or Heyman, describing the country about Saphet, a celebrated city of Galilee, tells us, “The country round it is finely improved, the declivity being covered with vines, supported by low walls. — Harmer ’ s Observations, volume 2, pp. 216-219. Doubdan describes some of these in the Holy Land as built of loose stones, without any cement to join them. The original word probably means some such “fence” as this. Indeed, it always appears to denote a wall of stones: sometimes in express contradistinction to the hedge, or thorny fence. — See Parkhurst ’ s Lexicon, on גדר
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Imagine mischief.This is the Rabbinical rendering of a word that occurs only here. The LXX. have fall upon; Vulg., rush upon, a meaning supported by an Arabic root meaning to storm or assault, and is so far preferable to Aquilas and Jeromes plot against, and Symmachus labour in vain, or Syriac, act foolishly.
Ye shall be slain.The reading varies, the Tiberian school reading the verb passive, the Babylonian, active. The latter is supported by the ancient versions. The primary meaning is given to break, and we get:
How long will ye assault a man?
(How long) will ye try to break him down,
As if he were a bowing wall, a tottering fence.
The metaphor of the falling wall is common in Eastern proverbs. The wall is bowing, is said of a man at the point of death. By the oppression of the headman, the people of that village are a ruined wall.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. How long will ye imagine mischief He addresses the leaders of the rebellion. The Hebrew word translated “imagine mischief” occurs nowhere else, and its derivation has been variously understood. The sense most in accordance with the imagery of the context, and sustained by modern oriental usage and the ancient Versions, is, to storm against, to break in upon, and hence to persecute, assail. “How long will ye storm against, or break in upon, a man?”
Ye shall be slain Ye will crush, all of you. The verb is to be taken in Piel, not passive, as describing what they would do, not what should be done to them; and the metaphor requires the radical sense as above, not the secondary sense as in the common Version.
As a bowing wall and tottering fence As a leaning wall, a wall thrust at, or thrust down. The idea of the latter, which is in the form of climax, is that of a wall which, from a violent shock, is thrown out of line and is ready to fall, or is already falling. Such was the contemptuous idea which the conspirators held of David. Perowne translates the passage:
How long will ye rush against a man.
Will ye all of you break [him] down,
As [though he were] a bowing wall, a tottering fence?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘How long will you set upon a man,
That you may slay him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall,
Like a tottering fence?’
But while he sees God as his Rock and his strong tower, He is invisible to his adversaries who consequently see him as vulnerable and collapsing. They see him as like a leaning wall which could fall at any moment, and as a tottering fence which is totally insecure. They do not realise that God is with him. That is why they are going about to slay him. They do not realise how foolish their attitude is when they are dealing with one with whom God is pleased.
So David asks them how long they intend their behaviour and attitude to go on? For how long are they futilely going to set on him in order to slay him? He has no fear, for his confidence is in God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 62:3. How along will ye imagine mischief? &c. How long will ye push against a single man? Ye shall all of you be slain, and fall on a sudden, like a bending wall, or a tottering fence. See Green and Mudge. The word fence, or hedge, does not come up to the original; which means such a sort of partition, or wall, as, when it is decayed, is liable to fall and crush a man to death. In this view the similitude is, not that they should be in a ruinous condition, like a decayed wall, but that they should threaten destruction to all who came near them, as a falling wall does to all those who come within the reach of it; and, as the prophet expresses it, Like a breach ready to fall, swelling out into a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant. Isa 30:13.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here is a beautiful breaking off of the subject, but in reality carrying on the same glorious confidence, in this striking remonstrance with the enemies of God and of Christ. It is as if the soul in her triumphs exclaimed, How utterly fruitless, ye followers of sin, must be your attempts against the man settled in, and united to, the God of his salvation. All your efforts to cast him down are alike vain; but ye yourselves, like a wall out of its perpendicular, and whose foundation is in the dust, must assuredly fall, and be buried in your own ruin.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 62:3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall [shall ye be, and as] a tottering fence.
Ver. 3. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ] What though I am but a man, and in your eyes a mean despicable creature; yet know ye, that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself, Psa 4:3 , where David bespeaketh his enemies with like sharpness as here for their malice and madness against him. The Hebrew word rendered imagine is found only here: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin render it, How long will ye rush against a man? , Irruitis. Austin, Quosque apponitis super hominem? sc. onera et opprobria, How long lay you load of injuries and indignities upon me?
Ye shall be slain all of you
As a bowing wall shall ye be
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 62:3-4
3How long will you assail a man,
That you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
4They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position;
They delight in falsehood;
They bless with their mouth,
But inwardly they curse. Selah.
Psa 62:3-4 This strophe describes the faithless adversaries.
1. they assail (lit. shout at) BDB 223, KB 243, Polel imperfect, plural; this verb is found only here in the OT and the meaning is derived from an Arabic root
2. they attempt to murder (lit. scatter) BDB 953, KB 1283, Pual imperfect; NET Bible thinks the verb should be Piel, all of you are murderers (p. 927)
3. they are like (several English translations have Psa 62:3 c refer to the psalmist; NRSV, TEV, NJB, JPSOA, REB)
a. a leaning wall BDB 639, KB 692, Qal passive participle
b. a tottering fence BDB 190, KB 218, Qal passive participle
4. they counsel (BDB 419, KB 421, Qal perfect) only to thrust another down from his high position BDB 632, KB 673, Hiphil infinitive construct
5. they delight in falsehood BDB 953, KB 1280, Qal imperfect
6. they bless (BDB 138, KB 159, Piel imperfect) with their mouth but inwardly curse BDB 886, KB 1103, Piel imperfect; one wonders if Jas 3:10 comes from this Psalm
By their fruits (Mat 7:16-20) and words (Mat 12:34-37) you shall know them.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
imagine mischief. Occurs only here. Probably = assault, or rise against.
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
How: Psa 4:2, Psa 82:2, Exo 10:3, Exo 16:28, Pro 1:22, Pro 6:9, Jer 4:14, Mat 17:17
imagine: Psa 21:11, Psa 38:12, Psa 140:2, Hos 7:15
ye shall: Psa 73:18-20, 1Sa 26:10
bowing: Isa 30:13, Isa 30:14
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:30 – and the house 1Sa 1:14 – How long 1Ki 20:7 – seeketh mischief Psa 27:2 – wicked Eze 13:15 – The wall Dan 6:6 – assembled together Mar 9:5 – it is Act 24:9 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 62:3. How long will ye Mine enemies, (to whom he now turns his speech,) imagine mischief against a man Against me, a man like yourselves, whom common humanity obliges you to pity; a single man, who is no fit match for you? Ye shall be slain all of you The mischief which ye design for me shall fall upon your own heads. And accordingly Saul, and the generality of these men, were slain, 1 Samuel 31. As a bowing wall shall ye be As suddenly and easily overthrown; as a tottering fence The word fence, or hedge, does not fully express the sense of the original word, , gadeer, which means such a sort of partition, or wall, as, when it is decayed, is liable to fall and crush a man to death. In this view the similitude is, not that they should be in a ruinous condition, like a decayed wall, but that they should threaten destruction to all who came near them, as a falling wall does to all those who come within the reach of it; and as Isaiah expresses it, Like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant, Isa 30:13. See Green.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
62:3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a {c} man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a {d} bowing wall [shall ye be, and as] a tottering fence.
(c) He means himself, being the man whom God had appointed to the kingdom.
(d) Though you seem to be in honour, yet God will suddenly destroy you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
David marveled that wicked enemies tried to topple him, as though he were a leaning wall or flimsy fence. These enemies had resorted to deceitful words to accomplish their ends.