Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 9:12
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
12. For he that maketh requisition for bloodshed hath remembered them:
He hath not forgotten the cry of the humble.
The call to praise is based on a definite experience ( hath remembered, hath not forgotten), rather than on a general truth ( remembereth, forgetteth not). Jehovah is the Goel, the Avenger of blood, who investigates all offences against His sacred gift of human life, and demands satisfaction for them (Gen 9:5 f.). Such offences ‘cry’ to God for vengeance (Gen 4:10). ‘Bloodshed’ may include crimes of violence which fall short of actual murder, but rob men of the rightful use and enjoyment of their lives. Cf. Job 24:2 ff.
them ] The oppressed seekers of Jehovah mentioned in Psa 9:9-10; the ‘poor’ of the next line.
the cry ] For illustration comp. Exo 3:7; Exo 3:9; 1Sa 9:16; Job 34:28.
the humble ] R.V. the poor, marg. meek. The traditional reading ( Qr) is ‘ anvm, though the text ( Kthbh) has ‘ aniyym. Both words are derived from the same root, meaning to bend or bow down. The first is intransitive in form, and denotes the character of one who bows himself down: lowly, humble, meek (LXX ). The second is passive in form, and denotes primarily the condition of one who is bowed down by external circumstances of poverty, trouble, or oppression: poor, afflicted (comp. the cognate substantive in Psa 9:13, my trouble, R.V, affliction). But inasmuch as humility is learnt in the school of affliction and, poverty (cp. Mat 5:3 with Luk 6:20), it often has the secondary sense of meek, humble (LXX generally , , sometimes or ), and the distinction between the two words is lost. The second of the two words (but not the first) is often coupled or in parallelism with ebhyn ‘needy,’ Psa 9:18), or dal ‘weak,’ ‘feeble’ (Psa 82:3-4); and these words also, though primarily denoting condition, tend to acquire a moral significance.
The ‘afflicted,’ ‘poor,’ ‘meek,’ ‘humble,’ are a class that meet us frequently in the Psalms and Prophets. They are those whose condition specially calls for the special protection of Jehovah, and of righteous rulers who are His true representatives (Psa 72:7; Psa 72:4; Psa 72:12); and whose character for the most part fits them to be objects of the divine favour. They are contrasted with the proud, the scorners, the oppressors, whose contemptuous independence and high-handed violence will meet with due punishment (Pro 3:34).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When he maketh inquisition for blood – When he inquires after blood; that is, when he comes forth with this view, to wit, for purposes of punishment. There is allusion here to such passages as that in Gen 9:5, And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man. The idea is, that when blood was shed in murder, God would seek out the murderer; he would require satisfaction of him who had shed the blood; he would punish the offender. The language, there, becomes equivalent to that of seeking punishment for murder, and then for sin in general; and the representation here is that of God as going forth in the capacity of an executioner of his own laws to inflict punishment on the guilty.
He remembereth them – He remembereth, says Prof. Alexander, the bloods or murders, since the word blood, as in Psa 5:6, is in the plural – bloods. The better interpretation, however, is, that the word them here refers to the oppressed and the afflicted – for that is the main idea in the passage. See Psa 9:8-9. When he goes forth in the earth to execute judgment on the wicked; when he cuts them down in his wrath; when he sweeps them away as with a flood – the punishment will not be indiscriminate. He will then mark the oppressed, the afflicted, the persecuted, the troubled, and the sad, and will interpose to save them – delivering them from the storms of wrath. The idea, then, is, that the righteous will not be forgotten; that even in the most fierce and awful of his dispensations he will still regard them, and interpose to save them.
He forgetteth not the cry of the humble – Margin, afflicted. The margin expresses the true idea. The reference is not to the humble in the common sense of that term, but to the afflicted; the oppressed; to those who are in trouble, Psa 9:9. He will then remember the cry which in their afflictions they have been long sending up to him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. When he maketh inquisition for blood] This not only applies to the Canaanites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, who shed the blood of God’s people unjustly, but to all the nations of the earth who, to enlarge their territory, increase their wealth, or extend their commerce, have made destructive wars. For the blood which such nations have shed, their blood shall be shed. If man should make no inquisition for this iniquitously spilt blood, GOD will do it, for he remembers them; and the cry of the humbled, distressed people, driven to distraction and ruin by such wars, is not forgotten before him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For blood, Heb. bloods; the bloodshed or murder of his innocent and holy ones; which though he may connive at for a season, yet he will certainly call the authors of it to a very severe account, and avenge it upon them.
He remembereth them; either,
1. The humble, as it follows, or the oppressed, Psa 9:9, that trust in him, and seek to him, Psa 9:10, whom he seemed to have forgotten. Or,
2. The bloods last mentioned, for that noun and this pronoun are both of the masculine gender; and then remembering is put for revenging or punishing, as it is Deu 25:17,19; Ne 6:14; Jer 14:10; 44:21, and oft elsewhere.
The humble, or meek, as this word, which is used also Zec 9:9, is translated Mat 21:5, who do not, and cannot, and will not avenge themselves, but commit their cause to me, as the God to whom vengeance belongeth. Or, afflicted or oppressed ones.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. for bloodthat is, murders(Ps 5:6), including all theoppressions of His people.
maketh inquisition(compareGe 9:5). He will avenge theircause.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When he maketh inquisition for blood,…. The Arabic version renders it, “he remembers him that seeks their blood”; that is, the wicked man, that lies in wait for innocent blood, and whose feet are swift to shed it; the man of sin, who is bloodthirsty; who drinks up the blood of the saints like water, and has been made drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, him will God remember, and take vengeance on, in his own time: but rather this is to be understood of God himself, seeking for the blood of his saints: he knows where it is, though ever so privily shed, as he did Abel’s; yet, to show his strict care and accurate notice of it, he is represented as searching for it, and finding it out by secret search, Jer 2:34. And it is the same phrase with “requiring” blood, and expresses a demand of satisfaction for it; and declares the vengeance that God will take on account of it: he requires the blood of every man at the hand of him by whom it is shed, Ge 9:5; especially the blood of the righteous, Mt 23:35; particularly the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, shed by the Romish antichrist; he will make inquisition for that, and will find in Babylon the blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that are slain on earth; and will avenge the blood of his servants at her hand, and give her blood to drink, Re 18:24;
he remembereth them; either the “righteous”, as the Targum paraphrases it, whose blood has been shed; or else the wicked, who shed their blood: God will remember them and their sins; which, for some time, may seem not to have been taken notice of by him, and will pour out his wrath, and inflict just punishment on them; see Re 16:19;
he forgetteth not the cry of the humble: the “Cetib”, or writing of the text, is , “afflicted”; the “Keri”, or marginal reading, is
, “humble”; so the Masorah and Targum read: both may be taken into the sense: afflicted persons are generally humble, afflictions make them humble; God’s people are an afflicted people; afflicted with sin, with Satan, with the world, with antichrist and his followers: and they are an humble people; grace makes them humble, and a sense of their sin and unworthiness keeps them so: and this is a proper character of the followers of Jesus. These in their distress cry to the Lord, as the Israelites did in Egypt under their bondage and, pressures: yea, their blood cries after death, as Abel’s did, and as the blood of the martyrs of Christ does, whose souls under the altar cry for vengeance, Re 6:9; and God is not unmindful of their cry; however he may seem to be, he takes notice of it, and wilt in his own time avenge his elect, which cry unto him day and night.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12. For in requiring blood. In the original, it is bloods, in the plural number, and, therefore, the relative which follows immediately after, And remembereth THEM, may very properly be referred to that word in this way, He requireth bloods, and remembereth them. But as it is sufficiently common in Hebrew to invert the order of the antecedent and the relative, and to put them before the word to which it refers, (176) some explain it of the poor, thus: In requiring blood, he hath remembered them, namely, the poor, of whom he speaks a little after. As to the sum and substance of the matter, it is of small importance in which of these ways we explain the relative; but the former is, in my view, the more natural explanation. There is here a repetition of what the Psalmist had said a little before, that we ought especially to consider God’s power, as it is manifested in the mercy which he exercises towards his servants, who are unrighteously persecuted by wicked men. From the numerous works of God, he selects one which he commends as especially worthy of being remembered, namely, his work in delivering the poor from death. God sometimes leaves them in his holy providence to be persecuted by men; but at length he takes vengeance for the wrongs inflicted upon them. The words which David uses denote a continued act; but I have no doubt that he intends from those examples, which he has related in the preceding part of the psalm, to lead men to acknowledge that God requireth innocent blood, and remembers the cry of his people.
He again insists on what I adverted to before, that God does not always put a stop to injuries so speedily as we would wish, nor break the attempts of the wicked at the first, but rather withholds and delays his assistance, so that it may seem that we cry to him in vain, a truth which it is of importance for us to understand; for if we measure the help of God according to our senses, our courage will ever and anon fail us, and in the end our hope will be entirely extinguished, and will give place to despondency and despair. We would fondly wish him, as I have said, to stretch forth his hand to a distance, and drive back the troubles which he sees to be prepared for us; yet he seems to take no notice, and does not prevent the blood of the innocent from being shed. Let this consolatory consideration, however, sustain us, that he will at length actually show how precious our blood was in his sight. If it is objected, that God’s assistance comes too late, after we have endured all calamities, I answer, God delays to interfere no longer than he knows it to be of advantage for us to be humbled under the cross, and if he chooses rather to take vengeance after we have suffered outrage, than to aid us previous to the infliction of evil, it is not because he is not always willing and ready to succor us; but because he knows it is not always a proper time for manifesting his grace. By the way, it is a striking evidence, not only of his fatherly love towards us, but of the blessed immortality which is the portion of all the children of God, that he has a care about them even after they are dead. Were he always by his grace to prevent affliction from befalling us, who is there amongst us who would not be wholly attached to the present life? When, however, he avenges our death, from this it appears that, though dead, we still remain alive in his presence. For he does not, after the manner of men, hold in estimation the memory of those whom he could not preserve alive, (177) but he actually shows that he cherishes in his bosom, and gives protection to those who seem to be no more, viewing them according to the flesh. And this is the reason why David says that he remembereth blood when he requireth it; for although he may not presently deliver his servants from the swords of the wicked, yet he suffers not their murder to pass unpunished. To the same purpose is the last clause He forgetteth not the cry of the afflicted God may not show, by granting instant deliverance or relief, that he lends an immediate ear to the complaints of his servants; but at length he proves unanswerably that he has regarded them. Express mention is made of crying, to encourage all who desire to experience God as their deliverer and protector, to direct their wishes, groanings, and prayers to him.
(176) “ Et de mettre Eux, devant le mot auquel il se rapporte.” — Fr.
(177) “ Car ce n’est pas qu’il face comme les hommes qui auront en estime et reverence apres la mort la memoire de leurs amis quand ils ne leur ont peu sauver la vie. — Fr. “For he does not act like men, who hold in estimation and reverence after death the memory of their friends, when they can no longer preserve their life.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) When.Better, for he maketh inquisition; literally, the seeker of bloods: i.e., the avenger of blood. The allusion is to the goel, the nearest relative of the murdered man, who must, according to Oriental custom, avenge him. The verbs are better in the past, remembered, forgot not.
Themi.e., the sufferers to be mentioned now.
Humble.This follows the Hebrew margin. Better here, the afflicted. In the Hebrew the two readings give two forms from the same root, generally taken to have, one of them, an ethical, the other, a physical sense; but the distinction is not borne out by Biblical use.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 9:12. When he maketh inquisition for blood To make inquisition for blood, as we hinted on Psalms 5 is not to inquire after blood spilled, but to sit as inquisitor or judge on all capital crimes, where the blood of the offender is due to justice. Them, refers to the humble or afflicted, who follow after, and whose cry or supplication is contained in the two next verses.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How blessed and consolatory the thought to the martyrs of Jesus, and to all his persecuted little ones, is this consideration. Hence they are represented, under the altar of heaven, as making a response to this and the like promises. Rev 6:9-10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 9:12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
Ver. 12. When he maketh inquisition for blood ] For innocent blood unjustly spilled; as he did for the blood of Abel, Gen 4:10 , of Naboth, (2Ki 9:26 , “Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth.” Murder ever bleeds fresh in the eyes of God) of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, 2Ch 24:22 ; those ungrateful guests, who slew those that came to call them: “And when the king heard it” (for blood cries aloud), “he was wroth, and destroyed those murderers,” Mat 22:6-7 . These shall have blood to drink, for they are worthy, Rev 16:6 . God draws articles of inquiry in this case as strict and as critical as ever the Inquisition of Spain doth; the proceedings whereof are with greatest secresy and severity.
He forgetteth not the cry of the humble
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
maketh inquisition for = inquireth concerning.
them: i.e. those named in Psa 9:10.
forgetteth not. Compare Psa 9:18 and Psa 10:11, Psa 10:12.
cry = outcry.
humble = oppressed. Compare Psa 9:18 with Psa 10:12, Psa 10:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
When: Gen 9:5, 2Ki 24:4, Isa 26:21, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:50, Luk 11:51, Rev 6:9, Rev 6:10, Rev 16:6
he forgetteth: Psa 10:14, Psa 10:17, Psa 22:24, Psa 34:6, Psa 102:17, Exo 3:7, Exo 3:9, Luk 18:7, Luk 18:8
humble: or, afflicted, Jdg 10:16
Reciprocal: Gen 4:9 – Where is Gen 4:10 – crieth Gen 18:30 – General Gen 42:22 – his blood Exo 21:26 – General Deu 15:9 – he cry Deu 21:1 – General Jdg 9:56 – God rendered 2Sa 4:11 – require 1Ki 21:17 – General Job 31:14 – What then Job 36:6 – giveth Psa 9:18 – For the Psa 10:12 – forget Jer 51:35 – The violence Jam 4:6 – giveth grace Jam 5:4 – the cries
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 9:12. When he maketh inquisition for blood The bloodshed of his innocent and holy ones: which though he may not seem to regard for a season, yet he will certainly call the authors of it to a severe account; he remembereth them The humble, as it follows, or the oppressed, (Psa 9:9,) that trust in him, and seek to him, (Psa 9:10,) whom he seemed to have forgotten. He forgetteth not the cry of the humble Or, meek, as the word , gnani, which occurs also Zec 9:9, is translated, Mat 21:5. Who do not, cannot, and will not avenge themselves, but commit their cause to God, as the God to whom vengeance belongeth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:12 {e} When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
(e) Though God does not suddenly avenge the wrong done to his, yet he does not permit the wicked to go unpunished.