Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 92:5
O LORD, how great are thy works! [and] thy thoughts are very deep.
5. How great are thy doings, Jehovah!
Exceeding deep are thy thoughts.
The grandeur and profundity of Jehovah’s designs in the government of the world stir the Psalmist’s admiration. Cp. Psa 36:6; Psa 40:5; Psa 139:17-18; Isa 55:8-9; Rom 11:33-34.
“Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign Will.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Lord, how great are thy works! – Compare Psa 8:3; Psa 40:5. See also the notes at Job 11:7. The meaning here is this: The psalmist, on the Sabbath, in giving himself to meditation on the works of God, is overwhelmed with a sense of their vastness, their incomprehensible nature, and the depth of wisdom evinced, far beyond the grasp of man, in what God had done. How soon is man lost; how soon does he get beyond his depth; how soon does he feel that here is greatness which he cannot comprehend, and wisdom which he cannot fathom, and goodness which he cannot appreciate, when he sits down to meditate on the works of God!
And thy thoughts are very deep – Compare Isa 28:29; Rom 11:33-34. The meaning is, that the plans or the purposes of God, as evinced in the works of creation and providence, are too profound for man to understand them. Who but God himself can comprehend them?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 92:5
O Lord, how great are Thy works!
Mans admiration and marvel at Gods great works
A near connection of Sir David Brewster, but not a relative, who in former years often lived in his house, and formed one of the loving watchers by his death-bed, gives this characteristic and striking anecdote: When we were living in his house at St.
Andrews, he was much occupied with the microscope, and, as was his custom, he used to sit up studying it after the rest of the household had gone to bed. I often crept back into the room on pretence of having letters to write or something to finish, just to watch him. After a little he would forget that I was there, and I have often seen him suddenly throw himself back in his chair, lift up his hands, and exclaim, Good God, good God! how marvellous are Thy works. One Sunday morning I said to him that it had been given to him to show forth much of Gods great and marvellous works, and he answered, Yes, and I have found them to be great and marvellous; and I have felt them to be His.
Thy thoughts are very deep.
The depth of Gods thoughts
I. Out of those thoughts have come all that ever have been, and that are gone. Who can tell the number of worlds, with all their productions, populations, institutions, that have been and that are no more? They were all once in the thoughts of God.
II. Out of those thoughts have come all that are and will be. How vast is this universe! Who can tell the number of worlds and systems, and the myriad creatures of varied species, sentient and insentient, rational and irrational, that belong to them? They all came out of the depths of Gods thoughts; the archetypes and germs were all there as in immeasurable seas. Who shall tell what worlds and beings are yet to come? Generations of creatures in all planets may succeed each other as waves that break upon the shore. But all the worlds, systems, and existences that are ever to come, are in the thoughts of God. How deep, then, are Gods thoughts! (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. How great are thy works!] They are multitudinous, stupendous, and splendid: and thy thoughts – thy designs and counsels, from which, by which, and in reference to which, they have been formed; are very deep – so profound as not to be fathomed by the comprehension of man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thy thoughts; thy counsels and methods in the government of the world and of thy church.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. great . . . workscorrespondto deep or vast thoughts (Psa 40:5;Rom 11:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Lord, how great are thy works!…. Of nature, providence, and grace, both for quantity and for quality, for number, excellency, and glory, as they are a display of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness; see Ps 104:24,
and thy thoughts are very deep; his counsels, purposes, and designs, they are unfathomable and unsearchable; see 1Co 2:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 O Jehovah! how highly exalted are thy works! The Psalmist, having spoken of the works of God in general, proceeds to speak more particularly of his justice in the government of the world. Though God may postpone the punishment of the wicked, he shows, in due time, that in conniving at their sins, he did not overlook or fail to perceive them; and though he exercises his own children with the cross, he proves in the issue, that he was not indifferent to their welfare. His reason for touching upon this particular point seems to be, that much darkness is thrown upon the scheme of Divine Providence by the inequality and disorder which prevail in human affairs. (590) We see the wicked triumphing, and applauding their own good fortune, as if there was no judge above, and taking occasion from the Divine forbearance to run into additional excesses, under the impression that they have escaped his hand. The temptation is aggravated by that stupidity and blindness of heart which lead us to imagine that God exerts no superintendence over the world, and sits idle in heaven. It is known, too, how soon we are ready to sink under the troubles of the flesh. The Psalmist, therefore, intentionally selects this as a case in which he may show the watchful care exerted by God over the human family. He begins, by using the language of exclamation, for such is the dreadful distemper and disorder by which our understandings are confounded, that we cannot comprehend the method of God’s works, even when it is most apparent. We are to notice, that the inspired penman is not speaking here of the work of God in the creation of the heavens and earth, nor of his providential government of the world in general, but only of the judgments which he executes amongst men. He calls the works of God great, and his thoughts deep, because he governs the world in quite another manner than we are able to comprehend. Were things under our own management, we would entirely invert the order which God observes; and, such not being the case, we perversely expostulate with God for not hastening sooner to the help of the righteous, and to the punishment of the wicked. It strikes us as in the highest degree inconsistent with the perfections of God, that he should bear with the wicked when they rage against him, when they rush without restraint into the most daring acts of iniquity, and when they persecute at will the good and the innocent; — it seems, I say, in our eyes to be intolerable, that God should subject his own people to the injustice and violence of the wicked, while he puts no check upon abounding falsehood, deceit, rapine, bloodshed, and every species of enormity. Why does he suffer his truth to be obscured, and his holy name to be trampled under foot? This is that greatness of the Divine operation, that depth of the Divine counsel, into the admiration of which the Psalmist breaks forth. It is no doubt true, that there is an incomprehensible depth of power and wisdom which God has displayed in the fabric of the universe; but what the Psalmist has specially in view is, to administer a check to that disposition which leads us to murmur against God, when he does not pursue our plan in his providential managements. When anything in these may not agree with the general ideas of men, we ought to contemplate it with reverence, and remember that God, for the better trial of our obedience, has lifted his deep and mysterious judgments far above our conceptions.
(590) “ Pource que la confusion difforme laquelle se voit en la vie des hommes, obscurcit grandement l’ordre de la providence de Dieu.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Thoughts.Better, plans, or purposes. (Comp. in addition to references in margin, Psa. 36:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Thy works thy thoughts The term “works,” here, refers to those of creation and providence; “thoughts,” to plans and methods. These are words of that sound philosophy which penetrates deep enough into God’s “works” to perceive they are unfathomable to human intellect, and is modest enough to confess the same, while it is devout also to adore the wisdom which it cannot comprehend. Compare Rom 11:33
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 92:5. And thy thoughts are very deep How deep are thy designs! Green.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 92:5 O LORD, how great are thy works! [and] thy thoughts are very deep.
Ver. 5. O Lord, how great are thy works! ] Surely so great that I cannot utter them, and must, therefore, thus vent myself by an exclamation.
Expleri mentem nequeo, ardescoque tuendo
(Virgil.)
And thy thoughts are very deep
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 92:5-9
5How great are Your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep.
6A senseless man has no knowledge,
Nor does a stupid man understand this:
7That when the wicked sprouted up like grass
And all who did iniquity flourished,
It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.
8But You, O Lord, are on high forever.
9For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For, behold, Your enemies will perish;
All who do iniquity will be scattered.
Psa 92:5-9 This strophe focuses on YHWH’s activity toward
1. a senseless man, Psa 92:6 a – BDB 35 construct BDB 129
2. a stupid man, Psa 92:6 b – BDB 493, both #1 and #2 are used in Psa 49:10; Psa 94:8
3. the wicked, Psa 92:7 a – BDB 957
4. he who does iniquity, Psa 92:7 b
5. YHWH’s enemies, Psa 92:9 (twice) – BDB 33, Qal participle
They are characterized as
1. having no knowledge
2. flourishing in this fallen world
3. ultimately and permanently being destroyed (this is what the senseless and stupid do not understand)
YHWH is characterized as
1. having great works
2. deep thoughts (Qal of BDB 770 only here)
3. on high forever
4. Psa 92:15 is the praise due YHWH’s faithful acts toward His faithful followers
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
very deep. Compare Psa 36:6; Psa 40:5; Psa 139:17. Rom 11:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
O Lord: Psa 40:5, Psa 66:3, Psa 104:24, Psa 111:2, Psa 145:3, Psa 145:4, Rev 15:3
thoughts: Psa 139:17, Isa 28:29, Isa 55:8, Isa 55:9, Jer 23:20, Rom 11:33, Rom 11:34
deep: Psa 64:6, Ecc 7:24, 1Co 2:10
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:10 – knew not Job 36:24 – magnify Psa 10:5 – thy judgments Psa 33:11 – thoughts Psa 36:6 – judgments Psa 139:14 – marvellous Pro 24:7 – too Ecc 11:5 – even Isa 5:12 – they regard Isa 14:24 – Surely Isa 36:18 – lest Jer 51:17 – Every Dan 4:3 – great Mat 11:19 – But