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Psalm Thirty
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 30
A Psalm [and] Song [at] the dedication of the house of David. This is the
first time that a psalm is called a song; some psalms are called by one name,
some by another, and some by both, as here; and some are called hymns: to which
distinction of them the apostle refers in Ephesians 5:19. A
psalm was sung upon musical instruments, a song with the voice; it may be this
psalm was sung both ways: the occasion of it was the dedication of David's
house: the Targum interprets it of the house of the sanctuary, the temple; and
so most of the Jewish commentatorsF9Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abdendana.
; which might be called his house, because it was his intention to build it;
his heart was set upon it, he provided materials for it, and gave his son
Solomon the form of it, and a charge to build it; and, as is thought, composed
this psalm to be sung, and which was sung by the Levites at the dedication of
it: others, as Aben Ezra, are of opinion it was his own dwelling house, made of
cedar, which he dedicated according to the law of Moses, with sacrifices and
offerings, prayer and thanksgiving, 2 Samuel 5:11; so
Apollinarius calls it a new house David built; but since there is nothing in
the whole psalm that agrees with the dedication, either of the temple, or of
David's own private house, it seems better, with other interpreters, to
understand it of the purging of David's house from the wickedness and incest of
his son Absalom, upon his return to it, when the rebellion raised by him was
extinguished; which might be reckoned a new dedication of it; see 2 Samuel 20:3; and
to a deliverance from such troubles this psalm well agrees. Theodoret
interprets it of the restoration of the human nature by Christ, through his
resurrection from the dead.
Psalm 30:1 I
will extol You, O Lord,
for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
YLT
1A Psalm. -- A song of the
dedication of the house of David. I exalt Thee, O Jehovah, For Thou hast drawn
me up, and hast not let mine enemies rejoice over me.
I will extol thee, O Lord,.... Or "lift thee
up on high"F11אדוממך
"superexaltabo te", Cocceius; "elevabo te", Michaelis. .
The Lord is high in his name, he is the most High; and in his nature, there is
none besides him, nor like unto him; and in place, he dwells in the high and
holy place; he is above all, angels and men; he is above all gods; he is the
King of kings, and Lord of lords; he cannot be higher than he is: to extol him,
therefore, is to declare him to be what he is; to exalt him in high praises of
him, which the psalmist determined to do, for the following reasons;
for thou hast lifted me up; or "drawn me
up", or "out"F12רליגי
"me sursum extraxisti", Cocceius; so Michaelis; "thou hast drawn
me up", Ainsworth. ; from the pit of nature; the low estate of
unregeneracy; the pit wherein is no water: the horrible pit, the mire and clay
of sin and misery, in which all men, while unconverted, are; and out of which
they cannot lift themselves, being without strength, yea, dead in sin: this is
God's work; he takes out of this pit, he draws out of it by his efficacious
grace; he raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill; and this is an instance of his grace and mercy, and requires a new
song of praise: or this may regard some great fall by sin, from which he was
restored, through the grace and power of God; or deliverance from great
troubles, compared to waters, out of which he was drawn, Psalm 18:16; and
was lifted up above his enemies; and agrees very well with his being brought to
his palace and throne again, upon the defeat of Absalom;
and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me; as Satan does
over unregenerate sinners, when he possesses their hearts, and keeps the house
and goods in peace; and as the men of the world do over fallen saints, when
forsaken by the Lord, and afflicted by him, and are under the frowns of his
providence; but the conspirators against David were not suffered to succeed and
rejoice over him, which they otherwise would have done; and for this he praises
the Lord.
Psalm 30:2 2 O Lord my God, I
cried out to You, And You healed me.
YLT
2Jehovah my God, I have
cried to Thee, And Thou dost heal me.
O Lord my God, I cried unto thee,.... In the time of his
distress and trouble; and whither should he go but unto his covenant God and Father?
and thou hast healed me: either of some bodily
disease that attended him; for the Lord is the physician of the body, as well
as of the soul; and that either immediately, or by giving a blessing to means
used; and the glory of such a mercy should be given to him: or else of soul
diseases, which are natural and hereditary, epidemical, nauseous, mortal, and
incurable, but by the grace of God and blood of Christ; and the healing: of
them either respects the pardon of them at first conversion; for healing
diseases, and forgiving iniquities, signify one and the same thing; or else
fresh discoveries and applications of pardoning grace, after falls into sin,
which are an healing backslidings, and restoring comforts; and this is God's
work; none can heal but himself, and he does it effectually, universally, and
freely, and which calls for thankfulness, Psalm 103:1; or
this may be understood in a civil sense, of restoring him to his house, his
throne and kingdom, and the peace of it.
Psalm 30:3 3 O Lord, You brought
my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to
the pit.[a]
YLT
3Jehovah, Thou hast brought
up from Sheol my soul, Thou hast kept me alive, From going down [to] the pit.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave,.... When his
life being in danger, was near unto it, Job 33:22;
otherwise the soul dies not, nor does it lie and sleep in the grave; or
"thou hast brought up my soul from hell"F13מן שאול "ab inferno",
V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth. ; that is,
delivered him from those horrors of conscience and terrors of mind, by reason
of sin, which were as hell itself unto him; see Psalm 116:3;
thou hast kept me alive: preserved his corporeal
life when in danger, and maintained his spiritual life; and quickened him by
his word, under all his afflictions, and kept him from utter and black despair;
that I should not go down to the pit; either of the
grave or hell. There is in this clause a "Keri" and a
"Cetib"; a marginal reading, and a textual writing: according to the
latter it is, "from them that go down to the pit"; which some
versionsF14So Sept. V. L. Pagninus, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis,
Ainsworth. follow; that is, thou hast preserved me from going along with them,
and being where and as they are: our version follows the former; the sense is
the same.
Psalm 30:4 4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of
His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.[b]
YLT
4Sing praise to Jehovah, ye
His saints, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness,
Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his,.... Such to
whom he has been gracious and merciful, and has blessed with pardoning grace,
and justifying righteousness, adoption, and a right to eternal life; and who
are holy godly persons; in whose hearts principles of grace and holiness are
formed; and who are kind and bountiful to others: all which the wordF15הסידיו "quos ipse benignitate prosequitur",
Junius & Tremellius; so Tigurine version. here used signifies: and these
are the Lord's; they are set apart for him, and they are sanctified by him; and
therefore should sing his praises, both vocally, and with melody in their
hearts;
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness; which is
essential to him, and in which he is glorious; and which appears in all his
ways and works of providence and grace, and both in the redemption and
sanctification of his people; and besides this, there is the holiness of
Christ, which is imputed to his saints, and the sanctification of the Spirit,
which is wrought in them; and at the remembrance of each of these it highly
becomes them to give thanks to the Lord, since hereby they are made meet to be
partakers of his kingdom and glory.
Psalm 30:5 5 For His anger is but
for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
YLT
5For -- a moment [is] in His
anger, Life [is] in His good-will, At even remaineth weeping, and at morn
singing.
For his anger endureth but a moment,.... Anger is
not properly in God, he being a simple, uncompounded, immovable, and
unchangeable being; nor is it ever towards his people in reality, unless anger
is distinguished from wrath, and is considered as consistent with his
everlasting and invariable love to them; but only in their apprehension, he
doing those things which in some respects are similar to those which men do
when they are angry; he turns away from them and hides his face, he chides,
chastises, and afflicts, and then they conclude he is angry; and when he
returns again and takes off his hand, manifests his pardoning love, and
comforts them, then they understand it that his anger is turned away from them;
for in this improper sense of it, and as his children conceive of it, it is but
for a moment, or a very short time: he forsakes them but for a moment, and
their light afflictions endure no longer, Isaiah 54:7;
in his favour is life; by which is meant his
free love and favour in Christ towards his people; and designs either the
duration of it, that it lives and always is, even when he seems to be angry,
and that it lasts as long as life does, yea, to all eternity; neither death nor
life can separate from it; or the object of it, God delighting not in the death
but the life of a sinner; or rather the effects of it, it is what makes the
present life to be properly life, and really comfortable; without it men may be
said rather to be dead than to live, notwithstanding all enjoyments; and
therefore it is better than life, abstracted from it, Psalm 63:3; it
quickens the soul in a spiritual sense, and makes grace lively; it invigorates
faith, encourages hope, and makes love to abound, and it issues in eternal
life;
weeping may endure for a night; the allusion is to the
time when afflictions are usually most heavy and pressing upon persons, when
they most feel them, or, however, are free from diversion, and at leisure to
bemoan themselves; and may point at the season of weeping, and cause of it, the
night of affliction, or of darkness and desertion, and denotes the short
continuance of it; weeping is here represented as a person, and as a lodger,
for the word may be rendered "lodge"F16ילין
"diversetur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "lodgeth",
Ainsworth. ; but then it is as a wayfaring man, who continues but for a night;
see Isaiah 17:14;
but joy cometh in the morning; alluding to
the time when all nature is fresh and gay, when man rises cheerful from his
rest, darkness removes, light breaks forth, and the sun rises and sheds its
beams, and everything looks pleasant and delightful; moreover, the mercies of
God are new every morning, which cause joy, and call for thankfulness; and
especially it is a time of joy after weeping and darkness, when the sun of
righteousness arises with healing in his wings; as it will be to perfection in
the resurrection morn, when the dead in Christ will rise first, and be like to
him, and reign with him for evermore.
Psalm 30:6 6 Now in my prosperity I
said, “I shall never be moved.”
YLT
6And I -- I have said in
mine ease, `I am not moved -- to the age.
And in my prosperity,.... Either outward
prosperity, when he was settled in his kingdom, and as acknowledged king by all
the tribes of Israel, and had gotten the victory over all his enemies, and was
at rest from them round about; or inward and spiritual prosperity, having a
spiritual appetite for the word, being in the lively exercise of grace, growing
in it, and in the knowledge of Christ; favoured with communion with God, having
flesh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy, corruptions being subdued, the
inward man renewed with spiritual strength, and more fruitful in every good
word and work. This being the case,
I said, I shall never be moved; so in outward prosperity
men are apt to sing a requiem to themselves, and fancy it will always be thus
with them, be in health of body, and enjoying the affluence of temporal things,
and so put away the evil day in one sense and another from them; and even good
men themselves are subject to this infirmity, Job 29:18; and who
also, when in comfortable frames of soul, and in prosperous circumstances in
spiritual things, are ready to conclude if will always be thus with them, or
better. Indeed they can never be moved as to their state and condition with
respect to God; not from his heart, where they are set as a seal; nor out of
the arms of Christ, and covenant of grace; nor out of the family of God; nor
from a state of justification and grace; but they may be moved as to the exercise
of grace and discharge of duty, in which they vary; and especially when they
are self-confident, and depend upon their own strength for the performance of
these things, and for a continuance in such frames, which seems to have been
David's case; and therefore he corrects himself, and his sense of things, in Psalm 30:7.
Psalm 30:7 7 Lord,
by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and
I was troubled.
YLT
7O Jehovah, in Thy good
pleasure, Thou hast caused strength to remain for my mountain,' Thou hast
hidden Thy face -- I have been troubled.
Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong,.... The
psalmist found himself mistaken, and acknowledges it; that as it was not owing
to his own merit that he enjoyed the prosperity that he did, so neither was the
continuance of it owing to his goodness, power, and strength, but to the free
grace and favour of God; as the church of God is compared to a mountain, and
the several individuals of believers are like to Mount Zion, so the soul of a
child of God may be called his mountain, which is made strong by the Lord as to
its state in Christ, being set on him, the Rock of ages, and sure foundation,
where it is safe and secure; and as to its grace, whenever it is in any strong
exercise, which is altogether owing to the favour of God, and continues as long
as he pleases;
thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled; the Lord may
hide his face from his people, and yet their state be safe; their mountain
stands strong in that respect; yet this generally produces a change of frames;
it gives trouble, and faith and hope become feeble and languid in their acts
and exercises; this shows the changeableness of frames, that they are not to be
depended upon; that they are entirely owing to the pleasure of God, and that
rejoicing only should be in him: very likely some regard is had to the affair
of Absalom's rebellion, which came unawares, unthought of, when David was in
the greatest prosperity and security.
Psalm 30:8 8 I cried out to You, O Lord; And to the Lord I made
supplication:
YLT
8Unto Thee, O Jehovah, I
call, And unto Jehovah I make supplication.
I cried to thee, O Lord,.... In his trouble, when
the Lord had hid his face from him, and he was sensible that he had departed
from him: he was not stupid and unaffected with it; nor did he turn his back
upon God, and seek to others; but he cried after a departing God, which showed
love to him, and some degree of faith in him, by looking again towards his holy
temple, and waiting upon him until he returned;
and unto the Lord I made supplication; in the most
humble manner; entreating his grace and mercy, and that he would again show him
his face and favour.
Psalm 30:9 9 “What profit is there
in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
YLT
9`What gain [is] in my
blood? In my going down unto corruption? Doth dust thank Thee? doth it declare
Thy truth?
What profit is there in my blood?.... Should
that be shed, and he die by the hands of his enemies, through divine
permission: death is not profitable to a man's self by way of merit; it does
not atone for sin, satisfy justice, and merit heaven; even the death of
martyrs, and of such who shed their blood, died in the cause of Christ, and for
his sake, is not meritorious; it does not profit in such sense: there is profit
in no blood but in the blood of Christ, by which peace is made, pardon procured,
and redemption obtained. Indeed death is consequentially profitable to good
men; it is an outlet of all sorrows and afflictions, and the inlet of joy and
happiness; it is the saints' passage to heaven, and upon it they are
immediately with Christ, and rest from their labours: nor is there profit in
the blood of the saints to them that shed it; for when inquisition is made for
it, vengeance will be taken on them who have shed it, and blood will be given
them to drink, as will be particularly to antichrist: nor is there any profit
in it to the Lord himself; which seems to be what is chiefly designed, since it
is used by the psalmist as an argument with him in prayer, that he might not be
left by him, and to his enemies, so as to perish, since no glory could accrue
to God by it from them; they would not give him thanks for it, but ascribe it
to themselves, and say their own hand had done it; so far, the psalmist
suggests, would his death be from being profitable to God, that it would rather
be a loss to the interest of religion; since he had not as yet fully restored
religion, and settled the pure worship of God in order, and made the
preparations for the building the house of God he intended. God may be
glorified in the death of his people; either by their dying in the faith of
interest in him; or by suffering death for his name's sake; but, in a strict
sense, there is nothing either in life or death in which man can be profitable
unto God; see Job 22:2; some
understand this of life; because the life is in the blood: as if the sense was,
of what advantage is life to me? it would have been better for the if I had
never been born, had had no life and being at all, if I must for ever be
banished from thy presence, and go down to the pit of hell, which they suppose
is designed in the following phrase;
when I go down to the pit; though the grave seems
rather to be meant, and the former sense is best;
shall the dust praise thee? that is, men, whose
original is dust, being reduced to dust again, as the body at death, when laid
in the grave, and corrupted there, is; this lifeless dust cannot praise the
Lord: the soul indeed dies not with the body; nor does it sleep in the grave with
it; nor is it unemployed in heaven; but is continually engaged in the high
praises of God: but the sense of the psalmist is, that should he die, and be
buried, and be reduced to dust, he should no more praise the Lord in the land
of the living, among men, to the glory of divine grace and goodness; so that
this revenue of his glory would be lost. Shall it declare thy truth? either the
truth of the Gospel, which lies in the word of God; or rather the faithfulness
of God in the performance of his promises; see Psalm 40:10.
Psalm 30:10 10 Hear, O Lord, and have
mercy on me; Lord,
be my helper!”
YLT
10Hear, O Jehovah, and favour
me, O Jehovah, be a helper to me.'
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me,.... By
lifting up the light of his countenance again upon him; by manifesting and
applying his pardoning grace to him, and by delivering him out of all his
afflictions;
Lord, be thou my helper; in this time of trouble;
for he knew that vain was the help of man; and he was entirely in the right to
betake himself to the Lord, who was able to help him, when none else could.
Psalm 30:11 11 You have turned for me my
mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with
gladness,
YLT
11Thou hast turned my
mourning to dancing for me, Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, And girdest me
[with] joy.
Those hast turned for me my mourning into dancing,.... This,
with what follows, expresses the success he had in seeking the Lord by prayer
and supplication; there was a sudden change of things, as it often is with the
people of God; sometimes they are mourning by reason of sin, their own and
others; or on account of afflictions; or because of spiritual decays; or through
the temptations of Satan; or, as it was the case of the psalmist now, because
of the hidings of God's face; but this mourning is exchanged for joy and
gladness when the Lord discovers his pardoning love, revives his work in their
souls, takes off his afflicting hand from them, rebukes the tempter, and
delivers out of his temptations, and shows himself, his grace and favour;
thou hast put off my sackcloth; which was used in
mourning for relations, and in times of calamity and distress, and as a token
of humiliation and repentance, Genesis 37:34;
and girded me with gladness; by these phrases the
same thing is signified as before; see Isaiah 61:3.
Psalm 30:12 12 To the end that my
glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will
give thanks to You forever.
YLT
12So that honour doth praise
Thee, and is not silent, O Jehovah, my God, to the age I thank Thee!
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not
be silent,.... Meaning either his soul, the more noble and glorious part of
him; or the members of his body, his tongue, which is the glory of it, and with
which he glorified God; see Psalm 16:9;
compared with Acts 2:26, this was
the end that was to be answered by changing the scene of things; and which was
answered;
O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever; to the end of
life, as long as he had a being, and to all eternity, Psalm 104:33. Jerom
interprets the whole psalm of the resurrection of Christ.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)