6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judging is like the great deep; O Lord, you give life to man and beast.
O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out.
Your way was in the sea, and your road in the great waters; there was no knowledge of your footsteps.
The Lord is good to all men; and his mercies are over all his works.
O Lord, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep.
And this is the purpose of all our work and our fighting, because our hope is in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and specially of those who have faith.
Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment;
At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing in your eyes.
Are not sparrows two a farthing? and not one of them comes to an end without your Father: But the hairs of your head are all numbered.
And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?
Give the word, put forward your cause, let us have a discussion together: who has given news of this in the past? who made it clear in early times? did not I, the Lord? and there is no God but me; a true God and a saviour; there is no other. Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have salvation, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other. By myself have I taken an oath, a true word has gone from my mouth, and will not be changed, that to me every knee will be bent, and every tongue will give honour. Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction.
Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner: will not the judge of all the earth do right?
He gives food to every beast, and to the young ravens in answer to their cry.
By the opening of your hand, every living thing has its desire in full measure. The Lord is upright in all his ways, and kind in all his works.
He makes the grass come up for the cattle, and plants for the use of man; so that bread may come out of the earth; And wine to make glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shining, and bread giving strength to his heart. The trees of the Lord are full of growth, the cedars of Lebanon of his planting; Where the birds have their resting-places; as for the stork, the tall trees are her house. The high hills are a safe place for the mountain goats, and the rocks for the small beasts. He made the moon for a sign of the divisions of the year; teaching the sun the time of its going down. When you make it dark, it is night, when all the beasts of the woods come quietly out of their secret places. The young lions go thundering after their food; searching for their meat from God. The sun comes up, and they come together, and go back to their secret places to take their rest. Man goes out to his work, and to his business, till the evening. O Lord, how great is the number of your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of the things you have made. There is the great, wide sea, where there are living things, great and small, more than may be numbered. There go the ships; there is that great beast, which you have made as a plaything. All of them are waiting for you, to give them their food in its time. They take what you give them; they are full of the good things which come from your open hand. If your face is veiled, they are troubled; when you take away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust. If you send out your spirit, they are given life; you make new the face of the earth. Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; let the Lord have joy in his works: At whose look the earth is shaking; at whose touch the mountains send out smoke. I will make songs to the Lord all my life; I will make melody to my God while I have my being. Let my thoughts be sweet to him: I will be glad in the Lord. Let sinners be cut off from the earth, and let all evil-doers come to an end. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. Give praise to the Lord.
Dark clouds are round him; his kingdom is based on righteousness and right judging.
There is no searching out of the Ruler of all: his strength and his judging are great; he is full of righteousness, doing no wrong.
Are you able to take God's measure, to make discovery of the limits of the Ruler of all? They are higher than heaven; what is there for you to do? deeper than the underworld, and outside your knowledge; Longer in measure than the earth, and wider than the sea.
If I have done wrong, what have I done to you, O keeper of men? why have you made me a mark for your blows, so that I am a weariness to myself?
You are the Lord, even you only; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their armies, the earth and all things in it, the seas and everything in them; and you keep them from destruction: and the armies of heaven are your worshippers.
He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 36
Commentary on Psalms 36 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 36
Ps 36:1-12. On servant of the Lord, see on Ps 18:1, title. The wickedness of man contrasted with the excellency of God's perfections and dispensations; and the benefit of the latter sought, and the evils of the former deprecated.
1. The general sense of this difficult verse is, "that the wicked have no fear of God." The first clause may be rendered, "Saith transgression in my heart, in respect to the wicked, there is no fear," &c., that is, such is my reflection on men's transgressions.
2-4. This reflection detailed.
until his iniquity—literally, "for finding his iniquity for hating"; that is, he persuades himself God will not so find it—"for hating" involving the idea of punishing. Hence his words of iniquity and deceit, and his bold rejection of all right principles of conduct. The climax is that he deliberately adopts and patronizes evil. The negative forms affirm more emphatically their contraries.
5, 6. mercy … and … faithfulness—as mercy and truth (Ps 25:10).
6. righteousness [and] judgments—qualities of a good government (Ps 5:8; 31:1). These all are set forth, by the figures used, as unbounded.
7. shadow of thy wings—(Compare De 32:11; Ps 91:1).
8. fatness—richness.
thy house—residence—for the privileges and blessings of communion with God (Ps 23:6; 27:4).
river of thy pleasures—plenteous supply; may allude to Eden.
9. Light is an emblem of all blessings, given of God as a means to gain more.
10. that know thee—right knowledge of God is the source of right affections and conduct.
11. foot of … hand … wicked—all kinds of violent dealing.
12. There—in the acting of violence, they are overthrown. A signal defeat.