4 Our soul H5315 is exceedingly H7227 filled H7646 with the scorning H3933 of those that are at ease, H7600 and with the contempt H937 of the proud. H3238 H1343 H1349
He that is ready H3559 to slip H4571 with his feet H7272 is as a lamp H3940 despised H937 in the thought H6248 of him that is at ease. H7600
The proud H2086 have had me greatly H3966 in derision: H3887 yet have I not declined H5186 from thy law. H8451
But when Sanballat H5571 the Horonite, H2772 and Tobiah H2900 the servant, H5650 the Ammonite, H5984 and Geshem H1654 the Arabian, H6163 heard H8085 it, they laughed us to scorn, H3932 and despised H959 us, and said, H559 What is this thing H1697 that ye do? H6213 will ye rebel H4775 against the king? H4428
I also could speak H1696 as ye do: if H3863 your soul H5315 were H3426 in my soul's H5315 stead, I could heap up H2266 words H4405 against you, and shake H5128 mine head H7218 at H1119 you.
They are not in trouble H5999 as other men; H582 neither are they plagued H5060 like H5973 other men. H120 Therefore pride H1346 compasseth them about as a chain; H6059 violence H2555 covereth H5848 them as a garment. H7897 Their eyes H5869 stand out H3318 with fatness: H2459 they have more H5674 than heart H3824 could wish. H4906 They are corrupt, H4167 and speak H1696 wickedly H7451 concerning oppression: H6233 they speak H1696 loftily. H4791 They set H8371 their mouth H6310 against the heavens, H8064 and their tongue H3956 walketh H1980 through the earth. H776
Tremble, H2729 ye women that are at ease; H7600 be troubled, H7264 ye careless ones: H982 strip H6584 you, and make you bare, H6209 and gird H2290 sackcloth upon your loins. H2504
Moab H4124 hath been at ease H7599 from his youth, H5271 and he hath settled H8252 on his lees, H8105 and hath not been emptied H7324 from vessel H3627 to vessel, H3627 neither hath he gone H1980 into captivity: H1473 therefore his taste H2940 remained H5975 in him, and his scent H7381 is not changed. H4171
We have heard H8085 the pride H1347 of Moab, H4124 (he is exceeding H3966 proud) H1343 his loftiness, H1363 and his arrogancy, H1346 and his pride, H1347 and the haughtiness H7312 of his heart. H3820
And G1161 when they heard G191 of the resurrection G386 of the dead, G3498 some G3303 mocked: G5512 and G1161 others said, G2036 We will hear G191 thee G4675 again G3825 of G4012 this G5127 matter.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 123
Commentary on Psalms 123 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Upward Glance to the Lord in Times of Contempt
This Psalm is joined to the preceding Psalm by the community of the divine name Jahve our God . Alsted (died 1638) gives it the brief, ingenious inscription oculus sperans . It is an upward glance of waiting faith to Jahve under tyrannical oppression. The fact that this Psalm appears in a rhyming form, “as scarcely any other piece in the Old Testament” (Reuss), comes only from those inflexional rhymes which creep in of themselves in the tephilla style.
The destinies of all men, and in particular of the church, are in the hand of the King who sits enthroned in the unapproachable glory of the heavens and rules over all things, and of the Judge who decides all things. Up to Him the poet raises his eyes, and to Him the church, together with which he may call Him “Jahve our God,” just as the eyes of servants are directed towards the hand of their lord, the eyes of a maid towards the hand of her mistress; for this hand regulates the whole house, and they wait upon their winks and signs with most eager attention. Those of Israel are Jahve's servants, Israel the church is Jahve's maid. In His hand lies its future. At length He will take compassion on His own. Therefore its longing gaze goes forth towards Him, without being wearied, until He shall graciously turn its distress. With reference to the i of היּשׁבי , vid., on Psalms 113:1-9, Psalms 114:1-8. אדוניהם is their common lord; for since in the antitype the sovereign Lord is meant, it will be conceived of as plur. excellentiae , just as in general it occurs only rarely (Genesis 19:2, Genesis 19:18; Jeremiah 27:4) as an actual plural.
The second strophe takes up the “be gracious unto us” as it were in echo. It begins with a Kyrie eleison , which is confirmed in a crescendo manner after the form of steps. The church is already abundantly satiated with ignominy. רב is an abstract “much,” and רבּה , Psalms 62:3, something great (vid., Böttcher, Lehrbuch , §624). The subjectivizing, intensive להּ accords with Psalms 120:6 - probably an indication of one and the same author. בּוּז is strengthened by לעג , like בּז in Ezekiel 36:4. The article of הלּעג is restrospectively demonstrative: full of such scorn of the haughty (Ew. §290, d ). הבּוּז is also retrospectively demonstrative; but since a repetition of the article for the fourth time would have been inelegant, the poet here says לגאיונים with the Lamed , which serves as a circumlocution of the genitive. The Masora reckons this word among the fifteen “words that are written as one and are to be read as two.” The Kerî runs viz., לגאי יונים , superbis oppressorum ( יונים , part. Kal , like היּונה Zephaniah 3:1, and frequently). But apart from the consideration that instead of גּאי , from the unknown גּאה , it might more readily be pointed גּאי , from גּאה (a form of nouns indicating defects, contracted גּא ), this genitival construction appears to be far-fetched, and, inasmuch as it makes a distinction among the oppressors, inappropriate. The poet surely meant לגאיונים or לגּאיונים . This word גּאיון (after the form רעיון , אביון , עליון ) is perhaps an intentional new formation of the poet. Saadia interprets it after the Talmudic לגיון , legio ; but how could one expect to find such a Grecized Latin word ( λεγεών ) in the Psalter! dunash ben-Labrat (about 960) regards גאיונים as a compound word in the signification of הגּאים היונים . In fact the poet may have chosen the otherwise unused adjectival form גּאיונים because it reminds one of יונים , although it is not a compound word like דּביונים . If the Psalm is a Maccabaean Psalm, it is natural to find in לגאיונים an allusion to the despotic domination of the יונים .