John Calvin

“Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.”

“Let us break, etc. This is a prosopopoeia, in which the prophet introduces his-enemies as speaking; and he employs this figure the better to express their ungodly and traitorous design.”

Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.

“The righteousness of God, therefore, in this passage, as in many others, is to be understood of his faithfulness and mercy which he shows in defending and preserving his people. Consequently, in thy righteousness means the same thing as for or according to thy righteousness.”

Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

“The merciful man hath failed. Some think that this is a complaint that the righteous had been unjustly put to death; as if the Psalmist had said, Saul has cruelly cut off all who observed justice and faithfulness.”

They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.

“Our speech, therefore, must be sincere in order that it may be as it were a mirror, in which the uprightness of our heart may be beheld.”

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

“As the Scripture does not use the verb rhm, racham, for to love, except in the conjugation pihel, and as it is here put in the conjugation kal, some of the Jewish expositors explain it as here meaning to seek mercy; as if David had…”

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

“In short, the faithful, that the body may not be separated from the head, further the king's prayers by their common and united supplications.”

May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.

“That is to say, may he succor thee out of mount Sion, where he commanded the ark of the covenant to be placed, and chose for himself a dwelling-place.”

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

“The meaning rather is, that in order to strengthen the hope of obtaining his request, he declares, what is of the greatest importance in prayer, that he had his hope fixed in God, and that he was not ensnared by the allurements of the world…”

in You, my God, I trust. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

“David, then, was carried upward to God with the whole desire of his heart, because, trusting to his promises, he thereby hoped for sure salvation.”

To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.

“Unto thee, O Jehovah! will I cry. The Psalmist begins by declaring that he would betake himself to the help of God alone, which shows both his faith and his sincerity.”

Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

“Hear the voice of my prayers when I cry to thee. This repetition is a sign of a heart in anguish. David's ardor and vehemence in prayer are also intimated by the noun signifying voice, and the verb signifying to cry.”

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

“Give unto Jehovah, ye sons of the mighty. It was no doubt David's design to lead all men to worship and reverence God; but as it is more difficult to reduce great men, who excel in rank, to order, he expressly addresses himself to them.”

Rejoice in the LORD, O righteous ones; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.

“The amount of the matter is, that the principal exercise in which it becomes the righteous to be employed is to publish among men the righteousness, goodness, and power of God, the knowledge of which is implanted in their minds.”

Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.

“Praise Jehovah upon the harp. It is evident that the Psalmist here expresses the vehement and ardent affection which the faithful ought to have in praising God, when he enjoins musical instruments to be employed for this purpose.”

My soul boasts in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice.

“The Hebrew word nvym, anavim, which we have rendered humble, signifies not all the afflicted in general, but those who, being humbled and subdued by afflictions, instead of breathing the spirit of pride, are cast down, and ready to abase themselves to the very dust.”

For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

“He shows that he was constrained by dire necessity to ask an alleviation of his misery; for he was crushed under the weight of the burden which he sustained.”

I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

“He tells us, not merely that he had waited, but by the repetition of the same expression, he shows that he had been a long time in anxious suspense.”

He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

“And he drew me out of the roaring pit. Some translate, from the pit of desolation, because the verb s'h, shaah, from which the noun s'vm, shaon, is derived, signifies to destroy or to waste, as well as to resound or echo.”

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

“The expression, We have heard with our ears, is not to be considered as a redundant form of speech, but one of great weight.”

How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

“We may, however, easily gather from the connection of the words the truth of what I have suggested, that when God is called a terrible and great King over all the earth, this prophecy applies to the kingdom of Christ.”

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain.

“His wonderful goodness and righteousness shine forth in the government of the whole world, so that there is no part of it void of his praise, but we are everywhere furnished with abundant matter for praising him.”

Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.

“I have adhered to the common translation of lchm, lacham, though it also signifies to eat up, which might consist better with the metaphor already used in the preceding part of the verse.”

When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.

“In the day that I was afraid, etc. In the Hebrew, the words run in the future tense, but they must be resolved into the praeterite. He acknowledges his weakness, in so far as he was sensible of fear, but denies having yielded to it.”

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

“I prefer taking the Hebrew word signifying praise to be in the accusative case; rendering the words literally, make a glory his praise.”

Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cower before You.

“There is an implied contrast drawn between the voluntary homage which they yield, as attracted by the sweet influences of grace, and that slavish obedience which is wrung reluctantly from the unbeliever.”