Charles Spurgeon

When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow,

“Again they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. As they change in character, so do their circumstances alter.”

He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.

“In these two verses we see how the Lord at will turns the wheel of providence. Paying no respect to man's imaginary grandeur, he puts princes down and makes them wander in banishment as they had made their captives wander when they drove them from…”

The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth.

“The righteous shall see it, and rejoice. Divine providence causes joy to God's true people; they see the hand of the Lord in all things, and delight to study the ways of his justice and of his grace. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.”

Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the LORD.

“Those who notice providence shall never be long without a providence notice. It is wise to observe what the Lord doth, for he is wonderful in counsel; has given us eyes to see with, and it is foolish to close them when there is most…”

My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my being.

“O God, my heart is fixed. Though I have many wars to disturb me, and many cares to toss me to and fro, yet I am settled in one mind and cannot be driven from it.”

I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing Your praises among the peoples.

“I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. Whoever may come to hear me, devout or profane, believer or heathen, civilized or barbarian, I shall not cease my music.”

Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered.

“That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. Let my prayer avail for all the beloved ones. Sometimes a nation seems to hang upon the petitions of one man.”

Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.

“Gilead is mine. Thankful hearts dwell upon the gifts which the Lord has given them, and think it no task to mention them one by one. Manasseh is mine.”

Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

“Moab is my washpot. This nation had shown no friendly spirit to the Israelites, but had continually viewed them as a detested rival, therefore they were to be subdued and made subject to David's throne.”

Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

“Faith leads on to strong desire for the realization of the promise, and hence the practical question, Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? The difficulty is plainly perceived.”

Have You not rejected us, O God? Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?

“Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? This is grand faith which can trust the Lord even when he seems to have cast us off.”

Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.

“Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. This prayer has often fallen from the lips of men who have been bitterly disappointed by their fellows, and it has also been poured out unto the Lord in the presence of some…”

With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.

“God's help shall inspire us to help ourselves. Faith is neither a coward nor a sluggard: she knows that God is with her, and therefore she does valiantly; she knows that he will tread down her enemies, and therefore she arises to tread them down…”

O God of my praise, be not silent.

“Hold not thy peace. Mine enemies speak, be thou pleased to speak too. Break thy solemn silence, and silence those who slander me.”

In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

“For my love they are my adversaries. They hate me because I love them. One of our poets says of the Lord Jesus—"Found guilty of excess of love." Surely it was his only fault.”

Set over him a wicked man; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

“Set thou a wicked man over him. What worse punishment could a man have? The proud man cannot endure the proud, nor the oppressor brook the rule of another like himself.”

When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.

“When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. He judged and condemned others in the vilest manner, he suffered not the innocent to escape; and it would be a great shame if in his time of trial, being really guilty, he should be allowed…”

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. This would inevitably be the case when the man died, but the psalmist uses the words in an emphatic sense, he would have his widow "a widow indeed", and his children so friendless as to…”

May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.

“Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg. May they have neither house nor home, settlement nor substance; and while they thus wander and beg may it ever be on their memory that their father's house lies in ruins, —let them seek their bread also…”

May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children.

“Let there be none to extend mercy unto him. He had no mercy, but on the contrary, he crushed down all who appealed to him.”

May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

“Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Both from existence and from memory let them pass away till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed.”

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

“This verse is, perhaps, the most terrible of all, but yet as a matter of fact children do procure punishment upon their parents' sins, and are often themselves the means of such punishment.”

May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

“Again, he wishes that his father's sins may follow up the transgressor and assist to fill the measure of his own iniquities, so that for the whole accumulated load the family may be smitten with utter extinction.”

The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

“As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him. Deep down in every man's soul the justice of the lex talionis is established.”

May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.

“This is the summing up of the entire imprecation, and fixes it upon the persons who had so maliciously assailed the inoffensive man of God.”