Charles Spurgeon

Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever.

“Surely he shall not be moved for ever. God has rooted and established him so that neither men nor devils shall sweep him from his place.”

He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. He shall have no dread that evil tidings will come, and he shall not be alarmed when they do come.”

His heart is assured; he does not fear, until he looks in triumph on his foes.

“His heart is established. His love to God is deep and true, his confidence in God is firm and unmoved; his courage has a firm foundation, and is supported by Omnipotence. He has become settled by experience, and confirmed by years.”

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

“He hath dispersed, he hath given, to the poor. What he received, he distributed; and distributed to those who most needed it. He was God's reservoir, and forth from his abundance flowed streams of liberality to supply the needy.”

The wicked man will see and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked will perish.

“The tenth and last verse sets forth very forcibly the contrast between the righteous and the ungodly, thus making the blessedness of the godly appear all the more remarkable.”

Hallelujah! Give praise, O servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD.

“Praise ye the Lord, or Hallelujah, praise to Jah Jehovah. Praise is an essential offering at all the solemn feasts of the people of God. Prayer is the myrrh, and praise is the frankincense, and both of these must be presented unto the Lord.”

Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forevermore.

“Blessed be the name of the Lord. While praising him aloud, the people were also to bless him in the silence of their hearts, wishing glory to his name, success to his cause, and triumph to his truth.”

From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord'S name is to be praised. From early morn till eve the ceaseless hymn should rise unto Jehovah's throne, and from east to west over the whole round earth pure worship…”

The LORD is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens.

“The Lord is high above all nations. Though the Gentiles knew him not, yet was Jehovah their ruler: their false gods were no gods, and their kings were puppets in his hands.”

Who is like the LORD our God, the One enthroned on high?

“Who is like unto the Lord our God? The challenge will never be answered. None can be compared with him for an instant; Israel's God is without parallel; our own God in covenant stands alone, and none can be likened unto him.”

He humbles Himself to behold the heavens and the earth.

“Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He dwells so far on high that even to observe heavenly things he must humble himself. He must stoop to view the skies, and bow to see what angels do.”

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust. This is an instance of his gracious stoop of love: he frequently lifts the lowest of mankind out of their poverty and degradation and places them in positions of power and honour.”

to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.

“That he may set him with princes. The Lord does nothing by halves: when he raises men from the dust he is not content till he places them among the peers of his kingdom.”

He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!

“He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. The strong desire of the easterns to have children caused the birth of offspring to be hailed as the choicest of favours, while barrenness was regarded as a curse…”

When Israel departed from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,

“When Israel went out of Egypt. The song begins with a burst, as if the poetic fury could not be restrained, but overleaped all bounds.”

Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.

“Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The pronoun "his" comes in where we should have looked for the name of God; but the poet is so full of thought concerning the Lord that he forgets to mention his name, like the spouse in…”

the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.

“The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. At the coming of the Lord to Mount Sinai, the hills moved; either leaping for joy in the presence of their Creator like young lambs; or, if you will, springing from their places in…”

Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,

“What ailed thee, O thou sea? Wert thou terribly afraid? Did thy strength fail thee? Did thy very heart dry up? What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?”

O mountains, that you skipped like rams, O hills, like lambs?

“Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? What ailed ye, that ye were thus moved? There is but one reply: the majesty of God made you to leap.”

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. Or "from before the Lord, the Adonai, the Master and King."”

who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!

“Which turned the rock into a standing water, causing a mere or lake to stand at its foot, making the wilderness a pool: so abundant was the supply of water from the rock that it remained like water in a reservoir.”

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.

“It will be well to remember that this psalm was sung at the Passover, and therefore it bears relationship to the deliverance from Egypt.”

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

“Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? Or, more literally, "Where, pray, is their God?" Why should the nations be allowed with a sneer of contempt to question the existence, and mercy, and faithfulness of Jehovah?”

Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.

“But our God is in the heavens —where he should be; above the reach of mortal sneers, over hearing all the vain jangling of men, but looking down with silent scorn upon the makers of the babel.”

Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

“Their idols are silver and gold, mere dead inert matter; at the best only made of precious metal, but that metal quite as powerless as the commonest wood or clay.”