Charles Spurgeon

many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me.

“Many a time have they afflicted, me from my youth. Israel repeats her statement of her repeated afflictions. The fact was uppermost in her thoughts, and she could not help soliloquizing upon it again and again.”

The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

“The plowers plowed up on my back. The scourgers tore the flesh as ploughmen furrow a field. The people were maltreated like a criminal given over to the lictors with their cruel whips; the back of the nation was scored and furrowed by oppression.”

The LORD is righteous; He has cut me from the cords of the wicked.

“The Lord is righteous. Whatever men may be, Jehovah remains just, and will therefore keep covenant with his people and deal out justice to their oppressors. Here is the hinge of the condition: this makes the turning point of Israel's distress.”

May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,

“Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up. Grass on the housetop is soon up and soon down.”

unable to fill the hands of the reaper, or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

“Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. When with his sickle the husbandman would cut down the tufts, he found nothing to lay hold upon: the grass promised fairly enough, but there was no fulfilment, there was nothing…”

Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!

“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. This is the Psalmist's statement and plea: he had never ceased to pray even when brought into the lowest state.”

O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.

“Lord, hear my voice. It is all we ask; but nothing less will content us. If the Lord will but hear us we will leave it to his superior wisdom to decide whether he will answer us or no.”

If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand. If Jah, the all seeing, should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to righteousness, where would any one of us be?”

But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.

“But there is forgiveness with thee. Blessed but. Free, full, sovereign pardon is in the hand of the great King: it is his prerogative to forgive, and he delights to exercise it.”

I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait. Expecting him to come to me in love, I quietly wait for his appearing; I wait upon him in service, and for him in faith.”

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning— more than watchmen wait for the morning.

“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. Men who guard a city, and women who wait by the sick, long for daylight.”

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.

“Let Israel hope in the Lord. Or, "Hope thou, Israel, in Jehovah." Jehovah is Israel's God; therefore, let Israel hope in him. What one Israelite does he wishes all Israel to do.”

And He will redeem Israel from all iniquity.

“And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Our iniquities are our worst dangers: if saved from these, we are saved altogether; but there is no salvation from them except by redemption.”

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

“Lord, my heart is not haughty. The Psalm deals with the Lord, and is a solitary colloquy with him, not a discourse before men.”

Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

“I was once conversing with a very excellent aged minister and while we were talking about our attitude and feelings, he made the following confession—he said, "When I read that passage in the Psalm, 'My soul is even as a weaned child,' I wish it…”

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, both now and forevermore.

“Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever. See how lovingly a man who is weaned from self thinks of others! David thinks of his people, and loses himself in his care for Israel. How he prizes the grace of hope!”

O LORD, remember on behalf of David all the hardships he endured,

“Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions. With David the covenant was made, and therefore his name is pleaded on behalf of his descendants, and the people who would be blessed by his dynasty.”

how he swore an oath to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

“How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Moved by intense devotion, David expressed his resolve in the form of a solemn vow, which was sealed with an oath.”

“I will not enter my house or get into my bed,

“Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. Our translators give the meaning, though not the literal form, of David's vow, which ran thus, "If I go"—"If I go up", etc.”

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,

“I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to wine eyelids. He could not enjoy sleep till he had done his best to provide a place for the ark.”

We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.

“LONG before David's time, the Ark of the Lord had been almost forgotten by the children of Israel. It formed a most important part of the Ceremonial Law which God had ordained.”

Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.

“We will go into his tabernacles. Having found the place where he dwells we will hasten thereto. He has many dwellings in one in the various courts of his house, and each of these shall receive the reverence due: in each the priest shall offer…”

The LORD swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke: “One of your descendants I will place on your throne.

“Here we come to a grand covenant pleading of the kind which is always prevalent with the Lord. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto, David. We cannot urge anything with God which is equal to his own word and oath.”

For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:

“For the Lord hath chosen Zion. It was no more than any other Canaanite town till God chose it, David captured it, Solomon built it, and the Lord dwelt in it.”

“This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

“This is my rest for ever. Oh, glorious words! It is God himself who here speaks. Think of rest for God! A Sabbath for the Eternal and a place of abiding for the Infinite. He calls Zion my rest.”