John Wesley

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

“Nigh - Ready to hear and succor them. To - Those whose spirits are truly humbled under the hand of God, and the sense of their sins, whose hearts are subdued, and made obedient to God's will and submissive to his providence.”

Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

“Mockers - They made themselves buffoons and jesters, and accustomed themselves to mock and deride David, that thereby they might gain admittance to the tables of great men, which was all they sought for.”

How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.

“Look on - Without affording me pity or help. Darling - My soul, Hebrew. my only one; which is now left alone and forsaken by my friends, and hath none to trust in but God.”

O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me.

“This - Thou also hast seen, all their plots and threats, and all my distresses and calamities. Keep not - Be not deaf, to my prayers. The same word signifies, both to be silent, and to be deaf.”

For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.

“Disease - The disease might be some burning fever, breaking forth outwardly in carbuncles, or boils. It is true, this and the other expressions may be taken figuratively, but we should not forsake the literal sense of the words without necessity.”

Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

“Before thee - If compared with thee, and with thy everlasting duration. Vain shew - Hebrew. in a shadow or image; in an imaginary rather than a real life: in the pursuit of vain imaginations, in which there is nothing solid or satisfactory: man in…”

You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

“Beauty - His comeliness and all his excellencies or felicities. Moth - As a moth consumeth a garment, to which God compares himself and his judgments, secretly and insensibly consuming a people, Isaiah li, 8.”

Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

“Turn - From God, in whom alone they ought to trust. To lies - To lying vanities, such as worldly power and wisdom, and riches, and all other earthly things, or persons, in which men are prone to trust: which are called lies, because they…”

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they…

“Many - This verse seems to be interposed as a wall of partition, between that which David speaks in his own person, and that which he speaks in the person of the Messiah, in the following verses.”

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

“Sacrifice - These and the following words, may in an improper sense belong to the time of David; when God might be said, not to desire or require legal sacrifices comparatively.”

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll:

“Them - These words literally and truly belong to Christ, and the sense is this; seeing thou requirest a better sacrifice than those of the law, lo, I offer myself to come, and I will in due time come, into the world, as this phrase…”

I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

“I delight - This is eminently true, of Christ, and is here observed as an act of heroic obedience, that he not only resolved to do, but delighted in doing the will of God, or what God had commanded him, which was to die, and…”

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

“Righteousness - Thy faithfulness. Great congregation - In the most public and solemn assemblies: not only to the Jews, but also to all nations; to whom Christ preached by his apostles, as is observed Eph. ii, 17.”

O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

“With-hold not - David, having been transported by the spirit of God to the commemoration of the great mystery of the Messiah, he now seems to be led back by the same spirit, to the consideration of his own case.”

For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see.

“Taken hold - Mens sins are figuratively said to take hold of them, as an officer takes hold of a man whom he arrests. To look - Unto God or men, with any comfort: I am ashamed and confounded.”

I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against You.”

“Heal - The soul is said to be healed, when it is pardoned and purged. For - For I acknowledge that I have sinned.”

Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

“Yea - These words were literally fulfilled in David, and yet the Holy Ghost looked farther in them, even to Christ and Judas, in whom they received a fuller accomplishment.”

In my integrity You uphold me and set me in Your presence forever.

“Settest - Or, hast confirmed me in thy presence, under thine eye and special care: to minister unto thee, as a king over thy people. And in regard of his posterity, the kingdom was established forever.”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

“For - Hebrew. for the salvations of his face, for those supports, deliverances and comforts which I doubt not I shall enjoy both in his presence and sanctuary, and from his presence, and the light of his countenance.”

O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar.

“Therefore - Therefore that I may revive my drooping spirits. Remember - I will consider thy infinite mercy and power, and faithfulness.”

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell.

“Send out - That is, actually discover them. Truth - Thy favour, or the light of thy countenance, and the truth of thy promises made to me; or the true-light, the illumination of thy spirit, and the direction of thy gracious providence, whereby I may…”

You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.

“Fairer - Than all other men: which is most true of Christ; but not of Solomon; whom many have excelled, in holiness and righteousness, which is the chief part of the beauty celebrated in this psalm.”

In your splendor ride forth in victory on behalf of truth and humility and justice; may your right hand show your awesome deeds.

“The word - That is, the gospel: which is called the word of truth, Eph. i, 13, and may no less truly be called the word of meekness, because it is not delivered with terror, as the law was at Sinai, but meekly and sweetly…”

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy.

“Therefore - Therefore God hath exalted thee far above all men and angels, to a state of joy and endless glory at his right hand; which is fitly compared by the oil of gladness.”

and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

“So - So thou shalt be acceptable to thy husband; which will abundantly recompence thee, for the loss of thy father's house. Thy Lord - As he is thy husband, and also as he is thy king, and God.”