Psalms 73:8
in Psalms 73They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily.
KJV
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
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This verse in Psalms 73
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThey are corrupt. They rot above ground; their heart and life are depraved. And speak wickedly concerning oppression. The reek of the sepulchre rises through their mouths; the nature of the soul is revealed in the speech. They choose oppression as their subject, and they not only defend it, but advocate it, glory in it, and would fain make it the general rule among all nations. "Who are the poor? What are they made for? What, indeed, but to toil and slave that men of education and good family may enjoy themselves?
This site's exposition
From their prosperity proceeds iniquity
on Psalms 73:7-9
Prosperity is what the iniquity comes out of, and their hearts imagine whatever they please. They mock, speak with malice, and threaten oppression, their mouths set against the heavens and their tongues strutting across the earth. The contempt is aimed up and aimed out.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"They have thought and have spoken spitefulness" (ver. 8). But men do speak spitefulness even with fear: but these men how? "Iniquity on high they have spoken." Not only they have spoken iniquity; but even openly, in the hearing of all, proudly; "I will do it;" "I will show you;" "thou shalt know with whom thou hast to do;" "I will not let thee live." Thou mightest have but thought such things, not have given utterance to them! Within the chambers of thought at least the evil desire might have been confined, he might have at least restrained it within his thought. Why? Is he perchance lean? "There shall go forth as if out of fatness the iniquity of them." "Iniquity on high they have spoken."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
); they affect great swelling words of vanity ( 2 Pet. ii. 18 ), bragging of themselves and disdaining all about them. Out of the abundance of the pride that is in their heart they speak big. [1.] It made them oppressive to their poor neighbours (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
They are corrupt,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
They are corrupt--or, literally, "they deride," they speak maliciously and arrogantly and invade even heaven with blasphemy (Re 13:6), and cover earth with slanders (Job 21:7-14).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The prosperous wicked are insolently proud (compare Ps 5:5). They die, as well as live, free from perplexities: pride adorns them, and violence is their clothing; indeed they are inflated with unexpected success.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
They are corrupt. They rot above ground; their heart and life are depraved. And speak wickedly concerning oppression. The reek of the sepulchre rises through their mouths; the nature of the soul is revealed in the speech. They choose oppression as their subject, and they not only defend it, but advocate it, glory in it, and would fain make it the general rule among all nations. "Who are the poor? What are they made for? What, indeed, but to toil and slave that men of education and good family may enjoy themselves? Out on the knaves for prating about their rights! A set of wily demagogues are stirring them up, because they get a living by agitation. Work them like horses, and feed them like dogs; and if they dare complain, send them to the prison or let them die in the workhouse." There is still too much of this wicked talk abroad, and, although the working classes have their faults, and many of them very grave and serious ones too, yet there is a race of men who habitually speak of them as if they were an inferior order of animals. God forgive the wretches who thus talk. They speak loftily. Their high heads, like tall chimneys, vomit black smoke. Big talk streams from them, their language is colossal, their magniloquence ridiculous. They are Sir Oracle in every case, they speak as from the judges' bench, and expect all the world to stand in awe of them.
They are corrupt - ימיקו yamiku, they mock, act dissolutely. And speak wickedly concerning oppression - They vindicate excessive acts of government: they push justice to its rigour. They neither show equity, lenity, nor mercy; they are cruel, and they vindicate their proceedings.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They are corrupt - literally, “they mock.” The word rendered “they are corrupt” never has this signification. It is the very word - מוק mûq - from which our word mock is derived, and means the same thing. The idea is that they deride religion, or mock at all that pertains to God, and to the retributions of the future world. And speak wickedly concerning oppression ... - literally, “they speak in wickedness; oppression they speak from on high.” That is, they use arrogant language; they speak in a proud manner, as if they were above others; they use harsh and violent language, not regarding the feelings or the rights of others.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָמִ֤יקוּ׀ | yamiku | they mock | H4167 → | |
| וִידַבְּר֣וּ | vidaberu | and they may speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| בְרָ֣ע | vera' | with evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| עֹ֑שֶׁק | ʾoshek | oppression | H6233 → | 15 times |
| מִמָּר֥וֹם | mimarom | from a high place | H4791 → | 54 times |
| יְדַבֵּֽרוּ׃ | yedaberu | they speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
יָמִ֤יקוּ׀they mock
yamikuH4167 →
וִידַבְּר֣וּand they may speak
vidaberuH1696 →1141 times
בְרָ֣עwith evil
vera'H7451 →662 times
עֹ֑שֶׁקoppression
ʾoshekH6233 →15 times
מִמָּר֥וֹםfrom a high place
mimaromH4791 →54 times
יְדַבֵּֽרוּ׃they speak
yedaberuH1696 →1141 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 10:2In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:18
May lying lips be silenced— lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 59:12
By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.
- Psalms 36:11
Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Psalms 7:16
His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
- Proverbs 5:22
The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- Psalms 31:18
Through
Jude 1:16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:18
With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- Philippians 2:14
Do everything without complaining or arguing,
- 2 Peter 2:10
Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.
- 2 Peter 2:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.