Psalms 75:2
in Psalms 75“When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When I shall find the set time, I will judge uprightly.
KJV
When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
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This verse in Psalms 75
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWhen I shall have taken the congregation. The Hebrew verb yd, yaäd, signifies to appoint a place or day, and the noun mvd, moed, derived from it, which is here used, signifies both holy assemblies, or a congregation of the faithful assembled together in the name of the Lord, and festival, or appointed solemn days.
This site's exposition
When I choose a time
on Psalms 75:2-3
God himself speaks from here through verse 5. The Hebrew word for the time is mo'ed, an appointed time, so the judging waits on a date God sets. The earth and its dwellers quake while he holds up its pillars, and Selah marks a pause in the singing.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
And he saith what? "When I shall have received," he saith, "the time, I will judge justices" (ver. 2). When shall He judge justices? When He shall have received the time. Not yet is the precise time. Thanks to His mercy: He first preacheth justices, and then He judgeth justices. For if He willed to judge before He willed to preach, who would be found that should be delivered: who would meet Him that should be absolved? Now therefore is the time of preaching: "I will tell," he saith, "all Thy marvellous works." Hear Him telling, hear Him preaching: for if thou shalt have despised Him, "when I shall have received the time," He saith, "I will judge justices." I forgive, He saith, now sins to one confessing, I will not spare hereafter one despising. ...He hath received a time as Son of Man; He doth govern times as Son of God. Hear how as Son of Man He hath received the time of judging. He saith in the Gospel, "He hath given to Him power to execute judgment, because Son of Man He is." According to His nature as Son of God, He hath never received power of judging, because He never lacked the power of judging: according to His nature as Son of Man He hath received a time, as of being born, and of suffering, as of dying, and of rising again, and of ascending, so of coming and of judging. In Him His Body also saith these words, for not without them He will judge. For He saith in the Gospel, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Therefore whole Christ saith, that is, Head and Body in the Saints, "when I shall have received the time, I will judge justices."
When I shall have received the time, I will judge righteousness. For now he is not a judge, but he will be: for if he were now a judge, sinners would not be lifted up and obtain riches in the world. Does this scandalize you, that the righteous flee, and sinners persecute them? Does this scandalize you, that iniquity reigns in the world? Hear the Lord saying: When I shall have received the time, I will judge righteousness. For the time of judgment has been reserved. In the present there is no judgment, but a contest.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
This agrees with David's resolutions, Ps. ci. Herein David was a type of Christ, who with the breath of his mouth shall slay the wicked, but shall exalt with honour the horn of the righteous, Ps. cxii.
When I shall receive the congregation,....
Being thus in expectation of the mercy, he promises to make conscience of his duty: "When I am a judge I will judge, and judge uprightly; not as those that went before me, who either neglected judgment or, which was worse, perverted it, either did no good with their power or did hurt." Note, 1.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. This is generally believed to be the voice of God, who will, when he accepts his people, mount his judgment seat and avenge their cause in righteousness. It is rendered by some, "I will take a set time; "and by others, "I will seize the moment." He determines the period of interposition, and when that arrives swift are his blows and sure are his deliverances. God sends no delegated judge, but sits himself upon the throne. O Lord, let thy set time come for grace.
When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. This is generally believed to be the voice of God, who will, when he accepts his people, mount his judgment seat and avenge their cause in righteousness. It is rendered by some, "I will take a set time; "and by others, "I will seize the moment." He determines the period of interposition, and when that arrives swift are his blows and sure are his deliverances. God sends no delegated judge, but sits himself upon the throne. O Lord, let thy set time come for grace. Tarry no longer, but for the truth and the throne of Jesus be thou speedily at work. Let the appointed assize come, O Jesus, and sit thou on thy throne to judge the world in equity.
When I shall receive the congregation - When the proper time is come that the congregation, my people of Israel, should be brought out of captivity, and received back into favor, I shall not only enlarge them, but punish their enemies. They shall be cut off and cast out, and become a more miserable people than those whom they now insult. I will destroy them as a nation, so that they shall never more be numbered among the empires of the earth.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
When I shall receive the congregation - The marginal rendering is, “Take a set time.” The phrase is thus rendered in most of the versions. So the Septuagint, “When I take the time” - ὅταν λάβω καιρὸν hotan labō kairon. So the Vulgate, “When I accept the time.” So Luther, “When in its own time.” So De Wette, “When I take the time.” According to this interpretation, this is the language of God, as if implying that, although “the earth” was then “dissolved,” or although disorders were allowed to exist, yet he would take a set time, or take the appointed time for judgment, and would pronounce a sentence on the conduct of people, and deal with them in a righteous manner, punishing the rebellious, and vindicating his own cause. The proper interpretation of the passage turns on the meaning of the Hebrew word rendered in the text “congregation” - מועד mô‛êd. See the word explained in the notes at Psa 74:8. It may mean a set time, an appointed season, 1Sa 13:8, 1Sa 13:11; or a coming together, an assembly, Job 30:23; or a place of assemblage, as the tabernacle, etc.; Exo 27:21; Exo 40:22; Psa 74:8. It may, therefore, be applied to the congregation of the Jewish people - the nation considered as an assemblage for the worship of God; and the idea of taking this, or receiving this, may be applied to the act of assuming authority or sovereignty over the people, and hence, the language may be used to denote the entrance on the discharge of the duties of such sovereignty. The language would be ap plicable to one who had the right of such an elevation to power - a prince - an heir apparent - in a time when his right was disputed; when there was an organized opposition to him; or when the nation was in a state of anarchy and confusion. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
We have thanked You, O God for the good; we have thanked also for the evil. and..is near Your name is always near in our mouth.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
When I take a festive day When we have a festival, we do not engage in obscenity and levity, as [do] all the nations.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֭י | ki | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶקַּ֣ח | ʾekach | I will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| מוֹעֵ֑ד | moed | an appointed time | H4150 → | 223 times |
| אֲ֝נִ֗י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| מֵישָׁרִ֥ים | meisharim | uprightness<es> | H4339 → | 19 times |
| אֶשְׁפֹּֽט׃ | ʾeshpot | I will judge | H8199 → | 202 times |
כִּ֭יif
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֶקַּ֣חI will take
ʾekachH3947 →966 times
מוֹעֵ֑דan appointed time
moedH4150 →223 times
אֲ֝נִ֗יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
מֵישָׁרִ֥יםuprightness<es>
meisharimH4339 →19 times
אֶשְׁפֹּֽט׃I will judge
ʾeshpotH8199 →202 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
John 7:6Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come.
it leads to
- John 7:8
Go up to the feast on your own. I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet come.”
- John 2:4
“Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
- John 7:30
So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
- John 17:1
When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
- John 13:1
It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world,…
- John 7:8
Through
Acts 1:7Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
it leads to
- Matthew 24:36
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1–2
Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
- Matthew 24:36
Through
Psalms 102:13You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come.
it leads to
- Galatians 4:4
But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Galatians 4:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms

This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
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 75; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 8, on Psalm 74; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
