Psalms 36:8
in Psalms 36They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; And thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
KJV
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
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This verse in Psalms 36
Commentary
19 notes on this verseThey will be intoxicated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your pleasure. They are not placed in pastures, but in banquets: for some are in the place of pastures, others in the privilege of sacraments.
This site's exposition
in the shadow of Your wings
on Psalms 36:7-9
The shadow of God's wings pictures a bird covering its young. Those who take refuge there feast from His house and drink from His river of delights. With God is the fountain of life, and light itself is seen in His light.
This site's exposition
Your river of delights
Adam Clarke heard Eden in the Hebrew for delights and saw the river of Genesis 2:10 behind the image. Albert Barnes said the verb behind feast means to drink one's fill, like ground after heavy rain. John Chrysostom contrasted it with drunkenness, which never satisfies.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Ambrose of MilanCommentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 19 · Written before 397.
proposed
Therefore, the good drunkenness is that of a healing cup. But there is another drunkenness from an overflow of Scriptures. And there is another drunkenness through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who spoke in different languages in the Acts of the Apostles, seemed to be full of new wine to those who were listening. Therefore, the house is the Church; abundance of the house, overflow of grace; a torrent of pleasure, the Holy Spirit.
"They shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House" (ver. 8). He promiseth us some great thing. He would speak it, and He speaketh it not. Can He not, or do not we receive it? I dare, my Brethren, to say, even of holy tongues and hearts, by which Truth is declared to us, that it can neither be spoken, which they declared, nor even thought of. For it is a great thing, and ineffable; and even they saw through a glass darkly, as saith the Apostle, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face." Lo, they who saw through a glass darkly, thus burst forth. What then shall we be, when we shall see face to face? That with which they travailed in heart, and could not with their tongue bring forth, that men might receive it. For what necessity was there that he should say, "They shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House"? He sought a word whereby to express from human things what he would say; and because he saw that men drowning themselves in drunkenness receive indeed wine without measure, but lose their senses, he saw what to say; for when shall have been received that ineffable joy, then shall be lost in a manner the human soul, it shall become Divine, and be satiated with the fulness of God's House. Wherefore also in another Psalm it is said, "Thy cup inebriating, how excellent is it!" With this cup were the Martyrs satiated when going to their passion, they knew not their own. What so inebriated as not to know a wife weeping, not children, not parents? They knew them not, they thought not that they were before their eyes. Wonder not: they were inebriated. Wherewith were they so? Lo, they had received a cup wherewith they were satiated. Wherefore he also gives thanks to God, saying, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? […]
"They will become inebriated," an expression that usually describes the corrupt habit of people who become inundated with too much wine and become sluggish by this affliction of their mind, is here directed to the situation of good people. So this heavenly inebriation blocks the …
The word for drunkenness, dearly beloved, is not always used in sacred Scripture for that failing only, but also for satiety.… Listen, after all, to David's words: "They will become intoxicated from the richness of your house," that is, they will be filled. [By contrast], those who give themselves up to drunkenness never have their fill; the more wine they imbibe, the more they burn with thirst, and indulgence proves to be a constant fueling of their thirst; by the time all that remains of the pleasure has disappeared, the thirst proves to be unquenchable and leads the victims of drunkenness to the very precipice.
The Medieval Church1 voice
If fullness: they shall be satisfied, when the glory of God shall appear. If inebriation: they shall be inebriated with the plenty of the house of God. If melody: there the choirs of Angels sing together praising God without end. If any pleasure, not impure …
11 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
This Hierarch is the most generous because He gives us whatever we ask. He swears to it and asserts it with complete truthfulness. Hence in the Psalm: "Man and beast You save, O Lord. They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house."
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Scripture enlightens from above by means of divine promises, for its teaching is concerned with things above. Hence the Apostle writes: For we know that if the earthly house in which we dwell be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made …
Likewise those who live here below are nourished with a special nourishment. And first he sets forth the nourishment itself. Second he sets forth its cause, at "With you." Spiritual nourishment consists in two things: namely, in the gifts of God and in his sweetness. …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I have all, and abound, Phil. iv. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life. With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the comfort of the promises.
They shall be abundantly sallied with the fatness of thy house,....
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein. The dwelling place of the Lord is not confined to any place, and hence reside where we may, we may regard our dwelling, if we be believers, as one room in the Lord's great house; and we shall, both in providence and grace, find a soul contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in nearness to the Lord.
From the baseness of the wicked the psalmist turns his contemplation to the glory of God. Contrasts are impressive.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein. The dwelling place of the Lord is not confined to any place, and hence reside where we may, we may regard our dwelling, if we be believers, as one room in the Lord's great house; and we shall, both in providence and grace, find a soul contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in nearness to the Lord.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein. The dwelling place of the Lord is not confined to any place, and hence reside where we may, we may regard our dwelling, if we be believers, as one room in the Lord's great house; and we shall, both in providence and grace, find a soul contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in nearness to the Lord. If we regard the assembly of the saints as being peculiarly the house of God, believers shall, indeed, find in sacred worship the richest spiritual food. Happy is the soul that can drink in the sumptuous dainties of the gospel—nothing can so completely fill the soul. And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. As they have the fruits of Eden to feed on, so shall they have the river of Paradise to drink from. God's everlasting love bears to us a constant and ample comfort, of which grace makes us to drink by faith, and then our pleasure is of the richest kind. The Lord not only brings us to this river, but makes us drink: herein we see the condescension of divine love. Heaven will, in the fullest sense, fulfil these words; but they who trust in the Lord enjoy the antepast even here. The happiness given to the faithful is that of God himself; purified spirits joy with the same joy as the Lord himself. "That my joy may be in you, that your joy may be full."
They shall be abundantly satisfied - ירוין yirveyun, they shall be saturated, as a thirsty field is by showers from heaven. Inebriaduntur, they shall be inebriated - Vulgate. That sal be drunken of the plenteuoste of thi house. - Old Psalter. This refers to the joyous expectation they had of being restored to their own land, and to the ordinances of the temple. Of the river of thy pleasures - נחל אדניך nachal adaneycha, (or עדנך edencha, as in four MSS)., the river of thy Eden. They shall be restored to their paradisaical estate; for here is a reference to the river that ran through the garden of Eden, and watered it; Gen 2:10. Or the temple, and under it the Christian Church, may be compared to this Eden; and the gracious influences of God to be had in his ordinances, to the streams by which that garden was watered, and its fertility promoted.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They shall be abundantly satisfied - Margin, “watered.” That is, all who thus put their trust in the mercy of God. The Hebrew word - רוה râvâh - means to drink to the full; to be satisfied, or sated with drink; or to be satisfied or filled with water, as the earth or fields after an abundant rain: Isa 34:7; Psa 65:10. The state referred to by the word is that of one who was thirsty, but who has drunk to the full; who feels that his desire is satisfied: (a) He has found that which is adapted to his wants, or which meets his needs, as water does the wants of one who is a thirst; (b) He has found this “in abundance.” There is no lack, and he partakes of it in as large measure as he chooses. So the weary and thirsty traveler, when he finds in the desert a “new and untasted spring,” finds that which he needs, and drinks freely; and so the sinner - the dying man - the man who feels that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy him: (1) finds in the provisions of the gospel that which exactly meets the needs of his nature, and (2) he finds it in abundance. With the fatness - The word used here means properly “fatness” or “fat:” Jdg 9:9. Then it means “fat food,” or “sumptuous food,” Job 36:16; Isa 55:2; Jer 31:14. It is connected here with the word “drink,” or “drink in,” because this kind of food was “sucked” in at the mouth, and the mode of partaking of it resembled the act of drinking. Gesenius. The allusion is the same as that which so often occurs in the Scriptures, where the provisions of salvation are represented as a “feast,” or where the illustration is drawn from the act of eating or drinking. Of thy house - Furnished by thy house, or in the place of public worship. God is represented as the Head or Father of a family, and as providing for the wants of his children. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִ֭רְוְיֻן | yirveyun | they take their fill ! | H7301 → | |
| מִדֶּ֣שֶׁן | mideshen | from [the] fatness of | H1880 → | 15 times |
| בֵּיתֶ֑ךָ | beitekha | house your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| וְנַ֖חַל | venachal | and [the] river of | H5158 → | 141 times |
| עֲדָנֶ֣יךָ | ʾadaneikha | delights your | H5730 → | |
| תַשְׁקֵֽם׃ | tashkem | you give to drink them | H8248 → | 61 times |
יִ֭רְוְיֻןthey take their fill !
yirveyunH7301 →
מִדֶּ֣שֶׁןfrom [the] fatness of
mideshenH1880 →15 times
בֵּיתֶ֑ךָhouse your
beitekhaH1004 →2046 times
וְנַ֖חַלand [the] river of
venachalH5158 →141 times
עֲדָנֶ֣יךָdelights your
ʾadaneikhaH5730 →
תַשְׁקֵֽם׃you give to drink them
tashkemH8248 →61 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 16:11You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
it leads to
- Acts 2:28
You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’
- Jude 1:24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
- Psalms 36:7–8
How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
- Revelation 7:15–17
For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
- Ephesians 3:19
of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- Acts 2:28
Through
Isaiah 58:11The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Jeremiah 31:12
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and…
- Psalms 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.
- John 4:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 18 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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alexander Maclaren, The Psalms, Expositor's Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 19; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 36; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17; Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 36:9, 13; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Chrysostom, Homilies on Psalms; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON PSALMS 29:12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.