Psalms 59:15
in Psalms 59They scavenge for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They shall wander up and down for food, And tarry all night if they be not satisfied.
KJV
Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
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This verse in Psalms 59
Commentary
9 notes on this verseLet them wander up and down for meat,.... Like hungry dogs; and grudge if they be not satisfied; or murmur and howl as dogs when hungry, and can find nothing to eat; or "when they shall not be satisfied, and shall lodge" (z); when they shall get nothing to satisfy their hungry appetite, and shall go to bed without a supper, and lie all night without food.
This site's exposition
snarling like dogs and prowling around the city
on Psalms 59:14-15
Verse 14 repeats verse 6 word for word, the dogs back at the city in the evening. Verse 15 leaves them scavenging for food and growling when they are not satisfied. They end the psalm hungry.
This site's exposition
They scavenge for food
The dogs of verse 14 find nothing and go on hungry. John Gill notes that the Hebrew can also read that they lodge all night unsatisfied. Charles Spurgeon applied the picture to Saul's men, who paraded the city in vain hope of their prey.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"They shall be scattered abroad in order that they may eat" [Psalm 59:15]; that is, in order that they may gain others, in order that into their Body they may change believers. "But if they shall not be filled, they shall murmur." Because above also he had spoken of the murmur of them, saying, "For who has heard?" "And You, O Lord," he says, "shall deride them, saying, Who has heard?" Wherefore? Because, as nothing You shall count all nations. Let the Psalm be concluded. See ye the Corner [Ephesians 2:20] exulting, now with both walls rejoicing. The Jews were proud, humbled they have been; Gentiles were despairing, raised up they have been: let them come to the Corner, there let them meet, there run together, there find the kiss of peace; from different parts let them come, but with differing not come, those of Circumcision, these of uncircumcision. Far apart were the walls, but before that to the Corner they came: but in the Corner let them hold themselves.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. 3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O L ORD .
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It is not poverty, but discontent, that makes a man unhappy. He expects to praise God, that God's providence would find him matter for praise and that God's grace would work in him a heart for praise,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Let them wander up and down for meat. Like dogs that have missed the expected carcass, let them go up and down dissatisfied, snapping at one another, and too disappointed to be quiet and take the matter easily. And grudge if they be not satisfied. Let them act like those who cannot believe that they have lost their prey: like a herd of Oriental dogs, unhoused, unkennelled, let them prowl about seeking a prey which they shall never find. Thus the menial followers of Saul paraded the city in vain hope of satisfying their malice and their master.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
grudge if, &c.--literally, "they shall stay all night," that is, obtain nothing. Contrast the lot of God's servant, who employs his time in God's praise. sing aloud . . . in the morning--when they retire famishing and disappointed, or it may denote delightful diligence in praise, as in Ps 30:5.
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1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let them wander up and down for meat - Let them be like dogs that wander about for food, and find none. The idea is, that they would not find him, and would be then as dogs that had sought in vain for food. And grudge if they be not satisfied - Margin, If they be not satisfied, then they will stay all night. The marginal reading is most in accordance with the Hebrew. The sentence is obscure, but the idea seems to be that they would not be satisfied - that is, they would not obtain that which they had sought; and, like hungry and disappointed dogs, they would be compelled to pass the night in this miserable and wretched condition. The word which our translators have rendered “grudge” - from לוּן lûn - means properly to pass the night; then, to abide, to remain, to dwell; and then, in Hiphil, to show oneself obstinate and stubborn - from the idea of remaining or persisting in a bad cause; and hence, the word sometimes means to complain: Num 14:29; Exo 17:3. It has not, however, the signification of grudging, though it might mean here to murmur or complain because they were disappointed. But the most natural meaning is that which the word properly bears - that of passing the night, as referring to their wandering about, disappointed in their object, and yet still hoping that they might possibly obtain it. The anticipated feeling in the mind of the psalmist is that which he would have in the consciousness of his own safety, and in the pleasure of knowing that they must sooner or later find out that their victim had escaped.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Destroy [them] with wrath Destroy them with Your wrath, O King Who judges, and let them know that You rule over Jacob.
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. 2 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵ֭מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| יְנִיע֣וּן | yeniun | they make wander about ! | H5128 → | 40 times |
| לֶאֱכֹ֑ל | leekhol | to eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִ֝שְׂבְּע֗וּ | yisbeu | they are satisfied | H7646 → | 97 times |
| וַיָּלִֽינוּ׃ | vaiyalinu | and they passed [the] night | H3885 → | 84 times |
הֵ֭מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
יְנִיע֣וּןthey make wander about !
yeniunH5128 →40 times
לֶאֱכֹ֑לto eat
leekholH398 →810 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִ֝שְׂבְּע֗וּthey are satisfied
yisbeuH7646 →97 times
וַיָּלִֽינוּ׃and they passed [the] night
vaiyalinuH3885 →84 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 109:10May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:25
I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
- Genesis 4:12–14
When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
- Psalms 37:25
Through
Job 15:23He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
it leads to
- Psalms 109:10
May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
- Job 18:12
His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side.
- Amos 5:20
Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?
- Ecclesiastes 11:8
So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile.
- Psalms 109:10
Through
Lamentations 5:9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 4:16–17
Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water…
- Jeremiah 40:9–12
Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king…
- Ezekiel 4:16–17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 59; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.