Psalms 9:15
in Psalms 9The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
KJV
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
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This verse in Psalms 9
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The heathen - Hebrew, “The nations;” that is, the idolatrous people that were arrayed against him. See the notes at Psa 9:5. Are sunk down - That is, referring to those who had been overcome, as mentioned in Psa 9:5; or to those who still encompassed him, in respect to whom he was so certain that they would be overcome that he could speak of it as a thing already accomplished.
This site's exposition
fallen into a pit
on Psalms 9:15-16
The trap springs on the man who set it. The nations fall into a pit of their own making, their feet caught in the net they hid. The wicked are snared by what their hands made, so the LORD is known by that justice.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Then follows, "I will exult for Your salvation:" that is, with blessedness shall I be holden by Your salvation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God. Therefore says the Church, which is here in affliction and is saved by hope, as long as the hidden judgment of the Son is, in hope she says, "I will exult for Your salvation:" for now she is worn down either by the roar of violence around her, or by the errors of the heathen. "The heathen are fixed in the corruption, which they made" [Psalm 9:15]. Consider ye how punishment is reserved for the sinner, out of his own works; and how they that have wished to persecute the Church, have been fixed in that corruption, which they thought to inflict. For they were desiring to kill the body, while they themselves were dying in soul. "In that snare which they hid, has their foot been taken." The hidden snare is crafty devising. The foot of the soul is well understood to be its love: which, when depraved, is called coveting or lust; but when upright, love or charity....And the Apostle says, "That being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to take in." [Ephesians 3:17-18] The foot then of sinners, that is, their love, is taken in the snare, which they hide: for when delight shall have followed on to deceitful dealing, when God shall have delivered them over to the lust of their heart; that delight at once binds them, that they dare not tear away their love thence and apply it to profitable objects; for when they shall make the attempt, they will be pained in heart, as if desiring to free their foot from a fetter: and giving way under this pain they refuse to withdraw from pernicious delights. "In the snare" then "which they have hid," that is, in deceitful counsel, "their foot has been taken," that is, their love, which through deceit attains to that vain joy whereby pain is purchased.
Whenever they desire to wipe out and abolish the race of the faithful, they themselves are lured into their own calamity; and in the very snares they have concealed for the people of God they are caught, and "their foot will fall."
When he says that "the Gentiles got stuck," he means not those who are held by the fear of the Lord, but those who are so pinned down by the nails of their sins that they are not able to cast them off; unyielding bands …
One is not held by the sin and unrighteousness of another; rather, each one will die in his own sin. The wicked, first harming themselves, strive deceitfully to drive others into the same curse. Secretly they build traps of deceit with their own plans and …
We ought to understand the whole psalm as being about the death of the Savior. Finally, that you may know it is spoken of the Savior, it is said of the Jews: 'In this snare which they stretched out, their own foot has been caught.'
6 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
Nothing … is so destructive as vice. In fact, nothing is weaker than the wicked; they are undone by their own weapons, as iron is by rust and wool by a moth—so too is the wicked person by vice.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The occasion of exultation is the destruction of enemies who persecute the saints. And they persecute the saints in two ways. First, by violence. Second, by fraud. He says therefore, regarding the first, "the nations are stuck fast" -- from the fact that they prepared …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This is very applicable to the kingdom of the Messiah, the enemies of which have been in part destroyed already, and shall be yet more and more till they all be made his footstool, which we are to assure ourselves of, that God may have the glory and we may take the comfort.
The Heathen are sunk into the pit that they made,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
In considering this terrible picture of the Lord's overwhelming judgments of his enemies, we are called upon to ponder and meditate upon it with deep seriousness by the two untranslated words, Higgaion, Selah. Meditate, pause. Consider, and tune your instrument. Bethink yourselves and solemnly adjust your hearts to the solemnity which is so well becoming the subject. Let us in a humble spirit approach these verses, and notice, first, that the character of God requires the punishment of sin.
The heathen are sank down to the pit - See on Psa 7:15 (note).
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| טָבְע֣וּ | taveu | they have sunk | H2883 → | 10 times |
| ג֭וֹיִם | goyim | nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| בְּשַׁ֣חַת | beshachat | in [the] pit | H7845 → | 23 times |
| עָשׂ֑וּ | ʾasu | [which] they made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בְּרֶֽשֶׁת־ | bereshet- | in [the] net | H7568 → | 22 times |
| ז֥וּ | zu | which | H2098 → | 15 times |
| טָ֝מָ֗נוּ | tamanu | they had hidden | H2934 → | 31 times |
| נִלְכְּדָ֥ה | nilkedah | it has been caught | H3920 → | 121 times |
| רַגְלָֽם׃ | raglam | foot their | H7272 → | 247 times |
טָבְע֣וּthey have sunk
taveuH2883 →10 times
ג֭וֹיִםnations
goyimH1471 →561 times
בְּשַׁ֣חַתin [the] pit
beshachatH7845 →23 times
עָשׂ֑וּ[which] they made
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
בְּרֶֽשֶׁת־in [the] net
bereshet-H7568 →22 times
ז֥וּwhich
zuH2098 →15 times
טָ֝מָ֗נוּthey had hidden
tamanuH2934 →31 times
נִלְכְּדָ֥הit has been caught
nilkedahH3920 →121 times
רַגְלָֽם׃foot their
raglamH7272 →247 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
Proverbs 22:8He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
it leads to
- Galatians 6:7–8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Job 4:8
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
- Isaiah 30:31
For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter.
- Galatians 6:7–8
Through
Psalms 35:8May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
it leads to
- Psalms 141:9–10
Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the lures of evildoers.
- Psalms 141:9–10
Through
Psalms 57:6They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 145:14
The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
- Psalms 7:15–16
He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- Proverbs 28:10
He who leads the upright along the path of evil will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.
- Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Psalms 145:14
About Psalms
This page draws on 14 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 9; Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 9:16; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Didymus the Blind, FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 9:16; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 9:16-17; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 4, on Psalm 9; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 9:15; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.