Psalms 9:20
in Psalms 9Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Put them in fear, O Jehovah: Let the nations know themselves to be but men. [Selah
KJV
Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
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This verse in Psalms 9
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHe urges God by his tolerance and the strength of his mercy and patience that he grant a time of trials of long duration to the people harassing him. Before he had prayed that the nations be judged in the sight of God; now he asks that a lawgiver be appointed for the nations before the future judgment, so that they might learn they are people and not brute animals, for the law was hardly given to brutish animals.
This site's exposition
do not let man prevail
on Psalms 9:19-20
The psalm closes with a request, that God rise up. Man is to be kept from prevailing, the nations judged in God's own presence, and terror laid on them. What the nations are to learn is that they are but men.
This site's exposition
let the nations know they are but men
Men renders enosh, the word for frail man at Psalm 8:4. The nations learn by terror what verse 19 asked, that man should not prevail, and verse 19 uses the same word enosh for man. Selah follows, usually read as a pause.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail" (ver. 19). The future judgment is prayed for: but before it come, "Let the heathen," saith he, "be judged in Thy sight:" that is, in secret; which is called in God's sight, with the knowledge of a few holy and righteous ones. "Place a lawgiver over them, O Lord" (ver. 20). He seems to me to point out Antichrist: of whom the Apostle says, "When the man of sin shall be revealed." "Let the heathen know that they are men." That they who will be set free by the Son of God, and belong to the Son of Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men, may serve man, that is, the old man the sinner, "for that they are men." And because it is believed that he is to arrive at so great a pitch of empty glory, and he will be permitted to do so great things, both against all men and against the Saints of God, that then some weak ones shall indeed think that God cares not for human affairs, the Psalmist interposing a diapsalma, adds as it were the voice of men groaning and asking why judgment is deferred.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Consequently, when he says, "Arise," he foretells the divine judgment; and regarding this he does three things. First, he rouses the judge. Second, he implores judgment. Third, he shows the fruits of judgment. He says that he has not forgotten the poor unto the end; …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), strike a terror upon them, make them afraid with thy judgments." God knows how to make the strongest and stoutest of men to tremble and to flee when none pursues, and thereby he makes them know and own that they are but men; they are but weak men, unable to stand before the holy God--sinful men, the guilt of whose consciences make them subject to alarms.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Put them in fear, O Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Put them in fear - שיתה יהוה מורה להם shithah Yehovah morah lahem, “O Lord, place a teacher among them,” that they may know they also are accountable creatures, grow wise unto salvation, and be prepared for a state of blessedness. Several MSS. read מורא morre, fear; but teacher or legislator is the reading of all the versions except the Chaldee. Coverdale has hit the sense, translating thus: O Lorde, set a Scholemaster over them; and the old Psalter, Sett Lorb a brynger of Law abouen tham.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
One would think that men would not grow so vain as to deny themselves to be but men, but it appears to be a lesson which only a divine schoolmaster can teach to some proud spirits. Crowns leave their wearers but men, degrees of eminent learning make their owners not more than men, valour and conquest cannot elevate beyond the dead level of "but men;" and all the wealth of Croesus, the wisdom of Solon, the power of Alexander, the eloquence of Demosthenes, if added together, would leave the possessor but a man.
One would think that men would not grow so vain as to deny themselves to be but men, but it appears to be a lesson which only a divine schoolmaster can teach to some proud spirits. Crowns leave their wearers but men, degrees of eminent learning make their owners not more than men, valour and conquest cannot elevate beyond the dead level of "but men;" and all the wealth of Croesus, the wisdom of Solon, the power of Alexander, the eloquence of Demosthenes, if added together, would leave the possessor but a man. May we ever remember this lest like those in the text, we should be put in fear. Before leaving this Psalm, it will be very profitable if the student will peruse it again as the triumphal hymn of the Redeemer, as he devoutly brings the glory of his victories and lays it down at his Father's feet. Let us joy in his joy, and our joy shall be full.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Put them in fear, O Lord - From this it is evident that the enemies of the psalmist were bold, daring, confident in their own strength, and in the belief that they would succeed. He prays, therefore, that these bold and daring invaders of the rights of others might be made to stand in awe, and to tremble before the great and terrible majesty of God; that they might thus have just views of themselves, and see how weak and feeble they were as compared with Him. That the nations may know - The nations particularly referred to in this psalm as arrayed against the writer. Themselves to be but men - That they may see themselves as they are - poor, feeble creatures; as nothing when compared with God; that instead of their pride and self-confidence, their belief that they can accomplish any purpose that they choose, they may see that they are not like God, but that they are frail and feeble mortals. The psalmist seems to have supposed that if they understood this, they would be humbled and would desist from their purposes; and he therefore prays that God would interpose and show them precisely what they were. If men understood this, they would not dare to arrayy themselves against their Maker.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁ֘יתָ֤ה | shitah | appoint ! | H7896 → | 83 times |
| יְהוָ֨ה׀ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מוֹרָ֗ה | morah | terror | H4172 → | |
| לָ֫הֶ֥ם | lahem | for them | ||
| יֵדְע֥וּ | yedeu | may they know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| גוֹיִ֑ם | goyim | [the] nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| אֱנ֖וֹשׁ | ʾenoosh | [are] human being[s] | H582 → | 566 times |
| הֵ֣מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| סֶּֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
שִׁ֘יתָ֤הappoint !
shitahH7896 →83 times
יְהוָ֨ה׀O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מוֹרָ֗הterror
morahH4172 →
לָ֫הֶ֥םfor them
lahem
יֵדְע֥וּmay they know
yedeuH3045 →945 times
גוֹיִ֑ם[the] nations
goyimH1471 →561 times
אֱנ֖וֹשׁ[are] human being[s]
ʾenooshH582 →566 times
הֵ֣מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
סֶּֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 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
Jeremiah 32:40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:31–33
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
- Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
- Hebrews 6:13–18
When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
- James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Jeremiah 31:31–33
Through
Psalms 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
it leads to
- Psalms 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Isaiah 40:17
All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
- Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
- Psalms 39:5
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 on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 9; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 9:20, 21; 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.