King James Version
Psalms 4
8 verses with commentary
Answer Me When I Call
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. chief: or, overseer have: or, be gracious unto me
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.</strong> This opening petition establishes the psalm's framework of confident appeal based on past deliverance. David addresses God as "God of my righteousness" (<em>elohei tzidqi</em>, אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי), a remarkable possessive phrase suggesting God is both ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Hear me.**—Better, *In my crying hear me, God of my righteousness.*
The conception of God as supremely just, and the assertor of justice, is one of the noblest legacies from the Hebrew faith to the world. It is summed up in the question, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” The strength of the innocent in the face of calumny or oppression lies in the appeal to the eternal source ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. (1Sa 20:3).
**taken away ... judgment--**words unconsciously foreshadowing Jesus Christ (Is 53:8; Ac 8:33). God will not give Job his right, by declaring his innocence.
**vexed--**Hebrew, "made bitter" (Ru 1:20).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The children of men proved, and the happiness of godly people.(1-5)
God's favour is happiness.(6-8)
**Verses 1-5**
Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist wa...
Read full commentary →O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
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KJV Study Commentary
David addresses the 'sons of men' (Hebrew 'benei ish' - mankind) who persist in dishonoring God and pursuing worthless idols. The rhetorical 'how long?' expresses both grief and urgency. 'Vanity' (Hebrew 'riq') means emptiness or futility, while 'leasing' (Hebrew 'kazab') means falsehood or lies. This verse exposes humanity's tragic exchange: trading God's glory for shame, truth for lies, substanc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2)**Sons of men.**—A literal rendering of a Hebrew phrase generally interpreted as “men of high degree.” Luther translates “gentlemen” (see Psalm 49:2), where it is “high,” as contrasted with “low.” (Comp. Psalm 62:9, “men of high degree.”)
**How long?**—Literally, *how long to shame my glory? *which, after the analogy of Psalm 37:26, “his seed is for a blessing,” must mean *How long shall my glo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. Implying Job's knowledge of the fact that the living soul was breathed into man by God (Ge 2:7). "All the while." But Maurer, "As yet all my breath is in me" (notwithstanding my trials): the reason why I can speak so boldly.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The children of men proved, and the happiness of godly people.(1-5)
God's favour is happiness.(6-8)
**Verses 1-5**
Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist wa...
Read full commentary →But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.</strong> This verse shifts from petition to declaration, asserting a fundamental theological reality: God has separated the godly for His own possession and purposes. The emphatic "know" (<em>de'u</em>, דְּעוּ) is a command—an imperative plural addressing David's opponents to recog...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **But know.**—It is the privilege of true and heroic natures to rise to a consciousness of their strength and dignity in the hour of peril, and when the victims of unjust persecution. Besides his innate greatness, David has a grandeur and dignity, derived from his deep sense of the covenant between God and His anointed, and his own imperfect but sincere endeavour to act worthily the part of Go...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. (Job 6:28, 30). The "deceit" would be if he were to admit guilt against the witness of his conscience.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The children of men proved, and the happiness of godly people.(1-5)
God's favour is happiness.(6-8)
**Verses 1-5**
Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist wa...
Read full commentary →Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.</strong> This verse provides practical counsel for managing anger, fear, and spiritual turmoil. The Hebrew <em>rigzu</em> (רִגְזוּ, "stand in awe") literally means to tremble, quake, be agitated. The command can be understood two ways: as warning against sinful anger ("tremble with anger but sin not"...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Stand in awe.**—Literally, *tremble, *whether with *fear *or *anger. *But the rendering of the LXX., “be angry,” quoted in Ephesians 4:26, though etymologically correct, is plainly inadmissible here. “(See *New Testament Commentary.*)
**Commune**—*i.e., *reflect on your conduct, let the still hours of the night bring calmer and wiser thoughts with them. The LXX. and Vulg. translate “repent” ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. justify you--**approve of your views.
**mine integrity--**which you deny, on account of my misfortunes.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The children of men proved, and the happiness of godly people.(1-5)
God's favour is happiness.(6-8)
**Verses 1-5**
Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist wa...
Read full commentary →Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.</strong> This verse calls for both proper worship and wholehearted trust, connecting external religious observance with internal faith posture. "Sacrifices of righteousness" (<em>zivchei-tzedek</em>, זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק) can mean sacrifices offered righteously (with right heart attitude) or sacrifices that are themselves righ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Sacrifices of righteousness.**—Comp. Psalm 51:18-19; Deuteronomy 33:19. The context in both places directs to the translation “right” or “due” sacrifices, *i.e., *sacrifices duly and religiously performed.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. Rather, my "heart" (conscience) reproaches "not one of my days," that is, I do not repent of any of my days since I came into existence [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
The children of men proved, and the happiness of godly people.(1-5)
God's favour is happiness.(6-8)
**Verses 1-5**
Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist wa...
Read full commentary →There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
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KJV Study Commentary
David quotes the skeptics who doubt God's goodness and power to bless. Yet he turns their question into a prayer: 'LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.' This echoes the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), where God's face shining on His people signifies favor and blessing. The contrast is stark - many seek satisfaction in creation ('any good'), but David seeks the Creator's fac...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **There be many.**—Around the fugitive king were many whose courage was not so high, nor their faith so firm, as his. He hears their expressions of despair—
“Talking like this world’s brood.”—MILTON.
It is better to translate the words of these faint-hearted ones by the future, as in Authorised Version; not by the optative, as Ewald and others.
**Lift thou up . . .**—This is an echo of the pri...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. Let ... be--**Let mine enemy be accounted as wicked, that is, He who opposes my asseveration of innocence must be regarded as actuated by criminal hostility. Not a curse on his enemies.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-8**
Wordly people inquire for good, not for the chief good; all they want is outward good, present good, partial good, good meat, good drink, a good trade, and a good estate; but what are all these worth? Any good will serve the turn of most men, but a gracious soul will not be put off so. Lord, let us have thy favour, and let us know that we have it, we desire no more; let us be sa...
Read full commentary →Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
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KJV Study Commentary
Here David contrasts worldly joy with divine joy. The gladness God gives surpasses the happiness found in abundant harvests ('corn and their wine increased'). This isn't otherworldly spirituality disconnected from material reality - David acknowledges that harvests bring legitimate joy. Yet God-given gladness transcends and exceeds even life's greatest earthly pleasures. The Hebrew 'simchah' (glad...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Thou hast.**—Either “Thou hast put a gladness in my heart more than when their corn and new wine are much,” or, “More than when one has much corn,” &c. The expression is one of pregnant brevity for, “A gladness greater than that when corn and wine are plentiful.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. "What hope hath the hypocrite, notwithstanding all his gains, when?" &c. "Gained" is antithetic to "taketh away." Umbreit's translation is an unmeaning tautology. "When God cuts off, when He taketh away his life."
**taketh away--**literally, "draws out" the soul from the body, which is, as it were, its scabbard (Job 4:21; Psa 104:29; Da 7:15). Job says that he admits what Bildad said (Job...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-8**
Wordly people inquire for good, not for the chief good; all they want is outward good, present good, partial good, good meat, good drink, a good trade, and a good estate; but what are all these worth? Any good will serve the turn of most men, but a gracious soul will not be put off so. Lord, let us have thy favour, and let us know that we have it, we desire no more; let us be sa...
Read full commentary →I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.</strong> This concluding verse expresses the psalm's resolution—from distress and opposition to peaceful rest through trust in God's protection. The emphatic construction "I will both... and" stresses the completeness of David's confidence: he will both lie down peacefully <em>and</em> actually sle...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Both.**—Better, *and at once. *So the LXX. and Vulg.: “At the very moment.” (Comp. Isaiah 42:14.) This, too, is the meaning of “withal,” used to render the same Hebrew word in Psalm 141:10.
**Thou, Lord, only.**—The authority of all the ancient Versions, including the LXX. and Vulg., is for taking the adverb with the predicate, not with the subject as in the Authorised Version: “Thou, Jehova...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. (Psa 66:18).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-8**
Wordly people inquire for good, not for the chief good; all they want is outward good, present good, partial good, good meat, good drink, a good trade, and a good estate; but what are all these worth? Any good will serve the turn of most men, but a gracious soul will not be put off so. Lord, let us have thy favour, and let us know that we have it, we desire no more; let us be sa...
Read full commentary →