Psalms
Psalms 140
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Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
In this, as in other things, David was a type of Christ, that he suffered before he reigned, was humbled before he was exalted, and that as there were many who loved and valued him, and sought to do him honour, so there were many who hated and envied him, and…
Here is the believing foresight David had, I. Of the shame and confusion of persecutors. 1. Their disappointment. This he prays for (Psa 140:8), that their lusts might not be gratified, their lust of ambition, envy, and revenge: "Grant not, O Lord! the…
John Gill13
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man,.... Either Saul; so Theodoret; or rather Doeg, according to R. Obadiah: but Jarchi interprets it of Esau; by whom he means Edom, or Rome, or rather the Christians in general. Were his sense confined to the Papists, he…
Which imagine mischiefs in their heart,.... This shows that not a single person barely is meant but more, as Saul's courtiers; who were secretly and continually meditating mischief against David, traducing him to Saul, and devising things to take away his…
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent,.... Which Kimchi says it does before it bites. Aristotle (i) observes, that the tip or extreme point of a serpent's tongue is as small as a hair, and so exceeding sharp and piercing. Arama interprets this of…
Keil & Delitzsch5
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The assimilation of the Nun of the verb נצר is given up, as in Psa 61:8; Psa 78:7, and frequently, in order to make the form more full-toned. The relative clause shows that אישׁ חמסים is not intended to be understood exclusively of one person. בּלב…
The course of this second strophe is exactly parallel with the first. The perfects describe their conduct hitherto, as a comparison of Psa 140:3 with Psa 140:3 shows. פּעמים is poetically equivalent to רגלים, and signifies both the foot that steps (Psa 57:5…
Such is the conduct of his enemies; he, however, prays to his God and gets his weapons from beside Him. The day of equipment is the day of the crisis when the battle is fought in full array. The perfect סכּותה states what will then take place on the part of…
World English Bible — Public domain