Psalms
Psalms 32
Commentary
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4 commentators · 28 notes on this chapter
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.
This psalm is entitled Maschil, which some take to be only the name of the tune to which it was set and was to be sung. But others think it is significant; our margin reads it, A psalm of David giving instruction, and there is nothing in which we have more…
David is here improving the experience he had had of the comfort of pardoning mercy. I. He speaks to God, and professes his confidence in him and expectation from him, Psa 32:7. Having tasted the sweetness of divine grace to a penitent sinner, he cannot doubt…
John Gill11
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.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,.... Or "lifted up" (m); bore and carried away: sin is a transgression of the law; the guilt of it charged upon the conscience of a sinner is a heavy burden, too heavy for him to bear, and the punishment of it is…
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,.... Or "does not think of it" (n); with respect unto men, at least to the harm of them; his thoughts are thoughts of peace, and not of evil; their sins and iniquities he remembers no more; he does not…
When I kept silence,.... Was unthoughtful of sin, unconcerned about it, and made no acknowledgment and confession of it to God, being quite senseless and stupid; the Targum adds, "from the words of the law"; which seems to point at sin as the cause of what…
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 Psalm begins with the celebration of the happiness of the man who experiences God's justifying grace, when he gives himself up unreservedly to Him. Sin is called פּשׁע, as being a breaking loose or tearing away from God; חטאה, as a deviation from that…
For, as his own experience has taught the poet, he who does not in confession pour out all his corruption before God, only tortures himself until he unburdens himself of his secret curse. Since Psa 32:3 by itself cannot be regarded as the reason for the…
For this mercy, which is provided for every sinner who repents and confesses his sin, let then, every חסיד, who longs for חסד, turn in prayer to Jahve לעת מצא, at the time (Psa 21:10; Ch1 12:22; cf. בּעת, Isa 49:8) when He, and His mercy, is to be found (cf…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown10
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
imputeth--charge to him, and treat him accordingly. no guile--or, deceit, no false estimate of himself, nor insincerity before God (compare Rom 8:1).
A vivid description of felt, but unacknowledged, sin. When--literally, "for," as in Psa 32:4.
thy hand--of God, or power in distressing him (Psa 38:2). moisture--vital juices of the body, the parching heat of which expresses the anguish of the soul. On the other figures, compare Psa 6:2, Psa 6:7; Psa 31:9-11. If composed on the occasion of the…
World English Bible — Public domain