Psalms

Psalms 41

13 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil. 2Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies. 3Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. 4I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.” 5My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?” 6If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. 7All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me. 8“An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.” 9Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.
10But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. 11By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me. 12As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.

Commentary

No commentary on this chapter yet.

What others are saying

4 commentators · 32 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17142

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.

v. 1–4

In these verses we have, I. God's promises of succour and comfort to those that consider the poor; and, 1. We may suppose that David makes mention of these with application either, (1.) To his friends, who were kind to him, and very considerate of his case…

v. 5–13

David often complains of the insolent conduct of his enemies towards him when he was sick, which, as it was very barbarous in them, so it could not but be very grievous to him. They had not indeed arrived at that modern pitch of wickedness of poisoning his…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176313

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.

v. 1

Blessed is he that considereth the poor,.... Not the poor of the world in common, nor poor saints in particular, but some single poor man; for the word is in the singular number, and designs our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in Psalm 40:17, is said to be "poor and…

v. 2

The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,.... Amidst a thousand deaths, to which he is exposed for making a profession of his faith in Christ; see 2 Corinthians 1:10; or this may refer to his spiritual life, which is hid and preserved in Christ, in whom…

v. 3

The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing,.... When on a sick bed, or a death bed, where he lies languishing, and ready to expire; when his natural strength, spirits, and heart fail him, then the Lord strengthens him with strength in his soul…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18755

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.

v. 1–3

(Heb.: 41:2-4) The Psalm opens by celebrating the lot, so rich in promises, of the sympathetic man. דּל is a general designation of the poor (e.g., Exo 30:15), of the sick and weakly (Gen 41:19), of the sick in mind (Sa2 13:4), and of that which outwardly or…

v. 4–6

(Heb.: 41:5-7) He, the poet, is treated in his distress of soul in a manner totally different from the way just described which is so rich in promises of blessing. He is himself just such a דּל, towards whom one ought to manifest sympathising consideration…

v. 7–9

(Heb.: 41:8-10) Continuation of the description of the conduct of the enemies and of the false friend. התלחשׁ, as in Sa2 12:19, to whisper to one another, or to whisper among themselves; the Hithpa. sometimes (cf. Gen 42:1) has a reciprocal meaning like the…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187112

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.

v. 2

shall be blessed--literally, "led aright," or "safely," prospered (Psa 23:3). upon the earth--or land of promise (Psa 25:13; Psa 27:3-9, &c.).

v. 3

The figures of Psa 41:3 are drawn from the acts of a kind nurse.

v. 4

I said--I asked the mercy I show. heal my soul--(Compare Psa 30:2). "Sin and suffering are united," is one of the great teachings of the Psalms.

World English Bible — Public domain