Psalms 66:17

17 I called out to him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music.

Psalms 66:17 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 66:17

I cried unto him with my mouth
Crying designs prayer, and supposes distress; and crying with the mouth denotes vocal, ardent, and fervent prayer;

and he was extolled with my tongue:
at the same time the psalmist prayed for deliverance out of his distresses, he praised God for the mercies he had received: and did, as the Apostle Paul directs, make known his requests with thanksgiving, ( Philippians 4:6 ) ; or "he was exalted under my tongue" F7; that is, in his heart, as some interpret it; his heart and his mouth went together; and out of the abundance of his heart his tongue spoke of the goodness, kindness, and mercy of God to him. The Targum is,

``and his promise was under my tongue;''

and so he was very different from a wicked man, who keeps iniquity under his tongue, as a sweet morsel, ( Job 20:12 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (ynwvl txt) "sublingua mea", Montanus, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Psalms 66:17 In-Context

15 The choicest cuts of meat for the sacrificial meal; Even the fragrance of roasted lamb is like a meal! Or make it an ox garnished with goat meat!
16 All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me.
17 I called out to him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music.
18 If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened.
19 But he most surely did listen, he came on the double when he heard my prayer.

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Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.