Psalms 9:5

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

Psalms 9:5 in Other Translations

5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have erased their names forever.

5 You blow the whistle on godless nations; you throw dirty players out of the game, wipe their names right off the roster.

5 You have rebuked the nations: You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.

Psalms 9:5 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 9:5

Thou hast rebuked the Heathen
The people of the Philistines, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it, though some Jewish writers ^F1 understand it of Amalek the chief of the Heathen nations; but it rather refers to Gospel times, and to the rebukes of the Heathen, by the preaching of the Gospel, for their idolatry and superstition; and especially to the latter day, and to the rebukes of the antichristian states, the Papists who are called Gentiles; which will be with flames of fire, and will issue in their utter extirpation, upon which a profound peace and prosperity will succeed in the Christian churches, according to ( Isaiah 2:4 ) ; which is a prophecy of those times;

thou hast destroyed the wicked;
the wicked man; for it is in the singular number, "labben", as Aben Ezra observes, or who is meant by him; Goliath, according to the Targum and Kimchi; or Esau, as other Jewish writers ^F2, that is, his posterity the Edomites; and each of these were figures of antichrist, the man of sin, the wicked one, whom Christ will slay with the breath of his lips, ( Isaiah 11:4 ) ;

thou hast put out their name for ever and ever;
that is, the glory and reputation of their name, a good and honourable one, which they sought to transmit to the latest posterity; for though the names of wicked men may continue, as Pharaoh, Judas, and others; yet they continue with a scandal and reproach upon them that shall never be wiped off, their names rot and stink; see ( Proverbs 10:7 ) ; the whole of this denotes the utter ruin and shameful end of the enemies of Christ and his church, and which is matter of joy to the saints.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Jarchi in loc. & Pesikta in ibid. in v. 1.
F2 Ibid.

Psalms 9:5 In-Context

3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.

4 For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.

7 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 20:7; S Genesis 37:10; S 1 Chronicles 16:21; Psalms 59:5; Psalms 105:14; Isaiah 26:14; Isaiah 66:15
• 2. S Job 18:17; Proverbs 10:7