Psalms 73:18

18 Nevertheless for guiles thou hast put to them; thou castedest them down, while they were raised. (For thou shalt put them in slippery places; thou shalt throw them down, after they be raised up.)

Psalms 73:18 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 73:18

Surely thou didst set them in slippery places
In which a man cannot stand long, and without danger; and the higher they are the more dangerous, being slippery, and such are places of honour and riches. The phrase denotes the uncertainty and instability of these things, and the danger men are in who are possessed of them of falling into destruction and misery. The Targum is,

``thou didst set them in darkness;''

to be in slippery places, and in the dark, is very uncomfortable, unsafe, and dangerous indeed; See ( Psalms 35:6 ) ( Jeremiah 23:12 ) and it may be observed, that all this honour, promotion, and riches, are of God; it is he that sets them in these places of honour and profit; and he that sets them up can pull them down, as he does; so it follows,

thou castest them down into destruction:
into temporal destruction, by removing them from their high stations into a very low, mean, and contemptible state, as were Shebna and Nebuchadnezzar, ( Isaiah 22:15 Isaiah 22:19 ) ( Daniel 4:24 Daniel 4:25 ) and into everlasting destruction, from whence there is no recovery; see ( Psalms 55:23 ) .

Psalms 73:18 In-Context

16 I guessed, that I should know this; (but too much) travail is before me. (I tried to work through all of this; but it was too much for me.)

17 Till I enter into the saintuary of God; and understand in the last things of them. (Until I entered into the sanctuary of God; and there I understood their last things, that is, their end.)

18 Nevertheless for guiles thou hast put to them; thou castedest them down, while they were raised. (For thou shalt put them in slippery places; thou shalt throw them down, after they be raised up.)

19 How be they made into desolation; they failed suddenly, they perished for their wickedness/for their waywardness. (How they shall go into desolation! they shall suddenly fail, and they shall perish for all their wickedness/for all their wayward ways.)

20 As the dream of men that (a)rise; Lord, thou shalt drive their image to nought, in thy city. (Like a dream when one awaketh, and it vanisheth; so, Lord, thou shalt drive them down into nothing/until they completely disappear.)