Psalms 66:17

17 I cried out to him with my mouth, his praise was on my tongue.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Psalms 66:17 In-Context

15 I will offer you burnt offerings of fattened animals, along with the sweet smoke of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. (Selah)

16 Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.

17 I cried out to him with my mouth, his praise was on my tongue.

18 Had I cherished evil thoughts, Adonai would not have listened.

19 But in fact, God did listen; he paid attention to my prayer.