Psalm 66:17

17 I called to him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

Psalm 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.

Psalm 66:17 In-Context

15 Burnt offerings of fat animals I will offer to you, with [the] smoke of rams. I will do cattle with rams. Selah

16 Come [and] hear, all you God-fearers, and I will tell what he has done for me.

17 I called to him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I had considered evil in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

19 However, God has listened; he has attended to the sound of my prayer.

Footnotes

• [a] A slightly different Hebrew word yields "his exaltation was under my tongue"