Psalms 32:3-11

3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my groaning all the day long.

4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I covered not; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto Jehovah, and *thou* forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee at a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they will not reach him.

7 Thou art a hiding-place for me; thou preservest me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct thee and teach thee the way in which thou shalt go; I will counsel [thee] with mine eye upon thee.

9 Be ye not as a horse, as a mule, which have no understanding: whose trappings must be bit and bridle, for restraint, or they will not come unto thee.

10 Many sorrows hath the wicked; but he that confideth in Jehovah, loving-kindness shall encompass him.

11 Rejoice in Jehovah, and be glad, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye upright in heart.

Psalms 32:3-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 32

\\<<[A Psalm], of David, Maschil>>\\. This is the first of the psalms that bears this title: some think it is the name of a musical instrument, on which this psalm was sung; others the first word of a song, to the tune of which it was sung, as Aben Ezra; some say it is so called, because it was explained by an interpreter, as Jarchi; and the Rabbins {k} say, that every psalm that is called "Maschil" was dictated by an interpreter: the Targum renders it "a good understanding"; and the word properly signifies "instruction", or "causing to understand" {l}; and it may be the apostle has some reference to this title in 1Co 14:15; It is an instructive psalm; a didascalic ode, as Junius renders it: it gives an account how the psalmist was instructed under a dispensation of Providence; and was brought to a sense of sin, and acknowledgment of it; and was favoured with a discovery of pardoning grace; and in it he takes upon him to instruct others, Ps 32:8,9, and does instruct in the doctrine of the pardon of sin by the grace of God. {k} Elias Levita in Tishbi, p. 271. {l} lykvm "erudiens", Musculus, Munster, Vatablus, Montanus; "informans", Gejerus; "an instructing psalm", Ainsworth.

Footnotes

• [a]. Chasid: see Ps. 30.4 2Sam. 22.26.
• [b]. Or 'I will give counsel, with,' &c.
• [c]. Or 'lest they come near,' &c.