Psalms 36:1-9

1 {To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the servant of Jehovah; of David.} The transgression of the wicked uttereth within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, [even] when his iniquity is found to be hateful.
3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, to do good.
4 He deviseth wickedness up on his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good: he abhorreth not evil.
5 Jehovah, thy loving-kindness is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness [reacheth] unto the clouds.
6 Thy righteousness is like the high mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: thou, Jehovah, preservest man and beast.
7 How precious is thy loving-kindness, O God! So the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.
8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Psalms 36:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, [a Psalm] of David, the servant of the Lord. This title, which the psalmist takes to himself, regards him not only as a creature, every man being the servant of the Lord as such, of right, though not in fact; but as a king, he being a minister of God for good to good men, and for evil to evil men; and also may respect him as a renewed man; and it is here used in opposition to and distinction from the wicked, who are the servants of sin and Satan, of whom he speaks in this psalm. The Syriac and Arabic versions in their titles suggest that this psalm was written when David was persecuted by Saul, and which is the sense of some interpreters; but R. Obadiah thinks Ahithophel is designed by the wicked man in it; and so it was penned on account of Absalom's rebellion.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. As an oracle: see 'saith,' Gen. 22.16.
  • [b]. Or 'vanity,' 'mischief.'
  • [c]. Lit. 'mountains of God:' see Ps. 68.15; 80.10
  • [d]. Plural of Eden, Gen. 2.8.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.