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Selected Verse: Psalms 4:2 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 4:2 |
King James |
O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
sons of men--men of note or prominence (compare Ch2 21:9).
turn my glory--or, "royal dignity."
into shame--or, "reproach."
vanity--a foolish and hopeless enterprise (Psa 2:1).
leasing--a lie. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
O ye sons of men - Turning from God to men; from Him in whom he hoped for protection to those who were engaged in persecuting him. We are not, of course, to suppose that they were present with him, but this is an earnest, poetic remonstrance, "as if" they were with him. The reference is doubtless to Absalom and his followers; and he calls them "sons of men," as having human feelings, passions, and purposes, in strong distinction from that righteous God to whom he had just made his solemn appeal. God was holy, true, and just, and he might appeal to Him; they were ambitious and wicked, and from them he had nothing to hope. He looked upon God as righteous altogether; he looked upon them as altogether depraved and wicked. God he regarded as his just Protector; them he regarded as seeking only to wrong and crush him.
How long - The phrase used here might refer either to "time" or to "extent." How long in regard to "time," - or to what "degree" or "extent" will you thus persecute me? The former, however, seems to be the true signification.
Will ye turn my glory into shame - My honor, or what becomes my rank and station. If this refers to the rebellion in the time of Absalom, the allusion is to the fact that his enemies were endeavoring to rob him of his scepter and his crown, and to reduce him to the lowest condition of beggary and want; and he asks with earnestness how long they intended to do him so great injustice and wrong.
Will ye love vanity - Compare the notes at Psa 2:1. That is, how long will you act as if you were in love with a vain and impracticable thing; a thing which "must" be hopeless in the end. The idea is, that God had chosen him, and anointed him, and had determined that he should be king Psa 4:3, and therefore, that their efforts "must be" ultimately unsuccessful. The object at which they were aiming could not be accomplished, and he asks how long they would thus engage in what must, from the nature of the case, be fruitless.
And seek after leasing - The word "leasing" is the Old English word for "lie." The idea here is, that they were pursuing a course which would yet prove to be a delusion - the hope of overturning his throne. The same question, in other respects, may be asked now. Men are seeking that which cannot be accomplished, and are acting under the influence of a lie. What else are the promises of permanent happiness in the pursuits of pleasure and ambition? What else are their attempts to overthrow religion and virtue in the world?
Selah - See the notes at Psa 3:2. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| (Heb.: 4:3-4) Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn his whose honour is God's honour, viz., to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with בּני אדם, men who are lost in the multitude, בּני אישׁ denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like Psa 49:3; Psa 62:10; Pro 8:4; Isa 2:9; Isa 5:15, show this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul. The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he days: till when (עד־מה beside the non-guttural which follows with Segol, without any manifest reason, as in Psa 10:13; Isa 1:5; Jer 16:10), i.e., how long shall my honour become a mockery, namely to you and by you, just as we can also say in Latin quousque tandem dignitas mea ludibrio? The two following members are circumstantial clauses subordinate to the principal clause with עד־מה (similar to Isa 1:5; Ew. 341, b). The energetic fut. with Nun parag. does not usually stand at the head of independent clauses; it is therefore to be rendered: since ye love ריק, that which is empty - the proper name for their high rank is hollow appearance - how long will ye pursue after כּזב, falsehood?-they seek to find out every possible lying pretext, in order to trail the honour of the legitimate king in the dust. The assertion that the personal honour of David, not his kingly dignity, is meant by כּבודי, separates what is inseparable. They are eager to injure his official at the same time as his personal reputation. Therefore David appeals in opposition to them (Psa 4:4) not only to the divine choice, but also to his personal relationship to God, on which that choice is based. The ו of וּדעוּ is, as in Kg2 4:41, the ו of sequence: so know then. The Hiph. חפלה (from פּלה = פּלא, cogn. פּלל, prop. to divide) to make a separation, make a distinction Exo 9:4; Exo 11:7, then to distinguish in an extraordinary and remarkable way Exo 8:18, and to show Psa 17:7, cf. Psa 31:22, so that consequently what is meant is not the mere selection (בּחר), but the remarkable selection to a remarkable position of honour (lxx, Vulg. mirificavit, Windberg translation of the Psalms gewunderlichet). לו belongs to the verb, as in Psa 135:4, and the principal accent lies on חסיד: he whom Jahve Himself, not men, has thus remarkably distinguished is a חסיד, a pious man, i.e., either, like the Syriac חסידא = רהימא: God's favourite, or, according to the biblical usage of the language (cf. Psa 12:2 with Isa 17:1), in an active signification like פּליט, פּריץ, and the like: a lover of God, from חסד (root חס Arab. ḥs, stringere, whence ḥassa to curry, maḥassa a curry-comb) prop. to feel one's self drawn, i.e., strongly affected (comp. ḥiss is mental impression), in Hebrew, of a strong ardent affection. As a חסיד he does not call upon God in vain, but finds a ready hearing. Their undertaking consequently runs counter to the miraculously evidenced will of God and must fail by reason of the loving relationship in which the dethroned and debased one stands to God. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| My glory - By his glory probably he means that honour which God had conferred upon him. Vanity - Wickedness. Lying - Those calumnies which they raised against him, to make him odious to all the people. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
O ye sons of men - בני איש beney ish, ye powerful men - ye who are now at the head of affairs, or who are leaders of the multitude.
Love vanity - The poor, empty, shallow-brained, pretty-faced Absalom; whose prospects are all vain, and whose promises are all empty!
Seek after leasing? - This is a Saxon word, from falsehood, from to lie. Cardmarden has adopted this word in his translation, Rouen, 1566. It is in none of the Bibles previously to that time, nor in any after, as far as my own collection affords me evidence; and appears to have been borrowed by King James's translators from the above.
Selah - Mark this! See what the end will be! |
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
9 Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the chariots.
2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
4 For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.