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Selected Verse: Psalms 40:12 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 40:12 |
King James |
For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. |
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] |
evils--inflicted by others.
iniquities--or penal afflictions, and sometimes calamities in the wide sense. This meaning of the word is very common (Psa 31:11; Psa 38:4; compare Gen 4:13, Cain's punishment; Gen 19:15, that of Sodom; Sa1 28:10, of the witch of En-dor; also Sa2 16:12; Job 19:29; Isa 5:18; Isa 53:11). This meaning of the word is also favored by the clause, "taken hold of me," which follows, which can be said appropriately of sufferings, but not of sins (compare Job 27:20; Psa 69:24). Thus, the difficulties in referring this Psalm to Christ, arising from the usual reading of this verse, are removed. Of the terrible afflictions, or sufferings, alluded to and endured for us, compare Luk 22:39-44, and the narrative of the scenes of Calvary.
my heart faileth me-- (Mat 26:38), "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
cannot look up--literally, "I cannot see," not denoting the depression of conscious guilt, as Luk 18:13, but exhaustion from suffering, as dimness of eyes (compare Psa 6:7; Psa 13:3; Psa 38:10). The whole context thus sustains the sense assigned to iniquities. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For innumerable evils have compassed me about - Have surrounded me, or have beset me on every side. The evils here referred to, understood as being those which came upon the Messiah, were sorrows that came upon him in consequence of his undertaking to do what could not be done by sacrifices and offerings Psa 40:6; that is, his undertaking to save men by his own "obedience unto death." The time referred to here, I apprehend, is that when the full effects of his having assumed the sins of the world to make expiation for them came upon him; when he was about to endure the agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary.
Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me - On this passage, as constituting one of the main objections, and the strongest objection, to the application of the psalm to the Messiah, and on the way in which such objection may be met, see introduction to this psalm (3b).
So that I am not able to look up - This is not the exact idea of the Hebrew word. That is simply, I am not able to see; and it refers to the dimness or failure of sight caused by distress, weakness, or old age. Sa1 3:2; Sa1 4:15; Kg1 14:4; compare Psa 6:7. The idea here is, not that he was unable to look up, but that the calamities which came upon him were so heavy and severe as to make his sight dim, or to deprive him of vision. Either by weeping, or by the mere pressure of suffering, he was so affected as almost to be deprived of the power of seeing.
They are more than the hairs of mine head - That is, the sorrows that come upon me in connection with sin. The idea is that they were innumerable - the hairs of the head, or the sands on the seashore; being employed in the Scriptures to denote what cannot be numbered. See Psa 69:4. Compare Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12; Jos 11:4; Sa2 17:11.
Therefore my heart faileth me - Margin, as in Hebrew: "forsaketh." The idea is that he sank under these sufferings; he could not sustain them. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| Now, in accordance with the true art of prayer, petition developes itself out of thanksgiving. The two כּלא, Psa 40:10 and here, stand in a reciprocal relation to one another: he refrained not his lips; therefore, on His part, let not Jahve withhold His tender mercies so that they should not be exercised towards him (ממּנּי). There is just the same correlation of mercy and truth in Psa 40:11 and here: he wishes continually to stand under the protection of these two saving powers, which he has gratefully proclaimed before all Israel. With כּי, Psa 40:13, he bases these desires upon his own urgent need. רעות are the evils, which come even upon the righteous (Psa 34:20) as trials or as chastenings. אפפוּ עלי is a more circumstantial form of expression instead of אפפוּני, Psa 18:5. His misdeeds have taken hold upon him, i.e., overtaken him in their consequences (השּׂיג, as in Deu 28:15, Deu 28:45; cf. לכד, Pro 5:22), inasmuch as they have changed into decrees of suffering. He cannot see, because he is closely encompassed on all sides, and a free and open view is thereby altogether taken from him (the expression is used elsewhere of loss of sight, Sa1 3:2; Sa1 4:15; Kg1 14:4). The interpretation adopted by Hupfeld and Hitzig: I am not able to survey, viz., their number, puts into the expression more than it really expresses in the common usage of the language. His heart, i.e., the power of vital consistence, has forsaken him he is disconcerted, dejected, as it were driven to despair (Psa 38:11). This feeling of the misery of sin is not opposed to the date of the Psalm being assigned to the time of Saul, vid., on Psa 31:11. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Taken hold - Mens sins are figuratively said to take hold of them, as an officer takes hold of a man whom he arrests. To look - Unto God or men, with any comfort: I am ashamed and confounded. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Innumerable evils have compassed me about - This part does not comport with the preceding; and either argues a former experience, or must be considered a part of another Psalm, written at a different time, and on another occasion, and, were we to prefix the two first verses of the seventieth Psalm to it we should find it to be a Psalm as complete in itself as that is.
They are more than the hairs of mine head - This could not be said by any person who was exulting in the pardoning mercy of God, as David was at the time he penned the commencement of this Psalm. |
10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.
40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
12 It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.
10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
4 And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.
12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.