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Selected Verse: Psalms 76:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 76:4 |
King James |
Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. |
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] |
Thou--God.
mountains of prey--great victorious nations, as Assyria (Isa 41:15; Eze 38:11-12; Zac 4:7). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Thou art more glorious and excellent - The word rendered glorious - נאור na'ôr - is from the verb which means "to shine," to give light, and the word would properly refer to a luminous or "shining" object - as the sun, the source of light. Hence, it means "shining," splendid, glorious; and it is thus applied to the Divine Being with reference to his perfections, being like light. Compare Jo1 1:5. The word rendered "excellent," means exalted, noble, great. These words are applied here to God from the manifestation of his perfections in the case referred to.
Than the mountains of prey - The word "prey" as employed here - טרף ṭereph - means that which is obtained by hunting; and then, plunder. It is usually applied to the food of wild beasts, beasts of prey. Here it refers to the "mountains" considered as the abode or stronghold of robbers and banditti, from where they sally forth in search of plunder. These mountains, in their heights, their rocks, their fastnesses, furnished safe places of retreat for robbers, and hence, they became emblems of power. It is not improbable that the hordes referred to in the psalm had their abodes in such mountains, and hence, the psalmist says that God who made those mountains and hills was superior to them in strength and power. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The "mountains of prey," for which the lxx has ὀρέων αἰωνίων (טרם?), is an emblematical appellation for the haughty possessors of power who also plunder every one that comes near them,
(Note: One verse of a beautiful poem of the Muḥammel which Ibn Dûchı̂, the phylarch of the Beni Zumeir, an honoured poet of the steppe, dictated to Consul Wetzstein runs thus: The noble are like a very lofty hill-side upon which, when thou comest to it, thou findest an evening meal and protection (Arab. 'l-‛š' w-ḏry).)
or the proud and despoiling worldly powers. Far aloft beyond these towers the glory of God. He is נאור, illustris, prop. illumined; said of God: light-encircled, fortified in light, in the sense of Dan 2:22; Ti1 6:16. He is the אדּיר, to whom the Lebanon of the hostile army of the nations must succumb (Isa 10:34) According to Solinus (ed. Mommsen, p. 124) the Moors call Atlas Addirim. This succumbing is described in Psa 76:6. The strong of heart or stout-hearted, the lion-hearted, have been despoiled, disarmed, exuti; אשׁתּוללוּ
(Note: With orthophonic Gaja, vid., Baer's Metheg-Setzung, 45.)
is an Aramaizing praet. Hithpo. (like אתחבּר, Ch2 20:35, cf. Dan 4:16; Isa 63:3) with a passive signification. From Psa 76:6 we see that the beginning of the catastrophe is described, and therefore נמוּ (perhaps on that account accented on the ult.) is meant inchoatively: they have fallen into their sleep, viz., the eternal sleep (Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57), as Nahum says (Nah 3:18): thy shepherds sleep, O king of Assyria, thy valiant ones rest. In Psa 76:6 we see them lying in the last throes of death, and making a last effort to spring up again. But they cannot find their hands, which they have lifted up threateningly against Jerusalem: these are lamed, motionless, rigid and dead; cf. the phrases in Jos 8:20; Sa2 7:27, and the Talmudic phrase, "he did not find his hands and feet in the school-house," i.e., he was entirely disconcerted and stupefied.
(Note: Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese, S. 191.)
This field of corpses is the effect of the omnipotent energy of the word of the God of Jacob; cf. וגער בּו, Isa 17:13. Before His threatening both war-chariot and horse (ו - ו) are sunk into motionlessness and unconsciousness - an allusion to Ex. 15, as in Isa 43:17 : who bringeth out chariot and horse, army and heroes - together they faint away, they shall never rise; they have flickered out, like a wick they are extinguished. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Thou - O God. Than - The greatest kings and empires of the earth, which in prophetic writings are often compared to mountains. And they are called mountains of prey, because they generally were established by tyranny, and maintained by preying upon their own subjects, or other kingdoms. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Than the mountains of prey - This is an address to Mount Zion. Thou art more illustrious and excellent than all the mountains of prey, i.e., where wild beasts wander, and prey on those that are more helpless than themselves. Zion was the place where God dwelt; the other mountains were the abode of wild beasts. |
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
27 For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
16 Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
35 And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.