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Selected Verse: Psalms 91:6 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 91:6	King James	Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Nor for the pestilence - The plague or pestilence was common in Oriental countries. That walketh in darkness - Not that it particularly comes in the night, but that it seems to creep along as if in the night; that is, where one cannot mark its progress, or anticipate when or whom it will strike. The laws of its movements are unknown, and it comes upon people as an enemy that suddenly attacks us in the night. Nor for the destruction - The word used here - קטב qeṭeb - means properly a cutting off, a destruction, as a destroying storm, Isa 28:2; and then, contagious pestilence, Deu 32:24. It may be applied here to anything that sweeps away people - whether storm, war, pestilence, or famine. That wasteth at noonday - It lays waste, or produces desolation, at noon; that is, visibly, openly. The meaning is, that whenever, or in whatever form, calamity comes which sweeps away the race - whether at midnight or at noon - whether in the form of pestilence, war, or famine - he who trusts in God need not - will not - be afraid. He will feel either that he will be preserved from its ravages, or that if he is cut off he has nothing to fear. He is a friend of God, and he has a hope of a better life. In death, and in the future world, there is nothing of which he should be afraid. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, strangely enough, "Nor of mischance and the demon of noonday."

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

Nor for the pestilence - The plague or pestilence was common in Oriental countries.

That walketh in darkness - Not that it particularly comes in the night, but that it seems to creep along as if in the night; that is, where one cannot mark its progress, or anticipate when or whom it will strike. The laws of its movements are unknown, and it comes upon people as an enemy that suddenly attacks us in the night.

Nor for the destruction - The word used here - קטב qeṭeb - means properly a cutting off, a destruction, as a destroying storm, Isa 28:2; and then, contagious pestilence, Deu 32:24. It may be applied here to anything that sweeps away people - whether storm, war, pestilence, or famine.

That wasteth at noonday - It lays waste, or produces desolation, at noon; that is, visibly, openly. The meaning is, that whenever, or in whatever form, calamity comes which sweeps away the race - whether at midnight or at noon - whether in the form of pestilence, war, or famine - he who trusts in God need not - will not - be afraid. He will feel either that he will be preserved from its ravages, or that if he is cut off he has nothing to fear. He is a friend of God, and he has a hope of a better life. In death, and in the future world, there is nothing of which he should be afraid. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, strangely enough, "Nor of mischance and the demon of noonday."

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Darkness - Invisibly, so that we can neither foresee nor prevent it.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Darkness - Invisibly, so that we can neither foresee nor prevent it.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday - The rabbins supposed that the empire of death was under two demons, one of which ruled by day, the other by night. The Vulgate and Septuagint have - the noonday devil. The ancients thought that there were some demons who had the power to injure particularly at noonday. To this Theocritus refers, Id. 1: ver. 15: - Ου θεμις, ω ποιμαν, το μεσαμβρινον, ου θεμις αμμιν Συρισδεν· τον Πανα δεδοικαμες· η γαρ απ' αγρας Τανικα κεκμακως αμπαυεται, εντι γε πικρος, Και οἱ αει δριμεια χολα ποτι ῥινι καθηται. "It is not lawful, it is not lawful, O shepherd, to play on the flute at noonday: we fear Pan, who at that hour goes to sleep in order to rest himself after the fatigues of the chase; then he is dangerous, and his wrath easily kindled." Lucan, in the horrible account he gives us of a grove sacred to some barbarous power, worshipped with the most horrid rites, refers to the same superstition: - Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo, Non illum cultu populi propiore frequentant, Sed cessere deis: medio cum Phoebus in axe est. Aut coelum nox atra tenet, pavet ipse sacerdos Accessus, dominumque timet deprendere luci. Lucan, lib. iii., ver. 399. "Not far away, for ages past, had stood An old inviolated sacred wood: The pious worshippers approach not near, But shun their gods, and kneel with distant fear: The priest himself, when, or the day or night Rolling have reached their full meridian height, Refrains the gloomy paths with wary feet, Dreading the demon of the grove to meet; Who, terrible to sight, at that fixed hour Still treads the round about this dreary bower." Rowe. It has been stated among the heathens that the gods should be worshipped at all times, but the demons should be worshipped at midday: probably because these demons, having been employed during the night, required rest at noonday and that was the most proper time to appease them. See Calmet on this place. Both the Vulgate and Septuagint seem to have reference to this superstition. The Syriac understands the passage of a pestilential wind, that blows at noonday. Aquila translates, of the bite of the noonday demon.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday - The rabbins supposed that the empire of death was under two demons, one of which ruled by day, the other by night. The Vulgate and Septuagint have - the noonday devil. The ancients thought that there were some demons who had the power to injure particularly at noonday. To this Theocritus refers, Id. 1: ver. 15: -

Ου θεμις, ω ποιμαν, το μεσαμβρινον, ου θεμις αμμιν

Συρισδεν· τον Πανα δεδοικαμες· η γαρ απ' αγρας

Τανικα κεκμακως αμπαυεται, εντι γε πικρος,

Και οἱ αει δριμεια χολα ποτι ῥινι καθηται.

"It is not lawful, it is not lawful, O shepherd, to play on the flute at noonday: we fear Pan, who at that hour goes to sleep in order to rest himself after the fatigues of the chase; then he is dangerous, and his wrath easily kindled."

Lucan, in the horrible account he gives us of a grove sacred to some barbarous power, worshipped with the most horrid rites, refers to the same superstition: -

Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo,

Non illum cultu populi propiore frequentant,

Sed cessere deis: medio cum Phoebus in axe est.

Aut coelum nox atra tenet, pavet ipse sacerdos

Accessus, dominumque timet deprendere luci.

Lucan, lib. iii., ver. 399.

"Not far away, for ages past, had stood

An old inviolated sacred wood:

The pious worshippers approach not near,

But shun their gods, and kneel with distant fear:

The priest himself, when, or the day or night

Rolling have reached their full meridian height,

Refrains the gloomy paths with wary feet,

Dreading the demon of the grove to meet;

Who, terrible to sight, at that fixed hour

Still treads the round about this dreary bower."

Rowe.

It has been stated among the heathens that the gods should be worshipped at all times, but the demons should be worshipped at midday: probably because these demons, having been employed during the night, required rest at noonday and that was the most proper time to appease them. See Calmet on this place. Both the Vulgate and Septuagint seem to have reference to this superstition.

The Syriac understands the passage of a pestilential wind, that blows at noonday. Aquila translates, of the bite of the noonday demon.

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