Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Psalms 74:18 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 74:18	Strong Concordance	Remember [02142] this, that the enemy [0341] hath reproached [02778], O LORD [03068], and that the foolish [05036] people [05971] have blasphemed [05006] thy name [08034].
	King James	Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
(Compare Psa 74:10; Deu 32:6). The contrast is striking--that such a God should be thus insulted!

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

(Compare Psa 74:10; Deu 32:6). The contrast is striking--that such a God should be thus insulted!

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached - Has used opprobrious and abusive words in regard to thee, and to thy people. The idea is, that religion - the true religion - had been reproached by the foe. They had treated that religion as if it were false; they had reproached God as if he were a false God, and as if he were unable to defend his people. Compare Isa 36:4-10, Isa 36:13-20; Isa 37:10-13, Isa 37:23. The prayer here is, that God would remember that these words of reproach were against himself, and that he would regard them as such. And that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name - Have blasphemed thee - the name often being put for the person himself. The word "foolish" here may refer to them as "wicked" as well as foolish. Wickedness and folly are so connected - they are so commonly combined, that the word may be used to describe the enemies of God in either sense - characterising their conduct as either the one or the other. Compare the notes at Psa 14:1.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The poet, after he has thus consoled himself by the contemplation of the power of God which He has displayed for His people's good as their Redeemer, and for the good of the whole of mankind as the Creator, rises anew to prayer, but all the more cheerfully and boldly. Since ever present facts of creation have been referred to just now, and the historical mighty deeds of God only further back, זאת refers rather forwards to the blaspheming of the enemies which He suffers now to go on unpunished, as though He took no cognizance of it. חרף has Pasek after it in order to separate the word, which signifies reviling, from the most holy Name. The epithet עם־נבל reminds one of Deu 32:21. In Psa 74:19 according to the accents חיּת is the absolute state (the primary form of חיּה, vid., on Psa 61:1): give not over, abandon not to the wild beast (beasts), the soul of Thy turtle-dove. This is probably correct, since לחיּת נפשׁ, "to the eager wild beast," this inversion of the well-known expression נפשׁ חיּה, which on the contrary yields the sense of vita animae, is an improbable and exampleless expression. If נפשׁ were intended to be thus understood, the poet might have written אל־תתן לנפשׁ חיּה תורך, "give not Thy turtle-dove over to the desire of the wild beast." Hupfeld thinks that the "old, stupid reading" may be set right at one stroke, inasmuch as he reads אל תתן לנפש חית תורך, and renders it "give not to rage the life Thy turtle-dove;" but where is any support to be found for this לנפשׁ, "to rage," or rather (Psychology, S. 202; tr. p. 239) "to eager desire?" The word cannot signify this in such an isolated position. Israel, which is also compared to a dove in Psa 68:14, is called a turtle-dove (תּור). In Psa 74:19 חיּת has the same signification as in Psa 74:19, and the same sense as Psa 68:11 (cf. Ps 69:37): the creatures of Thy miserable ones, i.e., Thy poor, miserable creatures - a figurative designation of the ecclesia pressa. The church, which it is the custom of the Asaphic Psalms to designate with emblematical names taken from the animal world, finds itself now like sheep among wolves, and seems to itself as if it were forgotten by God. The cry of prayer הבּט לבּרית comes forth out of circumstances such as were those of the Maccabaean age. בּרית is the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 17); the persecution of the age of the Seleucidae put faith to the severe test, that circumcision, this sign which was the pledge to Israel of God's gracious protection, became just the sign by which the Syrians knew their victims. In the Book of Daniel, Dan 11:28, Dan 11:30, cf. Ps. 22:32, ברית is used directly of the religion of Israel and its band of confessors. The confirmatory clause Psa 74:20 also corresponds to the Maccabaean age, when the persecuted confessors hid themselves far away in the mountains (1 Macc. 2:26ff., 2 Macc. 6:11), but were tracked by the enemy and slain, - at that time the hiding-places (κρύφοι, 1 Macc. 1:53) of the land were in reality full of the habitations of violence. The combination נאות חמס is like נאות השׁלום, Jer 25:37, cf. Gen 6:11. From this point the Psalm draws to a close in more familiar Psalm - strains. אל־ישׁב, Psa 74:21, viz., from drawing near to Thee with their supplications. "The reproach of the foolish all the day" is that which incessantly goes forth from them. עלה תּמיד, "going up (Sa1 5:12, not: increasing, Kg1 22:35) perpetually," although without the article, is not a predicate, but attributive (vid., on Psa 57:3). The tone of the prayer is throughout temperate; this the ground upon which it bases itself is therefore all the more forcible.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The poet, after he has thus consoled himself by the contemplation of the power of God which He has displayed for His people's good as their Redeemer, and for the good of the whole of mankind as the Creator, rises anew to prayer, but all the more cheerfully and boldly. Since ever present facts of creation have been referred to just now, and the historical mighty deeds of God only further back, זאת refers rather forwards to the blaspheming of the enemies which He suffers now to go on unpunished, as though He took no cognizance of it. חרף has Pasek after it in order to separate the word, which signifies reviling, from the most holy Name. The epithet עם־נבל reminds one of Deu 32:21. In Psa 74:19 according to the accents חיּת is the absolute state (the primary form of חיּה, vid., on Psa 61:1): give not over, abandon not to the wild beast (beasts), the soul of Thy turtle-dove. This is probably correct, since לחיּת נפשׁ, "to the eager wild beast," this inversion of the well-known expression נפשׁ חיּה, which on the contrary yields the sense of vita animae, is an improbable and exampleless expression. If נפשׁ were intended to be thus understood, the poet might have written אל־תתן לנפשׁ חיּה תורך, "give not Thy turtle-dove over to the desire of the wild beast." Hupfeld thinks that the "old, stupid reading" may be set right at one stroke, inasmuch as he reads אל תתן לנפש חית תורך, and renders it "give not to rage the life Thy turtle-dove;" but where is any support to be found for this לנפשׁ, "to rage," or rather (Psychology, S. 202; tr. p. 239) "to eager desire?" The word cannot signify this in such an isolated position. Israel, which is also compared to a dove in Psa 68:14, is called a turtle-dove (תּור). In Psa 74:19 חיּת has the same signification as in Psa 74:19, and the same sense as Psa 68:11 (cf. Ps 69:37): the creatures of Thy miserable ones, i.e., Thy poor, miserable creatures - a figurative designation of the ecclesia pressa. The church, which it is the custom of the Asaphic Psalms to designate with emblematical names taken from the animal world, finds itself now like sheep among wolves, and seems to itself as if it were forgotten by God. The cry of prayer הבּט לבּרית comes forth out of circumstances such as were those of the Maccabaean age. בּרית is the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 17); the persecution of the age of the Seleucidae put faith to the severe test, that circumcision, this sign which was the pledge to Israel of God's gracious protection, became just the sign by which the Syrians knew their victims. In the Book of Daniel, Dan 11:28, Dan 11:30, cf. Ps. 22:32, ברית is used directly of the religion of Israel and its band of confessors. The confirmatory clause Psa 74:20 also corresponds to the Maccabaean age, when the persecuted confessors hid themselves far away in the mountains (1 Macc. 2:26ff., 2 Macc. 6:11), but were tracked by the enemy and slain, - at that time the hiding-places (κρύφοι, 1 Macc. 1:53) of the land were in reality full of the habitations of violence. The combination נאות חמס is like נאות השׁלום, Jer 25:37, cf. Gen 6:11. From this point the Psalm draws to a close in more familiar Psalm - strains. אל־ישׁב, Psa 74:21, viz., from drawing near to Thee with their supplications. "The reproach of the foolish all the day" is that which incessantly goes forth from them. עלה תּמיד, "going up (Sa1 5:12, not: increasing, Kg1 22:35) perpetually," although without the article, is not a predicate, but attributive (vid., on Psa 57:3). The tone of the prayer is throughout temperate; this the ground upon which it bases itself is therefore all the more forcible.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Remember - Though we deserve to be forgotten, yet do not suffer our enemies to reproach the name of the great and glorious God.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Remember this - The heathen not only deny these things, but give the honor of them to their false gods, and thus blaspheme thy name.

Top

⁶ Do ye thus requite [01580] the LORD [03068], O foolish [05036] people [05971] and unwise [02450]? is not he thy father [01] that hath bought [07069] thee? hath he not made [06213] thee, and established [03559] thee?

¹⁰ O God [0430], how long shall the adversary [06862] reproach [02778]? shall the enemy [0341] blaspheme [05006] thy name [08034] for ever [05331]?

¹ To the chief Musician [05329], A Psalm of David [01732]. The fool [05036] hath said [0559] in his heart [03820], There is no God [0430]. They are corrupt [07843], they have done abominable [08581] works [05949], there is none that doeth [06213] good [02896].

²³ Whom hast thou reproached [02778] and blasphemed [01442]? and against whom hast thou exalted [07311] thy voice [06963], and lifted up [05375] thine eyes [05869] on high [04791]? even against the Holy One [06918] of Israel [03478].

¹⁰ Thus shall ye speak [0559] to Hezekiah [02396] king [04428] of Judah [03063], saying [0559], Let not thy God [0430], in whom thou trustest [0982], deceive [05377] thee, saying [0559], Jerusalem [03389] shall not be given [05414] into the hand [03027] of the king [04428] of Assyria [0804].
¹¹ Behold, thou hast heard [08085] what the kings [04428] of Assyria [0804] have done [06213] to all lands [0776] by destroying them utterly [02763]; and shalt thou be delivered [05337]?
¹² Have the gods [0430] of the nations [01471] delivered [05337] them which my fathers [01] have destroyed [07843], as Gozan [01470], and Haran [02771], and Rezeph [07530], and the children [01121] of Eden [05729] which were in Telassar [08515]?
¹³ Where is the king [04428] of Hamath [02574], and the king [04428] of Arphad [0774], and the king [04428] of the city [05892] of Sepharvaim [05617], Hena [02012], and Ivah [05755]?

¹³ Then Rabshakeh [07262] stood [05975], and cried [07121] with a loud [01419] voice [06963] in the Jews' language [03066], and said [0559], Hear [08085] ye the words [01697] of the great [01419] king [04428], the king [04428] of Assyria [0804].
¹⁴ Thus saith [0559] the king [04428], Let not Hezekiah [02396] deceive [05377] you: for he shall not be able [03201] to deliver [05337] you.
¹⁵ Neither let Hezekiah [02396] make you trust [0982] in the LORD [03068], saying [0559], The LORD [03068] will surely [05337] deliver [05337] us: this city [05892] shall not be delivered [05414] into the hand [03027] of the king [04428] of Assyria [0804].
¹⁶ Hearken [08085] not to Hezekiah [02396]: for thus saith [0559] the king [04428] of Assyria [0804], Make [06213] an agreement with me by a present [01293], and come out [03318] to me: and eat [0398] ye every one [0376] of his vine [01612], and every one [0376] of his fig tree [08384], and drink [08354] ye every one [0376] the waters [04325] of his own cistern [0953];
¹⁷ Until I come [0935] and take you away [03947] to a land [0776] like your own land [0776], a land [0776] of corn [01715] and wine [08492], a land [0776] of bread [03899] and vineyards [03754].
¹⁸ Beware lest Hezekiah [02396] persuade [05496] you, saying [0559], The LORD [03068] will deliver [05337] us. Hath any [0376] of the gods [0430] of the nations [01471] delivered [05337] his land [0776] out of the hand [03027] of the king [04428] of Assyria [0804]?
¹⁹ Where are the gods [0430] of Hamath [02574] and Arphad [0774]? where are the gods [0430] of Sepharvaim [05617]? and have they delivered [05337] Samaria [08111] out of my hand [03027]?
²⁰ Who are they among all the gods [0430] of these lands [0776], that have delivered [05337] their land [0776] out of my hand [03027], that the LORD [03068] should deliver [05337] Jerusalem [03389] out of my hand [03027]?

⁴ And Rabshakeh [07262] said [0559] unto them, Say [0559] ye now to Hezekiah [02396], Thus saith [0559] the great [01419] king [04428], the king [04428] of Assyria [0804], What confidence [0986] is this wherein thou trustest [0982]?
⁵ I say [0559], sayest thou, (but they are but vain [08193] words [01697]) I have counsel [06098] and strength [01369] for war [04421]: now on whom dost thou trust [0982], that thou rebellest [04775] against me?
⁶ Lo, thou trustest [0982] in the staff [04938] of this broken [07533] reed [07070], on Egypt [04714]; whereon if a man [0376] lean [05564], it will go [0935] into his hand [03709], and pierce [05344] it: so is Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714] to all that trust [0982] in him.
⁷ But if thou say [0559] to me, We trust [0982] in the LORD [03068] our God [0430]: is it not he, whose high places [01116] and whose altars [04196] Hezekiah [02396] hath taken away [05493], and said [0559] to Judah [03063] and to Jerusalem [03389], Ye shall worship [07812] before [06440] this altar [04196]?
⁸ Now therefore give pledges [06148], I pray thee, to my master [0113] the king [04428] of Assyria [0804], and I will give [05414] thee two thousand [0505] horses [05483], if thou be able [03201] on thy part to set [05414] riders [07392] upon them.
⁹ How then wilt thou turn away [07725] the face [06440] of one [0259] captain [06346] of the least [06996] of my master's [0113] servants [05650], and put thy trust [0982] on Egypt [04714] for chariots [07393] and for horsemen [06571]?
¹⁰ And am I now come up [05927] without [01107] the LORD [03068] against this land [0776] to destroy [07843] it? the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto me, Go up [05927] against this land [0776], and destroy [07843] it.

³ He shall send [07971] from heaven [08064], and save [03467] me from the reproach [02778] of him that would swallow me up [07602]. Selah [05542]. God [0430] shall send forth [07971] his mercy [02617] and his truth [0571].

³⁵ And the battle [04421] increased [05927] that day [03117]: and the king [04428] was stayed up [05975] in his chariot [04818] against [05227] the Syrians [0758], and died [04191] at even [06153]: and the blood [01818] ran out [03332] of the wound [04347] into the midst [02436] of the chariot [07393].

¹² And the men [0582] that died [04191] not were smitten [05221] with the emerods [02914] [06076]: and the cry [07775] of the city [05892] went up [05927] to heaven [08064].

²¹ O let not the oppressed [01790] return [07725] ashamed [03637]: let the poor [06041] and needy [034] praise [01984] thy name [08034].

¹¹ The earth [0776] also was corrupt [07843] before [06440] God [0430], and the earth [0776] was filled [04390] with violence [02555].

³⁷ And the peaceable [07965] habitations [04999] are cut down [01826] because [06440] of the fierce [02740] anger [0639] of the LORD [03068].

²⁰ Have respect [05027] unto the covenant [01285]: for the dark [04285] places of the earth [0776] are full [04390] of the habitations [04999] of cruelty [02555].

³⁰ For the ships [06716] of Chittim [03794] shall come [0935] against him: therefore he shall be grieved [03512], and return [07725], and have indignation [02194] against the holy [06944] covenant [01285]: so shall he do [06213]; he shall even return [07725], and have intelligence [0995] with them that forsake [05800] the holy [06944] covenant [01285].

²⁸ Then shall he return [07725] into his land [0776] with great [01419] riches [07399]; and his heart [03824] shall be against the holy [06944] covenant [01285]; and he shall do [06213] exploits, and return [07725] to his own land [0776].

¹¹ The Lord [0136] gave [05414] the word [0562]: great [07227] was the company [06635] of those that published [01319] it.

¹⁹ O deliver [05414] not the soul [05315] of thy turtledove [08449] unto the multitude [02416] of the wicked: forget [07911] not the congregation [02416] of thy poor [06041] for ever [05331].

¹⁴ When the Almighty [07706] scattered [06566] kings [04428] in it, it was white as snow [07949] in Salmon [06756].

¹ To the chief Musician [05329] upon Neginah [05058], A Psalm of David [01732]. Hear [08085] my cry [07440], O God [0430]; attend [07181] unto my prayer [08605].

¹⁹ O deliver [05414] not the soul [05315] of thy turtledove [08449] unto the multitude [02416] of the wicked: forget [07911] not the congregation [02416] of thy poor [06041] for ever [05331].

²¹ They have moved me to jealousy [07065] with that which is not [03808] God [0410]; they have provoked me to anger [03707] with their vanities [01892]: and I will move them to jealousy [07065] with those which are not a people [05971]; I will provoke them to anger [03707] with a foolish [05036] nation [01471].