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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 94:20 - 94:20
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In the sixth strophe the poet confidently expects the inevitable divine retribution for which he has earnestly prayed in the introduction. יְחָבְרְךָ is erroneously accounted by many (and by Gesenius too) as fut. Pual = יְחֻבַּרְךָ = יְחֻבַּר עִמְּךָ, a vocal contraction together with a giving up of the reduplication in favour of which no example can be advanced. It is fut. Kal = יַֽחֲבָרְךָ, from יַחְבֹּר = יֶחְבַּר, with the same regression of the modification of the vowel
(Note: By means of a similar transposition of the vowel as is to be assumed in תְּאֵהֲבוּ, Pro 1:22, it also appears that מְדוּבִּין = מוּסַבִּין (lying upon the table, ἀνακείμενοι) of the Pesach-Haggada has to be explained, which Joseph Kimchi finds so inexplicable that he regards it as a clerical error that has become traditional.)
as in יָחְנְךָ = יְחָנְךָ in Gen 43:29; Isa 30:19 (Hupfeld), but as in verbs primae gutturalis, so also in כָּתְבָם, כָּתְבֵם, inflected from כְּתֹב, Ew. §251, d. It might be more readily regarded as Poel than as Pual (like תְּאָכְלֵנוּ, Job 20:26), but the Kal too already signifies to enter into fellowship (Gen 14:3; Hos 4:17), therefore (similarly to יְגֻרְךָ, Psa 5:5) it is: num consociabitur tecum. כִּסֵּא is here the judgment-seat, just as the Arabic cursi directly denotes the tribunal of God (in distinction from Arab. 'l-‛arš, the throne of His majesty). With reference to הַוֹּות vid., on Psa 5:10. Assuming that חֹק is a divine statute, we obtain this meaning for עֲלֵי־חֹק: which frameth (i.e., plots and executes) trouble, by making the written divine right into a rightful title for unrighteous conduct, by means of which the innocent are plunged into misfortune. Hitzig renders: contrary to order, after Pro 17:26, where, however, עַל־יֹשֶׁר is intended like ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, Mat 5:10. Olshausen proposes to read יָגוּרוּ (Psa 56:7; Psa 59:4) instead of יָגֹודּוּ, just as conversely Aben-Ezra in Psa 56:7 reads יָגֹודּוּ. But גָּדַד, גּוּד, has the secured signification of scindere, incidere (cf. Arab. jdd, but also chd, supra, p. 255), from which the signification invadere can be easily derived (whence גְּדוּד, a breaking in, invasion, an invading host). With reference to דָּם נָקִי vid., Psychology, S. 243 (tr. p. 286): because the blood is the soul, that is said of the blood which applies properly to the person. The subject to יגודו are the seat of corruption (by which a high council consisting of many may be meant, just as much as a princely throne) and its accomplices. Prophetic certainty is expressed in וַיְהִי and וַיָּשֶׁב. The figure of God as מִשְׂגָּב is Davidic and Korahitic. צוּר מַחְסִּי צוּר is explained from Psa 18:2. Since הֵשִׁיב designates the retribution as a return of guilt incurred in the form of actual punishment, it might be rendered “requite” just as well as “cause to return;” עֲלֵיהֶם, however, instead of לָהֶם (Psa 54:7) makes the idea expressed in Psa 7:17 more natural. On בְרָעָתָם Hitzig correctly compares 2Sa 14:7; 2Sa 3:27. The Psalm closes with an anadiplosis, just as it began with one; and אֱלֹהֵינוּ affirms that the destruction of the persecutor will follow as surely as the church is able to call Jahve its God.