Psalms 115:7

Psa 115:7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

Ver. 7. They have hands, but they handle not] Curious and artificial (for art is Nature’s ape), but useless, and for show only. If Esculapius, or the lady of Loretto, restore the lame or the blind, it is the devil with his lying wonders, 2Th 2:9

Feet have they, but they walk not] As those pictures in Plato made by Daedalus, which, if they were not bound, would fly away; or Vulcan’s three-footed stools in Homer, which are feigned to have run on wheels of their own accord, to the meeting of the gods, and after that to return in like sort back again. The Tyrians besieged by Alexander chained up their god Hercules, that he might not go from them in that calamnity, and yet they were not delivered.

Neither speak they through their throat] They do not so much as chatter like a crane, or mourn as a dove, Isa 38:14, but are dumb idols, as the apostle calleth them. These are things commonly known, but profitably thus inculcated, for the shaming of senseless idolaters; who yet are so bewitched that they will needs dote upon these gods of their own making. O vanas hominum mentes, &c., Oh the spirit of fornication, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. (Psa 115:7) They have hands, and feel not; they have feet, and walk not; they do not mutter in their throat. The sameness of this long enumeration, the force of which is logical and not poetical, is partially relieved by a change in the form of the original, which cannot well be imitated in translation. Their hands, and they feel not; their feet, and they walk not. Some make the first words in each clause nominatives absolute; their hands—they feel not; their feet—they walk not. But in the preceding parts of the description, the verbs relate not to the particular members, but to the whole person. It is better, therefore, to supply a verb—their hands (are there), and (yet) they feel not—their feet (are there), and (yet) they go not. The English feel is to be taken in its physical and outward sense, corresponding to the Latin palpo, here used by the Vulgate and Jerome. A less equivocal translation would be touch. The other verb denotes all progressive movements of the body, comprehended in the English go. See above, on Psa 104:8. The meaning of the last clause is, that they cannot even make the faintest and most inarticulate guttural noise, like the lower animals; much less speak as men do. See above, on Psa 35:28; Psa 71:24.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He showeth what great vanity it is to ask help of them, which not only have no help in them, but lack sense and reason.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(7) Neither speak they.—The Hebrew implies not only the want of articulate speech, but of utterance at all.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They have hands, but they handle not,.... So as to feel any thing that is put into their hands; they cannot make use of their hands to stretch them out, and receive anything from their worshippers; nor can they give anything to them: but our God receives and accepts the sacrifices of his people, their prayers and their praises; and opens his hand, and liberally supplies their wants, both in providence and grace.

Feet have they, but they walk not; cannot stir from the place where they are, to the assistance of those that call unto them, Isa 46:7 but our God walks upon the wings of the wind, and is a present help in times of trouble; a God at hand and afar off, and makes haste to the relief of his people in distress.

Neither speak they through their throat; or make a mournful voice as a dove, as the word is used in Isa 38:14 or chirp as a bird, or chatter as a crane; or warble out any note through the throat, as birds do; and much less form any articulate sound, or utter any proper word, that may be understood.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Speak, or mutter, or make a noise, as this word signifies, Isa 10:14. They are so far from speaking with their throat and other instruments of speech as men do, that they cannot make such an inarticulate and senseless sound with them as the beasts do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 7. They have hands, but they handle not. Looking lower down upon the images, the Psalmist says, "They have hands, but they handle not, "they cannot receive that which is handed to them, they cannot grasp the sceptre of power or the sword of vengeance, they can neither distribute benefits nor dispense judgments, and the most trifling act they are utterly unable to perform. An infant's hand excels them in power.

Feet have they, but they walk not. They must be lifted into their places or they would never reach their shrines; they must be fastened in their shrines or they would fall; they must be carried or they could never move; they cannot come to the rescue of their friends, nor escape the iconoclasm of their foes. The meanest insect has more power of locomotion than the greatest heathen god.

Neither speak they through their throats. They cannot even reach so far as the guttural noise of the lowest order of beasts; neither a grunt, nor a growl, nor a groan, nor so much as a mutter, can come from them. Their priests asserted that the images of the gods upon special occasions uttered hollow sounds, but it was a mere pretence, or a crafty artifice: images of gold or silver are incapable of living sounds. Thus has the Psalmist surveyed the idol from head to foot, looked in its face, and sounded its throat, and he writes it down as utterly contemptible.

Ver. 7. They have hands, but they handle not. Even their artist therefore surpasses them, since he had the faculty of moulding them by the motion and functions of his limbs; though thou wouldest be ashamed to worship that artist. Even you surpass them, though thou hast not made these things, since thou doest what they cannot do. Augustine.

Ver. 7. Neither speak they through their throat. Yehgu;not so much as the low faint moaning of a dove. Isa 38:14. William Kay.

Ver. 7. Speak, or, as the Hebrew word likewise signifies, breathe. They are not only irrational, but also inanimate. Thomas Fenton.

Psalms 115:8*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Neither speak they through their throat—The speaking through the throat seems here to be contrasted with speaking with the tongue. Compare Psa_35:28. The latter was open, articulate speech; the former, low, whispering, and often inarticulate—a muttering. See Isa_8:19; Isa_59:3. The word rendered “speak,” here, is sometimes rendered meditate, (see Jos_1:8; Psa_77:12,) because meditating is an inward speaking to one’s self, often accompanied with low, half inarticulate sounds. See on Psa_90:9. The idea of the text seems to be, that these idols could not make even a breathlike, inarticulate sound. The psalmist had already denied their power of enunciating words, or of speech proper, in Psa_115:5, where another word is used. A satirical allusion may also be here intended to the custom of the heathen priests and necromancers of uttering their magical formulas in a low, guttural tone.

See Isa_8:19. The Septuagint calls them, those who speak, or make a sound, from the belly, ventriloquists.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Those idols have hands

The idols do not have real hands, feet, or mouths. Rather, people made them with the likeness of hands, feet, and mouths. The writer is emphasizing that these idols are not really alive. You can make this implicit information clear. AT: "People have given hands to those idols" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

but do not feel

"but those hands do not feel"

Those who make them are like them, as is everyone who trusts in them

Those who make and worship idols become lifeless and powerless, just like those idols. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "Those who make them become lifeless like they are, as does everyone who trusts in them" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

like

trust

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

but they do not feel Heb. ימישון, an expression of (Gen. 27:12): “Perhaps my father will feel me (ימשני).”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.