Psalms 118:11

Psa 118:11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

Ver. 11. They compassed me about; yea, &c.] They thought to make sure work of me indeed; as Saul and his men, when they hemmed him in at Maon, 1Sa 23:26; as the Church’s enemies, when they had gotten her as a bird into the snare of the fowler, Psa 124:7; as when the adversaries said, "They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them," Neh 4:11.

But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them] Enervabo, excidam. The word signifieth, Non otioso nec dormienti contingere victorias, sed certanti et praelianti, that he foiled not his foes without pains and peril (Plat. in Syde). Towns were said to come into Timotheus’s toils while he slept; but that was but a fiction of those that envied him.

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.

11. (Psa 118:11) They surround me, yea they surround me; in the name of Jehovah (I declare) that I will cut them off. The same sentence is repeated with a slight variation, which consists in the omission of the subject and the iteration of the verb, rendered more emphatic by a change of form. The word translated yea means also, likewise, but cannot be so used in the English idiom. The climax indicated may be, that the act described is no longer hypothetical but actual. They surround me; yes, they really, in fact, surround me.

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

(11) But in the name . . .—Or, more emphatically, It is in Jehovah’s name that, &c

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

Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall,.... Or "pushing, thou hast pushed me (a), that I might fall": an apostrophe to some particular enemy, as Saul was to David; who thrust sore at him to take away his life, by casting a javelin at him; speaking to his servants to kill him; sending messengers to watch his house and slay him, and by, pursuing him from place to place. And such an one was Judas to Christ, who lifted up his heel against him, and betrayed him into the hands of his enemies; or the devil in him, and by him; and who thrust sore at Christ by others; by Herod in his infancy, who sought to take away his life; and by the Scribes and Pharisees, who attempted it in different ways, and at last got him nailed to the cross; as well as Satan thrust sore at him, by his temptations in the wilderness, and when in his agonies in the garden, and when on the cross: and so the same enemy thrusts sore at the members of Christ, to cause them to fall from him, and the steadfastness of their faith in him to fail; that they may fall into temptation, and by it into sin, and that finally and totally, and into hell itself, could he obtain it;

but the Lord helped me; helped David, so that he perished not by the hand of Saul, he sometimes feared he should; helped Christ, as man and Mediator, in the day of salvation, and raised him from the dead, and gave him glory: and he helps his people against all their enemies; holds them with his right hand; helps them to fight against them; maintains his own work of grace in them, and keeps them from a total and final falling away, by his power unto salvation. The Targum is,

"the Word of the Lord helped me.''

(a) "impellendo impulisti me", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Michaelis; "trudendo trusisti me", Cocceius.

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

They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about ... - The sentiment and the language of the previous verse are here repeated, as if to give force to what he had said, or to deepen the impression. His own mind dwelt upon it, and the events to which he referred came so vividly to his recollection, and were so important, that he dwells upon them. The subject was worth more than a passing remark. The mind was full, and the language comes from an overflowing heart.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They compassed me about; the repetition implies their frequency and fervency in this action, and their confidence of success.

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

Ver. 11. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about. He had such a vivid recollection of his danger that his enemies seem to live again in his verses. We see their fierce array, and their cruel combination of forces. They made a double ring, they surrounded him in a circle of many ranks, they not only talked of doing so, but they actually shut him up and enclosed him as within a wall. His heart had vividly realized his position of peril at the time, and now he delights to call it again to mind in order that he may the more ardently adore the mercy which made him strong in the hour of conflict, so that he broke through a troop, yea, swept a host to destruction.

But in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. I will subdue them, get them under my feet, and break their power in pieces. He is as certain about the destruction of his enemies as he was assured of their having compassed him about. They made the circle three and four times deep, but for all that he felt confident of victory. It is grand to hear a man speak in this fashion when it is not boasting, but the calm declaration of his heartfelt trust in God.

Ver. 11. Whether Tertullus persecute the church with his tongue, or Elymas with his hand, God hath the command of both. Indeed the wicked are the mediate causes of our troubles: the righteous are as the centre, the other the circumference; which way soever they turn, they find themselves environed; yet still the centre is fixed and immovable, being founded upon Christ. It is good for some men to have adversaries; for often they more fear to sin, lest they should despise them, than dislike it for conscience, lest God should condemn them. They speak evil of us: if true, let us amend it; if false, contemn it; whether false or true, observe it. Thus we shall learn good out of their evil; make them our tutors, and give them our pupillage. In all things let us match them, in nothing fear them: "which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to us of salvation, "Php 1:28. The church is that tower of David; if there be a thousand weapons to wound us, there are a thousand shields to guard us, So 4:4. Thomas Adams.

Psalms 118:12*

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

They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about. (comp. Psa_88:17) The special compassing about alluded to is probably that in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when not only the Babylonians but the Syrians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites took part in hostilities against Israel. (2Ki_24:2 Psa_137:7) But in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them. The threefold repetition of this trenchant phrase (vers. 10, 11, 12) lends it vast additional force. It is no casual utterance, no mere wish, or thought begotten of a wish, but a deep and firm conviction.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yea - The repetition implies their frequency and fervency in this action.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.