Psalms 144:13

Psa 144:13 [That] our garners [may be] full, affording all manner of store: [that] our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

Ver. 13. That our garners] Heb. our corners, i.e. that every corner of our houses may be filled with pleasant and precious riches.

That our sheep] Foetosae multiparae, mille duplicantes, myriadificantes.

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.

144:13-14 no enemy . . . no cries of alarm: These images depict peace and security.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That the very corners of our houses may be full of store for the great abundance of thy blessings.

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

Verse 13. That our garners, c.] Our garners are full. These are not prayers put up by David for such blessings: but assertions, that such blessings were actually in possession. All these expressions should be understood in the present tense.

Ten thousands in our streets.] בחצתינו bechutsotheynu should be translated in our pens or sheep-walks for sheep bringing forth in the streets of cities or towns is absurd.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Our recesses full, etc. Some read storehouses, מזוינו, Our garners. This word is to be found in Scripture only once, but it has most probably the same root as זוית, and it may denote primarily our corners, and then our garners; because garners or storehouses were usually at the ends or corners of edifices.” — Phillips

Literally, “from kind to kind.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) All manner of store.—See margin, all kinds of corn.

Thousands and ten thousands.—Literally, thousands multiplied.

Streets.—Rather, outplaces, i.e., pastures, fields, as in Job_5:10 (where see margin).

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

13. all manner of store] Lit. from kind to kind, every kind of produce. The word is an indication of the late date of the Psalm. It occurs elsewhere in the Heb. of the O.T. only in 2Ch_16:14; (Heb.) Sir_38:28; Psa_49:8 (?), but is common in Aramaic.

in our streets] Rather, in our fields.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store,.... Or "our corners" (s), the corners of their houses, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; the nooks that were in them might be full of provisions for the supply of the family; or that their barns and granaries might be full of all kind of corn, as wheat, rye, barley, &c. which might be sufficient from year to year, as the Targum; plenty of all food is intended, in opposition to a scarcity, dearth, and famine, Pro 3:9; that so there might be enough for increasing families. Spiritually it may design that large provision of grace in the churches of Christ, and the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel the ministers of it come forth with, bringing out of their treasure things new and old, in the ministration of the word and administration of ordinances;

that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; or millions; in which lay the riches of men formerly, and indeed in our nation now, where wool is the staple commodity of it; and these are creatures that breed and increase much; when they stand well, a few soon become a thousand, and these thousands produce ten thousands or millions, more. The Hebrew word "sheep", seems to be derived from the Arabic word "tzana", which signifies to be "fruitful", whether in men or beasts: "tzana": "foecunda fuit, et multos liberos hubuit mulier-----idem significat, et multa habuit pecora", Golius, col. 1428; and though for the most part they bring but one at a time, yet Aristotle (t) says, sometimes two, three, and four; and in India, Aelianus (u) says, they bring four, and never less than three. It is a beautiful sight to see them driven in such numbers through the streets of cities to markets, or to pasture. Or rather this may design the country towns and villages, where large flocks of them are kept. The people of God resemble these in their meekness, harmlessness, innocence, and other things; and who not only increase in grace and gifts, and spiritual knowledge, and in all goodness, which is desirable, but also in numbers, as they did in the first times of the Gospel, and will in the last, when they shall be increased as a flock; the fulness of the Gentiles, the other sheep, shall be brought in, and the nation of the Jews called at once.

(s) "anguli nostri", Pagninus, Vatablus, Cocceius, Michaelis. (t) Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 19. (u) De Animal. l. 4. c. 32.

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

That our garners may be full - That our fields may yield abundance, so that our granaries may be always filled.

Affording all manner of store - Margin, “From kind to kind.” Hebrew, “From sort to sort;” that is, every sort or kind of produce or grain; all, in variety, that is needful for the supply of man and beast.

That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets - A great part of the wealth of Palestine always consisted in flocks of sheep; and, from the earliest periods, not a few of the inhabitants were shepherds. This language, therefore, is used to denote national prosperity.

In our streets - The Hebrew word used here means properly whatever is outside; what is out of doors or abroad, as opposed to what is within, as the inside of a house; and then, what is outside of a town, as opposed to what is within. It may, therefore, mean a street Jer 37:21; Job 18:17; Isa 5:25; and then the country, the fields, pastures, etc.: Job 5:10; Pro 8:26. Here it refers to the pastures; the fields; the commons.

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

So as they may fill our streets, being brought in thither for food to the towns and cities. Or, in our folds or stables, as the Chaldee and others render it; or, as the LXX. and others, in their (or rather, in our, as it is in the Hebrew) outlets or outgoings, i.e. in the fields, where they abide.

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

Ver. 13. That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store. A household must exercise thrift and forethought: it must have its granary as well as its nursery. Husbands should husband their resources; and should not only furnish their tables but fill their garners. Where there are happy households, there must needs be plentiful provision for them, for famine brings misery even where love abounds. It is well when there is plenty, and that plenty consists of "all manner of store." We have occasionally heard murmurs concerning the abundance of grain, and the cheapness of the poor man's loaf. A novel calamity! We dare not pray against it. David would have prayed for it, and blessed the Lord when he saw his heart's desire. When all the fruits of the earth are plentiful, the fruits of our lips should be joyful worship and thanksgiving. Plenteous and varied may cur products be, that every form of want may be readily supplied.

That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets, or rather in the open places, the fields, and sheep walks where lambs should be born. A teeming increase is here described. Adam tilled the ground to fill the garner, but Abel kept sheep, and watched the lambs. Each occupation needs the divine blessing. The second man who was born into this world was a shepherd, and that trade has ever held an important part in the economy of nations. Food and clothing come from the flock, and both are of first consideration.

Ver. 13. That our sheep may bring forth thousands, etc. The surprising fecundity of the sheep has been celebrated by writers of every class. It has not escaped the notice of the royal Psalmist, who, in a beautiful ascription of praise to the living and the true God, entreats that the sheep of his chosen people might "bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets." In another song of Zion, he represents, by a very elegant metaphor, the numerous flocks covering like a garment the face of the field: "The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing": Ps 65:13. The bold figure is fully warranted by the prodigious numbers of sheep which whitened the extensive pastures of Syria and Canaan. In that part of Arabia which borders on Judea, the patriarch Job possessed at first seven thousand, and after the return of his prosperity, fourteen thousand sheep; and Mesha, the king of Moab, paid the king of Israel "a yearly tribute of a hundred thousand lambs, and an equal number of rams with the wool": 2Ki 3:4. In the war which the tribe of Reuben waged with the Hagarites, the former drove away "two hundred and fifty thousand sheep": 1Ch 5:21. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon offered in sacrifice "an hundred and twenty thousand sheep." At the feast of the passover, Josiah, the king of Judah, "gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance": 2Ch 35:7. The ewe brings forth her young commonly once a year, and in more ungenial climes, seldom more than one lamb at a time. But twin lambs are as frequent in the oriental regions, as they are rare in other places; which accounts in a satisfactory manner for the prodigious numbers which the Syrian shepherd led to the mountains. This uncommon fruitfulness seems to be intimated by Solomon in his address to the spouse: "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them": So 4:2. George Paxton (1762-1837), in "Illustrations of Scripture."

Ver. 13-14. Streets, though not incorrect, is an inadequate translation of the Hebrew word, which means external spaces, streets as opposed to the inside of houses, fields or country as opposed to a whole town. Here it includes not only roads but fields. Joseph Addison Alexander.

Psalms 144:14*

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

That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; or, "while our garners are full," etc. That our sheep may bring forth; rather, and our sheep bring forth. Thousands and tea thousands in our streets ; rather, in our fields. Khutsoth (twOxWj) is rendered "fields" by our translators in Job_5:10 and Pro_8:26.

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

Our corners are full The corners of our storehouses are full of goodness.

supplying from harvest to harvest Supplying food from year to year. from harvest to harvest Heb. מזן אל זן, from the time of the ingathering of this year’s food until the time of the ingathering of next year’s food. זַן is gouvernayl in Old French, food, provisions.

produce thousands, yea, ten thousands They produce offspring of thousands and ten thousands.

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.