Psalms 41:7

Psa 41:7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

Ver. 7. All that hate me, whisper together against me] Heb. Mussitant, they mutter, as charmers use to do. These whisperers are dangerous fellows, Rom 1:29, like the wind that creepeth in by chinks in a wall or cracks in a window. A vento percolato, et iuimico reconciliato, libera nos, Domine, saith the Italian.

Against me do they devise] Cogitant quasi coagitant.

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.

8. (Psa 41:7). Together against me they will whisper all (those) hating me; against me they will meditate—injury to me. The collocation in the first clause is like that in Psa 40:15-17, (14-16), the action being first described, and then the actors. The future has the same force as in the first clause of Psa 40:6-7 (5, 6). They will certainly persist in doing as they now do. The substitution of the present in translation conveys only half of this idea. The last word in Hebrew is omitted in most versions, though expressed in the margin of the English Bible. It defines the evil meditated, not as evil in the abstract or in general, but as evil to the sufferer, i.e. injury, which is the usual meaning of the Hebrew word, a modified form, used in Psa 41:6 (5) to denote moral evil: The last words area kind of after-thought. —Against me they will meditate or plot, is a complete proposition in itself, which is then made more explicit by mentioning the object of their plots, namely, evil (or injury) to me. This form of the sentence may have been adopted to render the resemblance in the structure of the clauses more complete.

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

So of others, all act alike.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. All that hate me whisper together against me] This is in consequence of the information given by the hypocritical friend, who came to him with the lying tongue, and whose heart gathereth iniquity to itself, which, when he went abroad, he told to others as ill-minded as himself, and they also drew their wicked inferences.

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

7. All they that hate me whisper together against me. Here he seems generally to include both classes of his enemies; those who sought to oppress him in an open manner, and in the character of avowed enemies; and those who, under the pretense of friendship, attempted to do the same thing by deceit and stratagem. Accordingly, he says that all of them took counsel together about his destruction, just as we know that wicked men hold much secret consultation respecting their intended deeds of treachery, and whisper to one another concerning them. Hence he adds the words to meditate, or plot, which he employs to denote their base conspiracies and sinful consultations.

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.

7. The scene outside the house is graphically depicted. We see the associates waiting, eager for news. With a transparent pretence of secrecy they whisper together, and divert themselves with anticipating the worst.

do they devise my hurt] Or, imagine evil for me, indulging in uncharitable speculations as to the cause of his illness (cp. Job_22:5 ff.), and hoping for a fatal issue of it. The next verse is a summary of their malevolent conversation.

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.

All that hate me whisper together against me,.... That is, they privately conspired against him; see Mat 22:15;

against me do they devise my hurt; not only to take away his name and credit, but his life.

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

All that hate me whisper together against me - They talk the matter over where they suppose that no one can hear; they endeavonr to collect and arrange all that can be said against me; they place all that they can say or think as individuals, all that they have separately known or suspected, into “common stock,” and make use of it against me. There is a conspiracy against me - a purpose to do me all the evil that they can. This shows that, in the apprehension of the sufferer, the one who came to see for himself Psa 41:6 came as one of a company - as one deputed or delegated to find some new occasion for a charge against him, and that he had not to suffer under the single malignity of one, but under the combined malignity of many.

Against me do they devise my hurt - Margin, as in Hebrew: “evil to me.” That is, they devise some report, the truth of which they endeavor to confirm by something that they may observe in my sickness which will be injurious to me, and which will prove to the world that I am a bad man - a man by whose death the world would be benefited. The slanderous report on which they seemed to agree is mentioned in the following verse - that he was suffering under a disease which was directly and manifestly the result of a sinful life, and that it must be fatal.

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

Whisper together against me, i.e. secretly defame me, and closely plot against me.

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

Ver. 7. All that hate me whisper together against me. The spy meets his comrades in conclave and sets them all a whispering. Why could they not speak out? Were they afraid of the sick warrior? Or were their designs so treacherous that they must needs be hatched in secrecy? Mark the unanimity of the wickedall. How heartily the dogs unite to hunt the stag! Would God we were half as united in holy labour as persecutors in their malicious projects, and were half as wise as they are crafty, for their whispering was craft as well as cowardice, the conspiracy must not be known till all is ready. Against me do they devise my hurt. They lay their heads together, and scheme and plot. So did Ahithophel and the rest of Absalom's counsellors, so also did the chief priests and Pharisees. Evil men are good at devising; they are given to meditation, they are deep thinkers, but the mark they aim at is evermore the hurt of the faithful. Snakes in the grass are never there for a good end.

None.

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Psalms 41:8*

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Psalms 41:9*

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Psalms 41:11*

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Ver. 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

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

7. Whisper together—The conspiracy was conducted with the utmost privacy.

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

All that hate me whisper together against me; i.e. gather themselves into knots, and hold whispered conversations about me as conspirators are apt to do. Against me do they devise my hurt; literally, hurt to me.

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

(Heb.: 41:8-10) Continuation of the description of the conduct of the enemies and of the false friend. התלחשׁ, as in Sa2 12:19, to whisper to one another, or to whisper among themselves; the Hithpa. sometimes (cf. Gen 42:1) has a reciprocal meaning like the Niphal. The intelligence brought out by hypocritical visitors of the invalid concerning his critical condition is spread from mouth to mouth by all who wish him ill as satisfactory news; and in fact in whispers, because at that time caution was still necessary. עלי stands twice in a prominent position in the sense of contra me. רעה לּי belong together: they maliciously invent what will be the very worst for him (going beyond what is actually told them concerning him). In this connection there is a feeling in favour of בּליּעל being intended of an evil fate, according to Psa 18:5, and not according to Psa 101:3 (cf. Deu 15:9) of pernicious or evil thought and conduct. And this view is also supported by the predicate יצוּק בּו: "a matter of destruction, an incurable evil (Hitzig) is poured out upon him," i.e., firmly cast upon him after the manner of casting metal (Job 41:15.), so that he cannot get free from it, and he that has once had to lie down will not again rise up. Thus do we understand אשׁר in Psa 41:9; there is no occasion to take it as an accusative by departing from the most natural sense, as Ewald does, or as a conjunction, as Hitzig does. Even the man of his peace, or literally of his harmonious relationship (אישׁ שׁלום as in Oba 1:7, Jer 20:10; Jer 38:22), on whom he has depended with fullest confidence, who did eat his bread, i.e., was his messmate (cf. Psa 55:15), has made his heel great against him, lxx ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπ ̓ ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν. The combination הגדּיל עקב is explained by the fact that עקב is taken in the sense of a thrust with the heel, a kick: to give a great kick, i.e., with a good swing of the foot.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

against me they hope for my hurt

Possible meanings are 1) "they hope that very bad things will happen to me" or 2) "they are planning to hurt me."

An evil disease ... to him

His enemies speak of "disease" as if it were a person who has captured him. AT: "He is sick with a fatal disease" (See: Personification and Metaphor)

An evil disease

Possible meanings are 1) "A fatal disease" or 2) "Something evil"

now that he is lying down, he will rise up no more

Here the words "lying down" refer to lying in bed because of illness. That he will not "rise up" means that he will continue to lie down, which is a euphemism for death. AT: "now that he is sick in bed, he will die there" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Euphemism)

has lifted up his heel against me

This is an idiom that means his friend betrayed him. AT: "has betrayed me" or "has turned against me" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

hope

evil

raise

trust

bread

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

he speaks falsely He pretends to be troubled, and when he sits before me, his heart gathers thoughts of violence to himself, [of] what evil he will speak when he leaves, and when he goes outside, he speaks of it.

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.