Psalms 52:3

Psa 52:3 Thou lovest evil more than good; [and] lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

Ver. 3. Thou lovest evil more than good] Indeed, evil only, and not at all good, whatever thou pretendest. Thy heart is naught, and thence it is that thy tongue is so mischievous, as stinking breath cometh from corrupt inwards.

And lying, rather than to speak righteousness] For thou hast cunningly insinuated, for thine own base ends and against thine own conscience, that those innocent and faithful priests were of the combination; and so hast built thyself upon their ruins, thou false sycophant, artifex doli. Selah.

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.

5. (Psa 52:3). Thou hast loved evil (more) than good, falsehood (more) than speaking righteousness. The past tense, like the futures in the foregoing verses, includes the idea of the present; but unlike them, it represents the love of sin as already long-continued and habitual. Compare the form of expresion with that in Psa 45:8 (7). Righteousness includes truth or veracity, as the genus comprehends the species. The particular unrighteousness here meant is falsehood, as appears from the antithesis. The selah tacitly suggests the writer's abhorrence of that which he describes.

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

52:3 Deceptive speech changes one’s character.

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

Hebrew, righteousness.

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

Verse 3. Thou lovest evil] This was a finished character. Let us note the particulars:

1. He boasted in the power to do evil.

2. His tongue devised, studied, planned, and spoke mischiefs.

3. He was a deceitful worker.

4. He loved evil and not good.

5. He loved lying; his delight was in falsity.

6. Every word that tended to the destruction of others he loved.

7. His tongue was deceitful; he pretended friendship while his heart was full of enmity, Ps 52:1-4. Now behold the punishment: -

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

3. evil more than good] Evil rather than good, evil and not good. The meaning is not merely that he has a preference for evil, but that he chooses evil instead of good, like the nobles censured in Mic_3:2, “who hate the good and love the evil.”

righteousness] Not merely truth, but truth regarded as promoting and securing justice. The aim and result of his falsehoods was injustice.

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.

Thou lovest evil more than good,.... Indeed not good at all; such comparatives being strong negatives; see Psa 118:8; a wicked man loves evil, and nothing else; his carnal mind being enmity to all that is good

and lying rather than to speak righteousness; as appears by his affirming that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David, when he did not, Sa1 22:10; and by suffering some things to pass for truths which were falsehoods, when it lay in his power to have disproved them: and such a lover of lies is antichrist; see Ti1 4:2.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2. The Targum renders the word "Selah" here "for ever", as in Psa 52:5.

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

Thou lovest evil more than good - Thou dost prefer to do injury to others, rather than to do them good. In the case referred to, instead of aiding the innocent, the persecuted, and the wronged, he had attempted to reveal the place where he might be found, and where an enraged enemy might have an opportunity of wreaking his vengeance upon him.

And lying rather than to speak righteousness - He preferred a lie to the truth; and, when he supposed that his own interest would be subserved by it, he preferred a falsehood that would promote that interest, rather than a simple statement of the truth. The “lying” in this case was that which was “implied” in his being desirous of giving up David, or betraying him to Saul - as if David was a bad man, and as if the suspicions of Saul were wellfounded. He preferred to give his countenance to a falsehood in regard to him, rather than to state the exact truth in reference to his character. His conduct in this was strongly in contrast with that of Ahimelech, who, when arraigned before Saul, declared his belief that David was innocent; his firm conviction that David was true and loyal. “For” that fidelity he lost his life, 1Sa 22:14. Doeg was willing to lend countenance to the suspicions of Saul, and practically to represent David as a traitor to the king. The word “Selah” here is doubtless a mere musical pause. See the notes at Psa 3:2. It determines nothing in regard to the sense of the passage.

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

Evil and

good may be here taken, either,

1. Morally; Thou lovest wickedness and not goodness; for so comparative passages are oft meant, as Psa 118:8, It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man, i.e. It is good to trust God, but it is not good to trust man; for this is absolutely forbidden, Psa 146:3; Jer 17:5. Or,

2. Physically. Thou lovest to speak or act to the hurt and ruin of others, rather than to their benefit. Thou mightest, without any danger to thyself, have been silent concerning Ahimelech’s fact, or have put a favourable construction upon it; but thou hast chosen rather to misrepresent and aggravate it. He saith,

thou lovest, to imply that he did this not by any constraint or necessity, but by choice, and with complacency, and out of a love to mischief.

Lying, whereof Doeg was guilty, partly in reporting that he (i.e. Ahimelech) inquired of the Lord for him, (David,) 1Sa 22:10, which he did not, 1Sa 21, where all that history is recorded; and partly in putting a false interpretation upon what he did, in giving him victuals and a sword, as if he had done it knowingly, and in conspiracy with David, and against Saul, as appears by comparing Doeg’s answer with Saul’s inquiry, 1Sa 22:7,8.

Righteousness, i.e. the whole and naked truth, without any such lying or malicious comment upon it, which was but an act of justice due from thee to any man, and much more on the behalf of so innocent and sacred a person.

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

Ver. 3. Thou lovest evil more than good. He loved not good at all. If both had been equally profitable and pleasant, he would have preferred evil. And lying rather than to speak righteousness. He was more at home at lying than at truth. He spake not the truth except by accident, but he delighted heartily in falsehood. SELAH. Let us pause and look at the proud blustering liar. Doeg is gone, but other dogs bark at the Lord's people. Saul's cattle master is buried, but the devil still has his drovers, who fain would hurry the saints like sheep to the slaughter.

Ver. 3. Thou lovest evil more than good. --Thou hast loved evil, he says, more than good, not by simply preferring it, but by substituting it; so that in the stead of good he hath done evil, and that from the inmost love of his soul, bent upon evil; wherefore he does not say that he admitted, but loved evil, not moral only, but physical, for the destruction of his neighbours; so to have loved it, that he willed nothing but evil, being averse to all good. Hermann Venema.

Ver. 3. In what cases men clearly love evil more than good.

Psalms 52:4*

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

3. Evil more than good—The sense is, evil and not good, falsehood and not speaking “righteousness.” The good and the true were not loved at all.

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

Thou lovest evil more than good. To "love evil" is to have reached the lowest depth of depravity. It is to say, with Milton"s Satan, "Evil, be thou my good!" And lying rather than to speak righteousness (see the comment on ver. 2). Doeg"s crimes seem to have arisen out of a mere love of evil.

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

Connecting Statement:

David continues speaking to the "mighty man" of Psalms 5:1

lying rather than speaking righteousness

"you love lying more than speaking what is right"

translationWords

love

righteous

selah

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

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast and brag of the evil that you do, you who are mighty in Torah?

God’s kindness is constant to rescue the one whom you pursue. Another explanation: God’s kindness is constant. Had Ahimelech not given me bread, do you think that I would have died of hunger? God always shows kindness toward Israel, and if he had not given me [to eat], others would have given me.

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.