Psalms 55:11

Psa 55:11 Wickedness [is] in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.

Ver. 11. Wickedness is in the midst thereof] As if it were no longer, as once, Theopolis, but Poneropolls, for all kind of naughtiness there.

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets] The Vulgate hath it, Usura et dolus, Usury and guile; and Theodoret’s note here is, Notandum est, non mode Novi Testamenti perfectionem, sed Legis statum faenus damnare, that usury is condemned in both Old and New Testament.

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.

12. (Psa 55:11). Mischiefs (are) in the midst of her, and from her street will not depart oppression and deceit. The first word in Hebrew necessarily suggests the two ideas of calamities and crimes, i.e. calamities occasioned by the crimes of others. See above, on Psa 5:9; Psa 38:12; Psa 52:2; Psa 52:7. The word translated street denotes a wide place, and is specially applied to the square or open space surrounding the gates of oriental cities, and used both for markets and for courts of justice. See Neh 8:1; Neh 8:3; Neh 8:16. The word therefore very nearly corresponds to the Greek agora and the Latin forum, and may be here used to suggest the idea both of legal and commercial malfeasance. Neither their markets nor their courts are ever free from these two forms of gross injustice, namely, fraud and violence.

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

Wickedness--literally, "Mischief," evils resulting from others (Psa 5:9; Psa 52:2, Psa 52:7).

streets--or literally, "wide places," markets, courts of justice, and any public place.

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

(11) Deceit.—Rather, oppression, or violence.

Streets.—Rather, squares, the open space at the

gate of an Oriental city where public business was conducted. It is a miserable picture of mis-government; in the very seat of justice is nothing but oppression and guile.

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

11. Wickedness] The same word as in Psa_52:2; very wickedness or destruction. deceit] R.V. oppression, or, marg., fraud.

her streets] Lit., broad place: the open space inside the gates, where justice was administered and business transacted. Everywhere throughout the city, in the most public places of concourse, every form of evil and injustice is rampant, without check or intermission. The whole city lies at their mercy. Cp. the catalogue of vices in Psa_10:7 : “His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.”

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.

For it was not an enemy that reproached me,.... An open and avowed one; a Moabite or a Philistine; such an one as Goliath, who cursed him by his gods; but one of his own country, city, court, and family, who pretended to be a friend; his son Absalom, according to Arama: so it was not one of the Scribes and Pharisees, the sworn enemies of Christ, who rejected him as the Messiah, and would not have him to reign over them, that reproached him, but one of his own apostles;

then I could have borne it; reproach from an enemy is to be expected, and may be patiently endured; and, when it is for righteousness' sake, should be accounted an happiness, and rejoiced at; but the reproaches of one that has been thought to be a friend are very cutting, wounding, heartbreaking, and intolerable, Psa 69:7; the calumnies and reproaches of the Scribes and Pharisees were borne by Christ with great patience, and were answered with great calmness and mildness, Mat 11:19. Or, "I would have lifted up" (t); that is, my hand, and defended myself; I should have been upon my guard, ready to receive the blow, or to have put it off, or repelled it;

neither was it he that hated me: openly, but secretly in his heart;

that did magnify himself against me; made himself a great man, and set himself at the head of the conspiracy and opposition against him, and spoke great swelling words, in way of raillery and reproach;

then I would have hid myself from him; as David did from Saul, when he became his enemy, Sa1 20:24; and as Christ from the Jews, Joh 8:59; but as for Judas, he knew the place he resorted to; and therefore easily found him, Joh 18:2; the sense may be, that he would have shunned his company, refused conversation with him; much less would he have admitted him to his privy councils, by which means he knew all his affairs, and there was no hiding and concealing things from him.

(t)

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

Wickedness is in the midst thereof - That is, the wickedness connected with rebellion and revolt.

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets - They are everywhere. They are found in every street and alley. They pervade all classes of the people. The word rendered “deceit” means rather “oppression.” This was connected with “guile,” or with “deceit.” That is, wrong would be everywhere committed, and the perpetration of those wrongs would be connected with false representations, and false pretences - a state of things that might be expected in the unnatural rebellion under Absalom.

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

The places of buying and selling, and of public and common conversation. So their sins were both universal and impudent.

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

Ver. 11. Wickedness is in the midst thereof. The very heart of the city was base. In her places of authority crime went hand in hand with calamity. All the wilder and more wicked elements were uppermost; the canaille were commanders; the scum floated uppermost; justice was at a discount; the population was utterly demoralized; prosperity had vanished and order with it.

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets. In all the places of concourse crafty tongues were busy persuading the people with cozening phrases. Crafty demagogues led the people by the nose. Their good king was defamed in all ways, and when they saw him go away, they fell to reviling the governors of their own choosing. The forum was the fortress of fraud, the congress was the convention of cunning. Alas, poor Jerusalem, to be thus the victim of sin and shame! Virtue reviled and vice regnant! Her solemn assemblies broken up, her priests fled, her king banished, and troops of reckless villains parading her streets, sunning themselves on her walls, and vomiting their blasphemies in her sacred shrines. Here was cause enough for the sorrow which so plaintively utters itself in these verses.

None.

None.

Psalms 55:12*

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

11. Wickedness… deceit and guile—Rampant lust, perfidy, and craft everywhere prevailed.

Depart not from her streets—It is better to understand רחב, (rehhob,) here translated street, to signify market place, open space, public square, or broad way before the gates, where courts were held, as in 2Ch_32:6; Ezr_10:9; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:16. In Jer_5:1, it is translated broad places; in our English Bible, and in Neh_2:4, broad ways. In these open courts of the city, where justice was usually dispensed, wickedness, extortion, and deceit, prevailed. Compare Psa_9:14

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

Wickedness is in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from her streets; literally, out of her street (rehob) open square, where justice ought to have been administered "(Kay), "adjoining the vaulted passage of the city gate" (Cheyne); comp. Job_29:7.

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

Streets - The places of buying and selling, and of public commerce.

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

they surround it i.e., the violence and the strife.

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.