Psalms 63:9

Psa 63:9 But those [that] seek my soul, to destroy [it], shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

Ver. 9. But those that seek my soul to destroy it] Heb. Ad pracipitium, to hurl it down headlong, shall themselves be laid low enough, even in the slimy valley where are many already like them, and more (shall come after them), Job 21:31-32. And this assurance of his enemies’ downfall David had gotten by his meditations on God, Psa 63:6.

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth] i.e. Into the grave at least, if not into hell; they shall be abyssed into hell, into eternal perdition, saith Diodati.

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.

Ver. 9. As David earnestly sought for God, so there were men of another order who as eagerly sought after his blood; of these he speaks:

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it. At his life they aimed, at his honour, his best welfare; and this they would not merely injure but utterly ruin. The devil is a destroyer, and all his seed are greedy to do the same mischief; and as he has ruined himself by his crafty devices, so also shall they. Destroyers shall be destroyed. Those who hunt souls shall be themselves the victims.

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth. Into the pits which they digged for others they shall fall themselves. The slayers shall be slain, and the grave shall cover them. The hell which they in their curse invoked for others shall shut its mouth upon them. Every blow aimed against the godly will recoil on the persecutor; he who smites a believer drives a nail in his own coffin.

Ver. 9-10. If the psalmist's divine longing was unquenched, so also was his faith; and in the latter part of the psalm he foretells with full assurance the final overthrow of his enemies. Nor did his denunciations fail to meet with a certain accuracy of fulfilment even in the battle by which his own deliverance was effected. The armies encountered in the wood of Ephraim, across the Jordan; there was "a greater slaughter that day of twenty thousand men; ""and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." That David's words concerning the lower parts of the earth, and the sword, and the foxes, had not been idly spoken: the pitfalls of the forest, and the swords of the royal pursuers, and the wild beasts that had there made their lairs, all effectually did their work; and the fate of the rebel army was shared by their leader, who, caught in the thick boughs of the oak, pierced through the heart by Joab, and cut down by his attendants, received no further funeral honours than to be cast "into a great pit in the wood, "and have "a very great heap of stones" laid upon him to cover him. Joseph Francis Thrupp, in "An Introduction to the Study and Use of the Psalms, "1860.

Ver. 9-10.

I. The enemies of the Christian. Evil spirits, evil

men, evil habits, etc., etc.

II. Their intent. To destroy the soul.

III. Their fall. Certain, shameful, destructive.

IV. Their future. Hell is reserved for them. G. J. K.

Psalms 63:10*

Ver. 9-10. See Psalms on "Ps 63:9" for further information.

Ver. 9-10.

I. The enemies of the Christian. Evil spirits, evil

men, evil habits, etc., etc.

II. Their intent. To destroy the soul.

III. Their fall. Certain, shameful, destructive.

IV. Their future. Hell is reserved for them G. J. K.

Psalms 63:11*

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

Psa 63:9-10. But those that seek my soul, &c. — That seek to take away my life; shall go into the lower parts of the earth — Into the grave; and, if they repent not, into hell. God shall cut them off, and send them to their own place. Their enmity to David, and opposition to the counsel of God respecting him, he foresaw would be their death and their damnation, their ruin and their eternal ruin. They shall fall by the sword — Shall die in battle, as he foretold 1Sa 26:10, and as was accomplished in Saul and his followers, who were David’s greatest enemies. They shall be a portion for foxes — The carcasses of some of them shall lie unburied upon the earth, and thereby shall become a prey to wild and ravenous beasts, and especially to foxes, which abounded in those parts.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The closing strophe turns towards these foes. By והמּה he contrasts with his own person, as in Psa 59:16., Psa 56:7., the party of the enemy, before which he has retreated into the desert. It is open to question whether לשׁואה is intended to be referred, according to Psa 35:17, to the persecuted one (to destroy my life), or, with Hupfeld, to the persecutors (to their own destruction, they themselves for destruction). If the former reference to the persecuted be adopted, we ought, in order to give prominence to the evidently designed antithesis to Psa 63:9, to translate: those, however, who..., shall go down into the depths of the earth (Bttcher, and others); a rendering which is hazardous as regards the syntax, after המּה and in connection with this position of the words. Therefore translate: On the other hand, those, to (their own) ruin do they seek my soul. It is true this ought properly to be expressed by לשׁואתם, but the absence of the suffix is less hazardous than the above relative rendering of יבּקּשׁוּ. What follows in Psa 63:10-11 is the expansion of לשׁואה. The futures from יבאוּ onwards are to be taken as predictive, not as imprecatory; the former accords better with the quiet, gentle character of the whole song. It shall be with them as with the company of Korah. תּחתּיּות הארץ is the interior of the earth down into its deepest bottom; this signification also holds good in Psa 139:15; Isa 44:23.

(Note: In this passage in Isaiah are meant the depths of the earth (lxx θεμέλια τῆς γῆς), the earth down to its inmost part, with its caverns, abysses, and subterranean passages. The apostle, however, in Eph 4:9 by τὰ κατώτερα τῆς γῆς means exactly the same as what in our passage is called in the lxx τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς: the interior of the earth = the under world, just as it is understood by all the Greek fathers (so far as my knowledge extends); the comparative κατώτερος is used just like ἐνέρτερος.)

The phrase הגּיר על־ידי חרב here and in Jer 18:21; Eze 35:5 (Hiph., not of גּרר, to drag, tear away, but נגר, to draw towards, flow), signifies properly to pour upon = into the hands (Job 16:11), i.e., to give over (הסגּיר) into the power of the sword; effundent eum is (much the same as in Job 4:19; Job 18:18, and frequently) equivalent to effundetur. The enallage is like Psa 5:10; Psa 7:2., and frequently: the singular refers to each individual of the homogeneous multitude, or to this multitude itself as a concrete persona moralis. The king, however, who is now banished from Jerusalem to the habitation of jackals, will, whilst they become a portion (מנת = מנות), i.e., prey, of the jackals (vid., the fulfilment in Sa2 18:7.), rejoice in Elohim. Every one who sweareth by Him shall boast himself. Theodoret understands this of swearing κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως σωτηρίαν. Hengstenberg compares the oath חי פרעה, Gen 42:15. Ewald also (217, f) assumes this explanation to be unquestionable. But the Israelite is to swear by the name of Jahve and by no other, Deu 6:13; Isa 65:16, cf. Amo 8:14. If the king were meant, why was it not rather expressed by הנשׁבּע לו, he who swears allegiance to him? The syntax does not help us to decide to what the בּו refers. Neinrich Moeller (1573) says of the בו as referred to the king: peregrinum est et coactum; and A. H. Franke in his Introductio in Psalterium says of it as referred to Elohim: coactum est. So far as the language is concerned, both references are admissible; but as regards the subject-matter, only the latter. The meaning, as everywhere else, is a searing by God. He who, without allowing himself to turn from it, swore by Elohim, the God of Israel, the God of David His anointed, and therefore acknowledged Him as the Being exalted above all things, shall boast himself or "glory," inasmuch as it shall be practically seen how well-founded and wise was this recognition. He shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped, forcibly closed, viz., those who, together with confidence in the Christ of God, have by falsehood also undermined the reverence which is due to God Himself. Psa 64:1-10 closes very similarly, and hence is placed next in order.

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.)

10. (Psa 63:9). And they to (their) ruin are seeking my soul; they shall go into the depths of the earth. The phrase to ruin has precisely the same sense as in Psa 35:8, namely, to their own destruction. Are seeking, will seek; the idea suggested by the future is, that if they still persist in seeking it, they will do so to their own destruction. Some obtain the same sense by a different construction, they (shall come) to ruin (who) are seeking my soul; but this supposes two ellipses, which are not to be assumed without necessity. Still less satisfactory is the construction which regards the whole verse as a single proposition: they (who) seek my soul to ruin (or destroy it) shall go, etc. To seek the soul implies a purpose of destruction, without any qualifying adjunct, even in prose. See 2Sa 16:11. The depths of the earth, literally its lower or lowest parts, which may simply mean the grave (as we say under ground), or contain an allusion to the fate of Korah and his company (Num 16:31-34). See above, on Psa 55:15.

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

63:9 The wicked were plotting to destroy the psalmist’s life through deception and lies, but they would meet their end. • The depths of the earth refers to the place of the dead.

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

those . . . to destroy it--or literally, "to ruin," or, "for ruin"; that is, such as seek to injure me (are) for ruin, appointed to it (compare Psa 35:8).

shall go . . . earth--into the grave, or, to death; as their bodies are represented as a portion for--

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 9. Lower parts of the earth.] They are appointed, in the just judgment of God, to destruction; they shall be slain and buried in the earth, and shall be seen no more. Some understand the passage as referring to the punishment of hell; which many supposed to be in the centre of the earth. So the old Psalter, - Thai sall entir in till lagher pine of hell. Lahher or laigher, lower, undermost.

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

9. And they, whilst they seek, etc. Here we find David rising to a more assured confidence, and triumphing as if he had already obtained the victory. And there is every reason to believe, that though he had escaped his difficulties, and was in circumstances of peace and prosperity when he wrote this psalm, yet he only expresses what he actually felt at the critical period when his life was in such imminent danger. He declares his conviction that the enemies who eagerly sought his life would be cut off; that God would cast them headlong into destruction; and that their very bodies should be left without burial. To be the portion of foxes, is the same thing with being left to be torn and devoured by the beasts of the field. It is often denounced as one judgment which should befall the wicked, that they would perish by the sword, and become the prey of wolves and of dogs, without privilege of sepulture. This is a fate which the best of men have met with in the world, — for good as well as bad are exposed to the stroke of temporal evil; — but there is this distinction, that God watches over the scattered dust of his own children, gathers it again, and will suffer nothing of them to perish, whereas, when the wicked are slain, and their bones spread on the field, this is only preparatory to their everlasting destruction.

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.

9. But those &c.] They, his enemies, who are seeking his life, are emphatically contrasted with himself (Psa_59:15; Psa_56:6). While his path is upward to God, theirs is downward to the depths of Sheol. It is possible to render (cp. R.V. marg.) But they shall be destroyed that seek my life, They shall go &c.

into the lower parts of the earth] Into Sheol, swallowed up like Korah and his company of rebels. Cp. for the phrase, Isa_44:23; Eze_26:20; Psa_86:13; Eph_4:9; Deu_32:22 : and for the thought, Psa_9:15; Psa_9:17; Psa_55:15; Psa_55:23.

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.

But those that seek my soul to destroy it,.... Meaning his life; for as for his soul, that was immaterial and immortal, and could never be destroyed by man: but as for his natural life, his enemies laid snares for that, and sought to take it away, and nothing less would satisfy them;

shall go into the lower parts of the earth; not the grave, whither the righteous go as well as the wicked; besides, by their being the portion of foxes, as follows, it seems that they should have no burial; but hell is meant, the bottomless pit. Some take it to be a prayer, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; "may they go", or "let them go", &c. see Psa 55:15. The allusion may be thought to be to the death of Korah and his company.

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

But those that seek my soul to destroy it - Who seek my life; who endeavor to kill me. This language would well describe the purposes of Absalom and his followers.

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth - Shall descend into the earth; into the deepest graves. He would live; but they would perish.

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

To destroy it, i.e. to take away my life.

Into the lower parts of the earth; either,

1. Into hell. Or rather,

2. Into their grave, as this phrase is used, Eze 31:14,18. But how is this true, when they are supposed to be devoured by foxes, Psa 63:10? Answ. This may be understood, either,

1. Of divers persons. Some of their slain might be buried, and others lie unburied. Or,

2. Of the same persons; they did go into the earth, but not immediately, but were first devoured of foxes, and the remainders of them were buried, as is frequently done in such cases. Or this phrase may note not so much the place as the state of the dead; this being universally said of those that die, whether they are buried or unburied, that they return to the earth or dust, Job 1:21; Ecc 12:7.

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

9. But those—He turns from these soul yearnings and sweet thoughts of God to the stern battle of life before him. The strong adversative force of the conjunction, joined to the pronoun, brings out the sharp contrast between him and his enemies.

That seek my soul, to destroy it—The order of the Hebrew words is, but they to destruction will seek after my soul, that is, to their own destruction, and so the parallel clause, they shall go, etc., shows that it is not what they intended for him, which is clearly enough implied, but what should overtake them, that he is speaking of. The word here rendered destruction radically denotes a loud noise, crash, and means tempestuous overthrow, ruin with a crash.

Lower parts of the earth—Not a periphrasis for grave, as elsewhere and as in Eph_4:9, for in Psa_63:10 he declares they shall be denied burial, and being a threatened punishment of bad men, it must be understood of punishment in sheol, or the future world, taking the phrase as synonymous with our Lord’s words, Joh_8:23 : “Ye are ‘εκ των κατω, (from the beneath,)” using beneath as antithetic to “τα ανω, (the above,)” in the same connexion; and more sharply defined Joh_8:44, “Ye are ‘εκ πατρος του διαβολους, (from your father the devil.)” And this is further evidence by their condition after death, Joh_8:21, “Whither I go ye cannot come,” a denunciation conditioned on their “dying in their sins,” which shows that he is speaking of the future state. In the same verse (Joh_8:23) our Lord says, “Ye are ‘εκ του κοσμου, (from the world,)” but κοσμος, world, here is to be taken figuratively in the morally bad sense of a state of society at enmity with God, as in Joh_15:8-9; 1Jn_2:15-16. Different is Joh_3:31, where εκ της γης, (of the earth,) is to be understood of humble, imperfect, perishable origin. It is clear, therefore, that both the psalmist and the Saviour, in the words in question, use language Hebraistically of future punishment.

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

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. Professor Cheyne notes that "the psalmist has no sense of any incongruity between deeply spiritual musings and vehement denunciations of his enemies." And this is certainly true. But it is to be remembered that he views his enemies, not merely as his own fees, but as the foes of God and of Israel. As the servant of God, he must hate those who are opposed to God; as the King of Israel, he must hate those who seek to injure and ruin his people. He does not, however, desire for them suffering or torment; he only asks that they may be removed from this sphere into another world. (On David"s conception of the lower world, see the comment upon Psa_16:10 and Psa_86:13)

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

Shall go - Into the grave.

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

will go down into the lowest parts of the earth

This means they will die and go to the place of the dead. This can be stated clearly in the translation. AT: "will die and descend into the place of the dead" or "will die and go down into the place of the dead" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

they will be given over to those whose hands use the sword

Here "the sword" represents death in battle, and "those whose hands use the sword" refers to enemies who kill them in battle. This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will cause them to die in battle" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

they will become food for the jackals

Here "they" refers to the corpses of those who die in battle. AT: "jackals will eat their dead bodies" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the jackals

"jackals" here are a kind of long-legged wild dog. They feed on carrion, game, and fruit.

translationWords

sword

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

Your right hand has supported me that I should not fall.

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.