Psalms 66:20

Verse 20. Blessed be God] I therefore praise God, who has not turned aside my prayer, and who has not withheld his mercy from me. Thus he told them what God had done for his soul.

ANALYSIS OF THE SIXTY-SIXTH PSALM

There are five parts in this Psalm: -

I. An invitation.

1. To praise God, Ps 66:1-4.

2. To consider his works, Ps 66:5-7.

II. A repetition of the invitation, Ps 66:8, for the benefit and deliverance lately received, Ps 66:9-12.

III. A protestation and vow for himself, that he would serve the Lord, Ps 66:13-15.

IV. A declaration of God's goodness to him, which he invites all to come and hear, Ps 66:16-19.

V. A doxology, with which he concludes, Ps 66:20.

I. The invitation to praise God affectionately and heartily.

1. "Make a joyful song." 2. "Sing the honour of his name." 3. "Make his praise glorious." 4. "Say unto God," c. Where he prescribes the form in which God shall be praised.

He calls all men to consider his works, and the double effect: - 1. On God's enemies. 2. On his people.

1. On his enemies, a feigned obedience, Ps 66:3. See the note.

2. On his people, a willing service, Ps 66:4.

He calls on them again, Ps 66:5, to consider God's works, specially in delivering his people: 1. At the Red Sea. 2. In passing Jordan on foot, Ps 66:6.

He calls them to behold God's power and providence. 1. His power in ruling. 2. His providence in beholding, and, 3. His justice in punishing the rebellious, Ps 66:7.

II. He again invites them to praise God for some special mercy, without which they would have been destroyed, Ps 66:8. 1. He kept them alive. 2. Suffered not their feet to slip, Ps 66:9. 3. He tried, that he might purify, them.

He illustrates this trial by five similes taken, - 1. From silver. 2. From a net. 3. From a burden laid on the loins. 4. From bondage and slavery - men rode over us. 5. From fire and water useful servants, but cruel masters, Ps 66:10-12.

But the issue of all these trials was good: - they were brought through all, and profited by each.

III. For this he gives thanks, and purposes to pay his vows.

1. He would attend God's worship: "I will go into thy house," Ps 66:13.

2. He would there present his offerings, Ps 66:14.

3. These should be of the best kind, Ps 66:15.

IV. He declares God's goodness, and invites all that fear God to hear what he has got to say. Not of what he was to offer to God, but of what God had done for him.

1. He cried to God, and he heard him.

2. He took care to avoid iniquity, that his prayers might not be cast out: "For God heareth not sinners."

V. He closes the Psalm with a doxology, blessing God that, not through his merit, but his own mercy, he had heard and answered him. He attributes nothing to himself, but all mercy to his God, Ps 66:20.

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

Psa 66:20 Blessed [be] God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Ver. 20. Blessed be God, &c.] This is the conclusion of David’s syllogism, in this and the two former verses; and herein his logic is better than Aristotle’s.

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.

20. (Psa 66:20) Blessed (be) God who hath not put away my prayer (from him) and his mercy from me. Here as elsewhere, when applied to God, blessed can only mean praised or entitled to be praised. The double application of the verb in the last clause cannot well be imitated in translation. The same witness that he was not guilty of the duplicity in question. The words in Hebrew may be used to express the act of rejecting a petition, and that of withdrawing or withholding favour.

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

20 Blessed be God! who hath not turned away my prayer He concludes the psalm, as he began it, with thanksgiving, and gives the reason of his not having met with a repulse; or, to take the figurative expression which he employs, of God’s not having turned away his prayer. This was, that he had not withdrawn his mercy. For it is entirely of his free grace that he is propitious, and that our prayers are not wholly ineffectual.

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.

(20) Who hath not turned . . .—i.e., he found himself able to pray, was not silenced. Notice the zeugma. God had not rejected his prayer nor withdrawn His grace.

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

20. Blessed be God] Cp. Psa_28:6; Psa_31:21; Psa_68:19; Psa_68:35.

nor his mercy from me] From me must belong to this clause only. It is forced to explain ‘who has not removed my prayer and His loving-kindness from me’ to mean ‘who has not deprived me of the power to pray or of the blessing of an answer’; in spite of the beauty of St Augustine’s comment: “Cum videris non a te amotam deprecationem tuam, securus esto, quia non est a te amota misericordia eius.” Possibly a verb, such as Coverdale (P. B.V.) supplies for the sake of the rhythm, has been lost; so that the clause would read, nor withdrawn his lovingkindness from me.

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.

Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer,.... Has not been angry against it, shut it out, or covered himself with a cloud that it might not pass through, which sometimes saints have complained of, Psa 80:4; but graciously heard and received it;

nor his mercy from me; for that endures for ever, and is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear the Lord, Psa 103:17; all which require thankfulness and praise, which is here given.

Next: Psalms Chapter 67

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

Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer - That is, It is fit that I should praise and adore God for the fact that he has graciously condescended to listen to the voice of my supplications.

Nor his mercy from me - There is no more proper ground of praise than the fact that God hears prayer - the prayer of poor, ignorant, sinful, dying men. When we consider how great is his condescension in doing this; when we think of his greatness and immensity; when we reflect that the whole universe is dependent on him, and that the farthest worlds need his care and attention; when we bear in mind that we are creatures of a day and “know nothing;” and especially when we remember how we have violated his laws, how sensual, corrupt, and vile our lives have been, how low and grovelling have been our aims and purposes, how we have provoked him by our unbelief, our ingratitude, and our hardness of heart - we can never express, in appropriate words, the extent of his goodness in hearing our prayers, nor can we find language which will properly give utterance to the praises due to his name for having condescended to listen to our cries for mercy.

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

Turned away, or rejected, or removed, to wit, from his sight and audience, but hath received and granted it.

His mercy: though he had now asserted his own innocency and sincere piety, yet he imputeth not God’s hearing of his prayers to that, but solely unto God’s grace and mercy.

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

Ver. 20. Blessed be God. Be his name honoured and loved. Which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. He has neither withdrawn his love nor my liberty to pray. He has neither cast out my prayer nor me. His mercy and my cries still meet each other. The psalm ends on its key note. Praise all through is its spirit and design. Lord enable us to enter into it. Amen.

Ver. 20. The mercy of God.

I. In permitting prayer.

II. In inclining to prayer.

III. In hearing prayer.

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

20. Hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy—Prayer and mercy comprehend all. They belong together. Prayer represents our true attitude and implies our whole duty to God, and mercy comprehends the whole work of God for us.

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

Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. The psalm of thanksgiving appropriately concludes with a special blessing of God by the psalmist, who felt that such especial mercy had been shown to himself (vers. 16-20).

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

Who did not remove my prayer from before Him, and He did not remove His kindness from 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.