Psalms 73:8

Psa 73:8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly [concerning] oppression: they speak loftily.

Ver. 8. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly] Their pride, before taxed, Psa 73:6, buddeth, and budgeth, Eze 7:10; like a foul swelling in the body, it breaketh out into sores of all sorts, odious words and deeds, abominable to God and man. Diffiuuut et loquuntur in malitia rapinata, they melt and are spilt in sensual delights and dissolute practices. Or, they let loose themselves, and keep not within compass. Or, they secretly corrupt and make to stink the good names of others, sc. while they speak evil of them, and reproach them. Tabifici sunt, so Tremellius rendereth it.

They speak loftily] De celsitudine, from aloft; lapides loquuntur, they threaten thunderbolts, throw daggers, fastuosa voce omnes territant.

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.

Psa 73:8. They mock and speak in wickedness (or malice); oppression from on high they speak: To speak oppression is to speak words tending to the injury of others. From on high, proudly, with arrogant contempt of others. They speak as if from a superior position.

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

Verse 8. They are corrupt] ימיקו yamiku, they mock, act dissolutely.

And speak wickedly concerning oppression] They vindicate excessive acts of government: they push justice to its rigour. They neither show equity, lenity, nor mercy; they are cruel, and they vindicate their proceedings.

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

8. They become insolent, and wickedly talk of extortion. Some take the verb ימיקו, yamicu, in an active transitive sense, and explain it as meaning, that the wicked soften, that is to say, render others pusillanimous, or frighten and intimidate them. But as the idiom of the language admits also of its being understood in the neuter sense, I have adopted the interpretation which agreed best with the scope of the passage, namely, that the wicked, forgetting themselves to be men, and by their unbounded audacity trampling under foot all shame and honesty, dissemble not their wickedness, but, on the contrary, loudly boast of their extortion. And, indeed, we see that wicked men, after having for some time got every thing to prosper according to their desires, cast off all sham and are at no pains to conceal themselves when about to commit iniquity, but loudly proclaim their own turpitude. “What!” they will say, “is it not in my power to deprive you of all that you possess, and even to cut your throat?” Robbers, it is true, can do the same thing; but then they hide themselves for fear. These giants, or rather inhuman monsters, of whom David speaks, on the contrary not only imagine that they are exempted from subjection to any law, but, unmindful of their own weakness, foam furiously, as if there were no distinction between good and evil, between right and wrong. If, however, the other interpretation should be preferred, That the wicked intimidate the simple and peaceable by boasting of the great oppressions and outrages which they can perpetrate upon them, I do not object to it. When the poor and the afflicted find themselves at the mercy of these wicked men, they cannot but tremble, and, so to speak, melt and dissolve upon seeing them in possession of so much power. With respect to the expression, They speak from on high, implies, that they pour forth their insolent and abusive speech upon the heads of all others. As proud men, who disdain to look directly at any body, are said, in the Latin tongue, despicere, and in the Greek, Katablepein, that is, to look down; so David introduces them as speaking from on high, because it seems to them that they have nothing in common with other men, but think themselves a distinct class of beings, and, as it were, little gods.

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.

(8) They are corrupt . . .—This, which is the Rabbinical rendering, is now universally abandoned in favour of another derivation of the verb. The Masoretic arrangement of the clauses may be also improved on:

“They scoff and speak of wickedness,

Of violence from their eminence they speak,”

where the first clause means, they speak mockingly of wickedness, or make a jest of sin.

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

8. The rhythm seems to require a different division of the verse from that given by the Massoretic accentuation, thus;

They scoff, and talk of evil:

Of oppression do they talk from on high.

Not the commandments of God (Deu_6:7; Deu_11:19) but their own nefarious designs are the subject of their conversation: they talk “as if they were gods and their words oracles.” Cp. Isa_14:13. P.B.V. “their talking is against the most High” (Great Bible from Münster) is untenable.

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.

They are corrupt,.... In themselves, in their principles, and in their practices, being shapen and conceived in sin, and born of the flesh; and are corrupters, or "corrupt" themselves, and their ways, and also others by their corrupt speech, evil communications, and bad examples: or "they consume away"; like smoke, or into it, as Psa 37:20 or as wax melteth at the fire, Psa 68:2, where the same word is used as here: or "they cause to consume away" (o); "they melt or dissolve others"; they consume them, and waste their estates by their oppression and violence; they make their hearts to melt with their threatening and terrifying words; or they make them dissolute in their lives by keeping them company:

and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak oppression and revolt, threaten with it, Isa 59:13, and speak in vindication of it, and in a boasting glorying manner; so Arama; which is speaking wickedly concerning it:

they speak loftily: proudly, arrogantly, in a haughty and imperious manner: or "from on high" (p); as if they were in heaven, and above all creatures, and even God himself; and as if what they said were oracles, and to be received as such, without any scruple and hesitation. Thus Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar spake, Exo 5:2 and the little horn, or antichrist, Dan 7:20.

(o) "dissolutos reddunt", Vatablus; "reddent se dissolutos", Montanus; "faciunt tabescere", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. (p) "a sublimi", Musculus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ex alto", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

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

They are corrupt - literally, “they mock.” The word rendered “they are corrupt” never has this signification. It is the very word - מוק mûq - from which our word mock is derived, and means the same thing. The idea is that they deride religion, or mock at all that pertains to God, and to the retributions of the future world.

And speak wickedly concerning oppression ... - literally, “they speak in wickedness; oppression they speak from on high.” That is, they use arrogant language; they speak in a proud manner, as if they were above others; they use harsh and violent language, not regarding the feelings or the rights of others.

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

They are corrupt; or, dissolved in pleasure. Or, they corrupt themselves.

Speak wickedly concerning oppression; wickedly boasting of their oppressions; either of what they have done, or of what they intend to do, in that kind.

They speak loftily; arrogantly presuming upon their own strength, and despising both God and men.

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

Ver. 8. They are corrupt. They rot above ground; their heart and life are depraved.

And speak wickedly concerning oppression. The reek of the sepulchre rises through their mouths; the nature of the soul is revealed in the speech. They choose oppression as their subject, and they not only defend it, but advocate it, glory in it, and would fain make it the general rule among all nations. "Who are the poor? What are they made for? What, indeed, but to toil and slave that men of education and good family may enjoy themselves? Out on the knaves for prating about their rights! A set of wily demagogues are stirring them up, because they get a living by agitation. Work them like horses, and feed them like dogs; and if they dare complain, send them to the prison or let them die in the workhouse." There is still too much of this wicked talk abroad, and, although the working classes have their faults, and many of them very grave and serious ones too, yet there is a race of men who habitually speak of them as if they were an inferior order of animals. God forgive the wretches who thus talk.

They speak loftily. Their high heads, like tall chimneys, vomit black smoke. Big talk streams from them, their language is colossal, their magniloquence ridiculous. They are Sir Oracle in every case, they speak as from the judges' bench, and expect all the world to stand in awe of them.

Ver. 8. They are corrupt. Prosperity, in an irreligious heart, breeds corruption, which from thence is emitted by the breath in conversation, to infect and taint the minds of others. George Horne.

Ver. 8. They speak wickedly concerning oppression. Indeed, we see that wicked men, after having for some time got everything to prosper according to their desires, cast off all shame, and are at no pains to conceal themselves, when about to commit iniquity, but loudly proclaim their own turpitude. "What!" they will say, "is it not in my power to deprive you of all that you possess, and even to cut your throat?" Robbers, it is true, can do the same thing; but then they hide themselves for fear. These giants, or rather inhuman monsters, of whom David speaks, on the contrary not only imagine that they are exempted from subjection to any law, but, unmindful of their own weakness, foam furiously, as if there were no distinction between good and evil, between right and wrong. John Calvin.

Ver. 8. Connection between a corrupt heart and a proud tongue.

Psalms 73:9*

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

8. They are corrupt—They are mockers. They treat serious subjects lightly and with derision.

They… speak wickedly concerning oppression—In reference to their plans of deceit and violence to rob the poor and exalt themselves, they scorn alike the restraints of law and the rights of men.

They speak loftily—Literally, They speak from on high, haughtily. See on Psa_73:6

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

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily; rather, they scoff, and speak wickedly; of oppression do they speak from heavens height; i.e. "they scoff at the righteous, and speak wickedly concerning them; they talk of the oppressive acts which they meditate, as though they were Divine beings, speaking from the heavenly height" (Cheyne).

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

And speak - Boasting of their oppressions.

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

General Information:

Asaph continues to describe how he sometimes wants to complain to God about those who are "arrogant" and "wicked" (Psalms 73:3).

They mock

Whom they mock can be stated clearly. AT: "They mock God and his people" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

They set their mouth against the heavens

Here "their mouth" is a metonym for their speech, and "heavens" is a metonym for God, who lives in the heavens. AT: "They speak against God, who is in the heavens" (See: Metonymy)

their tongues march through the earth

The word "tongues" represents the people themselves. Possible meanings are 1) "they go through the earth saying bad things about God" or "they go everywhere and boast about themselves." (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

mock

evil

heaven

tongue

earth

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

They consume their neighbors.

and speak wickedly about oppression To oppress the needy.

they speak about the Most High e.g. Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar. [Pharaoh said] (Exod. 5:2): “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” [Sennacherib said] (Isa. 36:20), “Who are they among all the gods of the lands...?” [Nebuchadnezzar said] (Isa. 14:14), “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.” That is the meaning of: “They have set their mouth against Heaven.”

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.