Psalms 9:16

Psa 9:16 The LORD is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

Ver. 16. The Lord is known by the judgment, &c.] The heathen historian Herodotus oberved, that the ruin of Troy served to teach men that God punisheth great sinners with heavy plagues. "Go up to Shiloh," &c

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands] Heb. palms, hollows, noting the close conveyance of his wicked plots and practices, but for his own mischief.

Higgaion. Selah] Ainsworth rendereth it Meditation Selah; meaning that this is a matter of deep meditation, worthy to be well minded, and spoken or sung with earnest consideration always. The word is found only here and Psa 92:3, where also the wonderful works of God are discoursed. R. Solomon’s note here is, Ultimum iudicium debet esse continua meditatio, The last judgment should be continually thought upon.

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_9:16

With long life will I satisfy him.

Healthy religion

Through the mistake of its friends religion has been chiefly associated with sickbeds and grave yards. It is high time this thing were changed, and that religion, instead of being represented as a hearse to carry out the dead, should be represented as a chariot in which the living are to triumph. Religion, so far from subtracting from ones vitality, is a glorious addition. It is sanative, curative, hygienic. It is good for every part of man. Religion has only just touched our world. Give it full power for a few centuries, and who can tell what will be the strength of man, and the beauty of woman, and the longevity of all! Practical religion is ever the friend of longevity.

I. It makes the care of our health a positive Christian duty. Whether we shall keep early or late hours, take food digestible or indigestible, etc., is often referred to the realm of whimsicality; but the Christian man lifts this whole problem of health into the accountable and the Divine. The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and to deface its altars, or mar its walls, or crumble its pillars, is a God-defying sacrilege.

II. It is a protest against dissipations which injure and destroy the health. Bad men and women live very short lives. Their sins kill them. There are many aged ones who would have been dead twenty-five years ago but for the defences and equipoise of religion.

III. It takes the worry out of our temporalities. It is not work but worry that kills men. When a man becomes a Christian he makes over to God not only his affections but his family, his business, his reputation, his body, his mind, his soul--everything. He gives God the management of his affairs. If the nervous and feverish people of the world would try this almighty sedative, they would live twenty-five years longer under its soothing power. It is not chloral or morphine that they want; it is more of the Gospel of Christ.

IV. It removes all corroding care about a future existence. Everyone wants to know what is to become of him. There are people who fret themselves to death for fear of dying. The Gospel offers you perfect peace now and hereafter. What do you want in the future? This is the robust, healthy religion that will tend to make you live long in this world, and in the world to come give you eternal life. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. (Psa 9:16). Known is Jehovah, or has made himself known. Justice has he done, or judgment has he executed. In the work of his (own) hands ensnared is a wicked (man). Higgaion, meditation. Selah, pause. God has revealed himself as present and attentive, notwithstanding his apparent oblivion and inaction, by doing justice on his enemies, or rather by making them do justice on themselves, converting their devices against others into means of self-destruction. In view of this most striking attestation of God's providential government, the reader is summoned to reflect, and enabled so to do by a significant and solemn pause. The sense of meditation or reflection is clear from Psa 9:15 (14), and Lam 3:62. See below, on Psa 92:4 (3). The addition of Higgaion to Selah here confirms the explanation already given of the latter word. See above, on Psa 3:3 (2). With this understanding of the terms, we may well say, to ourselves or others, in view of every signal providential retribution, especially where sin is conspicuously made its own avenger, Higgaion Selah!

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

Or, this is worthy to be noted.

The mercy of God toward his Saints must be declared, and the fall of the wicked must always be considered.

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

Higgaion--means "meditation," and, combined with Selah, seems to denote a pause of unusual solemnity and emphasis (compare Psa 3:2). Though Selah occurs seventy-three times, this is the only case in which Higgaion is found. In the view which is given here of the retribution on the wicked as an instance of God's wise and holy ordering, we may well pause in adoring wonder and faith.

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 16. The Lord is known by the judgment] It is not every casualty that can properly be called a judgment of God. Judgment is his strange work; but when he executes it, his mind is plainly to be seen. There are no natural causes to which such calamities can be legally attributed.

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.] There is nothing that a wicked man does that is not against his own interest. He is continually doing himself harm, and takes more pains to destroy his soul than the righteous man does to get his saved unto eternal life. This is a weighty truth; and the psalmist adds: Higgaion; Selah. Meditate on this; mark it well. See on Ps 3:3. Some think that it is a direction to the musicians, something like our Presto, Largo, Vivace, Allegro, "Play briskly and boldly; beat away; and let sense and sound accompany each other."

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

16. The Lord is known in executing judgment. The reading of the words literally is this, The known Lord has done judgment. This manner of speech is abrupt, and its very brevity renders it obscure. It is therefore explained in two ways. Some explain it thus:- God begins then to be known when he punishes the wicked. But the other sense suits the passage better, namely, that it is a thing obvious and manifest to all that God executes the office of judge, as often as he ensnares the wicked in their own maliciousness. In short, whenever God turns back upon themselves whatever schemes of mischief they devise, David declares that in this case the divine judgment is so evident, that what happens can be ascribed neither to nature nor to fortune. If God, therefore, in this way manifestly display, at any time, the power of his hand, let us learn to open our eyes, that from the judgments which he executes upon the enemies of his Church our faith may be confirmed more and more. As to the word Higgaion, which properly signifies meditation, I cannot at present assign a better reason why it has been inserted than this, that David intended to fix the minds of the godly in meditation upon the judgments of God. The word Selah was intended to answer the same purpose, and as I have said before, regulated the singing in such a manner as to make the music correspond to the words and the sentiment.

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.

(16) The Lord.—Better, Jehovah hath made himself known. He hath executed judgment, snaring the wicked in the work of his own hands.

Higgaion. Selah.—Higgaion occurs three times in the Psalms—here. Psa_19:14, and Psa_92:4 (Heb.). In the two latter places it is translated; in Psa_19:14, “meditation;” in Psa_92:4, “solemn sound.” Both meanings are etymologically possible, but the word apparently, indicates some change in the music, or possibly, as joined with selah, a direction to some particular part of the orchestra.

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

16. Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment,

Snaring the wicked in the work of his own hands.

For God’s revelation of Himself in judgment comp. Psa_48:3 (R.V.): Exo_7:5; Exo_14:4; Exo_14:18; Eze_38:23.

Higgaion] A musical term, rendered a solemn sound in Psa_92:3, and here in conjunction with Selah directing the introduction of a jubilant interlude, to celebrate the triumph of the divine righteousness.

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.

The wicked shall be turned into hell,.... Some render it, "shall return to the grave" (p), to the earth, the original dust from whence they came; but this is common to all men, to the righteous as well as the wicked; rather here signifies the place of torment, commonly called hell, where devils and damned spirits are; hither the souls of the wicked go immediately upon their departure from their bodies, Luk 16:23; and after the judgment is over, they will be remanded thither in soul and body; and their damnation is called the destruction of soul and body in hell; which will consist in an everlasting separation from God, and in a sense of his wrath and fiery indignation: and though this is true of all the wicked, yet here that wicked one, antichrist, and his wicked followers, are chiefly designed; even the beast and false prophet, who shall be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, Rev 19:20;

and all the nations that forget God; which is not to be understood of the Pagan nations, though they may be said to forget God, since he is to be known by the light of nature, and yet they worship idols, the works of their hands; but the Papal nations, who adore the pope of Rome as God on earth, worship angels and saints departed, and images of gold and silver, and wood and stone. It may be applied to every wicked man who forgets there is a God who sees and knows all things, and to whom men are accountable; see Psa 50:22.

(p) "revertentur ad vel in sepulchrum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

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

The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth - By what; he does in his dealings with men, in dispensing rewards and punishments, bestowing blessings upon the righteous, and sending punishments upon the ungodly. That is, his character can be learned from his dealings with mankind; or, by studying the dispensation of his Providence, we may learn what he is. This is always a fair and proper way of estimating character, alike in regard to God and man; and it is proper, at all times, to study what God does, to learn what he is.

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands - The same sentiment which is expressed here occurs in Psa 7:16. The idea is that the wicked are the cause of their own destruction; their own devices and designs are the means of their ruin, and they are made their own executioners. It is this to which the writer seems particularly to refer in the former part of the verse, when he says that “the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth.” This great principle is brought out in his dealings with human beings, that the course which wicked men pursue is the cause of their own ruin. The laws of God in a great measure execute themselves, and men bring upon themselves their own destruction. It is the highest perfection of government to make ttle laws execute themselves.

Higgaion - Margin, “Meditation.” This word occurs elsewhere only in the following places, Psa 19:14, rendered meditation; Psa 92:3, rendered solemn sound; Lam 3:62. rendered device. Its proper meaning is, murmur; muttering; the utterance of a low sound, as the low sound of a harp; or the murmuring or muttering of one who talks to himself; and then meditation. Compare the notes at Psa 2:1, on the word “imagine,” Margin, meditate, - the verb from which this is derived. Gesenius supposes that it is here a musical sound. So it is understood by the Septuagint - ᾠδὴ διαψάλματος ōdē diapsalmatos. It is not known why it is introduced here. There seems to be nothing in the sense which demands it, as there is no particular reason why the reader should pause and meditate here rather than in any other place in the psalm. It is doubtless a mere musical pause, though perhaps indicating the kind of pause in the music, as some special sound or interlude on the musical instrument that was employed.

Selah - Another musical term, see the notes at Psa 3:2. This indicates a general pause; the word Higgaion denotes the particular kind of pause.

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

The Lord is known, or, hath made himself known, or famous even among his enemies, by his most wise counsels and wonderful works.

By the judgment which he executeth upon the wicked, as it followeth.

Higgaion is either a musical term, or a note of attention, a kind of behold, intimating that the matter deserves deep and frequent meditation, or consideration, as the word signifies.

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

Ver. 16. Jehovah is known by the judgment which he executeth; his holiness and abhorrence of sin is thus displayed. A ruler who winked at evil would soon be known by all his subjects to be evil himself, and he, on the other hand, who is severely just in judgment reveals his own nature thereby. So long as our God is God, he will not, he cannot spare the guilty; except through that one glorious way in which he is just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. We must notice, secondly, that the manner of his judgment is singularly wise, and indisputably just. He makes the wicked become their own executioners.

"The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, "etc. Like cunning hunters they prepared a pitfall for the godly and fell into it themselves: the foot of the victim escaped their crafty snares, but the toils surrounded themselves: the cruel snare was laboriously manufactured, and it proved its efficacy by snaring its own maker. Persecutors and oppressors are often ruined by their own malicious projects. "Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; " the contentious are involved in ruinous costs; the vicious are devoured with fierce diseases; the envious eat their own hearts; and blasphemers curse their own souls. Thus, men may read their sin in their punishment. They sowed the seed of sin, and the ripe fruit of damnation is the natural result.

Ver. 16. The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth. Now if the Lord be known by the judgment which he executeth; then, the judgment which he executeth must be known; it must be an open judgment; and such are very many of the judgments of God, they are acted as upon a stage. And I may give you an account in three particulars why the Lord will sometimes do justice in the place of beholders, or in the open sight of others. First, that there may be witnesses enough of what he doth, and so a record of it be kept, at least in the minds and memories of faithful men for the generations to come. Secondly, the Lord doth it not only that he may have witnesses of his justice, but also that his justice and the proceedings of it, may have an effect and a fruit upon those who did not feel it, nor fall under it. This was the reason why the Lord threatened to punish Jerusalem in the sight of the nations. Eze 5:6-8, 14-15...God would execute judgment in Jerusalem, a city placed in the midst of the nations, that as the nations had taken notice of the extraordinary favours, benefits, deliverances, and salvations which God wrought for Jerusalem, so they might also take notice of his judgments and sore displeasure against them. Jerusalem was not seated in some nook, corner, or by place of the world, but in the midst of the nations, that both the goodness and severity of God toward them might be conspicuous...God lets some sinners suffer, or punishes them openly, both because he would have all others take notice that he dislikes what they have done, as also because he would not have others do the like, lest they be made like them, both in the matter and manner of their sufferings. It is a favour as well as our duty, to be taught by other men's harms, and to be instructed by their strokes, to prevent our own...Thirdly, God strikes some wicked men in open view, or in the place of beholders for the comfort of his own people, and for their encouragement. Ps 58:10-11. "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; "not that he shall be glad of the vengeance, purely as it is a hurt or a suffering to the creature; but the righteous shall be glad when he seeth the vengeance of God as it is a fulfilling of the threatening of God against the sin of man, and an evidence of his own holiness...It is said (Ex 14:30-31), that God having overwhelmed the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore: God did not suffer the carcases of the Egyptians to sink to the bottom of the sea, but caused them to lie upon the shore, that the Israelites might see them; and when Israel saw that dreadful stroke of the Lord upon the Egyptians, it is said, "The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses." Thus they were confirmed in their faith by God's open judgments upon the Egyptians. They were smitten in the place of the beholders, or in the open sight of others. Condensed from Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 16. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth; when he lays his hand upon sinners, saints tremble, consider his power, majesty, greatness, the nature of his judgments, and so judge themselves, and remove out of the way whatever may provoke... As fire begets a splendour round about where it is, so do the judgments of God set out to the world his glory, justice, holiness. William Greenhill.

Ver. 16. Snared in the work of his own hands. The wages that sin bargains with the sinner are life, pleasure, and profit; but the wages it pays him with are death, torment, and destruction. He that would understand the falsehood and deceit of sin, must compare its promises and its payment together. Robert South, D.D., 1633-1716.

Ver. 16. Higgaion, Selah, that is, as Ainsworth renders it, "Meditation, Selah:" showing this ought to be seriously considered of. The word "Higgaion" is again had (Ps 92:3); being mentioned among other musical instruments, whereby we may gather it to be one of them; for there is psaltery, nable, higgaion, and harp, John Mayer.

Ver. 16. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Not only do we read it in the word of God, but all history, all experience, records the same righteous justice of God, in snaring the wicked in the work of their own hands. Perhaps the most striking instance on record, next to Haman on his own gallows, is one connected with the horrors of the French Revolution, in which we are told that, "within nine months of the death of the queen Marie Antoinette by the guillotine, every one implicated in her untimely end, her accusers, the judges, the jury, the prosecutors, the witnesses, all, every one at least whose fate is known, perished by the same instrument as their innocent victim." In the net which they had laid for her was their own foot taken into the pit which they digged for her did they themselves fall. Barton Bouchier, 1855.

Ver. 16. Awful knowledge; a tremendous alternative as compared with Ps 9:10.

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

The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth; rather, the Lord hath made himself known; he executeth judgment. (see the Revised Version; and comp. Eze_20:9) The two clauses are grammatically distinct, though no doubt closely connected in their meaning. God makes himself known manifests his character, by the judgments which he executes, shows himself just, perhaps severe, certainly One who "will not at all acquit the wicked". (Nah_1:3) The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Some translate, "he snareth the wicked," or, "by snaring the wicked the special way in which God manifests himself (see Kay, p. 31; "Speaker"s Commentary," vol. 4. p. 190). Higgaion. This word is found in three other places only, viz. Psa_19:14 Psa_92:3; and Lam_3:61. In the first it is translated "meditation," and has clearly that meaning; in the second it is supposed to mean "a gentle strain:" in the third it seems best rendered by "musing" or "reflection." Here it stands by itself, as a sort of rubrical direction, like the following word, "Selah." Some suppose it a direction to the choir to play a gentle strain of instrumental music as an interlude; others regard it as enjoining upon the congregation a space of quiet "meditation" (see Hengstenberg, ad loc. ; and compare Professor Alexander"s work, "The Psalms translated and explained," p. 45). Selah. (see the comment on Psa_3:2)

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

Higgaion - This is either a musical term, or a note of attention, intimating that the matter deserves deep meditation, or consideration, as the word signifies.

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

Nations have sunk This is the praise that I will tell.

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.

The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: – The Philistines who came to fight against us thought to cause us to fall, and they have fallen themselves In a net which they hid: – and in a net which they hid to take us is their own foot fallen: – And the explanation of the particle זוּ is that it is equivalent to אשׁר; and so (in the passage) לו חטאנו זוּ, “He against whom we have sinned” (Is. 42:24); but it is possible to take it in its usual sense as equivalent to זֶה, this (i.e. in this net).

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.