Psalm 36:12
“Prayer for Protection and Assurance of Judgment”Psalm 36:10–12
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- שָׁםshamthereH8033AdvAdverb
- נָפְלוּNa·fe·luthey have fallenH5307V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
- פֹּעֲלֵיPo·'a·lei[those who] doH6466V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Construct
- אָוֶן'A·ven[of] wickednessH205N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absolute
- דֹּחוּdo·Chuthey were pushed downH1760V-Pual-Perf-3cpVerb Pual Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
- וְלֹאve·lo'and notH3808Conj-w ¦ NegParticle Negativeוְandלֹאnot
- יָכְלוּYa·khe·luthey were ableH3201V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
- קוּםKumto riseH6965V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Construct
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Psalm 36:5–12. He set out his notes in a four-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set in the balance against it. Observe,
I.His meditations upon the grace of God.
He sees the world polluted, himself endangered, and God dishonoured, by the transgressions of the wicked; but, of a sudden, he turns his eye, and heart, and speech, to God "However it be, yet thou art good." He here acknowledges,
1.The transcendent perfections of the divine nature. Among men we have often reason to complain, There is no truth nor mercy, (Hosea 4:1), no judgment nor justice, Isaiah 5:7. But all these may be found in God without the least alloy. Whatever is missing, or amiss, in the world, we are sure there is nothing missing, nothing amiss, in him that governs it.
(1.)He is a God of inexhaustible goodness: Thy mercy, O Lord! is in the heavens. If men shut up the bowels of their compassion, yet with God, at the throne of his grace, we shall find mercy. When men are devising mischief against us God's thoughts concerning us, if we cleave closely to him, are thoughts of good. On earth we meet with little content and a great deal of disquiet and disappointment; but in the heavens, where the mercy of God reigns in perfection and to eternity, there is all satisfaction; there therefore, if we would be easy, let us have our conversation, and there let us long to be. How bad soever the world is, let us never think the worse of God nor of his government; but, from the abundance of wickedness that is among men, let us take occasion, instead of reflecting upon God's purity, as if he countenanced sin, to admire his patience, that he bears so much with those that so impudently provoke him, nay, and causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall upon them. If God's mercy were not in the heavens (that is, infinitely above the mercies of any creature), he would, long ere this, have drowned the world again. See Isaiah 55:8, Isaiah 55:9; Hosea 11:9.
(2.)He is a God of inviolable truth: Thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. Though God suffers wicked people to do a great deal of mischief, yet he is and will be faithful to his threatenings against sin, and there will come a day when he will reckon with them; he is faithful also to his covenant with his people, which cannot be broken, nor one jot or tittle of the promises of it defeated by all the malice of earth and hell. This is matter of great comfort to all good people, that, though men are false, God is faithful; men speak vanity, but the words of the Lord are pure words. God's faithfulness reaches so high that it does not change with the weather, as men's does, for it reaches to the skies (so it should be read, as some think), above the clouds, and all the changes of the lower region.
(3.)He is a God of incontestable justice and equity: Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, so immovable and inflexible itself and so conspicuous and evident to all the world; for no truth is more certain nor more plain than this, That the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and that he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures. Even when clouds and darkness are round about him, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne, Psalm 97:2.
(4.)He is a God of unsearchable wisdom and design: "Thy judgments are a great deep, not to be fathomed with the line and plummet of any finite understanding." As his power is sovereign, which he owes not any account of to us, so his method is singular and mysterious, which cannot be accounted for by us: His way is in the sea and his path in the great waters. We know that he does all wisely and well; but what he does we know not now; it will be time enough to know hereafter.
2.The extensive care and beneficence of the divine Providence: "Thou preservest man and beast, not only protectest them from mischief, but suppliest them with that which is needful for the support of life." The beasts, though not capable of knowing and praising God, are yet graciously provided for; their eyes wait on him, and he gives them their meat in due season. Let us not wonder that God gives food to bad men, for he feeds the brute-creatures; and let us not fear but that he will provide well for good men; he that feeds the young lions will not starve his own children.
3.The peculiar favour of God to the saints. Observe,
(1.)Their character, Psalm 36:7. They are such as are allured by the excellency of God's loving-kindness to put their trust under the shadow of his wings.
[1.]God's loving-kindness is precious to them. They relish it; they taste a transcendent sweetness in it; they admire God's beauty and benignity above any thing in this world, nothing so amiable, so desirable. Those know not God that do not admire his loving-kindness; and those know not themselves that do not earnestly covet it.
[2.]They therefore repose an entire confidence in him. They have recourse to him, put themselves under his protection, and then think themselves safe and find themselves easy, as the chickens under the wings of the hen, Matthew 23:37. It was the character of proselytes that they came to trust under the wings of the God of Israel (Ruth 2:12); and what more proper to gather proselytes than the excellency of his loving-kindness? What more powerful to engage our complacency to him and on him? Those that are thus drawn by love will cleave to him.
(2.)Their privilege. Happy, thrice happy, the people whose God is the Lord, for in him they have, or may have, or shall have, a complete happiness.
[1.]Their desires shall be answered, (Psalm 36:8): They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, their wants supplied; their cravings gratified, and their capacities filled. In God all-sufficient they shall have enough, all that which an enlightened enlarged soul can desire or receive. The gains of the world and the delights of sense will surfeit, but never satisfy, Isaiah 55:2. But the communications of divine favour and grace will satisfy, but never surfeit. A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God, never desires more than God. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy them that they are content with such things as they have. I have all, and abound, Philippians 4:18. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life. With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the comfort of the promises. But the full, the abundant satisfaction is reserved for the future state, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Every vessel will be full there.
[2.]Their joys shall be constant: Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. First, There are pleasures that are truly divine. "They are thy pleasures, not only which come from thee as the giver of them, but which terminate in thee as the matter and centre of them." Being purely spiritual, they are of the same nature with those of the glorious inhabitants of the upper world, and bear some analogy even to the delights of the Eternal Mind. Secondly, There is a river of these pleasures, always full, always fresh, always flowing. There is enough for all, enough for each; see Psalm 46:4. The pleasures of sense are putrid puddle-water; those of faith are pure and pleasant, clear as crystal, Revelation 22:1. Thirdly, God has not only provided this river of pleasures for his people, but he makes them to drink of it, works in them a gracious appetite to these pleasures, and by his Spirit fills their souls with joy and peace in believing. In heaven they shall be for ever drinking of those pleasures that are at God's right hand, satiated with a fulness of joy, Psalm 16:11.
[3.]Life and light shall be their everlasting bliss and portion, Psalm 36:9. Having God himself for their felicity, First, In him they have a fountain of life, from which those rivers of pleasure flow, Psalm 36:8. The God of nature is the fountain of natural life. In him we live, and move, and have our being. The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual life. All the strength and comfort of a sanctified soul, all its gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from God. He is the spring and author of all its sensations of divine things, and all its motions towards them: he quickens whom he will; and whosoever will may come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. He is the fountain of eternal life. The happiness of glorified saints consists in the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of his love, without interruption or fear of cessation. Secondly, In him they have light in perfection, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, all included in this light: In thy light we shall see light, that is, 1. "In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory, we shall have that which will abundantly suit and satisfy our understandings." That divine light which shines in the scripture, and especially in the face of Christ, the light of the world, has all truth in it. When we come to see God face to face, within the veil, we shall see light in perfection, we shall know enough then, 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 3:2. 2. "In communion with thee now; by the communications of thy grace to us and the return of our devout affections to thee, and in the fruition of thee shortly in heaven, we shall have a complete felicity and satisfaction. In thy favour we have all the good we can desire." This is a dark world; we see little comfort in it; but in the heavenly light there is true light, and no false light, light that is lasting and never wastes. In this world we see God, and enjoy him by creatures and means; but in heaven God himself shall be with us (Revelation 21:3) and we shall see and enjoy him immediately.
II.We have here David's prayers, intercessions, and holy triumphs, grounded upon these meditations.
1.He intercedes for all saints, begging that they may always experience the benefit and comfort of God's favour and grace, Psalm 36:10.
(1.)The persons he prays for are those that know God, that are acquainted with him, acknowledge him, and avouch him for theirs - the upright in heart, that are sincere in their profession of religion, and faithful both to God and man. Those that are not upright with God do not know him as they should.
(2.)The blessing he begs for them is God's loving-kindness (that is, the tokens of his favour towards them) and his righteousness (that is, the workings of his grace in them); or his loving-kindness and righteousness are his goodness according to promise; they are mercy and truth.
(3.)The manner in which he desires this blessing may be conveyed: O continue it, draw it out, as the mother draws out her breasts to the child, and then the child draws out the milk from the breasts. Let it be drawn out to a length equal to the line of eternity itself. The happiness of the saints in heaven will be in perfection, and yet in continual progression (as some thing); for the fountain there will be always full and the streams always flowing. In these is continuance, Isaiah 64:5.
2.He prays for himself, that he might be preserved in his integrity and comfort (Psalm 36:11): "Let not the foot of pride come against me, to trip up my heels, or trample upon me; and let not the hand of the wicked, which is stretched out against me, prevail to remove me, either from my purity and integrity, by any temptation, or from my peace and comfort, by any trouble." Let not those who fight against God triumph over those who desire to cleave to him. Those that have experienced the pleasure of communion with God cannot but desire that nothing may ever remove them from him.
3.He rejoices in hope of the downfall of all his enemies in due time (Psalm 36:12): "There, where they thought to gain the point against me, they have themselves fallen, been taken in that snare which they laid for me." There, in the other world (so some), where the saints stand in the judgment, and have a place in God's house, the workers of iniquity are cast in the judgment, are cast down into hell, into the bottomless pit, out of which they shall assuredly never be able to rise from under the insupportable weight of God's wrath and curse. It is true we are not to rejoice when any particular enemy of ours falls; but the final overthrow of all the workers of iniquity will be the everlasting triumph of glorified saints.
Historical interpretation
Historical reception
2 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
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(Verses 11, 12.) Therefore he added most beautifully, 'Let not the foot of pride come unto me, and let not the hand of sinners move me. There have they fallen, all that work iniquity. They are cast out, and could not stand.' Some above understand the torrent of your pleasures to be strength in temptations; as it is of martyrs, in whom it was pleasing unto God to exhibit to themselves the sweetness of a pleasant and acceptable contest. For if winters are taken symbolically for temptations, as the Lord admonishes us to pray that our flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath, that is, either in temptation or in idleness; in winter however the torrent swells and becomes full and enlarges itself, and doubtless the torrent may be understood as representing a more severe temptation, such as is in persecutions. And therefore, he is rightly called a glowing furnace of pleasure, because where sin of persecution overflows, so does the grace of confession.
See the virtue of prophetic distinction. Firstly, he exposed the unjust person who either in his heart or in his speech says that he sins for himself or sins against himself; for the Greek codex has ἐν ἑαυτῷ, which means 'in himself,' but not all [codices have this reading]. And perhaps for this reason, because the fool in his heart said that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Lest perhaps the unjust person say within himself and sin within himself, although openly denying God is the mark of a madman; however, many people claim injustice as praise. For indeed, to seize, to harm even those who have not injured, and to deceive many is considered glorious for themselves. Therefore, first he exposed the life of the unjust, then joined the sacrament of divine knowledge; so that fearing God, we may avoid iniquity and injustice. He added a prayer, that he may deign to free his just ones from the company of the unjust; that in those who are in the world with a pure heart, divine justice may be extended, as a pious overseer; so that the invasion of sins might not creep upon us as enemies, and catch us sleeping. Therefore, we must be vigilant and always fortify the Lord's camp; for the enemy and adversary come at night, when the senses are held captive by sleep and the body is nourished by food. Let us pray that the justice of God may prevail in us, making us stronger in our weakness, so that each of us may say: When I am weak, then I am strong (II Cor. XII, 10).
Then he also prays specifically for himself, that he may teach us how we should pray to the Lord: 'Let not the foot of pride come to me', that is, let me not fall into pride. Finally, elsewhere he remembers himself, saying: 'If I have not walked in greatness' (Psalm 130:1). Here he prayed, there he fulfilled: he would not have fulfilled, if he had not prayed. Pride must be avoided, for it even trips one up in prosperity. Finally, Adam fell more heavily in paradise than if he had fallen on earth. To fall from great heights is a precipice: to slip on level ground, it is called a stumble. Therefore, the foot of the proud errs, because it does not hold the head; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. It is not surprising, therefore, if the foot slips where the eye is not held. Let the eye go before, so that the foot may follow. For how would a traveler walk in darkness? The foot quickly stumbles in the night, if, as it were, the eye of the world, the moon, does not show the way. And you are in the night of the world, let the Church show you the way; let the sun of justice illuminate you from above, so that you may not fear falling.
And because he had spoken of pride, he added: And let not the hand of sinners move me. For just as the limbs are of Christ, so the limbs are of the devil. Let not the hand of sinners move me, that is, let not their actions, which sin, move me from the station of justice. For often, when we see sinners abound in prosperous successes, we waver in our feelings, and as it were, we are torn away from the root of virtue by a kind of hand of sin. Therefore, we must be careful that the hand of the enemy does not uproot those whom the divine hand has planted in the house of God. This is beautifully said by one who is beaten by persecutors. However, those who are moved from their root, which they had already clung to in Christ, fall.
Then he added: There they have fallen, those who work iniquity. What is this 'there'? Is it where pride is, where the hands of sinners are? Is it where they stood, where they were planted; did they fall there? Is it nearby, or in the immediate vicinity, as if in the very moment, in the very place? And it seems ambiguous. But elsewhere we are taught what is there, where it is said: There are pains like those of a woman in labor (Psalm 47:8). A good pain is the one that brings forth faith, by which Christ is formed and born in the Church. And elsewhere it says: I will remember Rahab and Babylon as those who know me. Indeed, foreigners, as well as Tyre and the people of Ethiopia, were there (Psalm 86:4); that is, where they knew me, where the foundations are in holy movements, there are also foreigners; because they also believed that they should believe in me. They fell there, where they should have stood firm; for in paradise Adam fell, and Christ came to ruin, and to resurrection, so that the ruin would be for the wicked: but the resurrection for the righteous and faithful.
Finally, they were expelled; because unjust men could not stand in a holy place. Therefore, the Apostle said: And you, who stand, be careful not to fall (I Cor. X, 12). And surely he said this to the one who stood not with the body, but with faith. We can also understand in the future, there, as it is written: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. XIII, 14); and: Naked I shall go there (Job. I, 21). What a brief conclusion at the end! 'I am not,' he says, 'proud, so that I may sin; I may not sin, so that I may not be moved, so that I may not fall; I may not fall, so that I may not be expelled, as Adam was expelled from paradise; because in him the first step of pride could not stand.' Pride cannot stand; and if it falls, it does not know how to rise again. And therefore, beautifully, he spoke in the previous passages about the proud: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will trust in the name of our God and be magnified (Psalm XIX, 8); for this is stable, that is unfaithful. And he adds: They have been bound and have fallen; but we have risen and stood upright (Ibid. 9). And it is written in the book of the prophet Micah: Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, because I have fallen; but I will rise (Micah VII, 8). For we have fallen in this world, but in Christ we have risen: to whom be honor, glory, power, eternity both now and forever, and to all ages. Amen.
But wherefore so greatly do you fear this? Because it is said, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity" [Psalm 36:12]; so that they have come into that abyss of which it is said, "Your judgments are like the great abyss:" so that they have come even to that deep wherein sinners who despise have fallen. "Have fallen." Whereby did they first fall? By the foot of pride. Hear the foot of pride. "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God." Therefore came against them the foot of pride, whereby they came into the depth. "God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do those things which are not convenient." [Romans 1:21-24] The root of sin, and the head of sin feared he who said, "Let not the foot of pride come against me." Wherefore said he, "the foot"? Because by walking proudly man deserted God, and departed from Him. His foot, called he his affection. "Let not the foot of pride come against me: let not the hand of the wicked remove me:" that is, let not the works of the wicked remove me from You, that I should wish to imitate them. But wherefore said he this against pride, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity"? Because those who now are ungodly, have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord would caution His Church, He said, "It shall watch your head, and you shall watch his heel." [Genesis 3:15] The serpent watches when the foot of pride may come against you, when you may fall, that he may cast you down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride. [Sirach 10:13] "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand." He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Paradise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet, is not driven out, but stands and hears Him, and rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice; not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand....
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This verse
David sees the workers of iniquity already fallen and thrust down by God, so completely that they will never rise again.
“There are the workers of iniquity fallen:”
David points to the fall of those who practise trouble (po’ale awen: pâʻal, ʼâven), and nâphal in the perfect speaks of it as done.
“they are cast down,”
Dâchâh in a passive form: they have been thrust down, and God is the one who does it.
“and shall not be able to rise.”
Yâkôl and qûwm: they have no power to stand again, so their defeat is final.
Passage studyPsalm 36:10–12
Continued Love and the Fall of the Wicked
Summary
Psalm 36 sets the wicked man, whose sin speaks deep in his heart and who flatters himself, beside the LORD, whose mercy reaches to the heavens. In its last three verses David turns all he has seen into prayer. He asks God to keep drawing out his lovingkindness and righteousness to the people who know him. He asks to be kept from the trampling foot of the proud and the hand of the wicked. Then he looks, and he sees the workers of iniquity already fallen, thrust down and unable to rise. The psalm that opened with the wicked closes with their fall and with God’s people held in his steadfast love.
How the prayer grows out of the psalm
The psalm’s opening verses describe the wicked: transgression speaks within his heart, he has no fear of God, he deceives himself, and he plans mischief on his bed (Psalm 36:1–4). Then David turns to the LORD and praises his mercy reaching to the heavens, his faithfulness to the clouds, his righteousness like the great mountains and his judgments like a great deep. God preserves man and beast, his people find refuge under the shadow of his wings, and in his light we see light (Psalm 36:5–9).
Verses 10 to 12 gather both pictures into a prayer. The lovingkindness and righteousness David has just praised are the very gifts he asks God to continue, and the pride and wickedness he described at the start are the dangers he asks to be kept from. God’s goodness reaches all his creatures, and here David asks for the faithful love God keeps for his own people.
The heading of the psalm names David as its author. His life knew fierce opposition, from Saul, from his own son Absalom and from enemies abroad, and this prayer may well come out of those years.
David asks God to keep his love flowing to his people
“O continue thy lovingkindness” uses the verb mâshak, which means to draw, pull or draw out. It is used of many things, from drawing a bow to prolonging a time, and here it asks God to draw out his lovingkindness and extend it further. David is asking for more of what God has already shown. The prayer rests on God’s past faithfulness, and that is what gives it confidence.
The word for lovingkindness, cheçed, means kindness, favour and mercy, and it is often given in English as “steadfast love”, “mercy” or “covenant loyalty”. It is the faithful love that holds within a committed relationship, the kind of loyalty that bound Jonathan and David. The LORD named it as part of who he is when he proclaimed his name to Moses (Exodus 34:6–7). His love holds firm through his people’s failings (Lamentations 3:22–23), and it shows itself in deeds of rescue and keeping, which is why his people give him thanks (Psalm 107:1).
Righteousness, tsᵉdâqâh, means rightness and justice. It is God’s own perfect rightness in all his dealings, and it is also his action to set things right, to deliver his people and to vindicate the oppressed (Isaiah 45:8). Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne (Psalm 89:14). When David asks God to continue his righteousness to the upright, he is asking God to keep acting for them, to protect and vindicate them.
The verse runs in two matching lines. Lovingkindness answers to righteousness, and “them that know thee” answers to “the upright in heart”. Both lines describe the same people, and God’s love and his justice reach them together.
Who are “them that know thee”?
They are people who have a living, personal acquaintance with God that includes trust and obedience. The verb yâdaʻ means to know, and its root sense is to find something out by seeing. It covers a very wide range: to perceive, to acknowledge, to be acquainted with, to have regard for, and even the closeness of husband and wife (Genesis 4:1). Hosea calls Israel to press on to know the LORD (Hosea 6:3), and through Jeremiah the LORD says that anyone who glories should glory in understanding and knowing him (Jeremiah 9:23–24).
People ask whether knowing God here means believing that he exists. It means the knowing that belongs to a relationship: walking with him, trusting him, living by his will and being changed by him. That knowledge shapes who a person is and how he lives.
What is an upright heart?
An upright heart is straight all the way through. The word yâshâr means straight, literally or figuratively, and so just and right. The heart, lêb, stands for the whole inner person, the feelings, the will and the mind, and it can mean the centre of anything. To be upright in heart is to be sincere and honest at the core, with motives that match one’s words and no hidden double dealing. These people stand opposite the wicked of the psalm’s opening verses, who flatter and deceive themselves. Jesus blessed the pure in heart, who shall see God (Matthew 5:8).
Kept from the foot of pride and the hand of the wicked
Having prayed for God’s people, David prays for himself. “Let not the foot of pride come against me” pictures the proud as advancing to trample him. Pride, gaʼăvâh, is arrogance, haughtiness and insolence, an inflated self-importance that disregards God’s authority, holds others in contempt and often oppresses the weak. The foot, regel, was a natural picture of conquest in Israel, where defeated enemies were trodden underfoot.
“And let not the hand of the wicked remove me” adds a second picture. The hand, yâd, often stands for power and means, and here it is the strength of the wicked to grasp, control and do harm. The verb for “remove”, nûwd, means to nod, waver, wander or flee, and in this verse it carries the sense of making someone wander, driving him away. The wicked want to dislodge David from his place, his security and even his life.
The foot and the hand stand for the people who use them, and the two lines ask one thing in two forms: that God keep the proud from overrunning David and the wicked from thrusting him out. David knows where his safety lies, for the LORD is his rock and his fortress (Psalm 18:2). He brings the threat to God and leaves vengeance with him (Romans 12:19), and Scripture already knows the end of the proud: “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18).
For a believer, being “removed” can mean being shaken from faith, drawn off from God’s purpose, robbed of peace or made to stumble. The prayer asks God to keep his servant from every harm that would ruin him, and the LORD promises to keep his people from all evil, in their going out and their coming in (Psalm 121:7–8).
Is this prayer only for David?
The prayer is deeply personal, and it reaches every believer and God’s people together. A church, a community or a nation under oppression can pray it, because God is the guardian of justice, and Scripture calls for the poor and fatherless to be defended against the wicked (Psalm 82:3–4).
The workers of iniquity are fallen
“There” points as though David can already see the place where his enemies lie. The workers of iniquity, po’ale awen, are literally doers of trouble. The verb pâʻal means to do, make or work, and Strong’s adds “especially to practise”. The noun ʼâven means trouble, wickedness or nothingness, and it often carries a sense of futility or deceit. These are people who practise wickedness as their work.
They “are fallen”. The verb nâphal means to fall in a great variety of ways, including collapse, overthrow and perishing. It stands in the perfect tense, which describes something done. A verse earlier the wicked were still a threat, and here David speaks of their fall as already accomplished. This way of speaking about what God will surely do, as if it had happened, is often called the prophetic perfect. It gives the verse the weight of a settled decree.
“They are cast down” uses dâchâh, to push down, drive away or overthrow, in a passive form: they have been thrust down. Someone acts on them, and in this psalm that someone is the LORD, whose judgments are a great deep. The man who wanted to drive David from his place is himself driven down.
“And shall not be able to rise” seals it. Qûwm means to rise or stand up, including recovering one’s standing, and yâkôl means to be able. Those who fall this way have no power to get up again, and their defeat is final.
The next psalm opens with the same comfort, telling God’s people not to fret because of evildoers, who will soon be cut down (Psalm 37:1–2). The LORD judges the world in righteousness (Psalm 9:8). The way of the ungodly perishes while the LORD knows the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6), and Proverbs sets the end of the wicked beside the security of the righteous in the same way (Proverbs 10:24–25).
Will the wicked always fall in this life?
The verse makes their fall certain and final, and it leaves the time and manner with God. Israel lived under a covenant that set blessing for obedience beside curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28), yet daily life often showed the wicked prospering and the righteous suffering, the struggle the books of Job and Ecclesiastes take up. In Psalm 73 Asaph wrestles with the wicked prospering and finds his answer in God’s final judgment. Their fall may come in this life as a loss of power and influence, and it comes at last in their separation from God. God’s justice often unfolds over time, and it will have the final word.
Is there any hope for the workers of iniquity?
This verse describes where a life of practised wickedness ends for those who remain in it, and God desires that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The gospel offers a way out of this very judgment, and Christ sends his people to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20). The certainty of the verse is a reason to call the wicked to turn while there is time.
How these verses point to Christ
The lovingkindness and righteousness David prays for are shown most fully in Jesus Christ. God’s love is revealed in his sending his Son, so that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus knows the Father with a perfect, eternal knowledge (John 10:15), and he alone is upright in heart without any sin (Hebrews 4:15). Through his life and death God’s righteousness is given to those who believe, and they are justified (Romans 3:21–26). By his Spirit we come to know God truly and are changed into the same image (2 Corinthians 3:18), and so God’s answer to the prayer of verse 10 goes on in the work of Christ and the Spirit.
Jesus also faced the foot of pride and the hand of the wicked. Religious leaders plotted to entangle him in his words (Matthew 22:15–18), and Roman power condemned him unjustly. When he suffered he made no threats and committed himself to God, who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23). The cross looked like the wicked hand removing him, and there God disarmed the powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). The resurrection shows that they could never remove him from his purpose. Those who belong to him are kept by the same love, from which nothing can separate them (Romans 8:38–39), and they wait for his return, when he will put an end to pride and wickedness on the earth (Revelation 19:11–21).
Verse 12 looks ahead to that end. Every knee will bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11), and all who remain in their iniquity will face his judgment (Revelation 20:11–15), cast down with no rising again. Those who trust him stand in the opposite place. A just man falls seven times and rises up again (Proverbs 24:16), and in Christ his people, though they fall, are raised by his grace. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
A prayer that ends in certainty
These verses give God’s people a prayer for every season of opposition. It begins with God’s own character, his steadfast love and his righteousness, and asks him to keep showing them to those who know him. It names the threat honestly, the proud who would trample and the wicked who would drive out, and lays it before God. And it ends with David seeing the outcome as settled, with the wicked fallen and unable to rise.
The God who preserves man and beast is the God who keeps his people in his love and brings their enemies down. His justice is as sure as his mercy, so his people can wait for him without envying the wicked or taking vengeance into their own hands, and they can pray this psalm with David, confident of how it ends.
Psalm 36:10
“O continue thy lovingkindness”
Mâshak, to draw out. David asks God to keep extending the steadfast love (cheçed) he has just praised in verses 5 to 9.
“unto them that know thee;”
Those who know God personally, with trust and obedience (yâdaʻ).
“and thy righteousness”
God’s rightness and his action to set things right and deliver (tsᵉdâqâh), paired with his lovingkindness.
“to the upright in heart.”
Those who are straight and sincere at the core (yâshâr, lêb), opposite the self-deceiving wicked of verses 1 to 4.
Psalm 36:11
“Let not the foot of pride come against me,”
The proud (gaʼăvâh) pictured as advancing to trample, with the foot (regel) as an image of conquest.
“and let not the hand of the wicked”
The hand (yâd) stands for the power of the wicked to grasp and harm.
“remove me.”
Nûwd, to wander or flee, here to drive David from his place, security or life.
Psalm 36:12 This verse
“There are the workers of iniquity fallen:”
David points to the fall of those who practise trouble (po’ale awen: pâʻal, ʼâven), and nâphal in the perfect speaks of it as done.
“they are cast down,”
Dâchâh in a passive form: they have been thrust down, and God is the one who does it.
“and shall not be able to rise.”
Yâkôl and qûwm: they have no power to stand again, so their defeat is final.
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