Psalm 30:12

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) My glory.—The suffix is wanting in the Hebrew, and in all the older versions except LXX. and Vulg. The Chaldee versions make the word concrete and render “the nobles.” The Syriac, reading the verb in a different person, makes glory the object—“then will I sing to thee, Glory.” My glory would, as in Psalm 108:1, mean my heart. (See Note, Psalm 16:9.) Without the pronoun, we must (with Jerome) understand by “glory” renown or praise, which, as it were, itself raises songs; or it must be concrete, “everything glorious.”

Benson Commentary

Psalm 30:12. To the end that my glory — My soul, or rather, my tongue; for to the tongue both singing and silence most properly belong; may sing praise to thee — May bear testimony to thy truth and faithfulness, manifested in fulfilling thy promises, and may ascribe to thee the glory and praise due to thy infinite perfections.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:6-12 When things are well with us, we are very apt to think that they will always be so. When we see our mistake, it becomes us to think with shame upon our carnal security as our folly. If God hide his face, a good man is troubled, though no other calamity befal him. But if God, in wisdom and justice, turn from us, it will be the greatest folly if we turn from him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark. The sanctified spirit, which returns to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him; but the services of God's house cannot be performed by the dust; it cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in the grave, for it is the land of silence. We ask aright for life, when we do so that we may live to praise him. In due time God delivered the psalmist out of his troubles. Our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when employed in praising God. He would persevere to the end in praise, hoping that he should shortly be where this would be the everlasting work. But let all beware of carnal security. Neither outward prosperity, nor inward peace, here, are sure and lasting. The Lord, in his favour, has fixed the believer's safety firm as the deep-rooted mountains, but he must expect to meet with temptations and afflictions. When we grow careless, we fall into sin, the Lord hides his face, our comforts droop, and troubles assail us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee - Margin, my "tongue," or my "soul." DeWette renders it, "my heart." The Aramaic Paraphrase: "that the honorable of the world may praise thee." The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate: "my glory." The reference is, undoubtedly, to what the psalmist regarded as most glorious, honorable, exalted, in himself. There is no evidence that he referred to his "tongue" or his "heart" particularly, but the expression seems to be equivalent to "my highest powers" - all the powers and faculties of my nature. The "tongue" would indeed be the instrument of uttering praise, but still the reference is rather to the exalted powers of the soul than to the instrument. Let all that is capable of praise within me, all my powers, be employed in celebrating the goodness of God.

And not be silent - Be employed in praise.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever - Compare the notes at Isaiah 38:20. This verse states the purpose which the psalmist now saw that God intended to accomplish by his dealings with him in the varied scenes of his past life; and his own purpose now as he entered his new abode. "The purpose of God," in all these various dealings - in the prosperity which had been bestowed on him Psalm 30:6-7; in the reverses and trials by sickness or otherwise which had come upon him Psalm 30:3, Psalm 30:7; and in the deliverance which God had granted him in answer to his prayers Psalm 30:2-3, Psalm 30:10-11 - was, that he should learn to praise the Lord. "His own purpose" now, as he entered his new habitation and dedicated it to God, was, to praise God with his highest powers forever: to consecrate all that he had to his gracious preserver; to make his house, not a habitation of gaiety and sin, but an abode of serious piety - a home where the happiness sought would be that which is found in the influence of religion. It is scarcely necessary to add that every new dwelling should be entered by a family with feelings similar to these; that the first act of the head of a family on entering a new habitation - whether it be a palace or a cottage - should be solemnly to consecrate it to God, and to resolve that it shall be a house where His praises shall be celebrated, and where the influence of religion shall be invoked to guide and sanctify all the members of the household.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Though "my" is supplied before "glory" it is better as in Ps 16:9, to receive it as used for tongue, the organ of praise. The ultimate end of God's mercies to us is our praise to Him.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My glory; my soul; or rather, my tongue, to which both singing and silence most properly belong. See Poole "Psalm 7:5"; See Poole "Psalm 16:9".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent,.... Meaning either his soul, the more noble and glorious part of him; or the members of his body, his tongue, which is the glory of it, and with which he glorified God; see Psalm 16:9; compared with Acts 2:26, this was the end that was to be answered by changing the scene of things; and which was answered;

O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever; to the end of life, as long as he had a being, and to all eternity, Psalm 104:33. Jerom interprets the whole psalm of the resurrection of Christ.

Geneva Study Bible

To the end that my {l} glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

(l) Because you have preserved me that my tongue should praise you, I will not be unmindful of my duty.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. my glory] My soul, as in Psalm 7:5 (note); Psalm 57:8.

for ever] All the days of my life. See 1 Samuel 1:22 compared with 1 Samuel 1:28. But the Psalmist’s words had a larger meaning than he could as yet know (Revelation 22:3 ff.).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee. If we allow the ellipse of the personal pronoun supposed by our translators and Revisers, we must regard David as calling his soul "his glory," as in Psalm 16:9. But some commentators think that "glory" is here used as we use "royalty," and designates the royal person or the royal office (so Kay and Professor Alexander). And not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Great mercies deserve perpetual remembrance. David regarded the mercy at this time vouchsafed him as one which, like that vouchsafed Hezekiah, required to be commemorated "all the days of his life" (Isaiah 38:20).



Psalm 30:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 30:12-13) In order to express the immediate sequence of the fulfilling of the prayer upon the prayer itself, the otherwise (e.g., Psalm 32:5) usual ו of conjunction is omitted; on הפכתּ וגו cf. the echoes in Jeremiah 31:13; Lamentations 5:15. According to our interpretation of the relation of the Psalm to the events of the time, there is as little reason for thinking of 2 Samuel 6:14 in connection with מחול, as of 1 Chronicles 21:16 in connection with שׂקּי. In place of the garment of penitence and mourning (cf. מחגרת שׂק, Isaiah 3:24) slung round the body (perhaps fastened only with a cord) came a girding up (אזּר, synon. חגר Psalm 65:13, whence אזור, חגרה) with joy. The designed result of such a speedy and radical change in his affliction, after it had had the salutary effect of humbling him, was the praise of Jahve: in order that my glory (כּבוד for כּבודי equals נפשׁי, as in Psalm 7:6; Psalm 16:9; Psalm 108:2) may sing Thy praises without ceasing (ידּם fut. Kal). And the praise of Jahve for ever is moreover his resolve, just as he vows, and at the same time carries it out, in this Psalm.