Psalm 49:3

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 49:3-4. My mouth shall speak of wisdom — I shall not treat of trivial things, nor of those I have but slightly considered; but about the most weighty matters, which my mind hath greatly pondered. I will enrich your souls with wisdom, which is better than the wealth of the world, which you covet; and I will teach you how to direct all your actions aright unto that scope at which you aim, the being happy. I will incline mine ear — I will hearken to what God by his Spirit speaks to me, and that I will now speak to you. To a parable — Which properly is an allegorical speech, but is often taken for an important, and withal dark doctrine or sentence. I will open — I will not smother it in my own breast, but publish it to the world. My dark saying — So he calls the following discourse, because the thing in question ever hath been thought hard to be understood. “Much of the eastern wisdom consisted in the understanding of parables; and in the interpretation of dark sayings or riddles: the mysterious cover to this kind of wisdom made it the most high-prized accomplishment. And here, when the psalmist was to raise and engage the attention of his audience, he promises that he would speak of those things, in which the highest wisdom was supposed to consist: and, indeed, it must be confessed that, in the composition of this Psalm, he has made use of every art to render it worthy the subject.” — Dodd, and Warburton’s Divine Legation.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:1-5 We seldom meet with a more solemn introduction: there is no truth of greater importance. Let all hear this with application to ourselves. The poor are in danger from undue desire toward the wealth of the world, as rich people from undue delight in it. The psalmist begins with applying it to himself, and that is the right method in which to treat of Divine things. Before he sets down the folly of carnal security, he lays down, from his own experience, the benefit and comfort of a holy, gracious security, which they enjoy who trust in God, and not in their worldly wealth. In the day of judgment, the iniquity of our heels, or of our steps, our past sins, will compass us. In those days, worldly, wicked people will be afraid; but wherefore should a man fear death who has God with him?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My mouth shall speak of wisdom - That is, I will utter sentiments that are wise, or that are of importance to all; sentiments that will enable all to take a just view of the subject on which I speak. This indicates "confidence" in what he was about to utter, as being eminently deserving of attention.

And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding - What I reflect on, and what I give utterance to, in the matter under consideration. The idea is, that he had meditated on the subject, as to what was real wisdom in the matter, and that he would now give utterance to the result of his meditations. It was not wisdom in general, or intelligence or understanding as such on which he designed to express the results of his thoughts, but it was only in respect to the proper value to be attached to wealth, and as to the fact of its causing fear Psalm 49:5 in those who were not possessed of it, and who might be subjected to the oppressive acts of those who were rich.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 49

Ps 49:1-20. This Psalm instructs and consoles. It teaches that earthly advantages are not reliable for permanent happiness, and that, however prosperous worldly men may be for a time, their ultimate destiny is ruin, while the pious are safe in God's care.

1-3. All are called to hear what interests all.

world—literally, "duration of life," the present time.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It concerns you diligently to attend to me, for I am about to speak not of vulgar and trivial things, or such as come suddenly into my mind, and rush as hastily out of my mouth, but of such things as are the result of my most serious and considerate thoughts, and such as, if you observe them and lay them to heart, will make you truly wise, and keep you from those errors, and follies, and mischiefs, which the generality of mankind, for want of a right understanding, do run into.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

My mouth shall speak of wisdom,.... Or "wisdoms" (m); of Christ, who is so called, Proverbs 1:20. He being as a divine Person the wisdom of God, and the only wise God; and having all the treasures of wisdom in him, as man and Mediator: of him the prophet spake, and of him the apostles and all Gospel ministers speak; of the glories of his Person, of the fulness of his grace, and of his wonderful works; especially of that of redemption and salvation by him, in which there is an abounding of wisdom and prudence. Or the Gospel may be meant, and all the truths of it, in which there is a glorious display of divine wisdom; it is the wisdom of God in a mystery; hidden and ancient wisdom; and which, when truly understood, makes a man wise unto salvation; see 1 Corinthians 2:6;

and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding; or "understandings" (n); and this is in order to the former; what the heart meditates the mouth speaks. If the heart meditates on understanding, the mouth will speak of wisdom; and a man should think before he speaks, especially the ministers of the Gospel: they ought to meditate on the word of God, the Gospel, and the truths of it, that their profiling may appear to all; that they may understand divine things themselves, and deliver them out to the understanding of others: their concern should be, that through meditation they may have a good treasure of wisdom and knowledge in their hearts, that out of it they may bring forth things pleasant and profitable unto others.

(m) "sapientias", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. (n) "intelligentias", Pagninus, Montanus.

Geneva Study Bible

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. My mouth shall speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart shall be (full of) understanding.

The words for wisdom and understanding are both plural in the Heb., denoting manifold wisdom and profound insight.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - My mouth shall speak of wisdom (comp. Job 33:3, 4). It is not his own "wisdom" that the psalmist is about to utter, but a wisdom communicated to him from without, to which he has "to incline his ear" (ver. 4). And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding; or, of discernment (Kay). Psalm 49:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 49:2-5) Introduction. Very similarly do the elder (in the reign of Jehoshaphat) and the younger Micha (Micah) introduce their prophecies (1 Kings 22:28; Micah 1:2); and Elihu in the Book of Job his didactic discourses (Psalm 34:2, cf. Psalm 33:2). It is an universal theme which the poet intends to take up, hence he calls upon all peoples and all the inhabitants of the חלד. Such is the word first of all for this temporal life, which glides by unnoticed, them for the present transitory world itself (vid., on Psalm 17:14). It is his intention to declare to the rich the utter nothingness or vanity of their false ground of hope, and to the poor the superiority of their true ground of hope; hence he wishes to have as hearers both בני אדם, children of the common people, who are men and have otherwise nothing distinctive about them, and בּני־אישׁ, children of men, i.e., of rank and distinction (vid., on Psalm 4:3) - rich and poor, as he adds to make his meaning more clear. For his mouth will, or shall, utter הכמות, not: all sorts of wise teachings, but: weighty wisdom. Just in like manner תּבוּנות signifies profound insight or understanding; cf. plurals like בּינות, Isaiah 27:11, ישּׁוּעת, Psalm 42:12 and frequently, שׁלוּת, Jeremiah 22:21. The parallel word תּבוּנות in the passage before us, and the plural predicate in Proverbs 24:7, show that חכמות, here and in Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 9:1, cf. Psalm 14:1, is not to be regarded, with Hitzig, Olshausen, and others, as another form of the singular חכמוּת. Side by side with the speaking of the mouth stands חגוּת לב (with an unchangeable Kametz before the tone-syllable, Ew. 166, c): the meditation (lxx μελέτη) of the heart, and in accordance therewith the well-thought-out discourse. What he intends to discourse is, however, not the creation of his own brain, but what he has received. A משׁל, a saying embodying the wisdom of practical life, as God teaches men it, presents itself to his mind demanding to be heard; and to this he inclines his ear in order that, from being a diligent scholar of the wisdom from above, he may become a useful teacher of men, inasmuch as he opens up, i.e., unravels, the divine Mashal, which in the depth and fulness of its contents is a חידה, i.e., an involved riddle (from חוּד, cogn. אגד, עקד), and plays the cithern thereby (ב of the accompaniment). The opening of the riddle does not consist in the solving of it, but in the setting of it forth. פּתח, to open equals to propound, deliver of a discourse, comes from the phrase את־ּפּיו-פּתח, Proverbs 31:26; cf. Psalm 119:130, where פּתח, an opening, is equivalent to an unlocking, a revelation.