Psalm 7:17

I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 7:17. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness — I will give him the glory of that gracious protection under which he takes his afflicted people, and of the just vengeance with which he will pursue them that afflict them; and will most thankfully acknowledge, not only the power, but the just judgment of God, and his faithfulness to his word. “Whatever doubts may at present arise in our minds concerning the ways of God, let us rest assured that they will receive a solution; and that the

‘righteousness’ of the great Judge, manifested in his final determinations, will be the subject of everlasting hallelujahs.” — Horne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:10-17 David is confident that he shall find God his powerful Saviour. The destruction of sinners may be prevented by their conversion; for it is threatened, If he turn not from his evil way, let him expect it will be his ruin. But amidst the threatenings of wrath, we have a gracious offer of mercy. God gives sinners warning of their danger, and space to repent, and prevent it. He is slow to punish, and long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. The sinner is described, ver. 14-16, as taking more pains to ruin his soul than, if directed aright, would save it. This is true, in a sense, of all sinners. Let us look to the Saviour under all our trials. Blessed Lord, give us grace to look to thee in the path of tribulation, going before thy church and people, and marking the way by thine own spotless example. Under all the persecutions which in our lesser trials mark our way, let the looking to Jesus animate our minds and comfort our hearts.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness - That is, particularly as manifested in the treatment of the righteous and the wicked, protecting the one, and bringing deeserved punishment upon the other. The purpose of the psalm is to show this. In the course of the psalm the author had declared his full conviction that this was the character of God, and now, in view of this, he says that he will render to him the praise and glory which such a character deserves. He will acknowledge him by public acts of praise as such a God; and will at all times ascribe these attributes to him.

And will sing praise to the name of the Lord - To the name of Jehovah; that is, to Yahweh himself, the "name" being often used to designate a person, or that by which he is known; and also, in many cases, as in this, being significant, or designating the essential nature of him to whom it is applied.

Most high - Exalted above all other beings; exalted above all worlds. The purpose here declared of praising God may refer either to the act which he was then performing in the composition of the psalm, or it may be a purpose in respect to the future, declaring his intention to be to retain in future life the memory of those characteristics of the divine nature now disclosed to him, and to celebrate them in all time to come. The great truth taught is, that God is to be adored for what he is, and that his holy character, manifested alike in the treatment of the righteous and the wicked, lays the foundation for exalted praise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. his righteousness—(Ps 5:8). Thus illustrated in the defense of His servant and punishment of the wicked.

The Treasury of David

17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.

We conclude with the joyful contrast. In this all these Psalms are agreed; they all exhibit the blessedness of the righteous, and make its colours the more glowing by contrast with the miseries of the wicked. The bright jewel Sparkles in a black foil. Praise is the occupation of the godly, their eternal work, and their present pleasure. Singing is the fitting embodiment for praise, and therefore do the saints make melody before the Lord Most High. The slandered one is now a singer: his harp was unstrung for a very little season, and now we leave him sweeping its harmonious chords, and flying on their music to the third heaven of adoring praise.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

According to his righteousness, declared and asserted by him in their exemplary punishment, and my seasonable and wonderful deliverance.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness,.... Or on account of it, as it was displayed in vindicating the innocent, and punishing the wicked; so Pharaoh having ordered male infants of the Hebrews to be drowned, and he himself and his host in righteous judgment being drowned in the Red sea; Moses and the children of Israel sung a song, as the psalmist here;

and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high; whose name is Jehovah, and is the most High over all the earth; and who had now, according to the psalmist's request, Psalm 7:6; arose and lifted up himself, and returned on high, and had shown himself to be above all David's enemies, and had sat on the throne judging right.

Geneva Study Bible

I will praise the LORD according to his {l} righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

(l) In faithfully keeping his promise to me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. A closing doxology.

I will praise the Lord] R.V., I will give thanks unto the Lord. The idea conveyed by this word, so characteristic of the Psalter, is that of the acknowledgement due from man to God for His goodness. Hence the rendering of the LXX, ἐξομολογήσομαι, and of the Vulg., confitebor.

according to his righteousness) Manifested and vindicated in the judgment of the wicked.

the name of the Lord Most High] Since He has thus revealed Himself in His character of Supreme Governor of the world. On the title Most High see Appendix, Note II.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness. Another abrupt transition - a song of thankfulness to Jehovah for giving the deliverance which the psalmist foresees, and considers as good as accomplished. And will sing praise to the Name of the Lord most high (comp. Psalm 8:1, 9, "How excellent is thy Name in all the earth!"). God is identified with his Name very commonly in Scripture, or, perhaps we should say, the Name of God is used as a periphrasis for God himself. Where God puts his special presence, he is said to "put his Name" (Deuteronomy 12:5, 21: 1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13). His Name is "holy and reverend" (Psalm 111:19); "incense is offered unto it" (Malachi 1:11); it is "magnified for ever" (1 Chronicles 17:24); for it the temple is built (1 Kings 8:44); through it the godly "tread down their enemies" (Psalm 44:5); the "desire of men's souls is to it" (Isaiah 26:8). (See also Psalm 92:1; Psalm 96:8; Psalm 99:3; Psalm 103:1; Psalm 105:1; Psalm 113:1; Psalm 115:1; Psalm 119:55; Psalm 145:1, 2, 21; Psalm 148:13; Psalm 149:3.)



Psalm 7:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 7:15-18) This closing strophe foretells to the enemy of God, as if dictated by the judge, what awaits him; and concludes with a prospect of thanksgiving and praise. Man brings forth what he has conceived, he reaps what he has sown. Starting from this primary passage, we find the punishment which sin brings with it frequently represented under these figures of הדה and ילד (הוליד, חבּל, חיל), זרע and קצר, and first of all in Job 15:35. The act, guilt, and punishment of sin appear in general as notions that run into one another. David sees in the sin of his enemies their self-destruction. It is singular, that travail is first spoken of, and then only afterwards pregnancy. For חבּל signifies, as in Sol 8:5, ὠδίνειν, not: to conceive (Hitz.). The Arab. ḥabila (synonym of ḥamala) is not to conceive in distinction from being pregnant, but it is both: to be and to become pregnant. The accentuation indicates the correct relationship of the three members of the sentence. First of all comes the general statement: Behold he shall travail with, i.e., bring forth with writhing as in the pains of labour, און, evil, as the result which proceeds from his wickedness. Then, by this thought being divided into its two factors (Hupf.) it goes on to say: that is, he shall conceive (concipere) עמל, and bear שׁקר. The former signifies trouble, molestia, just as πονηρία signifies that which makes πόνον; the latter falsehood, viz., self-deception, delusion, vanity, inasmuch as the burden prepared for others, returns as a heavy and oppressive burden upon the sinner himself, as is said in Psalm 7:17; cf. Isaiah 59:4, where און instead of שׁקר denotes the accursed wages of sin which consist in the unmasking of its nothingness, and in the undeceiving of its self-delusion. He diggeth a pit for himself, is another turn of the same thought, Psalm 57:7; Ecclesiastes 10:8. Psalm 7:16 mentions the digging, and Psalm 7:16 the subsequent falling into the pit; the aorist ויּפּל is, for instance, like Psalm 7:13, Psalm 16:9; Psalm 29:10. The attributive יפעל is virtually a genitive to שׁחת, and is rightly taken by Ges. 124, 3, a as present: in the midst of the execution of the work of destruction prepared for others it becomes his own. The trouble, עמל, prepared for others returns upon his own head (בּראשׁו, clinging to it, just as על־ראשׁו signifies descending and resting upon it), and the violence, חמס, done to others, being turned back by the Judge who dwells above (Micah 1:12), descends upon his own pate (קדקדו with o by q, as e.g., in Genesis 2:23). Thus is the righteousness of God revealed in wrath upon the oppressor and in mercy upon him who is innocently oppressed. Then will the rescued one, then will David, give thanks unto Jahve, as is due to Him after the revelation of His righteousness, and will sing of the name of Jahve the Most High (עליון as an appended name of God is always used without the art., e.g., Psalm 57:3). In the revelation of Himself He has made Himself a name. He has, however, revealed Himself as the almighty Judge and Deliverer, as the God of salvation, who rules over everything that takes place here below. It is this name, which He has made by His acts, that David will then echo back to Him in his song of thanksgiving.