Psalm 70:3

Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

70:1-5 The speedy destruction of the wicked, and the preservation of the godly. - This psalm is almost the same as the last five verses of #Ps 40". While here we behold Jesus Christ set forth in poverty and distress, we also see him denouncing just and fearful punishment on his Jewish, heathen, and antichristian enemies; and pleading for the joy and happiness of his friends, to his Father's honour. Let us apply these things to our own troubled circumstances, and in a believing manner bring them, and the sinful causes thereof, to our remembrance. Urgent trials should always awake fervent prayers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame - The only change which occurs in this verse is the substitution of the milder phrase "Let them be turned back," for "Let them be desolate." See the notes at Psalm 40:15.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 70

Ps 70:1-5. This corresponds to [606]Ps 40:13-17 with a very few variations, as "turn back" (Ps 70:3) for "desolate," and "make haste unto me" (Ps 70:5) for "thinketh upon me." It forms a suitable appendix to the preceding, and is called "a Psalm to bring to remembrance," as the thirty-eighth [see on [607]Ps 38:1, title].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame,.... In Psalm 40:15 it is, "let them be desolate"; which seems to respect their land and houses, here their persons; See Gill on Psalm 40:15;

that say; in Psalm 40:15 it is added, "to me"; not to his people, but himself,

aha, aha: rejoicing at his calamity and distress. The Targum is,

"we are glad, we are glad;''

See Gill on Psalm 40:15, and compare with this Ezekiel 25:3.

Geneva Study Bible

Let them be turned back for a reward of their {d} shame that say, Aha, aha.

(d) By this we are taught not to mock at others in their misery, lest the same fall on our own necks.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Let them be turned back] Let them turn back, retreating after their ignominious repulse (Psalm 70:2). Cp. Psalm 6:10. The reading of Psalm 40:15 is let them be desolate. The difference probably arose out of a confusion between the letters m and b (ישמו—ישבו), but may be due to intentional alteration. for a reward of their shame] Better as R.V., by reason of their shame, being foiled in their malicious plans.

Aha, aha] An exclamation of malicious pleasure at another’s misfortune. Cp. Psalm 35:21; Psalm 35:25. The text of Psalm 40:15 reads ‘that say unto me’; and so the LXX here, from which it has passed through the Vulg. into the P.B.V., ‘that cry over me.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame. Psalm 40:15 has, "Let them be desolate," but this difference seems to arise from a corruption. That say, Aha, aha! Psalm 40:15 has, "that say to me, Aha, aha!" which is better. Psalm 70:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

We see at once at the very beginning, in the omission of the רצה (Psalm 40:14), that what we have here before us is a fragment of Psalm 40, and perhaps a fragment that only accidentally came to have an independent existence. The להצּילני, which was under the government of רצה, now belongs to הוּשׁה, and the construction is without example elsewhere. In Psalm 70:3 ( equals Psalm 40:15) יחד and לספּותהּ are given up entirely; the original is more full-toned and soaring. Instead of ישׁמּוּ, torpescant, Psalm 70:4 has ישׁוּבוּ, recedant (as in Psalm 6:11, cf. Psalm 9:18), which is all the more flat for coming after יסגו אחור. In Psalm 70:4, after ויאמרים the לי, which cannot here (cf. on the contrary, Psalm 35:21) be dispensed with, is wanting.