Deep Dive

Psalms 26:9

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Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,

Commentaries

Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.

Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentaryv. 9

It is now, for the first time, that the petition compressed into the one word שׁפטני (Psa 26:1) is divided out. He prays (as in Psa 28:3), that God may not connect him in one common lot with those whose fellowship of sentiment and conduct he has always shunned. אנשׁי דּמים, as in Psa 5:7, cf. ἄνθρωποι αἱμάτων, Sir. 31:25. Elsewhere זמּה signifies purpose, and more particularly in a bad sense; but in this passage it means infamy, and not unnatural unchastity, to which בּידיהם is inappropriate, but scum of whatever is vicious in general: they are full of cunning and roguery, and their right hand, which ought to uphold the right - David has the lords of his people in his eye - is filled (מלאה, not מלאה) with accursed (Deu 27:25) bribery to the condemnation of the innocent. He, on the contrary, now, as he always has done, walks in his uprightness, so that now he can with all the more joyful conscience intreat God to interpose judicially in his behalf.

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Matthew Henry Bible Commentaryv. 9

Holy David is in this psalm putting himself upon a solemn trial, not by God and his country, but by God and his own conscience, to both which he appeals touching his integrity (Psa 26:1, Psa 26:2), for the proof of which he alleges, I. His constant regard to God and his grace (Psa 26:3). II. His rooted antipathy to sin and sinners (Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5). III. His sincere affection to the ordinances of God, and his care about them (Psa 26:6-8). Having thus proved his integrity, 1. He deprecates the doom of the wicked (Psa 26:9, Psa 26:10). 2. He casts himself upon the mercy and grace of God, with a resolution to hold fast his integrity, and his hope in God (Psa 26:11, Psa 26:12). In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, what we must be and do that we may have the favour of God, and comfort in our own consciences, and comfort ourselves with it, as David does, if we can say that in any measure we have, through grace, answered to these characters. The learned Amyraldus, in his argument of his psalm, suggests that David is here, by the spirit of prophecy, carried out to speak of himself as a type of Christ, of whom what he here says of his spotless innocence, was fully and eminently true, and of him only, and to him we may apply it in singing this psalm. "We are complete in him." A psalm of David.

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Tyndale Open Study Notesv. 9

26:9 Don’t let me suffer: The end of the godly cannot be the same as that of the wicked.

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Cross-references

Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.

Matthew 25:32rank 3

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Psalms 139:19rank 3

O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

Matthew 25:46rank 2

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Psalms 51:14rank 2

Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

Malachi 3:18rank 2

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

II Samuel 21:1rank 2

During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

Matthew 24:51rank 2

Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

II Samuel 16:7rank 2

And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!

Psalms 55:23rank 2

But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

I Samuel 25:29rank 2

And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

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