Psalm 94:23

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

94:12-23 That man is blessed, who, under the chastening of the Lord, is taught his will and his truths, from his holy word, and by the Holy Spirit. He should see mercy through his sufferings. There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which shall not last always. He that sends the trouble, will send the rest. The psalmist found succour and relief only in the Lord, when all earthly friends failed. We are beholden, not only to God's power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports; and if we have been kept from falling into sin, or shrinking from our duty, we should give him the glory, and encourage our brethren. The psalmist had many troubled thoughts concerning the case he was in, concerning the course he should take, and what was likely to be the end of it. The indulgence of such contrivances and fears, adds to care and distrust, and renders our views more gloomy and confused. Good men sometimes have perplexed and distressed thoughts concerning God. But let them look to the great and precious promises of the gospel. The world's comforts give little delight to the soul, when hurried with melancholy thoughts; but God's comforts bring that peace and pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give, and which the frowns of the world cannot take away. God is his people's Refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe, and may be secure. And he will reckon with the wicked. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him, if the Lord visit it upon him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity - The consequences of their sin. He shall punish them as they deserve. See the notes at Psalm 7:16.

And shall cut them off in their own wickedness - As the result of their wickedness, and while they are engaged in perpetrating acts of sin.

Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off - Expressing, by the repetition of the sentiment, the utmost confidence that this would be so. This is in accordance with the prayer with which the psalm opens, and is expressive of entire faith that God will deal justly with the children of men. However the wicked may seem to prosper and to triumph, yet the day of vengeance is approaching, and all which they have deserved will come upon them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. bring … iniquity—(Compare Ps 5:10; 7:16).

in their … wickedness—while they are engaged in evil doing.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their own iniquity, i.e. the fruit and punishment of their sins.

In their own wickedness; either in the midst of their sins; or by their own wicked devices, the mischief whereof he will cause to fall upon their own heads.

The Lord our God; the God of Jacob, of whom they said that lie did not see nor regard them, but now they find the contrary proved to their cost.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity,.... The just punishment of it; or cause the mischief they designed to others to fall upon themselves; or make retaliation to them; that whereas they had drank the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, blood should be given them to drink; or their own blood should be shed, Revelation 16:6, the Jews (i) say, that the Levites stood on their desks, and recited this passage, both at the precise time of the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the second by the Romans:

and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; in the midst of it, while slaying the witnesses, and triumphing over them, Revelation 18:7, yea,

the Lord our God shall cut them off; the God of Jacob, who, they said, did not see nor regard what they did, Psalm 94:7, and so this latter part of the psalm fulfils the former, and proves that God is a God of vengeance, to whom it belongs; and he will exercise it in due time.

(i) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 30. p. 92.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall {o} cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

(o) It is a great token of God's judgment when the purpose of the wicked is broken, but most, when they are destroyed in their own malice.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity. Most manifestly when he makes them fall into their own snare (Psalm 7:15; Psalm 35:8; Psalm 57:6; Psalm 141:9, 10), but really also whenever he punishes them for their sins. And shall cut them off; or, "destroy," "exterminate" them. In their own wickedness; or, "by their wickedness." The wicked man is often "hoist with his own petard." Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. The repetition, like that in ver. 1, is emphatic, and solemnly confirms the entire section (vers. 20-23).



Psalm 94:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the sixth strophe the poet confidently expects the inevitable divine retribution for which he has earnestly prayed in the introduction. יחברך is erroneously accounted by many (and by Gesenius too) as fut. Pual equals יחבּרך equals יחבּר עמּך, a vocal contraction together with a giving up of the reduplication in favour of which no example can be advanced. It is fut. Kal equals יחברך, from יחבּר equals יחבּר, with the same regression of the modification of the vowel

(Note: By means of a similar transposition of the vowel as is to be assumed in תּאהבוּ, Proverbs 1:22, it also appears that מדוּבּין equals מוּסבּין (lying upon the table, ἀνακείμενοι) of the Pesach-Haggada has to be explained, which Joseph Kimchi finds so inexplicable that he regards it as a clerical error that has become traditional.)

as in יחנך equals יחנך in Genesis 43:29; Isaiah 30:19 (Hupfeld), but as in verbs primae gutturalis, so also in כּתבם, כּתבם, inflected from כּתב, Ew. ֗251, d. It might be more readily regarded as Poel than as Pual (like תּאכלנוּ, Job 20:26), but the Kal too already signifies to enter into fellowship (Genesis 14:3; Hosea 4:17), therefore (similarly to יגרך, Psalm 5:5) it is: num consociabitur tecum. כּסּא is here the judgment-seat, just as the Arabic cursi directly denotes the tribunal of God (in distinction from Arab. 'l-‛arš, the throne of His majesty). With reference to הוּות vid., on Psalm 5:10. Assuming that חק is a divine statute, we obtain this meaning for עלי־חק: which frameth (i.e., plots and executes) trouble, by making the written divine right into a rightful title for unrighteous conduct, by means of which the innocent are plunged into misfortune. Hitzig renders: contrary to order, after Proverbs 17:26, where, however, על־ישׁר is intended like ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, Matthew 5:10. Olshausen proposes to read יגוּרוּ (Psalm 56:7; Psalm 59:4) instead of יגודּוּ, just as conversely Aben-Ezra in Psalm 56:7 reads יגודּוּ. But גּדד, גּוּד, has the secured signification of scindere, incidere (cf. Arab. jdd, but also chd, supra, p. 255), from which the signification invadere can be easily derived (whence גּדוּד, a breaking in, invasion, an invading host). With reference to דּם נקי vid., Psychology, S. 243 (tr. p. 286): because the blood is the soul, that is said of the blood which applies properly to the person. The subject to יגודו are the seat of corruption (by which a high council consisting of many may be meant, just as much as a princely throne) and its accomplices. Prophetic certainty is expressed in ויהי and ויּשׁב. The figure of God as משׂגּב is Davidic and Korahitic. צוּר מחסּי צוּר is explained from Psalm 18:2. Since השׁיב designates the retribution as a return of guilt incurred in the form of actual punishment, it might be rendered "requite" just as well as "cause to return;" עליהם, however, instead of להם (Psalm 54:7) makes the idea expressed in Psalm 7:17 more natural. On ברעתם Hitzig correctly compares 2 Samuel 14:7; 2 Samuel 3:27. The Psalm closes with an anadiplosis, just as it began with one; and אלהינוּ affirms that the destruction of the persecutor will follow as surely as the church is able to call Jahve its God.