a straight course · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
heathen
בַּ֭גּוֹיִםBa.go.yim
H1471
a foreign nation · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
fill
מָלֵ֣אma.Le'
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bodies
גְוִיּ֑וֹתge.vi.Yot
H1472
a body · noun, common feminine plural absolute
wound
מָ֥חַץMa.chatz
H4272
to dash asunder · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
heads
רֹ֝֗אשׁRosh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
many
רַבָּֽהra.Bah
H7227
abundant (in quantity · adjective, feminine singular absolute
countries
אֶ֥רֶץ'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 68:21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into…
Micah 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears…
John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge…
Isaiah 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Revelation 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand…
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his hee…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 110:5–end
Here we have our great Redeemer,
I. Conquering his enemies (Psa 110:5, Psa 110:6) in order to the making of them his footstool, Psa 110:1. Our Lord Jesus will certainly bring to nought all the opposition made to his kingdom, and bring to ruin all those who make that opposition and persist in it. He will be too hard for those, whoever they may be, that fight against him, against his subjects and the interest of his kingdom among men, either by persecutions or by perverse disputings. Observe here,
1. The conqueror: The Lord - Adonai, the Lord Jesus, he to whom all judgment is committed, he shall make his own part good against his enemies. The Lord at thy right hand, O church! so some; that is,…
He shall judge among the Heathen,.... Either rule among the Gentiles, making them through his Gospel obedient by word and deed, and so reigning in their hearts by his Spirit and grace; and, by making many converts among them, enlarge his dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth: or inflict judgments on the Heathen; that is, the Papists, as they are called. These are the Gentiles to whom the outward court is given; the nations that will be angry when the time of his wrath, and to judge the dead, is come; and whom Christ will break in pieces with his iron rod; and are the Heathen that shall perish out of his land, when he is King over all the earth, Revelation 11:2…
Psalm 110:5-7
5. The Lord at thy right hand [331] hath broken in pieces kings in the day of his wrath. 6. He shalt judge among the heathen, he shall fill all with ruins; he shall break the head over a great country. 7. He shall drink of the torrent in the way, and therefore shall he elevate his head on high.
5. The Lord at thy right hand In these words David celebrates the dreadful nature of that power which Christ possesses for the dispersion and destruction of his enemies; and by this means he affirms, that though encompassed by bands of deadly foes, yet their malignant attempts would not prevent God from upholding the King whom he has set up. It is proper to consider the expression, in…
The Church Fathers
He shall judge among the nations. See the differences: kings are shattered, nations are judged. He shall fill up the ruins. Our Lord ascended upon the cross, and many ruins came about. "This one is set for the ruin and resurrection of many, and for a sign that shall be contradicted." He shall fill up the ruins: of those who do not believe, who did not believe the scouts, the apostles. For Moses too sent scouts into the world; and because the people did not believe the scouts, therefore they fell in the desert. Even to this day the bodies of those who do not believe fall in the desert of this world. He shall crush the heads in the land of many. He shall fill up the ruins of those who do not believe; he shall crush the heads of those who are doubtful, of those who do not have perfect faith. He shall crush the heads in the land of many, not of all: for if he had said "of all," none of us would have hope. "Of many" is said, so that others may be left.
"He shall judge among the heathen: He shall fill up what has fallen" [Psalm 110:6]. Whoever you are who art obstinate against Christ, you have raised on high a tower that must fall. It is good that you should cast yourself down, become humble, throw yourself at the feet of Him who sits on the right hand of the Father, that in you a ruin may be made to be built up. For if you abide in your evil height, you shall be cast down when you can not be built up. For of such the Scripture says in another passage: "Therefore shall He break down, and not build them up." Beyond doubt he would not say this of some, unless there were some whom He broke down so as to build them up again. And this is going on at this time, while Christ is judging among the heathen in such a manner as to fill up what has fallen. "He shall smite many heads over the earth." Here upon the earth in this life He shall smite many heads. He makes them humble instead of proud; and I dare to say, my brethren, that it is more profitable to walk here humbly with the head wounded, than with the head erect to fall into the judgment of eternal death. He will smite many heads when he causes them to fall, but He will fill them up and build them up again.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Just as in Psa 110:2 after Psa 110:1, so now here too after the divine utterance, the poet continues in a reflective strain. The Lord, says Psa 110:5, dashes in pieces kings at the right hand of this priest-king, in the day when His wrath is kindled (Psa 2:12, cf. Psa 21:10). אדני is rightly accented as subject. The fact that the victorious work of the person addressed is not his own work, but the work of Jahve on his behalf and through him, harmonizes with Psa 110:1. The sitting of the exalted one at the right hand of Jahve denotes his uniform participation in His high dignity and dominion. But in the fact that the Lord, standing at his right hand (cf. the counterpart in Psa 109:6), helps h…
The new priestly role of David’s descendant does not rescind his old role as conquering ruler. He must still bring the nations under his rule (110:2-3; see Ps 2).
110:5-6 at your right hand: This position brings help and protection (see 16:7-8; 108:13). • The Lord will strike down rebellious kings. Rebellion against the Lord is a capital offense (Ps 2; Rom 6:23).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 110:6
He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
He shall judge among the heathen, or, among the nations. All nations shall feel his power, and either yield to it joyfully or be crushed before it. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. In the terrible battles of his gospel all opponents shall fall till the field of fight is heaped high with the slain. This need not be understood literally, but as a poetical description of the overthrow of all rebellious powers and the defeat of all unholy principles. Yet should kings oppose the Lord with weapons of war, the result would be their overwhelming defeat and the…
