to revolve · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
bees
כִדְבוֹרִ֗יםkhid.vo.Rim
H1682
the bee (from its systematic instincts) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
quenched
דֹּ֭עֲכוּDo.'a.khu
H1846
to be extinguished · verb, pual perfect, 3rd person common plural
fire
כְּאֵ֣שׁke.'Esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
thorns
קוֹצִ֑יםko.Tzim
H6975
a thorn · noun, common masculine plural absolute
name
בְּשֵׁ֥םbe.Shem
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְ֝הוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
destroy
אֲמִילַֽם'a.mi.Lam
H4135
to cut short · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Deuteronomy 1:44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Horma…
1 Samuel 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of th…
Psalms 20:5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
Psalms 20:1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
Ecclesiastes 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
2 Samuel 23:6 But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:
Psalms 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Psalms 58:9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 118:1-18
It appears here, as often as elsewhere, that David had his heart full of the goodness of God. He loved to think of it, loved to speak of it, and was very solicitous that God might have the praise of it and others the comfort of it. The more our hearts are impressed with a sense of God's goodness the more they will be enlarged in all manner of obedience. In these verses,
I. He celebrates God's mercy in general, and calls upon others to acknowledge it, from their own experience of it (Psa 118:1): O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is not only good in himself, but good to you, and his mercy endures for ever, not only in the everlasting fountain, God himself, but in the never-failing streams of…
They compassed me about like bees,.... In great numbers (w); as a swarm of bees, which, being irritated and provoked, will fly upon persons in a body, and with great fury; to which the Amorites and the Assyrian army were compared, Deuteronomy 1:44. They will attack horses and kill them, as Aristotle (x) says; and places besieged have been delivered by throwing out hives of bees among the besiegers (y): and yet as they are feeble creatures, so by striking they lose their sting; and either die very quickly, or however become useless. All which denotes the numbers of the enemies of David and of Christ, and of his church and people, and the wrath and fury of them against them, as well as their f…
Psalm 118:10-14
10. All nations compassed me: but in the name of Jehovah I will surely cut them off. 11. They compassed me; yea, they compassed me: in Jehovah's name I will surely cut them off. 12. They compassed me as bees: they are quenched [389] as a fire of thorns: in Jehovah's name I will surely cut them off. 13. Thrusting, thou hast thrust at me, that I might fall: [390] but Jehovah helped me. 14. God is my strength and song, and he hath saved me.
10. All nations compassed me In these verses he relates the wonderful deliverance which he had received, that all might know that it was not of human but divine origin. Once and again he declares, that he was compassed not by a few persons,…
The Church Fathers
When a thought oppresses you, do not be downhearted but put up with it in courage, saying, "They swarmed around me closer and closer, but I drove them back in the name of the Lord." Divine help will arrive at your side immediately, and you will drive them away from you, and courage will compass you round about, and the glory of God will walk with you; and "you will be filled to your soul's desire." For the ways of God are humility of heart and gentleness. It is said indeed, "Whom shall I consider if not the humble and the meek?" If you move ahead in the ways of the Lord, he will watch over you, will give you strength and will fill you with knowledge and wisdom. Your remembrance will remain before him at all times. He will deliver you from the devil, and in your dying day he will grant you his peace.
"They came about me as bees do a hive, and burned up even as the fire among the thorns: and in the Name of the Lord have I taken vengeance on them" [Psalm 118:12]. Here then the order of the words corresponds with the order of events. For we rightly understand that our Lord Himself, the Head of the Church, was surrounded by persecutors, even as bees surround a hive. For the Holy Spirit is speaking with mystic subtlety of what was done by those who knew not what they did. For bees make honey in the hives: while our Lord's persecutors, unconscious as they were, rendered Him sweeter unto us even by His very Passion; so that we may taste and see how sweet is the Lord, "Who died for our sins, and arose for our justification." [Romans 4:25] But what follows, "and burned up even as the fire among the thorns," is better understood of His Body, that is, of a people spread abroad, whom all nations compassed about, since it was gathered together from all nations. They consumed this sinful flesh, and the grievous piercings of this mortal life, in the flame of persecution. "Taken vengeance on them:" either because they themselves, that wickedness, which in them persecuted the righteous, having been extinguished, were joined with the people of Christ; or because the rest of them, who have at this time scorned the mercy of Him who calls them, will at the end feel the truth of Him who judges them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bee — First mentioned in Deut. 1:44. Swarms of bees, and the danger of their attacks, are mentioned in Ps. 118:12. Samson found a “swarm of bees” in the carcass of a lion he had slain (Judg. 14:8). Wild…
Hallel — Praise, the name given to the group of Psalms 113-118, which are preeminently psalms of praise. It is called “The Egyptian Hallel,” because it was chanted in the temple whilst the Passover lambs were…
Temple, the Second — After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the long-desolated kingdom. The body of pilgrims, forming…
Bee · In Palestine — In Palestine
Insects · Mentioned in scripture: Bee — Mentioned in scripture: Bee
Thorn · .For fuel — .For fuel
Wicked (People) · .Fire of thorns — .Fire of thorns
Wicked, The, Are Compared To · Fire of thorns — Fire of thorns
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Hodu-cry is addressed first of all and every one; then the whole body of the laity of Israel and the priests, and at last (as it appears) the proselytes (vid., on Psa 115:9-11) who fear the God of revelation, are urgently admonished to echo it back; for "yea, His mercy endureth for ever," is the required hypophon. In Psa 118:5, Israel too then begins as one man to praise the ever-gracious goodness of God. יהּ, the Jod of which might easily become inaudible after קראתי, has an emphatic Dagesh as in Psa 118:18, and המּצר has the orthophonic stroke beside צר (the so-called מקּל), which points to the correct tone-syllable of the word that has Dechמ.
(Note: Vid., Baer's Thorath Emeth, p. 7 no…
Strength comes in the name of the Lord, declared by the threefold mention of the attackers, the Lord’s name, and victory. • Even when hostile people blazed . . . like a crackling fire, the Lord caused them to subside like burning thorns (see Isa 9:18; 10:17).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 118:12
They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
They compassed me about like bees. They seemed to be everywhere, like a swarm of bees, attacking him at every point; nimbly flying from place to place, stinging him meanwhile, and inflicting grievous pain. They threatened at first to baffle him: what weapon could he use against them? They were so numerous, so inveterate; so contemptible, yet so audacious; so insignificant and yet so capable of inflicting agony, that to the eye of reason there appeared no possibility of doing anything with them. Like the swarm of flies Egypt, there was no standing against them; they th…
