properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
iniquities
עֲוֹנ֥וֹתa.vo.Not
H5771
perversity · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Lord
אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
stand
יַעֲמֹֽדya.'a.Mod
H5975
to stand · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
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 143:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
Psalms 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
Romans 3:20-24 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
John 8:7-9 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at…
Job 10:14 If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are…
Revelation 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 130:1-4
In these verses we are taught,
I. Whatever condition we are in, though ever so deplorable, to continue calling upon God, Psa 130:1. The best men may sometimes be in the depths, in great trouble and affliction, and utterly at a loss what to do, in the depths of distress and almost in the depths of despair, the spirit low and dark, sinking and drooping, cast down and disquieted. But, in the greatest depths, it is our privilege that we may cry unto God and be heard. A prayer may reach the heights of heaven, though not out of the depths of hell, yet out of the depths of the greatest trouble we can be in in this world, Jeremiah's out of the dungeon, Daniel's out of the den, and Jonah's out of the…
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,.... Or "observe" (f) them. Not but that God does observe the sins of men: he sees all the evil actions of bad men done in the dark, which cannot hide them from him; and all the iniquities of good men, so as to correct and chastise for them, but not with his eye of vindictive justice. Or "keep" (g) them; should he keep a watchful eye over them, make strict inspection into them, enter into a critical examination of them, and of all their aggravated circumstances; should he keep them in mind and memory, retain them in the book of his remembrance; should he lay them up, and keep them sealed among his stores, in order to be brought to light, and brought o…
Psalm 130:1-4
1. Out of the deep places have I cried to thee, O Jehovah 2. O Lord hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my prayers 3. If thou, O God shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord who shall stand? 4. But with thee there is forgiveness that thou mayest be feared.
1. Out of the deep places have I cried to thee, O Jehovah! It is to be noticed that the Prophet speaks of himself as sending forth his voice, as it were from out of a deep gulf, [118] feeling himself overwhelmed with calamities. As the miseries to which there is no prospect of a termination commonly bring despair in their train, nothing is more difficult than for persons, when involved in grievous and deep so…
The Church Fathers
When you see the offender, with severity command him to be cast out. As he is going out, let the deacons also treat him with severity, and then let them go and seek for him and keep him out of the church. When they come in, let them entreat you for him. For our Savior entreated his Father for those who had sinned, as it is written in the Gospel: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Then order the offender to come in. And if on examination you find that he is penitent and fit to be received at all into the church when you have assigned him his days of fasting, according to the degree of his offense—as two, three, five or seven weeks—so set him at liberty and speak such things to him as are fit to be said by way of reproof, instruction and exhortation to a sinner for his reformation, so that he may continue privately in his humility and pray to God to be merciful to him, saying: "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? For with you there is forgiveness." This sort of statement contains what is said in the book of Genesis to Cain: "You have sinned; be quiet"; that is, do not continue in sin. That a sinner ought to be ashamed for his own sin, the oracle of God delivered to Moses concerning Miriam is a sufficient proof, when he prayed that she might be forgiven. For God said to him, "If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and afterwards let her come in again." We therefore ought to do the same with offenders, when they profess their repentance, namely, to separate them for a period of time, according to the degree of their offense; and afterwards, as fathers deal with their children, receive them again on their repentance.
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
Sin — Is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by…
Depravity Of Man · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Judgment, The · None, by nature can stand in — None, by nature can stand in
Justification Before God · Under law: Man cannot attain to — Under law: Man cannot attain to
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 depths (מעמקּים) are not the depths of the soul, but the deep outward and inward distress in which the poet is sunk as in deep waters (Psa 69:3, Psa 69:15). Out of these depths he cries to the God of salvation, and importunately prays Him who rules all things and can do all things to grant him a compliant hearing (שׁמע בּ, Gen 21:12; Gen 26:13; Gen 30:6, and other passages). God heard indeed even in Himself, as being the omniscient One, the softest and most secret as well as the loudest utterance; but, as Hilary observes, fides officium suum exsequitur, ut Dei auditionem roget, ut qui per naturam suam audit per orantis precem dignetur audire. In this sense the poet prays that His ears ma…
The psalmist knows that his sins make him guilty and deserving of God’s judgment.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 130:3
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand. If Jah, the all seeing, should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to righteousness, where would any one of us be? Truly, he does record all our transgressions; but as yet he does not act upon the record, but lays it aside till another day. If men were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer for himself at the Lord's bar, and hope to stand clear and accepted? This verse shows that the Psalmist was Under a sense of sin, and felt it imperative upon him not only to cry as a suppliant but to co…
