Psalms 34:16

The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
face	פְּנֵ֣י pe.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD	יְ֭הוָה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
do	בְּעֹ֣שֵׂי be.'O.sei	H6213	to do or make · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
evil	רָ֑ע Ra'	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
off	לְהַכְרִ֖ית le.hakh.Rit	H3772	to cut (off · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
remembrance	זִכְרָֽם zikh.Ram	H2143	a memento · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
earth	מֵאֶ֣רֶץ me.'E.retz	H776	the earth (at large · preposition + 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

Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they…
Jeremiah 44:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
Leviticus 17:10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even…
Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Amos 9:4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes up…
Leviticus 26:17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee wh…
Psalms 10:16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 34:11–end

David, in this latter part of the psalm, undertakes to teach children. Though a man of war, and anointed to be king, he did not think it below him; though now he had his head so full of cares and his hands of business, yet he could find heart and time to give good counsel to young people, from his own experience. It does not appear that he had now any children of his own, at least any that were grown up to a capacity of being taught; but, by divine inspiration, he instructs the children of his people. Those that were in years would not be taught by him, though he had offered them his service (Psa 32:8); but he had hopes that the tender branches will be more easily bent and that children and…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 34:16

face . . . against--opposed to them (Lev 17:10; Lev 20:3). cut off the remembrance--utterly destroy (Psa 109:13).

John Gill on Psalms 34:16

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil,.... Not against everyone that sins; for the righteous are not without sin; they have sin in them, and they do no good without it; but against them that live in sin, whose course of life is a series of wickedness, and they are workers of iniquity; and have no sense of sin, nor sorrow for it, go on in it without shame or fear; against these the face of the Lord is, he shows his resentment, and stirs up his wrath. For the Lord to be against a man is dreadful; a fearful thing it is to fill into his hands as a God of vengeance; there is no standing before him when once he is angry: and to have the face of God against a man is intolerable, when it…

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John Calvin on Psalms 34:11-17

Psalm 34:11-14 11. Come, children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of Jehovah. 12. Who is the man who desireth life, loving days in which he may see good? 13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking deceit. 14. Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 11. Come, children, [696] hearken unto me. The Psalmist continues, with increased earnestness, to exhort the faithful, that they may know that nothing can be more profitable for them than to conduct themselves justly and harmlessly towards all men. As the greater part of men imagine that the best and the shortest way to attain a life of happiness and ease consists in striving to surpass other men i…

The Church Fathers

Haply say the wicked, I securely do evil, because the Eyes of the Lord are not upon me: God attends to the righteous, me He sees not, and whatever I do, I do securely. Immediately added the Holy Spirit, seeing the thoughts of men, and said, "But the Face of the Lord is against them that do evil; to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth" [Psalm 34:16].
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 34

After explaining the grace toward the just, he now turns his attention to the punishment of the wicked.… Understand that he sees both groups, but his gaze results in a different outcome for each group; he looks at the just to hear them, but looks upon sinners to destroy them. When he says "from the earth," he means the future homeland, which only those who have pleased God will possess. The "remembrance" of the sinners will perish, because there will not be any recollection of them among the just.… Those who leave the Lord's memory surely go on to eternal punishments.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 34:17

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

Abimelech — My father a king, or father of a king, a common name of the Philistine kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian kings. (1.) The Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. 20:1-18). By an…
Achish — Angry, perhaps only a general title of royalty applicable to the Philistine kings. (1.) The king with whom David sought refuge when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15). He is called Abimelech in the…
Nob — High place, a city of the priests, first mentioned in the history of David’s wanderings (1 Sam. 21:1). Here the tabernacle was then standing, and here Ahimelech the priest resided. (See AHIMELECH.)…
Death Of The Wicked, The · The remembrance of them perishes in — The remembrance of them perishes in
Judgments · Different kinds of: Destruction — Different kinds of: Destruction

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).

Psalms 34:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 34:11–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 34:16

John Gill on Psalms 34:16

John Calvin on Psalms 34:11-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 34:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 34:11–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 34:16

John Gill on Psalms 34:16

John Calvin on Psalms 34:11-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 34:16-21

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 34:15-16

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 34:16