Psalms 36:1

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
transgression	פֶּ֣שַׁע Pe.sha'	H6588	a revolt (national · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wicked	לָ֭רָשָׁע La.ra.sho'	H7563	morally wrong · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
saith	נְאֻֽם ne.'um-	H5002	an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
within	בְּקֶ֣רֶב be.Ke.rev	H7130	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
heart	לִבִּ֑י li.Bi	H3820	the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fear	פַּ֥חַד Pa.chad	H6343	a (sudden) alarm (properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
God	אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
eyes	עֵינָֽיו 'ei.Nav	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 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

Romans 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Psalms 18:1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
Psalms 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
Psalms 143:12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Matthew 12:33-34 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Genesis 20:11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 36:1-4

David, in the title of this psalm, is styled the servant of the Lord; why in this, and not in any other, except in Ps. 18 (title), no reason can be given; but so he was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but as a king, as a prophet, as one employed in serving the interests of God's kingdom among men more immediately and more eminently than any other in his day. He glories in it, Psa 116:16. It is no disparagement, but an honour, to the greatest of men, to be the servants of the great God; it is the highest preferment a man is capable of in this world. David, in these verses, describes the wickedness of the wicked; whether he means his persecutors in particular, or all notorious gr…

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John Gill on Psalms 36:1

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,.... Which is represented as a person speaking within him; not that the transgression of the wicked was really in him; sin was in him, and sin of the same kind and nature with the wicked man's; but he taking notice of and considering the wicked man's sinful course of life, and his daring impieties, conceived in his own mind, and concluded from hence, that there is no fear of God before his eyes; no reverential affection for him, but enmity to him; no godly filial fear, but at most only a slavish fear, a fear of punishment; no holy and humble fear of him, but pride and wickedness; no fiducial and obediential fear, but all the reverse; tru…

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John Calvin on Psalms 36:1-4

Psalm 36:1-4 1. Ungodliness saith to the wicked in the midst of my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. [1] 3. The words of his mouth are iniquity [2] and deceit; he hath left off to understand that he may do good. 4. He meditates [or devises] iniquity upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; and abhorreth not evil. 1. Ungodliness saith to the wicked in the midst of my heart Commentators are not agreed as to the interpretation of the first verse. Literally it is, The saying [or speech] of transgression, or rather, Transgression saith to the wicked As, however, the letter l…

The Church Fathers

The lawbreaker thinks his sinning is [hidden] within—that is, he believes that he is escaping notice in sinning.… Now, it is typical of the person employing deceit to think that schemers escape notice, because they are always under that impression when they use flattering language; after all, unless they expected to escape notice, they would not have persisted in their deceitful pretense.
— Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:2A

The wicked person speaks, and the inner conscience is mangled. Every word he utters is laden with malice and trickery. Who undergoes punishment greater than that which he inflicts on himself, when every word he says is piercing him through and through? The serpent pours out his poison into others; the unjust pours it into himself. Whatever he spills forth, he is spilling into his own self.
— Ambrose of Milan, COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 36:6

There are two types of sinners. One type believes the law, but is not strong enough to fulfill its commands because of the weakness of its flesh.… The other type is brash, beyond hope, blasphemous, for it makes plans for itself to commit sin by its free will. This type of sinner despises all things and it grumbles to itself, confident in the notion that God does not trouble himself with the affairs of mortals.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 36:2

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

Fear, Godly · The wicked destitute of — The wicked destitute of
Godlessness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

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 36:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 36:1-4

John Gill on Psalms 36:1

John Calvin on Psalms 36:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 36:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 36:1-4

John Gill on Psalms 36:1

John Calvin on Psalms 36:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 36:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 36:1-4

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 36:1