to do or make (systematically and habitually) · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
iniquity
אָ֑וֶן'A.ven
H205
strictly nothingness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fallen
נָ֭פְלוּNa.fe.lu
H5307
to fall · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
down
דֹּ֝ח֗וּdo.Chu
H1760
to push down · verb, pual perfect, 3rd person common plural
able
יָ֥כְלוּYa.khe.lu
H3201
to be able · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
rise
קֽוּםKum
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal infinitive construct
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 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Judges 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest fo…
Psalms 9:16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
Psalms 18:38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
Psalms 55:23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will…
Psalms 58:10-11 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Psalms 64:7-9 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 36:5–end
David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set in the balance against it. Observe,
I. His meditations upon the grace of God. He sees the world polluted, himself endangered, and God dishonoured, by the transgressions of the wicked; but, of a sudden, he turns his eye, and heart, and speech, to God "However it be, yet thou art good." He here acknowledges,
1. The transcendent perfections of the divine nature. Among men we have often reason to complain, There is no truth nor mercy, (Hos 4:1), no judgment nor justice, Isa 5:7. But all these…
There--in the acting of violence, they are overthrown. A signal defeat.
Next: Psalms Chapter 37
John Gill on Psalms 36:12
There are the workers, of iniquity fallen,.... Either in the pit they dug for others; or into hell, where they shall be turned at last; See Gill on Psalm 5:5 and See Gill on Psalm 6:8;
they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise; which will be the case of Babylon when fallen, Revelation 18:21, and this distinguishes the falls of the wicked from those of the righteous; for though the righteous fall, whether into sin, or into any calamity, they rise again; not so the wicked; see Psalm 37:24; and thus, as the psalm begins with the transgression of the wicked, it ends with their ruin.
John Calvin on Psalms 36:10–end
Psalm 36:10-12
10. Prolong [11] thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. 11. Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. 12. There the workers of iniquity are fallen: they are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.
10. Prolong thy mercy to them that know thee. David now sets himself to pray. And, first, he asks in general, that God would continue his mercy to all the godly, and then he pleads particularly in his own behalf, imploring the help of God against his enemies. Those who affirm that God is here said to prolong or extend his mercy because it is exalted above the heavens, indulge in a style of spe…
The Church Fathers
But wherefore so greatly fearest thou this? Because it is said, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity" (ver. 12); so that they have come into that abyss of which it is said, "Thy judgments are like the great abyss:" so that they have come even to that deep wherein sinners who despise have fallen. "Have fallen." Whereby did they first fall? By the foot of pride. Hear the foot of pride. "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God." Therefore came against them the foot of pride, whereby they came into the depth. "God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do those things which are not convenient." The root of sin, and the head of sin feared he who said, "Let not the foot of pride come against me." Wherefore said he, "the foot"? Because by walking proudly man deserted God, and departed from Him. His foot, called he his affection. "Let not the foot of pride come against me: let not the hand of the wicked remove me:" that is, let not the works of the wicked remove me from Thee, that I should wish to imitate them. But wherefore said he this against pride, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity"? Because those who now are ungodly, have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord would caution His Church, He said, "It shall watch thy head, and thou shall watch his heel." The serpent watcheth when the foot of pride may come against thee, when thou mayest fall, that he may cast thee down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride. "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand." He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Paradise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet, is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice; not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand...
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
Titles And Names Of The Wicked · Workers of iniquity — Workers of iniquity
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).
(Heb.: 36:11-13) Now for the first time, in the concluding hexastich, after complaint and commendation comes the language of prayer. The poet prays that God would lengthen out, i.e., henceforth preserve (משׁך, as in Psa 109:12), such mercy to His saints; that the foot of arrogance, which is conceived of as a tyrant, may not come suddenly upon him (בּוא, as in Psa 35:8), and that the hand of the wicked may not drive him from his home into exile (cf. Psa 10:18). With חסד alternates צדקה, which, on its merciful side, is turned towards them that now God, and bestows upon them the promised gracious reward. Whilst the Psalmist is thus praying, the future all at once becomes unveiled to him. Certai…
The psalmist remains confident that the disorder caused by the wicked (36:1-4) will end when they meet their demise.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 36:12
There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
There are the workers of iniquity fallen. Faith sees them scattered on the plain. There! before our very eyes sin, death, and hell, lie prostrate. Behold the vanquished foes! They are cast down. Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground. Jesus has already thrown all the foes of his people upon their faces, and in due time all sinners shall find it so. And shall not be able to rise. The defeat of the ungodly and of the powers of evil is final, total, irretrievable. Glory be to God, however high the powers of darkness may carry it at this present, the time hastens on when God sha…
