to give · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
gladness
שִׂמְחָ֣הsim.Chah
H8057
blithesomeness or glee · noun, common feminine singular absolute
heart
בְלִבִּ֑יve.li.Bi
H3820
the heart · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
time
מֵעֵ֬תme.'Et
H6256
time · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
corn
דְּגָנָ֖םde.ga.Nam
H1715
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
wine
וְתִֽירוֹשָׁ֣םve.ti.ro.Sham
H8492
must or fresh grape-juice (as just squeezed out) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
increased
רָֽבּוּRa.bu
H7231
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common 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
Isaiah 9:3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when th…
Psalms 63:2-5 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalms 43:4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
Psalms 92:4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
Acts 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our heart…
Judges 9:27 And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god,…
Song of Solomon 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 4:6–end
We have here,
I. The foolish wish of worldly people: There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Who will make us to see good? What good they meant is intimated, Psa 4:7. It was the increase of their corn and wine; all they desired was plenty of the wealth of this world, that they might enjoy abundance of the delights of sense. Thus far they are right, that they are desirous of good and solicitous about it; but there are these things amiss in this wish: - 1. They enquire, in general, "Who will make us happy?" but do not apply themselves to God who alone can; and so they expose themselves to be ill-advised, and show they would rather be beholden to any than to God, for they would willi…
corn and wine--literally, "new corn and wine."
increased--an abundant harvest giving great joy (Isa 9:3).
John Gill on Psalms 4:7
Thou hast put gladness in my heart,.... The Ethiopic version reads it "into our heart"; in granting the above request; for, nothing so rejoices the hearts of God's people as the light of his countenance, or the enjoyment of his gracious presence: this was matter of exceeding joy to Christ himself, Psalm 21:6; and so it is to all his members; this causes inward gladness, gladness of heart, and is opposed to the external rejoicings of wicked men and of hypocrites: and this is of God's putting into the heart; and indeed none can put gladness either into a wounded conscience, into the heart of a sensible sinner, or into the soul of one that is panting after the presence of God, and communion wit…
Psalm 4:6-7
6. Many say, Who will show us good? [57] Lift thou up upon us the light of thy countenance, O Jehovah. 7. Thou hast given more joy to my heart than they have in the time when their corn and their wine are increased.
6. Many say. Some are of opinion that David here complains of the cruel malice of his enemies, because they greedily sought for his life. But David, I have no doubt, compares the sole wish with which his own heart was burning, to the many desires with which almost all mankind are distracted. As it is not a principle held and acted upon by ungodly men, that those only can be truly and perfectly happy who are interested in the favor of God, and that they ought to live…
The Church Fathers
The meaning of this little verse is consistent with the verses that precede it. For what else is the light of the countenance of the Lord over his righteous ones than a heart full of joy? That very thing which we feel through the sensation of joy becomes a partaker of his divinity when it contemplates God.
And elsewhere he thus speaks concerning our most necessary food, which the summer tropic perfects, and continues to give us for three months successively: They have been increased with their corn and wine and oil —here again in a remarkable way, in the giving of thanks, observing the order in nature and mentioning first corn, then wine, and thirdly oil, in accordance with the order, in which by the blessing of God, they are produced during the three summer months, by the agency of the rational orders, namely, angels and men
[Psalm 4:7] "You have put gladness into my heart." Gladness then is not to be sought without by them, who, being still heavy in heart, "love vanity, and seek a lie;" but within, where the light of God's countenance is stamped. For Christ dwells in the inner man, [Ephesians 3:16-17] as the Apostle says; for to Him does it appertain to see truth, since He has said, "I am the truth." [John 14:6] And again, when He spoke in the Apostle, saying, "Would you receive a proof of Christ, who speaks in me?" [2 Corinthians 13:3] He spoke not of course from without to him, but in his very heart, that is, in that chamber where we are to pray.
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
Neginoth — I.e., songs with instrumental accompaniment, found in the titles of Ps. 4; 6; 54; 55; 67; 76; rendered “stringed instruments,” Hab. 3:19, A.V. It denotes all kinds of stringed instruments, as the…
Gifts From God · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO BOTH TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO BOTH TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL
Gifts Of God, The · Acknowledge — Acknowledge
Heart · .Be joyful — .Be joyful
Joy · God gives — God gives
Wine · With corn and oil, denoted all temporal blessings — With corn and oil, denoted all temporal blessings
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.: 4:7-8) Looking into his own small camp David is conscious of a disheartened feeling which is gaining power over him. The words: who will make us see, i.e., (as in Psa 34:13) experience any good? can be taken as expressive of a wish according to Sa2 23:15; Isa 42:23; but the situation gives it the character of a despondent question arising from a disheartened view of the future. The gloom has now, lasted so long with David's companions in tribulation that their faith is turned to fear, their hope to despair. David therefore prays as he looks upon them: Oh lift upon us (נסה־עלינוּ)
(Note: The Metheg which stands in the second syllable before the tone stands by the Sheb, in the metrical…
your face (or the light of your face): The psalmist seeks God’s favor and peace (Num 6:25-26), which can transform darkness into light (see Ps 27:1). Confident trust in the Lord is an antidote to anger, resentment, jealousy, and materialism.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 4:7
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
"It is better, " said one, "to feel God's favour one hour in our repenting souls, that to sit whole ages under the warmest sunshine that this world affordeth." Christ in the heart is better than corn in the barn, or wine in the vat. Corn and wine are but fruits of the world, but the light of God's countenance is the ripe fruit of heaven. "Thou art with me, " is a far more blessed cry than "Harvest home." Let my granary be empty, I am yet full of blessings if Jesus Christ smiles upon me; but if I have all the world, I am poor without him. We should not fail to remark that this verse is the say…
