Psalms 50:21 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 50:21
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
silence
וְֽהֶחֱרַ֗שְׁתִּיve.he.che.Rash.ti
H2790
to scratch · conjunction + verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular
thoughtest
דִּמִּ֗יתָdi.Mi.ta
H1819
to compare · verb, piel perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
altogether
הֱֽיוֹתhe.yot-
H1961
to exist · verb, qal infinitive construct
reprove
אוֹכִיחֲךָ֖'o.khi.cha.Kha
H3198
to be right (i.e. correct) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
order
וְאֶֽעֶרְכָ֣הve.'e.'er.Khah
H6186
to set in a row · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
eyes
לְעֵינֶֽיךָle.'ei.Nei.kha
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd 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 2:4-5 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repenta…
Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
Psalms 94:7-11 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Isaiah 57:11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my p…
Psalms 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Ecclesiastes 8:11-12 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Isaiah 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 50:16–end
God, by the psalmist, having instructed his people in the right way of worshipping him and keeping up their communion with him, here directs his speech to the wicked, to hypocrites, whether they were such as professed the Jewish or the Christian religion: hypocrisy is wickedness for which God will judge. Observe here,
I. The charge drawn up against them. 1. They are charged with invading and usurping the honours and privileges of religion (Psa 50:16): What has thou to do, O wicked man! to declare my statutes? This is a challenge to those that rare really profane, but seemingly godly, to show what title they have to the cloak of religion, and by what authority they wear it, when they use it o…
God, no longer (even in appearance) disregarding such, exposes their sins and threatens a terrible punishment.
John Gill on Psalms 50:21
These things hast thou done,.... "These evil works", as the Targum; which they had done over and over again without remorse, with the greatest pleasure, and with promises of impunity to themselves. This is a confirmation of the charge made by the omniscient God, who saw and knew all their actions;
and I kept silence; spoke not by terrible things in righteousness, deferred the execution of judgment, exercised forbearance and patience, and gave space to repent; which being despised, they were hardened yet more and more in sin; see Ecclesiastes 8:11. This refers to the space of time between the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem;
thou thoughtest that I was altogether such…
Psalm 50:21-23
21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I would be like thyself; [256] I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 22. Now consider this, ye that forget God: lest I seize upon you, and there be none to deliver. 23. Whoso offereth praise will glorify me: and to him that ordereth his way aright will I show the salvation of God.
21 These things hast thou done Hypocrites, until they feel the hand of God against them, are ever ready to surrender themselves to a state of security, and nothing is more difficult than to awaken their apprehensions. By this alarming language the Psalmist aims at convincing them of the certainty of de…
The Church Fathers
The Savior comes again, but not to be judged again, for he will pass judgment on those who passed judgment on him, and he who aforetime kept silence as they judged him now reminds those lawless people who did their outrageous deeds to him on the cross and says, "These things have you done, and I kept silence." He adapted himself when he came then and taught people by persuasion, but this time it is they who will be forced to bow to his rule, whether they will or no.
Beware also of a blabbing tongue and of itching ears. Neither detract from others nor listen to detractors.… Keep your tongue from caviling, and watch over your words. Know that in judging others you are passing sentence on yourself and that you are yourself guilty of the faults that you blame in them. It is no excuse to say, "If others tell me things, I cannot be rude to them." No one cares to speak to an unwilling listener. An arrow never lodges in a stone: often it recoils on the shooter of it. Let the detractor learn from your unwillingness to listen not to be so ready to detract.
I saw these crimes committed by you, I practiced long-suffering, I waited for your repentance. But you took even my long-suffering as an excuse for impiety, guessing that I was pleased with your lawlessness and would not inflict punishment.… Since you were not cured by the mild remedy of long-suffering, I shall prepare more painful ones for you and apply burning by censure. Now, this is in keeping with those words of the apostle, "Do you not realize that the goodness of God leads you in the direction of repentance, but by your obduracy and unrepentant heart you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath, revelation and just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to their works."
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
Asaph — Convener, or collector. (1.) A Levite; one of the leaders of David’s choir (1 Chr. 6:39). Psalms 50 and 73-83 inclusive are attributed to him. He is mentioned along with David as skilled in music,…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Blasphemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Reproof · God gives, to the wicked — God gives, to the wicked
Security · .Is ignorant of God and truth — .Is ignorant of God and truth
Sin · The wicked: Expect impunity in — The wicked: Expect impunity in
Theft · They who connive at: Shall be reproved of God — They who connive at: Shall be reproved of God
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 accusation of the manifest sinners. It is not those who are addressed in Psa 50:7, as Hengstenberg thinks, who are here addressed. Even the position of the words ולרשׁע אמר clearly shows that the divine discourse is now turned to another class, viz., to the evil-doers, who, in connection with open and manifest sins and vices, take the word of God upon their lips, a distinct class from those who base their sanctity upon outward works of piety, who outwardly fulfil the commands of God, but satisfy and deceive themselves with this outward observance. מה־לּך ל, what hast thou, that thou = it belongs not to thee, it does not behove thee. With ועתּה, in Psa 50:17, an adversative subordinate cl…
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. No swift judgment overthrew the sinner—longsuffering reigned; no thunder was heard in threatening, and no bolt of fire was hurled in execution. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. The inference drawn from the Lord's patience was infamous; the respited culprit thought his judge to be one of the same order as himself. He offered sacrifice, and deemed it accepted; he continued in sin, and remained unpunished, and therefore he rudely said, "Why ne…
