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 trust in thee.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
God	אֱלֹהִ֨ים 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
down	תּוֹרִדֵ֬ם to.ri.Dem	H3381	to descend (literally · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
pit	לִבְאֵ֬ר liv.'Er	H875	a pit · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
destruction	שַׁ֗חַת Sha.chat	H7845	a pit (especially as a trap) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
bloody	דָמִ֣ים da.Mim	H1818	blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
deceitful	וּ֭מִרְמָה U.mir.mah	H4820	fraud · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
half	יֶחֱצ֣וּ ye.che.Tzu	H2673	to cut or split in two · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
days	יְמֵיהֶ֑ם ye.mei.Hem	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
trust	אֶבְטַח 'ev.tach-	H982	figuratively · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common 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

Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
Psalms 5:6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
Job 15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
Psalms 7:15-16 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
Psalms 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Ecclesiastes 7:17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all m…
Matthew 27:4-5 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 55:16–end

In these verses, I. David perseveres in his resolution to call upon God, being well assured that he should not seek him in vain (Psa 55:16): "As for me, let them take what course they please to secure themselves, let violence and strife be their guards, prayer shall be mind; this I have found comfort in, and therefore this will I abide by: I will call upon God, and commit myself to him, and the Lord shall save me;" for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, in a right manner, shall be saved, Rom 10:13. He resolves to be both fervent and frequent in this duty. 1. He will pray fervently: "I will pray and cry aloud. I will meditate" (so the former word signifies); "I will speak with my o…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 55:23

bloody . . . days--(compare Psa 5:6; Psa 51:14), deceit and murderous dispositions often united. The threat is directed specially (not as a general truth) against the wicked, then in the writer's view. Next: Psalms Chapter 56

John Gill on Psalms 55:23

But thou, O God, shall bring them down,.... Ahithophel and his accomplices in the conspiracy against David, Judas and the wicked Jews concerned in Christ's death; and did not believe in him; into the pit of destruction, or "corruption" (i); either the grave, where bodies being put corrupt and putrefy; or hell, where the wicked are punished with everlasting destruction; see Psalm 55:15; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; such as Ahithophel and Absalom, Judas, and the murderers of our Lord: or, "do not halve their days" (k); do not come up to the half of the ordinary term of man's life, which is threescore years and ten. The Jews say (l), that all the years of Doeg…

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John Calvin on Psalms 55:20–end

Psalm 55:20-23 20. He hath sent his hands against those that were at peace with him: [317] he hath broken his covenant. 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, and his heart war: his words were softer than oil, yet were they darts. 22. Cast thy giving [318] upon Jehovah, and he shall feed thee: he shall not suffer the righteous always to stagger. [319] 23. Thou, O God! shalt cast them into the pit of corruption: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days: but I will hope in thee. 20. He hath sent his hands against those that were at peace with him He afterwards speaks in verse 23d in the plural number, but here it is probable that he begins by addressing the…

The Church Fathers

But to the others what? "But You, O God, shall bring them down unto the pit of corruption" [Psalm 55:23]. The pit of corruption is the darkness of sinking under. When blind leads blind, they both fall into a ditch. [Matthew 15:14] God brings them down into the pit of corruption, not because He is the author of their own guilt, but because He is Himself the judge of their iniquities. "For God has delivered them unto the desires of their heart." [Romans 1:24] For they have loved darkness, and not light; they have loved blindness, and not seeing. For behold the Lord Jesus has shone out to the whole world, let them sing in unity with the whole world: "For there is not one that can hide himself from the heat of Him." But they passing over from the whole to a part, from the body to a wound, from life to a limb cut off, shall meet with what, but going into the pit of corruption?
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 55

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…
Deceit · Punishment of — Punishment of
Falsehood · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Hypocrisy · 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 55:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 55:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 55:23

John Gill on Psalms 55:23

John Calvin on Psalms 55:20–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 55:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 55:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 55:23

John Gill on Psalms 55:23

John Calvin on Psalms 55:20–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 55:17–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 55:23

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 55:23