gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
proud
זֵ֘דִ֤יםze.Dim
H2086
arrogant · adjective, masculine plural absolute
risen
קָֽמוּka.mu-
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
assemblies
וַעֲדַ֣תva.'a.Dat
H5712
a stated assemblage (specifically · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
violent
עָ֭רִיצִים'A.ri.tzim
H6184
fearful · adjective, masculine plural absolute
sought
בִּקְשׁ֣וּbik.Shu
H1245
to search out (by any method · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural
soul
נַפְשִׁ֑יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
set
שָׂמ֣וּךָsa.Mu.kha
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + 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
Psalms 54:3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
Matthew 27:1-2 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
Psalms 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
Psalms 36:1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
Matthew 26:3-4 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called…
2 Samuel 15:1-12 And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
2 Samuel 16:20-17:1 Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
2 Samuel 17:14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had app…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 86:8–end
David is here going on in his prayer.
I. He gives glory to God; for we ought in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory, to him, with the most humble and reverent adorations. 1. As a being of unparalleled perfection, such a one that there is none like him nor any to be compared with him, Psa 86:8. Among the gods, the false gods, whom the heathens worshipped, the angels, the kings of the earth, among them all, there is none like unto thee, O Lord! none so wise, so mighty, so good; neither are there any works like unto thy works, which is an undeniable proof that there is none like him; his own works praise him, and the best way we have of praising him is by acknowledgin…
O God, the proud are risen against me,.... As all men naturally are, and as all are without the grace of God; and because they are, they deal in proud wrath: as, through the pride of their heart, they seek not after God; so, through the same, they persecute his people, treating them with the utmost contempt, and as the offscouring of all things. Jarchi interprets this particularly of Doeg and Ahithophel:
and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; or "terrible" (s) ones, who breathed out nothing but cruelty, threatenings, and slaughter; and who were many, and got together in bodies, and entered into combinations and conspiracies; and whom nothing would satisfy but the takin…
Psalm 86:12-17
12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God! With all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for ever. 13. For thy mercy has been great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lower grave. [488] 14. O God! the proud have risen up against me, and a company of mighty men have sought after my soul; and they have not set thee before them. 15. And thou, O Lord! art God, merciful, ready to forgive, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy and truth. 16. Look to me, and have pity upon me: give thy strength to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. 17. Make with me a sign for good: and my adversaries will see it [489] and be ashamed; for thou, O Jehovah! hast succoured and…
The Church Fathers
"O God, the transgressors of the law have arisen up against me" [Psalm 86:14]. Whom calls he transgressors of the law? Not the Pagans, who have not received the law: for no one transgresses that which he has not received; the Apostle says clearly, "For where there is no law, there is no prevarication." [Romans 4:15] Transgressors of the law he calls "prevaricators." Whom then do we understand, brethren? If we take this word from our Lord Himself, the transgressors of the law were the Jews....They did not keep the law, and accused Christ as if He transgressed the law. And we know what the Lord suffered. Do you think His Body suffers no such thing now? How can this be? "If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household? The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." The body also suffers transgressors of the law, and they rise up against the Body of Christ. Who are the transgressors of the law? Do the Jews perchance dare to rise up against Christ? No: for it is not they that cause us much trouble. For they have not yet believed: they have not yet owned their salvation. Against the Body of Christ bad Christians rise up, from whom the Body of Christ daily suffers trouble. All schisms, all heresies, all within who live wickedly and engraft their own character on those who live well, and draw them over to their own side, and with evil communications corrupt good manners; these persons "transgressing the law rose up against Me." [1 Corinthians 15:33] Let every pious soul speak, let every Christian soul speak. That one which suffers not this, let it not speak. But if it is a Christian soul, it knows that it suffers evils: if it owns in itself its own sufferings, let it own herein its own voice; but if it is without suffering, let it also be without the voice; but that it may not be without suffering, let it walk along the narrow way, [Matthew 7:14] and begin to live godly in Christ: it must of necessity suffer this persecution. For "all," says the Apostle, "who will live godly in Christ, suffer persecution." [2 Timothy 3:12] "And the synagogue of the powerful have sought after My soul." The synagogue of the powerful is the congregation of the proud. The synagogue of the powerful rose up against the Head, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, crying and saying with one mouth, Crucify Him, crucify Him: [John…
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
Godlessness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Malice · 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).
The situation is like that in the Psalms of the time of Saul. The writer is a persecuted one, and in constant peril of his life. He has taken Psa 86:14 out of the Elohimic Psa 54:5, and retained the Elohim as a proper name of God (cf. on the other hand Psa 86:8, Psa 86:10); he has, however, altered זרים to זרים, which here, as in Isa 13:11 (cf. however, ibid. Psa 25:5), is the alternating word to עריצים. In Psa 86:15 he supports his petition that follows by Jahve's testimony concerning Himself in Exo 34:6. The appellation given to himself by the poet in Psa 86:16 recurs in Psa 116:16 (cf. Wisd. 9:5). The poet calls himself "the son of Thy handmaid" as having been born into the relation to Hi…
The arrogant exist both inside and outside the community. The psalmist asks for a vision of God’s character; God is so great that just a glimpse of his goodness will shut the mouths of the wicked.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 86:14
O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
O God, the proud are risen against me. They could not let God's poor servant alone, his walk with God was as smoke to their eyes, and therefore they determined to destroy him. None hate good men so fiercely as do the high minded and domineering. And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul. Unitedly oppressors sought the good man's life; they hunted in packs, with keen scent, and eager foot. In persecuting times many a saint has used these words in reference to Papal bishops and inquisitors. And have not set thee before them. They would not ha…
