an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
behold
תַבִּ֑יטta.Bit
H5027
to scan · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
see
תִּרְאֶֽהtir.'Eh
H7200
to see · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
reward
וְשִׁלֻּמַ֖תve.shi.lu.Mat
H8011
retribution · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
wicked
רְשָׁעִ֣יםre.sha.'Im
H7563
morally wrong · noun, common masculine plural absolute
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 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Proverbs 3:25-26 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
Psalms 92:11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
Malachi 1:5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
Psalms 58:10-11 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Isaiah 3:11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Hebrews 2:2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 91:1-8
In these verses we have,
I. A great truth laid down in general, That all those who live a life of communion with God are constantly safe under his protection, and may therefore preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times (Psa 91:1): He that dwells, that sits down, in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty; he that by faith chooses God for his guardian shall find all that in him which he needs or can desire. Note, 1. It is the character of a true believer that he dwells in the secret place of the Most High; he is at home in God, returns to God, and reposes in him as his rest; he acquaints himself with inward religion, and makes heart-wor…
Only with thine eyes shall thou behold,.... The flying arrow, the walking pestilence, and wasting destruction, and the great devastations made by it:
and see the reward of the wicked; the vengeance of God upon them, and this as a just punishment for their sins; not looking upon it with delight and pleasure, rejoicing in the misery of their fellow creatures, any otherwise than as the glory of divine justice is displayed in it; see Psalm 52:6, the pestilence is always threatened, and it always comes, as a Judgment upon a wicked generation of men; and so it is ever to be considered, and is considered by good men, Leviticus 26:5.
John Calvin on Psalms 91:5-8
Psalm 91:5-8
5. Thou shalt not fear for the terror of the night; for the arrow that flieth by day; 6. For the destruction that walketh in darkness; for the pestilence [577] which wasteth at noon-day. [578] 7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; it shall not come nigh thee. 8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
5 Thou shalt not fear for the terror of the night. The Psalmist continues to insist upon the truth which I have just adverted to, that, if we confide with implicit reliance upon the protection of God, we will be secure from every temptation and assault of Satan. It is of importance to remember, that those whom G…
Nevertheless with your eyes you shall consider, and you shall see the retribution of sinners. You shall see the corpses of the dead, and you shall marvel at the majesty of the Lord and Savior. And you shall see the retribution of sinners. The ruin of sinners is their destruction. What he says is this: You who have made the Lord your refuge look with your eyes, secure, upon the retribution of the heretics, since you have guarded yourself from their traditions.
"Nevertheless, with your eyes shall you behold, and see the reward of the ungodly" [Psalm 91:8]. What is this? Why "nevertheless"? Because the wicked were allowed to tyrannize over Your servants, and to persecute them. Will they then have been allowed to persecute Your servants with impunity? Not with impunity, for although You have permitted them, and Your own have thence received a brighter crown, "nevertheless," etc. For the evil which they willed, not the good they unconsciously were the agents of, will be recompensed them. All that is wanting is the eye of faith, by which we may see that they are raised for a time only, while they shall mourn for evermore; and to those into whose hands is given temporal power over the servants of God, it shall be said, "Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." [Matthew 25:41] But if every man have but eyes in the sense in which it is said, "With your eyes shall you behold," it is no unimportant thing to look upon the wicked flourishing in this life, and to have an eye to him, to consider what will become of him in the end, if he fail to reform his ways: for those who now would thunder upon others, will afterwards feel the thunderbolt themselves.
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
Privileges Of Saints · Secure during public calamities — Secure during public calamities
Punishment Of The Wicked, The · Is the reward of their sins — Is the reward of their sins
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 91:3-8
יקושׁ, as in Pro 6:5; Jer 5:26, is the dullest toned from for יקושׁ or יוקשׁ, Psa 124:7. What is meant is death, or "he who has the power of death," Heb 2:14, cf. Ti2 2:26. "The snare of the fowler" is a figure for the peril of one's life, Ecc 9:12. In connection with Psa 91:4 we have to call to mind Deu 32:11 : God protects His own as an eagle with its large strong wing. אברה is nom. unitatis, a pinion, to אבר, Isa 40:31; and the Hiph. הסך, from סכך, with the dative of the object, like the Kal in Psa 140:8, signifies to afford covering, protection. The ἅπαξ λεγ. סחרה, according to its stem-word, is that which encompasses anything round about, and here beside צנּה, a weapon of defence surr…
The reference to disease represents any kind of affliction.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 91:8
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. The sight shall reveal both the justice and the mercy of God; in them that perish the severity of God will be manifest, and in the believer's escape the richness of divine goodness will be apparent. Joshua and Caleb verified this promise. The Puritan preachers during the plague of London must have been much impressed with this verse as they came out of their hiding places to proclaim mercy and judgment to the dissolute age which was so sorely visited with the pest. The sight of God's judgments softens the heart, excites a solemn awe, creates grati…
