properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
almost
כִּמְעַ֓טkim.'At
H4592
a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
dwelt
שָֽׁכְנָ֖הsha.khe.Nah
H7931
to reside or permanently stay (literally or figurativel… · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
silence
דוּמָ֣הdu.Mah
H1745
silence · noun, common feminine singular 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 124:1-2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
Psalms 31:17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
Psalms 118:13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
2 Timothy 4:16-17 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Psalms 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psalms 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Psalms 125:1 They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
Psalms 142:4-5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 94:12–end
The psalmist, having denounced tribulation to those that trouble God's people, here assures those that are troubled of rest. See Th2 1:6, Th2 1:7. He speaks comfort to suffering saints from God's promises and his own experience.
I. From God's promises, which are such as not only save them from being miserable, but secure a happiness to them (Psa 94:12): Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest. Here he looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God, which gives it another name and puts quite another color upon it. The enemies break in pieces God's people (Psa 94:5); they aim at no less; but the truth of the matter is that God by them chastens his people, as the father the so…
Unless the Lord had been my help,.... Against her enemies, which were so many and mighty, and her friends so few and feeble, and having no heart to defend her cause; especially this will be the case at the time of the slaying of the witnesses; but the Lord will appear, and help her; the Spirit of life, from him, shall enter into them, and cause them to live again, and to ascend up to heaven; and shall destroy great numbers of their enemies, and the rest shall be frightened, and give glory to God, Revelation 11:11,
my soul had almost dwelt in silence; or "within a little", or "must quickly" (e); not only have been, but must have dwelt, continued in silence, in the grave; see Psalm 115:17 his…
Psalm 94:16-19
16. Who will rise up for me against my adversaries? who will stand up for me [32] against the workers of iniquity? 17. Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul had well nigh dwelt in silence. [33] 18. If I said, My foot has fallen, thy kindness, O Jehovah! has held me up. [34] 19. In the multitude of my thoughts, [35] thy comforts within me delight my soul. [36]
16. Who will rise up for me against my adversaries? Here the Psalmist points out, in a lively and graphic manner, how destitute he was of all human aid. As if at the moment in danger, he cries out -- Who will stand up for me? Who will oppose himself to my enemies? And immediately afterwards he replies, that had not G…
The Church Fathers
"Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again. My soul would have been held fast among the dead, if your soul had not risen again from the dead.
"If the Lord," he saith, "had not helped me: within a little my soul had dwelt in hell" (ver. 17). I had almost plunged into that pit which is preparing for sinners: that is, my soul had dwelt in hell. Because he already began to waver, and nearly to consent, he looked back unto the Lord. Suppose, for example's sake, he was insulted to tempt him to iniquity. For sometimes the wicked flock together, and insult the good; especially if they are more in number, and if they have taken him alone, as there is often much chaff about one grain of wheat (though there will not be when the heap hath been fanned); he is then taken among many wicked ones, is insulted, and surrounded; they wish to place themselves over him, they torment him and insult him for his very righteousness. A great Apostle! say they; Thou hast flown into heaven, as Elias did! Men do these things, so that sometime, when he listeneth to the tongue of men, he is ashamed to be good among the wicked. Let him therefore resist the evil; but not of his own strength, lest he become proud, and when he wishes to escape the proud, himself increase their number. ...
But why is there no fear of uttering an indirect lie? We do not deny that free will is healed by the grace of God, but we believe that we make progress through the daily grace of God, and we trust in its help. And people say, "It is in my own power to do good." If only people did do good! O empty boasting of wretchedness! Every day they disclaim sin, and in their boasting they attribute to themselves unaided free will, not scrutinizing their conscience, which cannot be healed but by grace, so as to say, "Be merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." What would those do who boast of their own free will—which is not denied so long as it is helped by the grace of God—if death had now been swallowed up in victory, if our mortal were putting on immortality and our corruptible were putting on incorruption? Behold, their wounds fester, and they seek a remedy in pride. They do not say with the just person, "Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelled in hell." They do not say with the saint, "Except the Lord guards the city, he watches in vain that guards it."
Dictionary and topics
Dumah — Silence, (comp. Ps. 94:17), the fourth son of Ishmael; also the tribe descended from him; and hence also the region in Arabia which they inhabited (Gen. 25:14; 1 Chr. 1:30). There was also a town of…
Blessing · SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD — SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD
Grace Of God · 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).
In the fifth strophe the poet celebrates the praise of the Lord as his sole, but also trusty and most consolatory help. The meaning of the question in Psa 94:16 is, that there is no man who would rise and succour him in the conflict with the evil-doers; ל as in Exo 14:25; Jdg 6:31, and עם (without נלחם or the like) in the sense of contra, as in Psa 55:19, cf. Ch2 20:6. God alone is his help. He alone has rescued him from death. היה is to be supplied to לוּלי: if He had not been, or: if He were not; and the apodosis is: then very little would have been wanting, then it would soon have come to this, that his soul would have taken up its abode, etc.; cf. on the construction Psa 119:92; Psa 124:…
The psalmist’s prayer resumes (see 94:1-7) with a desperate cry for the Lord’s justice; it concludes with the hopeful expectation that evil will end.
94:16 Only God has the power to stand up to the wicked (see 2:2).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 94:17
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. Without Jehovah's help, the psalmist declares that he should have died outright, and gone into the silent land, where no more testimonies can be borne for the living God. Or he may mean that he would not have had a word to speak against his enemies, but would have been wrapped in speechless shame. Blessed be God, we are not left to that condition yet, for the Almighty Lord is still the helper of all those who look to him. Our inmost soul is bowed down when we see the victories of the Lord's enemies—we cannot brook it, we cover our mouths in confusion;…
