Psalm 36

Divine mercy in spite of wickedness
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Text
Explanation
 In this psalm, "The wickedness of man contrasted with the excellency of God's perfections and dispensations; and the benefit of the latter sought, and the evils of the former deprecated." JFB Commentary
 1 ¶ <<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.>> The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.   "The general sense of this difficult verse is, "that the wicked have no fear of God." The first clause may be rendered, "Saith transgression in my heart, in respect to the wicked, there is no fear," &c., that is, such is my reflection on men's transgressions." JFB Commentary.
 2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. 
 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
 4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
   2 - Be found to be hateful Literally, "to find his iniquity to hate." The idea is that he plans for God not to find his sin. Of course hating personal iniquity is our goal but the context is not one of repentance.
  3 - Words of his mouth He is progressively more evil. Compare ps01914.
.5 ¶ Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
.6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.
  Thy mercy In sharp contrast, David turns our attention to God. "Mercy" is from the Hebrew chesed, a word that does not translate simply into English.
  Great mountains Literally "mountains of God."
  Deep Hebrew tehom. See it in ge0102.
  Preservest God cares for His creatures ps14509, ps104, jon0411. We are responsible to be kind to animals.
.7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 
 8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
  Lovingkindness From chesed which was translated "mercy" in v5.
  Shadow ... wings See ps01708, Compare de3211.
  Abundantly satisfied What a wonderful God we serve. ep0320, lu0638, ps02305.
.9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
.10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
  Fountain For both spiritual and physical life. ps03412, jn0104, jn0526.
 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
 12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
  Fallen ... not ... rise Looking forward to the complete absence of those who do evil. de3311, ps14010, ob16, is1412, ez2819.
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