God Is the Judge

We give thanks to you, God.We give thanks, for your Name is near.Men tell about your wondrous works.

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

The psalm opens with thanks said twice. The reason given is that God's Name is near, and people tell of his wondrous works.

Also read Psalm 58:1, Psalm 138:2, Psalm 76:1, Psalm 44:1

When I choose the appointed time,I will judge blamelessly.

When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.

The voice changes here. The speaker chooses the appointed time and promises to judge blamelessly, which in this psalm is the work of God.

Also read Psalm 102:13, Ecclesiastes 3:17, Psalm 78:70-72, 2 Samuel 5:3

The earth and all its inhabitants quake.I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

Even when the earth and all its people quake, the speaker says, I firmly hold its pillars. The picture is of a building shaking while its supports stay firm.

Also read 1 Samuel 2:8, 1 Samuel 25:28, 1 Samuel 18:7, 2 Samuel 5:2

I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!”I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn.

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

A warning goes to the arrogant and the wicked: do not boast, and do not lift up the horn. In this psalm lifting the horn goes with boasting.

Also read Proverbs 8:5, Psalm 89:17, Psalm 94:8, Proverbs 1:22

Don’t lift up your horn on high.Don’t speak with a stiff neck.”

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

The warning continues. Do not raise your horn on high and do not speak with a stiff neck, a picture of someone who will not bend.

Also read Deuteronomy 31:27, Ezekiel 2:4, Acts 7:51, Exodus 32:9

For neither from the east, nor from the west,nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

The verse names three directions. Exaltation, being raised up, does not come from the east, the west or the south.

Also read Psalm 3:3

But God is the judge.He puts down one, and lifts up another.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

This is the center of the psalm. God is the judge, and he is the one who puts one person down and lifts another up.

Also read 2 Samuel 5:2, Daniel 5:18, 2 Samuel 3:17-18, Daniel 2:21-22

For in the LORD’s hand there is a cup,full of foaming wine mixed with spices.He pours it out.Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

The LORD holds a cup of foaming wine mixed with spices and pours it out. The wicked of the earth must drink it to the dregs, a picture of judgment received in full.

Also read Jeremiah 25:17, Isaiah 5:22, Psalm 60:3, Job 21:20

But I will declare this forever:I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

The writer answers with a lifelong promise. He will declare this forever and sing praises to the God of Jacob.

Also read Psalm 104:33, Psalm 9:14, Psalm 40:10, Psalm 145:1-2

I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

The psalm ends with the horn image again. The horns of the wicked will be cut off, and the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

Also read Luke 1:69, Jeremiah 48:25, 1 Samuel 2:1, Psalm 89:17