The measuring lines (הבלים) are cast (Micah 2:5) and fall to any one just where and as far as his property is assigned to him; so that נפל חבל (Joshua 17:5) is also said of the falling to any one of his allotted portion of land. נעמים (according to the Masora defective as also in Psalm 16:11 נעמות) is a pluralet., the plural that is used to denote a unity in the circumstances, and a similarity in the relations of time and space, Ges. ֗108, 2, a; and it signifies both pleasant circumstances, Job 36:11, and, as here, a pleasant locality, Lat. amaena (to which נעמות in Psalm 16:11, more strictly corresponds). The lines have fallen to him in a charming district, viz., in the pleasurable fellowship of God, this most blessed domain of love has become his paradisaic possession. With אף he rises from the fact to the perfect contentment which it secures to him: such a heritage seems to him to be fair, he finds a source of inward pleasure and satisfaction in it. נחלת - according to Ew. 173, d, lengthened from the construct form נהלת (like נגינת Psalm 61:1); according to Hupfeld, springing from נחלתי (by the same apocope that is so common in Syriac, perhaps like אמרתּ Psalm 16:1 from אמרתּי) just like זמרת Exodus 15:2 - is rather, since in the former view there is no law for the change of vowel and such an application of the form as we find in Psalm 60:13 (Psalm 108:13) is opposed to the latter, a stunted form of נחלתה: the heritage equals such a heritage pleases me, lit., seems fair to me (שׁפר, cognate root ספר, צפר, cognate in meaning בשׂר, Arab. bs̆r, to rub, polish, make shining, intr. שׁפר to be shining, beautiful). עלי of beauty known and felt by him (cf. Esther 3:9 with 1 Samuel 25:36 טוב עליו, and the later way of expressing it Daniel 3:32). But since the giver and the gift are one and the same, the joy he has in the inheritance becomes of itself a constant thanksgiving to and blessing of the Giver, that He (אשׁר quippe qui) has counselled him (Psalm 73:24) to choose the one thing needful, the good part. Even in the night-seasons his heart keeps watch, even then his reins admonish him (יסּר, here of moral incitement, as in Isaiah 8:11, to warn). The reins are conceived of as the seat of the blessed feeling that Jahve is his possession (vid., Psychol. S. 268; tr. p. 316). He is impelled from within to offer hearth-felt thanks to his merciful and faithful God. He has Jahve always before him, Jahve is the point towards which he constantly directs his undiverted gaze; and it is easy for him to have Him thus ever present, for He is מימיני (supply הוּא, as in Psalm 22:29; Psalm 55:20; Psalm 112:4), at my right hand (i.e., where my right hand begins, close beside me), so that he has no need to draw upon his power of imagination. The words בּל־אמּוט, without any conjunction, express the natural effect of this, both in consciousness and in reality: he will not and cannot totter, he will not yield and be overthrown.

Psalm 17:1 Parallel Commentaries

A.M.

2942 B.C.

1062

Psalm 86:1 Bow down your ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.

Psalm 142:1 I cried to the LORD with my voice; with my voice to the LORD did I make my supplication.

Hear

Psalm 7:8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity that is in me.

Psalm 18:20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

Psalm 43:1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

Psalm 140:12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.

1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

the right [Heb.] justice
attend

Psalm 5:2 Listen to the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for to you will I pray.

Psalm 55:2,3 Attend to me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise...

Psalm 61:1 Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.

Psalm 66:19 But truly God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Psalm 142:6 Attend to my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.

2 Chronicles 7:15 Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

Nehemiah 1:6 Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you now...

Daniel 9:18,19 O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by your name...

not [out of feigned lips] [Heb.] without lips of deceit

Psalm 18:44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves to me.

Psalm 145:18 The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.

Jeremiah 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, said the LORD.

Matthew 15:8 This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!