1
Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
My Thoughts
David, attacked by the enemy of slander, comes to God in prayer and praise and his only request is for the Lord to speak because he knows that a word from God is all he needs. In Luke 7:6-9 Jesus marveled at the Centurion when he asked for Jesus to just say the word and his servant would be healed because he recognized as David does here that all that is needed is for the Lord to speak. Not for him to respond and get into a war of words that will escalate, but to wait for the Lord to just “say the word.”. After that our job is simple we only need to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13) …………Bill
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Charles Spurgeon
Hold not thy peace. Mine enemies speak, be thou pleased to speak too. Break thy solemn silence, and silence those who slander me. It is the cry of a man whose confidence in God is deep, and whose communion with him is very close and bold. Note, that he only asks the Lord to speak: a word from God is all a believer needs.
“O God of my praise.” Thou whom my whole soul praises, be pleased to protect my honor and guard my praise. “My heart is fixed,” said he in the former psalm, “I will sing and give praise,” and now he appeals to the God whom he had praised. If we take care of God’s honor he will take care of ours. We may look to him as the guardian of our character if we truly seek his glory. If we live to God’s praise, he will in the long run give us praise among men.
“For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me.” Wicked men must needs say wicked things, and these we have reason to dread, but in addition, they utter false and deceitful things, and these are worst of all. There is no knowing what may come out of mouths which are at once lewd and lying. The misery caused to a good man by slanderous reports no heart can imagine but that which is wounded by them: in all Satan’s armory there are no worse weapons than deceitful tongues. To have a reputation, over which we have watched with daily care, suddenly bespattered with the foulest aspersions, is painful beyond description; but when wicked and deceitful men get their mouths fully opened we can hardly expect to escape any more than others.
“They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.” Lying tongues cannot lie still. Bad tongues are not content to vilify bad men but choose the most gracious of saints to be the objects of their attacks. Here is reason enough for prayer. The heart sinks when assailed with slander, for we know not what may be said next, what friend may be alienated, what evil may be threatened, or what misery may be caused to us and others. The air is full of rumors, and shadows impalpable flit around; the mind is confused with dread of unseen foes, and invisible arrows. What ill can be worse than to be assailed with slander,
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Enduring Word
Do not keep silent, O God of my praise: David was once again in trouble, beset by many enemies. The mouth of the wicked spoke against him, so he prayed that God would not be silent. He did not want the mouth of the deceitful to have the last word. (Guzik)
i. O God of my praise: “A resolute stand taken before the troubled thoughts surge in. The psalm will feel its way back to this vantage point, but only regain it in the last two verses.” (Kidner)
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Barnes
Hold not thy peace – That is, Speak for my defense – as if God had looked with unconcern on the wrongs which were done to him. See the notes at Psalms 83:1.
O God of my praise – The God whom I praise; whom I worship and adore. It implies that he was accustomed to praise him, and desired still to praise him. He sought that God would interpose now that he might have new occasion for praise.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful – literally, “The mouth of wickedness, and the mouth of deceit.” This acquaints us with the nature of the wrong which had been done him. It was slander; undeserved reproach.
Are opened against me – Margin, “have opened;” that is, have opened themselves.
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue – They have accused me of things which are not true; they have made false charges against me. David, as has not been uncommon with good people, was called repeatedly to this trial.
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John Gill
Hold not thy peace,…. Or be not as a deaf or dumb man, or like one that turns a deaf ear and will give no answer; so the Lord seems to his people when he does not give an immediate answer to their prayers and does not arise to help them; he seems to have forsaken them, and to stand at a distance from them; nor does he avenge them of their enemies; it is the Messiah, as man, that puts up this petition, and it agrees with Psalm 22:2.
O God of my praise; worthy of all praise, because of the perfections of his nature, and for the mercies he bestows; and is and ought to be the constant object of the praise of his people, and was the object of the praise of Christ; see Psalm 22:22, who praised him for his wonderful formation as man, having such a holy human nature, so suitable to his divine Person, and so fit for the service of his people; for his preservation from his enemies, and the deliverance of him from death and the grave, by his resurrection; for hearing his petitions, and for the special grace bestowed on his people; see Psalm 139:14. Or, “O God of my glorying “; in whom he gloried, of whom he boasted; as he often with exultation spoke of him as his God and Father: or, “the God that praises me”; for his praise was not of men, but of God, who by a voice from heaven declared him his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased. Matthew 3:17.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me,…. Or “of deceit” itself; most wicked and very deceitful men, who sometimes flattered and pretended friendship, as the Jews did to Christ, when they designed ill against him; though at other times their mouths were opened, and they poured out their calumnies and reproaches very freely and largely; traducing his person, and aspersing his character as a wicked man; blaspheming his miracles, as if done by the help of the devil; charging his doctrine with novelty, falsehood, and blasphemy; loading him with invidious names, as Samaritan, madman, &c; representing him as an enemy to the state, as a seditious person, and a disturber of the nation’s peace; particularly their mouths were opened against him when they called for his crucifixion, and would have no denial; and especially when he was on the cross, where they gaped upon him with their mouths, and poured out their scoffs and jeers at him; see Psalm 22:14.
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue, false witnesses rose up against him, and laid things to his charge he knew nothing of, and which they could not prove, Matthew 26:59.
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Matthew Henry
It is the unspeakable comfort of all good people that, whoever is against them, God is for them, and to him they may apply as to one that is pleased to concern himself for them. Thus David here.
He refers himself to God’s judgment (v. 1): “Hold not thy peace, but let my sentence come forth from thy presence, Ps. 17:2. Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee.” God saw what his enemies did against him, but seemed to connive at it, and to keep silent: “Lord,” says he, “do not always do so.” The title he gives to God is observable: “O God of my praise! the God in whom I glory, and not in any wisdom or strength of my own, from whom I have everything that is my praise, or the God whom I have praised, and will praise, and hope to be forever praising.” He had before called God the God of his mercy (Ps. 59:10), here he calls him the God of his praise. Forasmuch as God is the God of our mercies we must make him the God of our praises; if all is of him and from him, all must be to him and for him.
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A.R. Fausset
1. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise—(cf. v. 30.) Thou hast heretofore given me continual reason to praise thee; do not now withhold thy word of power in my behalf (cf. Ps. 28:1; 35:22), that I may again have cause to praise thee (cf. Deut. 10:21; Ps. 22:3; 44:8; Jer. 17:14). As the enemy’s “mouth” and “tongue” “speak against me” (v. 2) for my destruction, so “hold not thy peace,” or withhold not thy word, for my salvation.
2. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. But the Hebrew verb is active [פָּתַח], and therefore the translation must be, ‘They (mine adversaries) open the mouth of the wicked (such a mouth as the wicked opens), and the mouth of deceit against me.’ The mouth of the wicked seeks the destruction of the godly. The mouth of deceit makes treachery and false accusation its means. To this latter refers the next clause. they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. The circumstances attending Messiah’s condemnation answer to this description (Matt. 26:59, “The chief priests, and elders … sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death”).
A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Job–Isaiah, vol. III (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 342.
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KJV W/ STRONGS BIBLE – PSALMS 109
109:1 To the chief Musician 5329 8764, A Psalm 4210 of David 1732. Hold not thy peace 2790 8799, O God 430 of my praise 8416;
109:2 For the mouth 6310 of the wicked 7563 and the mouth 6310 of the deceitful 4820 are opened 6605 8804 against me: they have spoken 1696 8765 against me with a lying 8267 tongue 3956.(of the deceitful: Heb. of deceit)(are opened: Heb. have opened themselves)
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 109:1-2
1 Hold not thy tongue, ô God of my (a) praise.
2 For the mouth of the wicked, and the mouth ful of deceit are opened upon me: they have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
(a) Though all the world condemn me, yet you will approve my innocence, and that is a sufficient praise to me.
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…“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today… Exodus 14:13 NKJV
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