Psalm 37:30

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 37:30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom — And that freely, customarily, and from his heart, as the next verse shows. Having showed, in divers verses, God’s singular care over and respect to the righteous, he proceeds to give a character of them, and withal to assign one reason of the great difference of God’s way of dealing with them, and with other men. And his tongue talketh of judgment — This respects either, 1st, The manner of his discourse: it is with wisdom and judgment; or, rather, 2d, The matter of it, which is God’s judgment, word, or law, as it follows, Psalm 37:31. While the discourses of other men are either wicked, or vain and useless, his are serious, pious, and edifying, concerning the word and ways of God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:21-33 The Lord our God requires that we do justly, and render to all their due. It is a great sin for those that are able, to deny the payment of just debts; it is a great misery not to be able to pay them. He that is truly merciful, will be ever merciful. We must leave our sins; learn to do well, and cleave to it. This is true religion. The blessing of God is the spring, sweetness, and security of all earthly enjoyments. And if we are sure of this, we are sure not to want any thing good for us in this world. By his grace and Holy Spirit, he directs the thoughts, affections, and designs of good men. By his providence he overrules events, so as to make their way plain. He does not always show them his way for a distance, but leads them step by step, as children are led. God will keep them from being ruined by their falls, either into sin or into trouble, though such as fall into sin will be sorely hurt. Few, if any, have known the consistent believer, or his children, reduced to abject, friendless want. God forsakes not his saints in affliction; and in heaven only the righteous shall dwell for ever; that will be their everlasting habitation. A good man may fall into the hands of a messenger of Satan, and be sorely buffeted, but God will not leave him in his enemy's hands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom - That is, It is a characteristic of the righteous to speak "wise things;" not to utter folly. His conversation is serious, earnest, true, pure; and his words are faithful, kind, and just. This, as a part of human conduct, is one of the reasons why God will bless him with prosperity and length of days.

And his tongue talketh of judgment - That is, of just or righteous things. See Matthew 12:35.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30, 31. The righteous described as to the elements of character, thought, word, and action.

The Treasury of David

30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

Psalm 37:30

"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom." Where the whole Psalm is dedicated to a description of the different fates of the just and the wicked, it was meet to give a test by which they could be known. A man's tongue is no ill index of his character. The mouth betrays the heart. Good men, as a rule, speak that which is to edifying, sound speech, religious conversation, consistent with the divine illumination which they have received. Righteousness is wisdom in action, hence all good men are practically wise men, and well may the speech be wise. "His tongue talketh of judgment." He advocates justice, gives an honest verdict on things and men, and he foretells that God's judgments will come upon the wicked, as in the former days. His talk is neither foolish nor ribald, neither vapid nor profane. Our conversation is of far more consequence than some men imagine.

Psalm 37:31

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." The best thing in the best place, producing the best results. Well might the man's talk be so admirable when his heart was so well stored. To love holiness, to have the motives and desires sanctified, to be in one's inmost nature obedient to the Lord - this is the surest method of making the whole run of our life efficient for its great ends, and even for securing the details of it, our steps from any serious mistake. To keep the even tenor of one's way, in such times as these, is given only to those whose hearts are sound towards God, who can, as in the text, call God their God. Policy slips and trips, it twists and tacks, and after all is worsted in the long run, but sincerity plods on its plain pathway and reaches the goal.

Psalm 37:32

"The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him." If it were not for the laws of the land, we should soon see a massacre of the righteous. Jesus was watched by his enemies, who were thirsting for his blood: his disciples must not look for favour where there Master found hatred and death.

Psalm 37:33

"The Lord will not leave him in his hand." God often appears to deliver his servants, and when he does not do so in this life as to their bodies, he gives their souls such joy and peace 'that they triumphantly rise beyond their tormentor's power. We may be in the enemy's hand for awhile, as Job was, but we cannot be left there. "Nor condemn him when he is judged." Time shall reverse the verdict of haste, or else eternity shall clear away the condemnation of time. In due season just men will be justified. Temporary injustices are tolerated, in the order of Providence, for purposes most wise; but the bitter shall not always be called sweet; not light for ever be traduced as darkness; the right shall appear in due season; the fictitious and pretentious shall be unmasked, and the real and true shall be revealed. If we have done faithfully, we may appeal from the petty sessions of society to the solemn assize of the great day.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Speaketh; and that freely, and customarily, and from his heart, as the next verse shows. Having showed in divers verses God’s singular care over and respect to the righteous, he proceeds to give a character of them, and withal to assign one reason of the great difference of God’s dealings with them and with other men. Wisdom and judgment; either,

1. For the manner of it, with wisdom and judgment. Or rather,

2. For the matter of it, heavenly wisdom, and God’s judgment, or word, or law, as it follows, Psalm 37:31. When the discourses of other men are either wicked, or vain and useless, his are serious, and edifying, and pious, concerning the word and ways of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,.... Or "meditateth wisdom" (a); that is, utters the wisdom he has been meditating upon; see Psalm 69:3; he meditates and speaks of the wisdom of God, which appears in the works of creation, providence, and grace; and of Christ, who is wisdom itself, and the wisdom of God essentially; and who, as Mediator, has the spirit of wisdom resting on him, the treasures of wisdom hid in him, and is made wisdom to his people: and righteous men meditate upon and speak of the glories of his person, the fulness of his grace, and the works of his hands; as also of the Gospel, which is the wisdom of God, mysterious, hidden, ancient wisdom, ordained before the world for their glory; and likewise of that internal wisdom, and experience of divine grace, the Lord has made them to know in the hidden part; which lies in the knowledge of themselves, and in a spiritual, experimental, and saving knowledge of Christ, and the way of salvation by him; and his mouth delivers out wise sayings, and useful instructions, fetched out of the word of God, and founded on experience and observation;

and his tongue talketh of judgment; of the judgment which the righteous God ordinarily ministers in a providential way; and of his extraordinary and awful judgments, which have been or are in the earth; these he takes notice of for his own use, and observes them to others for their instruction; and also of the last judgment, the judgment to come, which he speaks of as sure and certain, as universal and inevitable, and at which he must appear before God: and he talks of judgment or righteousness; that is, of the righteousness of Christ; he makes mention of this only as his justifying righteousness before God; he rejoices and glories in it, and desires to be found in it living and dying, and at judgment; and whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, and of good report, he thinks and speaks of them, and instructs his family, his children and servants, in them, that they may do them; see Genesis 18:19.

(a) Sept. "meditabitur", V. L. so Musculus: Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

The {t} mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

(t) These three points are required from the faithful, that their talk is godly, that God's law is in their heart, and that their life is upright.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. The mouth of the righteous meditateth wisdom,

And his tongue speaketh judgement.

Cp. Proverbs 10:31-32. The word rendered meditateth combines the ideas of meditation and meditative discourse. Vulg. meditabitur sapientiam. Cp. Psalm 1:2; Psalm 35:28; Joshua 1:8.

30, 31. Stanza of Pç. The secret of security.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom. (On the essential union of wisdom with goodness, see the Proverbs, passim.) And his tongue talketh of judgment; i.e. utters only what is morally right, and,, in accordance with' truth and goodness. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." A good man out of the good treasure of his heart can only bring forth good things (Matthew 12:34, 35). Psalm 37:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The verb הגה unites in itself the two meanings of meditating and of meditative utterance (vid., Psalm 2:1), just as אמר those of thinking and speaking. Psalm 37:31 in this connection affirms the stability of the moral nature. The walk of the righteous has a fixed inward rule, for the Tפra is to him not merely an external object of knowledge and a compulsory precept; it is in his heart, and, because it is the Tפra of his God whom he loves, as the motive of his actions closely united with his own will. On תּמעד, followed by the subject in the plural, compare Psalm 18:35; Psalm 73:2 Chethמb.