who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Parallel Translations
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who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
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Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Show all 3 translations
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Who forgiveth all thine iniquity; who healeth all Thy diseases;
Who redeemeth Thy life from the pit; who encompasseth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thine old age with good things; so that Thy youth is renewed like the eagle.
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Cross-references (46)
- Exodus 15:26 (v3) He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to…
- Isaiah 53:5 (v3) But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his…
- Isaiah 40:31 (v5) but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They…
- Jeremiah 17:14 (v3) Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
- Psalms 107:9 (v5) For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.
Show all 46 cross-references
- Psalms 30:2 (v3) Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
- Psalms 41:3-4 (v3) Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have…
- Psalms 147:3 (v3) He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
- Mark 2:10-11 (v3) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I tell you, arise, take up…
- James 5:15 (v3) and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 (v5) Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the…
- Isaiah 43:25 (v3) I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- 2 Corinthians 4:16 (v5) Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
- Psalms 56:13 (v4) For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
- Psalms 63:5 (v5) My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
- Psalms 104:28 (v5) You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.
- Mark 2:5 (v3) Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
- Psalms 71:23 (v4) My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!
- Luke 7:47-48 (v3) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He…
- Psalms 103:12 (v4) As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
- Psalms 107:17-22 (v3) Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities. Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to…
- Numbers 12:13 (v3) Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”
- Psalms 23:5 (v5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
- Psalms 34:22 (v4) Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.
- Psalms 8:5 (v4) For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
- Psalms 65:4 (v5) Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your…
- 1 Peter 5:4 (v4) When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
- Psalms 5:12 (v4) For you will bless the righteous. Yahweh, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.
- Psalms 130:8 (v3) He will redeem Israel from all their sins.
- Isaiah 33:24 (v3) The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
- Ephesians 1:7 (v3) in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- James 1:12 (v4) Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to…
- 2 Samuel 12:13 (v3) David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
- Revelation 5:9 (v4) They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
- Matthew 9:2-6 (v3) Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your…
- Numbers 21:7-9 (v3) The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take…
- Psalms 21:3 (v4) For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
- Hosea 2:15 (v5) I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth,…
- Genesis 48:16 (v4) the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and…
- Job 33:19-30 (v4) He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones, so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. His…
- Psalms 32:1-5 (v3) Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose…
- Psalms 38:1-7 (v3) Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard…
- Psalms 51:1-3 (v3) Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.…
- Psalms 65:11 (v4) You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.
- Psalms 115:15-16 (v5) Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men.
- Exodus 34:7 (v3) keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–4 3. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities He now enumerates…
3. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities He now enumerates the different kinds of the divine benefits, in considering which he has told us that we are too forgetful and slothful. It is not without cause that he begins with God’s pardoning mercy, for reconciliation with him is the fountain from which all other blessings flow. God’s goodness extends even to the ungodly; but they are, notwithstanding, so far from having the enjoyment of it, that they do not even taste it. The first then of all the blessings of which we have the true and substantial enjoyment, is that which consists in God’s freely pardoning and blotting out our sins, and receiving us into his favor. Yea, rather the forgiveness of sins, since it is accompanied with our restoration to the favor of God, also sanctifies whatever good things he bestows upon us, that they may contribute to our welfare. The second clause is; either a repetition of the same sentiment, or else it opens up a wider view of it; for the consequence of free forgiveness is, that God governs us by his Spirit, mortifies the lusts of our flesh, cleanses us from our corruptions, and restores us to the healthy condition of a godly and an upright life. These who understand the words, who healeth all thy diseases, as referring to the diseases of the body, and as implying that God, when he has forgiven our sins, also delivers us from bodily maladies, seem to put upon them a meaning too restricted. I have no doubt that the medicine spoken of has a respect to the blotting out of guilt; and, secondly, to the curing us of the corruptions inherent in our nature, which is effected by the Spirit of regeneration; and if any one will add as a third particular included, that God being once pacified towards us, also remits the punishment which we deserve, I will not object. Let us learn from this passage that, until the heavenly Physician succor us, we nourish within us, not only many diseases, but even many deaths.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–5 That is, the beginning and chiefest of all benefits,…
That is, the beginning and chiefest of all benefits, remission of sin.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Psa 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth…
Psa 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Ver. 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities] David not only taketh upon him with a holy imperiousness, laying God’s charge upon his soul to be thankful; but intending to show himself good cause why to be so, he worthily beginneth with remission of sin, as a complexive mercy, and such as comprehendeth all the rest. He had a crown of pure gold set upon his head, Psa 21:3; but here he blesseth God for a better crown; Psa 103:4, "Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness," &c. And how was this crown set on his head but by forgiving all his iniquities?
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Who healeth all thy diseases] Corporal and spiritual. Quod sanitas in corpore id sanctitas in corde. Jehovah Rophe, or the Lord the physician (as he is called, Exo 15:26), cureth his people on both sides, maketh them whole every whit. See Isa 19:22 Mat 8:17. He bore our diseases.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–5 1. Spiritual diseases, lusts or corruptions, which he subdues…
Either,
1. Spiritual diseases, lusts or corruptions, which he subdues and purgeth out by his grace; as this phrase is used, Psa 41:4; Isa 6:10; 53:5. Or,
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2. Corporal diseases or miseries, of which this word is used, 2Ch 21:18,19; Jer 14:18; 16:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,.... The psalmist explains here…
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,.... The psalmist explains here what he means by benefits, and gives a particular enumeration of them; and begins with the blessing of pardon, which is a special and peculiar benefit; it is according to the riches of divine grace, and the multitude of tender mercies; without which all outward blessings signify nothing; and, without a sense of this, a man is not in a suitable and proper frame to bless the Lord; and this being the first benefit a soul sensible of sin, its guilt and is concerned for, and seeks after; so enjoying it, it is the first he is thankful for: this is rightly ascribed to God; for none can forgive sins but he; and what he forgives are not mere infirmities, peccadillos, the lesser sins of life; but "iniquities", grosser sins, unrighteousnesses, impieties, the most enormous crimes, sins of a crimson and scarlet die; yea, "all" of them, though they are many, more than the hairs of a man's head; he abundantly pardons, multiplies pardons, as sins are multiplied, and leaves none unforgiven; original sin, actual sins, sins of heart, lip, and life, of omission and commission, all are forgiven for Christ's sake: and the special mercy is when a man has an application of this to himself, and can say to his soul, as David to his, God has forgiven "thine" iniquities; for though it may be observed with pleasure, and it is an encouragement to hope in the Lord, that he is a forgiving God, and has forgiven others, yet what would this avail a man, if his sins should not be forgiven? the sweetness of the blessing lies in its being brought home to a man's own soul: and it may be further observed, that this is a continued act; it is not said who has forgiven, and will forgive, though both are true; but "forgiveth", continues to forgive; for as there is a continual virtue in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, and in his blood to cleanse from all sin, so there is a continual flow of pardoning grace in the heart of God, which is afresh applied to the consciences of his people by his Spirit; and this is a blessing to be thankful for:
who healeth all thy diseases; not bodily ones, though the Lord is the physician of the bodies as well as of the souls of men, and sometimes heals the diseases of soul and body at once, as in the case of the paralytic man in the Gospel; but spiritual diseases, or soul maladies, are here meant; the same with "iniquities" in the preceding clause: sin is a natural, hereditary, epidemical, nauseous, and mortal disease; and there are many of them, a complication of them, in men, which God only can cure; and he heals them by his word, by means of his Gospel, preaching peace, pardon, and righteousness by Christ; by the blood, wounds, and stripes of his Son; by the application of pardoning grace and mercy; for healing diseases, and forgiving iniquities, are one and the same thing; see Isa 33:24, and this the Lord does freely, fully, and infallibly, and for which thanks are due unto him; and it would be very ungrateful, and justly resented, should they not be returned to him; see Luk 17:15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v5 The eagles - Which lives long in great strength…
The eagles - Which lives long in great strength and vigour.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Verse 3. Who forgiveth] The benefits are the following,
Verse 3. Who forgiveth] The benefits are the following,
1. Forgiveness of sin.
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2. Restoration of health: "Who healeth all thy diseases."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v4 Psa 103:4-5. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction —…
Psa 103:4-5. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction — Both temporal and eternal; from deadly dangers and miseries. Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness — That is, encompasseth and adorneth thee therewith, as with a crown. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things — Satisfieth all thy just desires and necessities. So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s — That is, as some interpret the words, As the eagle appears to renew her youth with her plumage, when she casts off all her old feathers, and gets new ones, whereby she seems to grow young again. But, as this is common to all birds, it is hardly to be supposed that the psalmist would have alluded to it here as if it were peculiar to the eagle. This circumstance, however, is most observable in hawks, vultures, and especially in eagles, which, when they are near a hundred years old, cast their feathers and become bald, like young ones, and then new feathers sprout out. But the psalmist seems chiefly to refer to the long lives of eagles, and their great strength and vigour at a very advanced age. Hence the old age of an eagle is used proverbially for a lively and vigorous old age.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities - Pardoning all thy…
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities - Pardoning all thy sins. That is, It is a characteristic of God to pardon sin, and I have evidence that he has done it in my own case, and this is a ground for praise. It is observable that this is the first thing in view of the psalmist - the first of the “benefits” which he had received from God, or the first thing in importance among his acts or his dealings, which called for praise. Properly considered, this is the first thing which calls for praise. That God is a merciful God - that he has declared his willingness to pardon sin - that he has devised and revealed a way by which this can be done, and that he has actually done it in our own case, is the most important matter for which we should praise him. When we understand all the things which most affect our welfare, and which enter most deeply into our happiness here and hereafter, we shall find that this is a blessing compared with which all other favors are comparative trifles.
Who healeth all thy diseases - Perhaps, in the case of the psalmist, referring to some particular instance in which he had been recovered from dangerous sickness. The word rendered “diseases” - תחלואים tachălû'iym - occurs only in the plural form. It is translated “sicknesses,” in Deu 29:22; “diseases,” as here, in 2Ch 21:19; “them that are sick,” in Jer 14:18; and “grievous (deaths)” in Jer 16:4. It does not elsewhere occur. It is applicable to all forms of sickness; or in this place it may refer to some particular diseases with which David had been afflicted. We have several allusions in the Psalms to times when the authors of the psalms were afflicted with sickness. So in the Psalms of David. Compare Psa 6:2; Psa 38:7; Psa 41:8. The thought here is, that it is a proper ground of praise to God that he has the power of healing disease. All instances of restoration to health are illustrations of this, for whatever may be the skill of physicians, or the wise adaptation of means, healing virtue comes from God alone.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Who forgiveth—The chief blessing to a guilty soul.…
3. Who forgiveth—The chief blessing to a guilty soul. But this is not only an acknowledgment of the uniform readiness of God to forgive, (as Exo_34:6-7,) but a special confession of what God had done for him: and the freshness of David’s joy, and confession of pardon, and his repeated recurrence to the same thing, (Psa_103:8; Psa_103:10; Psa_103:12,) evidence some recent remarkable instance of this forgiving grace, which accords well with the date and authorship assigned in the introduction. Compare Psalms 23, 116. The same applies to the second clause of the verse. Compare Psalms 38
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. The Psalmist may have had in mind Exo_15:26,…
3. The Psalmist may have had in mind Exo_15:26, “I am Jehovah that healeth thee”; and Deu_29:22, where the somewhat rare word for ‘diseases’ is used of the judgements with which the land is to be punished for Israel’s sins. The word need not be limited to bodily sickness, but may include all suffering. The removal of the punishment of sin is the proof of its forgiveness. Cp. Psa_85:1-3; Psa_147:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 (3) Forgiveth.—The first “benefit” to one who aims at…
(3) Forgiveth.—The first “benefit” to one who aims at the higher life is the knowledge of the Divine readiness to forgive and renew, and this, as Augustine remarks, implies a quick moral sense: “God’s benefits will not be before our eyes unless our sins are also before our eyes.”
Diseases.—Here chiefly in a moral sense, as the parallelism “iniquity” shows, even if the next verse, taken literally, implies an allusion to physical suffering as well.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. This is the first…
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. This is the first and greatest of "benefits," and is therefore placed first, as that for which we ought, above all else, to bless God. God"s forgiveness of sin is a frequent topic with the psalmists. (see Psa_25:11, 18 32:1 51:9 85:2 86:5, etc.) Who healeth all thy diseases. This is best understood literally not as mere "parallelism." Among the greatest blessings which we receive of God is recovery from sickness.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 3. God the Healer of disease.
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Though this psalm is one of the most familiar, both its authorship and its particular occasion are quite unknown. Early in the psalm this text comes. It is part of a review of God"s personal mercies to the psalmist, but it is doubtful whether the psalmist referred to times of bodily disease and bodily healing, or to the soul diseases which answer to "iniquities." In view of the way in which Eastern poets loved to repeat their thought with slightly altered phraseology, it is quite possible that the text may read, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, and healeth all thy soul diseases those soul conditions of frailty and infirmity, out of which iniquities come." But, however that may be, it is certainly true that God is the Healer of all men"s diseases. The work of the physician must always be traced back to the Divine Physician, who alone has proved to be the recuperative force in human vitality. God has healed us again and again through the agency of the doctor and the medicine.
I WHAT IS SAID ABOUT MEN"S SICKNESSES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? Abraham and Isaac died of sheer old age. So indeed did Jacob, but there is a fuller reference to his ending. For all that appears in the record, neither the patriarchs nor their families suffered any sicknesses during their lives. Evidently, these experiences of sickness were not then seen in their relation to character, and so there was no need to leave any narratives concerning them. Sickness is reckoned with under the Mosaic system, but in a very peculiar way. It was treated as an outward sign and consequence of sin; both the sick person and those who tended him being treated as "unclean." To limit this rule because, in its working, it occasioned very serious family and social disturbance, one particular form of disease that most typical form of disease, leprosy was taken as the representative of all forms, and the law of the "unclean" was strictly enforced in relation to it. Judaism never suggests the idea that character is cultured by the experience of sickness; and so even its priests and Levites offer no example of tending the sick poor. Sickness, in the old economy, served its purpose simply as the outward sign of God"s judgment on sin. When Job"s friends came to comfort him, they could think of no other view of sickness than this, though Job felt sure that there must be a higher meaning, if only he could reach it. In the historical books the references to sickness other than great pestilences are very brief. One king suffered from internal disease, and one had the gout, but there is only one instance in which any details of a sickness are given, and in that case the relation of it to character first clearly appears. Hezekiah, in the middle of his reign, but before any son and heir was born to him, was smitten down with a bad kind of boil or carbuncle, which put his life in peril. He turned to God in his distress, and gained from God recovery. Evidently he prayed the prayer of faith. As evidently the Prophet Isaiah prayed for him the prayer of.faith. And yet it is significantly told us that means were used to ensure his recovery, "Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover." The Book of Job is not a discussion of the question What ought a godly man to do who is smitten with sickness? Its subject is rather this What moral end can explain the Divine permission of sickness? One king was seriously reproved because, when he was ill, he "sought unto the physicians, and not unto God." But the wrong was not in his seeking the help of the physicians, but in his failing to seek God first, and to let him send him to the physicians: All we can say about this matter, in connection with the Old Testament, is that when moral considerations began to prevail over ceremonial ones, a truer and worthier view of sickness began to gain power. Then sickness was seen to be one of the great moral agencies by means of which God wrought his higher work in characters and in souls.
II WHAT IS SAID ABOUT SICKNESS IN THE GOSPELS? Our Lord, as a moral and spiritual Teacher, our Lord as a Saviour, found in men"s sicknesses, infirmities, and. disabilities his best agencies for reaching their souls with saving influences. To him suffering was the issue and consequence of sin. And so it was to everybody in his day. Sickness illustrated sin. Suffering produced moods of mind in men which laid them open to his higher influence. So he worked very largely for and among sick people, always trying to get their sicknesses sanctified to them, even in the very act of healing or removing them. He revealed fully to the world the moral relations of sickness, the moral possibilities that lie in sickness. Our Lord"s dealing with it is unique, not so much because it was supernatural, as because it was moral. He dealt with it only as a means of securing soul healing. Since Christ"s time, sickness, disease, and disability have taken rank among God"s remedial agencies, God"s character culturing agencies, God"s sanctifying agencies.
III WHAT IS SAID ABOUT SICKNESS IS THE EPISTLES? The apostles never claimed to exert any independent powers. They always healed "in the Name of Christ." They conceived of themselves as holding that special ability in trust for particular ends in the propagation of the gospel. They did not heal everybody. They only healed when the healing could make a way for the gospel, draw attention to it, or prove its Divine origin. And the historical fact is that the power of healing passed away with the first generation of disciples. It is found, in later ages, only in separate and highly endowed individuals, to whom has been entrusted a genius for healing. The case of the Apostle Paul is a remarkable one. He had the gift of healing. He did heal the father of Publius. But he was not carried away by the gift he possessed. He held all his gifts under the most careful restraints. His friend and fellow labourer, Epaphroditus, was "sick, nigh unto death," but St. Paul put forth no power to heal him. God had mercy on him, and restored him in the ordinary way. Trophimus was left at Miletum sick, but it did not enter the apostle"s mind that he, or the eiders, could have cured him if they had tried. St. Paul himself had some bodily infirmity which he calls a "thorn in the flesh," but he simply prayed about it, as we pray about such things now. The reference made to this matter by the Apostle James has been gravely misunderstood. It must be read in the light of the chief point he deals with in his Epistle, viz. that faith which cannot get expression in action is not acceptable faith, it is mere sentiment. Anointing sick people with oil was no religious ceremony in the days of the apostle. Using oil in the toilet was simply the sign of health. Those who prayed in faith for the healing of the sick should show their faith by acting as if their prayer was answered. Get the sick man up, dress him, anoint him, in the full confidence that God answers prayer. So Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth thine hand!" If he believed, he would do what Christ told him, and find power come in so doing. In every age God has healed diseases through his own appointed healing agencies; and those we must use in faith. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Ver. 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Here David…
Ver. 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Here David begins his list of blessings received, which he rehearses as themes and arguments for praise. He selects a few of the choicest pearls from the casket of divine love, threads them on the string of memory, and hangs them about the neck of gratitude. Pardoned sin is, in our experience, one of the choicest boons of grace, one of the earliest gifts of mercy, in fact, the needful preparation for enjoying all that follows it. Till iniquity is forgiven, healing, redemption, and satisfaction are unknown blessings. Forgiveness is first in the order of our spiritual experience, and in some respects first in value. The pardon granted is a present oneforgiveth;it is continual, for he still forgiveth;it is divine, for God gives it; it is far reaching, for it removes all our sins; it takes in omissions as well as commissions, for both these are in-equities;and it is most effectual, for it is as real as the healing, and the rest of the mercies with which it is placed.
Who healeth all thy diseases. When the cause is gone, namely, iniquity, the effect ceases. Sicknesses of body and soul came into the world by sin, and as sin is eradicated, diseases bodily, mental, and spiritual will vanish, till "the inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick." Many-sided is the character of our heavenly Father, for, having forgiven as a judge, he then cures as a physician. He is all things to us, as our needs call for him, and our infirmities do but reveal him in new characters.
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"In him is only good,
In me is only ill,
My ill but draws his goodness forth,
And me he loveth still."
God gives efficacy to medicine for the body, and his grace sanctifies the soul. Spiritually we are daily under his care, and he visits us, as the surgeon does his patient; healing still (for that is the exact word) each malady as it arises. No disease of our soul baffles his skill, he goes on healing all, and he will do so till the last trace of taint has gone from our nature. The two alls of this verse are further reasons for all that is within us praising the Lord.
The two blessings of this verse the Psalmist was personally enjoying, he sang not of others but of himself, or rather of his Lord, who was daily forgiving and healing him. He must have known that it was so, or he could not have sung of it. He had no doubt about it, he felt in his soul that it was so, and, therefore, he bade his pardoned and restored soul bless the Lord with all its might.
Ver. 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Thine iniquities are more than can be numbered; and they are an intolerable burden, so that thy soul under them "can in no wise lift up herself." He forgiveth them all. He relieveth thee of all. He taketh the dreadful burden from thy back, the galling yoke from thy neck, and makes thee free... Thine iniquities are in-equities. There is nothing just or right in thee. Thy very nature is an inequity bringing forth nothing but in-equities. Inequities towards thy God, in-equities towards thy neighbour, and in-equities towards thyself, make up the whole of thy life. Thou art a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. John Pulsford, in. "Quiet Hours, "1857.
Ver. 3. All thine iniqities. In this lovely and well-known Psalm, we have great fulness of expression, in reference to the vital subject of redemption.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. It is not "some" or "many of thine iniquities." This would never do. If so much as the very smallest iniquity, in thought, word, or act, were left unforgiven, we should be just as badly off, just as far from God, just as unfit for heaven, just as exposed to hell, as though the whole weight of our sins were yet upon us. Let the reader ponder this deeply. It does not say, "Who forgiveth thine iniquities previous to conversion." There is no such notion as this in Scripture. When God forgives, he forgives like himself. The source, the channel, the power, and the standard of forgiveness are all divine. When God cancels a man's sins, he does so according to the measure in which Christ bore those sins. Now, Christ not only bore some or many of the believer's sins, he bore them "all, "and, therefore, God forgives "all." God's forgiveness stretches to the length of Christ's atonement; and Christ's atonement stretches to the length of every one of the believer's sins, past, present, and future. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1Jo 1:9. "Things New and Old, "1858.
Ver. 3. Who healeth all thy diseases. In one of the prisons of a certain country, was a man who had committed high treason: for this crime he was in due time tried, and, being found guilty, was condemned to die. But more than this; he was afflicted with an inward disease, which generally proves mortal. Now we may truly say, that this man is doubly dead; that his life is forfeited twice over: the laws of his country have pronounced him guilty of death, and therefore his life is forfeited once to the laws of his country, and, if he had not died in this way, he must die of his disease; he is, therefore, "twice dead." Now suppose that the sovereign of that country had made up his mind to wish to save that prisoner's life, could he save it? He could indeed take off the penalty of the law; he could give him a free pardon, and so restore the life, as sure as it is forfeited by the just sentence of the law; but, unless he could also send a physician, who could cure the man of his disease, he would die by that, and his pardon would only lengthen out for a few weeks or months a miserable existence. And if this disease were not only a mortal disease, but an infectious one, likely to spread itself by the breath of the patient, and a contagious one, likely to spread by the touch of the patient's body or clothes, then it would be dangerous to others to come near that man; and unless he were cured, and thoroughly and entirely cured, the man, though pardoned, would still be a fit inmate only for the pest-house, and could not be received into the houses of the healthy. You have seen such a case as this, brethren; you are at this very moment, perhaps, sitting close by a person in this case yes, and perhaps you are in this very case yourself! Perhaps, do I say? I should say, you ARE in this very case, unless you are really and truly a Christian, a believer in Christ Jesus. W. Weldon Champneys, 1842.
Ver. 3. All thy diseases. The body experienceth the melancholy consequences of Adam's offence, and is subject to many infirmities; but the soul is subject to as many. What is pride, but lunacy; what is anger, but a fever; what is avarice, but a dropsy; what is lust, but a leprosy; what is sloth, but a dead palsy? Perhaps there are spiritual maladies similar to all corporeal ones. George Horne.
Ver. 3. All thy diseases. O my soul, consider the multitude of infirmities, to which thou art subject; thou hast many suggestions of the flesh; and thou art apt to yield unto them, and strivest not against them by earnest prayer and holy meditations; this is an infirmity. In thy prayers to God, thy thoughts are often wandering, and thou thinkest of other matters, far unworthy of that great Majesty to whom thou prayest: or if not so, yet thou art quickly weary, thy spirits are drowsy in it, and thou hadst rather be doing of something else; this is an infirmity. And indeed thou hast infirmities in all thy senses. In thy seeing, thou canst see a mote in thy brother's eye, and canst not see a beam in thine own eye. In thy smelling, thou thinkest suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet, that the savour of gain is sweet, from whence soever it rise. In thy hearing, thou art gladder to hear the profane and idle discourses, than such as be serious and holy; these are thy infirmities: and, O my soul, if I should cut thee up into as many parts as an anatomist, and examine the infirmities of every part, should I not have cause, just cause, to cry out with Saint Paul, O wretch that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? Who shall heal me of all these infirmities? for whether we call them sins, and then God forgives them; or call them infirmities, and then he heals them; they are to us, all one benefit; in God, all one kindness; that as either of them is well worth remembering; so for both of them, we have just cause to bless him and to praise his name. Sir Richard Baker.
Ver. 3. All thy diseases. Our understandings are so bad that they understand not their own badness; our wills, which are the queens of our souls, become the vassals of sin; our memory, like jet, good only to draw straws and treasure up trifles of no moment; our consciences, through errors in our own understanding, sometimes accusing us when we are innocent, sometimes acquitting us when we are guilty; our affections all disaffected and out of order. Must not that needs be a monstrous face, wherein the blueness which should be in the veins is in the lips, the redness which should be in the cheeks, in the nose; the hair that should grow on the head, on the face? and must not our souls needs seem ugly in the sight of God, who have grief growing there where joy should, and joy where grief should? We love what we should hate and hate where we should love; we fear where no fear is, and fear not where we ought to fear; and all our affections either mistake their object, or exceed their due measure. Thomas Fuller.
Ver. 3.
1. Forgiveness is in God: "There is forgiveness with thee." It is his nature to forgive as well as to punish sin.
2. It is from God. None can forgive sin but God. None can reveal forgiveness but God.
3. It is like God, full, free, and everlasting"all thine iniquities." G. R.
Ver. 3. Who healeth all thy diseases.
1. Why is sin called a disease? (a) As it destroys the moral beauty of the creature. (b) As it excites pain. (c) As it disables from duty. (d) As it leads to death.
2. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject. Mr 7:21-23; Gal 5:19, &c.
3. The remedy by which God heals these diseases. (a) His pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ. (b) The sanctifying influences of grace. (c) The means of grace. (d) The resurrection of the body. From "The Study, "1873.
Ver. 3 (last clause). Our diseases by nature, our great Physician, the perfect soundness which he works in us, results of that soundness.
Ver. 3-5. Mercy's Hexapla.
1. Three curses removed. (a) Guilt put away. (b) Corruption cured. (c) Destruction averted.
2. Three blessings, bestowed. (a) Favours that can gratify. (b) Pleasures that can satisfy. (c) Life that can never die.
Or
1. Pardon. (Ps 103:3)
2. Purification. (Ps 103:4)
3. Redemption.
4. Coronation. (Ps 103:5)
5. Plenty bestowed.
6. Power renewed. W. Durban.
Psalms 103:4*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy…
Psa_103:3
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.
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Forgiveness and healing
I. Forgiveness and healing are mens greatest needs.
1. Because without them there can be no upward spiritual progress. Mans course is downward until he is divinely forgiven and healed. The accumulating power of sin.
2. Because without them there can be no truly happy service for God.
3. Because without them, existence itself must ultimately become intolerable.
II. Forgiveness and healing are received from God.
1. He only has the right to forgive and heal.
2. He only has the power.
3. With God is the disposition to put forth His power and assert His right to forgive and heal.
III. Forgiveness and healing are, in the kingdom of grace, inseparably connected. Whom God forgives He heals (1Jn_1:9).
IV. Forgiveness and healing, when possessed, inspire deepest gratitude to their author. (W. Smith.)
The pardon of sin
First, we are blessed with the pardon of sin, and then we bless God for the pardon of sin.
I. Forgiveness is A primary blessing.
1. We never enjoy a mercy as a mercy from God till we receive the forgiveness of sins.
2. There are many mercies which are not given at all, and cannot be given, until first of all the pardon of sin has been bestowed. The application of the blood of sprinkling must be felt, the cleansing power of the atonement must be known, or the rest of the blessings of the covenant will never reach us.
3. And well may the Lord place this mercy first, because when it comes it ensures all the rest. The day-dawn is always followed by the clearer light.
4. The pardon of sin comes first, that it may be seen to be an act of pure grace. If any other blessing had preceded it, our legal spirits would have dreamed of merit and fitness: if any attainment had been reached by us before the forgiveness of sins was given, we might have been tempted to glory in self; but now we perceive that God forgives our sins before He heals our moral diseases, and therefore there is no room for pride to set her foot upon.
II. Forgiveness is a present blessing.
1. This privilege the believer has actually obtained. As many as have looked to Christ upon the cross are now justified by faith, and have peace with God. This is a matter of present fact, and not of mere hope.
2. This present mercy is perpetually bestowed--He still forgiveth our iniquity; there is perpetuity in it. At this very moment I may be mourning my sin, but God is forgiving it. Even in the holiest deeds we do there is still sin, but even then God is still forgiving.
3. This mercy of pardon is knowingly received. Nobody ever sings over uncertain blessings.
4. This present blessing is immediately efficient, for it secures us a present right to all that is involved in being pardoned. Then seek it at once.
III. Forgiveness is a personal blessing. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Our Lord is a blessed God to forgive anybody, but that He should forgive me is the greatest feat of His mercy. A good brother wrote me the other day, Mercy had reached its zenith when it saved me. He thought so of himself, and we may each one think the same of his own case. But may we know this personally? saith one. I answer, Yes.
1. Some of us know that God has forgiven us, because we have the character which He describes as being forgiven. In repentance, in confession of sin, in forsaking sin, and in faith in our Lord Jesus, we have the marks of pardoned sinners, and these marks are apparent in our souls.
2. Moreover, if you have any doubt about whether the Lord forgives you now, it will be well for you to make sure that you accept His way of salvation. It is by faith in His dear Son.
3. We know that we are at this moment forgiven, because we at this moment give to the Lord Jesus Christ that look which brings forgiveness.
IV. Forgiveness is a perfect blessing. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. He does not remove the great ones, and leave the little ones to rankle; not the little ones, and leave one great black one to devour us, but all of them He covers and annihilates with the effectual atonement made by His dear Son. Now, I want you to obtain this pardon as a complete thing. Do not rest till you have it: you will never know true peace of mind until it is yours.
V. Forgiveness is a priceless blessing. Though it could not be purchased by a life of holiness or by an eternity of woe, forgiveness has been procured. This pardon which is freely preached to-day to all who believe in Jesus hath been purchased, and there is He that procured it, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, a man like unto ourselves, but yet equal with the ever-blessed One. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The disease of sin, and its remedy
I. Why sin is called a disease.
1. As it destroys the moral beauty of the creature (Gen_1:31; Gen_6:5; Psa_38:7; Lam_4:1).
2. As it excites pain (Psa_51:8; Act_2:37; 1Co_15:56).
3. As it disables from duty (Isa_1:5; Rom_7:19).
4. As it deprives men of sound reason (Isa_5:20).
5. As it leads to death (Rom_6:1).
II. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject (Mar_7:21-23; Rom_1:29; Gal_5:19).
III. The remedy by which God heals these diseases.
1. His pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ (Isa_53:5; Rom_3:23).
2. The sanctifying influences of grace (Eze_36:25; Heb_10:16).
3. The means of grace (Eph_4:11-13).
4. The resurrection of the body (1Th_4:16).
5. The ease of an ignorant, insensible sinner is very deplorable.
6. The case of a real Christian is very hopeful.
(1) His sinful disease is radically healed.
(2) The completion of his cure is certain.
7. The glory of Christ, as the Physician of souls, is great indeed. (The Study.)
Forgiving mercy
I. Forgiveness is the crown of Gods benefits (verses 2, 3). Think of all Gods common daily mercies, and all Gods special care and blessing, and then show why, in view of this life and the next, His forgiving seems to be the best blessing of all.
II. Forgiveness is the first of many new benefits (verses 4, 5). When God forgives, He follows on to give temporal blessings. His providences wait on His mercies. Illustrate in Job, and in David.
III. Forgiveness takes even the remembrance of sin away. See figures in (verses 11, 12, 13). They help us to realize how complete Gods forgiveness is. He remembers our sins no more against us for ever. Show how true this is of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Then we may well be happy in our forgiving, merciful God, and sing psalms of praise to Him. Only let us always remember that Gods forgiving us is made to depend on our forgiving others. (Robert Tuck, B.A.)
The great Physician
I. Disease itself affords us one of our richest luxuries. It is impossible to describe, to one who has not known the joy of a timely release from the fierceness of disease, the exquisite enjoyments of such an hour. And in this we see the goodness of God. Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. There may remain still great weakness, and much, that in other circumstances, would be called distress; but this is all forgotten amid the luxury of a temporary release, and a hope still better.
II. We see Divine goodness in the efforts that nature makes to effect her own cure. By nature I mean the unseen operation of His hand who healeth all our diseases; I mean God Himself, operating by certain laws which He has indented upon every part of our frame. The cure is effected without a miracle, but not without the finger of God. David, when diseased, was cured like other men, by the laws of matter, and by human means; still he takes occasion to bless and praise Jehovah as Him who healeth all our diseases.
III. The great variety of specifics found in every part of the creation, for the various diseases of men, speak the Divine goodness. Probably there is not a plant or shrub that grows but yields us either food or medicine. The severest poisons are, at length, in many instances, considered the safest and speediest remedies. The mineral and vegetable kingdoms are constantly pouring their treasures into the chamber of distress. And there seems an almost inexhaustible variety. Hence they furnish a specific for every disease. Now in all this how good is God! He could have sent the plague without the remedy, the poison without the antidote. It would be our shame if we could withhold our praise, and yet live in a world so full of the glory of God, where every plant, and shrub, and mineral speaks His praise, and every disease yields to the specific He prescribes.
IV. It still is true that it is God who healeth all our diseases. But for that wisdom which He has given to man, physicians could never have known the nature or the virtue of those plants and minerals which are their appointed remedy. And His blessing makes the means effectual. Remarks.
1. A period of recovery from sickness should be a season of praise.
2. The life that God has made His care should be devoted to Him.
3. We see why many have praised the Lord upon the sick bed. It is not a place so destitute of comforts as many have supposed.
4. The subject will lead us to reflect with the psalmist on the wondrous mechanism of our natures. (D. A. Clark.)
Divine healing
The Almighty is over and over again presented as the source of strength, and as the supreme cause of health. Not without reason is He termed Jehovah that healeth; and various are the references to His healing mercies (Exo_15:26; Jer_17:14; Jer_30:17; Psa_147:3; Isa_30:26). Also, when Jesus appeared as the Messiah fulfilling the hopes of the Hebrews, He healed the broken-hearted, bound up wounds and gave sight to the blind. The direct agency of the highest of all beings is brought out in the case of the woman who for twelve years had suffered and had spent her living on physicians, and only found relief when she touched the border of Christs garment (Luk_8:41). In this example we have only another version of Abrahams prayer (Gen_20:17). Now, however men may argue, the scientific mind is at one with the Bible. Life in all its phases is a mystery. While conditions and aspects of its beginnings and development have been fixed and determined, birth and death defy explorers, and that which fluctuates between the two--disease--is hardly less obscure. God the ultimate healer will be more fully recognized as science attains to its maturity. To Him, then, should the honour be attributed when we are restored from the bed of languishing and pain. That is His due. The tribute was paid Him by the ancients in adorning the altars with votive offerings, and a similar practice obtained in the Middle Ages, and in some countries has been continued to this day. I have seen altars in Europe burdened with models of the limbs and organs that have been healed by Divine mercy. It would be well for Christians in their prayer-meetings to tell how God has helped their bodies as well as their souls. Were we to speak more in His praise we would encourage more to look to Him for restoration. But His being the healer does not preclude the use of means in overcoming disease. These means may be infinitely varied and may border on the inscrutable, but they are real just the same. When it is said a virtue went out of Christ to cure the woman, that influence was the means employed, and though inexplicable, may at least suggest to thought the transmission of something from God when the sick are made whole. That certain states of feeling are remedial agencies, that they who rouse such feelings are useful, that cherished beliefs will operate on the body, and that moral improvement has in itself a curative value, is becoming more and more apparent. Xavier, who found Simon Rodriguez sick at Lisbon, chronicles the feel that the joy excited in the patient broke up the fever; and Melanchthon was operated on in a similar way by the appearance of Luther. Mr. Herbert Spencer illustrates the great power of mind over body, when he shows how intense feeling brings out great muscular force. Dr. Berdoe has shown us a gouty man throwing away his crutches and running to escape an infuriated animal. I have never doubted that the mind can affect in a wonderful way the sick. The story of the Prince of Orange at the siege of Buda, 1625, sending for mock medicine for his troops dying of scurvy is well known. He brought into camp a decoction of camomile, wormwood and camphor, which he gave out as so precious a medicine that a drop or two in a gallon of water would suffice. The restoration of the men to health was due to imagination, not physic. And the same may be said of cures wrought at the hands of monks or pious souls in the past, and at the shrines of Lourdes and Old Orchard in the present. It will not do to ascribe a desire to deceive to all the so-called miracle workers. While impositions are discernible, still many were sincere, and God evidently used their sincerity to His own glory. The cures wrought by the Jansenists at St. Midard, by the UItramontanes at La Galette and Lourdes, and by Father Ivan at St. Petersburg, have been neither few nor slight. A curious instance of the power of mind we have in what was known as the cure of the Kings evil by royal touch. Charles II touched nearly 100,000 persons, and many were healed. And coming nearer to our own time we find William III, while practising the same act, offering a different prayer: God give you better health and more sense. Among curative agencies a very high rank must be assigned to the moral and the spiritual. When a man abstains from demoralizing habits, excessive feeding and drinking, the effect will be discernible in his appearance. While the cure is like that wrought by sanitation, back of it is the ideal of a pure manhood. When the spiritual is supreme, and Christians have little time to think of themselves or of their cares, and when they are fully occupied with celestial visions, they usually keep well and hearty. At such times we understand the text: Thou art the health of my countenance and my God. But among the means owned of God are we to class what is known as material remedies? St. Ambrose insisted that the precepts of medicine are contrary to celestial science, watching or prayer; only it must be remembered that this was maintained as necessary to the efficacy of relics as remedial agencies. Calstadt for different reasons sympathized with Ambrose. He declared that whoso shall fall sick shall use no medicine or physic, but commit his case to God, praying that His will may be done. To which Luther made answer: Do you eat when you are hungry? And as only an affirmative reply could be given, he continues: Even so you may use physic, which is Gods gift just as meat and drink is, or whatever else we use for the preservation of life. When Jesus says that they who are whole need not a physician, but they who are sick, He lends His countenance to the medical science. We find medicine distinctly recognized in the following places: (Pro_17:22; Jer_30:13; Jer_46:11; Eze_47:12). Paul commends to Timothy a little wine for his stomachs sake and his infirmities. He does not regard it as an invalidation of faith in God to use a remedy. Neither did Isaiah (2Ki_20:7). When Ezekiel beholds the vision of Holy Waters, he says the leaf of the tree which grows on either side of the river shall be for medicine. Here is a distinct recognition of medicinal virtues in nature. Why should the balm of Gilead be praised, why should the mollifying quality in ointment be referred to by Isaiah, if all such means reflected on and were inimical to Divine healing? The case of Asa, who sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians (2Ch_16:12) is sometimes adduced against this supposition. But his error did not lie in employing doctors, but in trusting to them. Had he shown in his sickness the same discrimination he evinced in his attack on Ethiopia, when he cried out (2Ch_19:11), he might have overborne disease as he did his foe in the field. If God is the supreme healer what line of conduct should we, especially Christians, pursue? Surely we ought to do all in our power to provide for the comfort and recovery of the afflicted. It is written (Psa_41:8) that God will make all his bed--the sick mans--in his sickness. But that surely does not mean that we are not to make it too. The hand of God is precious to smooth our pillow; and a wife or daughters or mothers is not an unnecessary second. We want to carry the spirit of Christ into our contact with disease. With that came more humanitarianism in the past. Establishments for the cure of the sick appeared at an early day in the east; the Infirmary of Monte Cassino and the Hotel-Dieu were opened at Lyons in the sixth century, and in the seventh the Hostel-Dieu in Paris; and it is to the credit of Napoleon III that while he was building the Opera House in Paris, he was rebuilding, on a magnificent scale, the hospital of that sacred name. In this department wonderful has been the progress. We have everything apparently new from such institutions to the Ambulance Corps and the Genevan Cross. But more and more should these arrangements be permeated with the Christ spirit. This faith in God as the Divine Healer should lead to prayer for the sick. Many answers have come to us. I can testify to as many notable instances of recovery from disease as perhaps any other minister. And yet we must never forget that Jesus, overcome by agony, trembling on the verge of death, while praying for deliverance, exclaimed, Thy will be done. Complete reconciliation and harmony with God is worth more than a few years, more or less, of existence in the world. The devout soul will realize that He is healing all its diseases, and that the final health of the body can only come through the collapse of death leading to the glorious resurrection. But until then, I expect, in proportion as God is exalted, by faith and science the approach of that time when sickness shall largely disappear, and when (Isa_65:20). And when that season comes health and holiness, both, under God, the product of human agencies, shall preserve the race, and the burden of earths anthem be: Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. (G. C. Lorimer, D.D.)
What follows forgiveness
At one of his mission meetings Gipsy Smith recently told a story about his own little ones who had played truant, and in trying to be stern he sent them to bed without any supper. He passed the rest of the evening tiptoeing about, listening, and wondering what the effect of the punishment would be. Finally, not hearing any sound, he made his way to the bedchamber. As he leaned over the bed, one of the little fellows said: Is that you, father? and sobbed out, Father, will you forgive me? Yes, my son, yes--yes, I will forgive you, for I love you. Then, father, take me down to supper. This was used by Gipsy Smith to point the lesson that once we are forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we have the blessedness of sharing intimate communion with Him. After the kiss of reconciliation the erstwhile prodigal breaks again the bread enough and to spare of his Fathers house. (Sunday Circle.)
Forgiveness possible
No debt need be carried forward to another page of the book of our lives, for Christ has given Himself for us, and He speaks to us all--Thy sins be forgiven thee. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Christ forgiving sin
There is much need of asserting the great truth that God can forgive sin. Science is a teacher much honoured now, and science says that it is as impossible morally as physically to put things back where they were before; as impossible to restore a sinful heart as to make whole a broken shell. Under such teaching has grown up a modern religion whose god is fate, whose hope is dust for the body and nothingness for the soul, whose heaven is but to be an influence in others lives. The sect is not large, but skilful of speech in philosophy, poetry, fiction. One of them speaks through the hero of a tale: I hate that talk of people as if there was a way of making amends for everything. Theyd more need to see that the wrong they do can never be altered. Its well we should feel that lifes a reckoning we cant make twice over; theres no real making amends in this world, any more than you can mend a wrong subtraction by doing your addition right. And the age may need this lesson. We have been guilty of making sin too slight and punishment too soft. It is good, sing the old Eumenides in AEschylus, that fear should sit as the guardian of the soul, forcing it into wisdom--good that men should carry a threatening shadow in their hearts under the full sunshine; else how should they learn to revere the right? True, but God has thought it also good to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Far diviner is the message of Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, where the badge of sin and shame becomes the charmed symbol of a pure and helpful life. Nature knows nothing of forgiveness; science and conscience as well assure us it is impossible. They speak for their own realms, and truly. But, when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. How God takes care of the disaster wrought by our sin is one of the hidden things. That He will blot out our transgression as a thick cloud vanishes in the sun is His radiant promise. It is a forgiveness which not only enables us to enter heaven; it is heaven, or else, for our race, there were no heaven. God can forgive sins, and God alone; and Jesus is God with us forgiving sins and sending penitents away praising with a song that angels could not sing. (Christian Age.)
The greatness of Divine mercy
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Gods mercy is so great, that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God. As John Bunyan well says, It must be great mercy, or no mercy; for little mercy will never serve my turn. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Pardon precedes crowning
We cannot expect God to crown a man with lovingkindness and tender mercies while still he is dead in sin, and lives in daily dread of a second death--a death eternal. A coronation for a condemned criminal would be a superfluity of inconsistency. To crown a hardened convict who lies in the cell at Newgate awaiting his execution, would be a cruel mockery. How could it be that God should wreathe a chaplet of favours for a man who has refused His mercy and wilfully abides under His wrath on account of unconfessed and unpardoned sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The need of a healer
Who healeth all thy diseases. Do you think that was necessary? If my Lord came to me and wiped out the guilt, annulled the debt, would not redemption be perfect? If you take sin into your life, all the powers are affected. Conscience is seared, the fineness of the judgment is lost, the river of the affections becomes foul, the will loses its erectness. I saw the Metropolitan Tabernacle a few days after the great fire there, and noticed that every one of the pillars in the building had received a wrench, a twist. When the fire of sin breaks out in my body every pillar of my life gets a wrench. (J. H. Jowett.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v4 Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
redeemeth
Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 your ... you
your ... you
David is speaking to himself, so he uses the words "your" and "you" to refer to himself. Many translations express this with "my" and "me" as the UDB does.
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He redeems your life from destruction
This means that Yahweh keeps him alive. AT: "He saves me from dying" (See: Metaphor)
he crowns you with covenant faithfulness and acts of tender mercy
Here blessing someone and treating them with great honor is described as if it were placing a crown on that person's head. The abstract nouns "faithfulness" and "mercy" can be translated with adverbs. AT: "he blesses you by acting faithfully and mercifully towards you" (See: Metaphor and Abstract Nouns)
He satisfies your life with good things
The phrase "your life" refers to "you," but it emphasizes that Yahweh gives blessings throughout life. AT: "He satisfies you with good things through your life" (See: Metonymy)
your youth is renewed like the eagle
Having your "youth renewed" means to feel young again. Here David compares this feeling of youth to the swiftness and strength of an eagle. AT: "you feel young and are strong like an eagle" (See: Simile)
your youth
The word "youth" refers to the strength one had as a young adult. (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
forgive
sin
cure
redeem
life
crown
covenant faithfulness
mercy
eagle
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.