As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
Parallel Translations
-
As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
-
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
-
(30-7) Now I had said in my security: 'I shall never be moved.'
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 30:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7 By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
- Psalms 119:117 Hold me up, and I will be safe, and will have respect for your statutes continually.
- Luke 12:19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
- Psalms 16:8 I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
- Daniel 4:30 The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Isaiah 47:7 You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.
- Job 29:18-20 Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’
- Psalms 10:6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.”
- Psalms 15:5 he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
- Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. And in my tranquillity I had said. This…
6. And in my tranquillity I had said. This is the confession which I formerly mentioned, in which David acknowledges that he had been justly and deservedly punished for his foolish and rash security, in forgetting his mortal and mutable condition as a man, and in setting his heart too much on prosperity. By the term tranquillity, he means the quiet and flourishing state of his kingdom. Some translate the Hebrew word שלוה, shiluah, which we have rendered tranquillity, by abundance, in which sense it is often used in other places; but the word tranquillity agrees better with the context; as if David had said, When fortune smiled upon me on every side, and no danger appeared to occasion fear, my mind sunk as it were into a deep sleep, and I flattered myself that my happy condition would continue, and that things would always go on in the same course. This carnal confidence frequently creeps upon the saints when they indulge themselves in their prosperity, and so to speak, wallow upon their dunghill. “Qu’ils se mignardent en leur prosperite, et par maniere de dire, croupessent sur leur fumier. — Fr.
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 I put too much confidence in my quiet state,…
I put too much confidence in my quiet state, as Jer. 31:18; 2 Chron. 32:24, 25.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 30:6 And in my prosperity I said, I…
Psa 30:6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
Ver. 6. And in my prosperity I said] Or, in my tranquillity. Then it was that he was overgrown with security; as was also Job, Job 29:18-20; {See Trapp on "Job "29:18"} {See Trapp on "Job "29:19"} {See Trapp on "Job "29:20"} Job 9:18. How many have burnt their wings about Job’s candle? Job 29:3, saith one. Oh the hazard of honour! damage of dignity! how soon are we broken upon the soft pillow of ease! Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane, are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes when cold; so do sin and Satan’s temptations on the best hearts, when dissolved and dispirited by prosperity: watch therefore. Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dung hill was a conqueror.
Read full note →
I shall never be moved] Excessere metum mea iam bona. David, by misreckoning of a point, missed the haven, and had almost run upon the rocks. ( Niobe apud Ovid), Maior sum quam cui possit fortuna nocere. How apt are the holiest to be proud and secure! even as worms and wasps eat the sweetest apples and fruits. What reason had David to promise himself more than ever God promised him, immunity from the cross? Did he think (as Dionysius afterwards did, but was clearly confuted soon after) that his kingdom, and with it prosperity, was tied unto him with cords of adamant? What though he sat quietly now at Jerusalem, 2Sa 11:1, free from fear of enemies, and could find time to look and lust after his neighbour’s wife, would this always hold, thought he? and could not God set up his own darling Absalom, to put him to trouble? No; David said in his prosperity, Non vacillabo, I shall never be moved; and why?
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 I thought myself past all danger of further changes,…
I thought myself past all danger of further changes, forgetting my own frailty, and the uncertainty of all worldly things.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have, in these verses, an account of three…
We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David was in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in each of those states - what he said and did, and how his heart stood affected; in the first of these we may see what we are too apt to be, and in the other two what we should be.
I. He had long enjoyed prosperity, and then he grew secure and over-confident of the continuance of it (Psa 30:6, Psa 30:7): "In my prosperity, when I was in health of body and God had given me rest from all my enemies, I said I shall never be moved; I never thought either of having my body distempered or my government disturbed, not had any apprehensions of danger upon any account." Such complete victories had he obtained over those that opposed him, and such a confirmed interest had he in the hearts of his people, such a firmness of mind and such a strong constitution of body, that he thought his prosperity fixed like a mountain; yet this he ascribes, not to his own wisdom or fortitude, but to the divine goodness. Thou, through thy favour, hast made my mountain to stand strong, Psa 30:7. He does not look upon it as his heaven (as worldly people do, who make their prosperity their felicity), only his mountain; it is earth still, only raised a little higher than the common level. This he thought, by the favour of God, would be perpetuated to him, imagining perhaps that, having had so many troubles in the beginning of his days, he had had his whole share and should have none in his latter end, or that God, who had given him such tokens of his favour, would never frown upon him. Note, 1. We are very apt to dream, when things are well with us, that they will always be so, and never otherwise. Tomorrow shall be as this day. As if we should think, when the weather is once fair, that it will be even fair; whereas nothing is more certain than that it will change. 2. When we see ourselves deceived in our expectations, it becomes us to reflect, with shame, upon our security, as our folly, as David does here, that we may be wiser another time and may rejoice in our prosperity as though we rejoiced not, because the fashion of it passes away.
Read full note →
II. On a sudden he fell into trouble, and then he prayed to God, and pleaded earnestly for relief and succour.
1. His mountain was shaken and he with it; it proved, when he grew secure, that he was least safe: "Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled, in mind, body, or estate." In every change of his condition he still kept his eye upon God, and, as he ascribed his prosperity to God's favour, so in his adversity he observed the hiding of God's face, to be the cause of it. If God hide his face, a good man is certainly troubled, though no other calamity befal him; when the sun sets night certainly follows, and the moon and all the stars cannot make day.
2. When his mountain was shaken he lifted up his eyes above the hills. Prayer is a salve for every sore; he made use of it accordingly. Is any afflicted? Is any troubled? Let him pray. Though God hid his face from him, yet he prayed. If God, in wisdom and justice, turn from us, yet it will be in us the greatest folly and injustice imaginable if we turn from him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark (Psa 30:8): I cried to thee, O Lord! It seems God's withdrawings made his prayers the more vehement. We are here told, for it seems he kept account of it,
(1.) What he pleaded, Psa 30:9. [1.] That God would be no gainer by his death: What profit is there in my blood? implying that he would willingly die if he could thereby do any real service to God or his country (Phi 2:17), but he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the bed of sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour. "Lord," says he, "wilt thou sell one of thy own people for nought and not increase thy wealth by the price?" Psa 44:12. Nay [2.] That, in his honour, God would seem to be a loser by his death: Shall the dust praise thee? The sanctified spirit, which returns to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him; but the dust, which returns to the earth, shall not praise him, nor declare his truth. The services of God's house cannot be performed by the dust; it cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in the grave, for it is the land of silence. The promises of God's covenant cannot be performed to the dust. "Lord," says David, "if I die now, what will become of the promise made to me? Who shall declare the truth of that?" The best pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God's honour; and then we ask aright for life when we have that in view, that we may live and praise him.
(2.) What he prayed for, Psa 30:10. He prayed for mercy to pardon (Have mercy upon me), and for grace to help in time of need - Lord, be thou my helper. On these two errands we also may come boldly to the throne of grace, Heb 4:16.
III. In due time God delivered him out of his troubles and restored him to his former prosperity. His prayers were answered and his mourning was turned into dancing, Psa 30:11. God's anger now endured but for a moment, and David's weeping but for a night. The sackcloth with which, in a humble compliance with the divine Providence, he had clad himself, was loosed; his griefs were balanced; his fears were silenced; his comforts returned; and he was girded with gladness: joy was made his ornament, was made his strength, and seemed to cleave to him, as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. As David's plunge into trouble from the height of prosperity, and then when he least expected it, teaches us to rejoice as though we rejoiced not, because we know not how near trouble may be, so his sudden return to a prosperous condition teaches us to weep as though we wept not, because we know not how soon the storm may become a calm and the formidable blast may become a favourable gale. But what temper of mind was he in upon this happy change of the face of his affairs? What does he say now? He tells us, Psa 30:12. 1. His complaints were turned into praises. He looked upon it that God girded him with gladness to the end that he might be the sweet psalmist of Israel (Sa2 23:1), that his glory might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue (for our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God) or his soul, for that is our glory above the beasts, that must be employed in blessing the Lord, and with that we must make melody to him in singing psalms. Those that are kept from being silent in the pit must not be silent in the land of the living, but fervent, and constant, and public, in praising God. 2. These praises were likely to be everlasting: I will give thanks unto thee for ever. This bespeaks a gracious resolution that he would persevere to the end in praising God and a gracious hope that he should never want fresh matter for praise and that he should shortly be where this would be the everlasting work. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house; they will be still praising him. Thus must we learn to accommodate ourselves to the various providences of God that concern us, to want and to abound, to sing of mercy and judgment, and to sing unto God for both.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And in my prosperity,.... Either outward prosperity, when he…
And in my prosperity,.... Either outward prosperity, when he was settled in his kingdom, and as acknowledged king by all the tribes of Israel, and had gotten the victory over all his enemies, and was at rest from them round about; or inward and spiritual prosperity, having a spiritual appetite for the word, being in the lively exercise of grace, growing in it, and in the knowledge of Christ; favoured with communion with God, having flesh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy, corruptions being subdued, the inward man renewed with spiritual strength, and more fruitful in every good word and work. This being the case,
I said, I shall never be moved; so in outward prosperity men are apt to sing a requiem to themselves, and fancy it will always be thus with them, be in health of body, and enjoying the affluence of temporal things, and so put away the evil day in one sense and another from them; and even good men themselves are subject to this infirmity, Job 29:18; and who also, when in comfortable frames of soul, and in prosperous circumstances in spiritual things, are ready to conclude if will always be thus with them, or better. Indeed they can never be moved as to their state and condition with respect to God; not from his heart, where they are set as a seal; nor out of the arms of Christ, and covenant of grace; nor out of the family of God; nor from a state of justification and grace; but they may be moved as to the exercise of grace and discharge of duty, in which they vary; and especially when they are self-confident, and depend upon their own strength for the performance of these things, and for a continuance in such frames, which seems to have been David's case; and therefore he corrects himself, and his sense of things, in Psa 30:7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. In my prosperity I said, I shall…
Verse 6. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.] Peace and prosperity had seduced the heart of David, and led him to suppose that his mountain-his dominion, stood so strong, that adversity could never affect him. He wished to know the physical and political strength of his kingdom; and, forgetting to depend upon God, he desired Joab to make a census of the people; which God punished in the manner related in 2Sa 24:1-17, and which he in this place appears to acknowledge.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 30:6-7. In my prosperity I said, I shall…
Psa 30:6-7. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved — I thought myself past all danger of further changes. The word שׁלוי, shalvi, rendered prosperity, denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent, prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on the throne, he thought his troubles were over, and that he should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; that God had placed him secure from all dangers, as though he had taken refuge in an inaccessible mountain, that he had made his prosperity firm, and no more subject to alteration than a mountain is liable to be removed out of its place. By thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong — Thou hast firmly settled me in my kingdom, which he calls his mountain, 1st, Because kingdoms are usually called mountains in the prophetical writings, a mountain, by its height, being a very natural representation of a superior condition. 2d, With allusion to mount Zion, the fortress of which he had lately taken, which was properly his mountain, as he had fixed upon it for his dwelling, and had there built his royal palace. All this he regarded as the effect of God’s favour to him, and promised himself that his peace and happiness, for the future, would be as undisturbed and unshaken as mount Zion itself. Thou didst hide thy face — Displeased with my presumption, and the security I had fondly promised myself, thou didst withdraw thy favour, protection, and help; and I was troubled — My dream of uninterrupted tranquillity vanished; I was quickly brought into fresh troubles, difficulties, and dangers, and saw the vanity of all my carnal confidences. Dr. Chandler thinks he refers to the two invasions of the Philistines, which happened soon after they found he had been anointed king over Israel, 2Sa 5:17. But, perhaps, he speaks chiefly, if not only, of distress of mind arising from a sense of God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and showing that he was displeased with him. In this unexpected distress he cried unto the Lord, and in his supplication expressed himself as in the following verses.
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 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never…
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved - I shall never be visited with calamity or trial. This refers to a past period of his life, when everything seemed to be prosperous, and when he had drawn around him so many comforts, and had apparently made them so secure, that it seemed as if they could never be taken from him, or as if he had nothing to fear. To what precise period of his life the psalmist refers, it is now impossible to ascertain. It is sufficient to say, that men are often substantially in that state of mind. They have such vigorous constitutions and such continued health; their plans are so uniformly crowned with success; everything which they touch so certainly turns to gold, and every enterprise so certainly succeeds; they have so many and such warmly attached friends; they have accumulated so much property, and it is so safely invested - that it seems as if they were never to know reverses, and they unconsciously suffer the illusion to pass over the mind that they are never to see changes, and that they have nothing to dread. They become self-confident. They forget their dependence on God. In their own minds they trace their success to their own efforts, tact and skill, rather than to God. They become worldly-minded, and it is necessary for God to teach them how easily he can sweep all this away - and thus to bring them back to a right view of the uncertainty of all earthly things. Health fails, or friends die, or property takes wings and flies away; and God accomplishes his purpose - a purpose invaluable to them - by showing them their dependence on Himself, and by teaching them that permanent and certain happiness and security are to be found in Him alone.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain What particular prosperity is meant we do not know;…
What particular prosperity is meant we do not know; perhaps his accession to the throne. In his self-complacent elation he was checked by God's hiding His face (compare Psa 22:24; Psa 27:9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. In my prosperity I said—Here is stated the…
6. In my prosperity I said—Here is stated the moral cause of the personal and national affliction complained of in the psalm. From a comparison of 2Sa_24:1-3 with 1Ch_21:1-3, it is evident that a spirit of pride, and perhaps of foreign military conquest, actuated David in taking a census of the people, and hence it was done through his generals with a detachment of soldiers, and not, as on other occasions, through the priests; certain it is, that it was highly displeasing to God, and even to Joab and the people, and punishable as being a revolt from the true spirit of the theocracy. David himself afterwards acknowledged he had “sinned greatly,” and “done very foolishly.”
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 6. Render with R.V.
6. Render with R.V.
As for me, I said in my prosperity.
Read full note →
The word translated prosperity includes the idea of careless security, resulting from uninterrupted good fortune. Comp. Pro_1:32; and for the carnal pride that is apt to spring from prosperity, see Deu_8:10 ff; Deu_32:15; Dan_4:27 ff.
I shall never be moved] Forgetting his dependence upon God, and approaching perilously near the godless man’s self-confident boast (Psa_10:6).
6, 7. The Psalmist relates his own experience of the truth stated in the preceding verse. His presumption had required the correction of chastisement.
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 (6) And in.—Better, But as for me, in, &c.…
(6) And in.—Better, But as for me, in, &c. The pronoun is emphatic. The mental struggle through which the psalmist had won his way to this sublime faith is now told in the most vivid manner, the very soliloquy being recalled.
Prosperity.—Better, security.
Read full note →
I shall never be moved.—Better, I shall never waver.
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 Vers. 6-12. Now begins the expanded account of the…
Vers. 6-12. Now begins the expanded account of the deliverance in respect of which the thanksgiving is offered. And first, with regard to the offence that had drawn down the Divine chastisement; it was an offence of the lips, springing from an evil temper in the heart.
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved; rather, as in the Revised Version, and as for me, in my prosperity I said, etc. There is a marked pause, and introduction of a new subject in a new strophe. Prosperity had worked an ill effect on the psalmist, had made him self-confident and proud. He "said in his heart," as the wicked man in Psa_10:6, only in still stronger phrase, "I shall not be moved;" literally, I shall not be moved for ever. His heart was lifted up, and in the spirit of self-glorification he gave command for the numbering of the people. The result was the plague, and the death of seventy thousand of his subjects. Into these details he does not here enter. He is content to trace his sin to its bitter root of pride, and to glance at its punishment (ver. 7) and his repentance (vers. 8-10).
Read full note →
Vers. 6-12. Vain confidence.
"And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved," etc. Three stages here represented in the life of a good man.
I WORLDLY PROSPERITY A SECURITY. "In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
1. We say this in youth. All our castles in the air, we think, are built upon mountains. We think we can become anything and achieve anything we please.
2. We say this before we know our sinfulness. The ways of the world harden our hearts about our sins. Success in life and the means we employ to reach it will often harden the conscience. Money, luxury, praise, are dreadful things to blind men to their real character and state before God.
II THE SENSE OF DANGER AND TROUBLE.
1. God hides his face. We, in our vain confidence, think it is God that has made our mountain to stand strong till he hides his face, till a great black cloud (our sins) comes between us and God. This phrase, though often misapplied, expresses a very real fact. It is the blackness of darkness to many a terror-stricken sinner.
2. The terrors of death. Of death, natural and spiritual, get hold of us. The terror of death, natural and spiritual, is to be forsaken of God in it. This dreadful moment has come to nearly all good men. Some men never get beyond this second stage of life.
III RESTORATION TO REAL PROSPERITY AND SECURITY.
1. The prosperity of the believer is real prosperity. It is the prosperity of the soul; it is prosperity from God, and not from man; it is lasting, secure prosperity.
2. God is the Author of the second and third stages of a good man"s life. "Thou didst hide thy face; ... thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing," etc. S.
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 Ver. 6. In my prosperity. When all his foes…
Ver. 6. In my prosperity. When all his foes were quiet, and his rebellious son dead and buried, then was the time of peril. Many a vessel founders in a calm. No temptation is so bad as tranquillity. I said, I shall never be moved. Ah! David, you said more than was wise to say, or even to think, for God has founded the world upon the floods, to show us what a poor, mutable, moveable, inconstant world it is. Unhappy he who builds upon it! He builds himself a dungeon for his hopes. Instead of conceiving that we shall never be moved, we ought to remember that we shall very soon be removed altogether. Nothing is abiding beneath the moon. Because I happen to be prosperous today, I must not fancy that I shall be in my high estate tomorrow. As in a wheel, the uppermost spokes descend to the bottom in due course, so it is with mortal conditions. There is a constant revolution: many who are in the dust today shall be highly elevated tomorrow; while those who are now aloft shall soon grind the earth. Prosperity had evidently turned the psalmist's head, or he would not have been so self confident. He stood by grace, and yet forgot himself, and so met with a fall. Reader, is there not much of the same proud stuff in all our hearts? let us beware lest the fumes of intoxicating success get into our brains and make fools of us also.
Ver. 6. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Our entering upon a special service for God, or receiving a special favour from God, are two solemn seasons, which Satan makes use of for temptation...We are apt to get proud, careless, and confident, after or upon such employments and favours; even as men are apt to sleep or surfeit upon a full meal, or to forget themselves when they are advanced to honour. Job's great peace and plenty made him, as he confesseth, so confident, that he concluded he should "die in his nest." Job 29:18. David enjoying the favour of God in a more than ordinary measure, though he was more acquainted with vicissitudes and changes than most of men, grows secure in his apprehension that he "should never be moved; "but he acknowledgeth his mistake, and leaves it upon record as an experience necessary for others to take warning by, that when he became warm under the beams of God's countenance, then he was apt to fall into security; and this it seems was usual with him in all such caseswhen he was most secure he was nearest some trouble or disquiet. "Thou didst hide thy face" and then to be sure the devil will show him his"and I was troubled." Enjoyments beget confidence; confidence brings forth carelessness; carelessness makes God withdraw, and gives opportunity to Satan to work unseen. And thus, as armies after victory growing secure, are oft surprised; so are we oft after our spiritual advancements thrown down. Richard Gilpin.
Read full note →
Ver. 6. In my prosperity. (ywlvg) The word denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on the throne, he thought all his troubles were over, and that he should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; and that God"had made his mountain so strong, as that it should never be moved; "i.e., placed him as secure from all danger as though he had taken refuge upon an inaccessible mountain; or made his prosperity firm, and subject to no more alteration, than a mountain is liable to be removed out of its place; or, raised him to an eminent degree of honour and prosperity; a mountain, by its height, being a very natural representation of a very superior condition, remarkable for power, affluence, and dignity. He had taken the fortress of Mount Sion, which was properly his mountain, as he had fixed on it for his dwelling. It was strong by nature, and rendered almost impregnable by the fortifications he had added to it. This he regarded as the effect of God's favour to him, and promised himself that his peace and happiness for the future should be as undisturbed and unshaken as Mount Sion itself. Samuel Chandler.
Ver. 6. In my prosperity. Prosperity is more pleasant than profitable to us. Though in show it look like a fair summer, yet it is indeed a wasting winter, and spendeth all the fruit we have reaped in the harvest of sanctified affliction. We are never in greater danger than in the sunshine of prosperity. To be always indulged of God, and never to taste of trouble, is rather a token of God's neglect than of his tender love. William Struther.
Ver. 6. The peculiar dangers of prosperity.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Psalms 30:7*
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
Ver. 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly marked; and must successively be considered as they are here presented to our view.
1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
Charles Simeon.
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 In my prosperity I said, I shall never be…
Psa_30:6-12
In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
Read full note →
The conditions and acts of life, the springs of solemn issues
These verses may be taken as indicating the tendencies of certain conditions and actions in human life.
I. Here is human prosperity leading to presumption. The writers experience agrees with that of Job (Job_29:18). Also with the experience of the rich man in the Gospel, who said, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
1. This tendency implies moral per-versify. Our religious feelings should get purer and stronger as our mercies abound. Sad it is, therefore, to see prosperity leading to presumption and impiety.
2. This tendency should modify our desire for wealth. Worldly wealth, at best, is only a temporary good, and often an evil in disguise.
II. Here is affliction leading to prayer.
1. The description of affliction. It is the hiding of Gods face.
2. The nature of his prayer.
(1) Vehement (1Ch_21:16-17).
(2) Argumentative. He reasons with the Almighty (verse 9).
He means that his destruction would be of no service to the Almighty, but that his preservation might be.
III. Here is prayer leading to deliverance. In answer to earnest prayer, the Great Father has ever given to the suffering suppliant beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
1. God removes suffering. Thou hast put off my sackcloth.
2. God gives happiness. And girded me with gladness.
IV. Here is deliverance leading to praise.
1. This was the purpose of his deliverance. To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee. He was delivered that he might praise.
2. This was the influence of his deliverance. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever. (Homilist.)
The proper improvement of prosperity and adversity
The subject of the psalmists complaint in these words is a common weakness, incident to human nature; a too great confidence in the day of prosperity, and excessive dejection in a time of trouble.
I. what it is that chiefly contributes to this extreme diversity of temper under the varying scenes of life.
1. It is sometimes owing, in a good measure, to the native turn and temper of the mind. Some are of so soft and flexible a make, that they are soon impressed: almost everything affects them too much.
2. That which chiefly contributes to this great reverse of temper under the vicissitudes of life, I conceive to be an excessive fondness for earthly enjoyments. Did we not set our hearts upon these things, we should meet with fewer disappointments from them.
3. Our ignorance, or inconsideration of the true nature of present things, as
(1) unsatisfying;
(2) uncertain.
4. A want of faith, which would teach us to look beyond these things to the final issue of the great all-wise Disposer of them.
II. what dangerous consequences attend such an inequality of mind.
1. It lays us exposed to all the temptations of that state of life, into which Providence hath brought us.
(1) A man that is secure, carnal and confident in prosperity, lies wholly exposed to all the snares and temptations incident to that state of life: which are such as these; pride, worldly-mindedness, self-indulgence, vanity, avarice, intemperance, contempt of others, self-sufficiency, oppression, irreligion, or, at least, a great indifference to sacred things.
(2) A succumbency and dejection of mind in adversity lays us exposed to all the dangers and temptations of float condition. And the sins, to which men are most inclined in this state of life, are envy at the prosperity of others, murmuring, impatience, discontent, uncharitableness, passion, fearfulness and despair.
2. It deprives us of all the advantages we might derive from these states.
(1) An elate and careless frame of mind in prosperity deprives us of the chief benefits that might accrue to us from thence: or, in other words, it prevents our blessings from being sanctified. For how can those blessings be sanctified to us which we are not thankful for? And how can we be thankful for those blessings for which we are forgetful of our dependence on Providence?
(2) An excessive grief and despondency in tribulation is attended with effects no less detrimental; as it deprives us of all those advantages we might reap from our troubles. Afflictions are often sent as the greatest mercies; to make us more meek, resigned, patient, humble, holy and heavenly minded; to purify our hearts, wean us from the world, and mortify our sensual affections; and to revive and cultivate a spiritual, watchful and dependent frame of mind. But how can afflictions be sanctified to these happy purposes, when the mind is tossed with tempestuous sorrow, or faints under the stroke, incapable of forming one right), or regular reflection?
III. what considerations are most proper to balance the passions, and give us a self-possession under all providential occurrences.
1. Let us often think of the natural inconstancy of all earthly things.
(1) Are there not a thousand secret and unforeseen ways, whereby the hand of God can suddenly take from us all cur earthly comforts, or our capacity to enjoy them? How vain, then, is a confident spirit in a day of prosperity.
(2) Are our souls involved in darkness? and our minds disconsolate, and bowed down, under the pressure of some grievous affliction? let us remember, that the day succeeds the night (Psa_30:5). Time cures all our earthly sorrows; and grace alleviates them. Let this sanctify, what that will entirely remove.
2. Let us look forward to the end of things, and endeavour to familiarize to ourselves the thoughts of futurity.
3. Let us ever keep our eye fixed on God, as the all-wise and sovereign Disposer of these things; and remember, that whatever befalls us, comes either by His permission or direction.
4. Leg us think how much we offend our Maker by indulging in that weak unguarded temper now described.
5. Let us consider how much we lose the relish of our mercies by being too secure and fond of them in prosperity; and how we increase our load by sinking under it in adversity.
6. Let us learn to be more cautious in prosperity, and more composed in adversity, and endeavour after more equanimity in both. (J. Mason, M. A.)
The perils of prosperity
For quaintly said of the elder Pitt that he fell up-stairs when he was elevated to the peerage. Many a man cannot stand going up higher.. He becomes haughty, proud; he affects dignity, he lords it over Gods heritage; he becomes too big with conscious superiority. Like Jeshurun, he waxes fat and kicks. He falls up-stairs; up, not down. (A. S. Pierson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Psa 10:6. - Psa 16:8. - Psa 30:6.
Psalms
ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN
Read full note →
Psa 10:6. - Psa 16:8. - Psa 30:6.
How differently the same things sound when said by different men! Here are three people giving utterance to almost the same sentiment of confidence. A wicked man says it, and it is insane presumption and defiance. A good man says it, having been lulled into false security by easy times, and it is a mistake that needs chastisement. A humble believing soul says it, and it is the expression of a certain and blessed truth. ‘The wicked saith in his heart, I shall not be moved.’ A good man, led astray by his prosperity, said, ‘I shall not be moved,’ and the last of the three put a little clause in which makes all the difference, ‘because He is at my right hand, I shall never be moved.’ So, then, we have the mad arrogance of godless confidence, the mistake of a good man that needs correction, and the warranted confidence of a believing soul.
I. The mad arrogance of godless confidence.
The ‘wicked’ man, in the psalm from which our first text comes, said a good many wrong things ‘in his heart.’ The tacit assumptions on which a life is based, though they may never come to consciousness, and still less to utterance, are the really important things. I dare say this ‘wicked man’ was a good Jew with his lips, and said his prayers all properly, but in his heart he had two working beliefs. One is thus expressed: ‘As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved.’ The other is put into words thus: ‘He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, He hideth His face. He will never see it.’
That is to say, the only explanation of a godless life, unless the man is an idiot, is that there lie beneath it, as formative principles and unspoken assumptions, guiding and shaping it, one or both of these two thoughts: either ‘There is no God,’ or ‘He does not care what I do, and I am safe to go on for evermore in the present fashion.’ It might seem as if a man with the facts of human life before him, could not, even in the insanest arrogance, say, ‘I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.’ But we have an awful power-and the fact that we exercise, and choose to exercise, it is one of the strange riddles of our enigmatical existence and characters-of ignoring unwelcome facts, and going cheerily on as though we had annihilated them, because we do not reflect upon them. So this man, in the midst of a world in which there is no stay, and whilst he saw all round him the most startling and tragical instances of sudden change and complete collapse, stands quietly and says, ‘Ah! I shall never be moved’; ‘God doth not require it.’
That absurdity is the basis of every life that is not a life of consecration and devotion-so far as it has a basis of conviction at all. The ‘wicked’ man’s true faith is this, absurd as it may sound when you drag it out into clear, distinct utterance, whatever may be his professions. I wonder if there are any of us whose life can only be acquitted of being utterly unreasonable and ridiculous by the assumption, ‘I shall never be moved’?
Have you a lease of your goods? Do you think you are tenants at will or owners? Which? Is there any reason why any of us should escape, as some of us live as if we believed we should escape, the certain fate of all others? If there is not, what about the sanity of the man whose whole life is built upon a blunder? He is convicted of the grossest folly, unless he be assured that either there is no God, or that He does not care one rush about what we do, and that consequently we are certain of a continuance in our present state.
Do you say in your heart, ‘I shall never be moved’? Then you must be strong enough to resist every tempest that beats against you. Is that so? ‘I shall never be moved’-then nothing that contributes to your well-being will ever slip from your grasp, but you will be able to hold it tight. Is that so? ‘I shall never be moved’-then there is no grave waiting for you. Is that so? Unless these three assumptions be warranted, every godless man is making a hideous blunder, and his character is the sentence pronounced by the loving lips of Incarnate Truth on the rich man who thought that he had ‘much goods laid up for many years,’ and had only to be merry-’Thou fool! Thou fool!’ If an engineer builds a bridge across a river without due calculation of the force of the winds that blow down the gorge, the bridge will be at the bottom of the stream some stormy night, and the train piled on the fragments of it in hideous ruin. And with equal certainty the end of the first utterer of this speech can be calculated, and is foretold in the psalm, ‘The Lord is King for ever and ever. . . . The godless are perished out of the land.’
II. We have in our second text the mistake of a good man who has been lulled into false confidence.
The Psalmist admits his error by the acknowledgment that he spoke ‘in my prosperity’; or, as the word might be rendered, ‘in my security.’ This suggests to us the mistake into which even good men, lulled by the quiet continuance of peaceful days, are certain to fall, unless there be continual watchfulness exercised by them.
It is a very significant fact that the word which is translated in our Authorised Version ‘prosperity’ is often rendered ‘security,’ meaning thereby, not safety, but a belief that I am safe. A man who is prosperous, or at ease, is sure to drop into the notion that ‘to-morrow will be as this day, and much more abundant,’ unless he keeps up unslumbering watchfulness against the insidious illusion of permanence. If he yields to the temptation, in his foolish security, forgetting how fragile are its foundations, and what a host of enemies surround him threatening it, then there is nothing for it but that the merciful discipline, which this Psalmist goes on to tell us he had to pass through by reason of his fall, shall be brought to bear upon him. The writer gives us a page of his own autobiography. ‘In my security I said, I shall never be moved.’ ‘Lord! by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide Thy face.’ What about the security then? What about ‘I shall never be moved’ then? ‘I was troubled. I cried to Thee, O Lord!’-and then it was all right, his prayer was heard, and he was in ‘security’-that is, safety-far more really when he was ‘troubled’ and sore beset than when he had been, as he fancied, sure of not being moved.
Long peace rusts the cannon, and is apt to make it unfit for war. Our lack of imagination, and our present sense of comfort and well-being, tend to make us fancy that we shall go on for ever in the quiet jog-trot of settled life without any very great calamities or changes. But there was once a village at the bottom of the crater of Vesuvius, and great trees, that had grown undisturbed there for a hundred years, and green pastures, and happy homes and flocks. And then, one day, a rumble and a rush, and what became of the village? It went up in smoke-clouds. The quiescence of the volcano is no sign of its extinction. And as surely as we live, so sure is it that there will come a ‘to-morrow’ to us all which shall not be as this day. No man has any right to calculate upon anything beyond the present moment, and there is no basis whatever, either for the philosophical assertion that the order of nature is fixed, and that therefore there are no miracles, or for the practical translation of the assertion into our daily lives, that we may reasonably expect to go on as we are without changes or calamities. There is no reason capable of being put into logical shape for believing that, because the sun has risen ever since the beginning of things, it will rise to-morrow, for there will come a to-morrow when it will not rise. In like manner, the longest possession of our mercies is no reason for forgetting the precarious tenure on which we hold them all.
So, Christian men and women! let us try to keep vivid that consciousness which is so apt to get dull, that nothing continueth in one stay, and that we shall be moved, as far as the outward life and its circumstances are concerned. If we forget it, we shall need, and we shall get, the loving Fatherly discipline, which my second text tells us followed the false security of this good man. The sea is kept from putrefying by storms. Wine poured from vessel to vessel is purified thereby. It is an old truth and a wholesome one, to be always remembered, ‘because they have no changes therefore they fear not God .’
III. Lastly, we have the same thing said by another man in another key.
‘Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.’ The prelude to the assertion makes all the difference. Here is the warranted confidence of a simple faith.
The man who clasps God’s hand, and has Him standing by his side, as his Ally, his Companion, his Guide, his Defence-that man does not need to fear change. For all the things which convict the arrogant or mistaken confidences of the other men as being insanity or a lapse from faith prove the confidence of the trustful soul to be the very perfection of reason and common sense.
We may be confident of our power to resist anything that can come against us, if He be at our side. The man that stands with his back against an oak-tree is held firm, not because of his own strength, but because of that on which he leans. There is a beautiful story of some heathen convert who said to a missionary’s wife, who had felt faint and asked that she might lean for a space on her stronger arm, ‘If you love me, lean hard.’ That is what God says to us, ‘If you love Me, lean hard.’ And if you do, because He is at your right hand, you will not be moved. It is not insanity; it is not arrogance; it is simple faith, to look our enemies in the eyes, and to feel sure that they cannot touch us, ‘Trust in Jehovah; so shall ye be established.’ Rest on the Lord, and ye shall rest indeed.
In like manner the man who has God at his right hand may be sure of the unalterable continuance of all his proper good. Outward things may come or go, as it pleases Him, but that which makes the life of our life will never depart from us as long as He stands there. And whilst He is there, if only our hearts are knit to Him, we can say, ‘My heart and my flesh faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. I shall not be moved. Though all that can go goes, He abides; and in Him I have all riches.’ Trust not in the uncertainty of outward good, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
The wicked man was defiantly arrogant, and the forgetful good man was criminally self-confident, when they each said, ‘I shall not be moved.’ We are only taking up the privileges that belong to us if, exercising faith in Him, we venture to say, ‘Take what Thou wilt; leave me Thyself; I have enough.’ And the man who says, ‘Because God is at my right hand, I shall not be moved,’ has the right to anticipate an unbroken continuance of personal being, and an unchanged continuance of the very life of his life. That which breaks off all other lives abruptly is no breach in the continuity, either of the consciousness or of the avocations of a devout man. For, on the other side of the flood, he does what he does on this side, only more perfectly and more continually. ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever,’ and it makes comparatively little difference to him whether his place be on this or on the other side of Jordan. We ‘shall not be moved,’ even when we change our station from earth to heaven, and the sublime fulfilment of the warranted confidence of the trustful soul comes when the ‘to-morrow’ of the skies is as the ‘to-day’ of earth, only ‘much more abundant.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 In confidence
In confidence
The word "confidence" is an abstract noun. The writer recalls a time when he was prospering and felt confident and safe. AT: "When I was confident" or "When I felt safe" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Read full note →
I will never be shaken
The word "shaken" is a metaphor for defeat. AT: "No one will defeat me" (See: Metaphor)
by your favor
The abstract noun "favor" can be stated as the verb "favored" or the adjective "kind." AT: "when you favored me" or "when you were kind to me" (See: Abstract Nouns)
you established me as a strong mountain
The writer's security is spoken of as if he were a strong mountain. AT: "you made me as secure as a high mountain" (See: Metaphor)
when you hid your face
This is an idiom. AT: "when you stopped helping me" or "when you rejected me" (See: Idiom)
I was troubled
"I was fearful" or "I was worried"
sought favor from my Lord
The phrase "sought favor" means to ask for help. AT: "I pleaded for you to help me" (See: Metaphor)
from my Lord
The writer is referring to Yahweh in third person. It can be stated in second person. AT: "from you, my Lord" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
confidence
favor
face
seek
lord
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 30:6-7 Nothing can stop me now! The psalmist confesses…
30:6-7 Nothing can stop me now! The psalmist confesses his presumptuous attitude (cp. 32:3-4). • secure as a mountain: In the psalms, this phrase creates a powerful image of stability and of God’s control (see 11:1; 18:7; 36:6; 46:2; 72:3; 76:4; 83:14; 97:5; 114:4, 6; 125:2). • I was shattered: The absence of God’s favor destroys the security of the proud (cp. 104:27-30).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.