1 To the chiefe musician Al-taschith, A Psalme or song of Asaph. Unto thee, O God, doe we giue thankes, vnto thee doe we giue thanks: for that thy name is nere, thy wonderous works declare.
2 When I shall receiue the congregation, I will iudge vprightly.
3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolued: I beare vp the pillars of it. Selah.
4 I said vnto the fooles, Deale not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not vp the horne.
5 Lift not vp your horne on high: speake not with a stiffe necke.
6 For promotion commeth neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South.
7 But God is the iudge: he putteth downe one, and setteth vp another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture, and he powreth out of the same: but the dregges thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drinke them.
9 But I will declare for euer; I will sing praises to the God of Iacob.
10 All the hornes of the wicked also will I cut off; but the hornes of the righteous shall be exalted.
The psalmist declares his resolution of executing judgment. (1-5) He rebukes the wicked, and concludes with resolutions to praise God. (6-10)
1-5 We often pray for mercy, when in pursuit of it; and shall we only once or twice give thanks, when we obtain it? God shows that he is nigh to us in what we call upon him for. Public trusts are to be managed uprightly. This may well be applied to Christ and his government. Man's sin threatened to destroy the whole creation; but Christ saved the world from utter ruin. He who is made of God to us wisdom, bids us be wise. To the proud, daring sinners he says, Boast not of your power, persist not in contempt. All the present hopes and future happiness of the human race spring from the Son of God.
6-10. No second causes will raise men to preferment without the First Cause. It comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. He mentions not the north; the same word that signifies the north, signifies the secret place; and from the secret of God's counsel it does come. From God alone all must receive their doom. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction, when it is put into the hands of God's people; mixtures of the curse, when it is put into the hands of the wicked. God's people have their share in common calamities, but the dregs of the cup are for the wicked. The exaltation of the Son of David will be the subject of the saints' everlasting praises. Then let sinners submit to the King of righteousness, and let believers rejoice in and obey him.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.