Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
land of the living, he means to point out to us the course that we are expected to pursue; and that, almost every moment of time, fresh destructions press upon us, if he overlook us.
Psalm 116:10-11
10. I have believed, therefore I will speak; 379 I am afflicted very sore. 11. I said in my fear, Every man is a liar. 380
10. I have believed That his wonderful deliverance may appear the more conspicuous, he again relates the imminent danger in which he had been placed. He begins by declaring that he spake in the true sincerity of his heart, and that nothing proceeded from his lips but what was the fruit of long reflection, and mature deliberation. Such is the import of the clause, I have believed, therefore I will speak; words which proceed from the full affection of the heart. In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul, quoting this passage, follows the Greek version, "I believed, therefore I have spoken." I have elsewhere remarked that it was not the design of the apostles to repeat every word and syllable; it is enough for us that the words of David are appropriately applied in their proper and natural sense to the subject to which Paul there refers. Having referred indirectly to the Corinthians, who were exalting themselves above the clouds, as if they had been exempted from the common lot of mankind, "I believed" says he, "and therefore I have spoken, that he who hath once raised Christ from the dead, will also extend Christ's life to us;" that is, I believe, and therefore I speak. Thus he charges the Corinthians with being inflated with foolish pride, because they do not humbly submit to the cross of Christ; especially as they ought to speak in the exercise of the same spirit of faith with himself. The particle,כיki, which we translate therefore, is by some Hebrew interpreters understood as a disjunctive particle; but the more correct meaning, and which is supported by the best scholars, is, I will speak nothing but the sentiments of my heart. The drift of the passage, too, requires this; namely, that the external professions of the lips correspond with the internal feelings of the heart: for many talk inconsiderately, and utter what never entered into their hearts.
"'I believed, therefore have I spoken;' I firmly believe what I say, therefore I make no scruple of saying it. This should be connected with the preceding verse, and the full stop should be placed at 'spoken.'" — Horsley.
Horsley's version of this verse is as follows: "'In an ecstasy of despair, I said, the whole race of man is a delusion.' 'A delusion,' a lie, a cheat, a thing of nothing, made to no purpose. So Mudge understands this latter part. He judiciously observes, that the prefixedהnecessarily determines the phrase,,האדם כלto the collective sense of the whole race. Every man, or all men, should be,אדם כלwithout".הFry similarly translates, "The entire of the manhood is a lie; or," he observes, "(as the word we render lie signifies,) a thing failing and disappointing the hopes built upon it."