1<To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. A Psalm. Of Asaph. A Song.> To you, O God, we give praise, to you we give praise: and those who give honour to your name make clear your works of power. 2When the right time has come, I will be the judge in righteousness. 3When the earth and all its people become feeble, I am the support of its pillars. (Selah.) 4I say to the men of pride, Let your pride be gone: and to the sinners, Let not your horn be lifted up. 5Let not your horn be lifted up: let no more words of pride come from your outstretched necks. 6For honour does not come from the east, or from the west, or uplifting from the south; 7But God is the judge, putting down one, and lifting up another. 8For in the hand of the Lord is a cup, and the wine is red; it is well mixed, overflowing from his hand: he will make all the sinners of the earth take of it, even to the last drop. 9But I will ever be full of joy, making songs of praise to the God of Jacob. 10By him will all the horns of the sinners be cut off; but the horns of the upright will be lifted up.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
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.