Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 112

Mighty: In the sense of wealthy, as in Ruth 2:1.

His righteousness endures for ever. —The parallelism in Psalm 112:9, where the same clause is repeated, seems to require for righteousness the limited sense which the Talmud gives the word—namely, liberality or beneficence. See also Daniel 4:27, in the Septuagint. Still the saying is true in its widest sense. “There is nothing, no, nothing, innocent or good, that dies or is forgotten; let us hold to that faith, or none” (Dickens).

Arises ... —The Hebrew verb is commonly used for the sunrise. (Isaiah 58:8.) For the good man, the darkest night of trouble and sorrow will have a dawn of hope.

He is gracious ... —The Authorized Version is right in making this a description of the upright man’s character. The construction certainly at first appears strange, since “the upright” is in the plural, while the epithets in this clause resume the singular of Psalms 112:3. This may be best explained by treating the first clause of this verse as a familiar proverbial saying, which the poet introduces as a quotation, without changing the number to suit his own construction.

A good man. —Rather, happy is the man who gives and lends, good being here not used in a moral sense, but meaning prosperous.

He will guide ... —Rather, he will gain his cause: in (the) judgment.

So, the Septuagint and Vulgate apparently render it this way; others say, “he will sustain his affairs by justice.”

The verb primarily means “to measure,” but in the conjugation used here, it has the sense of “sustains.” (Genesis 47:12; Genesis 1:21, where the Authorised Version has “nourish.”)

This meaning is confirmed by the parallelism of the next verse.

See Psalms 15:5; Proverbs 10:7.