John Calvin Commentary Psalms 109:30

"I will give great thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth; Yea, I will praise him among the multitude." — Psalms 109:30 (ASV)

I will praise Jehovah greatly with my mouth. These words clearly establish the truth of the observation I previously made: that David does not pray for God to curse his enemies but, by the holy boldness of his faith, defies them. For he prepares to offer a tribute of gratitude to God, as if he had already realized the object of his desire.

The phrase, with my mouth, is not, as some mistakenly suppose, superfluous. Instead, it should be considered a public acknowledgment on his part of his thanksgiving to God for the deliverance granted to him. It is as if to say, "I will not only meditate on the great goodness I have received from God when I am alone, when no one sees me, and in the depths of my heart, but I will also, in the appointed sacrifice of praise, publicly declare before others how much I am indebted to His grace."

Consistent with this meaning, he adds, in the assembly of great, or of many men; for the term רבים, rabbim, can be rendered both ways. I prefer translating it as great men, because it appears to me that David refers to an assembly of men of notable and noble rank.

He declares that he will acknowledge the goodness of God, not only in some obscure corner, but also in the great assembly of the people, and among governors and those of noble rank. In the celebration of God’s praises, it is unquestionable that these must issue from the heart before they are uttered by the lips. At the same time, it would be an indication of great coldness and lack of fervor if the tongue did not unite with the heart in this exercise.

The reason David mentions only the tongue is that he takes it for granted that, unless there is a pouring out of the heart before God, praises that reach no further than the ear are vain and frivolous. Therefore, from the very bottom of his soul, he pours forth his heartfelt gratitude in fervent strains of praise. He does this from the same motives that should influence all the faithful—the desire for mutual edification; for to act otherwise would be to rob God of the honor that belongs to Him.

Moreover, he also adds the form in which he gave thanks; namely, that God stood at the right hand of the poor. By this language, he suggests that when God had apparently forsaken and abandoned him and stood far from him, even then He was always near and ready to give him timely and necessary help. Assuredly, his poverty and affliction gave some reason for suspecting that he was forsaken by God, since He then either withdrew or concealed His loving-kindness.

Despite this apparent departure, he acknowledges that, during his affliction and poverty, God never ceased to be present to assist him. In saying that he was saved from the judges of his life, he highlights even more clearly the very trying situation in which he was placed: having to deal with very formidable enemies, such as the king and the princes of the realm, who, proudly presuming upon their grandeur and greatness, and regarding his recovery as hopeless, treated him as if he were a dead dog.

It is my firm conviction that in this passage he complains both of the torturing cruelty of his enemies and also that his character had been unjustly slandered and reproached. For we know that he was oppressed by the malignity and wickedness of those who, holding positions of authority, boastfully yet falsely, pretended that they wished to act as judges and executors of justice, using these plausible pretexts as a cloak for their iniquity.