John Calvin Commentary Psalms 19:3

"There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard." — Psalms 19:3 (ASV)

There is no language nor speech [where] their voice is not heard. This verse has two almost contrary interpretations, each of which, however, appears probable. As the words, when rendered literally, read as follows—No language, and no words, their voice is not heard—some connect the third and fourth verses, as if this sentence were incomplete without the clause that follows in the beginning of the fourth verse, Their writing has gone forth through all the earth, etc.

According to them, the meaning is this: The heavens, it is true, are mute and are not endowed with the faculty of speech; yet they still proclaim the glory of God with a voice sufficiently loud and distinct. But if this was David’s meaning, why was it necessary to repeat three times that they do not have articulate speech?

It would certainly be weak and redundant to insist so much on a thing so universally known. The other interpretation, therefore, as it is more widely accepted, also seems more suitable.

In the Hebrew language, which is concise, it is often necessary to supply a word. It is particularly common in that language for relative pronouns to be omitted (that is to say, the words which, in which, etc.), as here, There is no language, there is no speech, [where] their voice is not heard.

Furthermore, the third negation, בלי, beli, rather denotes an exception to what is stated in the preceding parts of the sentence, as if it had been said, The difference and variety of languages do not prevent the preaching of the heavens and their language from being heard and understood in every part of the world.

The difference of languages is a barrier that prevents different nations from maintaining mutual communication. It makes someone distinguished for eloquence in their own country become either mute or, if they attempt to speak, unintelligible when they go to a foreign country. And even if a person could speak all languages, they could not speak to a Greek and a Roman at the same time; for as soon as they began to address one, the other would cease to understand.

David, therefore, by making an implied comparison, highlights the effectiveness of the testimony that the heavens give to their Creator. The meaning of his language is, Different nations differ from each other in language; but the heavens have a common language to teach all people without distinction, nor is there anything but their own carelessness to prevent even those who are strangers to each other, and who live in the most distant parts of the world, from learning, so to speak, from the same teacher.