John Calvin Commentary Psalms 73:21

"For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart:" — Psalms 73:21 (ASV)

For my heart was in a ferment. The Psalmist again returns to the confession he had previously made, acknowledging that while he felt his heart pierced with corrupt envy and rivalry, he had complained against God in an irritable or fretful manner. He compares his anger to leaven. Some translate, My heart was steeped in vinegar. But it is more suitable to explain the verb this way: My heart was soured or swollen, as dough is swollen by leaven.

For example, Plautus, when speaking of a woman inflamed with anger, says that she is all in a ferment. Some read the last clause of the verse, My reins were pierced; and they think that א (aleph), at the beginning of the word אשתונן (eshtonan)—the verb for pierced—is used instead of ה (he); but this makes little difference to the meaning.

We know that the word כליות (kelayoth), which the Hebrews use for the reins, comes from the verb כלא (kalah), which means to desire or to covet earnestly. This term is used for the reins because it is said that human desires are seated in that part of the body.

David therefore declares that these perplexing and troublesome thoughts had been, as it were, thorns that pierced him. We have already stated how he came to be affected by this pungent and burning spiritual vexation.

We will find many worldly people who, although they deny that the world is governed by God’s providence, still do not greatly trouble themselves but merely laugh at the whims of Fortune. On the other hand, true believers, the more firmly they are persuaded that God is the judge of the world, are more afflicted when His ways do not correspond to their wishes.