\*Ver. 3. \\The words of his mouth [are] iniquity and deceit\\, &c.]
Not only sinful, but sin itself; his mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness, of filthy and unchaste
words, of corrupt communication, lying, deceit, and
flattery; out of the abundance of the wickedness of
his heart his mouth speaketh; and which shows the
badness of it, and proves all that is said before of him;
\*\\he hath left off to be wise, [and] to do good\\; by which
the psalmist seems to intend one that had been a professor
of religion, who, besides the light of nature he
had acted contrary to, had bad the advantage of a divine
revelation, and had been enlightened into the
knowledge of divine things, and had done many things
externally good, particularly acts of beneficence; but
now had dropped his profession of religion, denied the
truths he had been enlightened into, and ceased from
doing good; otherwise a natural man understandeth
not; and, though he is wise to do evil, to do good he
has no knowledge.

\*Ver. 4. \\He deviseth mischief upon his bed\\, &c.] He
casts about in his mind on his pillow, when at leisure
from all employment; and consults and contrives
schemes how to compass his lusts, and to do injury to
others, without doing which he cannot sleep;
\*\\he setteth himself in a way [that is] not good\\, in an evil
way, which he chooses and delights in, and determines
to continue in, he leaving the paths of righteousness
to walk in the ways of darkness:
\*\\he abhorreth not evil\\;
which is to be abhorred both because of its nature and
effects; see \\#Ro 12:9\\; but on the contrary he loves
it, takes pleasure in doing it, and in them that commit
it: thus, by his thoughts, words, and actions, he
appears to be devoid of the fear of God.

\*Ver. 5. \\Thy mercy, O Lord, [is] in the heavens\\, &c.]
Meaning either the general mercy of God the earth is
full of, and extends to all creatures; to which it is
owing that wicked men before described are not consumed;
and which reaches %up to the heavens% {d}, as the
words are by some rendered, as their sins do; see
\\#Ps 57:10\\; or the special mercy of God, and regards
not the objects of it, creatures in heaven; for there at,
none there proper objects of mercy; but the seat of
it, the heart of God, who is in heaven; or the repository
of it, the covenant of grace, which is full of the
sure mercies of David; and of mercy there was a most
glaring instance, when the son of God was sent down
from heaven, to obtain salvation for sinful men; or it
may denote the original of it, the heaven, being, as
Aben Ezra observes some Jewish interpreters say, the
fountain of mercy, and the spring of truth; or the
greatness and abundance of it, it being as high as
heaven, yea, above it; see \\#Ps 103:11 108:4\\;
\*\\[and] thy faithfulness [reacheth] unto the clouds\\; which
lies in the execution of his purposes, whose counsels of
old were faithfulness and truth; and in keeping his
covenant and promises; he never changes his mind,
nor forgets his word; he is a God of truth, and cannot
lie; he knows the end from the beginning; no unforeseen
event can turn up to hinder the performance of
what he has purposed and promised, and he is able to
perform; nor does ever any of the good things he has
spoken of fail: though his faithfulness sometimes
seems to be not only to the clouds, but in them, and
out of sight; providences seem to clash with promises,
which make unbelief to say, doth his promise
fail for evermore? yet, though we believe not, he abides
faithful, \\#Ps 77:8 2Ti 2:13\\.

\*Ver. 6. \\Thy righteousness [is] like the great mountains\\,
&c.] Or, %the mountains of God%; so called for their
excellency, as the cedars of God, \\#Ps 80:10\\; or, as
Gussetius {e} observes, the greatest and highest mountains,
which are here meant, reaching above the clouds
and the region of the air, are the pillars of the palace
of God, and a part of it; and therefore called his
mountains with great propriety, to which his righteousness
is compared: that is, either the righteousness
of God in the government of the world, which is sometimes
like the high mountains, not to be reached and
accounted for in the present state of things, though
always is, and is immovable as they are; or the righteousness
of God, by which he justifies sinners, which
may be said to be as the mountains of God, because of
the dignity of his person, who has wrought it out; and
because of the clear manifestation of it, the Gospel,
and so visible, as high mountains; and because of the
immovableness and duration of it;
\*\\thy judgments [are] a great deep\\;
both in a way of providence, many of
them being at present not to be traced, though before long
they will be made manifest; and in a way of grace,
such as the choice of some, and the leaving of others,
the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the Gentiles;
see \\#Ro 11:33\\;
\*\\O Lord, thou preservest man and
beast\\; in a providential way, upholding each in their
being, and supplying them with the necessaries of
life: some understand this figuratively, of God's saving
Jews and Gentiles, wise and unwise, and particularly
those who, through humility and modesty, as Jarchi
says, compare themselves to beasts, because of their
ignorance and stupidity, \\#Pr 30:2 Ps 73:22\\.

{d} \^Mymvhb\^ %usque ad coelos%, Pagninus, Musculus, Muis, Piscator,
Gejerus, Michaelis; so Kimchi & Noldius, p. 164. No. 744. & Ainsworth.
{e} Ebr. Comment. p. 66.