Psalms 76:10

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee,.... Either the wrath which comes from God, and has man for its object; and that either as it regards the people of God; so the Targum, "when thou art angry

Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.

The wrath of man shall praise thee; the blasphemous speeches and furious attempts of thine enemies shall serve thy glory, and cause thy people and others to praise and magnify thee for that admirable wisdom, and power, and faithfulness, and goodness which thou shalt discover upon that occasion. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain; thou shalt prevent and disappoint the succeeding malicious designs of thine enemies, who will meditate revenge for those shameful and terrible overthrows. Or, the remainder of wrath thou shalt gird thyself with, i.e. put it on as an ornament, which the girdle was; thou shalt adorn thyself with it, as a conqueror doth with the spoils of his enemies.

Psalms 76:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.Ver. 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee] As when Sennacherib’ s army was destroyed, the Israelites sang praise, yea, the Egyptians built altars, as Isaiah 19:19. God by his wisdom ordereth and draweth the blind and brute motions of the worst creatures unto his own honour; as the huntsman doth the rage of the dog to his pleasure; or the mariner the blowing of the wind to his voyage; or the artist, the heat of the fire to his work; or the physician, the bloodthirstiness of the leech to a cure, saith a reverend man. The remainder of wrath shall thou restrain] Heb. shall thou gird; that is, curb and keep within compass. The Greek hath it, εορταζεισοι, it shall keep holy day to thee; that is, cease from working, or acting outwardly, how restless soever it be within.

(10) Surely.—The text of this verse as it stands is unintelligible— “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; The residue of wrath Thou shalt gird Thyself with.” But the LXX. and Vulg. suggest the necessary emendation— “ Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee, And the residue of wraths do Thee honour,” where the residue of wrath, like Virgil’s reliquiœ Danaum (Æn. 1:30), means those that escape the enemies’ rage, i.e., the Israelites. Possibly we should render, “and those who remain from their wrath shall celebrate a festival,” since the suggested emendation is the word used in that sense. And we must therefore think of the escape of Israel from Egypt (see above), and the festival which was so repeatedly announced to Pharaoh, as the purpose of their exodus. (See Burgess, Notes on the Hebrew Psalms.)

Verse 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee] The rage of Sennacherib shall only serve to manifest thy glory. The stronger he is, and the more he threatens, and the weaker thy people, the more shall thy majesty and mercy appear in his destruction and their support. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.] The Hebrew gives rather a different sense: "Thou shalt gird thyself with the remainder of wrath." Even after thou hast sent this signal destruction upon Sennacherib and his army, thou wilt continue to pursue the remnant of the persecutors of thy people; their wrath shall be the cause of the excitement of thy justice to destroy them. As a man girds himself with his girdle, that he may the better perform his work, so thou wilt gird thyself with wrath, that thou mayest destroy thy enemies. A good maxim has been taken from this verse: "God often so counterworks the evil designs of men against his cause and followers, that it turns out to their advantage and his glory; nor does he permit them to go to the extent of what they have purposed, and of what they are able to perform. He suffers them to do some mischief, but not all they would or can do." But how different is the reading of the Vulgate! Quoniam cogitatio hominis confitebitur tibi: et reliquiae cogitationis diem festum agent tibi: "The thought of man shall praise thee; and the remains of thought shall celebrate a feast day to thee." The Septuagint and the AEthiopic have understood the text in the same way. Some translate thus: "Certainly, the ferocity of the man (Sennacherib) shall praise thee: and thou shalt gird thyself with the spoils of the furious." The spoils of this great army shall be a booty for thy people. Probably this is the true notion of the place. The old Psalter renders it thus: For thoght of man sal schrife (confess) to the, and levyngs (remains) of thoght a feste day till the sal wirk. The paraphrase is curious, of which this is the substance: "When man forsakes perfitly his synne, and sithen (afterwards) rightwisness werks; it is a feste day; whenne the conscience is clered, and makes feste with the swetnes of goddes lufe, restand fra besynes of any creatur in erth: Than is God at hame with his spouse dwelland."

10–12. The lessons of judgement.

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee - It shall be the occasion of praise; or, honor shall accrue to thee from it, “as if” it were employed in thy praise, and “as if” it were voluntarily engaged in promoting thy glory.

10. The wrath of man shall praise thee—As furnishing an occasion for the display of the divine character and attributes in delivering his people and punishing sin, and hence the increased praises of the triumphant righteous.