Psalms 28:5

WEB

Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he will break them down and not build them up.

KJV

Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

Commentary

Because they regard not the works of the Lord,.... Neither the work of creation, as if there was no first cause of all things; nor the work of Providence, taking no notice either of the judgments or of the mercies of God; as though they believed that God had forsaken the earth, and would do neither good nor evil; and still less the work of redemption, which in covenant, promise, and prophecy, was appointed for the Messiah to work out; and as for the work of the Spirit of God upon the soul, they had no notion of that, of the nature and necessity of it; the things of the Spirit of God being foolishness to them, and undiscernible by them; see Isa 5:12 . Perhaps the psalmist may have some regard to his being anointed by Samuel, according to the will of God, and to the victory which he obtained over Goliath, and over others, which justly gained him great esteem among some, and created envy in others; and also the wonderful protection of him from time to time; the Chaldee paraphrase is, "because they do not understand the law of the Lord". It follows, nor the operation of his hands; in which his hand was so very apparent, that nothing less could be said than that this was the finger of God; wherefore, he shall destroy them, and not build them up; that is, they shall be irrecoverably lost; they shall be punished with everlasting destruction; there will be no help or remedy for them: some (s) understand this as a prayer, that God would destroy them in such a manner, and render it, "let him destroy them", &c. (t). (s) Kimchi in loc. Vid. Aben Ezram in loc. (t) "destruat eos", Vatablus; so the Arabic version.