Psalms 52:1
Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
Study Note
Study Note
The psalm superscription links it to David's confrontation with Doeg the Edomite (1 Samuel 22:9), who betrayed the priests of Nob to Saul, giving the opening taunt — 'Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually' — a precise historical referent. The irony of calling Doeg a 'mighty man' (gibbor) is pointed: the word normally honors warriors and heroes, but Doeg's 'might' was murderous treachery. The contrast between the wicked man's uprooted-tree end (verse 5) and the righteous person's olive-tree vitality in God's house (verse 8) is one of the Psalter's characteristic two-way meditations on the contrasting destiny of faithfulness and self-serving treachery.
Other Translations
Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endureth continually.
To the Overseer. --An instruction, by David, in the coming in of Doeg the Edomite, and he declareth to Saul, and saith to him, `David came in unto the house of Ahimelech.' What, boasteth thou in evil, O mighty one? The kindness of God <FI>is<Fi> all the day.
Why do you take pride in wrongdoing, lifting yourself up against the upright man all the day?
Cross References
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in …
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts …
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the …
For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner …
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name …
Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of …
And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children …
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.