the First Week after Epiphany
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Psalms 37:25
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I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
I haue beene yong, and am olde: yet I sawe neuer the righteous forsaken, nor his seede begging bread.
I have been young and now I am old,yet I have not seen the righteous abandonedor his children begging for bread.
I have been young, and now am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his children begging for bread.
I was young, and now I am old, but I have never seen good people left with no one to help them; I have never seen their children begging for food.
I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.
As long as I can remember, good people have never been left helpless, and their children have never gone begging for food.
I have been young; now I am old; yet not once have I seen the righteous abandoned or his descendants begging for bread.
I have been young, and now am old;
I haue bene yong, and now am old; yet haue I not seene the righteous forsaken, nor his seede begging bread.
I was once young, indeed I am now old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.
I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
I was a youth, but I am now old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
I have been young and am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread.
I was young, and now I am old, but I have never seen good people left helpless or their children begging for food.
I was once young, now I am old. I have never seen a godly man abandoned, or his children forced to search for food.
I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.
Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.
I have been young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the man who is right with God left alone, or his children begging for bread.
Young, have I been, moreover am old, - Yet have I not seen, A righteous man forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread:
(36-25) I have been young and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.
I am old now; I have lived a long time, but I have never seen good people abandoned by the Lord or their children begging for food.
I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging for bread.
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
I haue ben a young chylde, and nowe I am olde: and yet sawe I neuer the righteous forsaken, nor his seede begyng bread.
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread:
I was yongere, and sotheli Y wexide eld, and Y siy not a iust man forsakun; nethir his seed sekynge breed.
Young I have been, I have also become old, And I have not seen the righteous forsaken, And his seed seeking bread.
I have been young, and now am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his children begging for bread.
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.
I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.
I have been young, and [now] am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
I have been young, and now am old, but I have not seen the good man without help, or his children looking for bread.
I haue bene yonge, & now am olde: yet sawe I neuer the rightuous forsake, ner his sede to seke their bred.
I once was young, now I'm a graybeard— not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he's out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.
I was young and now I am old,Yet I have not seen the righteous forsakenOr his seed begging bread.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
I have: Psalms 71:9, Psalms 71:18, Job 32:6, Job 32:7, Acts 21:16, Philemon 1:8, Philemon 1:9
yet: Psalms 37:28, Psalms 94:14, Joshua 1:5, 1 Samuel 12:22, Isaiah 13:16, 2 Corinthians 4:9, Hebrews 12:5, Hebrews 12:6, Hebrews 13:5
nor his seed: Psalms 25:13, Psalms 59:15, Psalms 109:10, Psalms 112:2, Genesis 17:7, Job 15:23, Proverbs 13:22, Luke 1:53-55
Reciprocal: Job 4:7 - who ever Psalms 71:11 - God Psalms 112:5 - showeth Proverbs 10:3 - will Proverbs 24:30 - went Proverbs 28:10 - but Matthew 5:42 - General Matthew 6:33 - and all Luke 12:31 - General
Cross-References
So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].
So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
So Jacob (Israel) lived in the land where his father [Isaac] had been a stranger (sojourner, resident alien), in the land of Canaan.
His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.
Joseph's brothers were envious and jealous of him, but his father kept the words [of Joseph] in mind [wondering about their meaning].
Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing our flocks."
And when they saw him from a distance, even before he came close to them, they plotted to kill him.
Then as the Midianite [and Ishmaelite] traders were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And so they took Joseph [as a captive] into Egypt.
Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph [as a slave] to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the [royal] guard.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
I have been young, and [now] am old,.... The psalmist makes mention of his age, which takes in the whole compass of his life, to command attention to what he was about to say; which was founded upon a long experience and observation of things, and was as follows;
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken; though afflicted of God, and persecuted by men, yet not forsaken; though poor and needy, and often in necessitous circumstances, yet God in his providence appeared for them in one way or another; and so as Apollinarius paraphrases it,
"I never knew a just man entirely needy;''
for such might be forsaken by men, and even by their dearest friends and relations, yet not by the Lord: they might indeed, at times, think themselves forsaken of him, and their enemies might conclude and say they were, and yet this was not their case, Isaiah 49:14; and though they may be forsaken by him for a while, yet not utterly; he will not leave them and forsake them for ever, Isaiah 54:7;
nor his seed begging bread; they being righteous also, which must be supposed; otherwise, as good men have wicked children, these, through their wickedness, may come to poverty, to beggary, as they sometimes do; though a distinction may be made between being poor and beggars; the seed of the righteous may be the one, and not the other: besides, there is a difference between asking bread of others, in some few instances, and constantly begging bread from door to door, in which last sense the psalmist must be understood here; for otherwise he himself in some cases, had asked bread, as of Ahimelech at Nob, and of Nabal, c. as did also Elijah of the widow of Sarepta: and though there might have been instances of some of the posterity of the righteous who got their bread by begging at the door, as in the case of Lazarus yet David had never observed any such instance during the time of his life, which shows that such instances are very rare; whereas among wicked men and their offspring the case is frequent and common. Again, it may be observed, that the psalmist is speaking in the context of righteous men that are liberal, and give to the poor freely and largely; and it is seldom if ever known that they or their children come to want and poverty. Once more, the word "forsaken" may be repeated in this clause, thus; "nor his seed begging bread forsaken" x; or seeking it in vain, and finally destitute of it; though they have been so reduced as to beg their bread, they have not been forsaken; they have find it, bread sufficient to support life, as Apollinarius paraphrases it; their bread has been given and their water sure; see Isaiah 41:17. In an ancient Midrash y, or exposition of the Jews, the sense is thus given:
"although his seed and his sons are begging bread, yet I have not seen the righteous man, their father, forsaken, because of his fear of the blessed God.''
x "Justum non vidi derelictum, et semen justi quaerens panem non vidi derelictum"; so Hopfnerus, Titelmannus, Lorinus, Franzius apud Gejerum; "frustra quaerens panem, et finalitur destitutum", Michaelis. y Vajikra Rabba, s. 35. fol. 175. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
I have been young - The idea in this whole passage is, “I myself have passed through a long life. I have had an opportunity of observation, wide and extended. When I was a young man, I looked upon the world around me with the views and feelings which belong to that period of existence; when in middle life, I contemplated the state of things with the more calm and sober reflections pertaining to that period, and to the opportunities of wider observation; and now, in old age, I contemplate the condition of the world with all the advantages which a still wider observation and a longer experience give me, and with the impartial judgment which one has who is about to leave the world. And the result of all is a conviction that religion is an advantage to man; that God protects His people; that He provides for them; that they are more uniformly and constantly blessed, even in their worldly affairs, than other people, and that they do not often come to poverty and want.” There is a sad kind of feeling which a man has when he is constrained to say, “Ihave been young;” for it suggests the memory of joys, and hopes, and friends, that are now gone forever. But a man may have some claim to respect for his opinions when he is constrained to say it, for he can bring to the coming generation such results of his own experience and observation as may be of great value to those who are “young.”
And now am old - This demonstrates that this psalm was one of the later productions of its author; and the psalm has an additional value from this circumstance, as stating the results of a long observation of the course of affairs on the earth. Yet there is much that is solemn when a man is constrained to say, “I am old.” Life is nearly ended. The joys, the hopes, the vigor of youth, are all gone. The mature strength of manhood is now no more. The confines of life are nearly reached. The next remove is to another world, and that now must be near; and it is a solemn thing to stand on the shores of eternity; to look out on that boundless ocean, to feel that earth, and all that is dear on earth, is soon to be left “forever.”
Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken - Forsaken by God; so forsaken that he has not a friend; so forsaken that he has nothing with which to supply his wants.
Nor his seed begging bread - Nor his children beggars. This was a remarkable testheony; and though it cannot be affirmed that the psalmist meant to say literally that he had never, in any instance, met with such a case - for the language may have been intended as a general statement, yet it may have been true to the letter. In the course of a long life it may have occurred that he had never met with such a case - and if so, it was a remarkable proof of the correctness of the general remarks which he was making about the advantage of piety. It is not now universally true that the “righteous” are not “forsaken,” in the sense that they do not want, or in the sense that their children are not constrained to beg their bread, but the following things, are true:
(a) that religion tends to make men industrious, economical, and prudent, and hence, tends to promote prosperity, and to secure temporal comforts;
(b) that religion “of itself” impoverishes no one, or makes no one the poorer;
(c) that religion saves from many of the expenses in life which are produced by vicious indulgence; and
(d) that, as a general rule, it saves men and their children from the necessity of public begging, and from the charity-house.
Who are the inmates of the poor-houses in the land? Who are the beggars in our great cities? Here and there, it may be, is one who is the child of pious parents, reduced by sickness or misfortune, or a lack of practical good sense - for religion does not alter the constitution of the mind, and does not impart the “skill” or “talent” upon which so much of the success in life depends; but the great mass of persons in our charity-houses, and of beggars in the streets, are themselves intemperate, or are the wives and children of the intemperate. They consist of those whom religion, as it would have made them virtuous and industrious, would have saved from rags and beggary. It may not now be literally true that anyone who has been young, and who is become old, could say that he had not once seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread; but the writer of these lines, who has this day - the day on which he pens them (Dec. 1, 1859) - reached the sixty-first year of his life, and who is constrained to say “I have been young,” though he may feel a reluctance to add, “but now am old,” can say, as the result of his own observation in the world, that, as a great law, the children of the pious are not vagrants and beggars. As a great law, they are sober, industrious, and prosperous. The vagrants and the beggars of the world are from other classes; and whatever may be the bearing of religion on the destinies of men in the future world, in this world the effect is to make them virtuous, industrious, prudent, and successful in their worldly affairs, so that their children are not left to beggary and want, but to respectability and to competence.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 37:25. I have been young, and now am old — I believe this to be literally true in all cases. I am now grey-headed myself; I have travelled in different countries, and have had many opportunities of seeing and conversing with religious people in all situations in life; and I have not, to my knowledge, seen one instance to the contrary. I have seen no righteous man forsaken, nor any children of the righteous begging their bread. God puts this honour upon all that fear him; and thus careful is he of them, and of their posterity.
