(118) Trodden down.--Better, thou despisest. So LXX. and Vulg. Aquila, "Thou hast impaled." Symmachus, "Thou hast convicted." Literally the word seems to mean to weigh or value, but, from the habit of the buyer beating down the price by depreciating, comes to have a sense of this kind. Mr. Burgess aptly quotes Proverbs 20:14. We may compare the English word cheapen, which originally only meant to buy.

For their deceit is falsehood.--Rather, as the parallelism indicates, for their tricks are in vain; or perhaps, to bring out the full intention of the Hebrew, we must paraphrase: "for their wiles are as fruitless as they are deceitful." So Symmachus: "all their craft is vain."

Verse 118. - Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes; rather, thou despisest all them that go astray from thy statutes. Thou makest light of them. The LXX. have, ἐξουδένωσας For their deceit is falsehood. "Their subtle policy is but a lie" (Kay). It rests on lies, and ends in disappointment.

119:113-120 Here is a dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it. The more we love the law of God, the more watchful we shall be, lest vain thoughts draw us from what we love. Would we make progress in keeping God's commands, we must be separate from evil-doers. The believer could not live without the grace of God; but, supported by his hand, his spiritual life shall be maintained. Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports. All departure from God's statutes is error, and will prove fatal. Their cunning is falsehood. There is a day coming which will put the wicked into everlasting fire, the fit place for the dross. See what comes of sin Surely we who fall so low in devout affections, should fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into heavenly rest, any of us should be found to come short of it, Heb 4:1.Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes,.... That wander from the way of the Lord's commandments; that deviate from his precepts, go astray constantly and wilfully; a people that err in their hearts, and with all their hearts. These the Lord treads down, as mire in the streets, as grapes in a winepress; which shows his abhorrence of them, his indignation at them, and how easily they are subdued under him;

for their deceit is falsehood: or, "their hypocrisy is a lie" (m): the appearance they make is a false one; they appear outwardly righteous, but are inwardly wicked; have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it: or all their deceitful doctrines are lies in hypocrisy, though dressed up with all the art and cunning they are masters of; or all their subtle schemes to corrupt and subvert the true doctrines of the word are in vain and to no purpose.

(m) So Michaelis.