Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good ... - To the good; to the pious. Let them be under the divine protection. Possibly this is not merely a prayer, but is expressive of the belief of the psalmist as to what would occur under the divine administration - that the favor of God would rest upon his people.

Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good - Let the upright ever find thee his sure defense! Increase the goodness which thou hast already bestowed upon them; and let all who are upright in heart find thee to be their stay and their support!

Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good,.... That are made so by the Spirit and grace of God; for none are naturally good, but evil; only such who are regenerated and made new creatures, who have a good work of grace begun in them; who have the good Spirit of God, and his good graces, and the good word of God in them, and are filled with all goodness; and which is known by the good fruits which they bear, or the good works done by them. For these the psalmist prays the Lord would do good to them, not only in a providential way, as he does to all; but in a way of special grace, bestowing the blessings of his goodness on them, and causing all things to work for their good: and as saints should pray for one another, or supplication should be made for all saints, such a prayer as this may be the prayer of faith; for it is not to be doubted but God will do good to those he makes good. Aben Ezra says this may be considered either as a prayer or a prophecy; it may have respect unto the church in the latter day, and to the good things spoken of concerning it; which God will accomplish in due time, and should be prayed for; see Psalm 51:18;

and to them that are upright in their hearts; which is a further description of good men, from the integrity and sincerity of their hearts; who do all they do before God and men, in the uprightness of their souls, cordially and sincerely, from right principles, and with right views.

On the ground of the strong faith in Psalm 125:1. and of the confident hope in Psalm 125:3, the petition now arises that Jahve would speedily bestow the earnestly desired blessing of freedom upon the faithful ones, and on the other hand remove the cowardly lit. those afraid to confess God and those who have fellowship with apostasy, together with the declared wicked ones, out of the way. For such is the meaning of Psalm 125:4. טובים (in Proverbs alternating with the "righteous," Proverbs 2:20, the opposite being the "wicked," רשׁעים, Proverbs 14:19) are here those who truly believe and rightly act in accordance with the good will of God,

(Note: The Midrash here calls to mind a Talmudic riddle: There came a good one (Moses, Exodus 2:2) and received a good thing (the Tra, Proverbs 4:2) from the good One (God, Psalm 145:9) for the good ones (Israel, Psalm 125:4).)

or, as the parallel member of the verse explains (where לישׁרים did not require the article on account of the addition), those who in the bottom of their heart are uprightly disposed, as God desires to have it. The poet supplicates good for them, viz., preservation against denying God and deliverance out of slavery; for those, on the contrary, who bend (הטּה) their crooked paths, i.e., turn aside their paths in a crooked direction from the right way (עקלקלּותם, cf. Judges 5:6, no less than in Amos 2:7; Proverbs 17:23, an accusative of the object, which is more natural than that it is the accusative of the direction, after Numbers 22:23 extrem., cf. Job 23:11; Isaiah 30:11) - for these he wishes that Jahve would clear them away (הוליך like Arab. ahlk, perire facere equals perdere) together with the workers of evil, i.e., the open, manifest sinners, to whom these lukewarm and sly, false and equivocal ones are in no way inferior as a source of danger to the church. lxx correctly: τοὺς δὲ ἐκκλίνοντας εἰς τάς στραγγαλιὰς (Aquila διαπλοκάς, Symmachus σκολιότητας, Theodotion διεστραμμένα) ἀπάξει κύριος μετὰ κ. τ. λ.. Finally, the poet, stretching out his hand over Israel as if pronouncing the benediction of the priest, gathers up all his hopes, prayers, and wishes into the one prayer: "Peace be upon Israel." He means "the Israel of God," Galatians 6:16. Upon this Israel he calls down peace from above. Peace is the end of tyranny, hostility, dismemberment, unrest, and terror; peace is freedom and harmony and unity and security and blessedness.

Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.

4. (Compare Ps 7:10; 84:11).

125:4,5 God's promises should quicken our prayers. The way of holiness is straight; there are no windings or shiftings in it. But the ways of sinners are crooked. They shift from one purpose to another, and turn hither and thither to deceive; but disappointment and misery shall befal them. Those who cleave to the ways of God, though they may have trouble in their way, their end shall be peace. The pleading of their Saviour for them, secures to them the upholding power and preserving grace of their God. Lord, number us with them, in time, and to eternity.