Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Ver. 9. Thou shalt break them, &c.] sc. Those that will not bend thou shalt thus break. Thou shalt roughly rule them (Ainsworth). Christ's gracious government of his obedient people, though not so fully expressed here, yet it is to be necessarily understood; and in the last words of the psalm it is plainly held forth, "Blessed are they that trust in him."
Thou shalt dash them in pieces (or, scatter them abroad, being already broken) as a potter's vessel] i.e. Without any hope of repair and recovery. It is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God, Heb 10:31 He that will not be warned in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said that martyr, Aut faciendum aut patiendum. God will be obeyed either actively or passively. Look to it.