8 I am so fast in prison: that I cannot get forth. 9 My sight faileth for very trouble : LORD, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched forth my hands unto Thee. 10 Dost Thou shew wonders among the dead or shall the dead rise up again, and praise Thee? 11 Shall Thy loving-kindness be shewed in the grave or Thy faithfulness in de struction? 12 Shall Thy wondrous works be known in the dark and Thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten? 13 Unto Thee have I cried, O LORD: and early shall my prayer come before Thee. 14 LORD, why abhorrest Thou my soul: and hidest Thou Thy face from me? 15 I am in misery, and like unto Him that is at the point to die : even from my youth up Thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind. 16 Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me and the fear of Thee hath undone me. 17 They came round about me daily like water and compassed me together on every side. : 18 My lovers and friends hast Thou put away from me and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight. phatic in the Hebrew: as for me, I have cried. 14. Abhorrest-i.e., reject and cast off; used of Jehovah casting off a people, Why hast Thou put me from Thee?" Ps. xliii. 2. 66 15. From my youth up. Refers to the first sentence of the verse, a tender plant out of a dry ground," always in weakness and sorrow. 16. The fear of Thee-i.e., Thy terrors. 17. They-i.e., the terrors of the previous verse. 18. The acme of hopelessness is more clear in the Hebrew and Bible version. "My familiar friends-DARKNESS." Cf. the graphic touch introduced when Judas went out to betray Christ-"and it was NIGHT," S. John xiii. 30. Evening Prayer. PSALM 89. Misericordias Domini. [Ethan the Psalmist, in a time of great depression, takes refuge in the memory of the noble works which God had done in the old time, and of the gracious promises assured to Israel. "The key-note of the Psalm is mercy and faithfulness."-KAY.] : My song shall be alway of the loving-kindness of the LORD with my mouth will I ever be shewing Thy truth from one generation to another. 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be set up for ever Thy truth shalt Thou stablish in the heavens. 3 I have made a covenant with My chosen : I have sworn unto David My servant; 4 Thy seed will I stablish for ever and set up thy throne from one generation to another. 5 O LORD, the very heavens shall praise Thy wondrous works and Thy truth in the congregation of the saints. 6 For who is he among the clouds : that shall be compared unto the LORD? : 7 And what is he among the gods that shall be like unto the LORD? 8 God is very greatly to be feared in the councils of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about Him. 9 O LORD God of hosts, who is like unto Thee Thy truth, most mighty LORD, is on every side. : 10 Thou rulest the raging of the sea : Thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise. Christmas Day. The first Psalm at Evening Prayer, followed by Ps. cx. 1. Truth; Heb. firmness, faithfulness in fulfilling promises; so also in verse 2. "All the hope of the people rests on the sure mercies of David, and the faithfulness of God.-[S.] 2. Set up; Heb. built up, as a temple of God. Verses 3 and 4 contain the words uttered by JEHOVAH; the Psalmist then proceeds to celebrate His praise. 4. [SELAH.] 5. Saints. The holy ones, the angels of God, as in verse 8. Cf. 'Unto which of the saints [i.e., angels] wilt thou turn?" Job v. 1. of the mighty-i.e., 7. Gods; Heb. sons angels, as in Ps. xxix. 1, " Bring unto the LORD, O ye mighty," where the same word here translated "gods" is there translated "mighty.' 9. Truth faithfulness. - i. e., In this and the following verses notice the appeal to the personal power of God. THOU rulestTHOU stillest-THOU hast subdued, &c. The word THOU is emphatic in the Hebrew. 11 Thou hast subdued Egypt, and destroyed it: Thou hast scattered Thine enemies abroad with Thy mighty arm. 12 The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine: Thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is. 13 Thou hast made the north and the south Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy Name. 14 Thou hast a mighty arm : strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. 15 Righteousness and equity are the habitation of Thy seat mercy and truth shall before Thy face. go 16 Blessed is the people, O LORD, that can rejoice in Thee: they shall walk in the light of Thy countenance. 17 Their delight shall be daily in Thy Name and in Thy righteousness shall they make their boast. 18 For Thou art the glory of their strength and in Thy loving-kindness Thou shalt lift up our horns. 11. Egypt. Rahab in the Hebrew. The word is preserved_in the English in Ps. lxxxvii. 3, "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." 13. Tabor and Hermon are introduced as representative mountains of Palestine. 15. Equity; Heb. judgment. Habitation; Heb. foundation, basis. 16. That can rejoice in Thee; Heb. "that knows the joyful sound of the trum pet," summoning them to worship; delighting, as it were, in the sound of the church bells. 18. The glory of Retheir strength. ferring to the presence 19 For the LORD is our defence: the of God in the Ark, in Holy One of Israel is our King. 20 Thou spakest sometime in visions unto Thy saints, and saidst : I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. their midst. 19. Rather, to the LORD belongs our shield, and to the Holy One of Israel our King-i.e., our King is under the 21 I have found David My servant: with immediate protection My holy oil have I anointed him. 22 My hand shall hold him fast and My arm shall strengthen him. 23 The enemy shall not be able to do him violence: the son of wickedness shall not hurt him. of Jehovah. 20. To Thy saints. If the plural is retained, it refers to Nathan and David, or possibly to the nation at large. If, as in the B. V., it is singular, it refers to Nathan. The vision is that recorded in 1 Chron. xvii. 3-15, and 2 Sam. vii. 4-17. 23. "Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more," 2 Sam. vii. 10. 24 I will smite down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. 25 My truth also and My mercy shall be with him and in My Name shall his horn be exalted. : 26 I will set his dominion also in the sea and his right hand in the floods. : 27 He shall call Me, Thou art my Father: my God, and my strong salvation. 28 And I will make him My First-born : higher than the kings of the earth. 29 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and My covenant shall stand fast with him. 30 His seed also will I make to endure 26. His dominion; Heb. his hand. His power should extend from the Mediterranean Sea to the floods [i.e., the Euphrates], according to the prediction made to Joshua.-Josh. i. 4. 28. My First-born. A title of honour applied to David as for ever and his throne as the days of the ancestor of JESUS heaven. 31 But if his children forsake My law : and walk not in My judgments; 32 If they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments: I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges. 33 Nevertheless, My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him: nor suffer My truth to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips I have sworn once by My holiness, that I will not fail David. 35 His seed shall endure for ever and his seat is like as the sun before Me. 36 He shall stand fast for evermore as the moon and as the faithful witness in heaven. : 37 But Thou hast abhorred and forsaken Thine Anointed and art displeased at him. is faithful (the Witness being God Himself). CHRIST. 34. Once-i.e., once for all, as in Ps. lxii. 11, God spake once. So in the Communion service, "One obla tion of Himself ONCE offered." 36. And as the faithful, &c.; rather, and the Witness in heaven [SELAH.] 37. Thou art faithful-and yet. Then follows the description of the immediate prostration of the kingdom. This lament over the eclipse of the glory of the Anointed suggests a parallel in the description of the sufferings of the Messiah in Isa. liii. 38 Thou hast broken the covenant of Thy servant and cast his crown to the ground. 39 Thou hast overthrown all his hedges: and broken down his strongholds. 40 All they that go by spoil him : and he is become a reproach to his neighbours. 41 Thou hast set up the right hand of his enemies and made all his adversaries to rejoice. : 42 Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword and givest him not victory in the battle. : 43 Thou hast put out his glory and cast his throne down to the ground. 44 The days of his youth hast Thou shortened and covered him with dishonour. 45 LORD, how long wilt Thou hide Thyself, for ever and shall Thy wrath burn like fire? 46 O remember how short my time is: wherefore hast Thou made all men for nought? 47 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell? 48 LORD, where are Thy old loving-kindnesses which Thou swarest unto David in Thy truth? : 49 Remember, LORD, the rebuke that Thy servants have and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people; 50 Wherewith Thine enemies have blas phemed Thee, and slandered the footsteps of Thine Anointed: PRAISED BE THE LORD FOR EVERMORE. AMEN, AND AMEN. |