our God, and holden up our hands to any strange God shall not God search it out? for He knoweth the very secrets of the heart. 22 For Thy sake also are we killed all the day long and are counted as sheep appointed to be slain.

23 Up, LORD, why sleepest Thou: awake, and be not absent from us for ever.

24 Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face: and forgettest our misery and trouble?

25 For our soul is brought low, even unto the dust our belly cleaveth unto the ground.

26 Arise, and help us and deliver us for Thy mercy's sake.

PSALM 45. Eructavit cor meum.

[This Psalm is a marriage ode-possibly, if not probably, referring to the nuptials of Solomon with the Egyptian princess; thence transferred to the marriage of Christ and the Church. But it is impossible to understand the Psalm apart from a distinctly Messianic idea.]

1. Inditing; lit. boiling or bubbling, so overflowing, inspired with.

My heart is inditing of a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made unto the King. 2 My tongue is the pen of a ready rather, concerning. writer.

3 Thou art fairer than the children of men: full of grace are Thy lips, because God hath blessed Thee for ever.

4 Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou most Mighty: according to Thy worship and renown.

5 Good luck have Thou with Thine honour ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness: and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.

6 Thy arrows are very sharp, and the

Unto;

3. Because; Heb. therefore.

5. Because of-i.e., in behalf of.

people shall be subdued unto Thee even in the midst among the King's enemies.

7 Thy seat, O God, endureth for ever: the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

8 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity wherefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.

7. Seat-i.e., throne. A right sceptre―i.e., a sceptre of righteous

ness.

9. Cassia. A bark

9 All Thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia: out of the ivory palaces, similar to cinnamon. whereby they have made Thee glad.

10 Kings' daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about with divers colours.

11 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline thine ear forget also thine own people, and thy father's house.

12 So shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty for He is thy Lord God, and worship thou Him.

13 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift like as the rich also among the people shall make their supplication before thee.

14 The King's daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold.

15 She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work: the virgins that be her fellows shall bear her company, and shall be brought unto Thee.

16 With joy and gladness shall they be

10. The queen-i.e., the queen consort. Vesture of gold; lit. gold of Ophir. India is suggested as the most probable geographical position of the region of Ophir.

11. The Psalmist's

address to the bride.

12. He is thy Lord -i.e., ruler. Omit God, Heb.

13. Daughter of Tyrei.e., Tyre itself. Cf. the regard in which David was held by Hiram, king of Tyre.

14. Within-i.e., she sits all glorious in the palace.

of the regard for embroidery. Jud. v. 30, "To Sisera a prey of divers colours

15. Needlework;

of divers colours of

brought and shall enter into the King's needle-work, of divers palace.

17 Instead of Thy fathers Thou shalt have children whom Thou mayest make princes in all lands.

:

18 I will remember Thy Name from one generation to another: therefore shall the people give thanks unto Thee, world without end.

colours of needlework on both sides.'

17. The Psalm concludes with a congratulatory address to the king.

PSALM 46. Deus noster refugium.

The

[This and the two following Psalms appear to celebrate the deliverance from Sennacherib. expressions, imagery, and continual reliance upon God against external enemies fit in most suitably with this time of deepest anxiety and Divine deliverance.]

GOD is our hope and strength: a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved : and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea.

3 Though the waters thereof rage and swell and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.

:

4 The rivers of the flood thereof shall

make glad the city of God: the holy place of the tabernacle of the most Highest.

5 God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed: God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The heathen make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved : but God hath shewed His voice, and the earth shall melt away.

7 The LORD of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8 O come hither, and behold the works of the LORD: what destruction He hath brought upon the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease in all the world: He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.

4. Heb. "There is a river whose streams

shall gladden the city

of God." The contrast between the gentle stream of Si

loam and the turbulent river to which the Assyrian host is compared.-Isa. viii. 7, 8.

5. Right early; lit. when the morning dawns. "When they [the Israelites] arose early in the morning, behold they [the Assyrians] were all dead corpses," 2 Kings xix.

35.

[ SELAH. ] 7. Hosts; Heb. Sabaoth, hosts, armies; as in the Te Deum, Lord God of Sabaoth. 8. Destruction; des

10 Be still then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, olation and wonder

and I will be exalted in the earth.

His power by the miraculous destruction of the enemy.

i. e., He vindicated

9. Chariots; 2 Kings xix. 23, "Thou. . . hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up."

11 The LORD of hosts is with us the

God of Jacob is our refuge.

11. [SELAH.]

Evening Prayer.

PSALM 47. Omnes gentes, plaudite.

O CLAP your hands together, all ye people :
O sing unto God with the voice of melody.

2 For the LORD is high, and to be feared : He is the great King upon all the earth.

3 He shall subdue the people under us : and the nations under our feet.

4 He shall choose out an heritage for us: even the worship of Jacob, whom He loved.

5 God is gone up with a merry noise : and the LORD with the sound of the trump. 6 O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.

7 For God is the King of all the earth : sing ye praises with understanding.

8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon His holy seat.

9 The princes of the people are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham : for God, which is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield.

PSALM 48. Magnus Dominus. GREAT is the LORD, and highly to be praised: in the city of our God, even upon His holy hill.

2 The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth: upon the north

side lieth the city of the great King; God is well known in her palaces as a sure refuge. 3 For lo, the kings of the earth gathered, and gone by together.

are

4 They marvelled to see such things: they were astonished, and suddenly cast down.

5 Fear came there upon them, and sorsow as upon a woman in her travail.

6 Thou shalt break the ships of the sea : through the east-wind.

7 Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God upholdeth the same for ever.

3. Kings-i.e., tributary princes, &c.; such as would accompany the great Assyrian emperor.

5. There-i.e., fear seized them there, on the spot.

6. Sea; Heb. of Tarshish i. e., the strongest ships, SO helplessly were the

8 We wait for Thy loving-kindness, O enemy scattered.

God in the midst of Thy temple.

:

9 O God, according to Thy Name, so is Thy praise unto the world's end : Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

10 Let the mount Sion rejoice, and the daughter of Judah be glad : because of Thy judgments.

11 Walk about Sion, and go round about her and tell the towers thereof.

12 Mark well her bulwarks, set up her houses that ye may tell them that come after.

:

13 For this God is our God for ever and ever: He shall be our guide unto death.

PSALM 49. Audite hæc, omnes.

[The Psalmist's anticipation of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.Ĵ

O HEAR ye this, all ye people : ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;

2 High and low, rich and poor one with another.

7. The same-i.e., the city. [SELAH.]

8. Wait for; Heb. we have thought upon -i.e., commemorated by a thanksgiving service.

10. Daughter; Heb. daughters-i.e., villages.

11. The siege is over, and the city free.

12. Set up; lit. divide i. e., accu rately contemplate.

13. Unto death. The meaning of this is disputed. Some render the preposition 'over' -i.e., beyond; others understand it to mean 'for ever.'

1. This Psalm is addressed to ALL mankind.