help me, for Thou art my house of defence, and my castle. 3 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 4 For Thou, O LORD God, art the thing that I long for: Thou art my hope, even from my youth. 5 Through Thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: Thou art He that took me out of my mother's womb; my praise shall be always of Thee. 6 I am become as it were a monster unto many but my sure trust is in Thee. 4. Art the thing, &c.; Heb. "Thou, O Lord Jehovah, art my hope." 6. A monster-i.e., a wonder, an object of fear and astonish 70 let my mouth be filled with Thy ment, as was Job. praise that I may sing of Thy glory and honour all the day long. 8 Cast me not away in the time of age: forsake me not when my strength faileth me. 9 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying: God hath forsaken him; persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him. 10 Go not far from me, O God: my God, haste Thee to help me. 11 Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul: let them be covered with shame and dishonour that seek to do me evil. 12 As for me, I will patiently abide alway and will praise Thee more and more. 13 My mouth shall daily speak of Thy righteousness and salvation: for I know no end thereof. 14 I will go forth in the strength of the LORD God and will make mention of Thy righteousness only. 8. This prayer is appropriate to David's old age, and accords with the suggested date of the Psalm. 13. End; Heb. numbers. The word occurs only in this passage. 14. I will go forth; Heb. I will enteri.e., into the Temple. 15 Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now: therefore will I tell of Thy wondrous works. : 16 Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed until I have shewed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to all them that are yet for to come. 17 Thy righteousness, O God, is very high and great things are they that Thou hast done; O God, who is like unto Thee? 18 O what great troubles and adversities hast Thou shewed me! and yet didst Thou turn and refresh me yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again. 19 Thou hast brought me to great honour : and comforted me on, every side. 20 Therefore will I praise Thee and Thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an instrument of musick unto Thee will I sing upon the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel. 21 My lips will be fain when I sing unto Thee and so will my soul whom Thou hast delivered. : 18. Me. In the old In Hebrew it is us. the Psalms the individual and the people are not rarely interchanged, 20. Thou Holy One of Israel. This title of God occurs only three times in the Psalms, here and in Psalms lxxviii. 42, and lxxxix. 19. 21. Fain; cf. Ps. xxxiv. 12; Heb. 22 My tongue also shall talk of Thy greatly rejoice. righteousness all the day long for they are confounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil. PSALM 72. Deus, judicium. [This bright, joyous, and glorious Psalm is the con- GIVE the King Thy judgments, O God: and 1. "Give Thy servant an understanding heart, to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad."-Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings, iii. 9. 2. Cf. Solomon's 2 Then shall He judge Thy people according unto right and defend the judgment, 1 Kings poor. 3 The mountains also shall bring peace : and the little hills righteousness unto the people. iii. 16-28. 4. Punish the wrong 4 He shall keep the simple folk by their right: defend the children of the poor, and doer; Heb. crush the punish the wrong doer. 5 They shall fear Thee, as long as the sun and moon endureth from one generation to another. : 6 He shall come down like the rain into oppressor. 5. The sun and moon; the faithful witnesses in heaven. 6. Fleece of wool. a fleece of wool: even as the drops that The Hebrew word water the earth. 7 In his time shall the righteous flourish yea, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth. 8 His dominion shall be also from the one sea to the other and from the flood unto the world's end. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall kneel before Him: His enemies shall lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tharsis and of the isles shall give presents the kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts. : means anything shorn or mown; here it evidently is a mown meadow, as in Amos vii. 1. Cf. "The tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain," 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. 8. The flood means the Euphrates. 10. Tharsis-i.e., Tarshish, a Phoeni cian colony in the south of Spain. The 11 All kings shall fall down before Him: isles, those in the all nations shall do Him service. 12 For He shall deliver the poor when he crieth the needy also, and him that hath no helper. : 13 He shall be favourable to the simple and needy and shall preserve the souls of the poor. 14 He shall deliver their souls from falsehood and wrong and dear shall their blood be in His sight. Mediterranean. Arabia i. e., Sheba, whence came the queen to see Solomon: Saba in Africa. 12. This verse may be borrowed from Job xxix. 12, "I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him." 14. And dear, &c. Cf. Ps. cxvi. 13, "Right dear in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." Dear-i.e., precious. 15 He shall live, and unto Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia: prayer shall be made ever unto Him, and daily shall He be praised. 16 There shall be an heap of corn in the earth, high upon the hills: His fruit shall shake like Libanus, and shall be green in the city like grass upon the earth. 17 His Name shall endure for ever; His Name shall remain under the sun among the : posterities which shall be blessed through Him; and all the heathen shall praise Him. 18 BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD, EVEN THE GOD OF ISRAEL: WHICH WONDROUS THINGS; ONLY DOETH 19 AND BLESSED BE THE NAME OF HIS MAJESTY FOR EVER AND ALL THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH HIS MAJESTY. AMEN, AMEN. selves—i.e., receive the blessing, and be conscious of it. which there shall be an abundance of corn, covering the mountains, and rustling, like the cedars of Lebanon, in the wind, and the citizens of Zion shall flourish. 17. Be blessed. The verb is in the Hithpael conjugation, and means shall bless them At the end of this Psalm there is found the verse, 66 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." Books I. and II. may be well called "The Prayers of David," appropriately ended by this "Gloria." END OF BOOK II. Evening Prayer. PSALM 73. Quam bonus Israel! [Asaph contrasts the lot of prosperous wicked men, and of suffering good men: the idea which is worked out in the Book of Job. This, with the following Psalms of Book III., is of a sad and meditative character.] TRULY God is loving unto Israel : even unto such as are of a clean heart. 2 Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone: my treadings had well-nigh slipt. BOOK III. PSALMS LXXIII. TO LXXXIX. The first eleven Psalms are ascribed to Asaph, one of the three famous singers of David. See Ps. 1. 1. "Blessed are the pure in heart," S. Matt. v. 8. 3. I was grieved; 3 And why? I was grieved at the lit. "I was envious." wicked I do also see the ungodly in such prosperity. 4 For they are in no peril of death: but are lusty and strong. 5 They come in no misfortune like other folk: neither are they plagued like other men. 6 And this is the cause that they are so holden with pride: and overwhelmed with cruelty. 7 Their eyes swell with fatness and they do even what they lust. proud, insolent, boastful persons. 4. They are, &c. ; lit. there are no pangs [to them] to their very death-i.e., they are in peace up to the hour of death. 6. Lit. "Therefore is pride their necklace: violence covereth them as a garment.' 7. They do even, &c.; lit. "the imag8 They corrupt other, and speak of wicked inations of the heart blasphemy their talking is against the most overflow.' : High. 9 For they stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven: and their tongue goeth through the world. 10 Therefore fall the people unto them: and thereout suck they no small advantage. 11 Tush, say they, how should God perceive it: is there knowledge in the most High? 12 Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper in the world, and these have riches in possession and I said, Then have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed mine hands in innocency. 13 All the day long have I been punished and chastened every morning. 14 Yea, and I had almost said even as they but lo, then I should have condemned the generation of Thy children. : 15 Then thought I to understand this : but it was too hard for me, 16 Until I went into the sanctuary of God: then understood I the end of these men; 17 Namely, how Thou dost set them in slippery places and castest them down, and destroyest them. : falsely with-be treacherous to. The word "imagina rendered 52. 8. They corrupt other, &c.; lit. " they mock, and speak wickedly about oppression." They speak loftily-i.e., from on high; not, against the most High. "Mock' gives the sound and the sense of the He brew word. 9. Lit. "They set their mouth in the heavens." 10. The exact mean ing of this verse is disputed. The sense seems to be, that the crowd follow these wicked but prosperous persons, and find gain in so doing. 12. It would seem that the Psalmist was tempted to reason and murmur thus. 14. Condemned; Heb. I should deal 16. Then understood I, &c.; rather, "and considered their end." |