respective Countries will derive no great Credit, in Comparison of "that infinitely more eminent Native of Judea, who is the Subject of "the following Verfe."

V. 5. And of Zion it shall be faid, This and that Man was born in ber: and the Highest Himself fhall efstablish her. w 'n ¬on' 113bi

- Rather [ילד בה - והוא יכוננה עליון :

BUT OF ZION IT SHALL

BE SAID, THE MOST EMINENT OF MEN WAS BORN IN HER; AND HE, THE MOST HIGH, SHALL ESTABLISH HER. put in Oppofition to (as before explained) fignifies a Man of Confequence: and, according to the oriental Phrafeology, by the Reduplication, must mean the Superlative or highest Degree or the Man, even the Man, fignifies the MAN OF MEN, THE GREATEST OF ALL MEN. According to this Interpretation every one will fee who this eminent Perfonage was to be, from whofe Birth Zion (ufed by a Synecdoche for Judea) was to acquire fo much Glory. The latter Hemiftic feems to me to have reference, not to God the Father, but to his Son: it appearing to be exegetical of the preceding one, and to defcribe His Divine, as the other does His Human, Nature.

V. 6. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the People, that this

-Ra [ יהוה יספר בכטוב עמים זה ילד שם: .Man was born there

fignifies a ספר

ther THE LORD WILL HAVE THIS RECORDED IN REGISTERING THE PEOPLE, that HE WAS BORN THERE. Genealogy, Gen. V. 1. Neh. VII. 5. 209, a Regifter. Ezra. II. 62. Jer. XVII. 13. is used to denote this very Thing, this particular Circumftance, Eccl. VI. 9. Efth. IV. 5. &c. This I think can poffibly relate to nothing else than the Pedigree of our Lord, which had been recorded among the Jews, and which the Evangelifts have given us with the Hiftory of his Birth, &c. in the Gofpels.

V.7. As well the Singers as the Players on Inftruments shall be there:

Rather [ושרים כחללים

כל מעיני בך: .all my Springs are in thee

--ALL THAT DWELL IN THEE Will SING WITH THE DANCERS: literally, will be Singers, the Part. prefent. fignifies to dance in feveral Places; Judg. XXI. 21, 23. &c. I read na, with the Chaldee and the old Verfions; and confider "y as the Part. Hiphil, from y to inhabit; which is here Special, as in a Multitude of Places. Here the Pfalmift returns to Sion, his first Subject, from which he might be thought to have digreffed, by talking of it as of a third Perfon;

and

and concludes with predicting the Joy which would accompany the Advent of the Defire of all Nations.

[במתים חפשי

V. 5.-free among the dead-won'] Qu. might not the true Lection be non (in Pihel) — I AM SOUGHT FOR-Correfponding to 'n), I AM COUNTED, in the preceding Verfe? However I fhall confider it as the Part. prefent, and render- THEY SEEK

ME AMONG THE DEAD.

V. 6. in the Deeps. ] All the ancient Verfions, the Chaldee excepted, read by, IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH; which

Rather [אם רפאים יקומו

SHALL THE DECEASED. See this and the following Verfes explained, Job XXVI. 5.

in מידעי מחשך

V. 18. Lover and Friend haft thou put far from me, and mine Acquaintance into Darkness.] Thefe two laft Words order to have the Sense which our Verfion gives them, must have a Verb, a Conjunction, and a Prepofition fupplied: they ought to be rendered --- KEEPING BACK MINE ACQUAINTANCE; viz. from coming to fee me agreeably to V. 8. is the Participle Pibel. 8, at the Beginning of the Verfe, fhould be tranflated, FRIEND AND COMPANION, as Pf. XXXVIII. 11.

PSALM LXXXIX.

V. 2. For I have faid 8] All the old Verfions, except the Chaldee, read N, THOU HAST SAID: which is preferable. V. 5. And the Heavens fhall praife thy Wonders, O Lord: thy Faith

ויודו שמים פלאך יהוה - .fulnes alfo in the Congregation of the Saints The latter Heiniftic ought to be thus [ אף אמונתך בקהל קדשים :

rendered--- THE SAINTS ALSO THY FAITHFULNESS IN THE CONGREGATION; the Verb 17 being either understood or repeated from the preceding Member. For though it be a beautiful Image to fay that the Heavens praife God, by making Men admire their wonderful Structure and ftated Motions, it feems harsh to imagine them joining with Saints in Divine Worship.

V. 8. O Lord God of Hofts, who is a frong Lord like unto thee? or to thy Faithfulness round about thee?] The latter Clause is hardly intelligible as here rendered. 'n ought to be tranflatedAND THY TRUTH is ROUND ABOUT THEE.

Rather [תבל ומלאה אתה יסדתם:

V. 11. — as for the World, and the Fulness thereof, thou haft founded them. -THE WORLD, AND ALL THAT IS THEREIN; THOU HAST FOUNDED THEM: the Words ARE THINE being understood from the preceding Claufe, fo Pf. XCV. 5. The Sea is his; for he made it: the Property of them being founded in Creation.

V. 14. Jufice and Judgment are the Habitation of thy Throne: pr - are THE FOUNDATION, or THE ESTABLISHMENT, as in the Margin; fo Prov. XXV. 5. and Isa. XVI. 5.

Rather [ומשפט מכון כסאך

V. 25. I will fet his Hand alfo in the Sea, T' now) Rather OVER THE SEA; fo likewife in the next Hemistic — OVER THE RIVERS. That is, "I will give him Power over them." This doubtlefs has reference to God's Promife to the Patriarch Abraham, in regard to the Extent of the Land of Promise: hence the Sea here mentioned muft mean the Mediterranean, as well as the Red Sea, and the Rivers, the Euphrates and Nile. See this Point particularly examined, Par. Proph. App. N°. I. P. 153. and the Reasons why the Promise was never fully accomplished.

and his right Hand in the Rivers.] So the Scythians tell Alexander in Q. Curtius, Si Dii habitum corporis tui aviditati animi parem effe voluiffent, Orbis te non caperet; altera manu orientem, altera occidentem contingeres. Lib.VII. Cap. 8.

V. 29. His Seed alfo will I make to endure for ever: wys 'nowi]

Rather HIS SEED ALSO WILL I ESTABLISH FOR EVER:

Gen. XLV. 7. 2 Sam. XXIII. 5. &c.

as

V. 37. It shall be established for ever as the Moon, and as a faithful Witness in Heaven.

- ועד בשחק נאמן : There is [כירח יכון עולם

here no Ellipfis of the comparative Particle, for 1, coming after such a Particle, has that Force. See Noldius 60. §. 2.

V.39. thou haft profaned his Crown, by cafting it to the Ground.] n ought to be rendered here- THOU HAST CAST DOWN AS PROFANE, as Ezek. XXVIII. 16.

Y

V. 44.

does not טהר [השבת מטהרו - וכסאו לארץ מגרתה :

V. 44. Thou haft made his Glory to cease, and caft his Throne down to the Ground. fignify Glory: but the Words Dawn, as they are now read, ought to be rendered --- THOU HAST MADE him CEASE FROM HIS SPLENDOR. But I have no doubt but that instead of 10 we ought to read, and render - THOU HAST MADE HIS CROWN TO CEASE, &c. to which 8D, his Throne, in the next Hemiftic correfponds. is here prefixed to the Accufative, as hy v — Thou haft made the City an Heap, Ifa. XXV. 2.

V.46. How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyfelf for ever? fhall thy Wrath burn like Fire?

Rather

עד מה יהוה תסתר - לנצח תבער כמו אש חמתך :

LORD, HOW LONG WILT THOU HIDE THYSELF? SHALL THY WRATH BURN LIKE FIRE FOR EVER? See Pf.

·Shall be deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave? FROM THE POWER.

Rather, I think [ימלט נפשו מיד שאול :

שאתי בחיקי כל רבים עמים:

V. 50. I do bear in my Bofom the Reproach of all the mighty People. Dy D’a b ipina’nx] Rather-I BEAR (or literally, MY BEARING) IN MY BOSOM ALL THE REPROACHES OF THE PEOPLE. The Syriac and Aquila seem to have read gimine, as the Conftruction requires. See Pf. LV. 18. For 1 fame as it is as frequently written one Way as the other.

in reis the

PSALM XC.

אדני מעון אתה היית

V. 1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling Place -
LORD, THOU HAST BEEN TO US A REFUGE: as

Rather [לנו

Deut. XXXIII.

V. 2.

27.

- even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

Rather, I think [עד עולם אתה (אל:

ומעולם

EVEN FROM EVER

LASTING TO EVERLASTING THOU art, or doft exift. So Habakkuk, I. 12. Art not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God? So alfo Pf. XCIII. 2. &c.

V. 3. Thou turneft Man to Deftruction: and fayeft, Return, ye Children of Men. DO NOT BRING MEN TO DESTRUCTION: BUT SAY, RETURN

: ותאמר שובו בבי אדם : [ אל תשב אנוש עד דכא

&c.

&c. I confideras belonging to this Verfe, and an the fame as awn, which is as often written this Way as the other.

V. 4. — and as a Watch in the Night. : OR A WATCH OF THE NIGHT.

V.

5.

1281] Rather,

[ואשמורה בלילה:

-they are as a Sleep: in the Morning they are like Grafs

Rather, I think [שנה יהיו בבקר - כחציר יחלף : .which groteeth up

THEY ARE as A SLEEP IN THE MORNING; LIKE THE GRASS which CHANGETH.

V. 10. The Days of our Years are threefcore Years and ten:

ימי

-Thefe Words I apprehend are to be con [שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה

ftrued as if we read ", instead of on; the Pronouns being frequently redundant in Hebrew. From what is here afferted, we may I think conclude that this Pfalm was not written by Mofes, notwithstanding the Title bears his Name. For he himfelf lived to the Age of 120; Aaron to 121; their Sifter Miriam to 130; and, to mention no other, Joshua was 110 Years old when he died. And as these Ages are not mentioned as being extraordinary, it may be inferred that they were the common Period of human Life about Mofes's Time. It is therefore highly probable that this Pfalm could not be written more early than David's Reign, who attained only to the Age of 70: about which Time God was pleafed to fix upon 70 or 80 Years for the common Duration of the Life of Man; after having reduced it twice before, viz. from near one thousand to about three Hundred; and from that Number to about one Hundred and twenty, as was before obferved. Solon (who lived in the Time of the Babylonish Captivity) fays in Herodotus, ες εβδομηκοντα ετεα δρον της ζωής ανθρώπῳ προτίθημι ; and dividing the Life of Man into ten Periods of feven Years each adds (according to Philo de Mundi opificio ;)

V. 11. Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger? even according to thy Fear, fo is thy Wrath.

I [מי יודע עז אפך

would read here with the Syriac and Arabic Verfions, thus WHO KNOWETH THE POWER OF THINE ANGER, AND THE TERRIBLENESS OF THY WRATH?