Bishop Horsley's proposed emendations cannot be too severely reprobated, being nothing short of a mangling of the word of God.

The Psalm consists of two main strophes of ten verses each. Consequently, as the Hebrew Alphabet has twenty-two letters, and the alphabetical arrangement is confined to the two strophes, i. e. to twenty verses, two letters must be rejected. The rejected letters are

and. is also rejected; but for another reason, namely, that the Psalmist preferred to have two verses begin with.

Verse 1. This verse has only one clause. It commences with, that the Psalm, as Hengstenberg expresses it, "may have, as it were, the signature of an alphabetical one upon its forehead."

Verse 2. This verse begins with an . The second word commences with .

Verse 17. They enlarge my heart's distresses.

They enlarge―i. e. the ensnaring enemies. (Gerenius.) Verse 22. This verse, like the first, has but one clause.

It is worthy of remark that it commences with, as does the last verse of Ps. xxxiv, also an alphabetical Psalm. The Psalm before us is a prayer: Psalm xxxiv. in a Psalm of praise. The Psalm before us ends with a prayer for redemption (7): Psalm xxxiv. with an assertion that God does actually redeem his servants. The subject of the prayer in the one, and of the praise in the other, is Redemption (T). Hence the concluding verse in both Psalms begins with .

PSALM XXVI.

Verse 12. My foot doth stand in an even place. "The Psalmist in faith sees his deliverance as already present. The even place stands in opposition to a difficult territory, full of steep cliffs and precipices." (Hengstenberg.)

PSALM XXVII.

Verse 8. To Thee my heart hath repeated

That word of Thine, "Seek My face."

The command" Seek My face," is indirectly contained in Deut. iv. 29. The passage might stand simply thus, without any insertion :

:

To Thee my heart hath repeated,

"Seek ye my face."

Hengstenberg is the first who has given the right interpretation of this passage which has occasioned so much trouble and perplexity to commentators. He acutely

שׁאַלְתִּי corresponds to אֲבְקֵשׁ and אָמַר remarks that

and in verse 4. The whole verse may be paraphrased thus :

I have repeated Thy command, and have responded to it: I will still repeat it, and still respond to it.

PSALM XXVIII.

Verse 1. My Rock, be not silent from me.

We have here an instance of what is called constructio pregnans. The expression is equivalent to, Be not silent and averse from hearing me: or, Be not silent and at a distance from me.

Verse 8. Jehovah is their strength

i. e. the strength of His people. See verse 9.

For a similar construction, see Psalm lxxxvii. 1, 2.

PSALM XXIX.

This Psalm forms a pair with the preceding, The Strophe Division of that is 1. 7. 1. of this 2. 7. 2, The number of verses of the two conjointly is 20, i. e. two decades.

Verse 1. Ascribe to Jehovah, ye sons of God.

By a comparison with Psalm lxxxix. 6. in which the same expression Beni Elim occurs, it appears that angels are meant. The Chaldee takes the passage in this

sense.

Verse 2. Adore Jehovah in holy adornment. Compare 2 Chron. xx. 21. Ps. cx. 3. xcvi. 9. "As the earthly priests, before engaging in the service of God, must put off their usual clothing, and array themselves in holy garments, so must the angels, His servants in heaven, do the same. Their usual clothing is

too mean to allow of their drawing near in it to their holy and exalted Lord, and testifying that reverence with which the glorious manifestations of His omnipotence have filled their minds." (Hengstenberg.)

PSALM XXX.

Verse 1. Because Thou hast drawn me up—

i. e. from the depth of misery into which I was plunged. Verse 3. From those who go down to the pit—

i. e. from being one of them. The expression EK VEкp, Ek TV VEKρay, which so often occurs in the New Testament, is similar.

Verse 4. And praise His holy memorial—

i. e. His Name Jehovah. See Ex. iii. 15. Verse 5. WEEPING may lodge in the evening: But in the morning Jox.

Compare Isaiah xvii. 4. and the following beautiful lines from "the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy :"

I.

To dream a troubled dream, and then awake
To the soft gladness of a summer-sky;

To dream ourselves alone, unloved, forsaken,

And then to wake 'mid smiles, and love, and joy ;

II.

To look at evening on the storm's rude motion,
The cloudy tumult of the fretted deep;
And then at day-break upon that same ocean,
Soothed to the stillness of its stillest sleep ;-

III.

So runs our course ;-so tells the Church her story;

So to the end shall it be ever told;

Brief shame on earth; but after shame the glory,
That wanes not, dims not, never waxes old.

IV.

Lord Jesus, come, and end this troubled dreaming!

Dark shadows, vanish! rosy twilight, break!

Morn of the true and real, burst forth, calm-beaming!
Day of the beautiful, arise, awake!

The same idea is conveyed in the Apocalyptic symbol of the twelve hours' sleep of the apostles Peter and Paul. While those eminent apostles rest from their labours in Paradise, it is a dark and stormy night with the Church on earth. But at six o'clock the sun arises, the sun of "a morning without clouds;

and sighing flee away.”

and "

sorrow

WEEPING may lodge in the evening :

But in the morning JOY.

Compare Psalm xlvi. 5.

God is within her: she shall not be moved:

God will help her at break of morning.

Verse 8. On Thee, Jehovah, I call'd repeatedly:

To Jehovah made supplication continually.

The verbs in the original are in the future of habit.

Compare Psalm iii. 4.

Verse 9. Will dust yield Thee tribute of praise? Heb. Will dust praise Thee?