3

5

PSALM LXII.-al. LXI.

I think this psalm must have been composed much about the same time with the former. The title is :

FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN, IEDUTHIN: A
PSALM OF DAVID.

ON GOD alone my foul repofeth:

from him must come my falvation :

He alone is my rock and my fafety:

while he is my fafe-guard, I fhall not much

totter.

How long will ye plot against a single man?

will all of you confpire to batter him,

like a tottering wall, or a broken fence?

They study how to tumble him from his eminence: they delight in falfehood, and,

while they blefs with their mouths,

in their inmoft hearts they curfe.

My foul! repofe thou on GoD alone:

for from him is all mine expectation.

6

7

My rock and fafety alone is he:

8

9

ΙΟ

II

while he is my fafe-guard, I fhall not totter.
From GoD is my fafety, and my glory:

the rock of my strength, my refuge, is GOD.
Trust in him, at all times, ye people!

before him pour out your

hearts!

GOD is our fole expectation.
Vain are the vulgar of mankind :
fallacious the men of note:

when put together in the balance,
they are lighter than vanity itself.

Put not your confidence in extortion,
and become not vain in rapine.

When riches increafe, fet not your hearts on them.

The title of this psalm is suitable to the subject. It must bave been composed by David, not when be was persecuted by Saul in the wilderness of Ziph, to which period our concordancewriters refer us; but in bis flight from Abshalom, after bis crossing the Jordan. The wilderness of Judab extended much further than that river.

A PSALM OF DAVID; WHEN HE WAS IN THE
WILDERNESS OF JUDAH.

I

O GOD! my strength art thou: I seek thee early. After thee my foul thirfteth; for thee my flesh yearneth, like a dry, droughty, waterless land!

2

Hence, in purity of mind, toward thee I look;

3

to fee thy ftrength and thy glory;

for better is thy bounty than any thing in life; therefore, thee my tongue fhall celebrate.

4

Thus will I blefs thee, through life;

in thy name will I lift up

mine hands:

5

as if with fat and marrow my foul were fatisfied, thee with joyful lips my mouth fhall praise : when on my bed I call thee to mind,

6

7

and think of thee at every watch-hour. Because thou haft ever been my helper,

in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice.

8

ΤΟ

II

12

13

thy right hand holdeth me up :

while they, who seek my life, to destroy it,
fhall go down to the lower parts of the earth.
By the fword they fhall fall:

for jackals a prey they shall be:

But the king fhall rejoice in God:

by whom who is befworn may exult,

while the mouths of liars fhall be ftopt up.

Ver. 2. My frengto

NOTES.

3.

Others, my God. Ib. like a dry, &c. So Syr. Sym. and five мss. The reft, in a dry, &c. Ver. in purity of mind-lit. in bolinefs-commonly rendered in the fanctuary: but how the word can have that meaning here, I confess I fee not. See my C. R.-Ver. 12. by whom who is befworn. It is not easy to ex prefs the full force of the Heb. The meaning feems to be: That they who have taken God to be the witness of their veracity, have caufe to glory.

PSALM LXIV.-al. LXIII.

This psalm is by some supposed to have been written by David when he was at the court of Saul, against his calumniators. I am inclined to think it was composed during the rebellion of Abshalom.

1

3

FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN: A PSALM OF

DAVID.

WHEN I pray, O GOD! hear my voice:

from the dreadful foe preserve my life.

Hide me from the plots of the malignant,
from the infults of the workers of iniquity:

4

who whet their tongues, like a fword;

and, like arrows, aim poisonous words,

5

to fhoot, fecretly, at the innocent!

Unawarely they shoot, while they are not seen :

6

they encourage themfelves in this evil deed

they contrive how to hide their fnares;

they fay: Who shall perceive them?

They fearch for faults, confummately search; fcrutinizing one's interior and inmost heart.

But God will fhoot an arrow at them: unexpectedly fhall they be smitten : on themselves their calumny shall recoil : all who fee them will avoid them.

Then fhall all men revere, and proclaim the work of GOD, when they understand it to be of his doing. In JEHOVAH the just shall rejoice and trust : and all the upright of heart in him fhall glory.

Ver. 5.

NOTES.

7

9

10

II

While they are not feen. I follow, with Houbigant and Street, the reading of Syr. and 12 MSS. The reft: and they fear not.-Ver. 6. Instead of perceive them; Syr. Arab. and 1 Ms. have perceive us.-Ver. 7. In order to make any convenient fenfe of this verse, which has so much puzzled commentators, I have been obliged to change a letter in the original, and remove that letter to the preceding word. See C. R. David feems here to allude to the eagerness of his enemies to find out imaginary guilt in him. It had been infinuated by Abíhalom, that his father neglected the administration of juftice. See 2 Sain. 15. 3, 4. This is the obfervation of Dimock.Ver. 9. Their calumny, lit, their tongue: but tongue is here, and elfewhere, taken for its calumnious bitter speeches.

PSALM LXV.-al. LXIV.

There is nothing in this psalm to guide us to the time or occasion of its composition: but its beauties are truly striking.

FOR THE FIRST

MUSICIAN; A SONG OF

DAVID.

PRAISE awaiteth thee, O GOD! in Zion:

and to thee fhall vows be performed:

3

4

5

6

to thee, who hearest a prayer, shall all flesh apply.
Great indeed were our iniquities :
but our trefpaffes thou haft pardoned.
Happy is he whom thou felecteft,

to be near thee and dwell in thy courts;
where he is fatiated with the good things
of thine house-thine holy temple.

Terribly, but justly, thou dealeft with us,

O thou, the God of our falvation!

the hope of all the ends of the earth,
and of the remoteft feas!

7

Thou who fixeft the mountains by thy power,
begirt as thou art with mightinefs!

8

Thou who stilleft the noise of the feas,

9

the noife of their waves-like a popular tumult! The most remote inhabitants of the earth

10

are awed by the tokens of thy power:

The returns of even and morn thou exhilarateft :

The earth thou vifiteft and watereft;

and enrichest it exceedingly:

full of water is the stream of God.

By thus preparing it :

thou fittest it for grains.