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PSALM VI.

This pfalm must bave been compofed in fome fevere affliction, both of mind and body. It is the first of thofe pfalms called penitential.

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Pity me, JEHOVAH! for weak I am:

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heal me, JEHOVAH! for troubled are my bones: and troubled, exceedingly, is my foul:

how long, JEHOVAH! wilt thou delay to help? return, JEHOVAH ! relieve my foul:

fave me for thy goodness' fake.

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For there is no remembrance of thee in death : who in Hadés fhall fing thy praise?

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I am quite exhausted by my fighs: every night I bedew my bed;

with my tears I deluge my couch!

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wafted with forrow are my looks;

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I am worn out, amidft all mine enemies!

Be gone from me, all ye workers of iniquity;
for JEHOVAH hath heard my lamentation:
JEHOVAH hath liftened to my request:
JEHOVAH hath accepted my prayer.

Abashed and confounded fhall be all my foes;
they fhall retreat, and be fuddenly put to fhame.

NOTES,

Ver. 6. Hades, the manfion of departed fouls.-Ver. 8. I prefer the reading of the antient verfions; which make David the nominative to worn out. In the prefent Heb. looks or eye is the nomi native. It is of little importance which reading be followed.

PSALM VII.

This pfalm is, in its title, fad to have been compofed, on account of the words of Chufb, a Benjaminite. But who was Chusb? We read not of fuch a pe fon in the whole history of David. The Jewish interpreters tell us that Saul is called Cbufb; that is, an Etb opin, on account of his black Æthiopic deeds! Others, with more probability, refer it to Shimei: but still why is Shimei called Chufb I believe that Chub bere is not a proper name; but an appeliative, denoting reproach; and I bave rendered the title accordingly.

AN ELEGY OF DAVID, WHICH HE SANG TO
JEHOVAH, ON ACCOUNT OF THE REPROACH-
FUL WORDS OF A BENJAMINITE.

JEHOVAH! my GOD! in thee I trust; fave and deliver me from all my foes:

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left, like a lion, they bereave me of life, while there is none to fave and deliver.

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and my glory may he lay in the duft!

may the enemy purfue and overtake me;
my life
may he trample to the ground;

JEHOVAH! my God! if this I have done

if in my hands be iniquity :

if I have repaid friendship with evil, or molefted even my caufelefs foe:

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on their account be thou seated on high:

to the p ople let JEHOVAH do justice. Judge me, JEHOVAH!

acording to my righteousness; according to my real integrity.

May evil consume the wicked!

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but establish thou the righteous:

for a juft God art thou,

the fearcher of hearts and reins.

My refuge is in JEHOVAH,

who preferveth the upright of heart;
a God who judgeth justly,

and is never wroth without a cause.

But for the unconverted he whets his fword;
he hath bent and prepared his bow,

and hath fitted to it inftruments of death:

his shafts he hath tempered with burning coals.

Lo! the wicked-one hath conceived iniquity,

and is pregnant with oppreffion :

but an abortion he shall bring forth.

A pit he hath opened, and deep hath dug it:
but he fhall tumble into the hole he hath made:
on his own head his iniquity fhall revert,

and on his own crown fhall his violence fall.

I will then praise the LORD for his justice,

and fing pfalms to the name of JEHOVAH, the most

high.

NOTES.

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Ver. 3. I follow the reading of Chald. and Syr. The prefent Hebrew has tearing, and none to deliver.-Ver. 4. if this I have done. He feems to allude to the reproach of Shimei, who had called him a bloody, lawless man. See 2 Sam. 16. 7.-Ver. 5. The first line of this verse may be referred to Jonathan; the fecond to Saul, whom David had more than once in his power to kill.—Ver. 7. the judgment thou baft prescribed; i. e. the rules of judgment laid down in the law. Ver. 8. A picture of human judicatories. The judge is feated on an elevated bench; and the people furround him to hear and receive judgment. -Ver. 12. is never wroth without a caufe. lit. is not wroth every day. So read almost all the antient interpreters; but the present text, from a change of points, must be rendered a God wroth every day; i. e. fay commentators, against the wicked: and fo our public verfion. But I cannot think that this could be the pfalmift's meaning. For the rest, I thought an equipollency was here better than a literal rendering.

PSALM VIII.

When this beautiful pfalm was compofed, it is uncertain. The title gives it to David: but this is no fure criterion. The Githith, or Gathith, is jupposed to have been a mufical instrument invented a Gatb.

FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN; ON THE GITHITH; I A PSALM OF DAVID.

JEHOVAH! our GOD!

how illuftrious thy name through the whole earth;
which refoundeth thy praise to the heavens !
from the mouths even of babes and fucklings
thou deriveft force against thy foes:

fo as to filence the foe, and the self-avenger.

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When I look at the heavens, the work of thy fingers, 4

at the moon and the ftars, which thou haft formed: “What is man, I say, that thou art mindful of him? 5

"What the fon of man, that for him thou carest?"

Little less than a God thou haft made him,

and haft crowned him with glory and honour!

over the works of thine hands

thou haft given him dominion,

and fubjected every thing to his power:

flocks and herds; nay, the beafts of the foreft; the birds of the air; and the fishes of the fea that traverse the paths of the waters!

JEHOVAH! our God!

how illuftrious thy name through the whole earth!

NOTES.

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Ver. 2. which refoundeth, &c. This line has been greatly misunderftood: I am perfuaded I have given the true meaning.-Ver. 3. force, i. e. a strong and folid argument against the atheist.

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This pfalm appears to be a general thanksgiving song; and is thought to bave been compofed after the wars mentioned in the 8th

ch. of 2 Sam. I would rather place it after the fuppreffion of the two rebel ions of Abfbaiom and of Shebab: If, indeed, it belong not to a much later period.

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FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN; ON THE MU-
THLABEN; A SONG OF DAVID.

I WILL praise JEHOVAH with my whole heart:" all his wonderful deeds I will rehearse.

In thee, JEHOVAH! I will rejoice and exult;
and celebrate thy name, thou Most High !
fince my foes, driven back, have stumbled;
and perished before thy face.

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For thou haft supported my righteous plea;

haft fat on the throne as a juft judge:

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their name thou haft for ever effaced!

complete defolation has confumed the foe;
their cities thou haft destroyed,

their remembrance is loft!

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but JEHOVAH remaineth for ever.

Preparing his throne for judgment,

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with juftice he will judge the world,
and with equity doom the peoples.

JEHOVAH is the protector of the weak;

a protector in the time of tribulation;

they fhall truft in thee, who acknowledge thy

name:

for those who seek thee, thou never forsakest.

Sing pfalms to JEHOVAH,

who dwelleth in Zion;

among the people celebrate his deeds:

fince, inquefting blood, he hath remembered them, and hath not forgotten the cries of the afflicted. On me JEHOVAH hath had compaffion : feeing mine affliction from those who hated me;

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