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and covered them with everlasting disgrace.

However, he disdained the tents of Jofeph, and would no more reside in the tribe of Ephraim; but chose, for his residence, the tribe of Judah, and his beloved mountain of Zion : where, like a palace, he reared his fanctuary; its foundation to be as durable as the earth! And he selected his servant David, whom he took from the sheep-folds ! From tending the fuckling ewes, he brought him to feed his own people sprung from Jacob, his own inheritance, the Israelites.

He fed them with an upright heart, and with skilful hands conducted them.

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NOTES.

Vér. 24. Celestial corn. The manna which the Arabs still call ma. nesama, i. e. celestial manna ; because they imagine it falls from the heavens like dew. See C. R.-Ver. 25. Every one ate a delicious food.

This is commonly rendered : “Men ate the food of angels :” but the Heb. word never fignifies angels; but the rich, the great, the noble : and the meaning of the psalmist is, that the Israelites found in the manna a dainty delicate food, such as might suit the palates of the great. Thus, in some parts of this island the common people call flour-bread, gentle-bread, or gentleman's-bread.-Ver. 30. Their longing was hardly fatisfied. This is in our public version rendered : “ They were not estranged from their luft.” By Street: “They were not separated from this object of their wishes.” By Green: “Before they were averse to what they had desired :” which comes nearly to the true meaning.Ver. 46. to the cricket. As this insect is not mentioned among the plagues in Exodus, it must be included under the term locust, which indeed the cricket much resembles. Some critics take it to be the mole cricket, or gryllotalpa. – Ver. 48. to the forky lightning. By Symmachus and Jerom the word is rendered birds of prey; a meaning which it sometimes has, and which is here preferred by some modern transators: but as there is no mention of ravenous birds in Exodus; and as the plague of bail is expressly said to have been accompanied with lightning, this seems to determine the proper meaning of the word. Ver. 49. througb the medium of messengers of evils. Our public version has : “ by sending evil angels among them.” Much better Purver: “sending messengers of bad things :" and Street, “ by sending the ministers of evil.” The messengers here alluded to are the plagues themselves ; which are supposed to execute God's vengeance on guilty man. See C. R. - Ver. 51. the firstlings of their man bood : lit. ftrength, vigour. See Jacob's benediction of Reuben, Gen. 49. 3.–Ver. 54. into bis own ballowed lot, i. e. the land of Chanaan. Some however would render, with our public version, “to the border of his sanctuary;" and think that the mountain after mentioned is mount Zion. But the word mountain often dcnotes in the Hebrew writings a mountainous country : and I have no doubt of its being here in that signification. See C. R. -Ver. 61. The ensign of bis power. The ark, which was taken by tke Philistines,Ver. 65. like a hero, exulting from wine. This oriental metaphor is repugnant to our ideas : but it could not be softened without losing its force. We would call such a hero pot-valiant.-Ver. 71. The suckling ewes. The word fuckling is here the participle of the verb fuckle. A fuckling has unaccountably another meaning. Some render pregnant ewes.-Ver. 72. and with skilful bands conducted them. The old verfion, in the Liturgy, has well expressed the meaning : " and ruled them prudently with all his power.”

PSALM LXXIX.-al. LXXVIII. The subject of this psalm is very similar to that of psalm 74. It was most probably composed by Jeremiah : but its present title is A PSALM OF ASAPH.

I THE heathens, O God! have entered thine heritage; have polluted thine holy temple laid Jerusalem in ruinous heaps !

T

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4

They have given the carcases of thy fervants
for food to the fowls of the heavens ;
the flesh of thy worshippers to the beasts of the

earth.
Their blood they have shed, as water, around

Jerusalem;
and there was no one at hand to bury them!
To our neighbours we are a subject of reproach,
of scorn and derision to those around us.

How long, JEHOVAH! wilt thou be wroth?
shall thy fire-like jealousy burn for ever?
Pour out thine ire on nations, who own thee not,
and on kingdoms, which invoke not thy name.
For these have devoured Jacob,
and laid his habitation defolate,

Remember not, against us, our former iniquities: let thy kind compassion speedily fuccour us : for exceedingly low we are brought.

Help us, O thou, the God of our salvation : for the honour of thy name deliver us : for thy name's sake forgive our sins. Why should the heathens say: “ Where is their

“God?" Let the vengeance of the blood of thy servants, that

hath been shed, be manifested among those nations, before our eyes, Let the fighs of the captive come before thee. By the strength of thy powerful arm, fave those who are threatened with death : and return, seven-fold, into our neighbours' bofonis,

the reproach with which they have reproached thee,

JEHOVAH ! So shall we, thy people, and the flock of thy pasture, 13 be for ever thankful to thee, and celebrate thy praise, from generation, to generation.

PSALM LXXX.—al. LXXIX. This psalm is by some supposed to bave been written either in the reign of Josbapbat, when the Edomites and Ammonites invaded the land; or in the reign of Joram, wben the Philistines ravaged the country. But, in my apprebension, neither of these occasions suits the tenor of the composition. Tbere is no mention made in it either of Judab, or Jerusalem. The great burtben of the song are the calamities of the bouse of Josepb. Benjamin seems to be classed with ibem, because they had been so classed in their march through the wilderness. See Num. 2. 18—24. We may, then, suppose, and indeed I think it bigbly probable, that this psalm was written by some Israelite, not Judabite poet, during the oppression of Israel by Hazael, king of Syria. See 2 Kings, 13. 3, 22. FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN, ON SHOSHANIM- I.

EDUTH: A PSALM OF ASAPH,
GIVE çar, O fhepherd of Israel !
who leddest the Jofephites, like a flock!

Thou who sittest on cherubs, shine forth.
Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh,
exert thy power, and come to save us.
Restore us, O God of hosts!
let thy countenance shine on us,
and we shall be saved.
How long, JEHOVAH, God of hosts!
wilt thou be wroth with a supplicating people?
The bread of sorrow thou hast made them eat;

IO

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and made them drink tears in abundance !
Thou hast set us at strife with our neighbours;
and our enemies hold us in derision.
Restore us, O God of hosts!
let thy countenance shine on us,
and we shall be saved.

A vine thou broughtest out of Egypt;
and, expelling nations, plantedst it in their land.
Thou clearedst a wide place for it;
it spread its roots—and filled the land !
The mountains were covered with its shade;
and with its tendrils the tall cedars !
Its boughs it extended to the sea,
and its shoots to the great river !
Ah! why hast thou broken down its fences ?
so that every passenger croppeth it.
The boar from the forest wasteth it,
and the wild beasts of the fields devour it!
God of hosts ! return, we beseech thee :
look down from the heavens, and see ;
and again regard this vine.
For the plant which thy right hand planted,
and the stem which for thyself thou causedst to grow,
have been burned with fire-have been swept

away-
have perished--at the frown of thy countenance !.

Protect the man of thine own right hand,
the man whom thou broughtest up for thyself.
So will we no more revolt from thee.
Do thou but again revive us ;
and thy name only will we invoke.

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