23

He will turn upon them their own iniquity,

and in their wickednefs he will cut them off:
JEHOVAH, our GOD, will cut them off.

NOTES.

Ver. 15. I have found great difficulty in rendering this verse: nor am I quite fure that I have well rendered it. Yet it is the only sense that to me appears to be agreeable to the context. In one word, which I render the juft, I follow the reading of Syr. and of 2 Mss. Our common verfion is: "But judgment fhall return to righteousness: and all the upright in heart fhall follow it."-Ver. 17. I shall foon be in my filent grave. I have been here obliged to tranflate equivalently: the text runs thus: in a moment would my foul dwell in filence.Ver. 20. who fanction oppression by ftatute: alluding, I think, to the tyrannical edicts of Antiochus Epiphanes. See I Mach, 1. 43-67. -Ver. 21. the blood of the innocent. This exactly correfponds with what is said in the Machabees of Antiochus and his agents: “ They shed innocent blood one very fide of the fanctuary." I Mach. 1. 39.

PSALM XCV.-al. XCIV.

This psalm has no title in Hebrew: but by Sep. and by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. 4. 7. it is ascribed to David: and the Syriac translation marks the time, namely, "when the people with David had passed over the Jordan." In the psalm itself there is nothing to lead us either to its real author, or to the time of its composition.

I

COME! let us fing praises to JEHOVAH ! fing aloud to the rock of our falvation.

2

Let us come before him with thanksgiving:
let us loudly praise him with pfalmody.

3

For a great GOD is JEHOVAH !

N

over all gods a king fupreme!

To him belong the depths of the earth :
his, also, are the heights of the mountains.
The fea is his, for he fafhioned it:

Come! let us worship, and bow down:

4

5

and the dry land his hands formed.

6

let us kneel before JEHOVAH, our maker;

7

and we are the people of his pasture,

For he is our own GOD:

and the flock, which himfelf conducteth. And, now, will ye not hear his voice?

"Harden not your hearts, (saith he) as Meriba; "as when at Massa, in the Wilderness ;

1Q

"where your fathers tempted me, and tried my patience: 9 "although they had feen my wonderful works. "Forty years was I difgufted with that race; "and faid: "They are an heart-erring people; "who will not understand my ways:' "and therefore, in my wrath, I fwore to them, "that they should never enter into my reft."

NOTES.

II

Ver. 3. Over all gods-i. e. above all the pretended gods of the Gentiles; and all earthly potentates.-Ver. 8. Meriba... Maffa. See Exod. 17. 7.-Ver. 11. In my wrath I fwore. See Numb. 14. 21-23. and 32. 10. Ib. into my reft-i. e. into the land which I had destined for their refting-place.

PSALM XCVI.-al. XCV.

This psalm is a fragment of that fine bynn composed by David at the solemn translation of the Ark. See 1 Chron. 16.7. But

it

it seems to have been somewhat altered by a posterior bard; and perbaps adapted to the dedication of the second temple after the return from the Babylonish captivity: as indeed it is said to have been, in the Greek version, in which it is entitled: "An ode of David sung when the house of God was built, after the captivity." SING to JEHOVAH a new fong: fing to JEHOVAH, all the earth.

I

2

Sing to JEHOVAH ! bless his name;
daily declare his faving power :

3

declare his glory, among the nations;

his wonderful works, among every people.

4

For great is JEHOVAH, and highly to be praised;

tremendous above all other gods.

5

For all the gods of the nations are idols:

but JEHOVAH made the heavens.

6

Majefty and splendour accompany him :

7

8

9

ΙΟ

II

12

power and beauty are in his holy abode !
Render to JEHOVAH, ye tribes of the people,
render to JEHOVAH glory and power:

. TO JEHOVAH give the glory due to his name.
Bring a donative, when ye come before him:
with holy decorum worship JEHOVAH.

Tremble before him, all the earth:

for 'tis he who maketh ftable the globe,
that it be not moved from its place.
'Tis he, who justly judgeth the nations.
Say, among the nations: "JEHOVAH is king."
Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice;
let the fea refound, with all its contents:

let the fields exult, with all that is therein:
let the trees of the foreft exult before JEHOVAH:

13

for he cometh-he cometh to judge the earth. The world he will judge with righteousness, and the nations, with his own veracity.

NOTES.

Ver. 1. In Chron. the first line of this ver. is wanting. The reft is very nearly the fame, correfponding with chap. 16. 23-33.-Ver. 10. I have made a small transposition here, on the authority of the parallel place and because the context feems to require it. In Chron. are 3 verfes more; which now make a part of pfalm 106.

and

PSALM XCVII.-al. XCVI..

The subject of this psalm is similar to that of the preceding one; may bave been sung on the same occasion. In Sep. it is called "A psalm of David, when his territories were restored.”

JEHOVAH reigneth! let the earth exult:

let the numerous regions rejoice!

Clouds and darkness furround him :

juftice and judgment are the bafis of his throne.

Before him goeth a fire,

which burneth his enemies around:

his lightnings irradiate the globe:

the earth beholdeth and trembleth:

I.

3

the mountains melt like wax, at the prefence of 5

JEHOVAH :

at the presence of the GOD of the whole earth! The heavens proclaim his juftice;

6

and all nations behold his glory.

Confounded are they, who worship graven gods;

7

who glory in their own vain idols!

TO HIM, all ye gods, bow down!

8

Zion hath heard, and is joyful;

9

ΙΟ

II

12

the cities of Judah rejoice,

on account of these thy judgments, JEHOVAH!
For high art thou, JEHOVAH, 'bove all the earth;
far, far exalted 'bove all other gods.

JEHOVAH loveth thofe who deteft evil:

his pious ones he preserveth alive,

and delivereth from the hands of the wicked.
On the just man light is fown;

and joy on the upright of heart.
Rejoice, ye juft, in JEHOVAH;

and commemorate, with thanks, his holiness.

NOTES.

Ver. 10. I think, with Street, that there is a small corruption in the first comma of this verse both in the text and all the verfions and that by the elifion of a single letter, with another reading authorized by Syr. and fome Mss. the true original is reftored. See C. R. According to the prefent reading, our laft tranflators render: "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the fouls of his faints," &c. -Ver. 11. On the juft man light is fown. In a fimilar paffage, pfalm 112. instead of fown we find arifeth: and the antient interpreters seem to have read fo here. It is alfo the reading of one Ms. But as the prefent reading presents an equally good meaning, and is even more poetical; I have expressed it in my version.

PSALM XCVIII.-al. XCVII.

This psalm is evidently a continuation of the foregoing, and was no doubt composed, or at least sung, on the same occasion. In Sep. it is called " A PSALM of David." In the Heb. it is entitled fimply

I

A PSALM.

SING to JEHOVAH a new fong: for marvellous deeds he hath done.