2

I. BETH.
. In thee I trust; let me not be confounded;
let not my foes exult over me.

2. GHIMEL.
Let none be confounded, who look up to thee:
be they confounded, who vainly prevaricate.

7, DALETH.
Make me know thy ways, JEHOVAH !
and teach me to follow thy paths.

7. he.
Direct me to thy truth, and teach me :
for thou art the God of my falvation.

9. VAU.
And to thee I daily look up,
+ because of thy goodness, JEHOVAH ! |

7. ZAIN.
Remember, JEHOVAH ! thy tender mercies,
and thy kindnesses of former days.

N. HETH.

9

10

The fins and crimes of my youth remember not; remember me, according to thine own bounty!

. Teth.
Bountiful and righteous is JEHOVAH:
therefore he showeth finners the right track.

JOD.
The meek he directeth to justice;
to the meek he pointeth out his way.

3. CHAPH.
All the paths of Jehovah are mercy and truth,
to those who observe his precepts and testimonies.

3. LAMED. For the fake of thine own name, JEHOVAH ! pardon mine iniquity although great it is.

OVAH?

13

| B, MEM. Who is the man that reyereth JEHOVAH? to him he will show the most eligible way.

5. NUN. That man shall enjoy prosperity; and his seed shall inherit the land.

D. SAMECH. The secret of Jehovah is for those who revere him; 15 and to them he maketh known his covenant.

Y. AIN. Mine eyes are ever directed to JehovAH, because out of the snare he can draw my feet.

5, PHE. . Regard me, and have compassion on me; for desolate and miserable am I.

3. Tsade. The sorrows of mine heart are increased : bring me out of my perplexities.

P. KOPH. Meet my afflictions and my sufferings; and pardon all my transgressions.

7. RESH. See, how mine enemies multiply: and hate me with hate outrageous.

W. shin. Preserve my life, and deliver me: let me not be confounded, since in thee I trust.

1. THAU. May integrity and justice protect me; fince on thee I depend, JEHOVAH.

O God! redeem Ifrael from all his distresses.

NOTES.

Ver. 1. My God. These words, in the present Heb. text have been disjointed from ver. 1. and begin ver. 2. which destroys the alphabetic arrangement. This is not all: several words have been dropt after My God: and I can see nothing so probable as the words which I have fupplied in Italics, from psalm 86. 2. which psalm resembles this fo very much, that the one seems to be modelled on the other.Ver. 6. Here again, a letter of the first comma has been dropt; and the whole second comma has been transposed to the end of ver. 7. This I have restored to its proper place, and supplied the letter wanting, represented in my version by And. Ver. 19. This verse in the present Heb. begins not with a kopb, but with a resh, which is the letter of the following verse. Another word therefore must be sought to rectify the mistake: and various substitutes have been thought of. Some think the word or words wanting should be cut port, others prefer Draw near. I am clearly of opinion, with Michaëlis, that the word wanting is Meet. “ Meet my afflictions, &c." in the same fense as we say to meet one's wishes, de fires, &c.— Ver. 23. This is an extra verse; and may have been added by some transcriber.

PSALM XXVI.--al. XXY. I see no reason to doubt of this psalm baving been composed by David, in distress; that is, during the rebellion of Absbalom. See wer. 7. and 8.

A PSALM OF DAVID. JUDGE thou my cause, Jehovah ! for in mine innocence I have walked :

fince I trust in Jehovah ! I shall not totter. Ź Search me, JEHOVAH ! and bring me to the test;

explore my reins and mine heart :
3. For thy bounty hath ever been before mine eyes,

and according to thy truth I have walked.
I have never sat down with faithless men,

nor associated with hypocrites.
5 I hate the company of the malevolent;

with the wicked I never fit down.
I wash mine hạnds in innocence,
when I approach thine altar, JEHOVAH!..
to make my voice be heard in thy praise,
and to recount all thy wondrous works.
I love, JEHOVAH ! the house where thou dwelleft;
and the place of the tabernacle of thy glory.
Aggregate not my soul with finners,
nor my life with fanguinary men :
who harbour malicious designs;
while their right hand is full of bribes.
But, as I walk in mine innocence,
redeem me and have mercy on me.
When my foot shall stand on even ground;
I will, in the assemblies, bless Jehovah !

NOTES. Ver. 3. Thy bounty bath ever been before mine eyes, &c. The meaning is, that he has made God's goodness and truth the model of his own.Ver. 12. When my foot shall stand on even ground, i. e. when I shall be delivered out of my present situation, and be again restored to a state of security. Some modern translators paraphrase thus: I now perceive that I fall be saved.

PSALM XXVII.—al. XXVI. Of the same stamp with the preceding one; and most probably composed on the same occasion.

A PSALM OF DAVID. JEHOVAH is my light, and my salvation : whom then shall I fear? Jehovah is the safeguard of my life: whom then shall I dread?

When to devour my flesh the malevolent advanced 2 those who persecuted me, and were mine enemies;

they themselves stumbled, and fell back! 3. Should an host encamp about me,

mine heart would not be afraid :
should war be waged against me,
even then would I be confident.
One thing I ask of JehovAH,
and this I earnestly request;
that I may dwell by the house of JEHOVAH,
all the days of my life:
to contemplate the beauty of Jehovah,
and in his palace search for a place :
where, in a covert, he may hide me in the evil day;
may hide me in his interior tabernacle;

and place me in perfect security.
6 Even now, he may exalt mine head

above all my surrounding enemies,
that I may offer, at his tabernacle,
facrifices of praise ;

and sing and psalmodize to Jehovah. y Listen, JEHOVAH ! to my voice :

when I cry, have pity and answer me, 8 To thee mine heart speaketh: . 77 turkey hus til no com-uluita • my looks thy looks beseech :

I to justify the wide devia

tini ? hide not, JEHOVAH ! from me thy face: shun not, in ire, thy servant: thou art my refuge, abandon me not;:

nor forsake me, O God of my falvation !
10 Though my father and mother should forsake me,

let Jehovah take me up.
Teach me, JEHOVAH ! thy way;
and guide me in the right path;

on account of mine enemies :
12 to the will of mine enemies deliver me not.