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When false witneffes rife up against me,

and iniquity layeth for me snares :

I think I fhall no more fee

JEHOVAH's favour in the land of the living.

Look up to JEHOVAH :

be firm, and courageous;

and look up to JEHOVAH.

NOTES.

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Ver. 2. When to devour my flesh, exaggeratively, as when we fay be would eat me up. He feems here to allude to a prior period, when he was perfecuted by Saul.-Ver. 5. And place me in perfe&t security. Lit. And exalt me on a rock: but there was no rock in the fanctuary; and this is a mere metaphor, which I thought I might render equivalently.—Ver. 12. In this and the following verse there is some confusion in the original. The words are badly divided, and one word evidently corrupted. The corruption, however, is readily removed by the change of a fingle letter. On this change I have formed my verfion; but am not quite fure that I have given the true meaning. To me the meaning seems to be, that when the pfalmift confiders the false testimony that is brought against him, and the fnares that are laid for him, he has little hope of being again restored to temporal prosperity; but he inftantly checks that defponding thought, and encourages himself to "look up to JEHOVAH."

PSALM XXVIII.-al. XXVII.

A pathetic prayer for himself and the people of Israel.

A PSALM OF DAVID.

TO thee, JEHOVAH, my rock! I cry!

be not thou deaf to my call:

left if thou be filent, in my regard,

I become like thofe who go down to the pit.
Hear my fupplications, when to thee I cry:

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when mine hands I raise toward thy fanctuary.

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Rank me not with the wicked and iniquitous;

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who speak peaceably to their neighbours,

while mischief is in their hearts.

Repay fuch, according to their deeds,

and according to their evil difpofitions :

according to the works of their hands repay them,
recompense them according to their deferts.

Since they mind not the deeds of JEHOVAH,
nor care for the work of his hands:

he will overthrow, but never re-establish them.
Bleffed be JEHOVAH;

who heareth my fupplications.

JEHOVAH is my ftrength, and my shield:

in him mine heart confideth.

When I am helped by him my heart exulteth;
and with my fongs him I celebrate.

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JEHOVAH is the ftrength of his people;
and the fafe-guard of his anointed is he.

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Save thy people; and bless thine inheritance;
and feed them, and exalt them for ever.

NOTES.

Ver. 8. There is a corruption here in the original, which runs thus: Jehovah is their ftrength; followed by our English translators: but all the antients, fave Chald., read otherwife; agrecably to my verfion : the frength of his people. The addition of a single letter, which was eafily dropt out of the text, makes this difference.

PSALM XXIX.-al. XXVIII.

This psalm contains a beautiful description of an eastern thunder storm. By Grotius it is thought to have been composed after the defeat of the Syrians. 2 Sam. 8. 5.

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A PSALM OF DAVID.

GIVE to JEHOVAH, ye great ones!
Give to JEHOVAH glory and power:

TO JEHOVAH give the glory due to his name: and worship him with holy decorum.

The voice of JEHOVAH, upon the waters!
the God of glory thundereth!
JEHOVAH on the great waters!

The voice of JEHOVAH is full of power!
The voice of JEHOVAH is full of majesty!
The voice of JEHOVAH fhivers the cedars!
JEHOVAH fhivers the cedars of Lebanon!
maketh Lebanon skip like a calf;
and Sirion like a young buffalo!

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The voice of JEHOVAH fcattereth lightnings!

The voice of JEHOVAH fhaketh the wilderness :

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the wildernefs of Kadefh JEHOVAH fhaketh!

The voice of JEHOVAH fhaketh the oaks,

and bareth the trees of the foreft:

while, in his palace, every thing fpeaketh his glory. 10 Above the ftorm JEHOVAH fitteth;

and fitteth king for ever.

May JEHOVAH give strength to his people: may JEHOVAH blefs his people with profperity.

NOTES.

II

Ver. 3. The voice of Jehovah upon the waters. He alludes to the great or Mediterranean fea, whence the storm is fuppofed to proceed.Ver. 6. Maketh Lebanon skip, &c. i. e. maketh the trees on it shake and bound. Sirion is the fame with Hermon.-Ver. 9. Shaketh the oaks. The common verfion is, maketh the binds to calve: but I am perfuaded that this cannot be the meaning; nor have I any doubt of either the oak or fome other tree being the proper rendering, as I fhall elfewhere endeavour to prove. Indeed, any other verfion destroys the harmony of the pfalm, and the parallelifm of the sentence.-Ver. 10. While in his own palace, &c. i. e. the heavens, above the clouds and ftorms, where he refideth in pure majesty, and reigneth as king for ever. This I take to be the true meaning of the text, which has been much misunderstood, and variously rendered.

PSALM XXX.-al. XXIX.

I A PSALM-SONG AT THE DEDICATION OF DA

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VID'S HOUSE.

I WILL extol thee, JEHOVAH, because thou haft exalted me;

and haft not fuffered my foes to rejoice over me.
JEHOVAH! my God! to thee I cried:

and thou, JEHOVAH! reftoredft me to health.
From Hadés thou broughteft back my foul;
preservedft me from descending into the pit.
Sing to JEHOVAH, ye his pious ones;
and commemorate, with praife, his holiness.
For, although in his frown there is rebuke,
there is life in his favour:

in the evening there may be forrow;

but joy in the morning.

In my profperity, indeed, I thought

I fhould never be shaken:

fo firmly hadft thou, JEHOVAH !

been pleased to establish my mountain.

Thou withdreweft thy countenance-
I was fuddenly dismayed!

Thee, JEHOVAH! I then invoked;
to JEHOVAH I made fupplication:

"What gain, faid I, from my blood,

"when I shall have gone down to the pit?
❝will duft thee praise? will it preach thy truth?
"Hear, JEHOVAH! and pity me:
"JEHOVAH! be thou mine helper."
Thou turnedft my mourning into mirth
Thou ftrippedft me of my fack-cloth;
and clothedft me with a robe of joy!

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Therefore I will praise thee, my glory!

nor will I ever be filent in thy praise:

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Thee, JEHOVAH! my God! I will praise for ever.

NOTES.

Ver. 8. My mountain. He alludes to Mount Zion; the base, as it were, on which his kingdom seemed fo firmly to be fixed, that there was no danger of an overthrow. The Greek interpreters read another word, the English of which is bonour; as if the pfalmift had said, thou badft fo firmly established mine honour and this reading is preferred by fome late tranflators. The other I think more poetical and expreffive.-Ver. 13. I will praise thee, my glory! The present Hebrew runs thus Glory will praife thee, and will not be filent. But the Syriac tranflator read both verbs in the first person; and I have no doubt of this being the original lection.

PSALM XXXI.-al. XXX.

This psalm is generally thought to have been composed during Saul's persecution.

FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN A PSALM OF DAVID. I

IN thee, JEHOVAH! I put my trust;

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For thy name's fake, lead and direct me:

draw me out of the fnare, my foes have laid for me, for thou, JEHOVAH! art my ftrength.

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To thee I recommend my life:

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redeem me, JEHOVAH! God of truth!

Thou hateft the worshippers of idols: but I in JEHOVAH put my trust.

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