PSALM XXVI.-Calmet thinks that this psalm should be assigned to the time of the Captivity; but this seems to be disproved by v. 6, which shews that the writer had access to the altar; but that verse will not bear out Ewald's conclusion that it belongs to the time of the temple, as the altar existed before. We see no reason to question the general conclusion which assigns it to David. There is no clear ground for determining the time in which it was composed by him, but those who think it has a special reference ascribe it to the time when David, being pursued

by Saul, was constrained to withdraw into the land of the Philistines.

Verse 6. I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar.'-It was customary among the Jews, as now the Mohammedans, to wash before prayers; but the priests in particular, when they had laid on the sacrifice, were wont to go round the altar in order to sprinkle and pour out the blood at the four corners, previously to which they washed their hands, as they had done before. It is probably to this that the Psalmist alludes.

PSALM XXVII.

1 David sustaineth his faith by the power of God, 4 by his love to the service of God, 9 and by prayer. A Psalm of David.

THE LORD is 'my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

3

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3 "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock.

joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer

me.

8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O'God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

11 "Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of "mine

enemies.

10

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14 "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

1 Mic. 7. 8.

4 Psal. 3. 6. 8 Heb. will gather me.

5 Or, the delight. 6 Heb. of shouting. 9 Psal. 25. 4, and 86. 11, and 119. 12 Psal. 31. 24. Isa. 25. 9. Heb. 2. 3.

TITLE-The Septuagint and Vulgate add to this title 'before he was anointed;' but he was three times anointed, and the words are of no authority. Calmet thinks that, as well as the two preceding, it was written during the Captivity. Bishop Patrick conceives that it was probably composed by David on occasion of that danger and deliverance, mentioned in 2 Sam. xxi. 17, which induced his subjects to request that he would no more go to battle in person. But that it was written before the temple existed appears from this, that, although (as shewn under Ps. v.) the word rendered 'temple' in v. 4, is equally applicable to the tabernacle in v. 5, the word 'pavilion,' in v. 5, could not be applied to the temple; and although the term 'tabernacle,' in the same verse, might be carried forward to the temple, there is no example of such an application.

Verse 10. When my father and my mother forsake me,' etc.-This hypothetical form given in the Authorized Version is hardly correct. It is stated as a fact, with reference to something that had really happened: For my

father and mother forsake me, but the Lord takes me up.' But there is no reason,' says Hengstenberg, why we should feel ourselves necessitated to seek for an individual reference. Every one who is in great trouble may speak in this manner. Father and mother stand as an individualizing reference for those who are united to us by the closest ties, and in whom love towards us, when we are in a state of suffering, might be expected to continue the longest. Whoever has no parents puts his friends in their room. It lies deep in the being of human nature that suffering should cool, if it does not extinguish love; men are only too much inclined to seek in the sufferer the cause of this. This is seen in the case of the friends and the wife of Job (compare also Psalm lxxxviii. 8). The proverb, that the unfortunate may lay their account with contempt, is verified even in the case of neighbours. David had, in all probability, had experience of the instability of human love in suffering, under the very form to which he refers, and made choice of this expression in reference to

his own personal experience. His parents whom, according to 1 Sam. xxii. 3, he took care of in misfortune, were assuredly, on many occasions (from the character of human nature it could not be otherwise), ill pleased with him by whom their peace had been so often disturbed, and he must have had to bear with many hard speeches at their hand,'

13. ‘I had fainted,' etc.-The words 'I had fainted' are not in the original. Most of the versions have supposed that something was here wanting to complete the sense, and which accordingly has been variously supplied.

PSALM XXVIII.

1 David prayeth earnestly against his enemies. 6 He blesseth God. 9 He prayeth for the people.

A Psalm of David.

UNTO thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent 'to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands 'toward thy holy oracle.

3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

4 Give them according to their deeds, and

On the other hand, Dr. Hammond contends that nothing ought to be supplied, there being an intentional and beautiful abruption, which he compares to the famous one in the threat of Neptune, in Virgil. Dr. Boothroyd completes the sense without a marked abruption on the one hand, or conjectural addition on the other: Yet I believe that I shall enjoy good, O Jehovah, in the land of the living.' In this, however, as well as in the common version, the expression of this confidence is less strongly put than in the original. It is emphatic: I firmly believe;' or, as in the Prayer-book version, 'I believe verily.'

according to the wickedness of their endeavours give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him, and I am helped : therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The LORD is 'their strength, and he is the 'saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance feed them also, and lift them up for

ever.

PSALM XXVIII.-This Psalm is usually conceived to have been composed during the revolt of Absalom, when, to all appearance, the conditions of the righteous and the wicked were interchanged. Calmet, however, attributes it to the captives in Babylon.

Verse 2. When I lift up my hands.'-This seems to have been a common attitude of prayer among the Hebrews. The action is very natural, and not by any means

PSALM XXIX.

1 David exhorteth princes to give glory to God, 3 by reason of his power, 11 and protection of his people.

A Psalm of David.

GIVE unto the LORD, O 'ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

2 Give unto the LORD 'the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon 'many waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is 'powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the 1 Heb. ye sons of the mighty. 2 Heb. the honour of his name. Heb. in majesty. 7 Deut. 3. 9. 8 Heb. cutteth out.

4 Psal. 12. 2. Jer. 9. 8. 7 Or, rule.

Or, in his glorious sanctuary. 9 Or, to be in pain.

4 Or, great waters. 5 Heb. in power. 10 Or, every whit of it uttereth, &c.

PSALM XXIX. This Psalm was perhaps composed during or after some remarkable thunder-storm-such as it describes-and which had possibly been connected with some peculiar circumstances of judgment or mercy.

Verse 3. The voice of the Lord.'-Thunder is intended, as shewn by the ensuing clause.

5. Breaketh the cedars.'-It is the lightning, the electric fluid, that produces the effect which is here poetically ascribed to the thunder, or rather, perhaps, to the storm in general.

6. Sirion.'-The Sidonian name of Mount Hermon (Deut. iii. 9).

9. Maketh the hinds to calve.'-This image does not seem to assort well with the others, or to sustain the dignity of the subject. Many recent translators have adopted

the opinion of Bishop Lowth, that the word (i) translated hinds' should be rendered oaks,' or, at any rate, 'trees.' Thus, "The voice of Jehovah shaketh the oaks." -With respect to the sense conveyed in our common version, it may however be observed that it is a very ancient and still subsisting belief that many animals cast their young prematurely under the terror which thunder-storms inspire. French and Skinner have here, The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to tremble in labour,' which is a good sense.

10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood.'-Hengstenberg and others discover here a reference to the deluge, and render, The Lord sat at the deluge:' but we apprehend the general sense to be here more appropriate and emphatic.

PSALM XXX.

1 David praiseth God for his deliverance. 4 He exhorteth others to praise him by example of God's dealing with him.

A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.

I WILL extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

4 Sing unto the LORD, O'ye saints of his, and give thanks 'at the remembrance of his holiness.

5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure

1 Or, to the memorial.

for a night, but 'joy cometh in the morning.

6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast 'made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.

9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.

11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

5 Heb. settled strength for my mountain.

3 Heb. in the evening.

4 Heb. singing. 7 That is, my tongue, or, my soul.

6

TITLE, A Psalm and Song.'-The 'and' is supplied; 'Psalm-song' would be more correct. A psalm, properly speaking, is a piece for instrumental performance; a song, to be sung by the voice. It may be conjectured that in a psalm-song' the instruments preceded the voice, while in the song-psalm' the voice preceded the music. Or, as it may perhaps be traced that the compositions designated by either of these compound terms are of a responsive character, we may suppose that part was vocal and part instrumental, and that the title not only denotes this, but by the order of the words, psalm-song,' or 'song-psalm,' expresses whether the instruments or the voices were to open the performance. There has been some difference of opinion with regard to the house of David,' at the 'dedication' of which this psalm was used. Calvin, Grotius, and others, hold that the house was the palace of David, and that the psalm was composed when David consecrated his house a second time by a religious service, after it had been polluted by Absalom. But we have no account of any such ceremony being performed by David, and only new houses were thus dedicated. But David, no doubt, built the palace which he occupied at Jerusalem, and we may be sure that he dedicated it in the usual manner, or rather with particular solemnity.

and why may not this psalm have been composed for that dedication? De Wette supposes that the words of the title indicate the tune, as if the words were to be sung to a tune which was generally used at the dedication of houses. Venema, followed by Hengstenberg and others, entertains the notion that the psalm was sung at the dedication of the site of the future temple, as recorded in 2 Sam. xxiv; 1 Chron. xxi. But with what propriety could the site of the future temple be described as the house of David'?

Verse 1. Thou hast lifted me up.'-In the Hebrew, as Dr. Chandler in his History of David remarks, the verb here employed is used to denote the reciprocating motion' of the buckets of a well, one descending as the other rises, and vice versa; and is here applied, with admirable propriety, to point out the various reciprocations and changes of David's fortunes, as described in this psalm, as to prosperity and adversity, and particularly that gracious reverse of his afflicted condition which he now celebrates, God having raised him up to great honour and prosperity: for, having built his palace, he perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.'

PSALM XXXI.

1 David sheweth his confidence in God, craveth his help: 7 he rejoiceth in his mercy : 9 he prayeth in his calamity: 19 he praiseth God for his good

ness.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

IN 'thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy right

eousness.

2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my foot in a large

room.

9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

1 Psal. 22. 5. Isa. 49. 23.
5 Or, let them be cut off for the grave.

12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind I am like 'a broken vessel.

13 For I have heard the slander of

many:

fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for thy mercies' sake.

17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

6

18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

7

19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.

22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

24 'Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

3 Luke 23. 45. 7 Isa. 64. 4. 1 Cor. 2. 9.

4 Heb. a vessel that perisheth. 8 Or, fenced city. 9 Psal. 27. 14.

PSALM XXXI.-It is generally conceived that this psalm was composed upon, or with reference to, the occasion stated at the latter end of 1 Sam. xxiii., when David was so closely pursued by Saul in the wilderness of Maon that he must infallibly have been taken, had not the king been providentially recalled from the pursuit by the intelligence of an invasion from the Philistines. But the psalm does not appear to contain materials for so special a determination of the circumstances under which it was written. Mudge was of opinion that there are various circumstances in the phraseology and allusions which might rather lead to the impression that the psalm was composed by Jere

miah; but this should rather indicate that the language and sentiments of the Psalmist were adopted by that prophet, as it was his frequent habit to express his meaning in the words of the earlier Scripture writers.

Verse 9. Mine eye is consumed with grief.'-The Rabbi Jarchi explains this to mean that his sight was as dim as that of a man who is obliged to put a glass before his eyes to see what is beyond the glass. This is of no value as an explanation; but as Jarchi died in the twelfth century, it might be cited as affording probable evidence that spectacles were known at least two centuries before the date ascribed to the invention.