when God had promised to lengthen his life, says, Is. xxxviii. 18, 19. "The " grave cannot praise thee, death cannot "celebrate thee; the living, the living, " he shall praise thee, as I do this day." See also Ps. vi. 5.-xxx. 10.

(z) A thanksgiving for deliverance, with a resolution to make some public acknowledgement of it in the house of the Lord. It is one of the Psalms appointed to be read at the churching of

women.

(a) For" shall find," and "I will "call," the Bible translation is "found," and "called," which seems right.

(b) "Gracious," &c. This is the acknowledgment that God attended to his prayer.

(c) Will walk," &c. The meaning probably is, in return for what God has done for me, I will walk before him, that is, in his ways, as long as I live. There is nearly the same passage as this verse in Ps. lvi. 12, 13. and see the note

there.

5 Gracious (b) is the Lord, and righteous yea, our God is merciful.

6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was in misery, and he helped me.

7 Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul for the Lord hath rewarded thee.

8 And why? thou hast delivered my soul from death: mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9 I will walk (c) before the Lord in the land of the living.

10 I believed, and therefore will I (d) speak; but I was sore troubled I said in my haste, "All men are liars (e)."

11 What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me? 12 I will receive the cup (ƒ) of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.

13 I will

pay my vows (g) now

(d) For "I will," the reading should v. 10. probably be "did I.”

(e) "Liars," i.e. (perhaps) deceit- v.10. ful, not to be depended upon. This Psalm might have been written after deliverance from some calamity in which the writer's friends had abandoned him. Another translation of this verse is as fol lows: "I believed that I should be lost, "for I was sore troubled; I said in my "fear, all my life is gone." See Kenmcott and Street.

(f)" The cup," &c. i. e. the cup the v.12. Israelites used when they came to offer sacrifice, and return thanks for any deliverance: it was called "the cup of de"liverance." The drink offering (Numb. xxviii. 7.) was perhaps poured out of it. Dr. Hammond says, they used one cup of deliverance publicly, in the temple, by way of public acknowledgement, and another in their own families, by way of private domestic thanksgiving.

(g) Pay my vows." This expres- v. 13.

in the presence (h) of all his people right dear (i) in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

14 Behold, O Lord, how that I am thy servant : I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; thou haft broken my bonds in sunder.

15 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord.

16 I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the sight of all his people in the courts of the

sion occurs, and is joined with giving of thanks, Ps. xxxii. 25.-1. 14.—lvi. 12lxii. 8.-lxv. 1.-and lxvi. 12.

(b) "The presence," &c. So in Ps. xxxv. 18. David promises, if God will give him deliverance, that he will give him thanks in the great congregation, meaning their great religious assembly. See note on Ps. xxxv. 18.

(i) "Dear," i. e. precious, valuable, he will not easily suffer them to perish. So Ps. lxxii. 14. " he shall deliver their "soul from falsehood and wrong, and

dear shall their blood be in his sight." So 1 Sam. xxvi. 21. when David spared to kill Saul in the cave, Saul said unto him, "I will no more do thee harm, be

cause my soul was precious in thine eyes this day." And 2 Kings i. 13. when Ahaziah's messenger deprecated Elijah's calling down fire from heaven to destroy him and the fifty men who accompanied him, he said, "O man of

God, I pray thee let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight."

(4) An invitation to all nations to come in to the worship of the true God, because of the blessings he confers upon his servants, and the fidelity with which he keeps his promises. It is not improbable that this Psalm was written either just after the return from the Babylonish captivity, about 536 years before the birth of Christ, when the prophecies of Jeremiah, that the captivity should last 70 years and no more, were just accomplished, (see note on Ps, cii. 13.) or when the building of the last temple (about 445 years before the birth of

Lord's house, even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

Psalm cxvii. (k)

O PRAISE the Lord, all ye heathen (1) praise him, all ye

nations.

2 For his merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us: and the truth (m) of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise the Lord.

Psalm cxviii. (n)

O GIVE thanks unto the Lord,

Christ) in fulfilment of the prophecy of Haggai (see ante 27. 64. 112. 189.) was finished. The completion of these prophecies might inspire the people with a conviction that God would in his own time fulfil all his other promises.

(1) "Ye heathen." In Rom. xv. II. where St. Paul is shewing that the Gentiles also were to be admitted to the benefits of Christ's coming, and to form part of the true worshippers of God, he cites amongst other passages this verse, as shewing that so long back as the time of writing this Psalm, all the heathen, and all nations were called in to join in praising God," as it is written, Praise "the Lord, ye Gentiles, and laud him "all ye people."

(m)

"The truth," &c. The first promises (next to the general one, immediately after the fall, Gen, iii. 15.) were to Abraham, Gen. xii. 3. " In thee shall "all families of the earth be blessed," and Gen. xxii. 18. "In thy seed shall all "nations of the earth be blessed." The same promise was repeated to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 4. and to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 14. so that though the Messiah was to be of the seed of Abraham, &c. the benefit of his coming was to extend to all mankind; and the meaning of this short Psalm may be, Let all nations come in to the praise and worship of God, for from what he has done for us and the completion of some of his promises, we are assured his great promise, to send him in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, will surely come to pass,

(n) A spirited triumphal hymn, upon some solemn procession in David's time

v.3.

v.8,9.

v. 10,

to the tabernacle, in which the ark of God was kept. It was probably written by David, either after some signal victory, or after God had given him peace from all his enemies round about. It is one of the proper Psalms for Easter Day, perhaps because the Messiah met with as much opposition as David, though of a different kind, in the establishment of his kingdom, and succeeded as completely and triumphantly in the end, and (more especially) because the 22d verse was applied to our Saviour, both by Christ himself and by St. Peter.

(o) The house of Aaron," i. e. the priests and Levites.

(p) So Ps. cxlvi. 2. "O, put not your trust in princes, nor in any child "of man, for there is no help in them."

(g) For "will I," the reading pro11,12, bably should be "did I." He is speak

11 They kept me in on every side; they kept me in, I say, on every side but in the Name of the Lord will I destroy them.

12 They came about me like bees, and are extinct (r) even as the fire among the thorns for in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them.

13 Thou hast (s) thrust sore at me, that I might fall but the Lord was my help.

14 (t) The Lord is my strength and my song and is become my salvation.

15 The voice of joy and health is in the dwellings of the righteous the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to

pass.

16 The right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence: the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass.

17 I shall not die, but live: and declare the works of the Lord.

ing of what was past, not of what would happen.

(r) The translation should probably v.12. be," but were extinct even as the fire of "thorns; for in the name of the Lord "did I destroy them." "The fire of "thorns" was one that burnt up suddenly and furiously; but was soon exhausted. See note on Ps. lviii. 8.

(s) For thou hast," the reading v.13. should perhaps be "they did."

(t) This verse occurs in the Song of v.14. Triumph which Moses and the children of Israel sang, near 1500 years before the birth of Christ, after God had led them in safety through the Red Sea and had destroyed Pharoah and all his host. See Exod. xv. 2. and it might be incorporated into this Psalm, to call that great deliverance to remembrance.

18 The Lord hath chastened || and corrected me but he hath not given me over unto death.

19 Open me the gates (u) of righteousness that I may go into them, and give thanks unto the Lord.

20 (x) This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous (y) shall enter into it.

21 (z) I will thank thee, for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation.

22 The same stone (a) which the builders refused: is become the head stone in the corner.

23 This is the Lord's doing : and it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the

(u)"The gates," &c. i. e. of the tabernacle, where the ark was kept. So Ps. xxiv. 7. when the ark was carried up to the tabernacle, the acclamation was, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and "be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, " and the King of Glory shall come in." It was when they reached the gate of the tabernacle, therefore, that this part of the Psalm was sung.

(x) This was probably the keeper's

answer.

(y)" The righteous." According to 2 Chron. xxiii. 19. when Jehoiada restored the worship of God (about 878 years before our Saviour's birth) "he "set the porters at the gates of the "house of the Lord," (as though that had been the old practice) "that none "which was unclean in any thing should "enter in."

(*) This probably was sung upon their entering the tabernacle.

(a) "Stone," &c. i. e. figuratively; he who had met with so much opposition, scorn, &c. alluding to what David had experienced. When our Saviour intimated by the parable of the husbandman, that the Jews would put him to death, and that other nations would embrace his religion, he accommodates this passage to his own case: "Did ye never "read in the Scriptures, the stone which

Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Help me now, O Lord: O Lord, send us now prosperity.

26 Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord we have wished you good luck, ye that are of the house of the Lord.

27 God is the Lord, who hath shewed us light bind (b) the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I will thank thee thou art my God, and I will praise thee.

29 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious: and his mercy endureth for ever.

"the builders rejected, the same is be

come the head of the corner." Matt. xxi. 42 -Mark xii. 10.-Luke xx. 17. So when St. Peter was questioned by the rulers, &c. by what power or by what name he had healed the impotent man, and he told them it was by the name of Jesus Christ, he added, (applying this passage to our Saviour,)" This is the "stone which was set at nought of you "builders, which is become the head of "the corner; neither is there salvation "in any other for there is none other "name under heaven given among men, "whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 11, 12. See also I Pet. ii. 7. The Messiah is referred to under the figure of "" a corner stone," in Isaiah xxviii. 16. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I "lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” And St. Paul speaks of Jesus Christ under the same figure, Ephes. ii. 19, 20. "Ye" (i.e. the Gentile converts at Ephesus)

66

66 are no

more strangers and foreigners, but of "the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles "and prophets, Jesus Christ himself be ing the chief corner stone." Ante 35. (b) Bind," &c. Perhaps at this . part of the Psalm a victim to be offered was bound, &c.

66

(c) This in the Hebrew is an alphabetical Psalm, divided into twenty-two parts, of eight verses each: the parts begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in succession; and each verse in each part begins with the same letter so that every verse in the first part begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, every verse in the second part with the second letter, and so on. This was probably done to assist the memory in getting it by heart and remembering it, there being no particular connection between the parts or verses. The law, statutes, judgments, &c. of God, are the chief subject, there being scarce a verse which does not mention them. David is considered as the author; and

(5) ante 214. 194.

(8) ante 163.

4 Thou hast charged: that we shall diligently keep thy commandments.

5 O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep thy statutes!

6 So shall I not (e) be confounded while I have respect unto all thy commandments,

7 I will thank thee with an