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let them be overtaken in their haughtiness,

for the imprecations and falfehood which they utter.

So completely defeat them,

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that not one of them may remain;

that it may be known to the limits of the land,

that JEHOVAH is chief ruler in Ifrael.

Although every evening they return,

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because to me thou hast been a fortrefs, a refuge in the day of my diftrefs.

My strength! to thee I will pfalmodize! for GOD is my strong hold—

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to me a God most gracious!

NOTES.

is:

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Ver. 5. Void of iniquity I have fteered my courfe. The common rendering they run and prepare themselves without my fault." But I am perfuaded that the true reading was followed by Sep. and Arab. which I have adopted in my verfion.-Ver. 7 and 8. These two verses make me think that the pfalm was composed by Hezekiah, or for him, when Senaherib's army were befieging Jerufalem, and insulting the befieged with the most supercilious contempt. In ver. 8. the last comma has been generally put into the mouth of the enemy; and rendered: "For who, fay they, doth hear?" I cannot deem this a juft verfion. I put the words in the mouth of the Pfalmift, and think they allude to 2 Kings, 18. 36. when, on Rabshakeh's haranguing the Jewish fentinels on the walls, the people were filent, and answered not a word: "For fuch was the king's order, saying: Answer not."-Ver. 10. to thee I will pfalmodize. In the present text there is a word which our last English translators render: "I will wait on thee:" and fo read Sep. and Chald. But as in the parallel place, ver. 18. all the copies have pfalmodize; and as Syr. and

Arab. read fo here, I have, with most modern interpreters, adopted that reading: not, however, without fome hesitation, as the other is no way improbable. For the feft; the word which I render my strength is in the present Heb. bis ftrength followed by our laft tranflators with a because in Italics: "Because of his strength will I wait upon thee." But as this makes a most awkward sense, and as ten Mss. at least, with Sep. Syr. Arab. and even Chald. read my ftrength, I have had no fcruple in preferring it.-Ver. 12. Slay them not: i. e. by the fword of the befieged; left these afcribe to themselves the defeat of the enemy but discomfit and disperse them, by thine own power, How well all this tallies with the de

and after a fingular manner. feat of Senaherib's army, the

reader will eafily perceive. Comp.

2 Kings, 19. 32-35.

PSALM LX.—al. LIX.

Whoever undertakes to reconcile the title of this psalm to any part of David's bistory, will find it an bard attempt. It is indeed, by some, supposed to have been written by David, not during bis war with the Syrians, but in the beginning of his reign. But this hypothesis to me appears at least equally unfounded. David was successful in all bis wars; and never could say what is bere put in bis mouth. But when, then, was the psalm most probably composed? Plainly, after some great disaster bad befallen the bosts of Judah: and I can find no period so proper, as at the commencement of the reign of Hezekiab. See his speech to the priests and Levites, 2 Chron. 29. 5.

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FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN: ON SHUSAN

EDUTH: A GOLDEN DIDACTIC PSALM OF
DAVID, WHEN HE WAS AT STRIFE WITH
THE SYRIANS OF MESOPOTAMIA AND THE
SYRIANS OF ZOBA; WHEN JOAB RETURNED
FROM SMITING TWELVE THOUSAND EDOM-
ITES IN THE VALE OF MELAH.

O GOD! thou haft rejected us;
thou haft broken us in pieces;

thou art angry-be again reconciled to us.
Thou haft fhaken the land, and rent it:
heal its breaches; for ftill it shaketh.
Thou haft made thy people experience hardship;
a troubled wine thou haft made us drink:
thy worshippers thou hast impressed with terror,
fo as to fly from the face of the bow!

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That thy beloved may yet be rescued;

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hear, and by thy right hand fave us.

GOD anfwereth, in his fanctuary-joyful am I !
İthall, yet, divide Sichem into lots,

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and measure out the valley of Suchoth:

mine fhall be Gilead, and mine Manaffeh:

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Ephraim shall be the helmet of mine head :
Judah fhall be my legislator.

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Ver. 6. Thy worshippers thou bast impressed with terror. This is commonly rendered: "Thou haft given a banner to thy worshippers (or those who fear thee) that it may be difplayed because of the truth :" a fentence to me unintelligible. The verfion which I give arifes naturally out of the text, without any alteration, fave in fome vowel points.

There feems to be here an allufion to the fhameful difcom

fiture of a numerous hoft of Judahites by a small body of Syrians in the reign of Joash. See 2 Chron. 24. 24.—Ver. 8 God anfwereth in his fan&uary. This is a beautiful transition. The pfalmift, whom I suppose to be Hezekiah, is already certain that his prayer has been heard; and, instead of continuing his plaintive expoftulations, breaks forth into joyful exultation, in the hope that he fhall not only be rescued from his prefent enemies, but shall alfo recover the antient. territories, that had been wrefted from the houfe of David, both within and without the limits of Ifrael. Hence he mentions first, Sichem, Suchoth, Gilead, Manaffeh, and Ephraim; which last he characterises as a bead-helmet, both on account of its being a strong warlike tribe, and lying between him and his most powerful enemies, the Syrians. It is remarkable that in the reign of Hezekiah the tribes of Manaffeh and Ephraim feem to have, partly at leaft, been reconciled to the house of David; as 66 many of the people of Ephraim, Manaffeh, Iffachar, and Zebulon," came to Jerufalem to keep the Phafah, or Paffover, fo folemnly renewed by Hezekiah. Comp. 2 Chron. 30. 1-20. and 31. I.. Ver. 10. Moab fall be my washing-pot, &c. He now comes to those nations, who had been formerly tributary to the kings of Judah, but which in the reign of Joram had thrown off the yoke, and often warred fuccessfully against the Judahites in the weak reigns of his fucceffors before Hezekiah. See 2 Chron. 22. 8. 16. and 24. 23. and 27. 16. The pfalmift trufts, that they shall all again be subdued, and made fubfervient to Judah. I have dwelt the longer on this subject, as I think it brings the compofition home to Hezekiah, or to fome bard who writes in his name; and that it is more fuitable to this than any other period of Jewish history.

PSALM LXI.—al. LX.

This psalm seems perfectly to answer its tile. It was probably composed while David was at Mabanaim. Comp. Pf. 42.

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NOTH: A PSALM OF DAVID.

LISTEN, O GOD! to mine invocation : be attentive to my request.

From the extremity of the land I thee invoke,
while mine heart is overwhelmed with grief,
from mine enemy's being exalted above me.
Ah! direct me-for thou art my hope;
a tower of strength, from the enemy.
I. fhall yet dwell long at thy tabernacle,
and repofe under the covert of thy wings.
For thou, O GOD, wilt hear my vows,
and give me, for an inheritance,

the people who revere thy name.

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Days on days, to the king, wilt thou accumulate;

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his years shall extend from generation to generation;

long fhall he remain in the prefence of God:

thy veracity and bounty fhall be his guard:
fo will I ever pfalmodize to thy name;
and perform my vows from day to day.

NOTES.

There is no difficulty in this elegant pfalm, fave in ver. 3. which is badly divided, and badly rendered. Our common version runs thus: "Fom the end of the earth I will cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock, that is higher than I:" the fenfe of which I cannot fo much as guefs. By the disjunction of a small letter from one word, and adding it to the preceding one, and by a different divifion of the verfe, I believe I have given the genuine meaning.—Ver. 6. This verfe has also been generally misunderstood; and rendered by our English translators: "Thou haft given me the heritage of thofe that fear thy name." It was not the heritage of God's people that David wifhed for, but themselves as his subjects. See C. R.

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