I 2 3 PSALM LI.-al. L. The title of this psalm speaks the time and occasion of its being composed. It is called the fourth Penitential psalm. FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN: A PSALM OF PITY me, O GOD! according to thy goodness; Thoroughly wash me from mine iniquity, thoroughly cleanse me from my fin. 4 5 For my tranfgreffions I myself acknowledge, 6 7 8 Before thee, before thee only, I finned, Alas! I was born to iniquity! and to fin my mother conceived me! haft taught me the secrets of thy wisdom. Purify me with hyffop, until I be clean; wafh me, until I be whiter than fnow. Make me hear a meffage of joy and gladness, Avert thy face from my fin; and blot out all mine iniquities. 12 A clean heart re-create in me, O GOD! 13 and an upright mind renew within me. Restore to me the joy of thy falvation, Pardon me the guilt of blood-shed, O GOD! the God of my falvation! and my tongue shall celebrate thy clemency. JEHOVAH! open thou my lips; and my mouth fhall proclaim thy praise. 14 15 16 17 18 Didft thou delight in facrifice, I would give it : but holocaufts, in fuch cafes, thou acceptest not. A facrifice to GOD is a contrite mind; a contrite and broken heart GOD never despiseth. Difplay thy good-will to Zion: rear up the walls of Jerufalem : then shalt thou be pleafed with legal facrifices, with holocausts perfectly complete : then fhall fteers be immolated on thine altar. 19 20 21 NOTES. Ver. 6. Before thee, not against thee. He alludes to the private and clandeftine manner in which he committed the fin: which was known only to a few of his court-minions.-Ver. 7. is commonly rendered "Lo! I was born (or fhaped) in iniquity, &c." and the text has been urged as a proof of original fin: but whether the Heb. prepofition be rendered in or to, the words to me appear to have no fuch meaning. If the common rendering be adopted, it is a mere poetical hyperbole but if the prepofition be rendered to or for, as it was by Symmachus of old, and now is by me, the phrase will be perfectly conformable to the Jewish ideas of fin being unavoidable: for the Jews, as well as the Mohammedans, were ftrong fatalifts.Ver. 13. Caft me not away, &c. David feems afraid, left he should be rejected and unkinged, as Saul had been.-Ver. 20, 21. Some interpreters think that this was added to the pfalm after the Babylonifh captivity. I fee no reason for fuch a fuppofition. Neither the buildings on Zion nor the walls of Jerufalem might be yet completed; and we know that David had in contemplation to build a magnificent temple. PSALM LII.-al. LI. This psalm is said, in the title, to bave been composed by David, in consequence of Doeg's information against him, and the ensuing mafsacre of the priests of Nob: but ver. 8. seems strongly to militate against this bypothesis: as an al'usion is made in it to the bouse of God. This leads me to think that not Doeg, but Abitbopbel, is the object of the invective. I 2 FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN: A DIDACTIC PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN DOEG, THE EDOMITE, CAME AND TOLD SAUL, THAT DAVID HAD BEEN IN THE HOUSE OF AHI MELECH. WHY glorieft thou in evil? thou fhameless man! Thy tongue is daily machinating mischief; working fubtilely, like a fharp razor! 3 4 5 Thou loveft evil more than good: falfehood more than fincerity: 6 thou lovest all deftructive purposes, every fraudulent language. 7 But God will utterly destroy thyfelf; will dismay, and tear thee from thy dwelling : and extirpate thee from the land of the living. 8 The righteous fhall fee, and rejoice; and make thee a subject of scorn. 9 "Behold, will they fay, the man "who deemed not GOD his strength; "but, trufting in the greatnefs of his own wealth, "confirmed himfelf in his depravity!" But I, by the house of GOD, fhall flourish like an olive tree! In the goodness of GOD I will ever trust: for thy doings, JEHOVAH! I will ever praise thee. II My whole hope is in thy name: which is ever favourable to thy worshippers. NOTES. Ver. 3. Thou Shameless man! Although I have some suspicion that the text is here, in fome degree, corrupted, yet I have endeavoured to make sense of it as it stands: only dividing differently the verfe. The common rendering, according to the present divifion and punctuation of the Heb. may be feen in our vulgar verfion, which appears to me an incoherent rhapfody. None of the antients except Chald. read or divide fo.-Ver. 4. working fubtilely, like a sharp razor: which cuts fo eafily, that the wound is at first hardly perceptible. PSALM LIII-al. LII. This palm is so very like psalm 14. that by some it is supposed to bave been inserted in the collection through the inattention and forgetfulness of the collector. Others think it a second improved edition, made either by David himself, or ly some other bard, who adapted it to his own times. The title is FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN : ON THE MAHA LATH; A DIDACTIC PSALM OF DAVID. THE profligate imagine-there is no God! Corrupted they are-abominations they practife! not one of them doth good-not even one! GOD from the heavens viewed the fons of man, to see if there were any fo wife, as to feek GoD. They are all gone aftray, are all corrupted: not one doeth good-not even one. Shall not all fuch evil-doers be made fenfible; 2 3 4 5 who have devoured my people, as bread is devoured? Since GOD they invoke not, with fear they shall tremble, 6 they who never trembled before: for God will scatter the bones of the profligate : they fhall be confounded, for God defpifeth them. 7 O that, from Zion, falvation may come to Ifrael! When God hath reversed the captivity of his people; Jacob will exult-Ifrael will rejoice. NOTES. Ver. 1. On the mahalath. This is the fame wind inftrument with the nebiloth of pfalm 5.-Ver. 3. The words in Italics are fupplied from pfalm 14. but there is a vestige of them in one of Kennicott's MSS.-Ver. 6. The principal difference between this pfalm and the 14th is here: instead of the words which I have paraphrased "when "they who never trembled before" we have in pfalm 14. JEHOVAH fhall appear in the congregation of the just :" Then, where in the present pfalm we have " for God will scatter, &c." we have in pfalm 14. "They deride the confidence of the afflicted, &c." which, however, is found alfo here in several MSS.-Ib. For God will Scatter the bones of the profligate, &c. I follow, with Dathe and Doederlein, the reading of Sep. The prefent text is unintelligible. See our vulgar verfion.-Ver. 7. Instead of God feveral мss. have Jehovah. The two words have been frequently interchanged. PSALM LIV.-al. LIII. The title of this psalm points out, not improbably, the occasion of its being composed. I FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN; ON THE NEGINOTH; 2 A DIDACTIC PSALM OF DAVID; WHEN THE ZIPHITES CAME AND SAUL, DAVID WAS HID AMONG THEM. 3 O GOD! for thy name's fake, fave me: and in thy might render me justice. give ear to the words of my mouth. 5 For the arrogant have rifen up against me, having no regard for God! THAT |