[G] Ver. 12. —If he turn not.” E. T. The subject of the verb turn, is the enemy mentioned in the singular number above in ver. 5. The same person who, in the same manner not expressed, is the subject of the verbs-travaileth-hath conceived-brought forth, in ver. 14. For the perspicuity of the sentence, it were best in English to supply the indefinite nominative, the man.

[H]

"levelled." The verb 777 expresses the action of taking aim: And the following verb ", the keeping of the weapon in the position of the aim taken. See Ps. XI, 2.

[I] Ver. 13.

he ordaineth his arrows;" E. T. rather,

"he will put his arrows in action."

against the persecutors." Tois aiμevos. LXX: which

St Basil expounds of those who are inflamed with evil passions and unbridled lusts, and are therefore fit for the fire of eternal punishment.

[K] Ver. 14. Behold he travaileth." &c. E. T. What follows is an uttered by the Psalmist in the prospect of the

last end of the wicked.

-he travaileth with iniquity;" rather,

he is preg

nant with vanity;" i. e. he is a zealous defender of the idolatrous religion, or at least an opposer of the true. The idolatry of the vulgar, and the infidelity of pretenders to philosophy, and

the impiety of Antichrist, every thing that is opposite in principle to the true religion, comes under the general name of vanity.

he hath conceived mischief." He hath formed designs of persecuting and extirpating the true religion, and amuses himself with sanguine hopes of success.

—and brought forth falsehood:" or, perhaps,

but

he shall bring forth delusion;" all his schemes shall end in disappointment of the hopes which he had formed of success and impunity. But all the ancient versions give the verb in the preterite," he hath brought forth falsehood,"—he has succeeded in spreading wide the falsehoods of atheistical philosophy.

PSALM VIII.

THANKSGIVING for God's GENERAL MERCIES, IN WHICH THE PSALMIST, (AS HE IS INTERPRETED BY THE APOSTLE,) LOOKS

FORWARD TO THE EXALTATION OF HUMAN NATURE BY THE INCARNATION OF OUR BLESSED LORD.

[TITLE, NMM ŻY D. TO THE GIVER OF VICTORY, CONCERNING THE WINE-PRESS.]

Ver. 2. See Joseph Mede's Discourse upon this second

verse.

and the avenger," pan. -the self-tormenter,"

i. e. Satan. See Parkhurst under Op.

Ver. 3.

read

thy heavens." For T. Kennicott would "the Sun." It is certainly strange, that the sun should be omitted, when the moon and the stars are so particularly mentioned: and yet there is an elegance in the mention of the heavens generally, before the enumeration of the several bodies. Were I to venture upon any alteration, the word T should keep its place, and the word www should

ירח and אצבעתיך be inserted between

When I consider thy heavens,

The works of thy fingers,

The sun, the moon, and the stars *

Which thou hast formed.

Ver. 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; Rather,

Thou hast some what abased him in comparison of angels,
But," &c.

somewhat abased him." Some little matter made him deficient. The word by may render either, "some what" or "a little while." See the Margin, Heb. II, 6.

* Bp. Horne accounts for the absence of the sun, by supposing the Psalmist, when he endited this Psalm, to have had before his eyes the heavens as they appear by night.

Ver. 7. All sheep and oxen, &c."

See Bp. Horne's ex

cellent paraphrase of this verse.

PSALM IX.

[A] Houbigant reads the Title of the Psalm thus:

למנצח: עלמות לבן: מזמור לדוד

To the precentor. The mysteries of the Son. A Psalm of David. And so the LXX. Yg TwvxgUprav to vix. The reading of by in one word is confirmed by many MSS.

[B] Ver. 4. Thou hast past sentence for me and done me right." I cannot render the original verbatim, because I cannot find one verb in the English language to govern both the nouns, "sentence," and "right.”

[C] Ver. 6. Desolations have consumed," &c. The verb

its object. See האויב and ; חרבות,is active; its subject תמו

Abp. Secker and Bishop Lowth, upon this passage, in Mer

rick's Annotations.

[D] Ver. 12. When he maketh inquisition for blood, &c." i. e. When God requireth the innocent blood of Jesus at the hand of the Jews, his murderers, he will not forget the peoples,

but will manifest himself to them, mindful of the original promises. When the Jews are cast off, the Gentiles shall be grafted in. Observe the difference between Oy and O".

[E] Ver. 13. Take pity upon me," &c. The transitions from triumph, as a person delivered, to prayer and complaint, as a person in distress, and the contrary, are very remarkable here, and throughout the sequel of the Psalm; and may seem, to an inattentive reader, to give an air of inconsistency to the whole composition. But in truth, they are natural and necessary to the Psalmist's situation, whose actual condition was that of the deepest distress, while he looked forward with the utmost confidence of hope to a distant period of ease, enjoyment, and glory. A person so situated, could not but talk this mixed language of dejection and triumph, as his mind transferred its thoughts from the sense of present distress to the contemplation of future happiness.

In the 12th verse, the Psalmist, having mentioned it as a part of the divine character, that God forgetteth not the cry of the helpless, naturally thinks upon his own helpless state, and in the 13th and 14th verses, cries for deliverance. The promise of the overthrow of the faction, which were the principal instruments of his affliction, recurring to his thoughts, he breaks out again in the 15th verse in strains of exultation.

[F] Ver. 14. in the gates of the daughter of Zion." This mention of Jerusalem shews, that this Psalm was com