15 I will exult in thy salvation;

The heathen are sunk in the pit which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

16 Jehovah is manifested! He is executing judgement!

In the work of his own hands the impious one is ensnar'd.

III. EPODE.

17 The Impious shall be turned into Hell; All the heathen forgetful of God.

18 Truly not for ever shall the poor man be forgotten, The expectation of the helpless [not] for ever perish. [G]

19 Arise, O Jehovah, let not man prevail, Let the heathen be sentenced in thy presence.

20 O Jehovah appoint-thou a teacher for them; Let the heathen know, that themselves are men.

PSALM X.

COMPLAINT TO GOD AGAINST THE ATHEISTICAL FACTION, WITH PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE.

THIS tenth psalm is a supplication in behalf of certain helpless people cruelly persecuted by a powerful enemy; who, renouncing all fear of God and regard of men, uses both force and deceit as means of oppression. The supplication, mixed with complaint, is continued from the beginning of the psalm to the middle of the 15th verse; where a sudden voice from heaven, or from the sanctuary, in one awful line, promises the utter extirpation of the wicked oppressor. The Psalmist, receiving this promise with an entire faith in its completion, changes his melancholy strain to notes of the highest exultation, celebrating Jehovah's sovereignty, describing him as executing judgement, and putting an entire end to all usurped dominion.

Expositors have, to little purpose, racked their invention to discover some particular occasion, and literal sense, of this admirable hymn. I am persuaded that its sole subject is the general oppression

of the righteous by the wicked faction, that is, by the conspiracy of apostate spirits, atheists, and idolaters, rather than any particular calamity of the Jewish nation, or of any individual.

The argument in the Syriac is this:-" Of the enemy's attack upon Adam and his race, and how Christ will quell his arrogance."

1 Wherefore, O Jehovah, standest thou afar off, [Wherefore] hidest-thou-thyself in critical times [A] in [the season of] distress?

2 In the exaltation of the impious one the helpless is consumed;

Let them be caught in the subtleties [B] which they have invented.

3 Truly the impious is mad upon his own heart's desire;

He blesseth gain, despising Jehovah. [C].

4 The impious, in the swelling of his wrath, will not enquire;

No God, is the whole of his philosophy. *

* Mudge renders it, "all his wicked politics."

5 His ways [D] are at all seasons confident;

The height of thy judgements is beyond his sight.
For all his greatest-enemies he puffeth at them.*

6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved From generation to generation; inasmuch as I am not appointed for calamity. t

7 His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud;

Under his tongue is mischief and vanity.‡

8 He sitteth in ambush § in the villages [E] in secret places ; ||

He murdereth the innocent; his eyes are-ever

watching for the helpless.

*The Psalmist describes the atheistical character as equally void of religion and discretion. He goes confidently on towards his own ends, regardless of God's judgements, and making light of all human opposition.

† Literally, "I am not for evil." He maketh himself sure of the permanent prosperity of his family.

"Mischief and vanity."-For the specific sense of these two words, especially the last, see Ps. VII. 14. Note. [K]

Or, "he sitteth prowling about the farm-yard."-See Note [E] He has his emissaries of delusion among the simplest of the people.

9 He lieth in wait in a secret place, like a lion in

his lair,

He lieth in wait to seize the helpless;

He seizeth the helpless when he hath drawn* him into his net.

10 And the over-powered-man submits, †

And by his strength the bulwark of the oppressed falleth. [F]

11 He hath said in his heart, God is forgetful; He hideth his face, he will never see it.

12 Arise, O Jehovah ; O God, lift up thy hand, Be not forgetful of the helpless.

13 Wherefore shall the impious one despise God? He hath said in his heart, thou wilt not make en

quiry.

14 Thou hast seen-for thou beholdest

Mischief and spite, to take [the matter] into thine own hand.

* Or" by drawing him."

+ Literally "boweth down."