4 And place thy delight in Jehovah,

And he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.

5 Commit thy way unto Jehovah,

And trust in him, and he shall-bring-to-pass.

6 He shall display thy righteousness as the light, And thy good-conduct* as the noon-day.

7 Repose in Jehovah, and place thy expectation

upon him,

Fret not thyself because of him who hath prospered in his course,

Because of the man who bringeth his devices to effect.

* Literally, "thy judgement."

ה

8 Remit anger, and relinquish wrath, Fret not thyself so far as to do evil.*

9 For evil-doers † shall be extirpated,

But such as patiently-wait-for Jehovah, they shall inherit a land.

10 For yet a little while, and the impious is not; Thou shalt make-much-enquiry-after his place, ‡ but it is not [to be found].

11 But the meek shall inherit a land,

And delight themselves in the greatness of their

recompense.

* Or, "fret not so far as to be made evil," i. e. to become malignant.

+ Or," the malignant."

+ Literally, "take-much-thought-about."

12 The impious plots against the JUST ONE, And gnashes his teeth at him.

13 The Lord shall laugh at him,

For he seeth that his day approacheth.

14 The impious have drawn their sword,
And levelled their bow,

To cut down the helpless and poor,
To butcher the upright in conduct.

15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken.

16 Better is the little of the JUST ONE,

Than the abundance of the thriving impious.

F4

17 For the arms of the impious shall be broken,

But Jehovah supporteth the Just.

18 Jehovah noticeth the days of the perfect,* And their inheritance shall be for ever.

19 They shall not be-put-to-shame in the season of adversity;

And in the days of famine they shall be full-fed.

20 Truly, the impious shall perish;

And the enemies of Jehovah, so soon-as-they-are

exalted to honour,

Vanish. They vanish like smoke. [C]

*The perfect are those who are perfect in their loyalty to Je

hovah. I often render this word by "loyal."

ל

21 The impious borroweth, and repayeth not* ; But the JUST ONE is compassionate and liberal;

22 [D] He is ever compassionate, ever lending; And his seed is [appointed] to a blessing.

כן

23 When a man's steps are ordered by Jehovah, [E] Then he delighteth in that man's course.

24 If he fall, shall he not be raised up? [F] For Jehovah supporteth his hand.

*«Borroweth and repayeth not," a proverbial expression. The impious receive good things at the hand of Providence, to which they have no claim, and are not careful to make a due return of obedience and devotion. They claim much from the mercy pay the debt of gratitude for that mercy

God, without any care to which they hope to find.

of

Thus they are borrowers who never pay.

Christ is a charitable man, who gives without any prospect of receiving again.