3 Jehovah, my God, if I have done this, If there be wrong-dealing in my hand; 4 If I have made an ill return to him that was at peace with me ; Or, without provocation, have plunder'd [B] my-greatest-enemy: 5 Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; Let him trample my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour [C] in the dust. PART II. 6 Arise, O Jehovah, in thy wrath; Lift up thyself against the fury of my bitterenemy, And raise up for me the judgement, which thou hast* appointed. *That just judgement, in which the innocent shall be absolved of all injurious imputation, and vice stript of all its disguises. 7 Let the congregations of the nations surround thee, And over it return thou to supremacy.* 8 Jehovah will judge the peoples: Give-sentence-concerning-me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness,† * The psalmist continues his prayer. The prayer in this verse is, that God would bring on the last age; that he would bring the Gentiles to the knowledge of himself, and re-assume the immediate and declared government of all nations, which he had so visibly exercised in the first ages, before the Heathen were cast off for their idolatry. "return over it return thou to supremacy." Literally, thou to exaltation." Be again the acknowledged Lord and God of all mankind, as thou wast in ancient times, before the general defection to idolatry, and the selection of the Jewish people. The It is not of the genius of prophecy to distinguish times. Our Lord's first and second advent are often mentioned together in the prophets, without any distinction as events separate in time. prophetic stile may, consistently with itself, date the commencement of the day of judgement from the conversion of the Gentiles; and consistently, indeed, with the truth of things; since the conversion of the Gentiles, by the arrangements of Providence, must terminate in the final judgement. In this and the preceding verse taken together, these two events are alluded to as one; because they are, indeed, indissolubly connected. † This confident assertion of his own righteousness and integri And according to my integrity [D] render unto me. 9 Surely, the wickedness of the impious shall be brought to an end, And the righteousness of the Just One shall be established, And God shall explore the hearts and reins. [E] PART III. 10 The defence of me is upon God,* who saveth the upright in heart; 11 God is a righteous Judge, although he is not angry every day. [F] 12 If the man will not turn, [G] he will whet his sword, ty, can belong to no character but Jesus Christ himself.-David had no such innocence to boast; he was, like other men, a pardoned sinner; polluted with adultery, and stained with murder. * It is a business that rests upon God, and is to be left to him. He only, as the searcher of the thoughts of men, is competent to be my judge. He hath levelled [H] his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath prepared for himself the weapons of death; He putteth his arrows in action, against those who are ready for burning. [I] 14 Behold he is pregnant with vanity; [K] And he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth delusion. 15 He is digging a pit and making-(it)-deep, But he shall fall into the ditch upon which he-isat-work. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, And his violence shall come down upon his own pate. 17 I will praise Jehovah for his righteousness, And sing the name of Jehovah most High. *The crown of the head. PSALM VIII. [See Notes.] PSALM IX. THANKSGIVING FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF THE ATHEISTICAL FACTION, PROMISED IN PSALM X. [A] SOME expressions in this ninth psalm may be thought to indicate that it was composed during the captivity, upon some great blow sustained by the enemies of the Jews, from which the captives conceived sanguine hopes of a speedy restoration. What the particular occasion of the composition might be, in this view of its subject, it will not be found easy to determine. I have myself sometimes thought of the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by Cyrus ; sometimes of the defeat of Haman's plot. But upon comparing this psalm with the 10th, so great a similitude appears between the two, both in the sentiments and the expressions, that it seems reasonable |