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PSALM LXXII.

[A Psalm] of Solomon.

O GOD, give to the king thy judgments, And thy righteousness to the king's son.

He shall judge thy people with righteousness, And thy poor with rectitude.

3 The mountains shall bear peace for the people, And the hills, by righteousness.

5

He shall judge the poor of the people;
He shall save the sons of the needy;
He shall break in pieces the oppressor.

They shall fear thee while the sun endures,

As long as the moon, to all generations.

6 He shall come down as rain upon the mown grass, As showers that refresh the earth.

7 In his days shall the righteous flourish,

And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.

8 And he shall rule from sea to sea,

And from the river to the ends of the earth,

9 They of the desert shall crouch before him, And his enemies shall lick the dust.

10 Kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents ; Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

11 And all kings shall bow down to him;

12

All nations shall serve him.

For he will rescue the needy, crying for help, The poor, and him that has no helper.

13 He will have pity on the weak and needy,

And will save the souls of the needy.

14 From extortion and from violence he will redeem their soul; And precious is their blood in his eyes.

of abysses issuing forth in valley and in mountain ;" 33: 13, properly, "the abyss lying beneath."

V. 1. Give to the king, etc.] Confer upon him, along with the powers of a sovereign ruler, the qualifications for duly exercising them. The thought, in both members of this verse, is expanded in Is. 11 :2–4.

15

16

And he shall live; and will give to him of the gold of
Sheba,

And will pray for him continually;

All the day will he bless him.

There shall be abundance of grain in the land

On the top of the mountains its fruit shall wave like Leba

non;

And they shall bloom forth from the city like the herb of the earth.

17 His name shall be forever;

18

As long as the sun shall his name flourish.

And in him shall they bless themselves ;

All nations shall call him happy.

Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, Who alone doeth wonders.

19 And blessed be his glorious name forevermore; And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

AMEN, AND AMEN.

The prayers of David the Son of Jesse are ended.

V. 15. He.] The redeemed.

V. 16, 3d member. Shall bloom forth from the city (the cities as centres of population), multiplying like the herb of the earth.

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THIRD BOOK.

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PSALM LXXIII.

A Psalm of Asaph.

SURELY, God is good to Israel,

To the pure in heart.

2 And as for me, my feet almost turned aside;

My steps well-nigh slid.

3 For I was envious at the foolish,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For their death has no pains,

And their strength is full fed.

5 In the troubles of men they share not,

6

And they are not plagued in common with men.
Therefore pride is become their necklace ;

The garb of violence covers them.

7 Their eyes stand out with fatness;

They have more than heart conceives.

8 They mock, and with malice they speak oppression; From on high they speak.

9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,

And their tongue walks through the earth.

V. 6. Pride is become their necklace.] The lofty neck of pride is meant, the natural indication of a haughty and supercilious spirit. Pride encircles it as does a necklace.

V. 8. They speak oppression.] Their word is power. They have only to speak, and their oppressive will is done.

10 Therefore do his people turn away hither,

And waters in abundance are eagerly drained by them. 11 And they say: How does God know?

12

And is there knowledge in the Most High?

Behold, such are the wicked;

And forever secure they have increased wealth. 13 Surely, in vain have I cleansed my heart,

And washed my hands in innocency;

14 And been smitten all the day long,

My chastisement morning by morning.

15 If I say, I will declare thus,

16

Behold, I should deal falsely with the generation of thy children.

And I meditated to know this;

It was an evil in my eyes;

17 Till I went in to the sanctuary of God,

18

Gave heed to their end.

Surely, thou dost set them in slippery places ; Thou dost cast them down to ruin.

19 How are they brought to desolation as in a moment! They are swept away, they are consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes,

21

O Lord, when thou awakest, thou dost despise their image. For my heart is embittered,

And I am pierced in my reins.

V. 10. The sense appears to be: Therefore do his people (God's people) turn away hither (from the right way into these forbidden ways, where they see others prospering), and find a full supply (waters in abundance). In the next following verse this practical atheism finds expression in words.

V. 15. If I say.] Purpose in my heart.-Declare thus.] Make known these perplexing doubts.

V. 20. Their image.] Their pomp of pride and power; as unsubstantial, and as despicable in the sight of God, when he awakes to deal with them, as is a dream of the night, after awaking.

V. 21. For.] Resuming the thought from vv. 16, 17, and his state of mind there referred to, as an introduction to the just condemnation of himself in v. 22.

22 And I am brutish, and know not;
A beast have I been before thee.
23 But I am continually with thee;

Thou hast kept hold of my right hand. 24 Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel,

And afterward wilt receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven?

And with thee I have no delight on the earth. 26 My strength and my heart fail;

27

The rock of my heart and my portion is God forevermore. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; Thou hast destroyed all that adulterously forsake thee. 28 And as for me, to draw near to God is good for me. I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge, That I may tell of all thy works.

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PSALM LXXIV.

Didactic [Psalm] of Asaph.

WHEREFORE, O God, hast thou cast off forever?

Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 Remember thy congregation thou didst purchase of old, Didst redeem as the tribe of thine inheritance,

This mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt.

V. 25. With thee.] Either, with thee for my own, that is, having thee; or, along with thee, in addition to thee.

V. 26. The rock of my heart.] Its firm and unfailing support.

V. 27. Adulterously forsake thee.] Representing God's spiritual relation to his chosen people by that of the husband to the wife (compare Jer. 3 : 14, “for I am married to you"), and idolatry as unfaithfulness to that relation.

V. 2. Tribe of thine inheritance.] Compare Is. 63: 17, "the tribes of thine inheritance."

The words may be rendered (in the same general sense), a people for thy possession. The same expression occurs in the New Testament;