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10 All my bones shall say, "LORD, "who is like unto Thee,

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Which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,

Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him!"

'False witnesses did rise up;

They laid to my charge things that I knew not.

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12 They rewarded me evil for good

To the 'spoiling of my soul.

13 But as for me when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:

I 'humbled my soul with fasting;

And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

14 I 'behaved myself 'as though he had been my friend or brother:

I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced,

And gathered themselves together:

Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against

me,

And I knew it not;

They did tear me, and ceased not.

16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts,

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They gnashed upon me with their teeth.

LORD! how long wilt thou 'look on?

Rescue my soul from their destructions-my "darling from the lions.

18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among "much people.

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19 Let not them that are mine enemies "wrongfully rejoice over me;

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Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

20 For they speak not peace;

But they devise deceitful matters

Against them that are quiet in the land.

21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, And said, "Aha! Aha! our eye hath seen it."

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This thou hast

seen, O LORD! "keep not silence:

O Lord! be not far from me.

23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment,

Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord!

24 Judge me, O LORD my God! faccording to thy right

ousness;

And let them not rejoice over me.

25 Let them not say in their hearts, "Ah! so would we have it:

Let them not say,

h We have swallowed him up.

26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion to

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That rejoice at my hurt:

Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour

That 'magnify themselves against me.

27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad,

That favour my "righteous cause:

Yea, let them "say continually, Let the LORD be magnified,

Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. 28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness

And of thy praise all the day long.

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PSALM LXIV.

ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE OF AHIMELECH.

David prayeth for deliverance, complaining of his enemies, 1-6; he prophesieth their overthrow, and the consequent rejoicing of the righteous, 7-10.

↑ To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my voice, O God! in my prayer: Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, From the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. Whoa whet their tongue like a sword,

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And bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words;

4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

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5 They encourage themselves in an evil 'matter: They commune 'of laying snares privily;

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They say, "Who shall see them?"

They search out iniquities;

'They accomplish a diligent search:

Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

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7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow;

Suddenly 'shall they be wounded.

8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon

themselves:

All that see them shall flee away.

9 And hall men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God;

For they shall wisely consider of his doing.

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10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him;

And all the upright in heart shall glory.

Psa. 82. 11.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM XXXI.

PSALM OF DAVID.

While Doeg was executing the inhuman command of Saul upon the priests and citizens of Nob, the Philistines were making incursions into the southern part of Judah, and were plundering the "threshing floors." They had advanced as far as Keilah, a fortified city lying west of the mountains of Judah, in the border of the great plain of the Mediterranean, about twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem, and were fighting against it. David, hearing of these movements of the enemy, and learning the distress of the city of Keilah, inquired of the Lord, through Abiathar the priest, if he should go down against the Philistines. "And the Lord said, 'Go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men feared to adventure from their mountain fastnesses into the open country against so powerful an enemy. A second inquiry of the Lord, however, evoked a second oracle, assuring David that God would deliver the Philistines into his hands. Encouraged by these responses, they now issue forth and advance boldly upon the enemy. Complete victory crowns their arms; they deliver Keilah, and enrich themselves with the spoils of the vanquished. For a while the citizens of Keilah gratefully tendered to David and his men the hospitalities of their city, and paid him all the honours due to a deliverer. His honours and his repose, however, were of short duration.

The news of this victory flew everywhere upon the wings of the wind, and the fame of David and his place of abode were once more brought before the mind of the nation. Upon hearing that David was in Keilah, Saul exulted in transports of joy. He fondly imagined that now, at length, he had secured his prey. "God hath delivered him into my hand," says the

infatuated king, "for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars." He doubted not that if he suddenly invested the city with his troops, the men of the city would deliver David into his hands. The unhappy fate of Nob was before them, and Saul had reason to suppose that that example would strike terror into all cities which should harbour the proscribed fugitive. It would have been easy for David to have here made a stand against Saul. Keilah was in his power; it was a fenced city; his cause was the cause of the people; he was the saviour of the nation, and thousands would have rallied to his standard. But resistance was not his policy. Having inquired of the Lord the intentions of Saul, and the treacherous dispositions of the men of Keilah, he prepares to leave the city.

David had now experienced a new instance of the ingratitude of friends and the power of his enemies. Though he had so recently rescued Keilah and the surrounding country from utter pillage, still they could offer him no protection, and extend to him no sympathy or aid. They dreaded the wrath of Saul even more than the sword of the Philistines; and Saul himself was more intent upon the death of David, than upon the overthrow of the enemies of his kingdom. So terror-stricken were the cities of Judah, that all gates were now closed against him. His friends feared the recognitions of friendship, and his enemies were in close pursuit. His own words are the fittest description of his forlorn state:

"I was a reproach among all mine enemies, But especially among my neighbours,

And a fear to mine acquaintance :

They that did see me without fled from me.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:
I am like a broken vessel."

Psalm xxxi, 11-12.

Thus he, who had been the saviour of his country, was cast off and shunned by the very people who owed their liberties to his valour; while he himself was left to seek a shelter from the fury of his persecutors, wherever he might. His men had now increased to about six hundred. Bewildered with the uncertainties of the future, they now departed from Keilah, and, in the significant language of Scripture, they "went whithersoever they could go." 1 Samuel xxiii, 1–13.

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