in my possession, which has been delivered to me. This verse is well paraphrased by Mr. Merrick. The sense is, "I will myself give attention to the instructive parables of revelation, and I will propound them in this ode to others.

[E] Ver. 5. the iniquity of my heels." See Bishop HARE and Dr. KENNICOTT.

[F] Ver. 6. The proem of the Song evidently ends with the fourth verse. The question contained in the 5th and 6th verses might be expected to introduce the principal subject, and the reader naturally looks for an answer to it, containing the dark speech which was to be opened upon the harp. But, according to Dr. Kennicott's exposition, the Psalmist, forgetting the wise maxims which his own mouth was to utter, and the deep matters which were the subject of his own meditations, in what immediately follows the question, introduces infidels, propounding their own maxims in their own words; and this is done, without any thing in the structure of the poem that might give a suspicion of this abrupt translation of the discourse from the Psalmist's own person to the person of the atheist. But, in what immediately follows the question, according to Houbigant's interpretation, ænigmata are contained of the highest importance, which, affording a solid answer to the question, or rather assigning the most ṣatisfactory reasons for that fearlessness of man, which the put

ting of the question seems to recommend, are properly introduced by it.

[G] Ver. 7, 8. These two verses contain the ænigma of redemption. The power of the Redeemer, who hath the cause of his servants in his hand, hath been to the faithful in all ages, in proportion as it hath been understood by them, a solid ground for that fearlessness of man's tyranny, with which the Psalmist, by his question, would fortify his own breast.

[H] See the LXX. The 7th verse, and the first line of the 8th, are rendered to the same effect by the Syriac and the Chaldee.

[1] Καὶ ἐκοπίασεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τέλος, ὅτι ἐκ ὄψεται καταφθοράν. LXX.

Καὶ ἐπαύσατο εἰς αἰῶνα, καὶ ζήσεται εἰς νίκος. Αρ.

̓Αλλὰ παυσάμενος τῷ αἰῶνι τετῷ, ζῶν ἀεὶ διατελέσει. SYM.

[K] Ver. 9. This verse, with the beginning of the 10th, contains the ænigma of the soul's immortality, and the future life. The connection (expressed by the conjunction and) between this and the preceding ænigma, concerning the superiority of the Redeemer's nature, though very obvious now, when the whole mystery is laid open, must have been very enigmatical at the time when this Psalm was written. The

continued life of the deceased believer is an effect of the Redeemer's power. This doctrine, therefore, of the believer's immortality is, in the nature of the thing, connected with that of the Redeemer's divinity. Our Lord himself hath propounded the very same doctrine in very similar terms: “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John x1, 25, 26.

Dr. Kennicott's interpretation is liable, in this part, to this particular objection, that it supposes

from all eternity, as well as, to all eternity.

לנצח

may render,

But the use of the

prefix, for the preposition of the time from which, is much

to be questioned.

[L] Ver. 11.

their inward thoughts."

For, the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and Chaldee, had , which Houbigant and Kennicott approve. But the

text as it stands admits a good sense.

For , read with the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac, Houbigant, and Kennicott, . Compare verse 20.

[N] Ver. 14. Toplavu aires. LXX.

[0]

in the morning;" that morning of the future

life, which shall succeed the night of death. I question whe

ther, in the sense of a herd, be ever used otherwise than literally for a herd of cattle. Dr. Kennicott's translation of this line supposes a figurative use of it, equivalent to the English word herd, used figuratively as a term of contempt.

[P]

and their beauty." For, at the end of the

verse, read.

Their beauty, is to be taken, figuratively, for the elegance and splendour of their appearance in the present life.

Dr. Kennicott's notion, that D may signify their soul, seems quite visionary.

Dr. Sturges's interpretation of this 14th verse is founded on more than one unauthorised emendation, and an unexampled sense, I fear, of the word pas. It deserves attention however.-See MERRICK'S Annotations.

[Q] Ver. 19. He shall go." Either read with the LXX, and

According אבותיך read אבותיו or, for ויבוא,Houbigant

to the first reading, this verse is the Psalmist's judgment concerning the future doom of the atheist. According to the second, it is the atheist's impious decision concerning the vanity of our future hopes. But the first emendation is to be preferred, because it has the authority of the LXX.

[R]

light." Although the Atheist shall rise, yet he shall never see that light which emphatically deserves the

name;-that light, of which created light is but a faint image; the light of God's glory. He shall have no share in the beatific vision.

PSALM L.

[A] Ver. 11.

is by my side;" "my, juxta me, stands

by me.

[B] Ver. 18.

thou becamest his accomplice." Zuvi~

Tgexes autą. LXX; i. e. you helped him to carry off his booty, and to make his escape.

[C] Ver. 19. Thy mouth hath been fruitful in mischief." -Thou givest thy mouth to evil." E. T.

;תשלח had probably in their copies ,שלחת The LXX, for

for they render as the nominative to the verb.

66 Thy

mouth hath abounded in iniquity," i. e. hath abundantly brought

it forth. In this way, the parallelism between this and the next line is more exact.

[D] Ver. 20. Thou sittest," &c.

"Semel et iterum," says Houbigant; conceiving the verb awn to be derived from the root 1, and remarking, very justly, that the force of the verb 2, followed by another verb, is to signify the repetition of that which the other verb

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