25 I have been young, I am also grown old, But never have I seen the JUST ONE deserted, Or his seed begging bread.

26 Truly, such-as-obtain-his-blessing shall inherit the earth, [D]

And such as incur his malediction shall be extirpated.

27 Turn away from evil, and do good,

And dwell for evermore.

28 For Jehovah loveth judgement, And never will desert his saints;

They shall be preserved for ever.

ע

29 The foolish shall perish for ever,

And the seed of the impious shall be extirpated.

The just shall inherit the earth,

And they shall dwell upon it for ever.

30 The mouth of the JUST ONE discourseth of wis

dom,

And his tongue uttereth just-maxims.

31 The law of his God in his heart, His steps shall never slide.

*

32 The impious is-upon-the-watch for the JUST ONE, And is seeking to put him to death.

33 Jehovah will not leave him in his power, Nor find-him-guilty when-he-is tried.

* i. e. Just maxims of human conduct.

34 Wait for Jehovah, and keep his way;

And he shall exalt thee to the inheritance of the

earth;

When the impious are extirpated thou shalt see it.

35 I have seen the impious playing the tyrant; And spreading himself abroad like a tree-flourishing in-its native soil. [H]

36 But I passed by [I], and behold he was not; And I sought him, but he was not to be found.

ש

37 Keep [thy] loyalty, and look-well to [thy] inte

grity;

For a posterity is [appointed] for the perfect

man. [K]

38 But apostates shall be destroyed altogether,

The posterity of the impious shall be extirpated.

ת

39 The [L] salvation of the just is from Jehovah, Who-giveth-them-strength in the season of dis

tress;

40 And Jehovah shall help them and deliver them, He shall deliver them from the impious, and shall

save them,

Because they have taken shelter with him.

PSALM XXXVIII.

THE BELIEVER'S SOUL, UNDER THE IMAGE of a leper, BÉ

WAILS HER CORRUPTION, AND THE MISERY OF HER PRESENT

CONDITION.

THE situation of the suppliant, in this Psalm, with respect to his enemies, is exactly what is described in my notes upon the VIth Psalm. He is visited too with a disease painful and debilitating in the extreme,

accompanied with putrid ulcers, and loathsome in such a degree, as to drive away his friends and nearest relations. The weak state to which the disorder has reduced him, encourages his enemies to plot against his life. Two things are very remarkable in the case: that the debility, occasioned by the distemper, seems to have been the circumstance on which they build their hopes of success; and yet, that they expect not his dissolution from the natural course of the disorder, without stratagems of their own. The sick man con❤ siders his deplorable state, as the effect of God's immediate visitation. And, upon this account, he is desirous to submit to it without complaint. He takes no measures to defend himself against his enemies; he would seem to them not to overhear their discourse, and to be ignorant of their malicious intentions, relying entirely upon God for his deliverance. At the same time, he is overwhelmed with such a sense and dread of guilt and wrath, that he seems to have a fearful mistrust of his own fortitude. But under all this alarming sense of sin, he asserts that "good is his pursuit."

From this state of the sick man's case, the nature of his disorder, the state of his mind, and his situation in other respects, there can be little doubt that