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That the nations may know that they are but men.

§ 53. Thanksgiving for Jehovah's Goodness, Ps. 575, 7-11

Ps. 57 'Be exalted above the heavens, O Jehovah, above all the earth be Refrain thy glory.

"My mind is fixed, O Jehovah, my mind is fixed.

I will sing and melody will I make; awake, my lyre,"
Awake, my harp and lyre, let me waken the dawn.

Sing praise with

harp

and

song

'I will thank thee, O Jehovah," among the peoples, I will praise thee among God's the nations;

good

ness

10 For thy lovingkindness is greater than the heavens, and thy faithfulness fills than the skies.t

heaven

"Be exalted above the heavens, O Jehovah; above all the earth be thy glory. Refrain

§ 54. Jehovah's Impartial Rule, Ps. 75

Ps. 75 1We give thanks to thee, O God,
We give thanks and call on" thy name,
We tell of thy wondrous works.

2" When I find a suitable time,"

I indeed judge uprightly.

920 Gk. and Syr., a teacher, from a kindred root.

$53 The brief fifty-seventh ps. contains two independent poems on absolutely distinct themes, which reflect widely different situations. Ps. 577-11 is repeated in 1081-5, indicating that it was once an independent unit. The refrain in 11 is repeated in and probably originally stood both at the beginning and end of the second poem. In this respect the ps. resembles 8, which has the same refrain at the beginning and end. The broad outlook, the happy, trustful spirit, and an atmosphere like that of the II Is. indicate that this brief poem was probably written during the latter part of the Persian period, when the Jewish community experienced the results of Nehemiah's reforms.

P575 Heb., God, which probably stands for an original Jehovah, which has been restored. 957 So one Heb. MS. and Syr., supported by the parallelism. Heb., my glory; but the parallel 1082 has a variant reading indicating that the text is corrupt.

599 So the parallel, 1083. The Heb. of has Lord.

57 The parallel 108s adds and.

+5710 An echo of 36".

§ 54 This is one of the more difficult and obscure pss, of the Psalter. It abounds in vigorous figures drawn from the earlier prophets. For the cup of judgment in the hands of Jehovah, cf. Jer. 251, 4912, Lam. 42, Ezek. 2333, 34, and Is. 5117. Arrogant, malicious foes rise prominently on the psalmist's horizon. The wicked are lifting up their horns, that is, attacking the people of Jehovah. Possibly the ps. comes from the period just before Nehemiah, but its apocalyptic style and the hope expressed in the concluding line, that the horns of the righteous will be lifted up, point to the earlier years of the Maccabean struggle.

751 Restoring the Heb. with the aid of the Gk. and Syr.

752 An oracle of Jehovah is here abruptly introduced. The Heb. verb means, lit., set. How long the persecuted Jews must suffer until the appointed time should arrive when Jehovah would overthrow their foes is the burning question in the closing chapters of the book of Daniel, which comes from the same period.

752 Lit., seize an appointed time.

Exor

dium

Jeho

vah's

asser

tion

of his moral rule

The

psalm

ist's

assertion

of the justice of Jehovah's rule

Thanksgiving for his

just rule

Call to praise Jehovah

Who is unique in his conde

scension

Who exalteth

and re

storeth his exiled

people

"The earth and all its inhabitants melt away,

But it is I who set up its pillars.

4I say to the boastful, "Boast not";

To the wicked, "Lift not up thy horn."'*

"Lift not up your horn on high,

Speak not with a stiff neck;

"For neither from the east nor the west,

And not from the wilderness nor the mountains,"
"But God, he, indeed, is judge;

He abaseth one and lifteth up another.
For a cup is in the hands of Jehovah

Of foaming wine, full of mixed wine,

And he extendeth it to this one and that one,"

And its dregs all the wicked of the earth must drain.b

"But I indeed will exult forever,

I will make melody to the God of Jacob;

10 For all the horns of the wicked will be cut off,

But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

§ 55.

Jehovah's Gracious Condescension to the Humble, Ps. 113

Ps. 113 'Praise Jehovah, ye servants,' praise his name, 2Blessed be the name of Jehovah from now and evermore,

From the rising of the sun to its setting Jehovah's name is to be praised.

"Jehovah is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
"Who is like Jehovah our God, he who dwelleth on high,h

"Who stoopeth to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth!

"He who raiseth up the poor out of the dust,' and the needy from the dunghill,

In Zech.'s vision, 118-21, the horns of the

x754 The horn was the symbol of power exerted. nations represented that with which they attacked the Jews.

y 755 Or, slightly revising the Heb., speak not arrogantly against thy Rock. Gk., against God. 756 Slightly revising the Heb., which is unintelligible. The broken context implies that some such word as deliverance is implied, but the omission is even more impressive.

758 Following the Gk., which reads, lit., from this one to that one.

b75 Heb. adds drink; but this is probably a note appended by a scribe to explain the preceding verb. 759 So Gk. Heb., I will declare.

47510 Revising the Heb. text, which reads, and all the horns of the wicked.

7510 The context requires a passive verb, but the Heb. reads, I will cut off.

§ 55 This Hallel ps. was sung, together with 114-118, at the feasts of Dedication and New Moon. It echoes the thought of Mal. and II Is. and has points of contact with the songs sung by the Jewish community during the latter part of the Persian period. Vs. 7 is quoted from Ï Sam. 28 and may possibly be secondary. Vs. is an echo of Is. 541. Like the other Hallel pss., this probably comes in its complete form from the Gk. period.

1131 So. Gk., Aquila, Sym., Theod., and Lat. Heb., servants of Jehovah.

is evidently to Jehovah's faithful worshippers.

Heb., name of Jehovah.

1131 So certain Gk. MSS. supported by the metre.
b1135 Lit., he who exalteth himself to sit enthroned.
1113 Supplying the word things, implied by the context.
113 So the parallel in I Sam. 28.

The reference

JEHOVAH'S CONDESCENSION TO THE HUMBLE

"That he may seat him with princes, with the princes of his people.
'He maketh the barren woman to keep house, to be the glad mother of
children.k

§ 56. Jehovah's Benign Direction of Human History, Ps. 92

Ps. 92 'It is a good thing to give thanks to Jehovah,
And to sing praises to thy name, O Most High;
"To make known thy lovingkindness in the morning,
Likewise thy faithfulness every night,

"With an instrument of ten strings and with the lyre,
With a solemn sound upon the harp.

40 Jehovah, thou hast made me glad through thy deeds,
I exult in the works of thy hands.

"How great are thy works,' O Jehovah!
Thy thoughts are exceedingly deep.
An unreceptive man knoweth not,
Neither doth a fool understand this:
"When the wicked sprout forth as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity blossom,

It is that they may be destroyed forever.
For thou art on high, O Jehovah, forever;
"For, lo, thine enemies shall perish,m

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

10 And my horn thou hast exalted like the wild ox,
Yea, thou hast anointed men with fresh oil.
"Mine eye also hath seen my foes,"

Mine ears have heard evil-doers.

12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,
He shall grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Planted in the house of Jehovah,

They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14In old age they shall bring forth fruit,

They shall be full of sap and green,

15To show that Jehovah is upright.

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

1139 The Heb. text adds praise Jehovah, but this is evidently the superscription of the next ps., which otherwise is lacking. § 56 This ps. was written by one of the regular worshippers at the Jerusalem temple. It voices the experience of the Judean community. Cf., e. g., 11 Hostile foes are about, but faith in Jehovah gives peace. The distinctive wisdom teaching in the second stanza recalls the thought of Pr. and indicates that the ps. was probably written during the latter part of the Gk. period. Its superscription, To the Musical Director, indicates that it was used and probably originally written to be sung in the temple service.

1925 So Syr. Targ. and several Heb. texts, works. Heb., deed.

925 So Gk.B and three Heb. MSS. Heb. repeats for behold thy enemies, O Jehovah, but this is probably due to a scribal gloss.

9210 So Syr. Heb., I am anointed.

921 The text has been expanded, probably through a scribal error.

Jehovah worthy of men's praise

His

overthrow of the

wicked

His

care

of the upright

Jehovah's redemption

of his people

From perils

of the desert

From imprisonment

§ 57. Jehovah's Power and Readiness to Deliver, Ps. 107

Ps. 107 1O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good,

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For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

2Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so,

Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
And gathered together out of the lands,

From the east and the west, from the north and the south.P

"Straying in the wilderness, in the desert,"
They found no way to an inhabited city.
"Hungry, yea, and thirsty,

Their soul was fainting within them.

"Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble,

That he might deliver them out of their distresses.

"Then he made them walk a straight way,

That they might go to an inhabited city.

Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness,
And his wonderful works for the children of men!

"For he satisfieth the longing soul,

And the hungry soul he filleth with good.

10Dwelling in darkness and in gloom,

Being bound in affliction and iron,

11Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,

12 He brought down their heart with labor,

They stumbled, and there was no one to help them.

§ 57 This ps. contains a strong liturgical element and is characterized by a strophic as well as vs. rhythm. A marked peculiarity is that the refrain:

Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness,
And for his wonderful works to the children of men,

The

which recurs in 8, 15, 21, 31, does not appear at the end of the strophe, but is in each case followed by a concluding couplet. The same syntactical construction is found in each of the stanzas. The original ps. apparently ended with 32. Vss. 33-42 contain general illustrations of Jehovah's goodness and justice. Part of these are drawn from Job and other poetic books. They show unmistakable influence of the wisdom school and are didactic in their purpose. They preserve the metrical structure followed in the rest of the ps. and constitute a fitting conclusion. epilogue in 43 is modelled after the similar epilogue in Hos. 1410 and is intended as an index hand to call attention to the fundamental teachings embodied in the ps. The original ps. was inspired by the contemplation of II Is. and by the experiences of the generation to which the psalmist belonged. The horizon is not limited to Palestine but includes the distant lands of the dispersion. In imagination the reader beholds caravans making long journeys through the parched, trackless desert far away from inhabited cities. He shares their joy as at last they are guided to the populous, well-watered city, which is the goal of their pilgrimage. He sees captives dragged into distant exile living the life of slaves, in bonds, and afflicted by the lash of the taskmaster. Again the vision changes and he shares the trials and the perils of the sailors helplessly tossed by the storm. If not written in one of the lands of the dispersion this ps. is certainly from one who had travelled widely and observed closely and himself participated in the life that lay beyond the bounds of Palestine. There is no suggestion of the stress and struggle of the Maccabean period. The ps. comes rather from the Gk. period, when the life and thought of the Jews of the dispersion were even more important than those of Palestinian Judaism.

P 1073 This vs. is unmetrical and loosely connected with the context. It may be a later scribal note. The parallelism demands the change from Heb., west to south, at the end of the vs. a 1074 So in 10. 17, 23. Heb., they strayed.

1074 So Gk. and Syr. and the implications of the context.

JEHOVAH'S READINESS TO DELIVER

13Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble, That he might save them out of their distresses. 14He brought them out of darkness and gloom,

And broke their bonds in sunder.

15 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness, And for his wonderful works for the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brass,

And hewed bars of iron in sunder.

17 Fools because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities are afflicted.
18 Their appetite abhorreth all food,

And they draw near to the gates of death. 19Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, That he may save them out of their distresses.

20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them,

And delivereth their life from destruction."

21Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness, And for his wonderful works for the children of men!

22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And recount his works with singing.

23 Those who go to the sea in ships, Who do business in great waters;

24These see the works of Jehovah,

And his wonders performed in the deep.

25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the wind,t

And the tempest lifteth up its waves.

26They mount heavenward, they go down into the depths, Their soul melteth because of trouble,

27They reel and stagger like a drunken man,

And all their skill is exhausted."

28 Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, That he may bring them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm,

So that the waves of the sea" are still.

30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; So he bringeth them to their desired haven.

31 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his kindness, For his wonderful works to the children of men! 32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people, And praise him in the session of the elders.

33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness,

And water springs into a thirsty ground;

10720 Revising the Heb. as the text requires. Heb., from their destructions. 107 Dividing the vs. as the metre and parallelism demand.

u 10727 Lit., swallows itself up.

From sickness and

distress

From perils of the

Bea

Gen

eral

illustrations

of Jehovah's Justice

10729 So Syr.

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