Epi

logue

Exordium

Jehovah's majesty and mighty deeds

"A fruitful land into a salt desert,

For the wickedness of them that dwell therein; "He turneth a wilderness into a pool,

And a dry land into watersprings.

"And there he causeth the hungry to dwell,

And maketh it an inhabited city.

27 And they sow fields, and set out vineyards,

And get them the fruits of increase.

"He blesseth them so that they are greatly multiplied,
And he suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
"But when they are diminished and bowed down
Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
"Then the needy he lifteth out of his affliction,
And maketh his families like a flock."

"The upright see it, and are glad,

And all iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

"Who is wise, let him heed these things,

And let him consider the kind deeds of Jehovah.

§ 58. Jehovah's Justice and Beneficence, Ps. 145

Ps. 145 'I will extol thee, my God, O King,
And I will bless thy name forever.

2All the day long will I bless thee,
And I will praise thy name forever.

Great is Jehovah, and highly to be praised,
Yea, his greatness is unsearchable.

"One generation will laud thy works to another,
And will declare thy deeds of might.

"On the glorious splendor of thy majesty,"

And thy wondrous works will they meditate.b

"And they will speak of the might of thy terrible acts,

And recount how great are thy deeds.

10744 The reference is probably to the destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plains, recounted in Gen. 19.

* 107
107 The next vs.:

Lit., pool of water.

He poureth contempt upon princes,

And causes them to wander in the waste, where there is no way,

is clearly a very late insertion based on Job. 1221, 24b, for it separates 39 from its immediate sequel, “. 10741 I. e., increase rapidly.

58 This is an acrostic ps.: each succeeding vs. begins with a succeeding letter of the Heb. alphabet except that one, which the Gk. attempts to supply, has been lost. It is the most original of the nine acrostic pss. of the Psalter. At the same time it draws freely from the older pss. and prophetic books. Its universalism and didactic purpose connect it with similar writings of the Gk. period. The thought in 13 which reappears in Dan. 43, 4 seems to be native to the ps. In any case both of these writings probably come from the middle of the Gk. period.

145 So Gk. Heb. is corrupt.

JEHOVAH'S JUSTICE AND BENEFICENCE

"They will herald the famed of thy great goodness,
And will sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Jehovah is gracious, and merciful,

Slow to anger, and of great kindness.
'Jehovah is good to all,

And his tender mercies are over all his works.
10 All thy works will praise thee, O Jehovah,
And thy saints will bless thee.

His good

ness

His

ever

lasting rule

And the glorious splendor of thy' kingdom.

13Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

h14518 So Gk. and the demands of the metre. Heb. omits the emphatic thou. 1145

Heb. adds, destroying the metre, forever and ever. In some MSS. this addition is also expanded to read, and we will praise Jah; from now and evermore, praise Jah.

His re

sponse

to all

who

call upon him

Epilogue

Call to praise Jehovah because of his justice and good

ness

His work as creator

of the universe

And ruler of nations

His

preservation

of his

people from strong foes

$59.

Jehovah's Justice and Goodness to His People, Ps. 33

Ps. 33 'Rejoice in Jehovah and exult, O ye righteous;
And shout for joy all ye upright in heart,
Praise is becoming to the upright.

2Praise Jehovah with the lyre,

Sing unto him with a harp of ten strings,
Sing unto him a new song,

k

Play skilfully with a loud shout.

"For the word of Jehovah is right,

And all his work is with faithfulness.
"He loveth righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the goodness of Jehovah.1

"By Jehovah's command the heavens were made,
And by the breath of his mouth all their host.
"He gathereth in a heapm the waters of the sea,
Layeth up in treasuries the great deep.

Let all the earth be in fear of Jehovah,

Let every dweller on earth stand in awe of him;
"For he it was who spake and it came to pass,
He, it is, who commanded and it stood forth.

10 He undoeth the counsels of nations,
He frustrateth the plans of peoples.
"Jehovah's counsel standeth forever,
The plans of his mind from all generations.

12Happy the nation whose God is Jehovah,

The people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance. 13 Jehovah looketh from the heavens,

He seeth all the sons of mankind,

14From the place where he sitteth he looketh forth

At all the inhabitants of the earth.

15It is he who formed their mind altogether,

§ 59 This is an orphan ps. Only in the Gk. does it have the superscription, To David, which characterizes the earlier collection of hymns. The contents of this ps. confirm the implication of the lacking superscription that it is a late insertion into the early Davidic Psalter. Vs. 7 echoes Job. 382, vs., Gen. 13. 15, Zech. 121. Vs. 10 finds its best historical illustration in I Mac. 319. Vss. 16. 17. 19-21 also point to a Maccabean background. Signal victories over well-equipped foes are still fresh in the poet's mind. The consciousness of constant peril has left an indelible stamp upon the ps. Its logic, however, is clear and its faith unwavering. It was well calculated to appeal both to the reason and the feeling of the valiant but sorely beset Jews who rallied about Judas Maccabeus.

1331 This ps. apparently began with the last vs. of the preceding ps. The first line of 33 in the Heb., shout aloud ye righteous in Jehovah, is apparently due to a mistake of the scribe, who repeated elements from the two preceding lines.

333 Cf. Is. 4210.

1335 Possibly the original read, simply, his goodness. But cf. 11.

m337 Heb., as a heap. Certain versions read, as a bottle. Possibly the original read, in a bottle. The reference here and in the following vss. is clearly to the account of the creation given in Gen. 1.

3310 Heb. adds Jehovah.

JEHOVAH'S JUSTICE AND GOODNESS

He it is who perceiveth all their deeds.

16The king doth not gain victory by his great army,
A mighty man is not delivered by his great strength,
17The cavalry is a vain thing for safety,

And by the multitude of his army he is not delivered.°

18 Behold the eye of Jehovah is upon his worshippers,
Upon those who hope for his mercy,

19To deliver their life from death,

And to preserve their life from famine. 20Our life hangeth upon Jehovah,P

Our help and shield is he,

21 For in him our heart is glad,

For in his holy name we trust.

22 Let thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, be upon us,
According as we hope in thee.

§ 60. Thanksgiving for Jehovah's Justice and Love, Ps. 138

Ps. 138 1I will give thanks, O Jehovah,a with my whole heart,
Before the gods will I make melody to thee.

2I will worship toward thy holy temple,

And give thanks to thy name for thy lovingkindness,"
For thou hast magnified thy name above all."
In the day that I called thou didst answer me,
Thou didst make thy strength great in my soul.

"All the kings of the earth give thanks,

For they have heard the words of thy mouth.
"And they shall sing of the ways of Jehovah,
For great is the glory of Jehovah.

"Though he is high, yet he regardeth the lowly,

But the haughty he knoweth afar off.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me,

Thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against mine enemies,

3317 Following the Gk. and Targ. P3320 Lit., our life waits for Jehovah.

$60 The background of this ps. is either a great personal or national deliverance. Inasmuch as all the kings of the earth,, are impressed by it, the occasion would seem to be some great victory such as the overthrow of the Syrian armies by Judas and his followers. The consciousness of the need of Jehovah's continued protection against encircling foes, that is reflected so clearly in the last stanza, also points to the first half of the Maccabean era as the date of the ps. 41381 The VSS. insert Jehovah, which is lacking in the Heb.

1382 Faithfulness is probably a later insertion, for it destroys the regular metre and is not supported by the parallelism in .

1382 The meaning of this line is obscure. Heb., lit., For thou hast magnified thy word above all my name. The above consonant reading is suggested by Duhm (Psalmen, 285). Thy word is lacking in Gk.

t1383 Again following the superior Gk.

u1384, Heb. adds Jehovah.

138 Or, following a revised text, he striketh down.
138' Probably Heb., wrath, is due to a scribal error.

His continued care for

those

who

trust him

Jehovah's fidelity

Recognized even by heathen kings

Assur

ance that

he will

continue

to care

for his people

And thy right hand will save me.

Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me.
May thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, be forever;
Forsake not the works of thy hands.

Call

to the descen

dants

of

Abra

ham to praise Jehovah

His

covenant with

their fore

fathers

II

THANKSGIVING FOR JEHOVAH'S GUIDANCE AND CARE IN
ISRAEL'S PAST

Pss. 105, 114, 111, 117

§ 61. Jehovah's Unceasing Care of Israel, Ps. 105

Ps. 105 1Oh give thanks to Jehovah, proclaim his name;
Make known his deeds among the peoples.

2Sing to him, make for him melody;
Rehearse all his marvellous works.

Glory in his holy name;

Let the heart of them rejoice who seek Jehovah.
4Seek ye Jehovah and his strength,

Seek ye his face evermore.

"Commemorate the wonders that he hath done,

His marvels, and the judgments of his mouth,
"O ye seed of Abraham his servant,

Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

"He, Jehovah, is our God;

His judgments go forthd over all the earth.

"He hath remembered his covenant forever,

The word he commanded to a thousand generations,
"The covenant" which he made with Abraham,

And his oath which he swore to Isaac,

10 And confirmed to Jacob as a statute,'

To Israel as an everlasting covenant."

§61 Briggs regards Pss. 105 and 106 as originally one ps., for in 1069 . he finds the immediate sequel to 1051-37. To combine them, however, he is compelled to delete 10538, 47 and 1061-8. Both pss. deal with the same theme, but in 106 the sins of the forefathers are heightened, indicating that the two pss. are written from distinct points of view and with different aims. Ps. 105, like 78, develops the historic theme of Is. 511. 2. In both Israel's history is reviewed with a didactic aim, but here the liturgical motif is in the ascendancy. Vss, 1-15 are quoted in I Chr. 168-22 and attributed, together with a long quotation from 96, to David and connected with the transfer of the ark to Jerusalem. Possibly the quotation was introduced into Chrs. by a later interpolator, but it is probable that the ps. was written during the first half of the Gk. period. The author

a1051 Or call upon, but cf. Ex. 345, 6, where the same idiom clearly means proclaim.

b 1052 For this unusual verb, which means, lit., hum, cf. Judg. 5,

1056 The parallel in I Chr. 1613 has Israel. This may be original.

d1057 Supplying the implied verb.

105 Covenant is not expressed but implied by the Heb. idiom. Cf. Gen. 2216.

110510 Cf. Gen. 263 and 2813.

10510 A scribe, recalling Gen. 127, has added the prose vs., saying, to thee will I give the land of Canaan, the portion of your inheritance.