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The juft fhall inherit the land,

and inhabit it in perpetuity.

D. PE.

The mouth of the just talketh wifely: and his tongue fpeaketh judiciously.

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The law of JEHOVAH is in his heart: his foot-steps never stagger.

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Y. TSADE.

The wicked man watcheth the juft man, and feeketh occafion to flay him.

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and he will raise thee to the poffeffion of the land: whilft thou shalt fee the deftruction of the wicked.

7. RESCH.

I have seen the wicked man formidable;

34 37

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and expanding himself like a green
but he paffed away, and was no more:
I fought for him, but he was not found.

cedar :

36 40

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and the laït end of the wicked is excifion.

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M. THAU.

The falvation of the juft is from JEHOVAH:

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he is their ftrength in the time of diftrefs.

44 40 JEHOVAH will help and deliver them from the

wicked;

will fave them, because in him they trusted.

NOTES.

Ver. 7. The verfes here and henceforth have been badly divided; and this has given rife to the notion that fome of the stanzas are defective. I have risked a new division, by which the fuppofed deficiencies are made up; and the whole number of verses, by that mean, amount, as they ought to do, to forty-four; being juft double the number of the letters of the Heb. alphabet.-My verfes are numbered in the inmoft column. The other is the present order.Ver. 20. with me 21. like the fire of furnaces. I have here made a fmall conjectural emendation, becaufe without that I could not make fenfe of the comma: which in our common verfion is rendered "as the fat of lambs." The antient interpreters vary.-Ver. 22. Our divifion of verses here coincides: but this happens from the tranfpofition of two lines; which are at present most awkwardly placed after ver. 21. -Ver. 26. with me 24. I have transposed these two lines for the fame reafon affigned for the above tranfpofition: and I believe every reader will perceive that they are here more fuitably placed.-Ver. 35. with me 39. like a green cedar. I follow the reading of Sep. Vulg. Arab. The present text has a word that has been variously rendered. Our English translators: "like a green bay-tree." Others, like an indigenous tree: that hath never been transplanted, and therefore (say they) grows and spreads the more vigorously.-I much prefer the other reading.—Ver. 36. with me 40. But he passed away. So the present text, and fo the Chaldee paraphraft: but Sep. Syr. Vulg. Arab. seem to have read in the first perfon: I passed by. I fee no reason for altering the present reading: although the other is not at all improbable.

PSALM XXXVIII.-al. XXXVII.

This is called the third Penitential pfalm. It is certainly a most plaintive one, and must have been composed in some grievous affliction. Its title is :

I

A PSALM OF DAVID TO BRING HIM TO
REMEMBRANCE.

JEHOVAH! in thine ire reprove me not

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nor in thy warm wrath chaftife me.

In me thine arrows have ftuck faft;

3

and thine hand hath been heavy upon me.

No foundness in my flesh, because of thy wrath!

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nor reft in my bones, because of my fin.

For my afflictions hang over mine head;

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like an heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

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for

my bowels are full of burning heat, and there is no foundness in my flesh.

I am weakened, and greatly wafted:

I roar out from the agitation of my heart.
JEHOVAH! thou knoweft my whole defire :

from thee my fighs are not hidden.
My heart panteth-my strength faileth me:
the very light of mine eyes is not with me.

They, who were my familiar friends, keep now at a diftance, from my fores: and my next neighbours ftand far aloof!

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While they, who feek my life, lay fnares;

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they, who feek my hurt, speak malicious things,

and meditate deceits all the day long.

But I am like a deaf man, who heareth not:

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like a dumb man, who openeth not his mouth :

I am like one, who heareth nothing,

15

and in whofe mouth there are no retorts.

For in thee, JEHOVAH! I place my truft:

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thou wilt hear, for me-JEHOVAH! my God!

"Left (faid I) they rejoice over me,

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"and exult at the flipping of my foot:

"for I am juft ready to totter!"

18

19

20

21

22

:

Yet my forrow is conftantly before me-
mine iniquity I have fairly confeffed;
and am folicitous about my fin.

Mean-while, mine enemies live and thrive;
and they who caufelefsly hate me, multiply:
they, who repay good with evil, traduce me,
for following that which is good!

Forfake me not, JEHOVAH! my God!
from me be never at a distance :

haften to mine aid, JEHOVAH! my Saviour!

NOTES.

Ver. 18. I am just ready to totter. Others, with Sep. and Vulg. render I am prepared for ftripes. The former rendering appears the better only the comma fhould be feparated from ver. 18. and joined to ver. 17.-Ver. 20. mine enemies live and thrive. The Septuagint feem to have read differently; and render mine enemies without caufe: which fome modern interpreters think preferable. I fee no reason for disturbing the prefent Heb. text.

PSALM XXXIX.-al. XXXVIII.

This psalm turns partly on the same subject with psalm 37. The musician mentioned in the title is doubtlefs the same who is clafsed with Heman. 1 Chron. 16.

Ι

· 3

4

41.

FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN, JEDUTHUN: A

PSALM OF DAVID.

I SAID: "I will take heed to my ways,
"that I may not fin with my tongue :
"a muzzle I will keep on my mouth,
"while the wicked profper, before me."
So I remained in dumb filence,

I was filent at their profperity.
But when mine own forrow increased,
and mine heart was hot within me;

F

the fire at laft was fo exceffive,

that I spoke with my tongue and faid:

"Make known to me, JEHOVAH! mine end, "and how short the number of my days,

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"that I may know how perishable I am."

Lo! my days thou haft made but a span!

and mine age is as nothing before thee! Surely, nought but vanity

is every exifting man!

Man, furely, pursueth a shadow!

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he accumulateth, but knoweth not for whom !
What then, JEHOVAH! can I expect?
Mine whole expectation is in thee.
Oh, from all my tranfgreffions acquit me !
Madeft thou me a reproach to fools?
I was filent, and opened not my mouth:
because thou fo ordained'ft it.

But remove from me thine own scourges-
by a stroke of thine hand I am undone !
When thou chaftifeft a man for iniquity,
thou makeft his delights confume like a cancer!
Surely, the whole of human life is vanity.

Hear my fupplication, JEHOVAH!

incline thine ear to my cry:

be not deaf to my tears.

For with thee I am as a stranger,

a fojourner-like all my

Spare me, that I may recover ftrength,

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forefathers.

and be no more.

NOTES.

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Ver. 3.

I was filent at their profperity. Our common verfion is : "I held my peace even from good:" to me unintelligible. The Heb. might perhaps be rendered: "I abstained from good:" i. e.

from

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