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For I in thy mercy put my truft:

my heart will rejoice on being faved by thee.

I will fing to JEHOVAH for his bounty toward me: † pfalmodize to the name of JEHOVAH, the Moft

High.

NOTES. !

The laft line of ver. 6. is added on the authority of Sep. and Arab. and was retained in our English liturgical verfion. I am perfuaded that it stood originally in the text and that it and the preceding line fhould be accounted the feventh verfe.

PSALM XIV.-al. XIII.

Although this psalm be in the title ascribed to David; it seems pretty clear, from the last verse, that it was composed during the Babylonish captivity: or at least after the deportation of the ten tribes.

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FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN: A PSALM OF

DAVID.

THE profligate imagine-there is no God! corrupted they are-abominations they practise ! not one of them doeth good-not even one! JEHOVAH from the heavens viewed the fons of man; to see if there were any fo wife as to feek God. They are all gone aftray, are all corrupted: not one doeth good-not even one!

Shall not all fuch evil-doers be made fenfible; who have devoured my people, as bread is devoured? Since JEHOVAH they invoke not, with fear they

fhall tremble,

when JEHOVAH fhall appear in the congregation

of the juft.

They deride the confidence of the afflicted;

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although JEHOVAH be his refuge!

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Oh! that falvation may, from Zion, come to Ifrael! When JEHOVAH hath reversed the captivity of his people, Jacob will exult-Ifrael will rejoice.

NOTES.

Some parts of this pfalm are hard to be understood, and still more difficult to be intelligibly rendered. I have done my beft; but am not entirely fatisfied with my own doings. After ver. 4. there is an addition of three verses in fome Greek copies, followed by Vulg.: and Arab. with one of Kennicott's MSS. has the fame addition. It feems, however, to be an interpolation, partly from pfalm 5. and partly from pfalm 62. It is quoted indeed by Paul, Rom. 3. 18: This however only proves that he read it in his Greek copy. But this is not the place to canvass the matter critically.

PSALM XV.—al. XIV.

This psalm, if the title be not spurious, seems to have been composed by David, when the ark was brought in triumph to the tabernacle prepared for it in Zion;—yet it may possibly have been com posed by some Jewish bard, about the time of the remigration from Babylon.

A PSALM OF DAVID.

: WHO, JEHOVAH! fhall fojourn at thy tabernacle? who shall inhabit thine holy mountain?

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He who walketh uprightly, and acteth justly:

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who from his heart speaketh the truth:

who flandereth not with his tongue:

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who doth no harm to his fellow,

nor on his neighbour bringeth disgrace:

in whofe eyes the worthlefs are contemptible; but who honoureth the reverers of JEHOVAH: who, when he fweareth to a friend, deceiveth

him not:

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who putteth not his money to ufury ;

nor taketh a bribe against the innocent

He who acteth thus, fhall never be moved,

PSALM XVI. al.-XV.

The psalmist beautifully exprefsetb bis sole dependance on Jebovab bis God; bis contempt of all other profane divinities; bis thankfulnefs for the good things already received, and his firm bope of future favour and protection. The title is,

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A GOLDEN SONG OF DAVID.

PRESERVE me, O GOD! for in thee I trust.

TO JEHOVAH I have faid: "My LORD art thou: 66 no good I expect but from thee."

and all the great who in them delight—

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As for those profane earthly idols,

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multiplied be their forrows:

backward let them speed:

libations of blood to them I will not pour;
their names I will not mention with my lips.

JEHOVAH! the portion of mine heritage and cup!

thou art he who rendereth me fecure.

The lines have fallen for me on a pleasant spot ;
delightful truly is the heritage on me devolved.
I will blefs JEHOVAH, who confulteth my good;
even, by night, he is the object of my defires.
JEHOVAH I ever place before me :

while he is at my right hand, I cannot be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad,

and my liver rejoiceth;

my whole flesh refteth in fecurity,

that thou wilt not abandon my foul to Hadés;
nor fuffer thy pious-one to fee the pit:

but to me wilt make known the path of life;

overflowings of joy, in thy prefence,

perpetual pleasures, at thy right hand.

NOTES.

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Ver. 2. To Jehovah I have faid. The prefent Hebrew has thou bast Jaid, i. e. fay interpreters, "thou, my foul."-But the text is here corrupted; and the other reading is that of all the antient versions (fave Chald.) and of many MSS.-Ver. 3: This verse has, in my opinion, been strangely misunderstood, both by antient and modern interpreters: and in most versions is hardly intelligible. If I mistaké not much, I have given the true meaning, without altering a fingle letter of the original.-Ver. 9. My liver rejoiceth. When this version appeared, fome years ago, in my first specimens, fome witlings made themselves merry with it; but they must have been totally unacquainted not only with the Hebrew and other Oriental idioms, but alfo with thofe of Greece and Rome. In fact, the liver was accounted the feat of joy and of grief, as well as the beart; as the reins were accounted the feat of defires and affections. Here the parallelifm would be loft by the fubftitution of any other word. But much more of this in my Critical Remarks.-Ver. 10. Hadés. In our common English verfion the Hebrew word is fometimes rendered grave, and fometimes, as here, bell: and, if etymology be attended to, I have little doubt of this being its original meaning; nay, the very word itself, divested of its hiffing found but bell, in our theology, having obtained another meaning, it is no more a proper term to exprefs the Hebrew term; which denotes the great receptacle of the dead in general, equivalent, perhaps, to the Greek Hades; which word, with some of my brother-translators, I have ufed throughout. The reader, if he please, may substitute grave, or bell, or any term he likes better.

PSALM XVII.-al. XVI.

This psalm appears to bave been composed, when David was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to take refuge in the most inaccessible places. It is entitled,

A PRAYER OF DAVID.

HEAR, juft JEHOVAH! attend to my plaint:` liften to my prayer, not made with feigned lips.

Ι

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From thee let my doom proceed;

may thine eyes difcern what is right.

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Thou haft tried mine heart, and by night fearched it; thou haft smelted me, and found in me no drofs.

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I never have approved the misdeeds of men :

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at thy word, I have kept to rugged paths;

support thou my steps in thy tracks,

that my feet may never flip.

I thee invoke, because thou art wont to hear me :
O God! to me incline thine ear:

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exert thy bounty, faviour of those who truft in thee, 'gainst those who rise up against thy power.

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Guard me as the tender apple of the eye:

hide me, under the fhade of thy wings,

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ΙΟ

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from the wicked, who would me destroy;
from my mortal foes, who encompass me about.
Their hearts they have hardened:
they speak arrogantly with their mouth:
our steps they have already compaffed :
they aim at levelling us with the ground.
The foe is like a lion, who gaspeth for prey;
like a young lion lurking in a covert.

Arife, JEHOVAH! prevent him-humble him—
with thy fword defend me from the wicked:
by thine hand, JEHOVAH¦ from such men-
men, whose portion in life is permanent;
whofe bellies thou haft filled with rare things;
who are bleffed with a numerous progeny;
and for their children lay by their fuperfluence!
Let me, in innocence, enjoy but thy prefence:
with the re-appearance of thy countenance

I fhall be completely fatisfied.

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