The Holy Bible

Part 3 out of 29



his passion and death, ascended more glorious, and carried all before
him. St. Jerome renders it, who ascendeth, or cometh up, through the
deserts.

67:6. Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his
holy place:

67:7. God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who
bringeth out them that were bound in strength; in like manner them that
provoke, that dwell in sepulchres.

Of one manner. . .That is, agreeing in faith, unanimous in love, and
following the same manner of discipline. It is verified in the servants
of God, living together in his house, which is the church. 1 Tim.
3.15.--Ibid. Them that were bound, etc. . .The power and mercy of God
appears in his bringing out of their captivity those that were strongly
bound in their sins: and in restoring to his grace those whose
behaviour had been most provoking; and who by their evil habits were
not only dead, but buried in their sepulchres.

67:8. O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when
thou didst pass through the desert:

67:9. The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of
the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel.

67:10. Thou shalt set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and
it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect.

A free rain. . .the manna, which rained plentifully from heaven, in
favour of God's inheritance, that is, of his people Israel: which was
weakened indeed under a variety of afflictions, but was made perfect by
God; that is, was still supported by divine providence, and brought on
to the promised land. It agrees particularly to the church of Christ
his true inheritance, which is plentifully watered with the free rain
of heavenly grace; and through many infirmities, that is, crosses and
tribulations, is made perfect, and fitted for eternal glory.

67:11. In it shall thy animals dwell; in thy sweetness, O God, thou
hast provided for the poor.

In it, etc. . .That is, in this church, which is thy fold and thy
inheritance, shall thy animals, thy sheep, dwell: where thou hast
plentifully provided for them.

67:12. The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings
with great power.

To them that preach good tidings. . .Evangelizantibus. That is, to the
preachers of the gospel; who receiving the word from the Lord, shall
with great power and efficacy preach throughout the world the glad
tidings of a Saviour, and of eternal salvation through him.

67:13. The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the
beauty of the house shall divide spoils.

The king of powers. . .That is, the mighty King, the Lord of hosts, is
of the beloved, of the beloved; that is, is on the side of Christ, his
most beloved son: and his beautiful house, viz., the church, in which
God dwells forever, shall by her spiritual conquests divide the spoils
of many nations. The Hebrew (as it now stands pointed) is thus
rendered, The kings of armies have fled, they have fled, and she that
dwells at home (or the beauty of the house) shall divide the spoils.

67:14. If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings
of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with
the paleness of gold.

If you sleep among the midst of lots (intermedios cleros, etc.). . .Viz.,
in such dangers and persecutions, as if your enemies were casting
lots for your goods and persons: or in the midst of the lots,
(intermedios terminos, as St. Jerome renders it,) that is, upon the
very bounds or borders of the dominions of your enemies: you shall be
secure nevertheless under the divine protection; and shall be enabled
to fly away, like a dove, with glittering wings and feathers shining
like the palest and most precious gold; that is, with great increase of
virtue, and glowing with the fervour of charity.

67:15. When he that is in heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall
be whited with snow in Selmon.

Kings over her. . .That is, pastors and rulers over his church, viz.,
the apostles and their successors. Then by their ministry shall men be
made whiter than the snow which lies on the top of the high mountain
Selmon.

67:16. The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat
mountain.

The mountain of God. . .The church, which, Isa. 2.2, is called The
mountain of the house of the Lord upon the top of mountains. It is here
called a fat and a curdled mountain; that is to say, most fruitful, and
enriched by the spiritual gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost.

67:17. Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is
well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.

Why suspect, ye curdled mountains?. . .Why do you suppose or imagine
there may be any other such curdled mountains? You are mistaken: the
mountain thus favoured by God is but one; and this same he has chosen
for his dwelling for ever.

67:18. The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of
them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place.

The chariot of God. . .Descending to give his law on mount Sina: as also
of Jesus Christ his Son, ascending into heaven, to send from thence the
Holy Ghost, to publish his new law, is attended with ten thousands,
that is, with an innumerable multitude of joyful angels.

67:19. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive;
thou hast received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not
believe, the dwelling of the Lord God.

Led captivity captive. . .Carrying away with thee to heaven those who
before had been the captives of Satan; and receiving from God the
Father gifts to be distributed to men; even to those who were before
unbelievers.

67:20. Blessed be the Lord day by day: the God of our salvation will
make our journey prosperous to us.

67:21. Our God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord, of the Lord
are the issues from death.

The issues from death. . .The Lord alone is master of the issues, by
which we may escape from death.

67:22. But God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of
them that walk on in their sins.

67:23. The Lord said: I will turn them from Basan, I will turn them
into the depth of the sea:

I will turn them from Basan, etc. . .I will cast out my enemies from
their rich possessions, signified by Basan, a fruitful country; and I
will drive them into the depth of the sea: and make such a slaughter of
them, that the feet of my servants may be dyed in their blood, etc.

67:24. That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies; the
tongue of thy dogs be red with the same.

67:25. They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God: of my
king who is in his sanctuary.

Thy goings. . .Thy ways, thy proceedings, by which thou didst formerly
take possession of the promised land in favour of thy people; and shalt
afterwards of the whole world, which thou shalt subdue to thy Son.

67:26. Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young
damsels playing on timbrels.

Princes. . .The apostles, the first converters of nations; attended by
numbers of perfect souls, singing the divine praises, and virgins
consecrated to God.

67:27. In the churches bless ye God the Lord, from the fountains of
Israel.

From the fountains of Israel. . .From whom both Christ and his apostles
sprung. By Benjamin, the holy fathers on this place understand St.
Paul, who was of that tribe, named here a youth, because he was the
last called to the apostleship. By the princes of Juda, Zabulon, and
Nephthali, we may understand the other apostles, who were of the tribe
of Juda; or of the tribes of Zabulon, and Nephthali, where our Lord
began to preach, Matt. 4.13, etc.

67:28. There is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of
Juda are their leaders: the princes of Zabulon, the princes of
Nephthali.

67:29. Command thy strength, O God confirm, O God, what thou hast
wrought in us.

Command thy strength. . .Give orders that thy strength may be always with
us.

67:30. From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to
thee.

67:31. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls
with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried
with silver. Scatter thou the nations that delight in wars:

Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds. . .or the wild beasts, which lie
hid in the reeds. That is, the devils, who hide themselves in order to
surprise their prey. Or by wild beasts, are here understood
persecutors, who, for all their attempts against the Church, are but as
weak reeds, which cannot prevail against them who are supported by the
strength of the Almighty. The same are also called the congregation of
bulls (from their rage against the Church) who assemble together all
their kine, that is, the people their subjects, to exclude if they can,
from Christ and his inheritance, his constant confessors, who are like
silver tried by fire.

67:32. Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch
out her hands to God.

Ambassadors shall come, etc. . .It is a prophecy of the conversion of
the Gentiles, and by name of the Egyptians and Ethiopians.

67:33. Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: Sing
ye to God,

67:34. Who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he
will give to his voice the voice of power:

To the east. . .From mount Olivet, which is on the east side of
Jerusalem.--Ibid. The voice of power. . .That is, he will make his voice
to be a powerful voice: by calling from death to life, such as were
dead in mortal sin: as at the last day he will by the power of his
voice call all the dead from their graves.

67:35. Give ye glory to God for Israel, his magnificence, and his power
is in the clouds.

67:36. God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will
give power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.



Psalms Chapter 68


Salvum me fac, Deus.

Christ in his passion declareth the greatness of his sufferings, and
the malice of his persecutors the Jews; and foretelleth their
reprobation.

68:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David.

For them that shall be changed. . .A psalm for Christian converts, to
remember the passion of Christ.

68:2. Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.

The waters. . .Of afflictions and sorrows. My soul is sorrowful even
unto death. Matt. 26.38.

68:3. I stick fast in the mire of the deep and there is no sure
standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath
overwhelmed me.

68:4. I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse, my eyes
have failed, whilst I hope in my God.

68:5. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me
without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully
persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.

I pay that which I took not away. . .Christ in his passion made
restitution of what he had not taken away, by suffering the punishment
due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to God.

68:6. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not
hidden from thee:

My foolishness and my offences. . .which my enemies impute to me: or the
follies and sins of men, which I have taken upon myself.

68:7. Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the
Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee,
O God of Israel.

68:8. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my
face.

68:9. I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons
of my mother.

68:10. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches
of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

68:11. And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to
me.

68:12. And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.

68:13. They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank
wine made me their song.

68:14. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy
good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the
truth of thy salvation.

68:15. Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me
from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

68:16. Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep water
swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

68:17. Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

68:18. And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in
trouble, hear me speedily.

68:19. Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my
enemies.

68:20. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.

68:21. In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath
expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve
together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort
me, and I found none.

68:22. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.

68:23. Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense,
and a stumblingblock.

Let their table, etc. . .What here follows in the style of an
imprecation, is a prophecy of the wretched state to which the Jews
should be reduced in punishment of their wilful obstinacy.

68:24. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back
bend thou down always.

68:25. Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger
take hold of them.

68:26. Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to
dwell in their tabernacles.

68:27. Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and
they have added to the grief of my wounds.

68:28. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come
into thy justice.

68:29. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the
just let them not be written.

68:30. But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me
up.

68:31. I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will
magnify him with praise.

68:32. And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth
forth horns and hoofs.

68:33. Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall
live.

68:34. For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his
prisoners.

68:35. Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every
thing that creepeth therein.

68:36. For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built
up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.

Sion. . .The catholic church. The cities of Juda, etc., her places of
worship, which shall be established throughout the world. And there,
viz., in this church of Christ, shall his servants dwell, etc.

68:37. And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that
love his name shall dwell therein.



Psalms Chapter 69


Deus in adjutorium.

A prayer in persecution.

69:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the
Lord saved him.

69:2. O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.

69:3. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul:

69:4. Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire
evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blushing for shame that
say to me: 'Tis well, 'tis well.

'T is well, 't is well. . .Euge, euge. St. Jerome renders it, vah, vah!
which is the voice of one insulting and deriding. Some understand it as
a detestation of deceitful flatterers.

69:5. Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such
as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

69:6. But I am needy and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper and
my deliverer: O lord, make no delay.



Psalms Chapter 70


In te, Domine.

A prayer for perseverance.

70:1. A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former
captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to
confusion:

Of the sons of Jonadab. . .The Rechabites, of whom see Jer. 35. By this
addition of the seventy-two interpreters, we gather that this psalm was
usually sung in the synagogue, in the person of the Rechabites, and of
those who were first carried away into captivity.

70:2. Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto
me, and save me.

70:3. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that
thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge.

70:4. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of
the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.

70:5. For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth.

70:6. By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's
womb thou art my protector. Of thee I shall continually sing:

70:7. I am become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper.

70:8. Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory;
thy greatness all the day long.

70:9. Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall
fail, do not thou forsake me.

70:10. For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my
soul have consulted together,

70:11. Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is
none to deliver him.

70:12. O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help.

70:13. Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul;
let them be covered with confusion and blame that seek my hurt.

70:14. But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise.

70:15. My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day
long. Because I have not known learning,

Learning. . .As much as to say, I build not upon human learning, but
only on the power and justice of God.

70:16. I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be
mindful of thy justice alone.

70:17. Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will
declare thy wonderful works.

70:18. And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I
shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power,

70:19. And thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou
hast done: O God, who is like to thee?

70:20. How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and
turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again
from the depths of the earth:

70:21. Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou
hast comforted me.

70:22. For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments
of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of
Israel.

70:23. My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my
soul which thou hast redeemed.

70:24. Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day;
when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.



Psalms Chapter 71


Deus, judicium tuum.

A prophecy of the coming of Christ, and of his kingdom: prefigured by
Solomon and his happy reign.

71:1. A psalm on Solomon.

71:2. Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy
justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.

71:3. Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills
justice.

71:4. He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the
children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.

71:5. And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon,
throughout all generations.

71:6. He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers
falling gently upon the earth.

71:7. In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till
the moon be taken away.

71:8. And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the
ends of the earth.

71:9. Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall
lick the ground.

71:10. The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the
kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:

71:11. And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall
serve him.

71:12. For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy
that had no helper.

71:13. He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls
of the poor.

71:14. He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their
names shall be honourable in his sight.

71:15. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of
Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the
day.

71:16. And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of
mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they
of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.

A firmament on the earth, etc. . .This may be understood of the church
of Christ, ever firm and visible: and of the flourishing condition of
its congregation.

71:17. Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before
the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all
nations shall magnify him.

71:18. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful
things.

71:19. And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole
earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.

71:20. The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Are ended. . .By this it appears that this psalm, though placed here,
was in order of time the last of those which David composed.



Psalms Chapter 72


Quam bonus Israel Deus.

The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked,
is overcome by the consideration of the justice of God, who will
quickly render to every one according to his works.

72:1. A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of
a right heart!

72:2. But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.

72:3. Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the
prosperity of sinners.

72:4. For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in
their stripes.

72:5. They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged
like other men.

72:6. Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their
iniquity and their wickedness.

72:7. Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they
have passed into the affection of the heart.

Fatness. . .Abundance and temporal prosperity, which hath encouraged
them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their
irregular affections.

72:8. They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken
iniquity on high.

72:9. They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath
passed through the earth.

72:10. Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be
found in them.

Return here. . .or hither. The weak among the servants of God, will be
apt often to return to this thought, and will be shocked when they
consider the full days, that is, the long and prosperous life of the
wicked; and will be tempted to make the reflections against providence
which are set down in the following verses.

72:11. And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the
most High?

72:12. Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they
have obtained riches.

72:13. And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed
my hands among the innocent.

72:14. And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath
been in the mornings.

72:15. If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the
generation of thy children.

If I said, etc. . .That is, if I should indulge such thoughts as these.

72:16. I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my
sight:

72:17. Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning
their last ends.

72:18. But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were
lifted up thou hast cast them down.

Thou hast put it to them. . .In punishment of their deceits, or for
deceiving them, thou hast brought evils upon them in their last end,
which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.

72:19. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to
be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.

72:20. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou
shalt bring their image to nothing.

72:21. For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:

72:22. And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.

72:23. I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.

72:24. Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast
conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.

72:25. For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire
upon earth?

72:26. For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the
God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.

72:27. For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast
destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.

72:28. But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the
Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the
daughter of Sion.



Psalms Chapter 73


Ut quid, Deus.

A prayer of the church under grievous persecutions.

73:1. Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto
the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

73:2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the
beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed:
mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

73:3. Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what
things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

73:4. And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of
thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

Their ensigns, etc. . .They have fixed their colours for signs and
trophies, both on the gates, and on the highest top of the temple: and
they knew not, that is, they regarded not the sanctity of the place.
This psalm manifestly foretells the time of the Machabees, and the
profanation of the temple by Antiochus.

73:5. And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top.
As with axes in a wood of trees,

73:6. They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and
hatchet they have brought it down.

73:7. They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the
dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

73:8. They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let
us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

73:9. Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will
know us no more.

73:10. How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to
provoke thy name for ever?

73:11. Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the
midst of thy bosom for ever?

73:12. But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in
the midst of the earth.

73:13. Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush
the heads of the dragons in the waters.

The sea firm. . .By making the waters of the Red Sea stand like firm
walls, whilst Israel passed through: and destroying the Egyptians
called here dragons from their cruelty, in the same waters, with their
king: casting up their bodies on the shore to be stripped by the
Ethiopians inhabiting in those days the coast of Arabia.

73:14. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to
be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

73:15. Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast
dried up the Ethan rivers.

Ethan rivers. . .That is, rivers which run with strong streams. This was
verified in Jordan, Jos. 3, and in Arnon, Num. 21.14.

73:16. Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the
morning light and the sun.

73:17. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the
spring were formed by thee.

73:18. Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish
people hath provoked thy name.

73:19. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and
forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

73:20. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of
the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

The obscure of the earth. . .Mean and ignoble wretches have been filled,
that is, enriched, with houses of iniquity, that is, with our estates
and possessions, which they have unjustly acquired.

73:21. Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and
needy shall praise thy name.

73:22. Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with
which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

73:23. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that
hate thee ascendeth continually.



Psalms Chapter 74


Confitebimur tibi.

There is a just judgment to come: therefore let the wicked take care.

74:1. Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.

Corrupt not. . .It is believed to have been the beginning of some ode or
hymn, to the tune of which this psalm was to be sung. St. Augustine and
other fathers take it to be an admonition of the spirit of God, not to
faint or fail in our hope: but to persevere with constancy in good:
because God will not fail in his due time to render to every man
according to his works.

74:2. We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon
thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:

74:3. When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.

When I shall take a time. . .In proper times: particularly at the last
day, when the earth shall melt away at the presence of the great Judge:
the same who originally laid the foundations of it, and as it were
established its pillars.

74:4. The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have
established the pillars thereof.

74:5. I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners:
Lift not up the horn.

74:6. Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.

74:7. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert
hills:

74:8. For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth
up:

74:9. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of
mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs
thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.

74:10. But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.

74:11. And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the
just shall be exalted.



Psalms Chapter 75


Notus in Judaea.

God is known in his church: and exerts his power in protecting it. It
alludes to the slaughter of the Assyrians, in the days of king
Ezechias.

75:1. Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the
Assyrians.

75:2. In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.

75:3. And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion:

75:4. There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword,
and the battle.

75:5. Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills.

75:6. All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their
sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.

75:7. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that
mounted on horseback.

75:8. Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy
wrath.

From that time, etc. . .From the time that thy wrath shall break out.

75:9. Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth
trembled and was still,

75:10. When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.

75:11. For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the
remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.

75:12. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round
about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,

75:13. Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the
terrible with the kings of the earth.



Psalms Chapter 76


Voce mea.

The faithful have recourse to God in trouble of mind, with confidence
in his mercy and power.

76:1. Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph.

76:2. I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he
gave ear to me.

76:3. In the days of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up
to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be
comforted:

76:4. I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my
spirit swooned away.

76:5. My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.

76:6. I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal
years.

76:7. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was
exercised and I swept my spirit.

76:8. Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more
favourable again?

76:9. Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to
generation?

76:10. Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut
up his mercies?

76:11. And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right
hand of the most High.

76:12. I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy
wonders from the beginning.

76:13. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in
thy inventions.

76:14. Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like
our God?

76:15. Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power
known among the nations:

76:16. With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob
and of Joseph.

76:17. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were
afraid, and the depths were troubled.

76:18. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound.
For thy arrows pass:

76:19. The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened
the world: the earth shook and trembled.

76:20. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy
footsteps shall not be known.

76:21. Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses
and Aaron.



Psalms Chapter 77


Attendite.

God's great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstanding their
ingratitude.

77:1. Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline
your ears to the words of my mouth.

77:2. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from
the beginning.

Propositions. . .Deep and mysterious sayings. By this it appears that
the historical facts of ancient times, commemorated in this psalm, were
deep and mysterious: as being figures of great truths appertaining to
the time of the New Testament.

77:3. How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have
told us.

77:4. They have not been hidden from their children, in another
generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his
wonders which he hath done.

77:5. And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How
great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same
known to their children:

77:6. That another generation might know them. The children that should
be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.

77:7. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works
of God: and may seek his commandments.

77:8. That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and
exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright:
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

77:9. The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have
turned back in the day of battle.

77:10. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not
walk.

77:11. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn
them.

77:12. Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the
land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.

77:13. He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the
waters to stand as in a vessel.

77:14. And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night
with a light of fire.

77:15. He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as
out of the great deep.

77:16. He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run
down as rivers.

77:17. And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most
High to wrath in the place without water.

77:18. And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their
desires.

77:19. And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in
the wilderness?

77:20. Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the
streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his
people?

77:21. Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled
against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

77:22. Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his
salvation.

77:23. And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the
doors of heaven.

77:24. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them
the bread of heaven.

77:25. Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in
abundance.

77:26. He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought
in the southwest wind.

77:27. And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like
as the sand of the sea.

77:28. And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their
pavilions.

77:29. So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them
their desire:

77:30. they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their
meat was in their mouth:

77:31. And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones
amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.

77:32. In all these things they sinned still: and they behaved not for
his wondrous works.

77:33. And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in
haste.

77:34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and
came to him early in the morning.

77:35. And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high
God their redeemer.

77:36. And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they
lied unto him:

77:37. But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted
faithful in his covenant.

77:38. But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not
destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not
kindle all his wrath.

77:39. And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and
returneth not.

77:40. How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to
wrath in the place without water?

77:41. And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one
of Israel.

77:42. They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them
from the hand of him that afflicted them:

77:43. How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field
of Tanis.

77:44. And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that
they might not drink.

77:45. He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them:
and frogs which destroyed them.

77:46. And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to
the locust.

77:47. And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry
trees with hoarfrost.

77:48. And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the
fire.

77:49. And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation
and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

77:50. He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls
from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.

77:51. And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the
firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

77:52. And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the
wilderness like a flock.

77:53. And he brought them out in hope and they feared not: and the sea
overwhelmed their enemies.

77:54. And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the
mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the
Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line
of distribution.

77:55. And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

77:56. Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept
not his testimonies.

77:57. And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their
fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

77:58. They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to
jealousy with their graven things.

77:59. God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly
as it were to nothing.

77:60. And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he
dwelt among men.

77:61. And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty
into the hands of the enemy.

77:62. And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his
inheritance.

77:63. Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not
lamented.

77:64. Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.

77:65. And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty
man that hath been surfeited with wine.

77:66. And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an
everlasting reproach.

77:67. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the
tribe of Ephraim:

77:68. But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

77:69. And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he
founded for ever.

As of unicorns. . .That is, firm and strong like the horn of the
unicorn. This is one of the chiefest of the propositions of this psalm,
foreshewing the firm establishment of the one, true, and everlasting
sanctuary of God, in his church.

77:70. And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of
sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,

77:71. To feed Jacob his servant and Israel his inheritance.

77:72. And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted
them by the skilfulness of his hands.



Psalms Chapter 78


Deus, venerunt gentes.

The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to
belong to the time of the Machabees.

78:1. A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy
inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made
Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.

78:2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for
the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the
earth.

78:3. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem
and there was none to bury them.

78:4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision
to them that are round about us.

78:5. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be
kindled like a fire?

78:6. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and
upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

78:7. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.

78:8. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily
prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.

78:9. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O
Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:

78:10. Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And
let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the
revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:

78:11. Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According
to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them
that have been put to death.

78:12. And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the
reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

78:13. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give
thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation
and generation.



Psalms Chapter 79


Qui regis Israel.

A prayer for the church in tribulation, commemorating God's former
favours.

79:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for
Asaph, a psalm.

79:2. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph
like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth

79:3. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and
come to save us.

79:4. Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.

79:5. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the
prayer of thy servant?

79:6. How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us
for our drink tears in measure?

79:7. Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and
our enemies have scoffed at us.

79:8. O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be
saved.

79:9. Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the
Gentiles and planted it.

79:10. Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst
the roots thereof, and it filled the land.

79:11. The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the
cedars of God.

79:12. It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs
unto the river.

79:13. Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they
who pass by the way do pluck it?

79:14. The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild
beast hath devoured it.

79:15. Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and
visit this vineyard:

79:16. And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon
the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

79:17. Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of
thy countenance.

Things set on fire, etc. . .So this vineyard of thine, almost consumed
already, must perish, if thou continue thy rebukes.

79:18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son
of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

The man of thy right hand. . .Christ.

79:19. And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will
call upon thy name.

79:20. O Lord God of hosts, convert us and shew thy face, and we shall
be saved.



Psalms Chapter 80


Exultate Deo.

An invitation to a solemn praising of God.

80:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.

For the winepresses, etc. . .Torcularibus. It either signifies a musical
instrument, or that this psalm was to be sung at the feast of the
tabernacles after the gathering in of the vintage.

80:2. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

80:3. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery
with the harp.

80:4. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your
solemnity.

80:5. For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of
Jacob.

80:6. He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the
land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.

80:7. He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in
baskets.

80:8. Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I
heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters
of contradiction.

In the secret place of tempest. . .Heb., Of thunder. When thou soughtest
to hide thyself from the tempest: or, when I came down to mount Sina,
hidden from thy eyes in a storm of thunder.

80:9. Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou
wilt hearken to me,

80:10. there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt
thou adore a strange god.

80:11. For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

80:12. But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to
me.

80:13. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they
shall walk in their own inventions.

80:14. If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:

80:15. I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on
them that troubled them.

80:16. The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall
be for ever.

Their time shall be forever. . .Impenitent sinners shall suffer for
ever.

80:17. And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with
honey out of the rock.



Psalms Chapter 81


Deus stetit.

An exhortation to judges and men in power.

81:1. A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods:
and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.

81:2. How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the
wicked?

81:3. Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and
the poor.

81:4. Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the
sinner.

81:5. They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all
the foundations of the earth shall be moved.

81:6. I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most
High.

81:7. But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the
princes.

81:8. Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among
all the nations.



Psalms Chapter 82


Deus, quis similis.

A prayer against the enemies of God's church.

82:1. A canticle of a psalm for Asaph.

82:2. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be
thou still, O God.

82:3. For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee
have lifted up the head.

82:4. They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have
consulted against thy saints.

82:5. They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not
a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.

82:6. For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a
covenant together against thee,

82:7. The tabernacle of the Edomites, and the Ishmahelites: Moab, and
the Agarens,

82:8. Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: the Philistines, with the
inhabitants of Tyre.

82:9. Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: they are come to
the aid of the sons of Lot.

82:10. Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: as to Jabin at
the brook of Cisson.

82:11. Who perished at Endor: and became as dung for the earth.

82:12. Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana.
All their princes,

82:13. Who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an
inheritance.

82:14. O my God, make them like a wheel; and as stubble before the
wind.

82:15. As fire which burneth the wood: and as a flame burning
mountains:

82:16. So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: and shalt trouble
them in thy wrath.

82:17. Fill their faces with shame; and they shall seek thy name, O
Lord.

82:18. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: and let them
be confounded and perish.

82:19. And let them know that the Lord is thy name: thou alone art the
most High over all the earth.



Psalms Chapter 83


Quam dilecta.

The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in
the communion of God's church upon earth.

83:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.

83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart
and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.

83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest
for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of
hosts, my king and my God.

83:5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall
praise thee for ever and ever.

83:6. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath
disposed to ascend by steps,

In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, etc. . .Ascensiones in
corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God
situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal
temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart:
and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the
place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to:
being cast out of paradise for his sin.

83:7. In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.

83:8. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue
to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.

83:9. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.

83:10. Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.

83:11. For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have
chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in
the tabernacles of sinners.

83:12. For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and
glory.

83:13. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence:
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.



Psalms Chapter 84


Benedixisti, Domine.

The coming of Christ, to bring peace and salvation to man.

84:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm.

84:2. Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the
captivity of Jacob.

84:3. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered
all their sins.

84:4. Thou hast mitigated all thy anger: thou hast turned away from the
wrath of thy indignation.

84:5. Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us.

84:6. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy
wrath from generation to generation?

84:7. Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life: and thy people shall
rejoice in thee.

84:8. Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation.

84:9. I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak
peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are
converted to the heart.

84:10. Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him : that glory
may dwell in our land.

84:11. Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have
kissed.

84:12. Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down
from heaven.

84:13. For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her
fruit.

84:14. Justice shall walk before him: and ,shall set his steps in the
way.



Psalms Chapter 85


Inclina, Domine.

A prayer for God's grace to assist us to the end.

85:1. A prayer for David himself. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me:
for I am needy and poor.

85:2. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that
trusteth in thee.

I am holy. . .I am by my office and profession dedicated to thy service.

85:3. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day.

85:4. Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have
lifted up my soul.

85:5. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to
all that call upon thee.

85:6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my
petition.

85:7. I have called upon thee in the day of my trouble: because thou
hast heard me.

85:8. There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord: and there is
none according to thy works.

85:9. All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee,
O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name.

85:10. For thou art great and dost wonderful things: thou art God
alone.

85:11. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth:
let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name.

85:12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I
will glorify thy name for ever:

85:13. For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my
soul out of the lower hell.

85:14. O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of
the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their
eyes.

85:15. And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful,
patient, and of much mercy, and true.

85:16. O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy
servant, and save the son of thy handmaid.

85:17. Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be
confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.



Psalms Chapter 86


Fundamenta ejus.

The glory of the church of Christ.

86:1. For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations
thereof are the holy mountains:

The holy mountains. . .The apostles and prophets. Eph. 2.20.

86:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of
Jacob.

86:3. Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.

86:4. I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the
foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were
there.

Rahab. . .Egypt, etc. To this Sion, which is the church of God, many
shall resort from all nations.

86:5. Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the
Highest himself hath founded her.

Shall not Sion say, etc. . .The meaning is, that Sion, viz., the church,
shall not only be able to commemorate this or that particular person of
renown born in her, but also to glory in great multitudes of people and
princes of her communion; who have been foretold in the writings of the
prophets, and registered in the writings of the apostles.

86:6. The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of
them that have been in her.

86:7. The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.



Psalms Chapter 87


Domine, Deus salutis.

A prayer of one under grievous affliction: it agrees to Christ in his
passion, and alludes to his death and burial.

87:1. A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for
Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite.

Maheleth. . .A musical instrument, or chorus of musicians, to answer one
another.--Ibid. Understanding. . .Or a psalm of instruction, composed by
Eman the Ezrahite, or by David, in his name.

87:2. O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in
the night before thee.

87:3. Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my
petition.

87:4. For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to
hell.

87:5. I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a
man without help,

87:6. Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres,
whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

87:7. They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in
the shadow of death.

87:8. Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought
in upon me.

87:9. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me
an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:

87:10. My eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee,
O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.

87:11. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to
life, and give praise to thee?

87:12. Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth
in destruction?

87:13. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the
land of forgetfulness?

87:14. But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer
shall prevent thee.

87:15. Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy
face from me?

87:16. I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have
been humbled and troubled.

87:17. Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.

87:18. They have come round about me like water all the day: they have
compassed me about together.

87:19. Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my
acquaintance, because of misery.



Psalms Chapter 88


Misericordias Domini.

The perpetuity of the church of Christ, in consequence of the promise
of God: which, notwithstanding, God permits her to suffer sometimes
most grievous afflictions.

88:1. Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.

88:2. The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth
thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.

88:3. For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the
heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.

88:4. I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my
servant:

88:5. Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne
unto generation and generation.

88:6. The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in
the church of the saints.

88:7. For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among
the sons of God shall be like to God?

88:8. God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and
terrible above all them that are about him.

88:9. O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O
Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.

88:10. Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of
the waves thereof.

88:11. Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the
arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.

88:12. Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the
fulness thereof thou hast founded:

88:13. The north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall
rejoice in thy name:

88:14. Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy
right hand exalted:

88:15. Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy
and truth shall go before thy face:

88:16. Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk,
O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:

88:17. And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy
justice they shall be exalted.

88:18. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good
pleasure shall our horn be exalted.

88:19. For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one
of Israel.

88:20. Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have
laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of
my people.

88:21. I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed
him.

88:22. For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.

88:23. The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of
iniquity have power to hurt him.

88:24. And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that
hate him I will put to flight.

88:25. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name
shall his horn be exalted.

88:26. And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the
rivers.

88:27. He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the
support of my salvation.

88:28. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the
earth.

88:29. I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful
to him.

88:30. And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne
as the days of heaven.

88:31. And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my
judgments:

88:32. If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:

88:33. I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with
stripes.

88:34. But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my
truth to fail.

88:35. Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed
from my mouth I will not make void.

88:36. Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:

88:37. His seed shall endure for ever.

88:38. And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for
ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.

88:39. But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with
my anointed.

88:40. Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast
profaned his sanctuary on the earth.

Overthrown the covenant, etc. . .All this seems to relate to the time of
the captivity of Babylon, in which, for the sins of the people and
their princes, God seemed to have set aside for a while the covenant he
made with David.

88:41. Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his
strength fear.

88:42. All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a
reproach to his neighbours.

88:43. Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou
hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

88:44. Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not
assisted him in battle.

88:45. Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his
throne down to the ground.

88:46. Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him
with confusion.

88:47. How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy
anger burn like fire?

88:48. Remember what my substance is: for hast thou made all the
children of men in vain?

88:49. Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall
deliver his soul from the hand of hell?

88:50. Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou
didst swear to David in thy truth?

88:51. Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I
have held in my bosom) of many nations:

88:52. Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they
have reproached the change of thy anointed.

88:53. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.



Psalms Chapter 89


Domine, refugium.

A prayer for the mercy of God: recounting the shortness and miseries of
the days of man.

89:1. A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge
from generation to generation.

89:2. Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was
formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God.

89:3. Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be
converted, O ye sons of men.

Turn not man away, etc. . .Suffer him not quite to perish from thee,
since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee.

89:4. For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is
past. And as a watch in the night,

89:5. Things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.

89:6. In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he
shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry,
and wither.

89:7. For in thy wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in thy
indignation.

89:8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes: our life in the
light of thy countenance.

89:9. For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted
away. Our years shall be considered as a spider:

As a spider. . .As frail and weak as a spider's web; and miserable
withal, whilst like a spider we spend our bowels in weaving webs to
catch flies.

89:10. The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But
if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is
labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be
corrected.

Mildness is come upon us, etc. . .God's mildness corrects us; inasmuch
as he deals kindly with us, in shortening the days of this miserable
life; and so weaning our affections from all its transitory enjoyments,
and teaching us true wisdom.

89:11. Who knoweth the power of thy anger, and for thy fear

89:12. Can number thy wrath? So make thy right hand known: and men
learned in heart, in wisdom.

89:13. Return, O Lord, how long? and be entreated in favour of thy
servants.

89:14. We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have
rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.

89:15. We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for
the years in which we have seen evils.

89:16. Look upon thy servants and upon their works: and direct their
children.

89:17. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and
direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands
do thou direct.



Psalms Chapter 90


Qui habitat.

The just is secure under the protection of God.

90:1. The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid
of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.


 


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