Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 17
The Seventeenth Psalm.
A Prayer of David.
Paraphrase. The Seventeenth Psalm is an earnest request by David commenced to God, for deliverance from all his oppressors and persecuters.
1. Hear‖or, O God of righteousness, or, righteous God. thea. right, O God, attend unto my cry; give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
Thou, O God, art a most righteous Lord, the refuge and defense of all innocent persons: be thou pleased to attend to, and grant my humble request, to receive with favour the affectionate prayers that I now address unto thee.
2. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
By thee I desire my cause may be heard and sentenced, and that according to the justice of it, thou wilt undertake the patronage thereof, to plead for me, or to judge on my side, and so to protect me against mine adversaries.
3. Thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night,b. thou hast tried me and*hast not found; I have thought, and my mouth hath not transgrest. shalt finde nothing: I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
For thou, Lord, knowest the sincerity of my heart, thou art the searcher of the secretest thoughts and depths of the most deceitful brests; and accordingly thou hast examined me to the utmost. In the night, when the darkness hath concealed me from the eyes of men, (and so taken off those disguises, which men put on their deeds of the day, their more publick actions) and at once offered me all the temptations and occasions of doing, or at least thinking ill, which perfect secrecy can suggest, thou hast still been present to my greatest privacies, to discover, if there were any close evil, any unsincerity in my heart. Again, thou hast tried me with afflictions, as the Metallists try their Gold, (and many that appear very pious men in times of prosperity, in time of persecution fall away, are found to be mere dross, when they are cast into the fire, put to this sharper trial.) And in both these wayes of probation, I hope, I have approved my self to thee, that my tongue and my heart have gone the same way, and so that there is no deceit or unsincerity in me.
4. Concerning the works of men, by the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths ofc. the†or, violent. destroyer.
As for the practices of the world, thy commandments have kept me from any communion with them: when opportunity offered me temptations, when I might have had security from the eyes of men, (when Saul fell too into my hands, that I had nothing to restrain me from using violence to him, but only thy command to the contrary, in making him King, and when I was perswaded and incited to it, 1 Sam. xxvi. 8.) yet in pure obedience to thee, I have carefully kept my self from this, or any other disloyal or unlawful practice.
5. d.‖By holding up my goings in thy paths, my feet have not tript or shaken.Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
Thou, by thy special grace, joyned with thy directions what was my duty to do, hast upheld me in those wayes which are acceptable in thy sight; and by the strength of this mercy, and these aids of thine, I have been constantly supported, and kept steddy from stumbling or falling.
6. I have called upon thee,*because thou hast heard me. fore. thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto mee, and hear my speech.
And as oft as I have made my humble addresses to thee, thou hast not failed to grant them. This gives me full confidence now to come unto thee for thy support and relief. O merciful God, be thou pleased to continue thy wonted dignations to me.
7. †Magnifie thy mercies foreignShew thy marvailous loving kindness, O thou that savestf. by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against them.
And 'tis not my innocence I depend on, (for though in this matter of my dealings with them that are mine enemies, I can clear my self, yet my many other sins make men ncapable of using any such plea;) but 'tis thy mercy and pardon to sinners that I confide in, and thy mere pity and compassion to those that want thy relief. Be thou pleased then to exercise these thy mercies toward me, in that high and wonderful degree, that thou art wont to do to those that place their full affiance in thee. Thou, Lord, art the deliverer of all such, thy title it is to be so, and thy customary goodness, solemnly and constantly to interpose thy power for such, against the malice and machinations of all their adversaries: vouchsafe the same wonted mercy of thine to me at this time.
8. Keep me as‖the black of the apple of the eye, foreign the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings;
Let thy watchful and tender providence sense and secure me from all dangers, after the same manner as nature hath provided eye-brows, and lids, and five tunicles, for guards to sense and preserve the black (that most tender part) in‖the orbicular apple, which is in the midst of the eye. Chald. the middle of the eye, that wherein the visive faculty is placed (and best represents the seat of Majesty, or regal power, which hath the oversight and government of the whole body;) or as any bird preserves her young ones from the vulture by covering them under her wings.
9. From the wicked that†spoil foreign oppress me,*my enemies encompass against me with the soul. foreign from myg. deadly enemies who compass me about.
And that especially at this present time, that I am so distrest and straitned by enemies, that vehemently hate me, and surround me with all eagerness, to get me into their power.
10. ‖With fat have they shut up their mouths, they speakh.They are inclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
Their greatness and prosperity makes them insolent, and accordingly they threaten high, resolve, and breath nothing but destruction against me.
11. They have now compassed us in our steps; they have set their eyes*to cast me down to the ground. i.bowing down to the earth.
And having now brought me to some streights, they are absolutely resolved to subdue and destroy me utterly.
12. k.†His likeness is as of a Lion, he desires to ravine, and as of a young Lion lying in his den.Like as a Lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young Lion lurking in secret places.
Just as an hungry ravening Lion, when he comes in view of his prey, or as a young Lion not yet got out of the den, when any innocent sheep, or other beast of the field comes within reach of him.
13. Arise, O Lord,‖prevent him. l.disappoint him, cast him down; deliver my soul from the wicked,†or by the sword. which ism. thy sword.
14. From*the men by thy land O Lord, from the men — men which are thyn. hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life,‖and from thy treasure, or with thy good things, thou fillest their belly; they have plenty of children, and leave the remainder of their riches to their little ones. and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
And unlesse thou, O Lord, shalt be pleased to interpose to stop them in their course, to bring them down, to appear as a champion with a sword in thy hand thus timely to deliver me, I shall certainly be destroyed and devoured by them. Be thou therefore pleased, I beseech thee, thus to doe, hasten to my defense, and rescue me from these wicked men; These men, I say, the rich and great men of the world, who have all their good things allowed them by thee in this life, and so here have all riches and plenty, and having a numerous posterity, have wealth also sufficient not only to enjoy themselves, but also to leave abundantly to their children (as having no care of charity or mercy to others, on which to exhaust any thing.)
15. †I will through righteousness behold thy face: I shall be filled at the awaking of thy glory.As for me, I will behold thy face ino. righteousnesse; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likenesse.
Meanwhile I will adhere to thee, and constantly perform my duty, and thus waite, till thou shalt be pleased gratiously to reveale thy selfe unto me; not doubting, but thou wilt, in thy good time, stirr up thy power for my rescue: and then I shall be abundantly provided for, I shall want nothing.
Annotations on Psalm XVII.
V. 1. Right, O God,] It is not agreed among the antient Interpreters, to what the word foreign foreignrighteousnesse belongs and connects. The Latine reads, justitiam, righteousnesse, (and so the Arabick) and that connects it with [heare,] Heare the justice, or righteousnesse, or right; and so Apollinarius, foreign, heare my just cause. But the Chaldee hath foreign in righteousnesse, and then it coheres with [heare] againe, Heare in justice, or righteousnesse, O Lord. But the LXXII. joyne it with [Lord,] foreign, O Lord of my righteousness, as in the beginning of the fourth Psalm; where though it be foreign my righteousness, not foreign righteousness, yet these may be all one; and so the LXXII. might think fit to render it more explicitely (not reading otherwise than we have it, but) thus expressing their understanding of it, whereas the Syriack more exactly (joyning it, as they doe, with Lord) read foreign O holy Lord; as Lord of righteousnesse, is righteous Lord, and righteousnesse in God is all one with holinesse. And this seems to be the fittest rendring of it, according to the sense, O righteous Lord, or more literally (but to the same purpose) foreign O Lord of righteousnesse. The Jewish-Arabick translator reads, O Lord of justice or equity.
V. 3. Thou hast tried me] Some difficulties there are in this v. 3. First, what is meant by trying. But that is soon resolved; viz. that foreign foreignsignifies exploring, such especially as is of metalls by fire, Psal. Lxvi. 10. and of men by temptations or afflictions, Isai. xLviii. 10. and accordingly the LXXII. here render it, foreign hast cast into the fire, in the same notion in which we have foreign 1 Pet. iv. 12. for tribulation or affliction, and that as a special season to try the sincerity of those, who have in times of prosperity made greatest professions of piety, but oft faile, when they meet with pressures in his service. This tryall as of Gold in the Fire, is here thought fit to be added to that former of visiting him in the night, when the eyes of men being shut out, his thoughts and actions were most free, and undisguised, and such as come from the very heart; which cannot so surely be said of his day-actions, which are oft awed by the eyes of men. And God by examining him by these two waies, visiting his night-thoughts, and trying him by afflictions, must needs know, if there be any insincerity in him. The next difficulty is, what is the full importance of foreign foreignthou shalt not finde:] and that may be discerned by remembring what was noted Psal. x. note l. foreign to be sought and not found, proverbially, for that which was not at all, but was lost or destroyed utterly. In proportion with which, for God to try, and not finde, is a phrase to signifie sincerity and uprightnesse, without any such mixture, as is wont to be discovered by trying (i. e. melting any metall) without any drosse, i. e. hypocrisie, in him. This the LXXII. have exprest by foreign, iniquity hath not been found in me: and to the same sense the Syriack, and Arabick, and Latine, not much mistaking the sense, for foreign iniquity is that drosse which is wont to be discovered by tentation, but yet probably reading the verse otherwise than now the punctation will permit, and 1. taking the verbe foreign cogitavi from the latter part of the verse, and reading it with other points foreign my thought (which is oft used in the ill sense, and so sometimes rendred foreign iniquity, Lev. xix. 29.) and 2. removing the other words foreign my mouth shall not transgresse, with which the verse concludes, to the beginning of the following verse, foreign, that my mouth may not speak the works of men. But the reading which we retein is surely the true, and is so acknowledged by the Chaldee Paraphrase, which explaining foreign thou shalt not finde corruption, renders foreign I thought, my mouth shall not transgresse] foreign I have thought ill, my mouth hath not transgrest. This therefore being resolved to be the reading, the last difficulty is, what will be the meaning of the Hebrew phrase. And 1.foreign for the word foreign, though it be oft taken in an ill sense, and so understood here by the Chaldee, yet tis sometimes in a good sense, as Prov. ii. 11. (where foreign foreignfrom that verbe is by us duly rendred discretion, by the LXXII. foreign good counsel, and so by the Syriack, a good minde, and by the Arabick, firme counsel;) and sometimes indifferently neither good nor bad, and so in that place 'tis rendred by the Chaldee foreign thought simply. And thus I conceive it signifies here: for if it were evill (as the Chaldee supposes) that he thought, how could he be acquitted by Gods proving of his heart, where that evill thought would have been found, and have accused him rather? The more certein meaning then of the words will be this, I have thought, and my mouth shall not transgresse it, i. e. my mouth and thoughts shall, or (as the future is oft taken for the past, oft for the present) doe goe, or have gone together. The deceitful man, or the hypocrite thinks one thing, and speaks another; but the sincere and upright (such as David here avowes himselfe to be, and appeals to Gods strictest scrutiny to judge if he be not) hath his tongue and heart going still together, and not one outgoing (so foreign foreignsignifies praeteriit, transiit) the other. This sense is acknowledged by the learned Sebastianus Castellio, who renders this latter part of the verse, non deprehendes me aliud in pectore, aliud in ore habere, thou shalt not finde me to have one thing in my breast, another in my mouth. And so this is the full meaning of that which is by the Psalmist, after his manner, more concisely exprest.
V. 4. The destroyer] From foreign to break, or break through, is the noun foreign foreigna thief or violent person, and so here it may signifie all the violent wicked practises of the world. The Chaldee read foreign the strong man, or violent person, probably to denote the sword-man, such as Abishai, that exhorted David to kill Saul 1 Sam. xxvi. 8. But the LXXII. as if it were foreign rupture, render it foreign rough, foreign, I have taken heed of (so I suppose foreign is there to be rendred) the rough, or harsh wayes; not in the sense wherein the Latine seems to have understood them, custodivi vias duras, I have kept the hard waies, but as foreign is to take heed of, and so to avoid, to which the Syriack agrees, thou, say they, hast kept me from the evill waies.
V. 5. Hold up my goings] The chief doubt in this verse is how foreign foreignshall be rendred. That it is the infinitive mood from foreign fulcivit, to support, or establish, or hold up, there is no doubt. But this infinitive is elsewhere frequently taken in the sense of the imperative: and so here the Chaldee foreign sustein, or confirme thou; and so the LXXII. and the Latine foreign, perfice, Perfect my goings. The Syriack read foreign And thou hast established— but the Arabick, that my rising (or going) might be strengthened in thy paths. Which reading of theirs seems to be founded in the infinitive sense; which is often thus exprest by [ut, that.] And indeed this of the infinitive, as it is the most simple, so it seems to be most agreeaable to the context, and connects best with the former verse. For there he had set down his steadinesse, in not being drawn by any temptation to the waies of the violent: together with the means by which he continued so steady, the power of Gods law, called there the words of Gods lips, and his adhering constantly to it, the conscientious observing of all his commandments. And to that same sense this verse will be best expounded in the infinitive, thus; By confirming (i. e. by Gods confirming) my steps or goings in thy paths, (so foreign in the infinitive signifies in the notion of a Latine gerund) foreign my feet (so foreign in the plural signifies) have not been moved: And so there is no ellipsis in them, the sense perfectly current, and exactly agreeable to the former verse; Gods paths here being all one with the words of his lips there, (the waies that God commanded him to walk in) and his not being moved, all one with his not being wrought on by temptations, to go on with the violent in his waies. And thus the interlinear understands it; sustentando gressus meos in orbitis tuis, non nutarunt pedes mei, by holding up my goings in thy paths, my feet have not gone aside, or tript.
V. 6. Thou wilt heare me] foreign foreignis indeed in the future here, and so is the Chaldee foreign by which they render it literally, thou shalt receive. But 'tis very ordinary with both Hebrew and Chaldee, to use the futures in the praeter tense; and so the LXXII. here render it, foreign, thou hast heard, and so the Syriack and Latine and Apollinarius, foreign, thou hast heard my voice. And so tis most probably to be understood as a second argument to in force his petition to God for his defence and deliverance, in the following verses. The first argument had been taken from the sincerity of his own heart, and uprightness of his actions, the qualification to make him capable of Gods defence, & this v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And now this second is from Gods former mercies, which are generally pledges of future: Deus donando debet, saith Cyprian, God by every donation of mercy makes himselfe debter of more to him that worthily receives them: and so the words will be best read to this sense, I have called upon thee, foreign because thou hast heard me.
V. 7. By thy right hand] The only doubt in this v. 7. is of the rendering the last word foreign.foreign The LXXII. rendring it foreign [thy right hand] do joyne it with foreign resist,] and then the construction lyes thus; Thou that savest those that trust in thee from them that oppose thy right hand, meaning the counsel and purpose of God, (called Gods hand Act. iv. 28.) to make David King. And thus the Latine understand it, resistentibus dexterae tuae, those that resist thy right hand; and the Syriack, those that rise up foreign against thy right hand. But the Chaldee put in foreign against them after foreign those that rise up, and so leave foreign to signifie [by thy right hand;] which then must joyne with foreign Saviour, thus, Thou that deliverest by thy right hand them that trust in thee, from those that rise up against them. And so Apollinarius, foreign, By thy strength (that is the meaning of his right hand) delivering all those that trust on thee. And this is retained by our English, and is the most probable reading.
V. 9. Deadly enemies] The notion of foreign foreignmay here deserve to be considered, foreign as it signifies soule and life, so oft it denotes the passions of the sensitive soule, and is rendred rightly will or desire: so Psal. xxvii. 12. foreign (the same that here) signifies into the will or desire of the enemy; and so Psal. xLi. 2. deliver him not foreign into the will of his enemies. And then being here in the same forme, and joyned with enemies, foreign enemies with the soule, it most probably will be taken in the same sense, vehement, or passionate, earnest enemies, or that with all their desire and intention foreign encompass or surround, or make a ring foreign against me. And thus the Chaldee understand it, and paraphrase it by foreign with the desire of their souls.
V. 10. Inclosed] The difficulties of this verse will be removed, if we joyne foreign their mouth, to the praecedent, not the subsequent words, thus; foreign foreignwith fat have they shut up their mouth:] a Poetical or Proverbial speech for haughtinesse or pride, caused by wealth or great prosperity. That is frequently exprest by fat; Jeshurun waxed fat, i. e. rich and prosperous: Their eyes swell or stick out with fat, Psal. Lxxiii. 7. to signifie their abundance, as it there follows, they have more than their heart could wish. And then foreign, saith Aristotle, rich men are very arrogant despisers of others; and so it follows here, foreign they speak proudly or fastuously. Thus the Chaldee appear to have understood the verse, who paraphrase it thus, foreign Their wealth is multiplied, foreign with their fat they have covered their mouth; exactly answerable to the Hebrew (though the Latine render it otherwise, adipe suo operti sunt, ore suo loquuntur magnifica.) and then foreign they have spoken great or magnifick, i. e. proud things. And the Syriack came neer it, so as to joyne foreign mouth] with foreign shut,] rendring it foreign shut their mouth which speaketh boasting, but quite leaving out the fat in the beginning of the verse. The LXXII. indeed divide it otherwise, foreign, they have shut up their fat; rightly rendring foreign (which in the active must be so rendred, have shut up, not with the Chaldee in the passive:) but then joyning with it (not foreign their mouth, but) foreign their fat, they have rendred it unintelligibly, they have shut up their fat; ('tis hard to guesse what they should meane by those words) and so have the Latine that follow them, adipem suum concluserunt. The Arabick hath rendered it with more sense, their fat is grown thick, or hard: but foreign in the active is not favourable to that. The literal rendring is most intelligible, they have shut up or stuft their mouth with fat; Ore obesitate farcto superbè loquuntur, saith Sebastianus Castellio, having stuft their mouth with fat, they speak proudly. And to this rendring I adhere, as being the most simple, and least forced.
V. 11. Bow down] What foreign foreignhere signifies will be easily resolved, by observing the use of foreign for inclining or bending, or casting down; and so being here joyned with foreign to the earth, it literally imports casting down upon the earth: not applying it to their eyes praecedent, (as the LXXII. (with the Latine) seem to doe, and from them Apollinarius, foreign, they bowed down and fastened their eyes upon the ground;) but to him whom they besieged, in the former part of the verse, i. e. the Psalmist, who makes this complaint: they now foreign have incompast me foreign in our steps, laid wait for him as he went, and at last inclosed or incompast him; and having done so, set their eyes (a phrase for stedfast resolving, or enterprizing any thing) foreign to cast down to the earth. So the Syriack understood it, they set their eyes foreign that they might lay me along on the earth, (and so indeed foreign signifies to extend or lay along:) and so the Chaldee foreign ad diffundendum (not as 'tis rendred, ut se diffundant,) to poure out upon the earth: and the Arabick to the same sense, they fixt their eyes, that they might beat, or strike me upon the earth; and then this is a ready intelligible meaning of the words.
V. 12. Like as a Lion] Where the Hebrew reads foreign foreignhis likenesse, from foreign was like, the LXXII. seem to have read foreign a verbe, and from another notion of the word foreign in Piel, for cogitavit, intentus fuit, thinking intently on any thing; and accordingly they render it foreign, they thought intently on me, (and the word is oft used for imagining mischief, 2 Sam. xxi. 5. that devised against us that we should be destroyed, and Jud. xx. 5. thought to have slain me:) and the Arabick sounds this way, They met me as a Lion— But the Chaldee and Syriack render it in the notion of likeness, and so it must be understood. And then the most literal rendring will be, foreign his likeness as of a Lion. And then it follows, foreign he desires to tear or ravin. The Lxxii. render it foreign ready for prey, as when he is hungry, he is supposed to be. And then the rest of the verse follows readily, and as of a young Lion foreign dwelling or abiding in his den;] which though it go not out, seizeth on all that comes thither: and so his enemies design and threaten to seize on him, now they have gotten him, as they think, in their power.
V. 13. Disappoint] foreign foreignfrom foreign to anticipate and prevent, is here duly rendred by the Lxxii. foreign get before them, and is here adapted to the Lion making after his prey, v. xii. and under that resemblance, to Davids enemies, which are now ready to seize upon him v. xi. if God do not interpose his power, get before them, and, as it follows, foreign trip up their heels, (so foreign foreignsignifies, from foreign curvare, to bow down, and in Hiphil prosternere foreign, to make bow down, i. e. to throw down,) and so keep them from seizing on him.
V. 13. Sword] 'Tis matter of some doubt, to what the word foreign foreignthy Sword, here belongs. It may possibly by way of apposition connect with foreign from the wicked, and then our English renders it according to sense, from the wicked, which is thy sword. But none of the antient interpreters understood it thus. The Chaldee have thus paraphrased it; Deliver me from the wicked, foreign which ought to be slain by thy sword: the Syriack, foreign, from the wicked, and the sword (meaning the sword of the wicked:) the Lxxii. reading foreign, and from them the Latine, frameam tuam thy sword, are not intelligible. The Arabick having rendred it [et à gladio tuo] with the insertion of the Copulative [et,] adde by way of explication, nempe ab inimicis tuis, to wit from thine enemies, thus rendring the beginning of the next verse. And the Aethiopick differs from all; Deliver my soul from the lance; (for foreign from the wicked, reading perhaps foreign which in Arabick signifies a dart or lance) thy sword be upon the enemies of thy hand (joyning with it, as the Arabick did, the beginning of the next verse.) In this variety there may be place of conjecture: and then it will not be improbable, that foreign thy sword, should here be considered as the instrument of his deliverance, and so joyned with foreign deliver …e, thus, by thy sword deliver or rescue me from the wicked. This p…rfectly agrees to the context, where the ene…ie as a hungry Lion is ready …o seize on David, as his prey, i… some valiant champion with his sword in his hand do not arise, and outrun, and trip up his heels, and so rescue him out of his hands. And for this David hath none to rely on, but God, and therefore to him he cries, that he will thus speedily interpose, and deliver him.
V. 14. Thy hand] By the importance of foreign (see note m.) in the former verse, 'twill not be difficult to resolve of the meaning of foreign foreignhere. There, that being joyned with foreign deliver me] was to be rendred gladio tuo, with thy sword; and in the same manner will this here, deliver me by thy hand: just as v. 7. God is called foreign a Saviour, or he that delivereth and saveth by his right hand. And this perhaps to be connected with foreign with the sword, by the figure foreign, whereby two things are put severally to signifie but one, sword and hand, to signifie a drawn sword, which is fit for such a present rescue as David now stands in need of. There foreign from the wicked, here foreign from the men in the next words, specifying what men he means, foreign foreignthe men of the age, i. e. worldly men; and those described largely and poetically (in the insuing words to the end of the verse) to be such as have all things to their will, are very plentiful and prosperous, they and their posterity. In their description, 1. occurs their having their portion foreign foreignin vitis: this the Chaldee renders in life eternal, but the Lxxii. (and so the Syriack and Arabick and Latine) foreign in their life, i. e. in this life of theirs; and so 'tis certain the plural foreign (there being no singular) signifies life simply. 2. Follows foreign— and thou shalt fill their belly with thy good things, so in sense it may be rendred, or from thy hidden things, i. e. thy treasury; for from foreign to lay up or keep, is the noun foreign foreign1. any thing that is thus laid up or kept, 2. a treasury wherein 'tis laid up. In the latter sense it must be rendred from thy treasury; in the former, with thy good things, i. e. with all the wealth of this world, that God bestows on any. As when we are bid not to lay up our treasures upon earth, Mat. vi. the meaning is clear, not to lay up our goods there, (of which the several sorts are there pointed at, by the moths corrupting, and the rust, and the thieves breaking and stealing;) but by works of mercy to lay up our goods in Heaven, bestowing them on God, and the poor for Gods sake. And these in the parable of the rich man in the Gospel are thus styled, foreign, his portion of good things which he received in this life; and proportionably here is their having their portion in this life, and their being filled with good things or treasure. So the Chaldee render it, foreign with thy hiding of good, or hidden good; the Syriack and Arabick, with thy treasures: but the Lxxii. foreign, more literally; and so the Latine, absconditis tuis, with thy hidden things: but none have thought fit to put both hidden and treasures, either of them signifying the other, and both of them those things that in the world are accounted good, and so are laid up and kept by the men of the world. 3. 'Tis added, foreign foreignthey have plenty of children, so foreign signifies to abound with any thing: not as the Chaldee and Syriack and Arabick are rendred, their children are filled; but as in the Hebrew, so in the Chaldee, foreign they abound in children, foreign, they are filled with children, (saturati sunt filiis, saith the Latine) which it seems was antiently miswritten foreign swines-flesh, and so followed by the Arabick translation, and by the Roman Psalter, and so found in Arnobius and others of the antients from that mistake of the amanuensis. What follows of their leaving the residue or remainder (so foreign signifies) of their substance to their babes; is but a farther expression of their abundance; having such plenty for themselves, that they have much to spare, which yet they dispense not in any part to those that want, but reserve it all for their posterity: and so this is another part of the character of the worldly great and rich man; Lazarus at his door, might not have so much as the crums that fall from this rich mans table.
V. 15. Righteousness] foreign foreignseems best to be rendred here, by or through righteousness, per justitiam saith Castellio, as by the condition, on which he may expect the return of Gods mercy here, or the eternal vision of him hereafter; which, saith the Apostle, no man shall attain to without peace and holiness, parts of this justice or righteousness. As for foreign in the end of the verse, it is diversly rendred by the antient interpreters. For foreign foreignthe Syriack seems to have read foreign and so read foreign thy saith: but the Lxxii. read foreign, and so the Latine and Arabick, thy glory, and the Chaldee foreign the glory of thy countenance. But the difficulty is, to what foreign foreignin evigilando, at the awaking] shall belong. The Chaldee apply it to David; when I shall awake, I shall be satisfied with the glory of thy countenance, and so it hath truth, in respect of the resurrection of the just, and that not unfitly opposed to the abundance of the worldly men v. 14. in this life. But all the other interpreters agree in applying it to foreign thy glory: foreign, at the appearing of thy glory, say the Lxxii. cum apparuerit gloria tua, the Latine; (and so the Arabick and Aethiopick,) when thy fidelity shall awake, saith the Syriack. And so most probably it is to be understood; by [Gods glory awaking] signifying his glorious & powerful interposition to his present rescue from his enemies hands, and not defering to relieve and avenge him till the resurrection. And thus the learned Castellio took it; tum satiandus, cum tua experrecta fuerit imago, I shall be satisfied when thy likeness shall be awaked.