Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 119

Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms · Book 5 · Psalm 119

p. 595The Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm.

The hundred and nineteenth is wholly spent in consideration of the divine Law, the excellency, the necessity, the advantages of it, descanting on the several appellations of it, with frequent reflections on our selves, by way of exhortation to a pious life, and constant adherence to God in times of distress. It is in the Hebrew Alphabetical, the eight first verses beginning with the first letter, and therefore intitled Aleph, the next eight with the second, and so called Beth, and so throughout every of the two and twenty Hebrew Letters, and styled by the Masora the great Alphabet.

Aleph.

1. Blessed are the undefiled in thea. way, who walke in the law of the Lord.

2. Blessed are they that‖‖observe, see note a. keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

3. ††That also foreignThey also doe no iniquity,**that they walk in his wayes.

Paraphrase. The true and onelyonly felicity which is attainable in this life (and the forerunner withall to eternall happiness) consists in a blameless pious life, a strict and carefull inquiry after, and diligent observation of the divine Law, a loving and seeking and serving God sincerely, and not admitting any one known sin in the whole course of our lives, but constantly and continually practising his commands.

4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts‖‖very much foreign diligently.

5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes.

I know it is the will and command of God that I should with all diligence and watchfulness and earnest endeavour observe and give heed unto his Law. Blessed Lord, give me that grace to guide and set right the whole course of my life, that I may never faile in that vigilance.

6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

Then shall I have confidence both toward God and man, and mine own soule, when I can pronounce of my selfe that my obedience is impartial, and uniforme, and universal, no secret sin reserved for my favour, no least commandment knowingly or willingly neglected by me.

p. 5967. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learnt thy righteous judgments.

As long as I live in any sin indulgently, I cannot think my selfe qualified for any pious performance either of prayer or praise: But when I have diligently studied and practised those precepts of thine, in obedience to which all righteousness consists, then may I with full peace of minde, with a clear confidence present my sacrifice before thee, and not be guilty of any hypocrisie in doing it.

8. I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not‖‖to any great degr…e, b.utterly.

My present resolution is to keep close to the commands of God, and then I have confidence that he will not so farr withdraw his grace from me, but that I shall be able to persevere. If I sin wilfully, I cannot then promise my selfe the grace to returne again; but if I make use of the grace allready afforded me, and by strength thereof stand firme from any such wilfull fall, as I pray, so I hope and trust and am confident that God will never first forsake me in any such degree as shall be destructive or hurtfull to me.

Beth.

9. Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way?††to observe, or, that he may observe thy word, c.by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Blessed Lord, I humbly begge of thee that grace which may be an effectual instrument in thy hand to purge and cleanse my polluted heart and actions in such a degree, that I may be competently inabled for the future to observe and obey thy commands.

10. With my whole heart have I sought thee: Od. let me not wander from thy commandments.

My heart is sincerely and intirely bent to serve thee diligently, to learne my duty, and to performe it: O give me that grace that may sufficiently assist me, and withhold those temptations that may be able to seduce me out of my course of obedience.

11. Thy word have I**laid up foreign hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Thy terrors and promises and commandments have I treasured up in the depth of my soule, as I would doe that which I am to value most pretiously, and to guard most carefully, that so whatsoever the temptation be, I may have within my own breast sufficient to oppose against it; to the bare suggestions of sin, the consideration of thy commands to the contrary; to the tenders of pleasures or profits, &c. thy promises made to obedience, infinitely above the proportion of those advantages; and to the additions of threats, thy terrors and denuntiations against sin, as much above the sise of all those dangers that the devill, or world, or mine own flesh, or phansie can suggest unto me.

12. Blessed art thou, O Lord; teach me thy statutes.

O Lord, I praise and glorify thy name for all thy mercies; and that I may do it so as may be accepted by thee, Lord, give me thy grace, both to know and obey thy commandments, which is the most noble way of glorifying thee, living worthy of so divine a master.

13. With my lips have I declarede. all the judgments of thy mouth.

I have made it one of my special exercises to express to others the venerable opinion I have of thy laws, and that of all and every of them.

14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies, as‖‖for all foreign much as in all riches.

The joy that I have in performing obedience to them is so great, so much exceeding the delight that any worldly man takes in the greatest plenty, that I cannot but express the transportation.

15. I will meditate in thy precepts, and††consider or behold foreign have respect unto thy wayes.

16. I will delight my selfe in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word.

And therefore if I had nothing to consider but these present joyes which result from the service of God, I were most unwise if I should change this study, this exercise, this felicity, for any other, if I should ever forget or forsake the comforts of a pious life.

p. 597Gimel.

17. f.‖‖Render untoDeal bountifully with thy servant,††I will that I may live and keep thy word.

O Lord, I am constantly resolved to obey and adhere to thy known will all the dayes of my life: O make me those gracious returns which thou hast promised to all such.

18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

And what are those? The inlightening and removing all degrees of darkness remaining on my heart, quickening and inlivening my faculties, giving me a vital tast and relish of the delights of that obedience which is performed to thy precepts: which when I have, I shall then truly discern those admirable Divine excellencies of thy Law, those pleasures resulting from the practice of it, which are not to be found any where else, and consequently learn to love, and adore the Author of it, be ravish't and transported with the thought of thee, that hast dealt thus wonderfully with thy servants, given them a rule of life, and promised them eternal felicities as their reward for their being content to be ruled by it; when if we might have been our own choosers, we could not have pitcht on any thing so advantageous and pleasurable to our selves at the present, as this obedience to thy laws will be certainly found to be by any that will experiment it.

19. I am a stranger in the earth; hide not thy commandments from me.

For mine own part, I may truly say, though I am possest of a great sovereignty, am by thy providence placed in a most prosperous condition upon earth, yet in all this secular greatness and plenty I enjoy no more than a meer stranger or lodger, that hath supply for his present necessities, but nothing more: The one true comfort of which I am capable is that of obedience to thy precepts: O let me never be deprived of this advantage and comfort, without which a kingdome is not able to make me tolerably happy.

20. My souleg. **is taken up in longing for, or love to thy—breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

My desires are vehement, languishing, and continual toward thee and thy judgments; I desire to be allwayes imployed and exercised in them, and when I am not, my soule is wholly taken up with a love and desire of them.

21. Thou hast rebuked the proudh. ‖‖cursed are they whichthat are cursed, which do erre from thy commandments.

All disobedient obstinate persons, which stand out against these laws of thine, are sure to be punisht by thee, and eternally accursed and rejected from thee: And indeed their very present course of irrational sottish pride and obstinacy, is a very competent curse unto it selfe, robs them of all the comforts of a pious life, and ingulfes them in many sad miseries in this life, sufficient to denominate them accursed, if there were no arrear of torments and woes in another life.

22. Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have††observed see note a. kept thy testimonies.

But I have carefully observed and practised thy precepts: Lord, doe thou preserve me from all the rebukes or punishments that the malice of men can designe against me.

23. Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and**or men of my counsel my counsellers.

And this I am confident thou wilt doe, and in that confidence I shall not seek out for any other security. Whatsoever conspiracies are laid against me by the greatest Potentates, whatsoever reproaches from my heathen neighbours, depending on their own strength, and deriding my trust in God, they shall not take me off from this one constant exercise, the study and practice of thy law; to these shall I resort, as for all the comforts of my life, the joy and delight of my soule, so for advise and counsel also in time of difficulty and danger, and from thence take my directions how to prevent or avert them.

p. 598Daleth.

25. My soule cleaveth unto the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word.

Whensoever I am cast down in a sight either of my unworthiness, or my sins, 'tis then a season for God to interpose his hand for my comfort and relief: This he hath promised to do for all that are truly humbled, and I doubt not he will in his good time performe it for me.

26. I have declared my wayes, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

As soon as I make my confession to him, and with a sincerely contrite heart petition his pardon, he is graciously pleased to hear my prayer, and to be reconciled with me; and then I may seasonably beg and hope for his grace to support me for my future life, that I may no more fall off and provoke him.

27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts; so shall I‖‖or, meditate foreign talk of thy wondrous works.

Then I may pray for an understanding heart, an experimental knowledge of his easy and gracious yoke, which when I have obteined, I shall be for ever most delightfully exercised in the meditation and discovery of thy most admirable dispensations towards us, especially of that transcendent goodness of thine in pardoning of sins, giving us such admirable precepts, assisting us to the performance of them, accepting our imperfect obedience, and then crowning us for ever for it.

28. My soulei. ††distills, weeps,melteth away for heavinesse;**raise foreign strengthen thou me according to thy word.

My sorrow and vehement contrition, exprest by the tears of my very soule, qualifies me for that comfort and raising up which thou hast promised to all truly humbled sinners.

29. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me thy law graciously.

And then I may be a meet suiter for thy grace, to mortify every wicked desire in me, every false apostatizing or hypocritical affection, and to inliven me to a pious virtuous life, exactly regulated by thy will and word, the richest donative that can be bestowed upon me.

30. I have chosen the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me.

This of obedience and fidelity and sincere adherence to thee, is to me farr more eligible and desirable than the contrary, v. 29. I have therefore proposed to my selfe thy Law as the rule of my life, and stedfastly resolved to direct all my actions by it.

31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame.

And having done so, if I adhere and constantly cleave unto them, persevere as I have resolved, I am sure I shall never be disappointed of my expectations, I shall never miss of the comforts of this life, or the joyes of a better.

32. I will run the way of thy commandments,‖‖because thou hast dilated when thou shaltk. inlarge my heart.

This is matter of infinite delight and pleasure to me, and a special act of thy gracious dealing with us men, to binde up our present joyes in our practice of virtue, to make us at once pious and happy. This shall certainly ingage me to all the speed and diligence of a most alacrious obedience.

He.

33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall††observe i… (see note a.) by way of reward, keep itl. unto the end.

O blessed Lord God, let thy holy spirit direct and guide me in performing an acceptable obedience to thee, and I shall by all lawes of justice and gratitude be ingaged to continue the course with all possible care and diligence.

p. 59934. Give me understanding, and I shall‖‖observe (see note ^a) keep thy Law; yea I shall††watch or keep foreign observe it with my whole heart.

Be thou pleased to illuminate my minde, to remove from me that darkness of spirit that my corruptions and sins have brought upon me, and give me that practical pliableness, and docileness, and humility, that may be assistant to the work, by the continuance of thy grace, to work in me to doe as well as to will, to performe a most carefull, watchfull, diligent, and withall a most impartial uniforme obedience to thee.

35. m.**lead or g…ideMake me to goe in the path of thy commandments, for therein is my delight.

Lord, let me never faile of thy direction and guidance in all the obedience which by thy grace I shall indeavour to performe to thee. There is nothing so pleasurable to me as to be thus exercised and imployed: O do thou conduct, and assist, and direct me in it.

36. Incline mine heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

It is much more desirable to me to be imployed in thy lawes, than in any matter of the greatest secular advantage. O let thy grace so prevent and bend my heart, that this pleasure may still possesse me, and never give place to any secular pursuance or carnality.

37. Turne away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way.

Lord, grant me a strict guard over mine eyes, those inlets of many sins: withdraw me from all delight or complacency in wealth or worldly grandeur, on which the lust of the eye is wont to be placed; in fraile, false, deceitfull beauty, which is apt to accend foule flames within the breast; in any other vain transporting object; and on the contrary inliven and inflame in me all pious and virtuous designes and pursuits.

38. Stablish‖‖to thy servant thy word, which is to the fearing thee. thy word unto thy servant who isn. devoted to thy fear.

There are in thy word, the revelation of thy will to us, the greatest arguments imaginable to ingage us to fear and reverence of and uniforme obedience to thee, promises of the divinest, and terrors of the most formidable sort: To this are the oracles of God all designed, to bring us to the practice of true piety. O grant me that grace that I may never permit these to depart out of my minde, but make use of them constantly to this end to which thou hast designed them, persevere firmely in thy obedience.

39. Turne away my reproach which I fear, for thy judgments are good.

O what a shame and reproach would it be to me, who acknowledge thy yoke to be so easy and pleasurable, the obedience to thy commands so sweet and desirable, ever to fall off from it into any unprofitable work of darkness? This the sight of my own frailty bids me to fear beyond all things, and to be for ever jealous of my selfe in this behalfe. O let thy word and thy grace give me that stability, v. 38. and constancy, that I never thus shamefully miscarry.

40. Behold I have longed after thy precepts; quicken me in thy righteousness.

All that I can say of my selfe is, that I have an ardent desire to obey thee. O let thy grace, which in mercy thou wilt not faile to give to all such that in humility address to thee, excite and inliven me from time to time in all works of obedience to thee, that so I may daily improve in all righteousnesse.

Vau.

41. Let thy mercies come unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation according to thy word.

Lord, be thou graciously pleased to compassionate me, to espouse my cause, to rescue me out of mine enemies hands, according to the promise thou hast made unto me.

42. So shall I††returne a word foreign have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me; for I trust in thy word.

And then I shall be able to make a solid reply to all my despightfull enemies, which are ready to insult over me in any distresse, and upbraid my trust and reliance on thee.

p. 60043. And take not the word of truth‖‖to any great degree (see note b) utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments.

It is thy promise of eternal immutable truth, that thou wilt never forsake them that trust in thee and adhere to thee: O let me never be forsaken by thee in any such eminent degree, that I may doubt of applying this promise to my selfe, and assuming on the strength thereof this assurance, that thou wilt infallibly rescue me.

44. So shall I keep thy Law continually, for ever and ever.

This shall ingage and oblige the constancy of my obedience to thee from this time to the end of my life.

45. And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts.

And being delivered by thee, I will most chearfully and alacriously set to the wayes of all piety, there being no course wherein I shall more delightfully exercise my selfe.

46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before Kings, and will not be ashamed.

Yea I will proclaim and boast of the excellency of thy Law, and the advantages of ordering our lives by it, and recommend it with confidence to the greatest Princes in the world, as that which will inhaunse their crowns, and make them much more glorious and comfortable to them, if they will resolve to guide their lives after this model.

47. And I will delight my selfe in thy commandments, which I have loved.

And for my selfe, as in my love and value of thy precepts I prefer them before all other jewels in the world, so will I entertain and recreate and gratify my selfe by this exercise, the meditation and practice of these, rather than by any other way of divertisement which the world doth most esteem of.

48. My hands also will Io. lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved, and I will meditate in thy statutes.

And this pleasure shall not be an aerial idle speculative pleasure, but such as shall set me vigorously about the practice of all holy obedience to thee; and therein will I constantly and diligently exercise my selfe, and thereby expresse the reality of my love to them.

Zain.

49. Remember the word unto thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope.

50. This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickned me.

O Lord, thou hast made me many most gratious promises, and thereby given me grounds of the most unmoved hope and comfort: And these are able to support and inliven me in the midst of the greatest pressures.

51. The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law.

52. I remembred thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted my selfe.

Atheistical wicked men, when they see me in distress, make a mock at my relyance and trust in God, and think it ridiculous to talk of relief from heaven, when earthly strength faileth. But all their scoffs and bitterest sarcasmes shall not discourage me, or tempt me to forsake my holde. I have many notable illustrious examples of thy power and goodness, of the seasonable interpositions of thy reliefs to thy servants in their greatest distresses; and these being laid to heart have infinitely more force to confirme my faith, than all their Atheistical scoffs to shake it.

53. ††A tempest foreign see Psal. xi. 6.Ps 11:6Horror hath taken hold on me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

Nay these their heathenish discourses have been so farr from working thus on me, that they are matter of great disquiet and commotion and trembling to me, to think of the direfull condition which they are in that have utterly forsaken God and all thought of obedience, that have quite devested themselves as of all hope, so of all dread of him.

p. 60154. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

For my part, what ever can befall me in this fraile transitory life, I can take joy in the commands and promises of God, and ma…e them true real solaces to me in whatsoever distresse, as knowing that I suffer nothing but what God sees to be best for me, and that if I faithfully wait on him, he will in his time give me a seasonable deliverance.

55. I have remembred thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.

56. This I had because I ‖‖observed see note a.kept thy precepts.

With these thoughts of God I have in the solitude and darkness of the night intertained and supported my selfe, and thereby taken up a courage and constancy of resolution never to relinquish this hold for any other. Thus hath God abundantly rewarded my diligence in his service by a pleasure resulting from it, v. 54. by a stedfast unmoveable hope and comfor… in him. v. 50. and by a durable constant resolution of a persevering obedience, never to depart from him.

Cheth.

57. Thou art my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep thy word.

Blessed Lord, of all the possessions and comforts of the world thou onelyonly art worth the having; thy promises are pretious promises, thy commands most excellent divine commands: I have by thy grace deliberately made my choice, preferred these before all the glories of this world, and resolved that thy word shall be my treasure, which I will most diligently preserve.

58. I ††besought thy face foreignintreated thy favour with my whole heart: be mercifull to me according to thy word.

To this thy grace is most necessary, for without it I can doe nothing; for this therefore I make my most humble, sincere, passionate address to thee. O be thou graciously pleased to grant my request, to vouchsafe me this mercy, which thou hast promised never to deny to those that aske, and importunately seek and begg it of thee.

59. I thought on my wayes, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

But neither have I contented my selfe with my bare prayers for strength and grace; I have set to my part, in a diligent examination of my past sins, and a carefull watch over my future actions, and so have forsaken my old wayes, and diligently pursued that course which thou hast prescribed me.

60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

And to this end, I did immediately set out, I made no one minutes stay in so necessary a pursuit, as knowing that the longer I should dally, the more unlikely I should be ever to performe so great a journey.

61. p.The**troopes bands of the wicked have robbed me; but I have not forgotten thy Law.

In my course I have oft met with disturbances, the assaults and injuries of wicked men: but these, how sharp soever they were, have been but exercises of my patience, have not provoked me to do any thing but what best becometh thy servant.

62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.

This, and the many other benefits and advantages of thy Law, and my obedience to it are such, as I am bound to acknowledge all the dayes of my life, and even to interrupt my lawfull sleep and repose, to finde frequent vacancies for so necessary a duty of lauding and magnifying thy mercy.

63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

And for my dayes exercise I endeavour to associate my selfe with all those that serve and obey thee conscientiously, by that society to excite one another, and to attain to some proficiency in so good a work.

64. The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.

O Lord, thy goodness and mercy and grace is abundantly poured out upon the men in the world: O let me enjoy a special degree of it, for the sanctifying my soule, and planting an uniforme obedience to thy commandments in the depth thereof.

p. 602Teth.

65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word.

O Lord, I cannot but acknowledge thy great bounty toward me, to the utmost that any promise of thine gave me confidence to hope.

66. Teach me‖‖or goodness of inclination, or manners goodq. judgment and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments.

I am fully resolved to adhere to and obey thy precepts: O be thou pleased by thy grace to rectify my inclinations and natural bent of minde, to worke all corruption, perverseness or contumacy out of it, and then to illuminate my understanding, to give me that knowledge of my duty, and that resolvedness of minde, that I may never swerve from it.

67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.

To this end I must acknowledge the chastizements and afflictions which thou hast sent me, to have been very advantageous and instrumental to me: I was out of the way, but thy rod hath reduced and brought me into it againe.

68. Thou art good, and dost good: teach me thy statutes.

Thou art a gratious father, and all that thou dost is acts of grace and goodness, even the sharpest of thy administrations v. 67. (see Rom. viii. 28.) are sent by thee as that which is absolutely best for us. O lead and direct and assist me in thy obedience, and then I have no farther care to exercise me.

69. The proud have forged a lye against me; but I will††observe see note a. keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

My malicious adversaries have contrived slanders against me: But I shall not be much concerned in their practices. I shall indeavour carefully to preserve my conscience upright to God, and then not fear their suggestions or machinations.

70. Their heart is**gross as it were with fat. as fat asr. grease; but I delight in thy law.

They are obstinately and imperswasibly bent upon their course, and please themselves very much in it: But I shall not envy their felicities, but take infinitely more pleasure in a strict adherence to thy law, than they in all their impieties.

71. It was good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.

Nay the afflictions and chastizements thou hast sent me, are to me much more beneficial and valuable than all their prosperity can be to them, being very contributive to the reforming what was amisse, and so most wholsome profitable discipline to me. v. 67.

72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

And all the wealth in the world is not near so considerable to me as this.

Jod.

73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me▪ give me understanding, that I may know thy commandements.

Lord, thou art the author of my life and being, I am a mear creature of thy forming, and therefore obliged by that title to pay thee all the obedience of my life: Lord, be thou pleased by thy grace to instruct and assist me to it.

74. They that fear thee‖‖shall see me and be glad foreign will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in thy word.

By this means shall I be cause of joy to all pious men, who know that I have depended on thy promised assistances, when they see me thus answered and supported by thee.

p. 60375. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are††righteousnesse foreign right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

All the dispensations of thy providence, O Lord, be they never so sharp, are, I am confident, made up of perfect justice; and not only so, but it is an act of thy sovereign mercy, which thou hadst promised to make good to me, to send me such afflictions as these. These are but a necessary discipline, and so a mercy to me; and having promised not to deny me real and principal mercies, thou wert obliged in fidelity thus to send them.

76. Let, I pray thee, thy mercifull kindness be my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

But there is one mercy more of which I am capable, thy savour and loving-kindness, thy sealing pardon and peace unto my soule, (and that thou hast promised me also) and if thou affordest me this, it will be an allay abundantly sufficient to all my afflictions

77. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live; for in thy Law is my delight.

Without this favourable aspect of thine, I am even a dead man; thy restoring it to me will raise me as it were from death to life, there being now no joy that I take in the world, but in thy favour and my obedience. And this I hope may render me capable of this mercy from thee.

78. Let the proud be ashamed, for they**have depraved, perverted me foreign dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

My malicious enemies have without all guilt of mine accused, defamed, and depraved my actions: this shall bring shame and mischief as well as disappointment to them, but shall never disturbe me in my course of obedience; by that I hope I shall refute all their calumnies.

79. Let those that fear thee turne unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.

And as long as all that truly fear thee, and have lived conscientiously in thy service, continue faithfull to me, I have no reason to wonder at the defection of others. But if any man that is truly pious be seduced by their slanders, and ingaged against me, Lord, in mercy to them be thou pleased to disabuse and reduce them.

80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.

As for me, I desire and beg of thee, that if there be any degree of unsincerity in me, any spared sin still remaining, it may be effectually wrought out of my heart, that I may approach thee with confidence, and never be in danger of being rejected by thee.

Caph.

81. My soule**or hath longed foreign fainteth for thy salvation: ‖‖I have expected foreignbut I hope in thy word.

82. Mine eyes††or long foreign faile for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

83. For I am become like a bottle in thes. smoak; yet do I not forget thy statutes.

It is long, O Lord, that I have‖‖affectionately inclineth, Jewish Arab. waited and attended with great desire for deliverance from thee, the expectation hath even worne me out; yet have I not forsaken my hope, or permitted my selfe to be tempted to any sin, whether of impatience, or applying my selfe to any indirect means for my relief, but remain still confident that thou wilt in thy good time still send me release.

84. t.How many**or, dayes are appointed are the dayes of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

How long, Lord, wilt thou permit this weight to continue upon me? and not take my part against my enemies, punishing or restraining them, and delivering me out of their hands?

85. u.The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy Law.

Wicked malicious men have dealt most treacherously and injuriously with me.

p. 60486. All thy commandments are faithfull: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.

Thou obligest us to observe all justice, charity, and fidelity one toward another, and their practices toward me are quite contrary, most unjust, treacherous, and uncharitable. This ingageth thee to own and protect me, and thereby to evidence thy fidelity not only in thy promises, but in thy commands. For as thy fidelity in thy promises is then demonstrated, when those that depend on them are not frustrated in their expectations; so doth thy fidelity in thy commandments consist in this, that no man really miscarries that adheres and performes constant obedience to them: though thou permit wicked men to prosper in their oppressions for a while, yet in thy good time thou appearest for the repressing the wicked, and vindicating the cause of the oppressed. O let me have my part in this at this time.

87. They had allmost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.

They were very near destroying me, my danger was very great and imminent; Yet, blessed be the power of thy supporting grace, I have not been tempted to forsake my adherence to thee, or to doubt of thy seasonable reliefs.

88. Quicken me after thy loving kindness: so shall I keep the testimonies of thy mouth.

Be thou now pleased to bestow them on me, to make good thy wonted constant bounty and compassion toward me, and thereby to cherish and inliven me, and by incouraging to ingage the perseverance of my obedience to thee.

Lamed.

89. ‖‖Thou art for ever, O Lord.w.For ever, O Lord, thy word is setled in heaven.

Blessed Lord, thou art the one eternal everlasting God, and thy word is of eternal truth.

90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.

91. They continue††or to this day (see note w.) this day according to**thy judgements thine ordinance: for all are thy servants.

All thy promises have their constant completion, thou dost whatsoever thou pleasest, and never failest in whatsoever thou promisest. This thy promise and fidelity reacheth to the whole world, this lower part of it here on earth; that as well as the heavens was created by thee, setled in a course which it keeps with the same constancy that the heavens observe in their motion; thine appointment gives law to all, and there is not the least thing done among us without thy praescience, providence, and wise disposals, to which all things in the world are subjected.

92. Unless thy Law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction.

This thy constant fidelity, in performing all thou promisest, in supporting thy faithfull servants, and never permitting them to be tempted above what they are able to bear, and at length giving them a passage out of their pressures, hath been matter of most pleasant meditation to me, and supported me miraculously in my affliction, which would probably have sunk and drowned me with the weight, if it had not been for this.

93. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickned me.

And for this most pretious benefit of thy Law, that it yeelds such supports in our pressures, I will remember, and prise, and cleave fast to it as long as I live.

94. I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.

These advantages assuredly belong to all thy faithfull clients, that sincerely attend and performe obedience to thee. I can confidently place my selfe in that number: O be thou now pleased to reach out thy promised deliverance to me.

95. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me:**I but I will consider thy testimonies.

Meanwhile whatever mischief is designed me by wicked men, my resort shall be to thy word, in that I will exercise my selfe, and think my selfe most safe in thy tuition.

p. 60596. I have seen‖‖the extent anx. end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.

There shall I have full space to entertain my selfe, a plentifull store of ingredients to make applications to every malady, to quiet every doubt that can rise in my soule: which way soever else I betake my selfe, I shall suddenly come to a stand or nonplus, all other wayes of supporting my selfe will soon faile; but the width and amplitude of thy commandments is infinite, the contemplations, and assistances, and securities that they yeeld, the promises that are annext to them, are sure to continue my never-failing comforts.

Mem.

97. O how love I thy Law! It is my meditation all the day.

It is an infinite, inexpressible delight and joy, that I take in the consideration of the depths and various excellencies of the Law of God. There is no objection which I can so pleasantly and contentedly spend all my thoughts and my time.

98. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for††that is foreign they are ever with me.

And by this means, by fixing my meditation, designing my study thus profitably, the wisdome which I have acquired, the skill of bearing, waiting, attending Gods leisure, of thinking that every affliction comes from God, and tends to my greatest good, and that when release is more for my turne, I shall be sure to have it, the assurance that my adherence and constancy of obedience to God is the surest way to my present ease and future release, the several branches of that divine wisdome, (see Paraph. on Jam. 1.5.) is a farre more profitable and secure fortification to me than all their worldly wisdome and secular policy is to my enemies, which think thereby to over reach and ruine me.

99. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation.

100. I understand more than the antients, because I ††observe (see note ^•)keep thy precepts.

This kinde of spiritual wisdome or prudence, for the managing all the actions of my life most advantageously, in whatsoever state, which the Law of God instructs me in, is infinitely to be preferred before all other knowledge of the Scribes and Elders, the deepest sages in the world.

101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep thy word.

102. I have not departed from thy judgments; for thou hast taught me.

In this I am instructed by God himselfe, who is sure the most excellent teacher: and the excellency of this knowledge is, that it is not a bare speculative, but an effective practical knowledge, that teaches me to adhere to Gods precepts impartially, uniformely, universally, and to keep a strict close hand over my affections, that they lead me not into any sinfull course.

103. How sweet are thy words unto my taste? yea sweeter than honey to my mouth.

And what pleasure or delight is there in the world, what most transporting delicacy, that most affects mens senses at the present (and if it be liberally taken upon that invitation, brings satiety and bitterness and pangs after it in the stomach, for so honey doth, Prov. xxv. 16.27.) is any way comparable to this, which as in the consequents it is most salubrious and profitable, so at the very instant of the making use of it is most extremely delectable to any man that hath a palate qualified for such delicates.

104. Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

And the advantages it brings are not inferior to the pleasure: He that is not thus studied and instructed, is apt to be seduced and insnared in many deceitfull and mischievous lusts; but this instruction will keep men from that danger, give them a timely knowledge, and beget in them an hatred and abhorrence of all such fallacious flattering pleasures, which mean us no kindness, but treachery and the utmost malice.

p. 606Nun.

Thy law is the onelyonly guide and director of all my actions.105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.

106. I have sworne and I will performe it, that I will keep‖‖the judgements of thy righteouseness, foreign thy righteous judgments.

And being instructed in that, both what my duty is, and what the means that may be safely relyed on for the performance of it, thy grace to be obteined by constant prayer and vigilance, diligence and indeavour to receive and make use of that grace, and withall being by my admission into the number of thy people entred into a solemn sacramental covenant to performe obedience to those commands wherein God hath commanded us to walke, (and an obedience to which he hath in that covenant promised to justify and accept us, and without which either constantly performed, or returned unto by a sincere repentance, and persevering reformation, he will neither justify nor accept us) I am now most indispensably ingaged, and most nearly concerned to performe this obedience uprightly.

107. I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word.

Lord, thou hast promised to relieve, and support, and refresh the afflicted: be thou now pleased accordingly to reach out thy hand to me, and seasonably to restore and revive me.

108. Accept I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.

Lord, I have nothing to present to thee but my prayers and praises; those are my richest oblations, which I most chearfully address to thee, acknowledgments of thy former, and petitions for thy continued deliverances, Lord, be thou gratiously pleased to accept these, and to adde this constant mercy to all other, thy grace to instruct, and excite, and assist me in a sincere obedience to thy commandments.

109. My soule is continually in myy. hand; yet doe I not forget thy Law.

110. The wicked have laid a snare for me; yet I erred not from thy precepts.

My malicious enemies have very treacherous designes against my life, I am in continual danger of being siezed on and destroyed by them; yet shall not this feare amate, or diverte me from a most vigilant attendance on thee, and constant performance of obedience to thee. My dangers, be they never so great, shall not discourage or slacken my diligence in attending to and relying on thee, from whom I am sure (or from none) my deliverance must come.

111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoycing of my heart.

112. I have inclined my heart to performe thy statutes allway††or, by way of returne (see note k.) even to the end.

Whatever afflictions or distresses thou sendest, or permittest to fall on me, I have all reason to take them in good part, having also so rich a portion as I have, that of thy Law and covenant and promised mercies: These are an inheritance that will never faile me, the most joyous and blissfull that can be; to which therefore by all obligations of justice and gratitude I am bound to performe my constant obedience. And this I shall carefully do, and all little enough by way of returne to so superlative a mercy.

Samech.

113. I hate**those that think evill vainez. thoughts, but thy Law doe I love.

Wicked men I detest and fly from and have no such pleasure and joy, as the meditation and practice of all holy duties.

114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

When any distresse approaches, to thee I betake my selfe for relief and succour: thy promises are my safe and constant refuge, on them I can chearfully depend, and am confident to be defended by thee.

p. 607115. Depart from me, ye evill doers, for I will‖‖observe see note a. keep the commandments of my God.

I have no need of the aids that wicked men can suggest unto me, and as little am I concerned in their scoffs, whereby they indeavour to weaken my confidence: I will admit of no other policies but those of studying and practising his commandments, who I am sure will continue stedfast to me, if I doe not forsake him.

116. Uphold me according to thy word, that I may live; and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

He hath promised me his support, and will undoubtedly make it good unto me, and in his time rescue me out of the saddest estate, he will certainly answer, and never disappoint this confidence. O be thou now pleased to interpose thy hand, effectually to defend and relieve me.

117. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe; and I ††shall delight my selfe foreign see v. 16. and 47.will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

Thus if thou dost, I am then most certainly provided for. What greater safety can I desire, than the guard and tuition of the divine providence? There shall I repose my selfe most chearfully, and account it a continued felicity of my life that I am thus part of thy care, considered and protected by thee.

118. Thou hast trodden down all them that erre from thy statutes; for their**cunning foreign deceit is falsehood.

Wicked men have no other wisdome or policy but that of their falsehood and deceitfullnesse; their lying and treacherous imposing on the simplicity and uprightnesse of honest men, is the only advantage they have above others: and this being so contrary to all laws of God and man, to justice and charity and common ingenuity, but especially an affront to God, a setting ones selfe in opposition to his rules and methods, God is ingaged sooner or later to pluck off this visard, to bring disappointments and ruine on those that make use of such impieties.

119. Thou‖‖destroyest the drosse, all— puttest away all the wicked of the earth like[&.] dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

The wicked men of the world, compared to the righteous, are but as so much drosse to good metall: And the judgments of God, which are as searching and discerning as fire, will certainly make this separation, first purge out the drosse, divide it from the purer metall, and then preserve one, and destroy the other. And this consideration, if there were no other, is certainly sufficient to ingage every wise man to the approbation and liking of the Law of God, as that in compliance with which our temporal as well as eternal safety doth consist.

120. My flesh††is in horror foreign aa.trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.

As on the other side, to set every man living a trembling, and to keep every pious man in that dread of Gods judgments, as never to dare to doe any thing but what is perfectly acceptable in his sight, lest he fall justly under this vengeance.

Ain.

121. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

122. **or interposeBebb. surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.

Lord, I have not done any wrong to them that are most forward to mischief me: I have none to fly unto but thee. Be thou pleased to take my part, to interpose for me, to deliver me out of their hands.

123. Mine eyes faile for thy salvation, and for thecc. word of thy righteousness.

124. Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.

I have long waited and expected deliverance from thee, continually hoping that thou wouldest at length send me some message of mercy: O be thou pleased to afford it me out of thy never-failing compassion to all that want and waite for thee, and both then and now direct me, which way I may performe to thee most acceptable service.

125. I am thy servant, give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.

Lord, there is nothing that I designe to my selfe but the approving my obedience to thee: O give me that grace that may direct and inable me to do it sincerely and faithfully.

p. 608126. Itdd. is time‖‖to performe to the Lord for thee, O Lord, to worke, for they have made void thy Law.

And this the more seasonably now, when mine enemies despise and contemne Gods Law. The more confidently they do so, the more are all pious men ingaged to performe exact obedience to it, if it be but to resist that torrent, to hold up virtue in some kinde of reputation among men.

127. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea above††or topaz…redge… see note on Ps. xix. f.Ps 19 fine gold.

And upon this account I doe profess to prize and value the performance of obedience to thee before all the greatest wealth in the world.

128. Therefore**all thy precepts, even all I have approved— I ee.esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.

And indeed I have not the least exceptions to any law of thine, but most uniformely and impartially imbrace them all, and every one single, and utterly dislike and detest the courses of all wicked men.

Pe.

129. Thy testimonies are wonderfull; therefore doth my soule‖‖observe (see note ^a) keep them.

The Law of God is made up all of wonderfull and excellent ingredients, prescribes us those things which are admirably the most desirable of all other things to any rational man: The consideration of which makes me study and search into them, and observe them most diligently.

130. ff.The††opening entrance of thy word giveth light: it giveth understanding to the simple.

And by doing so I learne and discern many mysteries. The most ignorant natural man, if he will enter seriovsly into this study, and apply the several branches of thy Law as his rule of ordering all the actions of his life, will by this have his eyes opened and illuminated, and discerne that there is no such solid substantial wisdome as this.

131. I opened my mouth and**gasped foreign panted; for I longed for thy commandments.

This have I suckt in with the greatest appetite, the most insatiable thirst, having a most vehement passionate desire toward it, as that which is of all things really the most delectable.

132. Look thou upon me, and be mercifull unto me,‖‖according to the manner toward foreign as thou usest to doe to those that love thy name.

Lord, it is thy constant wont and method, to incourage all those that sincerely love and serve thee, to poure on them all manner of expressions of thy favovr and mercy: O be thou thus pleased to deale with me at this time, who desire and hope to be found in that number.

133. Order my steps in thy word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Of this thy mercy I beseech thee to grant me that constant assistance of thy spirit, which may support and guide me in a regular obedience to thy commands, and rescue me from the power of every known sin, let not any such be ever able to gaine consent from, or command over my will.

134. Deliver me from the oppression of man; so will I keep thy precepts.

Wicked men are forward to oppress and injure me: O be thou pleased to interpose for my rescue, and it shall ingage me to a constant observation of all thy commandments.

135. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy statutes.

Lord, be thou pleased to look favourably upon me, and by thy special grace and guidance to direct me to a conscientious practice of all duty toward thee.

136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy Law.

The great universal impiety of men is a most sad spectacle, fit to be washed in whole floods of tears, to be matter of humiliation and lamentation to all pious beholders.

p. 609Tsaddi.

137. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.

138. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are‖‖justice and truth exceedingly foreign exceeding righteous and faithfull.

Thy Law, O Lord, and all thy dispensations are, as thou thy selfe, most eminently and superlatively righteous, commanding those things which all moral justice and fidelity exacts, and forbidding those which have a natural turpitude and indispensable sinfulnesse in them.

139. My zealegg. hath††constreined consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

The consideration of which puts me into a kinde of indignation and vehement displeasure at mine enemies at this time; not so much for mine own sufferings, as that rational men should so farre depart from all obligations of piety, justice, common humanity, and even their own interests, as to neglect the practice of those commands which are so eminently just, v. 138.

140. Thy word is**tried in the fire foreign very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.

Thy whole Law is most exactly formed, as metall refined from all drosse, no least corruption or meane allay to be found in it: And this is the just ground of the extreme love and value I beare to it.

141. I am small and despised; yet do I not forget thy precepts.

And as mean and contemptible a person as I am, either really in my selfe, or in the opinion of other men, yet am I carefull to uphold this reputation and credit with God, that I am his faithfull servant.

142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy Law is the truth.

The things which thou commandest are of eternal truth and goodnesse; no time shall ever come that the Law which thou hast given to mankinde to guide their actions by (that of loving of God above all, and our neighbours as our selves) shall be out-dated or unseasonable.

143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; but thy commandments are my delight.

144. The righteousnesse of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

And this eternal justice of thy precepts, as it is matter of infinite advantage in many other respects, so is it more especially in this, that it yields the greatest joy and comfort in time of afflictions, through the conscience of duty, and the chearfull reflections on afflicted innocency. And if God grant a man that grace of regulating his actions according to that divine rule, 'tis not then in the power of the world to make him miserable.

Koph.

145. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord; I will‖‖observe (see note ^a) keep thy statutes.

146. I cried unto thee: save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.

Lord, in my distresses have I called and invoked thee, addrest my selfe to thee for thy seasonable rescue and deliverance: grant it me now, I beseech thee, and I will faithfully returne thee the sincere obedience of my whole life.

147. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried; I hoped in thy word.

148. Mine eyes preventhh. the††watches night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

The comfort and repose that I take in meditating on thy word, and the hope that at length thou wilt hear my prayers, is such, that I come to this double exercise with the greatest appetite, get up early in the morning, and all the day long …ntertaine my selfe most delightfully therein.

p. 610149. Hear my voice according to thy loving kindness, O Lord: quicken me according to thy judgment.

150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief, they are farre from thy Law.

O Lord, my enemies are maliciously resolved against me, they forsake thee, and contrary to all justice approach and endeavour to mischief me: O be thou pleased to confirme thy wonted goodness toward me, and of thy mercy rescue me out of their hands.

151. Thou art near, O Lord, and all thy commandements are true.

152. Concerning thy testimonies I have known of old, that thou hast founded them for ever.

But they cannot be so near to mischief me, as thou, O Lord, art nigh and ready for my defence and support. Thou art made up of mercy and fidelity; thy promises and decrees of caring for those that adhere to thee are most firme, constant and immutable. This I am not now to learne; I have allwayes, since I knew any thing of thee, resolved of the truth of it.

Resh.

153. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; for I do not forget thy Law.

154. Plead my cause, and deliver me; quicken me according to thy word.

Lord, my pressures and enemies are great, but my trust is constantly reposed in thee, that thou wilt be the friend and advocate of the afflicted, as thou hast promised thou wilt: O be thou now pleased to make good this mercy to me, and raise me out of this desolate condition.

155. Salvation is farre from the wicked; for they seek not thy statutes.

156. Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord; quicken me according to thy judgments.

In this estate I am sure to have no relief from wicked men, but on the contrary, all accumulations and increase of misery; they delight in that more than in any works of justice or mercy. But the lesse I have to expect from men, the more I am confident to receive from God, whose mercies are beyond the proportion of their cruelties. O be thou now pleased to bestow this thy promised seasonable relief upon me.

157. Many are my persecuters and mine enemies: yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.

158. I beheld the transgressors and was‖‖or wearied or troubled grieved, because they keep not thy word.

Though my enemies daily increase in number and malice, yet shall they not be able to prevaile, to weary me out of my constancy, affiance and obedience to thee. All the passion they shall excite in me is, that of excessive trouble and sorrow to see men so desperately and obstinately oppugne and disobey the commands of God.

159. Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness.

160. ††The beginning of thy word is truth— foreignThy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Lord, I appeal to thee, whether my obedience to thy commands have not been sincere, and such as to which thou hast promised thy mercies: O then be pleased to bestow them on me. For of this I am sure, that thy promises are most constantly performed: They are faithfull, and of eternal truth, and never faile any that are qualified to receive them.

Schin.

161. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

'Tis not the power or malice of the world, though exercised never so virulently and causelessely against me, which shall any way provoke me to forsake my obedience to thee.

p. 611162. I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoile.

But on the contrary, my adherence to thee, and the comforts which thy Law and the promises annext to it afford me, are matter of as great rejoycing and triumph and exultation to me, as the richest and most gainfull victory could be to any worldly man.

163. I hate and abhorre lying; but thy Law doe I love.

The false, deceitful practices of ungodly men, whereby they advance their interests, are most degenerous and unworthy of any ingenuous man; I cannot but detest and have an aversion to them: whereas the wayes which are prescribed by God of adherence to him, in the practice of all works of justice and charity, are most amiable and eligible.

164. Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.

I can never admire and magnify sufficiently the divine excellency of Gods most righteous Law. If I had nothing but that to make matter of my lauds, I would think my selfe obliged every day seven set times to make my solemn addresses to God, to praise his blessed name (and offer up my prayers to him.)

165. Great peace have they which love thy Law, ii.and‖‖there is no scandal to them. nothing shall offend them.

There is no such prosperity and felicity in this world, as that of those who take delight in the commands of God, and the practice of all duty: They shall be in no danger of any of those snares and temptations which the world is full of, and which frequently bring other men to sin and ruine. The pleasure they take in duty will with them infinitely outweigh all the pitifull transient delights or advantages that can offer themselves as the bait to any unlawfull commission.

166. Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.

167. My soule hath kept thy testimonies, and loved them exceedingly.

168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies; for all my wayes arekk. before thee.

Accordingly thus have I indeavoured to secure my selfe from all such dangers; whatsoever my pressures have been, I have reposed my trust in thee, relyed on thee for deliverances, kept close to thy commandements, and so qualified my selfe to receive them, and withall laboured to approve the sincerity of my obedience to thee, not only by doing what thou commandest, but even by loving and liking that better than any thing else, by applying all my endeavours to walke piously and acceptably in thy sight, laying all my actions open and naked before thee (for thee to judge whether there be any the least malignity in them.) And by so doing, by keeping my selfe for ever as in thy allseeing presence, I have performed an uniforme faithfull obedience to thee.

Tau.

169. Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.

170. Let my supplications come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

O Lord, I humbly addresse my prayer unto thee in this time of my distresse, and beseech thee first to bestow on me that wisdome (see Jam. i. 5.) which may support me and direct me to order all my actions aright in all the pressures thou shalt permit or appoint to lye upon me, and then to interpose thy hand, and give me a seasonable deliverance out of them.

171. My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

172. My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteous.

Thus shalt thou oblige me to blesse and praise thy name, thy mercies and the perfect uprightnesse of all both thy commands and promises, when those that thus adhere to and depend on thee are supported and delivered by thee.

p. 612173. Let thine hand‖‖be for my helpe foreign helpe me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord, and thy Law is my delight.

Lord, I beseech thee interpose thy hand for my relief. And if my obedience to thy Law, and not onelyonly so, but my taking more pleasure in it, valuing it more than all other things in the world, together with my constant dependance on thee for my deliverance, may give me a capacity of this mercy, thou wilt not deny it me, who am by thy grace in some measure thus qualified.

175. Let my soule live, and it shall praise thee: and let thy judgments helpe me.

Lord, grant me this thy mercy of seasonable preservation at this time, succour me according to thy promised and wonted mercies; so shall my life, twice received from thee, in my birth and in this my preservation, be, as in all justice it ought, for ever dedicated to thy service.

176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.

I have been driven from place to place, in perpetuall hazards and distresses, flying and desolate, as a partridge on the mountains; thou hast justly permitted me to be persecuted by my enemies, to wander up and down, as a silly sheep driven by the wolfe, and scattered from the sold: Lord, I repent me of all my former sins, and shall unfeinedly set my selfe to the performance of new obedience all my dayes: Be thou pleased to consider my afflictions, and in thy good time to relieve and restore me.

Annotations on Psalm CXIX.

a.V. 1. Way] 'Tis usually observed that the composure of this Psalm doth affect the frequent reflections on the Law of God in the several parts and appellations of it,foreign and those are observable to be no less then eleven, foreign, Kimchi adventures to give the critical several importance of each of these words. foreign,foreign saith he, is the foreign setting down of duties, how they are to be done, as 'tis said Lev. vi. 17. this is the Law of the sin-offering &c. (R. Gaon saith 'tis the speculative part of the Law;) foreign is foreign, the rule upon which the precepts are grounded, as, Be holy because God is holy, mercifull as he is mercifull, (referring probably to Moses's request to see God's way;) foreign foreignsignifies those precepts whose reason is not known, as the purification of the (legally) unclean, not wearing linsey-wolsey,foreign and foreign, the judgments that pass betwixt a man and his neighbour; foreign foreignthe precepts that are for a testimony, or faederal commemoration, as Sabbath Feasts, Phylacteries, &c.foreign foreign those precepts which reason teacheth, that are as it were (according to the notion of foreign) deposited in our nature. And so on in the rest. But these without question are indistinctly & promiscuously used through this Psalm. Proportionably the practice of these commandments is exprest in as great variety, by walking, seeking, keeping, &c. Of the last of these it is not amiss to adde a little in this first place, once for all. The Hebrew foreign foreignv. 2. (as also v. 34, 69, 115, 129.) is by the Lxxii. rendred foreign, by the Latine scrutantur, searching or seeking out. So again Psal. xxv. 10. they render it foreign seek out, as here v. 22. foreign I have sought, and v. 33. foreign I will seek, and v. 100. And this the Hebrew well bears from foreign custodivit, curavit, watching or taking care of, looking diligently after, as those that search p. 613and seek do. And so the Arab notion of the same word (which changing צ into ט they make foreign) well accords, being to behold, contemplate, consider, observe; and so likewise the Chaldee and Syriack use foreign exactly to the same sense: and so it here best accords with that which follows, seeking him with the whole heart. And this is better and with more clearnesse rendred observe (for that fitly signifies watching, or looking to) than keep, which ordinarily denotes no more than performing them. This is the foreign diligently seeking of God, Heb. xi. 6. and contains more than a resolution and purpose to obey God, a studying his precepts, seeking out means to facilitate the performance of them, and an exact care and diligence in the use of them. The word is here in the participle, and so agrees with the foregoing foreign the perfect (or undefiled, foreign, say the Lxxii.) and foreign the walkers, or they that walke. And although what follows be in the future and preter tense, foreign and foreign and foreign, shall seek, done, walked; yet are they all to be rendred in Syntaxis with the former, they that seek, that doe, that walke, all making up the subject to which the blessedness belongs. And so doth the Jewish Arab take them, and therefore v. 3. repeats again, & blessed he that doth not iniquity also, & hath gone in his ways or paths.

V. 8. Utterly] The Hebrew foreign b.here and v. 43. is literally, unto very much. foreignSo the Lxxii. render it foreign, i. e. to any high degree, the Chaldee foreign unto all at once, but the Syriack foreign for ever, both referring it to the time, whereas the Hebrew seems rather to the degree, from the noune that signifies multitude, plenty, abundance. And then Gods not forsaking in any eminent degree, as it conteins his not forsaking alltogether or for ever, so it is somewhat more than that, and a greater priviledge of a pious man, this, not to be forsaken in any eminent degree, than not to be forsaken eternally, whatsoever the degree be at present. v. 4 'tis said that God hath commanded his precept to be kept foreign very much, not to be heard, & talked of, but obeyed; and here v. 8. having said, he hath decred thus to keep them, he begs, keep me in proportion, at least forsake me not foreign to any great degree.

V. 9. By taking heed] Two difficulties c.there are in this place: first, how foreign must be rendred;foreign then how foreign. For the first, it is in all reason, from the force of the preposition ל, and by analogy with the use of it v. 4, & 5. to be rendred, to observe, or guard, or keep, i. e. as the end of his cleansing his wayes precedent, that he may do it. So the Chaldee and Syriack understood it; the former reteining the Hebrew preposition ל, foreign to observe; the latter expressing it by foreign that he may observe. And so the Jewish Arab, Beholde I seek by what a man may cleanse his wayes that he may keep them in or by thy precepts, foreign. And though the Lxxii. have foreign, from whence the Latine and others have their in custodiendo, in or by keeping; yet 'tis frequently observable, that their foreign is used for foreign, and so is to be rendred not in, or by, but to. And so 'tis certain that every young man will have speciall need of some purgatives, the preventing grace of God, to purge and cleanse his wayes, to worke out his natural corruptions, and actual contracted pollutions, (which will otherwise extremely incumber him in the course) that he may be, in any competent measure, qualified for the observing of Gods commandments. For the second, 'tis very ordinary for prepositions to be redundant, and then foreign foreignwill be best rendred as if it were foreign thy word: so the p. 614Lxxii. read foreign thy words, and the Syriack foreign thy commandments; and the Latine accords with them. And so the whole verse will be best rendred as one intire question, Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his wayes, that he may observe thy word? To which question seeing there follows no distinct answer in the next words, it is to be understood as a poetick forme of prayer poured out to God for that grace whereby young men may cleanse, and without which they have nothing in themselves to do it.

d.V. 10. Let me not wander] The Hebrew foreign foreignis here in the conjugation Hiphil, from foreign to be ignorant, or erre. Now of that conjugation the Hebrews observe, that as it signifies sometimes no more than to permit, so it sometimes notes to cause, sometimes to occasion that which the verbe imports. Consequently the word here taken in that forme is capable of these three interpretations, to cause to erre, to deceive, to seduce. So Deut. xxvii. 18. foreign he that maketh the blinde to wander. And in this sense the Psalmists prayer could not probably be conceived, that God would not cause him to erre, seduce him, deceive him; for whatsoever his condition were, this would not be looked on as possible for God (to deceive any, in this sense of causing to erre,) nor consequently be so sollicitously averted. For though of the false Prophet Ezec. xiv. it be said, if he be deceived, when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived him; yet the deceiving there is not the causing him to believe or foretell that false thing, but the disappointing him, doing the contrary to what he hath prophesied. He was first deceived or seduced; so the text hath it, A prophet foreign when he is seduced, foreign and speaketh a word; i. e. prophesieth what he hath no commission from God to prophesie, I the Lord, saith God, foreign have deceived, (or as the Chaldee foreign I will make him erre, and the Syriack foreign I will, in the future, so the preter in prophesies is oft taken for the future) I will deceive that Prophet, i. e. I will falsify or frustrate him and his prediction, when he predicts peace, I will send destruction; for so it follows, I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the face of the earth: which certainly God would not do, if he had been the cause of his error, or sin of prophesying as he did. It remains then, that the Psalmists prayer is to be understood here either in the first or in the third sense. The first, that of the non-permission, is not so probable, for it is the common state of good men here to be still left peaceable, so as not to be totally restreined and hindred (and so not permitted) to fall into sin (if it be in this sense, it must be of not being permitted to be tempted above their strength.) 'Tis more probable to be understood in the third sense, of Gods doing nothing that may occasion their wandering from his comm…ndments. This God may be said to doe, when he withdraws sufficient grace, leaves a man or delivers him up to himselfe. But that God by the tenure of Evangelical mercy will not do, unless we first leave him. And therefore the Psalmist that can say, as here he doth, with my whole heart have I sought thee, may pray in faith, found his request on Gods promise, that he will not thus leave him, deliver him up to wander from his commandments. The Lxxii. read here foreign, the Latine nè repellas, repell me not from thy commandments: but they sure are to be understood in this notion of the p. 615forme Hiphil, abdicate me not (so foreign were more fitly rendred) not, drive me not away, in that vulgar notion of repelling, but repudiate me not, forsake me not, deny me not that grace which is necessary to my adhering to thy commandments.

e.V. 13. All the judgments] In this place it is observable that the Jewish Arab for foreign foreignall reads many, in relation probably to that opinion of theirs, that therefore God gave many Commandments to them, that though they did not all, by doing others they might be saved.

f.V. 17. Deale bountifully] foreign foreignwhich signifies either to do good, or to render and returne good, is here by the antient interpreters rendred in the latter notion, the Chaldee foreign retribute good, the Lxxii. foreign retribute, the Latine and Aethiopick follow them, retribue servo tuo, the Syriack (and with them the Arabick) foreign hearken to thy servant, in the notion of answering, which is all one with that of returning. This makes it reasonable to resolve, that what follows in the verse is in sense to precede, as that to which the returne is begged as a reward, though not of debt, yet of pact and mercy. And then it must not be rendred, that I may live— but simply, I will live, and keep thy word: and so indeed the Hebrew exacts, foreign foreignI shall or will live— so the Chaldee also without any addition or paraphrase, foreign I will live, and the Lxxii. foreign I will live. Yet the Syriack have foreign that I may live, and so the Aethiopick; the Arabick, that he, i. e. thy servant, may live, agreeable enough to their former rendring of foreign hearken. But the Latine depart from all, and read, vivifica me & custodiam— inliven me and I shall keep thy words, a paraphrase no doubt of the Syriacks rendring, hear that I may live, for that is all one with inlivening: And the Jewish Arab, And in bounty give life to thy servant, that I may keep thy commandments. But the rendring of the Chaldee and Lxxii. I have chosen to adhere to, as being most literal, and most commodious to connect with the insuing words; and the rather, because in the next verse, where the phrase is of that scheme wherein the Syriack here taketh it, Open— that I may— the Hebrew scheme differs from what here it is, foreign, not Open— I shall, but Open, and I shall— the forme, we know, that every where imports as we render it, that I may.

V. 20. Breaketh] The Hebrew g.foreign foreign, which is but once more used in the Bible, Lam. iii. 16. and there signifies to break, hath in the Chaldee a metaphorical signification, for being taken up, being imploied, studying, vehement desire. So when Prov. v. 19. the Hebrew hath foreign, which we render being ravisht with her love, the Targum reads foreign being wholly taken up with it. From thence is foreign a student or scholar. And in this metaphorical (not that other literal) sense the word seems here to be used, foreign my soule is wholly taken up, or imployed, foreign with the desire or longing it hath— The Chaldee reads foreign my soule hath desired the desire, i. e. vehemently desired, the Lxxii. foreign, and so the Latine, concupivit desiderare, my soule hath longed to desire, i. e. hath had a longing desire; the Syriack more clearly foreign my soule hath longed and desired. All very fit and proper paraphrases to expresse the importance of the phrase.

V. 21. That are cursed] The Hebrew h.foreign foreignis so placed, that it is uncertain whether it be joyned by apposition to the proud foregoing, or begin the next sense, thus, Cursed p. 616are they that erre— The former may hold, and bear this sense, that the proud, rebellious, disobedient, impenitent sinners that erre from his commandments, and go on unreformed in their wandrings, are most unhappy and execrable in being such, their pride and obstinacy is the greatest curse to it selfe, and yet they are rebuked, certain to be severely punished by God. But all the antient interpreters seem to have followed the other sense; foreign say the Chaldee, in the same scheme as the Hebrew, and may most probably be rendered, as their Latine doth, maledicti qui oberrant, cursed are they that erre; but the Lxxii. expresly, foreign— Thou hast rebuked the proud, cursed are they that erre— and the Syriack, Thou hast rebuked the nations or Gentiles, foreign the Gentiles foreign and they are curst which erre; and so the Latine, maledicti qui declinant, cursed are they that decline from thy commandments. And then the latter part of the verse is an exegesis of the former, the curse here the explication of Gods rebuke. And though both senses are very commodious, and so are reteined in the paraphrase, yet the authority of the interpreters will incline to the latter of them.

i.V. 28. Melteth] From foreign to distill or drop, Eccl. x. 18. or to weep and poure out tears, Job x. 16, 20. the Hebrew foreign foreignhere is best rendred weepeth. The Chaldee render it by the cause of tears (sorrow) foreign my soule was sorrowfull, (foreign used by them in the notion of foreign) the Syriack to the same sense foreign is troubled; but the copies of the Lxxii. which now we have read foreign, and from thence the Vulgar Latins (with the Arabick) dormitavit, was drousie. But Saint Ambrose's reading, stillavit (to which Hilarie also accords) assures us the true reading was foreign distilled, which was easily corrupted by the Scribes into foreign, to which they might be tempted by the foreign weariness, which follows, by which they rendred foreign for grief, it being of the nature of sadness to make one weary of every posture. Abu Walid observes the proper notion of foreign to be dropping, as when an house dropps, thence, saith he, to be transferr'd to denote weeping, and then farther in this place to denote dissolving, flowing, or else the same with that phrase, Jer. xiii. 17. my soule shall weep in secret places. The Jewish Arab reads foreign, which will signify being afraid, or perhaps being weak.

V. 32. When thou shalt] The notion k.of foreign foreignwhen 'tis applied to the heart, is here critically to be observed. The word primarily signifies to dilate, and the dilatation of the heart is the constant effect of joy, as the contraction is of sorrow. Isa. Lx. 5. foreign and thy heart shall be dilated, i. e. rejoyce, as being delivered from distress or feare foregoing. Accordingly Gods inlarging the heart here is rejoycing it, making it glad. This he doth by the comforts of a good conscience, that joy in the holy Ghost, the great pleasure that results from the practice of pious duties, the transporting delights and joyes of his foreign gracious yoke, when by his grace we come to the experience of it. This the Chaldee and Lxxii. have literally exprest by foreign and foreign, thou hast dilated my heart; but the Syriack more clearly by foreign from foreign to rejoyce, thou hast exhilarated, or made me glad. Which rendring being in all probability the most p. 617commodious to the place, it will be fit to follow them also in the rendring of foreign, not when (as we read from the Lxxii. foreign) but because, or seeing that, for so they read foreign because: This being not only the season, but the motive of all others most powerfull and ingaging to expedite running the way of Gods commandments, the alacrious performance of all duty, because the performance of it is matter of such experimental delight and joy to them that are exercised therein.

lV. 33. Unto the end] The Hebrew foreign foreignas it signifies an end, so it signifies a reward. So Psal. xix. 11. in the keeping of them there is foreign great reward; the Lxxii. read foreign retribution. And so in this Psalm v. 112. they render it foreign by way of returne to the rejoycing of his heart, which his testimonies yielded, v. 111. And so Aben Ezra understands it here, and so the Interlinear, reading mercede, by way of reward or returne; and so being oft turned into a preposition, rendred propter, for, it still reteins this notion, by way of returne, or reward, see Isa. v. 23. Gen. xxii. 18. And so the sense will best beare, Teach me — and I will observe it by way of returne, or reward, or gratitude to thee, Gods mercy in teaching, being in all reason to be rewarded, or answered by our observing and taking exact care of what he teaches. Or else, by analogy with Psal. xix. 11. where the keeping his commandments brings great reward with it, it may here be rendred foreign (understanding the preposition ל) for the reward, meaning the present joy of it, v. 32. not excluding the future crown. The Chaldee here read foreign unto the end (as ver. 112. foreign even to the end;) and so Abu Walid; and the Lxxii. foreign alltogether. The Syriack wholly omit it here, but v. 112. read foreign firmely, or certainly, or in truth, i. e. sincerely: which as it is more agreeable to that place than the Chaldees to the end, which cannot probably follow foreign for ever, as there foreign doth; so it would as fitly agree with this place, I shall observe it sincerely or firmely. But of this there is no example, nor ground in the origination of the word, which is evidently used for reward Psal. xix. but not so evidently for either an end (unless as it is used for the heele, the last part of the body, in relation to which the Jewish Arab renders it foreign juxta vestigium, or è vestigio, instantly, without delay, as if his keeping it should follow on the heels, as it were, of his being taught it) or else for truth and firmeness. And therefore still that of reward or returne to God is the most allowable rendering of it here, and v. 112.

V. 35. Make me to goe] The Hebrew m.foreign foreignin Hiphil from foreign to goe, or tread, or walke, is to leade, or direct, or conduct in any journey. So Psal. xxv. 9. we render foreign shall guide, and cvii. 7. foreign he led them. And so the Lxxii. rightly here, foreign, Lead me, direct, conduct me, and the Latine deduce, lead.

V. 38. Who is devoted to thy feare] n.It is uncertain how foreign foreignis to be rendred, because uncertain to what foreign relates, whether to thy word, or to thy servant. The Syriack joynes it with the latter, thy servant foreign which worships, or fears thee. But the Chaldee joyns it with thy word, foreign which is to the fearing, or which concerns the fearing thee. So the Lxxii. leaving out the foreign which as redundant, read foreign, to the fear of thee. And to this the Hebrew position of the words inclines, stablish to thy servant foreign thy word, foreign which is to the fearing thee: and remembring p. 618that foreign word is one of the appellations of Gods Commandements, those, we know, immediately tend to the fear of God. The Jewish Arab reads it, Make good to thy servant thy saying which is to the people of thy feare, or those that fear thee. But Aben Ezra, Every decree of thine, which may bring me to thy fear.

o.V. 48. My hands also will I lift up] foreign foreignlifting up the palmes, or hands, is a phrase of various use: 1. for praying, Psal. xxviii. 2. When I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle; Lam. ii. 19. Lift up thy hands toward heaven; Hab. iii. 10. the deep uttered his voice, and lift up his hands; from whence the Apostle hath the phrase of lifting up holy hands, 1 Tim. ii. 8. and so —ad sidera palmas, in the poets: 2. for blessing others, Lev. ix. 22. Aaron lift up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; or for praising and blessing God, Psal. cxxxiv. 2. lift up your hands — and praise the Lord, and Psal. xxii. 4. I will bless thee, I will lift up my hands— 3. for swearing, Gen. xiv. 22. I have lift my hand to the Lord—i. e. sworn; Exod. vi. 8. I lifted up my hand foreign, we render it, I sware to give it to Abraham— Ezec. xxxvi. 7. I have lifted up my hand, i. e sworn, surely &c. so Rev. x. 5. the Angel lifted up his hand to heaven and sware; so Deut. xxxii. 40. of God, I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever, a forme of Gods swearing; Psal. cvi. 26. He lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness, i. e. he sware they should not enter into his rest (see note ^g. on that Psalm:) 4. for setting about any action, especially of weight, Gen. xLi. 44. without thee shall no man lift up his hand— i. e. attempt or do any thing; so Psal. x. 12. Arise, O Lord, lift up thy hand, forget not the poore, i. e. set to thy active hand to their assistance; so Heb. xii. 12. lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, i. e. set actively and vigorously about the Christian taske. And every of these might possibly be accommodated to this place, of lifting up his hands to Gods commandements. For it may be 1. praying for Gods grace to performe them: 2. blessing them as we do our daily food, or rather praising and blessing God for them, in respect of the great advantages we may reap by them; and to this the Syriack seems to have inclined, adding at the end of the verse foreign and I will glory in thy faith or fidelity: 3. it may be vowing and promising under oa h a constant obedience to them: or 4. it may be the setting vigorously about them. And that is the most probable meaning of it, I will lift up my hands to the practice of them.

V. 61. The bands] The Hebrew p.foreign foreigna corde doth also signify a troope or company, whether of souldiers or of any other: so 1 Sam. x. 5. foreign a troope of prophets, for so the Chaldee there render it, foreign a company of scribes; and so here foreign a company or troope of wicked men; in opposition whereto is foreign ver. 63. I am a companion engaged in another society. This farther appears by the foreign that follows, men may be said to rob or plunder, but cords or bands cannot.

V. 66. Good judgment] From q.foreign foreigngustavit, to taste, the Noune is used for sapor, savour or taste of any thing; Exod. xvi. 31. foreign the taste of the manna was as the taste of a wafer— And the Verbe being transferred from the body to the minde (Psal. xxxiv. 8. foreign taste— how gracious the Lord is) the Noune is so in like manner, and signifies in proportion either the outward fashion and behaviour &c. by which the minde is discerned, as meats by the taste, as in the title of Ps. xxxiv. p. 619when David changed foreign his behaviour, the Lxxii. read foreign his countenance; or else the inner disposition and habite of minde, rendred by them foreign disposition, 1 Sam. xxv. 33. Other uses of the word there are for a decree Jon. iii. 7. and Dan. iii. 10. but that which best agrees to it here, where it is joyned with knowledge, is either 1. as our English render it, judgment, in the notion of opinion, counsel; so the Jewish Arab and Abu Walid render it by a word deduced from foreign vidit to see, and spoken of the minde, sensit, judicavit, statuit, to think, judge, or resolve; or else 2. the habite of minde, genius, indoles, and then foreign will be goodness of disposition, inclination, to which when knowledge is added, it is a special gift of God, fit to be here the matter of a prayer. The Chaldee 1 Sam. xxi. 13. and in the title of Psal. xxxiv. render it foreign and foreign thy knowledge, and his knowledge or sense; and accordingly here the Interlinear reads bonum sensum, a good sense, and the translator of the Chaldee (which here reteins the Hebrew foreign) rationem, reason. But as that notion cannot be applicable to the word in the title of that Psalm (for sure David was not really mad, and so 'twas not his sense, or knowledge, or reason, that was said to be changed there;) so it is not certain that it hath that sense in any other place of scripture. The most probable is that of Prov. xi. 22. where the faire woman foreign is compared to a jewel of gold in a swines snout. Here the Interlinear reads declinans discretionem, as from foreign recessit, departing from discretion, and the Vulgar Latine fatua, foolish; but the Lxxii. foreign, which cannot be better rendred than of ill inclinations, disposition: and to that I suppose the Chaldee accords, and the Syriack, both reteining the original foreign in their dialects, and the former reading it with foreign as from foreign and foreign to be corrupted or stink, the latter reteining the Hebrew foreign, as that signifies perverse, contumacious, and so may best be rendred (not as the Latine of the one, foetida sensu, and of the other foetida sapore, but) of a corrupt or perverse disposition, or manners, as foreign 1 Cor. xv. 33. to corrupt manners is applied to the debauching their whole habit of minde. And proportionably here foreign will be the foreign the good manners, there mentioned, or rather foreign goodness of manners. The Lxxii. have divided it into foreign, goodness and discipline, and the Latine follow them; and the Syriack have changed the order foreign savour and goodness.

V. 70. Fat as grease] The Hebrew r.foreign foreignis very differently rendred by interpreters. The Lxxii. read foreign, is made cheese like milk; and the Syriack, Latine, and Arabick accord with them. And this undoubtedly by reading foreign milke for foreign fat; for foreign, confestly signifying incrassation, being applied to milke, it must needs signify being coagulated, or made into cheese. But the Chaldee, it is certain, read foreign, and so render it foreign fat. The word foreign being onelyonly here found, the Jews do but by guess give the meaning of it. Aben Ezra notes only that it is without a fellow. R. Solomon meddles not with it. Kimchi renders it to be fat. Abu Walid gives three expositions of it; 1. rendring it by the Arabick foreign, and expounding it is troubled, (or corrupted, or unclean, foul, sordid and stinking (or sending up smels or fumes like that of fat stinking flesh) with unclean evil thoughts sends up, saith he, stinking fumes of p. 620evil thoughts, like burnt fat: 2. according to the Chaldee use of it, to be fat and gross: 3. foreign, or, as more probably it should be written, foreign, or foreign, which signifies to be thick and gross, or hard; and then the two last fall in as one allmost. Now for the construction, it may most probably be by understanding a preposition, not their heart is incrassate or grosse like fat (for fatness can no more be said to be grosse, than to be fat, being that by which other things are incrassate:) but, either their heart is gross as fat, i. e. as if it were a mere lump of fat; or, their heart is become gross as with fat, as Psal. Lxxiii. 7. their eyes stand out foreign with fat; and 'tis ordinary in poesie for the prepositions to be omitted. Thus the translator of the Chaldee supplies the preposition by rendring it in the ablative case, incrassatus est quasi adipe, is incrassate as with fat, and so the learned Castellio, quasi obesita…e obtusum est, is stufft up as with fat. And to that the Jewish Arab agrees, their hearts are stuffed up ב with fat. As for the application of this to the heart, the grosse or incrassate heart is all one with the dull or stupid, as pinguis Minerva among the Latines signifies, and this from nature, the membranous lean parts being only sensitive. And thus will it stand in direct opposition to the foreign good genius or disposition, v. 66. and denote the foreign, the stupid incapable minde, and so in effect (although fat is the softest of any flesh) an obdurate heart, in the sense that Philoponus useth foreign an incrassate spirit, and many the like expressions are used.

s.V. 83. Smoak] From foreign to send up smoak, or incense, or burne, Exo. xxix. 18. is foreign foreignsmoak, Gen. xix. 28. and so here a bottle foreign in the smoak, a bottle of skin (such as the Jews used) hung up in the smoak, and by that means parcht and dry, and so fit to express one worne out and dried up with long suspence of expectation. The Lxxii. read foreign in the frost, the Latine in pruina, and the Syriack foreign in the frost, from some other notion of foreign, of affinity with that wherein 'tis used Psal. CXLviii. 8. in company with haile and snow, probably from the manner of the generation of a frost, or congealed mist, being but a smoak out of the earth. The Jewish Arab renders it strangely, as he that wandreth, noddeth, reeleth in the smoak being amazed.

V. 84. How many are the dayes] t.foreign foreignhow many days, is here most probably to be interpreted by the context, which, from the beginning of this Octonarie, speaks of Gods deferring his deliverance, and permitting him to waite and pray, and yet lie under his affliction. And accordingly there being an ellipsis in the words, it is in reason so to be supplied as best agrees with that sense, How many dayes of, or to thy servant (the word foreign, without a preposition, is indifferent to either) i. e. how many dayes are appointed or assigned me for the continuance not of life (as How many are the dayes sound,) but of the pressures or afflictions that are upon me? and so it accords with when wilt thou comfort me? v. 82. and when wilt thou execute judgment (avenge or punish, or at least restrein and check my persecutors?) in the remainder of this verse. Thus 'tis frequent in the Hebrew, and among the Hellenists, for day to signify judgment, his day is coming, Psal. xxxvii. 13. (see note on Rom. xiii. ^d. Heb. 10. ^a.)

V. 85. Proud have digged pits] u.The notion of foreign foreignproud in this Psalm, for wicked, injurious men, both here, and v. 21, 51, 69, 78, 121. is here observed by the Lxxii. p. 621which render it foreign wicked (and so the Syriack and Latine foreign and iniqui, wicked men) as Isa. xiii. 11. foreign lawless, and foreign impiety Deut. xviii. 22. and frequently foreign contumelie, Pride being indeed the original as of all wickedness, so especially of contumelie and injury. For foreign foreignthey have digged ditches or pits for me, which the Chaldee and Syriack follows, the Lxxii. read foreign, the Latine narrarunt mihi fabulationes, they have told me vain and idle discourses; so foreign signifies foreign, and the Arabick fully expresses it by words of dotage or folly, long impertinent discourses of other mens matters. The ground of their reading is visible: foreign with ש from foreign to speak or talke, is elsewhere duly rendred by them foreign talke, 1 King. xviii. 27. but being here with ש from foreign to decline, bend down, &c. it signifies a ditch, or pit, or declining ground, and so is used Psal. Lvii. 6. As for foreign from foreign to dig, and Psal. vii. 15. joyned with foreign a ditch or pit (parallel to foreign here) though it have no signification proportionable to that of foreign telling, yet the other word being so rendred, idle talkes or discourses, for pits, this was by analogie to follow; the telling being accommodated to those talks, as digging to pits. Meanwhile this rendring of the Lxxii. is not very unagreeable to the sense, their telling him long and idle tales, or talking thus impertinently with him, being easily supposeable (as was the Herodians and Pharisees with Christ) to have been designed on purpose to insnare him. What here follows foreign which are not according to thy Law, (for which the Chaldee reads foreign which thou hast not commanded in thy Law, and the Lxxii. foreign, not as thy Law, O Lord) is to be taken in the Hebrew dialect (imitated by most other languages) by the figure foreign, when that is said to be not good, or not well done, which is extremely ill, when unprofitable signifies very wicked, and many the like (see note on Mat. xii. e.) for so here, not according to Law signifies extremely contrary to it, and so foreign, by which the Lxxii. rendred the proud here, is literally no more than they that act beside the Law (which is the style of the Syriack in this latter part of the verse) but it signifies those that doe most contrary to it.

V. 89. For ever O Lord] The Syriack w.seem most fitly to have expounded these words foreign foreignFor ever, O Lord, by addition or supply of foreign art thou, thus, Thou art for ever, O Lord, and thy word indures. This may suggest a rendring of these two verses by way of correspondence, that one may bear proportion and be directly answerable to the other; which will be, if we shall compare together the beginnings and the ends of the verses severally. The beginnings lye thus, Thou art for ever, O Lord, v. 89. Thy faithfulness is foreign to generation and generation, i. e. to all generations, which are exactly parallel. Then the latter parts of the verses lye thus, Thy word foreign stands or is setled in the heauens, v. 89. i. e. whatsoever thou commandest in heaven, doth certainly come to pass, and Thou hast established the earth, foreign and it shall stand or abide, i. e. the earth and all things in it are by thee most firmely establisht. And then as the parallel will be exact, so the sense will flow most currently. The parallel will be exact, for as v. 89. his word is said to stand or be settled in heaven, so v. 90. his faithfulness shall be said to abide or stand in the earth, as stedfast p. 622as the earth it selfe, or ever since the creation and establishment of the earth. And then the sense will be, that as God is eternal, so his word and faithfulness remains constant, and never failes in heaven above, or here below on earth, where from the afflictions of good men there is more shew of objection against Gods making good his promise to them. Now as his word and faithfulness, though severed in place, are to be united in sense, and signify his faithfull performance of his word; so the heaven and earth are in sense to be joyned also, and signify by a frequent Hebraisme (see note on 2 Pet. iii. e.) the whole world, in his constant governing of which this his fidelity is as illustriously visible, as in the creation of them. Accordingly v. 91. they are joyned together, They continue this day, or, They have continu d to this day foreign, they in the plural, and foreign either adverbially, as the Chaldee read foreign this day, or understanding the preposition foreign untill this day; not as the Lxxii. foreign the day continues, but they, i. e. the heaven and the earth foregoing, and consequently all things therein comprehended, for so it follows, foreign for all things serve thee.

x.V. 96. End of all perfection] The word foreign,foreign which we render end, signifies limit, or boundary, or extreme part, and is most ordinarily applied to places or regions; so the Lxxii. who render it foreign bound. And if in this sense it be here used, then 'tis not amiss to take notice of the Syriacks rendring of foreign perfection, by foreign, which their Latine translator Sionita renders regioni region, I have seen that there is a bound to every region; for so foreign which signifies a bound or end (and is here by the Chaldee used to render foreign) is there rendred a region, and foreign in Arabick is space or place, foreign or foreign, the common style of a region. So saith Sionita in a note on this his version in the margin of his edition in quarto, Propriè terminum significat, saepe tamen pro regione seu parte mundi sumitur, It properly signifies bound, limit, yet 'tis oft taken for a region or part of the world. To this the latter part of the verse well accords, of foreign the exceeding width or amplitude of Gods commandments, not having such bounds as each region hath. And to this perhaps the Chaldee lookt, which paraphrastically expresseth it foreign of all that I have been solicitous of, or beheld. This carries that probability with it, that it deserved to be mentioned. And if it be not accepted, then still foreign, in the ordinary signification of perfection or universality, as a comprehensive word, must denote the greatest latitude or amplitude, whether qualitative or quantitative, of virtue, or of space, and so still foreign be the bound or utmost extent of it. The Jewish Arab renders it, To every kinde an end; Abu Walid, I have seen the uttermost of every end [or uttermost extent] but the ext…nt of thy judgment, [commandment, law, or wisdome] for that is wider and deeper, then that the uttermost of its extremity [or end] may be attained to.

V. 109. My soule is— in my y.hand] The meaning of this phrase is obvious, I am in danger of my life. foreignSee Jud. xii. 3. I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, i. e. I fearelesly adventured my life. So 1 Sam. xix. 5. he put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistims, i. e. by adventuring his own life he killed the other: and ch. xxviii. 21. I have put my life in my hand, and hearkened to thy words, i. e. run the hazard of my life to obey thee: and Job xiii. 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, p. 623and put my life in my hand? The only difficulty is, what is the original of this proverbial style. This Pat. Cocburne hath proposed as an instance of the interpreting scripture from vulgar speech, making this to be the meaning of it, that he hath no aide now left him but from his own hand, as being left destitute of all other help or auxiliaries. And thus indeed the place in Judges seemed to suggest, When I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon; you gave me no aide, and so I was faine to goe over my selfe without you: and so likewise of David, who without any helpe smote Goliah, to which there Jonathan referrs 1 Samuel xix. 5. But the other places, of the witch of Endor and Job, will not bear this sense; and therefore this is not to be pitcht on, but rather this. That as what is in a mans hand is easily parted with, easily lost, and as easily taken from him, so a mans life is said to be in his hand, when there is but little distance betwixt him and death: and so the Chaldee interprets it by way of paraphrase, my soule foreign is in danger (from foreign, which in Hebrew is to profit, but in the Chaldee language to periclitate) foreign in the back of my hand, which consequently he hath no hold of, it may depart at pleasure. So the Jewish Arab thus paraphraseth it, Although my soule be as it were in my hand continually through danger. And this is the most allowable original of the phrase. The Lxxii. have here varied the phrase, and read foreign, my soule is in thy hands, and so the Syriack foreign in thy hands; not so probably misreading the Hebrew foreign into foreign, as expressing it by way of pious paraphrase, our lives being then certainly in Gods hands, to save if he please, when they are in humane sight in greatest danger, and so by every pious man to be deposited in Gods hands.

V. 113. Vain thoughts] foreign foreignis z.here to be taken not for the thoughts or opinions themselves, as elsewhere, Job xx. 2. and 1 King. xviii. 21. but for the persons that think, and that not for thoughts simply, but for wicked thoughts, all the antient interpreters agree: the Lxxii. read foreign, the Syriack foreign, the Latine iniquos, transgressors, wicked men; breakers of the Law, saith the Arabick. The Jewish Arab reads foreign hypocrites, and the Chaldee by way of paraphrase, foreign those that think vaine or false thoughts. Abu Walid expounds it those that have hypocrisie, and evil counsels, and deceitfull cogitations. And so Kimchi saith that others interpreted it as an Adjective, though he as a Substantive, for the thoughts themselves. Sol. Jarchi interprets it of instability, hanging distracted between two opinions, betwixt God and Baal, the foreign, or foreign, Ja. 1. the double-minded man unstable in all his wayes.

V. 119.&. Drosse] The Hebrew reading of this verse is much departed from by the antient interpreters. The words are plain in the original, foreign foreignthou hast destroyed or done away, made to cease (so foreign is used Ezec. xii. 23. in Hiphil, from foreign to rest or cease) foreign foreignthe dross, so foreign signifies all the dross or refuse that goes away (from foreign to recede) and departs from the metal in the melting, and so in other things; Midr. Tehil. saith that grapes being prest make foreign, which men throw upon the ground, (and so Gods judgments are deciphered in scripture by treading a winepress.) The word seems to allude to foreign foregoing v. 118. p. 624Then follows by apposition foreign all the wicked of the earth. But the Lxxii. render the two first words foreign, I have accounted prevaricators, for foreign probably reading foreign those that erre, and for foreign I have reputed. The Chaldee read farre otherwise, foreign thou hast destroyed the Idols, thou hast consumed all the wicked of the earth. And the Syriack have quite omitted this verse, and in a manner repeated v. 117. instead of it.

aa.V. 120. Trembleth] For foreign,foreign which notes being in horror, such as causeth the haire to stand an end (see Job iv. 15.) the Lxxii. here read foreign (I suppose it should be foreign) evidently from another old notion of the word foreign to fasten with a naile, from whence the Chaldee use foreign for a naile, as we see in their Targum, Isa. xli. 7. Herein the Latine follows them, and reads confige; but the Syriack hath foreign the verbe, whence is the Arabick noune for an hedghogge, whose prickles standing up are the emblem of horror; and so that sure is the meaning of the phrase, and that fitly following the destroying the dross v. 119. for that may well be the motive to this horror.

bb.V. 122. Surety] Of the several usages of foreign foreigninterpreters have been uncertain which to take. From the notion of pleasing or being acceptable, the Chaldee read foreign delight or make merry. And so the Syriack also. But the Lxxii. that read foreign and the Latine suscipe, seem to referr to the other notion (that in which arrhabo comes from it) of a surety, or undertaker, for that we know is the importance of suscipere. And this doth best agree with the antecedents and consequents. Leave me not to my oppressors, let not the proud oppress me; for with both those well accords, undertake, interpose, be surety for me for good, i. e. so as to deliver me out of their hands. Abu Walid takes it in the notion of doing well to.

V. 123. Word of thy righteousness] cc.The notion of foreign foreignthy righteousness, for thy kindness, charity and mercy, is very obvious (see note on Matth. 1. g.) and that agrees well with this place, where Gods deliverance, in the beginning of the verse, is the thing that is waited for, and dealing with him according to his mercy v. 124. and then foreign word added to it, is no more then Gods speaking mercy to him, as elsewhere speaking peace, i. e. hearing his prayers, giving him an answer of mercy. But the word righteousness may denote the rule of righteousness, the Law of God, his prescript manner of dealing with men; and then the word of thy righteousness will be the tenure of thy Law, that promises deliverance to the pious.

V. 126. Time for thee, O Lord, to dd.work] The Hebrew here reads foreign,foreign which is literally time to doe, or performe, (so foreign is facere and persicere) to the Lord. And as this is more agreeable to the sense of the antient interpreters, than the reading it time for the Lord to work, the Chaldee being express, time to worke foreign the will of God, and the Syriack foreign time to worship God, to which sense also the Lxxii. are to be understood, foreign, time to work or performe to the Lord; so it will also best accord to the context, other mens evacuating, frustrating Gods Law, by their neglecting and contemning it, being a fit motive to his servants most diligently to performe it.

p. 625ee.V. 128. Esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right] The Hebrew foreign as it signifies to be right, so 'tis also to please, or to be approved, as when a thing is said to be right in the eyes of God, i. e. to please him; and then by analogy with this sense, it signifies in other conjugations (as to correct and direct, so) to approve. And so the Syriack rightly understands foreign foreignhere, and renders it by foreign I have loved all thy precepts: and to the same purpose is the Chaldee foreign from foreign to like, to approve. Only the Lxxii. and others from them adhere to the other notion of foreign, and read foreign, I was directed to all thy wayes. The reduplication of the universal particle foreign is emphatical, all, even all, and so the plain rendring is most current, All thy commandments, even all, have I approved— The Jewish Arab reads, And therefore for all thy commandements, all of them have I sought.

ff.V. 130. Entrance of thy word] foreign foreignhere, from foreign to open, doth regularly signify opening. The only question is, whether thy word be the agent, or the patient, that which opens, or which is opened. If we take it in the latter sense, then the opening of Gods words is the explaining them; so the Jewish Arab renders, Because the opening of thy word inlighteneth, O thou that makest the simple to understand. And so the Lxxii. their foreign is understood both by the Latine and the Syriack: foreign open thy word, and illuminate, saith the one, and declaratio verborum tuorum illuminat, the declaring of thy words doth illuminate, saith the other. But if it be in the sense of thy word being the agent, then 'tis the opening our eyes wrought by thy word; and that seems to be the more genuine meaning of it, that Gods word by opening our minds gives light to them, teacheth them those things which naturally they did not, could not know, till they were thus illuminated. And the Chaldee favours, who renders it foreign the sculpture or impression of thy word illuminates; which evidently refers to the Urim, whose name is derived from light, and therefore will with full propriety be said to enlighten; which surely the Lxxii. likewise reflected on, when they call it foreign, the word by them used constantly to translate Urim.

V. 139. Consumed me] The Hebrew gg.foreign from which is foreign foreignhere, as it signifies to consume, and so is here rendred by the Lxxii. foreign, hath melted me, or by melting consumed me, and by the Syriack foreign cruciated me, so it signifies also to binde, press, constrein, in the notion wherein 'tis said of Paul Act. xviii. 5. that foreign, he was constreined or prest in spirit. Thus the Chaldee renders it foreign hath constreined me. And this is the most probable acception of it, zeal having that faculty of pressing, and forcing expressions from one, either of grief, or indignation, or the like, as the occasion requires.

V. 148. Night-watches] The Hebrew hh.foreign foreignfrom foreign to keep, guard, watch, signifies indifferently any of the three watches into which the night was divided, the evening watch, or beginning of the watches, or first watch, Lam. ii. 19. the middle, or night watch, Jud. vii. 19. and the last, or morning watch, Exod. xiv. 24. And to the last of these the context here inclines it, so as it may agree with the dawning of the morning v. 147. and be fitly joyned with preventing, which sure in both verses signifies rising betimes, so it is proper to the morning, not p. 626evening watch. The Chaldee indeed gives it a greater latitude, and reads the watches foreign of the morning and evening both, but the Lxxii. read expresly foreign early in the morning.

ii.V. 165. Offend them] The Hebrew here read foreign foreign, i. e. as the Lxxii. literally read, foreign there is no scandal to them, by scandal meaning any thing that may wound, or hurt, or cause them to fall in their journey, in the threefold notion of the word foreign (which the Lxxii. here use, and is perfectly parallel to foreign) for a stumbling-block, and a snare, and a gall-trap. The meaning of it will be best understood, by comparing it with the like phrase 1 Joh. ii. 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in light, foreign and there is no scandal in him, or to him; the light, wherein he abides, will so assist him in every part of his march, that he shall be free from those dangers which are parallel to the snares, and stumbling-blocks, and gall-traps, which they that travail in the dark are subject to. There the scandals are means of betraying the soule into sin, temptations; and no scandal to them signifies their security from those temptations, that others so frequently are overcome by. And so here, as the great peace, in the beginning of the verse (according to the Hebrew notion of foreign) notes all manner of prosperity and felicity, that especially wherein the soule is concerned, so the no scandal to them, is the immunity from temptations and snares, i. e. from sins to which temptations are designed to bring men: and this is the security which the love of Gods Commandements will give men, when nothing else will. The Chaldee here read, there is no scandal to them foreign in the world to come, meaning no mischief, punishment of sin, but the Syriack, there is to them no foreign infirmity, sickness, disease, (the word, from foreign, signifies sickness either of body or minde) and so is most applicable to sin, the disease of the soule.

V. 168. Before thee] What is kk.the meaning of a mans wayes being before God, foreignwill best be judged by other parallel phrases, such are walking before God, or in his sight, and that signifies to live piously, and so as is accepted by him. And then here, though it is certain all mens actions are seen by God, and done in his sight, yet his wayes being before him, will best be interpreted walking, or living piously.