Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 25
The Twenty Fifth Psalm.
A ‖To, or, For David. foreignPsalm of David.
Paraphrase. The twenty fifth Psalm, composed by David in some time of distresse, is a divine mixture of prayer for pardon of sin, and deliverance from evill, and also of meditation of Gods gracious dealings with his servants.
1. Unto thee, O Lord, doe I lift up my soule.
O Lord, I have none but thee to whom to address my prayers in times of distress; to thee therefore I come with the tribute of an humble heart, the offering of a devout soule: be thou pleased to accept it from me.
2. O my God, I trust in thee, let me not be ashamed; let not mine enemies triumph over me.
In thee; O my gracious God, doe I repose all my confidence; O let me not be left destitute or forsaken by thee; let not my adversaries have occasion to rejoyce and deride me, as one that have been disappointed, or frustrated in my dependences on thee.
3. Yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed that†deal perfidiously in vain. transgressa. without cause.
Yea let all those that rely and depend on thee, be constantly owned by thee: let not any man that hath reposed his whole trust in thee, finde himselfe disappointed: Let that be the fate of treacherous perfidious persons, those that rely on their own ungodly policies, let them miscarry and be disappointed of their hopes, and so appear ridiculous among men. (The only way that may most probably work reformation in them, Psal. Lxxxiii. 16.)
4. Shew me thy wayes, O Lord, teach me thy paths.
O Lord, be thou pleased by thy speciall grace to direct me in the performance of all that may be acceptable in thy sight.
5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation: on thee do I wait all the day.
Preserve me from all straying and wandring out of the right way. On thee I depend for this, and every minute look up to thee, for the directions and support of thy good spirit.
6. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness; for they have been ever of old.
Lord, thou hast allwaies abounded to thy servants in compassion and bounty, relieved the distrest, and plentifully supplied all wants to those that have addrest their prayers to thee. Be thou pleased at this time thus in mercy to deal with me.
7. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to thy mercy remember me, for thy goodness sake, O Lord.
Lord, the sins of my younger daies are many, the breaches innumerable, wherewith I have ignorantly or foolishly, for want of knowledge or consideration, offended against thee: Lay them not I beseech thee, to my charge; but of thine own free mercy and compassion to a wretched sinner, be thou pleased to be reconciled to me, O Lord.
8. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
It is an act of the great purity and justice and rectitude of God, to direct and assist toward the waies of virtue, all those that are by error and weakness fallen away and departed from it, and timely to reduce them to good life.
9. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.
Those that are truly humbled before him for their sins and failings, and devoutly address to him for pardon and grace, he will never fail to allow them his assistance and direction in the wayes of virtue.
10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as‖observe, take care of; see note on Psalm cxix. 2. keep his Covenant and his testimonies.
God will never faile either in mercy or fidelity any man, that walks diligently and industriously in obedience to him. The pardon and the grace that he hath promised to such, the pardon of all their frailties, and the donation of sufficient strength to support their weakness, shall never fail to be performed to them that remain thus faithful to him.
11. For thy names sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
I have many wayes greatly sinned against thee, and have no ground of hope for mercy, but only from thy free abundant pardon, which, I know, exceedeth my sins, and for which I am the more abundantly qualified, by how much my state is more sadly miserable, without the interposition of this mercy. On that only account therefore of thy free pardon to the greatest, so they be truly penitent sinners, I beseech thee to be reconciled unto me, who unfeinedly repent and return to thee.
12. What man is he that seareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse.
Where the feare of God is planted truly in the heart, there God will not fail of his directions and illuminations, but will certainly afford him knowledge what will be acceptable in his fight.
13. His soule shall†abide in good, foreign dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth.
And beside this, all the comforts of this life are his portion here, and his posterity have a greater assurance of prosperity intailed on them, than any other.
14. *The Counsel and Covenant of the Lord to them that fear him, is to make known or reveal to them.Theb. secret of the Lord is among them that fear him, and he will shew them his Covenant.
It is part of the gracious decree and Covenant of God, stricken in Christ with all those that truly fear and serve him, and endeavour sincerely to doe what he commands, never to conceal from them the knowledge of his will so farre as their practice is concerned in it.
15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
What ever my streits are, I shall not fail to wait and attend on thee confidently, assuring my selfe that thou in thy good time wilt deliver me out of them.
16. Turne thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I amc. desolate and afflicted.
And now that I am in such a condition, I have no other motive to invite thy mercy, but my shewing thee that I have need of it. All humane aids failing me, 'tis now thy season to interpose for me.
17. The‖pressures foreign Troubles of my heart are inlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
My anxieties and destitutions daily increase: O be thou pleased to deliver me out of them.
18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.
My sins, I know, they are, that have brought these punishments on me: be thou of thine own goodnesse pleased to pardon the one, and remove the other.
19. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with†unjust foreign cruel hatred.
My adversaries daily increase, and their hatred to me is perfectly causeless, let their power and my innocence move thee at length to chastize the one, and vindicate the other.
20. O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee.
Preserve and deliver me out of their hands: my confidence is wholly in thee, O let me not be disappointed in that hope.
21. ‖or perfectness and uprightness shall preserve—Letd. integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I waite on thee.
Let my innocence be supported and defended by thee, for I have none else to depend upon. Or, thy mercy and thy fidelity shall secure me, as one that have no other hold, and therefore wholly depend and rely on thee, that as thou hast promised thou wilt performe for me.
22. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
And in thy good time deliver all those that rely on thee, from all the difficulties that encumber them.
Annotations on Psalm XXV.
V. 3. Without a cause] foreign signifies any falseness, foreignperfidiousness, violation of oath or league; and not simply any kinde of transgression, but those of lying, or falseness. The onelyonly difficulty is, what is meant by foreign, that is joyned with it, an adverbe from foreign inanis or vacuus, vain, empty, or void. It is by the LXXII. rendred foreign, by the Latine supervacuè, in vain, or to no purpose; and it ordinarily belongs to those that doe any thing, and receive no reward or advantage by it. So Gen. xxxi. 42. Surely thou hadst sent me away foreign, we render it empty, the LXXII. foreign, that is, without any reward for all my labour. So Exod. xxiii. 15. thou shalt not appear before me (i. e. before God) foreign empty, without some present to offer him. So 1 Sam. v. 3. if ye send the Ark, send it not empty, i. e. without some presents to accompany it. And thus it seems to signifie here, being applyed to the false persidious persons, that had violated their faith to David. Those, if they were frustrated in their mischievous designes, if they prospered not, should be perfidious without any reward, and so be put to shame, rendred ridiculous thereby, as those that are disappointed of their expectations: and so that is the meaning of the phrase.
V. 14. The secret] The Hebrew foreign,foreign the secret, is by the Lxxii. rendred foreign, by the Latine firmamentum, the firmament or foundation, by the Arabick the strength; all either reading foreign a foundation, or else supposing foreign, which is a primitive, to be derived from foreign fundavit. But the Chaldee reads it in the notion of foreign the secret; which signifying a thought also, or counsel, or consultation, the Syriack read it to no ill sense, The thought of the Lord is of them that fear him, as thought signifies care, or consultation, and sollicitude for or about any thing, and so the thought of God, his carefull providing all that is wanting for them. In the notion of a counsel or consultation we have it, Gen. xLix. 6. My soul come not foreign into their secret, i. e. into the consultations of those brethren in iniquity. And either this notion, or that for a secret, may most fitly be retaind in this place. If it be the secret, then 'twill be answerable to the shewing or revealing, that follows in the end of the verse, foreign, which is thus literally to be rendred; and his Covenant (is) to declare (viz. his secrets) to them. So the Lxxii. foreign, and his Covenant of declaring, or, to declare to them; and the Latine, & testamentum ejus ut manifesteturiis, and his Testament or Covenant is, that it, i. e. the secret preceding, be revealed to them, i. e. it is part of Gods Covenant with his faithful, to reveal his will to them, and not to keep it secret, so that they may know it, and practice it, which without knowing they cannot doe. See Deut. xxx. 11. And to this sense the Aethiopick paraphrase it his law shall teach them. And this is no incommodious sense of these words. But then considering that this of the Psalms is a Poetical writing, in which trajections are not unusual or strange, it may, I suppose, yet be more probable, that there should be place here for such an easie trajection, as we observed Psal. ii. 11. and so the whole verse lie in construction thus foreign 'Tis the counsel (or secret) of the Lord, and his Covenant to them that fear him, foreign ad notificandum iis, to declare to them, or reveal, or let them know, i. e. to reveal his will unto them, viz. that part of his will, which is so oft mentioned in this Psalm, v. 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12. and that which alone is usefull for us to know, his will, or Commandments, wherein we are to walk, if ever we hope to be accepted by him. And this I suppose to be the fullest and clearest rendering of these words, which must be acknowledged to have some obscurity in them.
V. 16. Desolate] foreign foreignunus one,] oft used for unigenitus, an onelyonly son, doth also signifie a solitary and desolate person; so Psal. Lxviii. 6. God setteth foreign the solitary in families, i. e. gives them children that had none. So Psal. xxii. 20. deliver my soule from the sword, foreign my onelyonly one, i. e. my soule, which is now lest destitute, from the power of the dogge. And so here, as must be concluded from foreign and afflicted] which is added to it. Yet have the Lxxii. rendred it in the other signification, foreign, onelyonly-begotten; and so the Arabick, onelyonly son: But the Latine more to the letter, unicus & pauper sum ego, I am alone and poor.
V. 21. Integrity] For foreign integrity and uprightness, foreignin the abstract and singular, the Lxxii. read in the concrete and the plural, foreign, the innocent and right: and then foreign foreignfrom foreign to keep or preserve, is by them rendered foreign stuck or adhered to me, as if it were from foreign colligavit, to be bound up in league with any. But the Chaldee render it clearly, Perfectness and uprightness shall preserve me. And thus also 'tis capable of two sences; one in relation to himself, the other to God. If it refer to David himself, then foreign foreignwill best be rendred simplicity, that ingredient in Jacobs character, as that is somewhat inferior to goodness, which v. 8. is joyned with uprightness, and both spoken of God, besides whom none is good in that sense, as Christ saith. But it may not unfitly refer to God, and then it will signifie perfectness in the highest degree: and as that denotes the greatest goodness and mercy, as when Christ saith, be you perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect, Mat. v. 48. 'tis Luk. vi. 36. be ye merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful; and then as Psal. xxiii. 6. we have, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life, referring questionless to Gods goodness, &c. so here it may well be, Perfectness and uprightness, i. e. Gods perfectness and uprightness, his mercy in promising, his fidelity in performing, shall preserve me.