Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 145
The Hundred Fourty Fifth Psalm.
Davids Psalme of Praise. The hundred fourty fifth is a forme of solemn thanksgiving to God, descanting on all his glorious attributes. It was composed by David, and is one of those wherein every verse begins with a several letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.
1. I will extol thee, my God, my King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
2. Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
Paraphrase. The Lord of heaven is my only God and King, a gracious Father, and a vigilant guide and conducter of me in all my wayes; I am infinitely obliged to praise and magnify his holy name, and never to intermit that office till I come to heaven, there to sing continual Hosannahs and Hallelujahs to him.
3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
He is a God of a vast unfathomable power and dignity, his excellencies, and the effluxions thereof toward us, not to be traced or measured by humane faculties: But the less they are comprehended, the more are they to be admired, and adored, and magnified by us.
4. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
Every age of the world, and person that lives in that age, hath new and fresh experience of the goodness and power of God in his gracious and glorious disposals, every where illustriously discernible, and so every age is obliged to make their acknowledgments, to record to posterity, and so to incite and call up all that live after them to the diligent and devout and vigorous performance of this duty.
5. I will speak of the‖beauty or splendor of the glory foreign glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
Whether I consider the infinite incomprehensible beauty and splendor of his divine essence and attributes, or the most admirable operations and productions thereof in the framing and governing of the world, there is matter of all praise and thanksgiving to me, and to every other man living.
6. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness.
And accordingly both they and I, even all of us, with united hearts and voices, will proclaim and promulgate the wonderfull and admirable acts of his power and glory.
7. They shall‖issue or poure out a.abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and sing of thy righteousness.
And therein most peculiarly shall we count our selves obliged to magnify and recount with the most exuberant joy the dispensations of his most abundant graces and mercies toward us, especially that towards our soules. These flow every minute from him, as from an inexhaustible fountain and abysse of goodness. O let our hearts learne of those fountains, continually to poure forth at our mouthes the praises that are proportionably due to him.
8. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9. The Lord is goodb. to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
'Tis the title by which he was pleased to make known and proclaim himself to his people, Exod. xxxiv. 6. The Lord, the Lord God, mercifull— very forward and willing to pardon repentant sinners, and not denying them that grace, or proceeding in judgment against them, till he be provoked to it by great ingratitude and obdurations: and this mercy of his is not inclosed to a few special favourites of his, but inlarged and vouchsafed to all and every man in the world, upon the title of his fatherly mercy to his creature, till by their impenitence persisted in, against his means of grace, they render themselves incapable of it.
10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee.
11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdome, and talk of thy power;
And proportionably according to the just merit of it, all the men in the world are obliged to pay thee the acknowledgments of thy supereminent transcendent mercy, but especially those that are so qualified by the power of thy grace obediently received by them, as to have a more particular interest therein.
12. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the†glory of the splendor of foreign glorious majesty of his Kingdome.
These shall never satisfie themselves that they have said enough in depredicating the inward beauties, and felicities, and admirable excellencies of the Kingdome of God in mens hearts, that state of souls, when by the divine and sanctifying power of his grace the dominion of sin and Satan is subdued, and the kingdome of heaven erected in the stead of it, and all the faculties of the soule voluntarily and chearfully and constantly subjected to it. The sweetness and comforts of this shall so transport and ravish them that have a vital tast of it in their own hearts, that they shall earnestly desire and endeavour to discover and recommend it to others, and bring all men to a sense and acknowledgment, how desirable a thing it is to be the subjects of this kingdome.
13. Thy kingdome is an everlasting kingdome; and thy dominion endureth throughout all ages.
The magnificence and glory of any other the greatest kingdome is but finite and transitory, and so oft in few years is removed and destroyed: but the kingdome of God is as durable as God himself, and the comforts of subjection and obedience thereto, which all pious men injoy, have never any end, but are swallowed up in the Ocean of eternal bliss and glory, the never sailing portion of all such.
14. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
And one special act of this his kingdome, one exercise of this power of his grace it is, that those which are sincere faithfull subjects thereof, shall never want a sufficient supply of strength from him for all their wants, whether of souls or bodies: Be they never so weak in themselves, never so near falling, and unable to support themselves, and stand by their own strength, they shall yet be sure of a sufficiency in him; he will support them in the most infirme, feeble, tottering condition; and when through humane frailty they are brought low, and actually fallen, he will not deny them grace to get up again, but afford them effectual means of recovery, if by humble confession of their lapses they begge and sollicite it, and industriously make use of it when it is given them. And so for outward distresses, he will either preserve them from them, or support them under them, and in his good time deliver them out of them.
15. The eyes of all wait on thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season.
16. Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest thec. desire of every living thing.
This mercy and benignity of his is a spring inexhaustible of all kinds of Good things, a treasure of abundant supply to all the creatures in the world, which consequently attend and wait his pleasure, and never faile to receive from him timely and seasonably to their necessities, whatsoever they really stand in need of.
17. The Lord is righteous in all his wayes, d.and‖mercifull holy in all his works.
In summe, all Gods dispensations and dealings with us are made up of abundant mercy and compassion, charity and liberality to all our wants; and so are to be acknowledged and devoutly praised by all the men in the world.
18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him ine. truth.
Whosoever addresses his prayers to God, and faithfully adheres to him, that flies not to any indirect course for aids, but keeps fast to him in constant obedience, and waits Gods time with patience, and perseverance in prayer, shall be sure never to falle of answers of mercy from him.
19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he will hear their cry, and will save them.
If they faithfully serve and obey him, he will not be wanting to them in their greatest wants, but will seasonably grant them their requests, and deliver them out of all dangers.
20. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: and all the wicked will he destroy.
Those that love God and keep his commandments, have by his promise a claim and right to his protections and preservations; but for transgressors, which are accounted haters of him, he will certainly poure out his vengeance upon them.
21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
All this exacts the most solemn acknowledgments, all the praises and Hallelujahs that our hearts or tongues can express. O let all the men in the world joyne to performe this duty, and never give over praising and glorifying his holy name.
Annotations on Psalm CXLV.
V. 7. Abundantly utter] The Hebrew foreign foreignis from foreign to bubble, to issue, to send out as a spring or fountain issues out water: and though here it be metaphorically used of speaking, yet it must in reason be rendred with respect to the original use of it. The Lxxii. therefore render it foreign, the Latine eructabunt; for which our English yeelding no proper word, we must be content with that of issuing or pouring out, or sending forth. The Chaldee, which reads foreign (the same word with their termination) is rendred by the Latine Translator personabunt, shall sound forth, as if it were from foreign which so signifies, and is by the Greek lightly changed into foreign, to proclaim.
V. 9. To all] In this place the reading of the Lxxii, both in the Roman edition and others, is undoubtedly corrupted. The Hebrew reads foreign foreignto all, and so is followed by the Chaldee and Latine and Arabick (the Syriack omitting it wholly) and only the copies of the Lxxii. (and from them the Aethiopick) read foreign, to them that expect, and others add foreign, that expect him. But Asulanus's reading is doubtless here to be preferred, which hath foreign, to all; which being the original reading, and so followed by the Latine and Arabick, was changed by the scribe into foreign, and so taken up by the Aethiopick.
V. 16. The desire] In this place it is doubtful to what subject foreign foreign, the last words of the verse, belongs. From foreign voluit, placuit, the noune signifies will, good pleasure, benevolence, favour. With thy favour foreign hast thou defended me, Psal. v. 12. so Isai. xlix. 8. I have heard thee in the time foreign of favour, we render it acceptable time, parallel to a day of salvation that follows; where, as the salvation is the deliverance wrought by God, so the favour must be Gods also. And thus the word may probably seem to be used here, he satisfieth every living thing (so foreign must be rendred) foreign with or by his favour: foreign, say the Lxxii. thou fillest every living thing with thy good pleasure; the Latine have benedictione, with thy benediction (perhaps reading foreign for foreign) and the Aethiopick more expresly, according to thy decree or good pleasure: the Jewish Arab reads every living thing with favour, good will, or complacency, from thee. But the Chaldee reads foreign in the plural, which cannot belong to God, thou satisfiest all living with their will, or desire; and the Syriack, foreign thou satisfiest the desire of all living. And so the learned Castellio, optatis satias, thou satisfiest them with their desires, i. e. with the things which are desired by them. And to this sense the use of the same word v. 19. inclines, where of God it is said, foreign he will do or performe the will of them that fear him.
V. 17. And holy] Of foreign foreignthere can be no question but 'tis to be rendred, when spoken of God, mercifull, abundantly good; and so 'tis here joyned with foreign righteous, in the notion thereof frequently exemplified for foreign pitifull, or charitable, or liberal: for both these are here clearly inferred from the three last verses, which are instances of his mercy and bounty. In this place is fit to be observed what we finde in the Lxxii their translation, after v. 13. and before v. 14. foreign, The Lord is faithfull in his words, and holy in all his works. The same we have in the Syriack, and Latine, and Arabick, and Aethiopick, and onelyonly miss it in the Original and in the Chaldee. And that it is not added superfluously by the rest, but really wanting in these, we have this argument of some appearing force; Because the Psalm being Alphabetical, and exactly so in all other parts, is yet deficient in the letter Nun, as now we have it in the Hebrew, which yet from this reading of the Lxxii, &c. is so readily supplied, [foreign] that there seemeth little cause of doubt but this was the antient reading, and so continued to the time when the Lxxii. first, and after when the Syriack made their translations. If thus it were, the occasion of the omission seems most probably to be taken from this v. 17. the words whereof being of so great affinity with those others, might by unskilfull scribes be confounded, and conceived to be the same with them, and so on that conceit deliberately left out in one place, to avoid that which they deemed a Tautology. But if this were it, then herein they erred more than one way. For first, it is no news for this Psalmist in his lauds of God, to repeat the same expression more than once, witness that solemn Epiphonema, His mercy endureth for ever. 2. These two verses, if they be better considered, are not the same, but perfectly different, and each of them, according to that difference, fitted to the place wherein according to the alphabetical order they ought to stand. The eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth verses are spent in admiration of the power and glory of Gods kingdome, and that is fitly concluded with an Epiphonema of Gods fidelity in performing of all his promises, and perfect justice and holiness, and other divine excellencies, in all his dispensations toward men. And that is the summe of the letter Nun (which therefore with very good harmony follows the thirteenth verse, and so will put forward the fouretenth, which now is Samech, unto the fifteenth, which is the proper place for it) foreign—The Lord is faithfull in his words, and holy in all his works, i. e. veracity and holiness are two great inseparable attributes of God; the one in his words, he never affirmeth what is not most true, or promiseth what he doth not performe; the other in his actions, and works of providence, wherein he is so farr from having any real causality in the sins of Angels and men, that he doth all that reasonably can be done by a God of holiness and purity toward any rational and free agents, whom he means to punish and reward according to their works, to prevent them, and assist them, and inlighten their minds, and sanctify their hearts, thereby to keep them from sinning, or to returne them by repentance to that innocence (as near as may be) from which they are fallen. And this, as the chief exercise of his kingdome of grace, the glories whereof are set out in those three verses immediately foregoing. Whereas this which is now the seventeenth (but in that other account ought to be the eighteenth) verse, as it is introduced by the three verses more, which are all spent in the view of the transcendent compassion, mercy and liberality of God, so being duly rendred, it is a very proper Epiphonema; to conclude and shut up the praises of God in that behalfe, The Lord is righteous in all his wayes, and mercifull in all his works. Where foreign foreignrighteous and mercifull, are but two words ordinarily used in scripture to signify charity and compassion: the former, not that righteousness which we style justice, but that charity which is by the law of God due to all men, and so in us is our righteousness, and in God is his goodness and charity to mankinde, and the latter a more abundant degree of that, styled goodness, graciousness, bowels of compassion in man, and the most transcendent degree of infinite mercy and pitty in God. The Lxxii. render the former of these foreign, the Latine justus, and that being understood in our ordinary notion of justice, was apt to be conceived all one with faithfull or true in that former verse. And the Lxxii. again render the latter of these by foreign, which Greek word indeed oft signifies holy, and so is interpreted sanctus by the Latine; but being but lightly changed by cutting off the last letter from the Hebrew foreign, and giving it the Greek termination foreign (for so both foreign and foreign are deemed to come from that original) in this place and many others it is surely taken in the Hebrew notion of it, i. e. for mercifull and pitifull, and so should better be rendred in Latine pius, than sanctus, (as in Salvian and other good authors pietas piety in God ordinarily signifies mercy.) However, this equivocalness of that word foreign, taken by readers for holy, when it signifies mercifull, and the misinterpreting foreign for just, when it imports mercifull, may well be deemed to have contributed occasionally to the leaving v. 14. out of our Bibles. Of which the learned H. Grotius asks a question, Quomodo ad hoc respondebunt — What answere will be given to this by those men which require us in all things to stand to the decrees of the Masorites, which by their fence have hedged this verse out of the scripture? The only answer to the question, which I shall offer, is this, 1. That it is no newes that one letter or more should be left out and missing in an Alphabetical Psalm, especially Psal. xxv. where ך being twice repeated, ק is certainly omitted. 2. That the Lxxii. and the translations that depend on them, have admitted several verses and larger additions, which are not in the Hebrew text. But then 3. since 'tis certain the Psalms received diverse alterations, and both copies were transmitted to the use of the Temple, the answer will be satisfactory, that so it was here. And that will both justify the Jews from negligence, in loosing part of the scripture, and the other translators from presumption, in adding to it.
V. 18. In truth] The notion of foreign foreignin truth, in this place, being the qualification required in prayer to make it effectual, is fit to be observed. The word signifies truth, firmness, fidelity, constancy, stability; so Jer. xiv.19. foreign the peace of truth is a stable firme constant durable peace. And then that truth or constancy may be applied either to the person praying, or to the prayer it selfe. First, if to the person, then it signifies his firmeness of adherence to God, styled fearing him v. 19. constancy in his service, keeping close to God, and making good his dependence on him, and not applying himself to any indirect means to obtein what he prayes for, but waiting only on God, from him in his good time to receive it. Secondly, in respect of the prayer it selfe, it signifies the continued constancy of address, not giving over the petition when it is not immediately granted, but inforcing it with importunity. And the union of these two is that to which the promise is here made, that the prayers so qualified shall certeinly in Gods due time be answered by him. And this, specially the former part, Saint James styles asking in faith, the Hebrew foreign signifying both faith and truth. See note on Jam. 1. a. The Chaldee here reads foreign; the word signifies truth, rectitude, integrity: and so the Syriack also. The Lxxii. foreign in truth, but that capable of this same notion, as when foreign true is opposed to foreign unrighteous. See Note on Luke xvi. a.