2 Awake, thou lute, and harp: I myself will awake right early.

3 I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the people; I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations.

4 For thy mercy is greater than the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. 5 Set up thyself, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth.

6 That thy beloved may be delivered: let thy right hand save them, and hear Thou me. 7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice therefore, and divide Sichem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

8 Gilead is mine, and Manasses is mine, Ephraim also is the strength of my head.

9 Judah is my law-giver, Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; upon Philistia will I triumph.

10 Who will lead me into the strong city, and who will bring me into Edom?

11 Hast not Thou forsaken us, O God; and wilt not Thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? 12 O help us against the enemy; for vain is the help of man.

13 Through God we shall do great acts; and it is He that shall tread down our enemies.

H

PSALM CIX.

GOD'S JUDGMENTS AGAINST HIS ENEMIES.

OLD not thy tongue, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful is opened upon me.

2 And they have spoken against me with false tongues; they compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

3 For the love that I had unto them, lo, they take now my contrary part: but I give myself unto prayer.

4 Thus have they rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my good will.

5 Set Thou an ungodly man to be ruler

CIX. -1. Hold not thy tongue,] Hear not in silence the false accusations of my enemies.

God of my praise;] Object of my praise, Thou who hast given me such abundant cause to bless and praise Thee.

3. For the love] In return for the love.

My contrary part:] The side opposed to me; they are become my enemies.

5. Set Thou, &c.] The prayer of David, in this and the following verses, is that God would assert and vindicate the divine justice in the punishment of His rebellious enemies. It must be borne in mind that, under the Mosaic law, rewards and punishments were strictly temporal. If the wilful and mali

cious adversaries of Jehovah remained unpunished, it might be said that He wanted the power to inflict the penalties denounced in his own law, and the impunity of the ungodly would thus become a stumblingblock to the pious Israelite. David, therefore, is not giving expression to his own private feelings of hatred or revenge; but, as a minister and prophet of the Most High, he calls upon Him to assert his own sovereignty, and not suffer his law to be set at nought. He appeals to the God of justice to execute on hardened and impenitent sinners the sentence solemnly pronounced against them by the mouth of his servant Moses, (Deut. xxviii. 15 to the end.) No one who believes that

over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.

6 When sentence is given upon him, let him be condemned; and let his prayer be turned into sin.

7 Let his days be few, and let another take his office.

8 Let his children be fatherless, and `his wife a widow.

9 Let his children be vagabonds, and beg their bread; let them seek it also out of desolate places.

10 Let the extortioner consume all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labour.

11 Let there be no man to pity him, nor to have compassion upon his fatherless children. 12 Let his posterity be destroyed; and in

the God of all the earth will do right, needs scruple to use the inspired words of the Psalmist, if only he use them, not as his private wish and prayer, but as a humble acknowledgment that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Rom. i. 18. We must remember that the divine justice has lost none of its vigour under the new covenant, but that he who despises the far richer means of grace which is there offered, will suffer a far sorer punishment than he who was condemned under the law of Moses. Heb. x. 26, 27; xii. 25.

Ruler] rather, perhaps, Judge.

Let Satan] Let an adversary

and accuser stand (as was the custom in a court of justice) at his right hand. See Zech. iii. 1.

6. When sentence is given] When he is judged.

7. Let another take] This is quoted by St. Peter as prophetical of the traitor Judas. Acts i. 20.

9-11. Let his children] It would seem as if the condition of the Jewish people, wanderers upon the face of the earth, and so often the victims of oppression and injustice, were prophetically foreshewn in these

verses.

12. Let his posterity, &c.] The Jews, as a people and kingdom, were doomed to ruin and dispersion. "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. xxiii. 38.

the next generation let his name be clean put

out.

13 Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be done away.

14 Let them alway be before the Lord, that He may root out the memorial of them from off the earth;

15 And that, because his mind was not to do good; but persecuted the poor helpless man that he might slay him that was vexed at the heart.

16 His delight was in cursing, and it shall happen unto him: he loved not blessing, therefore shall it be far from him.

17 He clothed himself with cursing, like as with a raiment; and it shall come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

18 Let it be unto him as the cloke that he hath upon him, and as the girdle that he is alway girded withal.

19 Let it thus happen from the Lord unto mine enemies, and to those that speak evil against my soul.

20 But deal Thou with me, O Lord God, according unto thy Name; for sweet is thy mercy.

21 O deliver me, for I am helpless and poor, and my heart is wounded within me.

17. He clothed himself, &c.] How fearfully has the awful imprecation, "His blood be on us and our children," descended upon the Jewish people, since their fathers cried out for

the blood of Jesus!

Like water-like oil that is, It shall affect him not merely on the surface, but penetrate into his inner frame.

22 I go hence like the shadow that departeth, and am driven away as the grasshopper.

23 My knees are weak through fasting; my flesh is dried up for want of fatness.

24 I became also a reproach unto them: they that looked upon me shaked their heads. 25 Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy;

26 And they shall know, how that this is thy hand, and that Thou, Lord, hast done it. 27 Though they curse, yet bless Thou; and let them be confounded that rise up against me; but let thy servant rejoice.

28 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a cloke.

29 As for me, I will give great thanks unto the Lord with my mouth, and praise Him among the multitude;

30 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save his soul from unrighteous judges.

22. The grasshopper.] The locust; insects which are swept off in a moment, whole swarms of them together, by the wind. See Exod. x. 19.

26. And they shall know, &c.] My enemies shall be taught

that I owe my deliverance and safety to the protection of thy mighty hand.

30. At the right hand, &c.] The Lord shall occupy the place of advocate or champion, at the right hand of the poor.