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those that are worshipped in the world as gods, who are not able so much as to help and preserve themselves. Ver. 9. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O LORD, and shall glorify thy name.] Which shall move all our neighbouring nations, (2 Chron. xxxii. 23.), as all the rest shall do in the days of that great King which we expect, (Rom. xv. 9.), to acknowledge thee, O Lord, to be their Creator; and with humble veneration to submit themselves unto thee, and to honour thee with their highest praises.

Ver. 10. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things; thou art God alone.] For they shall clearly see, by the magnificence of thy marvellous works, that thou art infinitely superior to all those powers whom they adore; and that, in truth, there is no God, but thou thyself alone.

Ver. 11. Teach me thy way, O LORD, I will walk in thy truth; unite my heart to fear thy name.] Which I so firmly believe, that I desire nothing more than to be perfectly instructed in all thy will, which I will sincerely observe: knit my heart, O Lord, in such pious affections to thee, that it may never in the least dissent from thee, nor be disturbed with any vain cares, but entirely bent to study this alone, what is pleasing unto thee.

Ver. 12. I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my beat; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.] Whom I am bound to praise, both as the supreme Lord of all, and as my most bountiful benefactor, with all the powers of my soul; and accordingly, I do now most thankfully acknowledge thee, and will never cease to honour thee, and to do thee service, as long as I have any being.

Ver. 13. For great is thy mercy towards me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest bell.] For the benefits thou hast bestowed on me are as inestimable, as they are innumerable: I owe my very life to thee, which hath been often snatched out of the extremest dangers; wherein I had inevitably perished, if thou hadst not mercifully delivered me, i Sam. xxiii. &c.

Ver. 14. O God, the proud are risen against me, and. the assemblies of violent men bave sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them.] Behold, O God, a new opportunity to glorify that mercy; for proud and ambitious men (2 Sam. xv. 1. 2. &c.) have made an insurrection against me, and raised a most formiclable army, (2 Sam. xv. 12. 13.), to take away that life which thou hast so miraculously preserved; having no regard to thy providence, nor refusing any means whereby they may satisfy their unjust desires.

Ver. 15. But thou, O LORD, art a God full of compassion, and gracious: long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.] All our comfort is, that thou, not they, dost govern the world; who art no less - compassionate, than thou art powerful; readily for giving offences, bearing long before thou punishest them; chusing rather to heap thy benefits upon us, and never failing to perform thy faithful promises.

Ver. 16. 0 turn unto me, and have mercy upon me ; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.] In confidence of which, I humbly VOL. III.

beseech thy favour, and gracious pardon, though I have highly offended thee: assist thy poor servant, by thy irresistible power, against those mighty forces, which are ready to assault me: O deliver me, who am here humbled in the lowest manner before thee; looking upon myself as more absolutely thine, than any slave that is born in our house can be ours.

Ver. 17. Shew me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; because thou, LORD, bast bolpen me, and comforted me.] Vouchsafe me now in this great distress, such manifest tokens of thy favour towards me, that I may not only be delivered, but all may take notice of it; and good men thereby be encouraged to hope in thee; but they that hate me, be utterly confounded, to see him whom they intended to destroy, not only preserved, but blessed with comforts proportionable to the sorrow he hath endured.

PSALM LXXXVII.

A Psalm or Song, for the sons of Kerah.

THE ARGUMENT. It is as uncertain when this Psalm-Song (see lxvii.) was composed, as which. of the sons of Korah was the author of it. But it is manifest enough, that it was written in commendation of Jerusalem, situate in the holy mountains of Sion, (where David built his palace, and afterward settled the ark), and of Moriah, where Solomon built the temple. There are those that think it was composed upon the anniversary of the birth or coronation of some great prince, such as Hezekiah; in whose days this city was made more famous, by the glorious deliverance which God gave it, from the power of the king of Assyria's army. But this is a mere conjecture; and I shall follow the vulgar opinion: according to which, the beginning of this psalm must be looked upon as very abrupt, but expresses the greater rapture of joyful admiration, wherein the psalmist was.

Ver. 1. HIS foundation is in the holy mountains.]

Great is the strength and beauty of this place, which is founded by God in the high mountains; which he hath peculiarly chosen for the seat of his kingdom, and of his priesthood.

Ver. 2. The LORD loveth the gates of Sion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob.] Though the Lord loves all the habitations of his people, yet none are so dear unto him, as those within the gates of Jerusalem ; a principal part of which is Sion.

Ver. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selab.] There is no city in the world, of which such glorious things are foretold, or of which any thing can now be said, comparably to what we can truly boast of thee, that art the city which God. himself hath separated for his own habitation.

Ver. 4. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon, to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.] I do not deny

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the due praises which belong to other places and countries; but rather am wont to make honourable mention among my acquaintance and familiars, of Egypt and of Babylon, and of those who are nearer to us, the Philistines, Tyrians, and Arabians; bidding them observe, that such a notable person was born among them.

Ver. 5. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her; and the Highest himself shall establish her.] But what is this to Zion! of whom it shall be said in future times, that (ot such a single person, but) this and that man, a great many worthies, and far more eminent both in learning and arms, but especially in piety, were born in her, for she hath no meaner instructor than the Most High, who shall settle her in a flourishing estate, by educating and forming her inhabitants to the most excellent qua

lities.

Ver. 6. The LORD shall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.] So that when he himself, whose eyes nothing can escape, shall look over the register of those nations, and count the famous men they have produced, he shall find only some one great man, and he comparatively of no great value, was born among them.

Ver. 7. As well the singers as the players on instruments, shall be there; all my springs are in thee.] But in thee, O city of God, he shall find multitudes of excellent persons, all eminent in their kind, even among those of lower rank, as well as in the higher. And there shall be a constant succession of such, as there is of water in the spring.

PSALM LXXXVIII.

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korab, to the chief musician upon Mabalath Leannoth. Maschil of Heman the Exrahite.

THE ARGUMENT.-Who this Heman was, is uncertain. Not he who was the famous singer in David's time; for he was of the tribe of Levi, ( Chron. vi. 32. xv. 17.); whereas this was descended from Zerah, who was one of the sons of Judah, 1 Chron. ii. 6. where we find indeed, not only Heman, but Ethan, (to whom the next psalm is ascribed), mentioned as two of Zerah's sons: but we cannot reasonably think that they were, in those early times, the authors of these two psalms; because Ethan plainly makes mention of David, and the promise which God hath passed to him of a perpetual kingdom, It remains, therefore, that these two here mentioned, were of the posterity of those sons of Zerah, (and thence called Ezrahites), and had the names of their noble ancestors given them, to perpetuate the memory of those who were so famous for wisdom, I Kings, iv. 31.

But in what time they lived, cannot be certainly determined. It is probable, when Jeconiah, other wise called Jehoiachin, (or after him Zedekiah), was taken, and carried captive to Babylon, toge

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ther with abundance of the nobility, and the principal commanders and artizans, 2 Kings, xxiv. 14. 15. 16. In some of which ranks I suppose this Heman was; who being cast into a dark prison (which hath made some fancy Jehoiachin himself to have made it), ver. 6. 8. or otherwise as miserably treated as if he had been in a dungeon, bewails his private calamity, as Ethan in the next psalm doth the public.

Why it is called a Song-Psalm, see upon the title of Psalm lxvii. It was to be sung by the sons of Korah interchangeably, which is the meaning of Leannoth, upon a flute, or pipe, (see Psal. liii.), to the known tune of Maschil, see Psal. xxxii, Some passages in it may be applied to our Saviour's death and burial in his grave, which the prophet Isaiah compares to a prison; and so is used by our church upon Good- Friday.

Ver. 1.

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LORD God of my salvation, I bave cried day and might before thee.] O mighty Lord, by whose gracious care and good providence I have been hitherto preserved, and on whom all my hopes of safety still depend, I have not failed in this sore affliction to implore thy mercy, with most earnest cries, without any intermission.

Ver. 2. Let my prayer come before thee; incline thy ear unto my cry.] Let them at last prevail, I beseech thee, and do not reject my petition, accompanied with sad moans and doleful lamentations, but vouchsafe a favourable answer to it.

Ver. 3. For my soul is full of troubles; and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.] For my soul is overcharged with great variety of long-continued evils, which have brought me so low, that there is but a step between me and the grave.

Ver. 4. I am counted with them that go down into the put; I am as a man that hath no strength.] All that know my condition look upon me as utterly lost; and I have no reason to-think otherwise, being quite spent, and having no power at all to help myself.

Ver. 5. Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from thy hand.] I am no longer one of this world, from whose society I am quite separated; there is little difference between me and those who, being slain in a battle, and cast all together into one common grave, are no farther fegarded, or those whose families are so wholly extirpated, that there are none left to preserve their memory.

Ver. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness in the deeps.] For thou hast thrust me down into a deep and dismal dungeon, (which I can compare to nothing but a grave), wherein I lie neglected, and see no hope of being delivered.

Ver. 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thos hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selab.] My spirit" is ready to sink under the weight of thy displeasure, while my calamities fall upon me so fast, and so hea vily, (like the mountainous waves of the sea), one

after another, that it is impossible to express the soreness of my affliction.

Ver. 8. Thou bist put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them; I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.] I am not allowed to have any familiarity with my friends or acquaintance, no more than if I were in another world: and as for other men, they abominate to come into such a loathsome place, where I am kept so close, that I have no means of getting out.

Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out mine hands unto thee.] Nor can I do any thing but weep, till I am almost blind, by reason of the miseries I endure, only I cease not to look up unto thee, O Lord, continually, who art my only companion in this solitary and helpless condition, imploring thy aid with fervent prayers, and longing expectations, say. ing,

Ver. 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead ? shall the dead rise and praise thee? Selab.] Make haste, good Lord, to deliver me, if thou intendest any kindness to me, otherwise I shall presently perish; and then, without the greatest miracle, there is no help for me; for can I with any reason expect, that thou shouldest do wonders for me among the dead, when thou wouldest do nothing for me while I was alive? and raise me out of my grave, when thou wouldest not bring me out of prison?

Ver. 11. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?] Now is the time to declare thy love thou bearest to me, and to perform the promise thou hast made to them that faithfully serve thee; for if thou dost defer thy relief, I die; and what can I hope for, when I am rotten in my grave?

Ver. 12. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?] Shall thy power be apparent there, where nothing is seen? and wilt thou convince men how good and how just thou art to thy servants, in the place where they are no more remembered?

Ver. 13. But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.] Thus, O Lord, I cry unto thee in the anguish of my soul, which keeps me awake to present my prayers unto thee, before the morning-light.

Ver. 14. LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why Lidest thou thy face from me?] Though, alas! they have no effect; but I see myself deserted, notwithstanding all my prayers, in these miserable straits, wherein I lie sighing, to think what the reason should be, that thou deniest me thy help, and takest no notice of me.

Ver. 15. I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth up; while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted.] Which is the more strange, because I faint away under my misery, which hath continued many years, and under the sad prospect I have before me of more dreadful calamities, which so astonish me, that I know not what to do with myself.

Ver. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.] I only bemoan over again my forlorn estate, which grows still more deplorable;

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suffer not merely the effects of thy anger, (ver. 7.), but of thy severest and most terrible displeasure, wherewith I am so overwhelmed and oppressed, that I am scarce able to fetch my breath.

Ver. 17. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.] Which way soever I turn myself, I find that I am environed with them, and they increase continually, like floods of water coming from several places, and at last meeting all together, to inclose and swallow me up.

Ver. 18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.] And there is no friend, no neighbour, comes near me, to give me the least consolation; but all they whose sweet society. was wont to help to mitigate my sorrow, are either dead, or kept from my sight, or hide themselves, for fear of being thrust down, together with me, inte this doleful place.

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Maschil of Ethan the Ezrabite.

THE ARGUMENT.-The author of this psalm was
near of kin to him that made the former, (see the
argument there), and they lived, I suppose, in the
same time. Only Heman bewailed some private
affliction, which was befallen himself; whereas
Ethan (after a thankful acknowledgement of the
benefits God had bestowed upon them, and espe
cially of his promise made to David, by Samuel
and Nathan, of settling the kingdom upon him.
and his posterity for ever) laments most sadly the
public calamity, by the subversion of the royal
family and government, in the days of Jehoiachin,
or of Zedekiah. Whose miserable fate seems, in
the conclusion of this psalm, to be bewailed with
the greater passion, because it looked like a breach
of God's promise to David, and gave the Baby-
lonians, and other nations, who assisted in their de-
structio, occasion to say, that notwithstanding all
the promises they boasted of, and the fidelity of
their God in their performance, there was now a
period put to David's family and kingdom. -
That is the clearest account I can give of the meaning
of the last clause of the last verse but one, where
we read that they reproached the footsteps of his
anointed." The word we render footsteps, signifies
properly the beel of a man's foot; and from thence
is translated to signify the end of any thing, as in
Psal. cxix. 33. Which notion of it, in my judge-
ment, best suits with all that goes before in this
psalm, concerning the stability of David's king-
dom, which their enemies now boasted (as we
would express it in our present language) they saw
upon its last legs. And the truth is, it was never
restored to that family, till Christ the son of Da-
vid came, to whom some passages in this psalm
are applied by the Jews themselves, in both the Be-
resiths, and in other books, to which Aben-Ezra
and R. Solomon consent.

Why this Psalm is called Maschil, see Psal, xxxii.
But why any should fancy, as some have done, that

it was made by Jehoiachin, after he came out of prison, (2 Kings, xxv. 27. 28.), I cannot conceive, unless the first words moved them to think that he, who in the foregoing psalm speaks of himself as in a dungeon, gives God thanks here for his deliverance.

Ver. 1. WILL sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever with my mouth will I make knorun thy faithfulness to all generations.] The innumerable calamities that are befallen us, shall blot out the memory of the innumerable benefits which the Lord hath formerly bestowed on us; but I will sing of them without ceasing; and endeavour to make all posterity believe, notwithstanding our present desolation, that thou art faithful and constant to thy word.

Ver. 2. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. For I am confident thy mercy, which is immoveable, and endures for ever, will raise us out of these ruins; thy promises being as firm and stedfast as the heavens; in which we see an image of the unchangeableness of thy nature, and of thy will.

Ver. 3. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant.] Which thou didst declare by thy prophet, saying, (1 Sam. xvi. 13. 2 Sam. iii. 9. 10. v. 2. vii. 15. 16. 28.), I have chosen David, my faithful servant, to be the governor of my people; and have made a covenant with him, confirmed by an oath.

Ver. 4. Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.] That not only he, but his children after him, shall be settled in the throne; which, though it totter some time, or be thrown down, shall be raised again, and continued throughout all succeeding generations.

Ver 5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of thy saints.] For which stupendous kindness, if we should forget to praise thee, or in this our calamitous condition distrust thy power and fidelity to make it good, the heavenly inhabitants will not fail to do it, but in their holy assemblies confess them both, with their solemn praises.

Ver. 6. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD ?] For there are none of the powers of the air, they know, (much less any upon earth), that can resist the Lord, and hinder the fulfilling of his will: the mightiest among themselves, they are sensible, are not to be compared to his majesty, to whom they are but ministers.

Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints; and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.] And when they assemble, in the greatest numbers, and make the most glorious court, stand in great fear and dread of him; attending, with awful reverence, what commands he will be pleased to lay upon them.

Ver. 8. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy jaithfulness round about thee?] With whom I will join, O Lord, the commander of

all these heavenly hosts, and celebrate thy name on earth, as they do in heaven, saying, Where is he among them all that can equal thee, O most powerful Lord, whose faithfulness is as ready to fulfil thy promises, as the angels are to execute thy commands?

Ver. 9. Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.] The sea itself, which subunits to nobody else, is under thy government; who, when it is a calm, makest it swell, as if it would overflow the earth; and reducest it, when it is in its greatest rage, to a perfect stilness again.

Ver. 10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.] There the Egyptians, who had been wounded before with many other grievous plagues, were utterly overthrown; and with the like irresistible power the Canaanites were scattered, at the entrance of thy people into the promised land.

Ver. 11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world, and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.] For thou art the owner of all things both in heaven and earth, and hast the justest right to dispose of them to whom thou pleasest, because the world, and all the inhabitants of it, are thy creatures.

Ver. 12. The north and the south, thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.] Whether we cast our eyes to the southern or northern parts of the earth, to the west towards Tabor, or eastwards towards Hermon, they all acknowledge thee their Creator; and rejoice in thy bountiful providence, which enriches them with all things needful for them.

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Ver. 13. Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. And thy power extending itself throughout the whole, always effects in every place whatsoever thou designest; and that with an irresistible force, whether it be to punish evil-doers, or to preserve and exalt them that do well.

Ver. 14. Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before by face.] But none shall be able to say thou dost them any wrong; because thou dost not rule the world merely by thy absolute power, but hast placed thy principal glory in justice and equity, mercy and fidelity; from which thou never swervest.

Ver. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.] Happy then are the people who live under thy righteous and merciful government; and hear the trumpet sound, which signifies the royal presence of thy majesty among them, and calls them to attend upon thee, (Numb. x. 10.); they shall spend their days most chearfully, O Lord; being secure of thy favour, which will let them want nothing that is good for them.

Ver. 16. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.] They shall not barely rejoice, but triumph, and that continually, in thy love to them; and, walking in thy holy laws, shall, by thy goodness, be highly exalted and made superior to all their enemies..

Ver. 17. For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favour our born shall be exalted.] For they owe not their conquests to their own valour, or forces, though never so great; but it is thou who givest illustrious victories to the smallest armies; and therefore, by thy favour, we hope that our empire, which is now broken, shall be raised again to its former splendour.

Ver. 18. For the LORD is our defence and the holy One of Israel is our King. For the Lord is still our protector, though our prince be taken, and made unable to defend us: he whom Israel adores, and acknowledges infinitely to transcend all other beings, is our King and Governor.

Ver. 19. Then thou spakest in vision to the holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.] Who then didst reveal thy mind, in a vision, to the holy prophet Samuel, (1 Sam. xvi. 1.), when the Philistines defied Israel, and grew terrible to them, (xvii. 10. 11. 24., saying, I have provided myself a valiant champion (1 Sam. xvi. 18.) to be your deliverer, (2 Sam. iii. 18.); I have designed a person of singular worth, from among the common people, (1 Sam. xvi. 11.), to be promoted to the kingdom.

Ver. 20. I have found David my servant; with my boly vil have I anointed him.] I have observed David, 1 Sam. xvi. 1.), and find him a man that will faithfully serve me go, and anoint him with the holy oil; for I intend him for the governor of my people. Ver. 21. With ruhom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.] With whom I will always be powerfully present, for his assistance, (1 Sam. xvii. 45. &c.), and never desert him, as I did Saul, (xviii. 12. 24. 28.); but my mighty power shall extraordinarily strengthen him in all his enterprises, I Sam. xxx. 6. 2 Sam. viii. 6. 14.

Ver. 22. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.] The subtilest of his enemies shall not be able to circumvent him; nor the most malicious, how powerful soever, oppress

him.

Ver. 23. And will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.] But after all their vain attempts, I will not only protect him from their crafty violence, but subdue all his adversaries under him, and destroy those that hate him, 2 Sam. vii.

Ver. 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his born be exalted.] He shall ever find me, not only faithful to my promise to him, but kind above his expectation; and, by my powerful assistance, and his confidence in it, his authority shall be highly exalted, 1 Chron. xiv. 17. 2 Sam. vii. 9. viii. 13.

Ver. 25. 1 will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.] On one hand he shall conquer the Philistines, and those that live upon the coast of the sea, (2 Sam. viii. 1.), and on the other hand the Syrians, as far as Tigris and Euphrates, 2 Sam. viii. 9. &c. -x. 16. 19.

Ver. 26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.] For he shall

entirely depend on me in all his distresses, and fly to me for succour, as a child to his parent; saying, with more than usual love and confidence, Thou art my Father, as well as my omnipotent God, from whom alone I expect protection and deliverance.

Ver. 27. Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.] than the kings of the earth.] Which I will never fail to afford him, till I raise him to the prime dignity, among all those whom I call my sons; and set him so high above all other kings in the world, that he shall be a most eminent type of my Son Christ, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

Ver. 28. My mercy, also will I keep for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.] Nothing shall alter these kind intentions toward him; but I will always have a love for him, and faithfully perform my covenant with him:

Ver. 29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.] Which is, that his family shall never be extinct; but notwithstanding the changes which all things are subject unto here be low, have the royal power continued in it, as long as the heavens endure, 2 Sam. vii. 16. 28. 29. Luke, i. 32. 33.

Ver. 30. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgements;] If his successors indeed shall depart from the law which I have given you by my servant Moses, and not judge my people righteously;

Ver. 31. If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;] If they profanely neglect or cor rupt my religion, and observe not the rest of the rules of life which I have enjoined them :

Ver. 32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.] Then will I execute the threatenings which are in my law (Lev. xxvi.) upon them; and punish their transgressions with sore diseases, and their idolatries with several plagues, (2 Sam, vii. 14.)

Ver. 33. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.] But I will not so chastise them, as never more to do good to his family, (2 Sam. vii. 25.); but I will still have a kindness for it, and faithfully keep my promise with it, 1 Kings, xi. 34.—36. xv. 4. 2 Kings, viii. 19. &c.

Ver. 34. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.] I will not violate the covenant I have made with David, 2 Chron. xxi. 7.), nor retract the promise which I have solemnly passed to his family.

Ver. 35. Once have I savorn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.] For I have unalterably sworn by my own incommunicable excellencies, that I will as soon cease to be what I am, as deceive him.

Ver. 36. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.] His family (as I said, ver. 29.) shall never be quite extinct; but always remain in my favour, and hold the royal dignity as long as the sun shineth.

Ver. 37. It shall be established for ever as the moon,

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