BSI430 
 
 .D355" 
 
CLARK'S 
 
 FOREIGN 
 
 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. 
 
 FOURTH SERIES. 
 VOL. XXX. 
 
 \tlit\icf)*S Commcntavw on tl)t ^^^Salms!. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 EDINBUEGH: 
 T. &. T. CLAEK, 38, GEORGE STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLXXI. 
 
PRINTED BY MrnRAY AND GIBB, 
 FOR 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 LONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 DUBLIN, .... JOHN ROBERTSON AlfD CO. 
 NEW YORK, . . . C. SCRIBNER AND CO. 
 
BIBLICAL COMMENTARY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PSALMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT EXEGESIS, LEIPSIC. 
 
 S^ransldcb from t^« (Btxmnn 
 
 (FROM THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT) 
 
 REV. FRANCIS BOLTON, B.A, 
 
 PRIZEMAN IN HEBREW AND NEW TESTAMENI GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITV OF LONDON. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 T. & T. CLAEK, 38, GEOEGE STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLXXI. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE PSALTER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First Book of the Psalter, Ps. i.-xli. — (co7itinued)—Fsa\m 
 
 xxxvi. to xli., 1-^9 
 
 Second Book of the Psalter, Ps. xlii.-lxxii., . . . 50-307 
 
 Third Book of the Psalter, Ps. lxxiii.-lxxxix. — Psalm Ixxiii. 
 
 tolxxxiii., 308-411 
 
 EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. 
 
 I. The Symbolical Meaning of the TVash-pot and Shoe 
 
 (On Ps. Ix. 10), 412 
 
 II. Concerning the viol Jiotiiu in 1 Macc. v. 4 (On Ps. Ixxxiii.), 417 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 Page 54, note, line 2, /or " no" read "on." 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 Page 6, line 4 from top, for vmxt read vmct. 
 
 ,. 10, ,, 16 from bottom, for "recurrences to a previous thought" 
 read " supplementings of the thought." 
 
 ,, 13, ,, 16, 17 from top, for " Meekness, which is content with 
 God, and renounces," etc., read " Meekness which, con- 
 tent with God alone, renounces," etc. 
 
 ,, 15, ,, 16 from top, for " an emphatic" read " a pregnant." 
 
 ,, 81, ,, 12 from top, /or "an addition" read "a construct;" and 
 line 13, /or "as twin-sisters and reciprocally pervasive" 
 read " as closely related and influencing each other." 
 
 „ 130, ,, 17 from top, /or nynn ^-eac/ nj;"l3. 
 
 ,, 162, last line, fir D2 read 03. 
 
 ,, 242, line 8 from bottom, /or " went" read "go." 
 
 ,, 213, ,, 9 from bottom of text, for " imprecation over" read 
 "prediction about;" and in the following line, for '■'■let 
 them " read " they shall." 
 
FIEST BOOK OF THE PSALTER (CONTINUED). 
 Ps. I.-XLI. 
 
 PSALM XXXVI. 
 
 THE CURSE OF ALIENATION FROM GOD, AND THE BLESSING 
 OF FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. 
 
 2 AN oracle of transgression hath the ungodly within his 
 
 heart : 
 There is no fear of God before his eyes. 
 
 3 For it flattereth him in his own eyes, 
 
 In order that he may become guilty, that he may hate. 
 
 4 The words of his mouth are evil and deceit ; 
 He hath ceased to act wisely and well. 
 
 5 Evil doth he devise upon his bed, 
 
 He taketh his stand in a way that is not good, 
 He abhorreth not evil. 
 
 6 O Jahve, to the heavens doth Thy mercy extend, 
 Thy faithfulness unto the clouds. 
 
 7 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, 
 Thy judgments are a great deep, 
 
 Man and beast dost Thou preserve, O Jahve. 
 
 8 How precious is Thy mercy, Elohim, 
 
 That the children of men find refuge in the shadow of Thy 
 wings ! 
 VOL. II. 1 
 
2 PSALM XXXVI. 2-5. 
 
 9 They become drunk with the fatness of Thy house, 
 
 And Thou givest them to drink of the river of Thy 
 
 10 For with Thee is the fountain of Hfe, [pleasures. 
 And in Thy light do we see light. 
 
 11 Lengthen out Thy mercy to those who know Thee, 
 And Tliy righteousness to those who are upright in heart. 
 
 12 Let not the foot of pride overtake me, 
 
 And let not the hand of the wicked scare me away. 
 
 13 Behold, there have the workers of evil fallen, 
 They are thrust down and are not able to rise. 
 
 The preceding Psalm, in tlie hope of speedy deliverance, 
 put into the lips of the friends of the new kingship, who were 
 now compelled to keep in the background, the words : " Jahve, 
 be magnified, who hath pleasure in the well-being of His ser- 
 vant.^^ David there calls himself the servant of Jahve, and in 
 the inscription to Ps. xxxvi. he bears the very same name : To 
 the Precentor, hy the servant of Jahve, hy David. The textus 
 receptus accents n^'iO? with a conjunctive llluj ; Ben-Naphtali 
 accents it less ambiguously with a disjunctive Legarme {vid. 
 Psalter, ii. 462), since David is not himself the nv:o. Ps. xii., 
 xiv. (liii.), xxxvi., xxxvii., form a group. Li these Psalms 
 David complains of the moral corruption of his generation. 
 They are all merely reflections of the character of the time, 
 not of particular occurrences. Li common with Ps. xii., the 
 Psalm before us has a prophetic colouring; and, in common 
 with Ps. xxxvii., allusions to the primeval history of the Book 
 of Genesis. The strophe schema is 4. 5. 5. 6. G. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. At the outset the poet discovers to us the 
 wickedness of the children of the world, which has its roots in 
 alienation from God. Supposing it were admissible to render 
 ver, 2 : "A divine word -concerning the evil-doing of the 
 ungodly is in the inward parts of my heart" (QXJ with a genitive 
 of the object, like Nti'O, which is compared by Hofmann), then 
 the difficulty of this word, so much complained of, might find 
 the desired relief in some much more easy way than by means 
 of the conjecture proposed by Diestel, DV^ (^P), " Pleasant is 
 transgression to the evil-doer," etc. But the genitive after QJ^J 
 
PSALM XXXVI. 2-5. 3 
 
 (which in ex. 1, Num. xxlv. 3 sq., 15 sq., 2 Sam. xxiii. ], 
 Prov. XXX. 1, just as here, stands at the head of the clause) 
 always denotes the speaker, not the thing spoken. Even in 
 Isa. V. 1 1D"iD^ nn riT'i^' is not a song concerning my beloved 
 in relation to His vineyard, but a song of my beloved (such a 
 song as my beloved has to sing) touching His vineyard. Thus, 
 therefore, J?t^'3 must denote the speaker, and J^'^'j'?, as in ex. 1 
 "•JIS?, the person or thing addressed ; transgression is personified, 
 and an oracular utterance is attributed to it. But the predi- 
 cate ""S^ 37.i??, which is intelligible enough in connection with 
 the first rendering of V^Q as geiiit. obj., is difficult and harsh 
 with the latter rendering of Vti'S as gen. subj., whatever way it 
 may be understood : whether, that it is intended to say that 
 the utterance of transgression to the evil-doer is inwardly known 
 to him (the poet), or it occupies and affects him in his inmost 
 parts. It is very natural to read i3p, as the LXX., Syriac, 
 and Arabic versions, and Jerome do. In accordance therewith, 
 while with Von Lengerke he takes DX3 as part of the inscrip- 
 tion, Thenius renders it : r' Sin is to the ungodly in the midst 
 of his heart,'^ i. e. it is the mmost motive or impulse of all that 
 he thinks and does. But this isolation of D5<? is altogether at 
 variance with the usage of the language and custom. The 
 rendering given by Hupfeld, Hitzig, and at last also by 
 I Bottcher, is better : 1" The suggestion of sin dwells in the \ 
 V ungodly in the inward part of his heart;" or rather, since the/ 
 idea of 3"ip2 is not central, but circumferential, in the realm of 
 (within) his heart, altogether filling up and absorbing it. And 
 in connection with this explanation, it must be observed that 
 this combination Up 2'\p2 (instead of mp3, or U?3, 133?3) occurs 
 only here, where, together with a personification of sin, an 
 incident belonging to the province of the soul's life, which is 
 the outgrowth of sin, is intended to be described. It is true 
 this application of Q5<^ does not admit of being further substan- 
 tiated ; but 0^53 (cognate DHJ, '"I^Oj ^^ an onomatopoetic desig- 
 nation of a dull, hollow sound, is a suitable word for secret 
 comn)unication (cf. Arabic nemmdm, a tale-bearer), or even — 
 since the genius of the language does not combine with it the 
 idea of that which is significantly secretly, and solemnly 
 silently communicated, but spoken out — a suitable word for 
 that which transgression says to the ungodly with all the 
 
4 PSALM XXXVI. 2-5. 
 
 solemn mien of the prophet or the philosopher, inasmuch as it 
 has set itself within his heart in the place of God and of the 
 voice of his conscience. ^^~)^ does not, however, denote the 
 person addressed, but, as in xxxii. 10, the possessor. He pos- 
 sesses this inspiration of iniquity as the contents of his heart, 
 so that the fear of God has no place therein, and to him God 
 has no existence (objectivity), that He should command his 
 adoration. 
 
 Since after this V^^ DJ\3 we expect to hear further what 
 and how transgression speaks to him, so before all else the 
 most probable thing is, that transgression is the subject to 
 p^bnn. We do not interpret : He flatters God in His eyes (with 
 eye-service), for this rendering is contrary both to what pre- 
 cedes and to what follows : nor with Hupfeld (who follows 
 Hofmann) : " God deals smoothly (gently) with him according 
 to his delusions," for the assumption that Pv.p|l must, on 
 account of 1''^''^?, have some other subject than the evil-doer him- 
 self, is indeed correct. It does not, however, necessarily point 
 to God as the subject, but, after the solemn opening of ver. 2a, 
 to transgression, which is personified. This addresses flattering 
 words to him (?^? like 7y in Prov. xxix. 5) in his eyes, i.e. such 
 as are pleasing to him ; and to what end ? For the finding out, 
 i.e. establishing (pV 5*^0, as in Gen. xliv. 16, Hos. xii. 9), or — 
 since this is not exactly suited to yt^'D as the subject, and where 
 it is a purpose that is spoken of, the meaning assequi, originally 
 proper to the verb NVD, is still more natural — to the attainment 
 of his culpability, i.e. in order that he may inculpate himself, 
 to hating, i.e. that he may hate God and man instead of loving 
 them. N3b'p is designedly used without an object just as in 
 Eccles. iii. 8, in order to imply that the flattering words of I'K'a 
 incite him to turn into an object of hatred everything that he 
 ouiiht to love, and to live and move in hatred as in his own 
 proper element. Tlienius endeavours to get rid of the harsh- 
 ness of the expression by the following easy alteration of the 
 text : ^^Jp'^l PV ^^'P? 5 ^J^d interprets it : Yea, it flatters him in 
 his own eyes (it tickles his pride) to discover faults in others 
 and to make them suffer for them. But there is no support in 
 the ireneral usace of the lancuaoe for the impersonal rendering 
 of the Pvnn ; and the vrj;3, which in this case is not only 
 pleonastic, but out of place, demands a distinction between the 
 
PSALM XXXVI. 6-10. 5 
 
 flatterer and the person who feels himself flattered. The ex- 
 pression in ver. 3^, in whatever way it may be explained, is 
 harsh ; but David's language, whenever he describes the cor- 
 ruption of sin with deep-seated indignation, is wont to envelope 
 itself in such clouds, which, to our difficult comprehension, look 
 like corruptions of the text. In the second strophe the whole 
 language is more easy, ^''ipvnp ?''3b'nb is just such another 
 asyndeton as N:b*^ IJIJ? i<VD^. A man who has thus fallen a 
 prey to the dominion of sin, and is alienated from God, has 
 ceased (? b"]^, as in 1 Sam. xxiii. 13) to act wisely and well 
 (things which essentially accompany one another). His words 
 when awake, and even his thoughts in the night-time, run 
 upon pX (Isa. lix. 7), evil, wickedness, the absolute opposite of 
 that which alone is truly good. Most diligently does he take 
 up his position in the way which leads in the opposite direction 
 to that which is good (Prov. xvi. 29, Isa. Ixv. 2) ; and his con- 
 science is deadened against evil : there is not a trace of aversion 
 to it to be found in him, he loves it with all his soul. 
 
 Vers. 6-10. The poet now turns from this repulsive pro- 
 spect to one that is more pleasing. He contemplates, and 
 praises, the infinite, ever sure mercy of God, and the salvation, 
 happiness, and light which spring from it. Instead of ^int^a, 
 the expression is D^Dtl'nii, the syncope of the article not taking 
 place. 3 alternating with iy, cf. Ivii. 11, has here, as in xix. 
 5, Ixxii. 16, the sense of touching or reaching to the spot that 
 is denoted in connection with it. The poet describes the 
 exaltation and super-eminence of divine mercy and faithfulness 
 figuratively, after earthly standards. They reveal themselves 
 on earth in a height that reaches to the heavens and extends 
 to D''i?nti', i.e. the thin veil of vapour which spreads itself like a 
 veil over the depths of the heavens ; they transcend all human 
 thought, desire, and comprehension (ciii. 11, and cf. Eph. iii. 
 18). The npl)i (righteousness) is distinguished from the n:iDN 
 (faithfulness) thus : the latter is governed by the promises of 
 God, the former by His holiness; and further, the latter has 
 its being in the love of God, the former, on the other hand, 
 manifests itself partly as justifying in mercies, and partly as 
 avenging in wrath. Concerning the righteousness, the poet 
 says that it is like the mountains of God, i.e. (cf. cedars of 
 God, Ixxx. 11) unchangeably firm (cxi. 3), like the giant 
 
6 PSALM XXXVI. 6-10. 
 
 primeval mountains which bear witness to the greatness and 
 glory of God ; concerning God's judgments, that they are 
 " a great deep," incomprehensible and unsearchable (ave^epev- 
 v7]Taiy Rom. xi. 33) as the great, deep-surging mass of waters 
 in the lower parts of the earth, which becomes visible in the 
 seas and in the rivers. God's punitive righteousness, as at 
 length becomes evident, has His compassion for its reverse 
 side; and this, as in the case of the Flood (cf. Jon. iv. 11), 
 embraces the animal world, which is most closely involved, 
 whether for weal or for woe, with man, as well as mankind. 
 
 Lost in this depth, which is so worthy of adoration, the 
 Psalmist exclaims : How precious (cf. cxxxix. 17) is Thy mercy, 
 Elohim ! i.e. how valuable beyond all treasures, and how 
 precious to him who knows how to prize it ! The Waiu of V.r^'' 
 is the explicative Waio = et hoc ipsum quod. The energetic 
 form of the future, "^^^^3% has the pre-tonic Kametz, here in 
 pause, as in xxxvi. 8, xxxix. 7, Ixxviii. 44. The shadow of 
 God's wings is the protection of His love, which hides against 
 temptation and persecution. To be thus hidden in God is the 
 most unspeakable blessedness, ver. 9 : they satiate themselves, 
 they drink full draughts of " the fatness of Thy house." The 
 house of God is His sanctuary, and in general the domain of 
 His mercy and grace. \Y^_ (cf. 31D, Ixv. 5) is the expression 
 for the abundant, pleasant, and powerful gifts and goods and 
 recreations with which God entertains those who are His; and 
 nn (whence p."!'!, as in Dent. viii. 13, Isa. xl. 18) is the spiritual 
 joy of the soul that experiences God's mercy to overflowing. 
 Tiie abundant fare of the priests from Jahve's table (vid. Jer. 
 xxxi. 14), and the festive joy of the guests at tiie shelamim- 
 offering, i.e. the communion-offering, — these outward rites are 
 liere treated according to their spiritual significance, receive 
 the depth of meaning which radically belongs to them, and are 
 ideally generalized. It is a stream of pleasures (2""^"^^) with 
 which lie irrigates and fertilizes them, a paradisaic river of 
 delights. This, as the four arms of the river of Paradise had 
 one common source (Gen. ii. 10), has its spring in God, yea, 
 God is the fountain itself. He is "the fountain of life" (Jer. 
 ii. 13) ; all life flows forth from Him, who is the absolutely 
 existing and happy One. The more inwardly, therefore, one is 
 joined to Him, the fuller are the draughts of life which he 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 7 
 
 drinks from this first fountain of all life. And as God is the 
 fountain of life, so also is He the fountain of light : " In Thy 
 light do we see light;" out of God, seeing we see only dark- 
 ness, whereas immersed in God's sea of light we are illumined 
 by divine knowledge, and lighted up with spiritual joy. The 
 poet, after having taken a few glimpses into the chaos of evil, 
 here moves in the blessed depths of holy mysticism \_Mystik, i.e. 
 mysticism in the good sense — true religion, vital godliness], 
 and in proportion as in the former case his language is obscure, 
 so here it is clear as crystal. 
 
 Vers. 11-13. Now for the first time, in the concluding 
 hexastich, after complaint and commendation comes the lan- 
 guage of prayer. The poet prays that God would lengthen 
 out, i.e. henceforth preserve (^y'^j ^s in cix. 12), such mercy to 
 His saints ; that the foot of arrogance, which is conceived of 
 as a tyrant, may not come suddenly upon him (xi3, as in xxxv. 8), 
 and that the hand of the wicked may not drive him from his 
 home into exile (cf. x. 18). With IDn alternates ^?^^, which, 
 on its merciful side, is turned towards them that know God, 
 and bestows upon them the promised gracious reward. Whilst 
 the Psalmist is thus praying, the future all at once becomes 
 unveiled to him. Certain in his own mind that his prayer will 
 be heard, he sees the adversaries of God and of His saints for 
 ever overthrown. 0^, as in xiv. 5, points to the place where 
 the judgment is executed. The preterites are prophetic, as in 
 xiv. 5, Ixiv. 8-10. The poet, like Isaiah (ch. xxvi. 14), beholds 
 the whole tribe of the oppressors of Jahve's Church changed 
 into a field of corpses, without hope of any rising again. 
 
 PSALM XXXVII. 
 
 THE SEEMING PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED, AND THE REAL 
 PROSPERITY OF THE GODLY. 
 
 1 N BE not incensed at the evil-doers, 
 
 Be not envious of the workers of iniquity. 
 
 2 For like grass they are soon cut down, 
 And like a green herb they wither away. 
 
 3 3 Trust in Jahve and do good, 
 
 Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 
 
8 PSALM xxxvir. 
 
 4 And delicjht thyself in Jalive, 
 
 So shall lie give thee the desires of thy heart. 
 
 5 H Commit thy way unto Jahve, 
 
 And trust in Him ; and He will bring it to pass. 
 
 6 He will bring forth like the light thy righteousness, 
 And thy right like the noon-day brightness. 
 
 7 T Resign thyself to Jahve and wait for Him ; 
 
 Fret not thyself over him who prospereth in his 
 
 way, 
 Over the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 
 
 8 n Cease from anger and let go wrath, 
 
 Be not incensed, it leads only to evil-doing. 
 
 9 For evil-doers shall be cut off, 
 
 But they who hope in Jahve — they inherit the land. 
 
 10 ) Yet a little while and the wicked is no more, 
 
 And if thou observest his place, he is gone. 
 
 11 But the meek shall inherit the land, 
 
 And delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 
 
 12 T The wicked deviseth evil against the righteous, 
 
 And gnasheth upon him with his teeth — 
 
 13 The Lord laugheth at him, 
 
 For He seeth that his day is coming. 
 
 14 n The wicked draw the sword and bend their bow, 
 
 To cast down the poor and needy. 
 To slay them that are of upright walk. 
 
 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, 
 And their bows shall be broken. 
 
 16 D Better is the little that a righteous man hath, 
 
 Than the riches of many wicked. 
 
 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, 
 And Jahve upholdeth the righteous. 
 
 18 ^ Jahve observeth the days of the perfect. 
 
 And their inheritance shall endure for ever, 
 
 19 They are not ashamed in the evil time, 
 And in the days of famine they are satisfied. 
 
 20 3 But the wicked perish. 
 
 And the enemies of Jahve are like the glory of the 
 
 meadows. 
 They vanish away like smoke, they disappear. 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 9 
 
 21 ^ The wicked is obliged to borrow and cannot pay, 
 
 But the righteous is hberal and can give. 
 
 22 For they that are blessed of Him shall inherit the 
 
 land, 
 And they that are cursed of Him shall be cut off. 
 
 23 D With Jahve are a man's steps established, 
 
 And He hath delight in his way. 
 
 24 When he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, 
 For Jahve upholdeth his hand. 
 
 25 3 I have been young, and now am old. 
 
 Yet have I not seen a righteous man forsaken, 
 And his seed begging bread. 
 
 26 He continually giveth and lendeth. 
 And his seed is a blessing. 
 
 27 D Depart from evil and do good, 
 
 And dwell for evermore. 
 
 28 For Jahve loveth the right, 
 And will not forsake His saints. 
 For ever are they preserved, 
 
 But the seed of the wicked is cut off. 
 
 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, 
 And dwell therein for ever. 
 
 30 2 The mouth of the righteous uttereth wisdom, 
 
 And his tongue speaketh what is right. 
 
 31 The law of his God is in his heart, 
 Plis steps do not slip. 
 
 32 V The wicked lieth in wait for the righteous. 
 
 And seeketh to slay him. 
 
 33 Jahve doth not give him over into his hand, 
 Nor condemn him when he is judged. 
 
 34 p Wait on Jahve and keep His way. 
 
 So shall Pie exalt thee to inherit the land ; 
 With the cuttiniT off the wicked shalt thou delight thine 
 eyes. 
 
 35 1 I have seen a violent wicked man. 
 
 And he spread himself like an indigenous tree of luxuriant 
 foliage. 
 
 36 And one passed by, and lo he was not. 
 
 And I sought him and he was not to be found. 
 
10 PSALM XXXVII. 
 
 37 ^ !Mark the perfect man, and observe the upright ; 
 
 That the man of peace hath a posterity. 
 
 38 But the transgressors are destroyed together, 
 The posterity of tlie wicked is cut off. 
 
 39 n And tlie salvation of tlie righteous is from Jahve, 
 
 Who is their hiding-place in the time of trouble. 
 
 40 And Jahve hclpeth them and rescueth them, 
 
 He rescueth them from the wicked and saveth them, 
 Because they trust in Him. 
 
 The bond of connection between Ps. xxxvi. and xxxvii. is 
 their similarity of contents, which here and there extends even 
 to accords of expression. The fundamental thought running 
 through the whole Psalm is at once expressed in the opening 
 verses : Do not let the prosperity of the ungodly be a source 
 of vexation to thee, but w\iit on the Lord ; for the prosperity of 
 the ungodly will suddenly come to an end, and the issue deter- 
 mines between the righteous and the unrighteous. Hence 
 Tcrtullian calls this Psalm j:)rovidentice speculum ; Isodore, 
 2'>otio contra murmur ; and Luther, vestis piorian, cui adscrip- 
 tum: Hie Sanctorum patientia est {A-^oq. xiv. 12). This fun- 
 damental thought the poet does not expand in strophes of 
 ordinary compass, but in shorter utterances of the proverbial 
 form following the order of the letters of the alphabet, and not 
 without some repetitions and recurrences to a previous thought, 
 in order to impress it still more convincingly and deeply upon 
 the mind. The Psalm belongs therefore to the series Ps. ix. 
 and X., xxv., xxxiv., — all alphabetical Psalms of David, of whose 
 language, cheering, high-flown, thoughtful, and at the same 
 time so easy and unartificial, and withal elegant, this Psalm is 
 fully worthy. The sti'ucture of the proverbial utterances is 
 almost entirely tetrastichic ; though ^, 3, and p are tristichs, and 
 n (which is twice represented, though perhaps unintentionally), 
 3, and n are pentastichs. The V is apparently wanting ; but, 
 on closer inspection, the originally separated strophes D and y 
 are only run into one another by the division of the verses. 
 The j; strophe begins with Di5"iy^, ver. 28i, and forms a tetra- 
 stich, just like the D. The fact that the preposition ? stands 
 before the letter next in order need not confuse one. The n, 
 ver. 39, also begins with nyiC'DI. The homogeneous beginnings. 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 1-4. 11 
 
 V^l D»f, VUi r\)b, yty"-! nsiv, vers. 12, 21, 32, seem, as Ilitzig re- 
 marks, to be designed to give prominence to the pauses in the 
 succession of the proverbial utterances. 
 
 Vers. 1, 2. Olshausen observes, "The poet keeps entirely 
 to the standpoint of the old Hebrew doctrine of recompense, 
 which the Book of Job so powerfully refutes." But, viewed in 
 the light of the final issue, all God's government is really in a 
 word righteous recompense ; and the Old Testament theodicy 
 is only inadequate in so far as the future, which adjusts all 
 present inconsistencies, is still veiled. Meanwhile the punitive 
 justice of God does make itself manifest, as a rule, in the case 
 of the ungodly even in the present world ; even their dying is 
 usually a fearful end to their life's prosperity. This it is which 
 the poet means here, and which is also expressed by Job him- 
 self in the Book of Job, ch. xxvii. With ^'i'^^n, to grow hot 
 or angry (distinct from i^li^J^., to emulate, Jer. xii. 5, xxii. 15), 
 alternates ^3p, to get into a glow, excandescentia, whether it be 
 the restrained heat of sullen envy, or the incontrollable heat of 
 impetuous zeal which would gladly call down fire from heaven. 
 This first distich has been transferred to the Book of Proverbs, 
 ch. xxiv. 19, cf. xxiii, 17, xxiv. 1, iii. 31 ; and in general we 
 may remark that this Psalm is one of the Davidic patterns for 
 the Salomonic gnome system. The form v^^ is, according to 
 Gesenius, Olshausen, and Hitzig, fut. Kal of <?9j cognate ^pjf, 
 they wither away, pausal form for '^'^\ like "^"^^^ cii. 28 ; but 
 the signification to cut off also is secured to the verb ??0 by the 
 Nipluh^}, Gen. xvii. 11, whence fut. "h^'. = 'h^\', vid. on Job 
 xiv. 2, xviii. 16. N5Jn pT is a genitival combination: the green 
 {viror) of young vigorous vegetation. 
 
 Vers. 3, 4. The " land " is throughout this Psalm the 
 promised possession {Heilsgut), viz. the land of Jahve's pre- 
 sence, whicli has not merely a glorious past, but also a future 
 rich in promises ; and will finally, more perfectly than under 
 Joshua, become the inheritance of the true Israel. It is there- 
 fore to be explained : enjoy the quiet sure habitation which 
 God gives thee, and diligently cultivate the virtue of faithful- 
 ness. The two imperatives in ver. 3&, since there are two of 
 them (cf. ver. 27) and the first is without any conjunctive Waw, 
 have the appearance of being continued admonitions, not pro- 
 
12 PSALM XXX VI I. 5-9. 
 
 mises ; and consequently nji^^i^. is not an adverbial accusative as 
 in cxix. 75 (Ewald), but the object to nyn, to pasture, to pursue, 
 to practise (Syriac ^T], IIos. xii. 2) ; of. nV7, y^., one who inte- 
 rests himself in any one, or anything; Beduin ^\j = (._->-U' 
 
 of every kind of closer relationship (Deutsch. Morgenldnd. 
 Zeitschr. v. 9). In ver. 4, \ii}^}, is an apodosis : delight in Jahve 
 (cf. Job xxii. 26, xxvii. 10, Isa. Iviii. 14), so will He grant thee 
 the desire (n^N:^'b, as in xx. 6) of thy heart ; for he who, 
 entirely severed from the creature, finds his highest delight in 
 God, cannot desire anything that is at enmity with God, but 
 he also can desire nothing that God, with whose will his own is 
 thoroughly blended in love, would refuse him. 
 
 Vers. 5, 6. The LXX. erroneously renders bSi (= b'i, xxii. 
 9) by airoKoXvylrov instead of iTrLpptyp-ov, 1 Pet. v. 7 : roll the 
 burden of cares of thy life's way upon Jahve, leave the guid- 
 ance of thy life entirely to Him, and to Him alone, without 
 doing anything in it thyself : He will gloriously accomplish (aU 
 that concerns thee) : i^'^'V, as in xxii. 32, lii. 11 ; cf. Prov. xvi. 3, 
 and Paul Gerhardt's Befiehl du deine Wege, " Commit thou all 
 thy ways," etc. The perfect in ver. 6 is a continuation of the 
 promissory "^'^'.V^ ^""V^'"", as in Jer. li. 10, signifies to set forth : 
 He will bring to light thy misjudged righteousness like the 
 light (the sun. Job xxxi. 26, xxxvii. 21, and more especially the 
 morning sun, Prov. iv. 18), which breaks tlirough the darkness ; 
 and thy down-trodden right (^t^SC'p is the pausal form of the 
 singular beside Mugrasli) like the bright light of the noon-day : 
 cf. Isa. Iviii. 10, as on ver. 4, Isa. Iviii. 14. 
 
 Ver. 7. The verb 2^"^, with its derivatives (Ixii. 2, 6, Lam. 
 iii. 28), denotes resignation, i.e. a quiet of mind which rests on 
 God, renounces all self-help, and submits to the will of God. 
 ''.c^'^r''? (from ?^n, to be in a state of tension, to wait) of the in- 
 ward gathering of one's self together in hope intently directed 
 towards God, as in B. Berachoth 30Z» as a synonym of pinnn, 
 and as it were reflexive of npn of the collecting one's self to 
 importunate prayer. With ver. lb the primary tone of the 
 whole Psalm is struck anew. On ver. Ic compare the defi- 
 nition of the mischief-maker in Prov. xxiv. 8. 
 
 Vers. 8, 9. On ^"^n (let alone), iinper. apoc. Jliph., instead 
 of ^^y}, vld. Ges. § 15, rem. 15. y?.^? ^^ is a clause to itself 
 
PSALM XXXVII, 10-17. 13 
 
 (cf. Prov. xi. 24, xxi. 5, xxli. 16) : it tends only to evil-doing, 
 it ends only in thy involving thyself in sin. The final issue, 
 without any need that thou shouldst turn sullen, is that the 
 D'y"]??, like to whom thou dost make thyself by such passionate 
 murmuring and displeasure, will be cut off, and they who, 
 turning from the troublous present, make Jahve the ground 
 and aim of their hope, shall inherit the land (vid. xxv. 13). It 
 is the end, the final and consequently eternal end, that decides 
 the matter. 
 
 Vers. 10, 11. The protasis in ver. 10a Is literally: adhuc 
 parum (temporis siiperest), \ ^V^ *liy, as e.g. Ex. xxiii. 30, and 
 as in a similar connection \ t^JJD, Job xxiv. 24. ripiianni also is 
 a protasis with a hypothetical perfect, Ges. § 155, 4, a. This 
 promise also runs in the mouth of the Preacher on the Mount 
 (Matt. v. 5) just as the LXX. renders ver. 11a: ol Se irpaeU 
 /cXtjpovo/jLijaovai <yr)V. Meekness, which is content with God, 
 and renounces all earthly stays, will at length become the 
 inheritor of the land, yea of the earth. Whatever God-opposed 
 self-love may amass to itself and may seek to acquire, falls into 
 the hands of the meek as their blessed possession. 
 
 Vers. 12, 13. The verb Dpt is construed Avith ? of that 
 which is the object at which the evil devices aim. To gnash 
 the teeth (elsewhere also: with the teeth) is, as in xxxv. 16, 
 cf. Job xvi. 9, a gesture of anger, not of mockery, although 
 anger and mockery are usually found together. But the Lord, 
 who regards an assault upon the righteous as an assault upon 
 Himself, laughs (ii. 4) at the enraged schemer; for He, who 
 orders the destinies of men, sees beforehand, with His onmi- 
 scient insight into the future, his day, i.e. the day of his death 
 (2 Sam. xxvi. 10), of his visitation (cxxxvii. 7, Obad. ver. 12, 
 Jer. 1. 27, 31). 
 
 Vers. 14, 15. That which corresponds to the "treading" 
 or strinmnc of the bow is the drawintr from the sheath or un- 
 sheathing of the sword : nns, Ezek. xxi. 33, cf. Ps. Iv. 22. 
 The combination ^"^'I'^'lf'. is just like "jm-^D^Dn, cxix. 1. The 
 emphasis in ver. 15 is upon the suffix of Ciapa : they shall perish 
 by their own weapon. Dninij'r? has (in Baer) a Sliebd duimens, 
 as also in Isa. v. 28 in correct texts. 
 
 Vers. 16, 17. With ver. 16 accord Prov. xv. 16, xvi. 8, cf. 
 Tobit xii. 8. The h of p^l^^ is a periphrastic indication of the 
 
14 PSALM XXXVII. 18-22. 
 
 genitive (Gcs. § 115). pf^7 is a noisy multitude, here used of 
 earthly possessions. D''3"i is not per attract, (of. xxxviii. 11, 
 on for Nin) equivalent to 3"i, but the one righteous man is con- 
 trasted with many unrighteous. The arms are here named 
 instead of the bow in ver. 1 5b. lie whose arms are broken can 
 neither injure others nor help himself. Whereas Jahve does 
 for the righteous what earthly wealth and human power cannot 
 do: He Himself upholds them. 
 
 Vers. 18, 19. The life of those who love Jahve with the 
 whole heart is, with all its vicissitudes, an object of His loving 
 regard and of His observant providential care, i. 6, xxxi. 8, cf. 
 16. He neither suffers His own to lose their heritage nor to 
 be themselves lost to it. The aia)VLo<; K\.r]povofiLa is not as yet 
 thought of as extending into the future world, as in the New 
 Testament. In ver. li) the surviving refers only to this pre- 
 sent life. 
 
 Ver. 20. With ''3 the preceding assertion is confirmed by 
 its opposite (cf. cxxx. 4). D''"i3 "ii?''3 forms a fine play in sound ; 
 lipi is a substantivized adjective like 7^i, Ex. xv. 16. Instead 
 of 1^"^'?: it is not to be read \'i'\'^, Hos. xiii. 3 ; the 2 is secured 
 by cii. 4, Ixxviii. 33. The idea is, that they vanish into smoke, 
 i.e. are resolved into it, or also, that they vanish in the manner 
 of smoke, which is first thick, but then becomes thinner and 
 thinner till it disappears (Rosenmiiller, Hupfeld, Hitzig) ; both 
 expressions are admissible as to fact and as to the language, 
 and the latter is commended by ^^>}^, Ixxviii. 33, cf. 2^>!3, 
 xxxix. 7. i'fi'? belongs to the first, regularly accented v3 ; for 
 the Munach by I'l^'i'^ is the substitute for Mugo-ash, which never 
 can be used where at least two syllables do not precede the 
 Silluk tone {vid. Psalter ii. 503). The second v3 has the 
 accent on the j^emdt. for a change (Evv. § 194, c), i.e. variation 
 of the rhythm (cf. n^b • ' no^, xlii. 10, xliii. 2 ; my • • my, 
 Judg. V. 12, and on cxxxvii. 7), and in particular here ou 
 account of its pausal position (cf. ^"^V, cxxxvii. 7). 
 
 Vers. 21, 22. It is the promise expressed in Dent. xv. 6, 
 xxviii. 12, 44, which is rendered in ver. 21 in the more uni- 
 versal, sententious form. TO signifies to be bound or under ob- 
 ligation to any one = to borrow and to owe {nexum esse). The 
 confirmation of ver. 22 is not inappropriate (as Hitzig considers 
 it, who places ver. 22 after ver. 20) : in that ever deeper 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 23-28. 15 
 
 downfall of the ungodly, and in that charitableness of the 
 righteous, which becomes more and more easy to him by reason 
 of his prosperity, the curse and blessing of God, which shall 
 be revealed in the end of the earthly lot of both the righteous 
 and the ungodly, are even now foretold. Whilst those who 
 reject the blessing of God are cut off, the promise given to the 
 patriarchs is fulfilled in the experience of those who are blessed 
 of God, in all its fulness. 
 
 Vers. 23, 24. By Jahve (IP, aTro, almost equivalent to vtto 
 with the passive, as in Job xxiv. 1, Eccles. xii. 11, and in a few 
 other passages) are a man's steps made firm, established; not: 
 ordered or directed (LXX., Jerome, KarevOuverai), which, 
 according to the extant usage of the language, would be ^33in 
 (passive of pr", Prov. xvi. 9, Jer. x. 23, 2 Chron. xxvii. 6), 
 whereas ^3Ji2j the Pulal of ip.i3, is to be understood according to 
 xl. 3. By "122 is meant man in an emphatic sense (Job xxxviii. 
 3), and in fact in an ethical sense ; compare, on the other hand, 
 the expression of the more general saying, "Man proposes, and 
 God disposes," Prov. xvi. 9, xx. 24, Jer. x. 23. Ver. 2db shows 
 that it is the upright man that is meant in ver. 23a : to the way, 
 i.e. course of life, of such an one God turns with pleasure (I'sn."! 
 pausal change of vowel for f^^]) : supposing he should fall, 
 whether it be a fall arising from misfortune or from error, or 
 both together, he is not prostrated, but Jahve upholds his 
 hand, affords it a firm point of support or fulcrum (cf. 3 ^'pn, 
 Ixiii. 9, and frequently), so that he can raise himself again, 
 rise up again. 
 
 Vers. 25, 26. There is an old theological rule : promissiones 
 corporales intelligendce sunt cum exceptione crucis et castigaiionis. 
 Temporary forsakenness and destitution the Psalm does not 
 deny : it is indeed even intended to meet the conflict of doubt 
 which springs up in the minds of the God-fearing out of certain 
 conditions and circumstances that are seemingly contradictory 
 to the justice of God ; and this it does, by contrasting that 
 which in the end abides with that which is transitory, and in 
 fact without the knowledge of any final decisive adjustment in 
 a future world ; and it only solves its problem, in so far as it 
 is placed in the light of the New Testament, which already 
 dawns in the Book of Ecclesiastes. 
 
 Vers. 27, 28a. The round of the exhortations and promises 
 
16 PSALM XXXVII. 28-31. 
 
 is here again reached as in ver. 3. The imperative p^\ which 
 is there hortatory, is found here with the 1 of sequence in the 
 sense of a promise : and continue, doing such things, to dwell 
 for ever = so shalt thou, etc. Q^f, pregnant as in cii. 29, Isa. 
 Ivii, 15). Nevertheless the imperative retains its meaning even 
 in such instances, inasmuch as the exhortation is given to share 
 in the reward of duty at the same time with the discharge of 
 it. On ver. 28a compare xxxiii. 5. 
 
 Vers. 286, 29. The division of the verses is wrong; for the 
 D strophe, without any doubt, closes wath VTon, and the y 
 strophe begins with o?)]}?, so that, according to the text which 
 we possess, the V of this word is the acrostic letter. The 
 LXX., however, after et? top alwva (^v\a-)(6i']aovrai has 
 another line, which suggests another commencement for the 
 y strophe, and runs in Cod. Vat, incorrectly, afiwixot eKBiKij- 
 aovrai, in Cod. Alex., correctly, avofiot Se iKSiw'^d^aovTat 
 (Symmachus, avo/xoi i^apdr^crovrat,). By avofjio^ the LXX. 
 translates TIV ^^ Isa. xxix. 20 ; by avofxa, nhy in Job xxvii. 4 ; 
 and by eKhtooKeiv, JT'DyHj the synonym of T'PP'r', in Ps. ci. 5 ; so 
 that consequently this line, as even Venema and Schleusner 
 have discerned, was ll^tJ^J Qvjy. It will at once be seen 
 that this is only another reading for "iin'^J ubw^ ; and, since it 
 stands side by side with the latter, that it is an ancient attempt 
 to produce a correct beginning for the V strophe, which has 
 been transplanted from the LXX. into the text. It is, how- 
 ever, questionable whether this rej^aration is really a restoration 
 of the original words (Hupfeld, Hitzig) ; since ^JV (b''iy) is not 
 a word found in the Psalms (for which reason Bottcher's con- 
 jecture of ^by^l '''^^V more readily commends itself, although it is 
 critically less probable), and 'n»:i'j D^iy^ forms a continuation 
 that is more naturally brought about by the context and per- 
 fectly logical. 
 
 Vers. 30, 31. Tlie verb ^}r\ unites in itself the two mean- 
 ings of meditating and of meditative utterance {vid. ii. 1), 
 just as "ipx those of thinking and speaking. Ver. 316 in this 
 connection affirms the stability of the moral nature. The walk 
 of the righteous has a fixed inward rule, for the Tora is to him 
 not merely an external object of knowledge and a compulsory 
 precept ; it is in his heart, and, because it is the Tora of his God 
 whom he loves, as the motive of his actions closely united with 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 32-38. 17 
 
 his own will. On ^V'f^, followed by the subject in the plural, 
 compare xviii. 35, Ixxiii. 2 Chethib. 
 
 Vers. 32, 33. The Lord as avaKplvwv is, as in 1 Cor. iv. 
 3 sq., put in contrast with the avaKplveLv of men, or of human 
 rjfjuepa. If men sit in judgment upon the righteous, yet God, 
 the supreme Judge, does not condemn him, but acquits him 
 (cf. on the contrary cix. 7). Si condemnamur a mundo, ex- 
 claimed Tertullian to his companions in persecution, absolvimur 
 a Deo. 
 
 Ver. 34. Let the eye of faith directed hopefully to Jahve 
 go on its way, without suffering thyself to be turned aside by 
 the persecution and condemnation of the world, then He will 
 at length raise thee out of all trouble, and cause thee to possess 
 (nK'"i7, ut possidas et possideas) the land, as the sole lords of 
 which the evil-doers, now cut off, conducted themselves. 
 
 Vers. 35, 36. ri^ (after the form P^^V) is coupled with 
 y^n, just as these two words alternate in Job xv. 20 : a terror- 
 inspiring, tyrannical evil-doer ; cf . besides also Job v. 3. The 
 participle in ver. 35^* forms a clause by itself : et se difundens, 
 scil. erat. The LXX. and Jerome translate as though it were 
 f3a^n nSD, "like the cedars of Lebanon," instead of pin mrXD. 
 But PV^_ n'lTSl is the expression for an oak, terebinth, or the 
 like, that has grown from time immemorial in its native soil, 
 and has in the course of centuries attained a gigantic size in 
 the stem, and a wide-spreading overhanging head. l^y'A does 
 not mean : then he vanished away (Hupfeld and others) ; for 
 13y in this sense is not suitable to a tree. Luther correctly 
 renders it : man ging voriiberj one (they) passed by, Ges. 
 § 137, 3. The LXX., Syriac, and others, by way of lighten- 
 ing the difficulty, render it : then I passed by. 
 
 Vers. 37, 38. cn might even be taken as neuter for Dn, 
 and iti^^ for "i*^^ ; but in this case the poet would have written 
 ^"^P, instead of nx"| ; lOU' is therefore used as, e.g.^ in 1 Sam. i. 
 12. By ''3 that to which attention is specially called is intro- 
 duced. The man of peace has a totally different lot from the 
 evil-doer wdio delights in contention and persecution. As the 
 fruit of his love of peace he has nnnw^^ a future, Prov. xxiii. 18, 
 xxiv. 14, viz. in his posterity, Prov. xxiv. 20 ; whereas the 
 apostates are altogether blotted out ; not merely they them- 
 selves, but even the posterity of the ungodly is cut off, Amos 
 VOL. II. 3 
 
18 FSALM XXXVIII. 
 
 iv. 2, ix. 1, Ezek. xxiii. 25. To them remains no posterity to 
 carry forward their name, their nnns is devoted to destruction 
 (cf. cix. 13 with Num. xxiv. 20). 
 
 Vers. 30, 40. The salvation of the righteous cometh from 
 Jahve ; it is therefore characterized, in accordance with its 
 origin, as sure, perfect, and enduring for ever. QJ^yo is an 
 apposition ; the plena scriptio serves, as in 2 Sam. xxii. 33, to 
 indicate to us that nvo is meant in this passage to signify not a 
 fortress, but a hiding-place, a place of protection, a refuge, in 
 
 which sense <d!l iU^ (the protection of God) and <d]^ &s>-^ jU^ 
 
 (the protection of God's presence) is an Arabic expression 
 (also used as a formula of an oath) ; vid. moreover on xxxi. 3. 
 The moods of sequence in ver. 40 are aoristi gnomici. The 
 parallelism in ver. 4.0ab is progressive after the manner of the 
 Psalms of degrees. The short confirmatory clause ki chasu bo 
 forms an expressive closing cadence. 
 
 PSALM XXXVIII. 
 
 PRAYER FOR THE CHANGING OF MERITED WRATH INTO 
 RESCUING LOVE. 
 
 2 JAHVE, do not in Thy wrath rebuke me, 
 And in Thy hot displeasure chasten me. 
 
 3 For Thine arrows have entered deep into me, 
 And Thy hand hath sunk down upon me. 
 
 4 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine anger, 
 There is no health in my bones because of my sin. 
 
 5 For mine iniquities are gone over my head, 
 Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 
 
 6 My wounds stink and fester 
 Because of my foolishness. 
 
 7 I am bent, I am sore bowed down, 
 All the day long do I go mourning. 
 
 8 For my loins are full of burning, 
 And there is no soundness in my flesh. 
 
PSALM XXXVIII. 19 
 
 9 I am benumbed and sore crushed, 
 
 I roar by reason of the groaning of my heart. 
 
 10 O Lord, to Thee is all my desire manifest, 
 And my sighing is not hidden from Thee. 
 
 11 My heart beateth quickly, my strength hath failed me, 
 And the light of mine eyes, even of these, is gone from me. 
 
 12 My lovers and friends stand aloof from my stroke, 
 [And my kinsmen stand afar off,] 
 
 13 And they lay snares for me who seek after my soul. 
 
 And they who strive after my misfortune speak mischievous 
 And utter falsehoods continually. [things, 
 
 14 But I am like a deaf man, as though I heard not, 
 And like one dumb that openeth not his mouth ; 
 
 15 I am become like a man that heareth not, 
 And in whose mouth are no replies. 
 
 16 For in Thee, Jahve, do I hope ; 
 
 Thou, Thou wilt answer, O Lord my God. 
 
 17 For I say : Let them not rejoice over me 
 
 Who, when my foot tottereth, would magnify themselves 
 against me. 
 
 18 For I am ready to fall, 
 
 And my great sorrow is ever before me. 
 
 19 For mine iniquity must I confess, 
 
 I must tremble on account of my sin. 
 
 20 But mine enemies are vigorous, they are numerous, 
 And many are my lying haters. 
 
 21 And requiting evil for good. 
 
 They are hostile towards me for my following that which 
 is good. 
 
 22 Forsake me not, Jahve ; 
 
 My God, be not far from me. 
 
 23 Make haste to help me, 
 
 O Lord, who art my salvation ! 
 
20 PSALM XXXVIII. 
 
 The penitential Psalm, xxxviii., is placed immediately after 
 Ps. xxxvii. on account of the similarity of its close to the D 
 strophe of that Psalm. It begins like Ps. .vi. If we regard 
 David's adultery as the occasion of it (cf. more especially 2 Sam. 
 xii. 14), then Ps.vi., xxxviii., li., xxxii. form a chronological series. 
 David is distressed both in mind and body, forsaken by his friends, 
 and regarded by his foes as one who is cast off for ever. The fire 
 of divine anger burns within him like a fever, and the divine 
 withdrawal as it were rests upon him like darkness. But he 
 fights his way by prayer through this fire and this darkness to 
 the bright confidence of faith. The Psalm, althoutrh it is the 
 pouring forth of such elevated and depressed feelings, is never- 
 theless symmetrically and skilfully laid out. It consists of 
 three main paragraphs, which divide into four (vers. 2-9), three 
 (vers. 10-15), and four (vers. 16-23) tetrastichs. The way in 
 which the names of God are brought in is well conceived. 
 The first word of the first group or paragraph is nin'', the first 
 word of the second ''P^., and in the third niiT' and "'J^^^ are used 
 interchangeably twice. The Psalm, in common with Ps. Ixx., 
 bears the inscription "'"•SID?. The chronicler, in 1 Chron. xvi. 
 4, refers to these Hazkir Psalms together with the Hodu and 
 Hallehija Psalms. In connection with the presentation of 
 meat-offerings, ninjp^ a portion of the meat-offering was cast 
 into the altar fire, viz. a handful of the meal mixed with oil 
 and the whole of the incense. This portion was called '"i^lt^j 
 uvdfivrjcn<;, and to offer it "'"'3^7 (a denominative), because the 
 ascending smoke was intended to bring the owner of the offer- 
 ing into remembrance with God. In connection with the 
 presentation of this memorial portion of the minclia, the two 
 Psalms are appointed to be used as prayers ; hence the inscrip- 
 tion : at ihe presentation of the Azcara (the portion taken from 
 the meal-offering). The LXX. adds here irepl (rov) aa^- 
 ^drov ; perhaps equivalent to ri3t2*p. 
 
 In this Psalm we find a repetition of a peculiarity of the 
 penitential Psalms, viz. that the praying one has to complain 
 not only of aftlictions of body and soul, but also of outward 
 enemies, who come forward as his accusers and take occasion 
 from his sin to prepare the way for his ruin. This arises from 
 the fact that the Old Testament believer, whose perception of 
 sin was not as yet so spiritual and deep as that of the New 
 
rSALM XXXVIII. 2-9. 21 
 
 Testament believer, almost always calls to inind some sinful 
 act that has become openly known. The foes, who would then 
 prepare for his ruin, are the instruments of the Satanic power 
 of evil (cf. ver. 21, ''^^^tp^!), which, as becomes perceptible to 
 the New Testament believer even without the intervention of 
 outward foes, desires the death of the sinning one, whereas God 
 wills that he should live. 
 
 Vers. 2-9. David begins, as in Ps. vi., with the prayer 
 that his punitive affliction may be changed into disciplinary. 
 Bakius correctly paraphrases ver. 2 : Corripe sane per legem, 
 castiga per crucern^ millies promerui, negare non possum, sed 
 castiga, quceso, me ex amove tit pater, non ex furore et fervore ut 
 judex; ne punias justitice rigoi'e, sed misericordice didcore (cf. 
 on vi. 2). The negative is to be repeated in ver. 2h, as in i. 5, 
 ix. 19, Ixxv. 6. In the description, which gives the ground of 
 the cry for pity, rin: is not the Piel, as in xviii. 35, but the 
 Niphal of the Kal nnj immediately following (root n3). 1>*i|l 
 is anger as a breaking forth, fragor (cf. Hos. x. 7, LXX. 
 cf)pvyavov), with e instead of i in the first syllable, vowels 
 which alternate in this word ; and nDn^ as a glowing or burn- 
 ing. D''2ifn (in Homer, KrjXa), God's wrath-arrows, i.e. lightnings 
 of wrath, are His judgments of wrath ; and "l^, as in xxxii. 4, 
 xxxix. 11, God's punishing hand, which makes itself felt in 
 dispensing punishment, hence nnjri might be attached as a 
 mood of sequence. In ver. 4 wrath is called QJ/T as a boiling 
 up. Sin is the cause of this experiencing wrath, and the wrath 
 is the cause of the bodily derangement ; sin as an exciting 
 cause of tlie wrath always manifests itself outwardly even on 
 the body as a fatal power. In ver. 5a sin is compared to 
 waters that threaten to drown one, as in ver. 5b to a burden 
 that presses one down. ''^?3p ^1331, they are heavier than I, i.e. 
 than my power of endurance, too heavy for me. In ver. 6 the 
 effects of the operation of the divine hand (as punishing) are 
 wounds, nnun (properl}^, suffused variegated marks from a blow 
 
 or wheals, Isa. i. 6; from "i3n, j^^ to be or make striped, 
 
 variegated), which ^tJ'"'X3nj send forth an offensive smell, and 
 lp»3, suppurate. Sin, which causes this, is called ri^ix, because, 
 as it is at last manifest, it is always the destruction of itself. 
 
22 PSALM XXXVIII. 10-15. 
 
 With emphasis does ''rih'? V.?'? form the second half of the 
 verse. To take ''ri\iy3 out of ver. 7 and put it to tliis, as ISIeier 
 and Thenius projmse, is to destroy this its proper position. On 
 the tliree V.^», vid. Ewald, § 217, I. Thus sick in soul and 
 hod}', he is obliged to bow and bend himself in the extreme. 
 niV3 is used of a convulsive drawing together of the body, Isa. 
 xxi. 3 ; nn*^, of a bowed mien, Ps. xxxv. 14 ; "q^n, of a heavy, 
 lajigino- jrait. With ''3 in ver. 8 the grounding of the petition 
 bemns for the third time. His 2''^D3 i.e. internal muscles of 
 the loins, which are usually the fattest parts, are full of npi?3, 
 that which is burnt, i.e. parched. It is therefore as though 
 the burning, starting from the central point of the bodily 
 power, would spread itself over the whole body : the wrath of 
 God works commotion in this latter as well as in the soul. 
 AVhilst all the energies of life tlius yield, there comes over him 
 a partial, almost total lifelessness. J13 is the proper word for 
 the coldness and rigidity of a corpse ; the Niphal means to be 
 brought into this condition, just as ^5313 means to be crushed, 
 or to be brought into a condition of crushing, i.e. of violent 
 dissolution. The IP of ripnajp is intended to imply that the 
 loud wail is only the utterance of the pain that is raging in his 
 heart, the outward expression of his ceaseless, deep inward 
 groaning. 
 
 Vers. 10-15. Having thus bewailed his suffering before 
 God, he goes on in a somewhat calmer tone : it is the calm 
 of weariness, but also of the rescue which shows itself from 
 afar. He has complained, but not as if it were necessary for 
 him first of all to make God acquainted with his suffering; the 
 Omniscient One is directly cognisant of (has directly before 
 Him, 1J?., like Iw in xviii. 25) every wish that his suffering 
 extorts from him, and even his softer sighing does not escape 
 His knowledge. The sufferer does not say this so much with 
 the view of comforting himself with this thought, as of exciting 
 God's compassion. Hence he even goes on to draw the piteous 
 picture of his condition : his heart is in a state of violent rotary 
 motion, or only of violent, quickly repeated contraction and 
 expansion (Psi/choL S. 252 ; tr. p. 297), that is to say, a state 
 of violent palpitation pOIODj Pealal according to Ges. § 55, 3). 
 Strength of which the heart is the centre (xl. 13) has left him, 
 and the light of his eyes, even of these (by attraction for Nin"Da, 
 
PSALM XXXVIII. 10-15. 23 
 
 since the light of the eyes is not contrasted with anything else), 
 is not with him, but has become lost to him by weeping^ watch- 
 ing, and fever. Those who love him and are friendly towards 
 him have placed themselves far from his stroke (Wp, the touch 
 of God's hand of wrath), merely looking on (Obad. ver. 11), 
 therefore, in a position hostile (2 Sam. xviii. 13) rather than 
 friendly. ^JSp, far away, but within the range of vision, 
 within sight, Gen. xxi. 16, Deut. xxxii. 52. The words ''^hpi 
 nipy prripj which introduce a pentastich into a Psalm that is 
 tetrastichic throughout, have the appearance of being a gloss 
 or various reading : *i33p = pnnn, 2 Kings ii. 7. His enemies, 
 however, endeavour to take advantage of his fall and helpless- 
 ness, in order to give him his final death-blow. ^^\^T). (with 
 the p dageshed*) describes what they have planned in conse- 
 quence of the position he is in. The substance of their words 
 is niin, utter destruction (vid. v. 10) ; to this end it is nionpj 
 deceit upon deceit, malice upon malice, that they unceasingly 
 hatch with heart and mouth. In the consciousness of his sin 
 he is obliged to be silent, and, renouncing all self-help, to 
 abandon his cause to God. Consciousness of guilt and resig- 
 nation close his lips, so that he is not able, nor does he wish, to 
 refute the false charges of his enemies ; he has no nin^irij 
 counter-evidence wherewith to vindicate himself. It is not to 
 be rendered: "just as one dumb opens not his mouth;" 3 is 
 only a preposition, not a conjunction, and it is just here, in 
 vers. 14, 15, that the manifest proofs in support of this are 
 found.f 
 
 * The various reading !|C'p3"'1 in Norzi rests upon a misapprehended 
 passage of Abulwalid {Pukma, p. 166). 
 
 t The passages brought forward by Hupfeld in support of the use of D 
 as a conjunction, viz. xc. 5, cxxv. 1, Isa. liii. 7, Ixi. 11, arc invalid; the 
 passage that seems most to favour it is Obad. ver. 16, but in this instance 
 the expression is elhptical, ^))3 being equivalent to i<? "l^'XD, like Xpp^ 
 Isa. Ixv. 1, = xb IK'n!'- It is only iD3 (1^) ^^^^ can be used as a con- 
 junction ; but 3 (i»J) is always a preposition in ancient Hebrew just as in 
 
 Syriac and Arabic {vid. Fleischer in the HalUsche Allgcm. Lit. Zeitschr. 
 1843, Bd. iv. S. 117 £F.). It is not until the medifeval synagogal poetry 
 (vid. Zunz, Synagogal-poesie des Mittelalters, S. 1'21, 381 f.) that it is 
 admissible to use it as a conjunction (e.g. XVD3 when he had found), just 
 as it also occurs in Himjaritic, according to Uoiander's deciphering of the 
 
24 PSALM XXXVIII. 16-23. 
 
 Vers. 16-23. Become utterly useless in himself, lie re- 
 nounces all self-help, for C?) he hopes in Jalive, who alone 
 can help him. He waits for His answer, for ('•3) he says, etc. 
 — he waits for an answer, for the hearing of this his petition 
 which is directed towards the glory of God, that God would 
 not suffer his foes to triumph over him, nor strengthen them in 
 their mcrcilessness and injustice. Ver. 18b appears also to 
 stand under the govei'nment of the }3 ;* but, since in this case 
 one would look for a Waw relat. and a different order of the 
 words, ver. 186 is to be regarded as a subject clause: "who, 
 when my foot totters, i.e. when my affliction changes to entire 
 downfall, would magnify themselves against me." In ver. 18, 
 "•S connects what follows with ''bT\ t2i»3 by way of confirmation : 
 he is VT^/_ p^J, ready for falling (xxxv. 15), he will, if God does 
 not graciously interpose, assuredly fall headlong. The fourth 
 ■•3 in ver. 19 is attached confirmatorily to ver. 186 : his intense 
 pain or sorrow is ever present to him, for he is obliged to con- 
 fess his guilt, and this feeling of guilt is just the very sting of 
 his pain. And whilst he in the consciousness of well-deserved 
 punishment is sick unto death, his foes are numerous and 
 withal vigorous and full of life. Instead of ^'n, probably 
 D3nj as in xxxv. 19, Ixix. 5, is to be read (Houbigant, Hitzig, 
 Ivoster, Hupfeld, Ewald, and Olshausen). But even the 
 LXX. read D''''n ; and the reading which is so old, although 
 it does not very well suit ^OVP (instead of which one would look 
 for D^Dlvp), is still not without meaning: he looks upon him- 
 self, according to ver. 9, more as one dead than living; his 
 foes, however, are ^'"0^ living, i.e. vigorous. The verb fre- 
 quently has this pregnant meaning, and the adjective can also 
 
 inscriptions. The verbal clause appended to the word to which this 3, 
 iiistar, is prefixed is for the most part an attributive clause as above, but 
 sometimes even a circumstantial clause (Jls"-), as in xxxviii. 14; cf. Sur. 
 Ixii. 5 : " as the likeness of an ass carrying books." 
 
 * The following are the constructions of JQ when a clause of more than 
 one member follows it: (1) fut. and per/., the latter with the tone of 
 the per/, coiisec, e.g. Ex. xxxiv. 15 sq., or without it, e.g. xxviii. 1 (which 
 see) ; (2) fut. and fut. as in ii. 12, Jer. li. 46. This construction is indis- 
 pensable where it is intended to give special prominence to the subject 
 notion or a secondary notion of the clause, e.g. Deut. xx. 6. In one instance 
 |3 is even followed (3) by the per/. &nd/ut. coiisec, viz. 2 Kings ii. IG. 
 
PSALM XXXIX. 25 
 
 have it. Just as the accentuation of the form 13D varies 
 elsewhere out of pause, ^3"i1 here has the tone on the ultima, 
 although it is not perf. consec* Ver. 21a is an apposition of 
 tlie subject, which remains the same as in ver. 20. Instead of 
 ■•SiTi (Ges. § 61, rem. 2) the Keri is "•S'l'i, rCuVpld (without any 
 Mahkeph following), or ''?"].'^, racrphi; cf. on this pronunciation, 
 Ixxxvi. 2, xvi. 1, and with the Chethib "'SITi, the Chetlilb nsnv, 
 xxvi. 2, also ^TiVO, xxx. 4. By the "following of that which 
 is good" David means more particularly that which is brought 
 into exercise in relation to his present foes.f He closes in vers. 
 22 sq. with sighs for help. No lighting up of the darkness 
 of wrath takes place. The fides supplex is not changed into 
 fides triumplians. But the closing words, " O Lord, my salva- 
 tion" (cf. li. 16), show where the repentance of Cain and that 
 of David differ. True repentance has faith within itself, it 
 despairs of itself, but not of God. 
 
 PSALM XXXIX. 
 
 PRAYERS OF ONE SORELY TRIED AT THE SIGHT OF THE 
 PgiiSPERITY OF THE UNGODLY. 
 
 2 I SAID : " I will keep my ways against sinning with my 
 
 tongue ; 
 I will keep a bridle on my mouth, 
 So long as the wicked is before me." 
 
 3 I was dumb in silence, 
 
 * As perf. consec. the following have the accent on the ulthnn : — !|Pini, 
 Isa. XX. 5, Obad. ver. 9, and ^131% Isa. Ixvi. IG ; perhaps also ^ini, 1^>p1, 
 Hab. i. 8, and ^^Ti (pei-f. hjpoth.), Job xxxii. 15. But there is no special 
 reason for the M//t»ia-accentuation of :i3"i, Iv. 22 ; ^zn, Ixix. 5 ; tip'i, Isa. 
 xxxviii. 14; ^^p, Jer. iv. 13; ^nu^ Prov. xiv. 19, Hab. iii. 6; wn, Job 
 xxxii. 15 ; !i3t, in^*, Lam. iv. 7. 
 
 t In the Greek and Latin texts, likewise in all the jEthiopic and several 
 Arabic texts, and in the Syriac Psalterium Afedilaiuiise, the following addi- 
 tion is found after ver. 21 : Ce aperripsan me ton ar/apeton osl necrou 
 eh<lcb/(jmenon, Et projecerunt me dilectiim Uiiujuam mortuum ahominatum (so 
 the Psalt. Veronense). Theodoret refers it to Absalom's relation to David. 
 The words uati uiKpou ii3h7\v-/,u.ivou are taken from Isa. xiv. 19. 
 
26 PSALM XXXIX. 
 
 I held my peace taking no note of prosperity, 
 Yet my pain became violent. 
 4 My heart was hot within me, 
 While I mused the fire burned — 
 I spake with my tongue. 
 
 " 5 !Make me to know, O Jahve, mine end, 
 
 And the measure of my days how short it is; 
 Oh that I might know, how frail I am ! 
 C Behold, Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, 
 And my lifetime is as nothing before Thee. 
 Only a mere breath is every man, however firm he may 
 stand. (^Sela.^ 
 
 7 Only as a shadow doth man wander to and fro, 
 Only for a breath do they make an uproar ; 
 
 He heapeth up and knoweth not who will gather it. 
 
 8 A nd now for what shall I wait, Lord ! 
 My hope is towards Thee. 
 
 9 From all my transgressions rescue me, 
 Make me not a reproach of the profane ! 
 
 10 I am dumb, I open not my mouth, 
 For Thou, Thou hast done it. 
 
 11 Take away from me Thy stroke, 
 
 Before the blow of Thy hand I must perish. 
 
 12 When Thou with rebukes dost chasten a man for iniquity. 
 Thou makest his beauty melt away, like the damage of the 
 
 moth — 
 Only a breath are all men. (Sela.) 
 
 13 O hear my prayer, Jahve, 
 And liearken to my cry ! 
 At my tears be not silent. 
 For I am a guest with Thee, 
 
 A sojourner, like all my fathers. 
 
 14 Look away from me, that I may rally, 
 Before I go hence and am no more. 
 
 In xxxviii. 14 the poet calls Jiimself a dumb person, who 
 opens noTliis mouth ; this submissive, resigned keeping of 
 
PSALM XXXIX, 27 
 
 silence he affirms of himself in the same words in xxxix. 3 also. 
 
 ^ This for ms a prominent characteristic common to the two 
 
 Psalms, which^Tully warranted their being placed together as a 
 
 pair. There is, however, another Psalm, which is still more'' 
 
 closely related to Ps. xxxix. , viz. Ps. Ixii., which, together with J'jf ^ 
 
 Ps. iv., has a similar historical background. The author, in ^^^ 
 
 his dignity, is threatened by those who from being false friends 
 
 have become open enemies, and who revel in the enjoyment of 
 
 illegitimately acquired power and possessions. From his own 
 
 experience, in the midst of which he commits his safety and 
 
 his honour to God, he derives the general warnings, that to 
 
 trust in riches is deceptive, and that power belongs alone to 
 
 God the Avenger — two doctrines, in support of which the issue 
 
 of the affair with Absalom was a forcible example. Thus it is 
 
 with Ps. Ixii., and in like manner Ps. xxxix. also. Both Psalms , 
 r ... ' 
 
 bear the name of Jeduthun side by side with the name of 
 
 David at their head ; both describe the nothingness of every- 
 
 thing human in the same language ; both delight more than ^ . 
 
 other Psalms in* the use of the assuring, confident J^X; both ^ 
 
 have ni'D twice ; both coincide in some points with the Book of 
 
 Job ; the form of both Psalms, however, is so polished, trans- '^ » 
 
 parent, and classic, that criticism is not authorized in assigning 
 
 to this pair of Psalms any particular poet other than David. 
 
 The reason of thejedacteur not placing Ps. Ixii. immediately! 
 
 after Ps. xxxix. is to be found in the fact that Ps. Ixii. is an; ^ 
 
 Elohim-Psalm, which could not stand in the midst of Jahve-^ 
 
 Psalms. 
 
 To the inscribed nsfjpp, pn''T^ is added in this instance. 
 
 The name is also written thus in Ixxvii. 1, 1 Chron. xvi. 38, 
 
 Nell. xi. 17, and always with the Keri pn^Tl, which, after the 
 
 analogy of |vl3T, is the more easily pronouncible pointing 
 
 (Ixii. 1). It_^sJan_fiffshoot of the fonn_rviT_or n'-T ; cf. niaty 
 
 and n''3tr, m^i'sn and JT't'sn. It is the name of one of David's' 
 
 three choir-masters or precentors — the third in conjunction I ^ 
 
 with Asaph and Heman, 1 Chron. xvi. 41 sq., xxv. 1 sqq., | 
 
 2 Chron. v. 12, xxxv. 15, and is, without doubt, the same 
 
 person as in-N, 1 Chron. ch. xv., a name which is changed into 
 
 pnn^ after the arrangement in Gibeon, 1 Chron. ch. xvi. 
 
 Consequently side by side with nvjo!?, pnin^^ will be the name 
 
 of the nV30 himself, i.e. the name of the person to whom the 
 
28 rsALM XXXIX. 2-4. 
 
 ^ song was handed over to be set to music. The fact that in 
 two insciTptions (Ixii. 1, Ixxvii. 1) we read ?V instead of the h of 
 jinn''^, does not mihtate against this. Bj h, Jeduthun^is denoted 
 as the person to whom the song was handed over for perfor- 
 mance; and by ?y, as the person to whom the performance 
 was assigned. The rendering: " to the director of the Jedi- 
 thunites," adopted by Hitzig, is possible regarding the pniT as 
 used as a generic name hke pHN in 1 Chron. xii. 27, xxvii. 17 ; 
 but the customary use of the b in inscriptions is against it. 
 
 The Psalm consists of four stanzas without any strophic 
 Isymmetry. The first three are of only approximately the 
 Uame compass, and the final smaller stanza has designedly the 
 (character of an epilogue. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The poet relates how he has resolved to bear 
 his own affliction silently in the face of the prosperity of the 
 ungodly, but that his smart was so overpowering that he was 
 compelled involuntarily to break his silence by loud complaint. 
 The resolve follows the introductory "'^I^X in cohortatives. He 
 meant to take heed to his ways, i.e. his manner of thought and 
 action, in all their extent, lest he should sin with his tongue, 
 viz. by any murmuring complaint concerning his own mis- 
 fortune, when he saw the prosperity of the ungodly. He was 
 resolved to keep (i.e. cause invariably to press) a bridling (cf. 
 on the form. Gen. xxx. 37), or a bridle {capistt'um), upon his 
 mouth, so long as he should see the ungodly continuing and 
 sinning in the fulness of his strength, instead of his speedy 
 ruin which one ought to expect. Then he was struck dumb 
 n*Dl"l, in silence, i.e. as in Ixii. 2, cf. Lam. iii. 26, in resigned 
 submission, he was silent 3^t3Pj turned away from (yid. xxviii. 
 1, 1 Sam. vii. 8, and frequently) prosperity, i.e. from that in 
 which he saw the evil-doer rejoicing; he sought to silence for 
 
 /ever the perplexing contradiction between this prosperity and 
 the righteousness of God. But this self-imposed silence gave 
 intensity to the repressed pain, and this was thereby "^^V^.j stirred 
 up, excited, aroused ; the inward heat became, in consequence 
 oT I'estrained complaint, all the more intense (Jer. xx. 9) : " and 
 while I was musing a fire was kindled," i.e. J;he thoughts and 
 
 I emotions rubbing against one another produced a blazing fire, 
 viz. of irrepressible vexation, and the end of it was: "I spake 
 
PSALM XXXIX. 5-7. 29 
 
 /with my tongue," unable^am' longer to keep in my pain._ What 
 now^riows is not^what was said by the poet when in this con- 
 (Iition. On the contrary, he turns away from his purpose, which / 
 
 has been proved to be impracticable, to God Himself with the 
 Pii!2ZS£-ill5i-S®-'^°H]it6ach him calm submission. 
 
 Vers. 5-7. He prays God to set the transitoriness of 
 earthly life clearly before his eyes (cf. xc. 12); for if life is 
 only a few spans long, then even his suffering and the pro- 
 sperity of the ungodly will last only a short time. Oh that 
 God would then grant him to know his end (Job vi. 11), i.e. 
 the end of his life, which is at the same time the end of his 
 affliction, and the measure of his days, how it is with this (HO, 
 interrog. extenuantis, as in viii. 5), in order that he may become 
 fully conscious of his own frailty ! Hupfeld corrects the text 
 to ''J^< nprrno after the analocry of Ixxxix. 48, because ?"tn 
 cannot signify "frail." But ^in signifies that which leaves 
 off and ceases, and consequently in this connection, finite and 
 transitory or frail, no, quam^ in connection with an adjective, 
 as in viii. 2, xxxi. 20, xxxvi. 8, Ixvi. 3, cxxxiii. 1. By jn (the 
 customary form of introducing the propositio ininor^ Lev. x. 18, 
 XXV. 20) the preceding petition is supported. God has, indeed, 
 made the days, i.e. the lifetime, of a man ninsDj handbreadths, 
 i.e. He has allotted to it only the short extension of a few hand- 
 breadths (cf. D''D^, a few days, e.g. Isa. Ixv. 20), of which nine 
 make a yard (cf. 7r/j-^vio<; ')(jp6vo<i in JSIimnermus, and 1 Sam. 
 XX. 3) ; the duration of human life (on l^n vid. xvii. 14) is as a 
 vanishing nothing before God the eternal One. The particle 
 "^^< is originally affirmative, and starting from that sense becomes 
 restrictive ; just as PI is originally restrictive and then affirma- 
 tive. Sometimes also, as is commonly the case with px, the 
 affirmative signification passes over into the adversative (cf. 
 verum, verum enim vero). In our passage, agreeably to the 
 restrictive sense, it is to be explained thus : nothing but mere 
 notliingness (cf. xlv. 14, Jas. i. 2) is every man 35:J, standing 
 firmly, i.e. though he stand never so firmly, though lie be never 
 ^so stedfast (Zech. xi. 16). Here the music rises to tones of 
 ibitter lament, and the song continues in ver. 7 with the same 
 jtheme. 0?^^ belonging to the same root as ?>*, signifies a 
 ^Iiadow-outline, an image ; the 3 is, as in xxxv. 2, Beth cssentice : 
 he walks about consisting only of an unsubstantial shadow. 
 
30 PSALM XXXIX. 8-12. 
 
 Only ^?v!, breatli-like, or after the manner of breath (cxliv. 4), 
 from empty, vain motives and with vain results, do they make a 
 disturbance (pausal fut. energicum, as in xxxvi. 8) ; and he who 
 restlessly and noisily exerts himself knows not who will sud- 
 denly snatch together, i.e. take altogether greedily to himself, 
 the many things that he heaps up p?^, as in Job xxvii. 16) ; 
 cf. Isa. xxxiii. 4, and on — am = avTd, Lev. xv. 10 (in connec- 
 tion with which nnann nbx, cf. Isa. xlii. 16, is in the mind of 
 the speaker). 
 
 Vers. 8-12. It is customary to begin a distinct turning- 
 point of a discourse with nriyi : and now, i.e. in connection 
 with this nothingness or vanity of a life which is so full of 
 suffering and unrest, what am I to hope, quid sperciTiJconcern- 
 
 ^ 
 
 ing the perfect, vid. on xi. 3) ? The answ'er to this question 
 which he himself throws out is, that Jahve is the goal of his 
 ^waiting or hoping. It might appear strange that the poet is 
 willing to make the brevity of human life a reason for being 
 calm, and a ground of comfort. But here we have the expla- 
 nation. Although not expressly assured of a future life of 
 blessedness, his faith, even in the midst of dealhylaysJioTd on 
 Jahve as the Living One and as the God of the living. It is 
 just this which is so heroic in the Old Testament faith, that in 
 the midst of the riddles of the present, and in the face of the 
 future which is lost in dismal night, it casts itself unreservedly 
 into the arms of God. While, however, sin is the root of all 
 evil, the poet prays in ver. 9a before all else, that God would 
 remove from him all the transgressions by which he has fully 
 incurred his affliction; and while, given over to the conse- 
 quences of his sin, he would become, not only to his own 
 dishonour but also to the dishonour of God, a derision to the 
 unbelieving, he prays in ver. 9Z» that God would not permit it 
 to come to this. ?3, ver. 9a, has Mercha, and is consequently, 
 as in XXXV. 10, to be read with a (not d), since an accent can 
 never be placed by Kametz chatuph. Concerning ^^\, ver. 9i, 
 see on xiv. 1. As to the rest he is silent and calm ; for God 
 is the author, viz. of his affliction ("^'^'V, used just as absolutely 
 as in xxii. 32, xxxvii. 5, lii. 11, Lam. i. 21). ^yithout ceasing 
 still to regard intently the prosperity of the ungodly, he re- 
 cognises the hand of God in his affliction, and knows that he 
 has not merited anything better. But it is permitted to him to 
 
PSALM XXXIX. 13, 14. 31 
 
 pray that God would suffer mercy to take the place of right. 
 ^yjJ is the name he gives to his affliction, as in xxxviii. 12, as 
 being a stroke (blow) of divine wrath ; T)"*^ ^l"}-"!!, as a quarrel 
 into which God's hand has fallen with him ; and by ^X, with 
 the almighty (punishing) hand of God, he contrasts himself 
 the feeble one, to whom, if the present state of things continues, 
 ruin is certain. In ver. 12 he puts his own personal experience 
 into the form of a general maxim : when with rebukes (ninain 
 from nriDin, collateral form with "^n^irij ninain) Thou chastenest 
 a man on account of iniquity {perf. conditionale), Thou makest 
 his pleasantness (Isa. liii. 3), i.e. his bodily beauty (Job xxxiii. 
 21), to melt away, moulder away {p'OT\\ fut. apoc. from nopn, 
 to cause to melt, vi. 7), like the moth (Hos. v. 12), so that it 
 falls away, as a moth-eaten garment falls into rags. Thus do 
 all men become mere nothing. They are sinful and perishing. 
 The thought expressed in ver. 6c is here repeated as a refrain. 
 T he musi c_again strikes in here, as there. 
 
 Vers. 13, 14. Finally, the poet renews the prayer for an 
 alleviation of his sufferings, basing it upon the shortness of 
 this earthly pilgrimage. The urgent nypj^ is here fuller toned, 
 being nyoD'.* Side by side with the language of prayer, tears 
 even appear here as prayer that is intelligible to God ; for 
 when the gates of prayer seem to be closed, the gates of tears 
 still remain unclosed ("li?^:: ah niyoT """lyc^), B. Berachoth 3'2b. 
 As a reason for his being heard, David appeals to the instability 
 and finite character of this earthly life in language which we 
 
 .also hear from his own lips in 1 Chron. xxix. 15. "15 is the 
 s^tran^gf who travels about and sojourns as a guest in a countr}) 
 that is not his native land ; 3C'in is a sojourner, or one enjoyin<j 
 the protection of the laws, who, without possessing any here-\ 
 
 j' ditary title, has settled down there, and to whom a settlement! 
 is allotted by sufferance. The earth is God's; that which may 
 be said of the Ploly Land (Lev. xxv. 23) may be said of the 
 
 ^ -r 
 
 * So Heidenheim and Bacr, following Abulwalid, Efodi, and Mose lia- 
 Nakdan. The Masoretic observation fjon fDp n''^, " only here with 
 Kametz chateph,^^ is found appended in codices. This Chatcpk kamctz is 
 euphonic, as in nnp^, Gen. ii. 23, and in many other instances that are 
 obliterated in our editions, vid. Abulwalid, nopin 'D, p- 198, where even 
 i"int20 = iiniaip, Ixxxix. 45, is cited among these examples (Ges. § 10, 
 2 rem.). 
 
32 PSALM XL. 
 
 whole eartli ; man 1ms no rirrht upon it, he only remains there 
 
 ISO long as God permits him. ■'rii3X-^33 glances back even to 
 the patriarchs (Gen. xlvii. 9, cf. xxiii. 4). Israel is, it is true, 
 at the present time in possession of a fixed dwelling-place, but 
 only as the gift of his God, and for each individual it is only 
 during his life, which is but a handbreadth long. May Jahve, 
 then — so David prays — turn away His look of wrath from him, 
 in order that he may shine forth, become cheerful or clear up, 
 before he goes hence and it is too late. J'ti'n js imper. apoc. 
 \JIiph. for nyc'n (in the signification of Ka I) ,'and' ought, accord- 
 Vng to the form 31^^ properly to be yt^'^ ; it is, however, pointed 
 Just like the impei-. Iliph. of VVf in Isa. vi. 10, without any 
 necessity for explaining it as meaning obline (oculos tuos) = 
 connive (Abulwalid), which would be an expression unworthy 
 of God. It is on the contrary to be rendered : look away 
 from me ; on which compare Job vii. 19, xiv. 6 ; on -^Jv^X of. 
 ih. X. 20, ix. 27 ; on ^bx D-ilp3, ih. x. 21 ; on ^3^X1, ib. vii. 8, 21. 
 The close of the Psalm, consequently, is re-echoed in many 
 ways in the Book of Job. The Book of Job is occupied with 
 I \ the same riddle as that with which tliis T*salm is occupied. 
 yBut in the solution of it, it advances a step further. David 
 does not know how to disassociate in his mind sin and suffering, 
 and wrath and suffering. The Book of Job, on the contrary, 
 thinks of suffering and love together ; and in the truth that 
 suffering also, even though it be unto death, must serve the 
 highest interests of those who love God, it possesses a satis- 
 factory solution. 
 
 PSAL^I XL. 
 
 ^ THANKSGIVING, AN OFFERING UP OF ONE's SELF, "^ 
 AND TRAYER. 
 
 2 I WAITED patiently upon Jahve, 
 
 And He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 
 
 3 And He drew me up out of a pit of destruction, out of the 
 
 mire of the swamp, 
 And set my feet upon a rock, made my footsteps firm. 
 
 4 And put into my mouth a new song, praise unto our God — 
 Many see it and fear, and put their trust in Jahve. 
 
PSALM XL. 
 
 33 
 
 5 Blessed is the man who maketh Jahve his trust, 
 
 And doth not turn to the proud and to lying apostates. 
 
 6 Much hast Thou done, Jahve, my God, in Thy wonders 
 
 and Thy thoughts on our behalf ; 
 Nothing can be compared unto Thee, 
 Else would I declare and speak — . 
 
 They are too numerous to be numbered. '^ 
 
 1 Sacrifice and meat-offering dost Thou not desire, 
 Ears hast Thou digged for me. 
 Burnt-offering and sin-offering dost Thou not require. 
 
 8 Then said I : " Lo, I come with the roll of the book which 
 
 is written concerning me. 
 
 9 To do Thy will, my God, do I desire. 
 And Thy Law is in my inward part." 
 
 10 I brought glad tidings of righteousness in the great con- 
 Lo, I closed not my lips ; [gregation, 
 Jahve, Thou, even Thou knowest it. 
 
 11 Thy righteousness did I not hide within my heart. 
 Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation did I declare, 
 
 I concealed not Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from 
 A the great congregation. 
 
 12 Do Thou, then, Jahve, not shut up Thy tender mercies 
 
 from me, 
 Let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually pro- 
 tect me. 
 
 13 For evils have surrounded me without number. 
 
 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me and I am not able 
 to see ; 
 , They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, 
 V And my heart hath failed me. 
 
 ^ 14 Be pleased, O Jahve, to deliver me ; 
 Jahve, to my help make haste ! 
 15 Let those be ashamed and confounded together who seek 
 my soul to destroy it ; 
 Let those fall back and be put to shame who desire my 
 misfortune. 
 VOL. IL 8 
 
34 PSALM XL. 
 
 16 Let those be struck dumb on account of the merited 
 I punisjiment of their shame, 
 
 1 Who say to me : Aha, aha ! 
 
 17 Let all those heartily rejoice in Thee who seek Thee, 
 
 Let those continually say " Jahve be magnified " who love 
 Thy salvation. 
 
 18 Though I be both needy and poor, 
 The Lord will care for me. 
 
 !My help and my deliverer art Thou ! 
 My God, make no tarrying ! 
 
 Ps. xxxix. is followed by Ps. xl., because the language of 
 
 thanksgiving with which it opens is, as it were, the echo of the 
 
 language of prayer contained in the former. .Ji Ps. xl. was 
 
 composed by David, and not rather by Jeremiah — a question 
 
 which can only be decided by including Ps. Ixix. (which see) < . 
 
 I in the same investigation — it belongs to the number of those// 
 
 l ^salms which were conipos ed b etween Gibea of Saul and// 
 
 ; Ziklag. The mention of the roll of the book in ver.~8~liari/ 
 
 monizes with the retrospective references to the Tora, whiclu 
 
 abound in the Psalms belonging to the time of Saul. And to 
 
 ' this we may add the vow to praise Jahve ''•^i^?, vers. 10 sq., 
 
 of. xxii. 26, XXXV. 18 ; the expression, " more in number than 
 
 the hairs of my head," ver. 13, cf. Ixix. 5 ; the wish ^liSf^, ver. 
 
 12, cf. XXV. 21 ; the mocking nxn nsn, ver. 16, cf. xxxv. 21, 
 
 25 ; and much besides, on which vid. my Commentary on the 
 
 Epistle to the Jlebreics, S. 457 [transl. vol. ii. p. 149]. The 
 
 second half has an independent form in Ps. Ixx. It is far 
 
 better adapted to form an independent Psalm than the first 
 
 half, whicii merely looks back into the past, and for this very 
 
 reason contains no prayer. 
 
 The long lines, more in keeping with the style of prayer 
 than of song, which alternate with disproportionately shorter 
 ones, are characteristic of this Psalm. If with these long lines 
 we associate a few others, which are likewise more or less 
 distinctly indicated, then the Psalm can be easily divided into 
 seven six-line strophes. 
 
 In the Epistle to the Hebrews, c]i^ 5-10, vers. 7-9 of this 
 Psalm are, by following the LXX., taken as the language of 
 
PSALM XL. 1-4. 35 
 
 the Christ at His coming into the world. There can be no 
 doubt in this particular instance that, as we look to the second 
 part of the Psalm, this rendering is brought about typically. \ 
 The words of David, the anointed one, but only now on the 
 way to the throne, are so moulded by the Holy Spirit, the 
 Spirit of prophecy, that they sound at the same time like the 
 woi'ds of the second David, passing through suffering to glory, 
 whose offering up of Himself is the close of the animal 
 I sacrifices, and whose person and work are the very kernel and 
 /star of the roll of the Law. We are not thereby compelled to"^y6> 
 b understand the whole Psalm as typically predictive. It again i 
 descends from the typically prophetic height to which it has . \ 
 risen even from ver. 10 onwards ; and from ver. 13 onwards, I 1 
 the typically prophetic strain which still lingers in vers. 10 and * 
 11 has entirely ceased. 
 
 Vers. 1^. David, whom, though not without some hesita- ] 
 tion, we regard as the author, now finds himself in a situation / 
 in which, on the one hand, he has just been rescued from / 
 danger, and, on the other, is still exposed to peril. Under 
 such circumstances praise rightly occupies the first place, as in 
 general, according to 1. 23, gratitude is the way to salvation. 
 His hope, although na^pp npnin (Prov. xiii. 12), has not de- 
 ceived him ; he is rescued, and can now again sing a new song 
 of thanksgiving, an example for others, strengthening their 
 trust. "'H^^p n^ip, I waited with constancy and perseverance. 
 nin'' is the accusative as in xxv. 5, cxxx. 5, and not the voca- 
 tive as in xxxix. 8. i^TS is to be supplied in thought to ^*1, 
 although after the analogy of xvii. 6, xxxi. 3, one might have 
 looked for the Hiph. t2^1 instead of the Kal. pNC' 113 does not 
 mean a pit of roaring (of water), since pxB' standing alone 
 (see, on the other hand, Ixv. 8, Isa. xvii. 12 sq.) has not this 
 meaning; and, moreover, "rushing, roaring" (Hengstenberg), 
 tumultuous waters of a pit or a cistern does not furnish any 
 idea that is true to nature ; neither does it mean a pit of falling 
 in, since HNC^ does not exhibit the signification deorsum lahl ; 
 but the meaning is : a pit of devastation, of destruction, of ruin i 
 (Jer. xxv. 31, xlvi. 17), vid. supra on xxxv. 8. Another figure 
 _is " mire of the marsh " (|V found only here and in Ixix. 3), 
 i.e. water, in the mii'y bottom of which one can find no firm 
 
D 
 
 36 PSALM XL. 5, 6. 
 
 footing— a combination like D'fptpo, Zech. x. 1, lErnpnx, 
 Dan. xii. 2, explained in the Mishna, Mikvaoth ix. 2, by D^D 
 nnnn (mire of the cisterns). Taking them out of this, Jahve 
 placed his feet upon a rock, established his footsteps, i.e. 
 removed him from the danger which surrounded him, and gave 
 him firm ground under his feet. The high rock and the firm 
 footsteps are the opposites of the deep pit and the yielding miry 
 bottom. This deliverance afforded him new matter for thanks- 
 giving (cf. xxxiii. 3), and became in his mouth " praise to our 
 God ;" for the deliverance of the chosen king is an act of the 
 God of Israel on behalf of His chosen people. The futures in 
 ver. Ab (with an alliteration similar to lii. 8) indicate, by their 
 being thus cumulative, that they are intended of the present 
 and of that which still continues in the future. 
 
 Vers. 5, 6. He esteems him happy who puts his trust (inpno, 
 with a latent Dagesh, as, according to Kimchi, also in Ixxi. 5, 
 Job xxxi. 24, Jer. xvii. 7) in Jahve, the God who has already 
 made Himself glorious in Israel by innumerable wonderful 
 works. Jer. xvii. 7 is an echo of this ''^tJ'N'. Ps. lii. 9 (cf. 
 xci. 9) shows how Davidic is the language. The expression is 
 designedly not K'"'Kn, but "^^^p, which is better adapted to designate 
 the man as being tempted to put trust in himself. C^n") from 
 3n") (not from ^i]1) are the impetuous or violent, who in their 
 arrogance cast down everything. 3T3 ''tSB'j "turners aside of 
 falsehood" (Olb =: nni^^ cf. ci. 3), is the expression for apostates 
 who yield to falsehood instead of to the truth : to take 3J3 as 
 accusative of the aim is forbidden by the status construct.; to 
 take it as the genitive in the sense of the accusative of the 
 object (like Dh ''^h'n^ Prov. ii. 7) is impracticable, because Dib' 
 (DDb) does not admit of a transitive sense ; 3T3 is, therefore, 
 genit. qunlit. like ^]^ in lix. 6. This second strophe contains 
 two practical applications of that which the writer himself has 
 experienced. From this point of view, he who trusts in God 
 appears to the poet to be supremely happy, and a distant view 
 of God's gracious rule over His own people opens up before 
 him. nispaj are the thoughts of God realized, and riUl"no those 
 that are being realized, as in Jer. li. 29, Isa. Iv. 8 sq. riiai is 
 an accusative of the predicate : in great number, in rich abund- 
 ance ; i^'i;^*, " for us," as e.g. in Jer. xv. 1 (Ew. § 217, c). His 
 doings towards Israel were from of old a fulness of wondrous 
 
PSALM XL. 7-9. 37 
 
 deeds and plans of deliverance, which was ever reaHzinf» and 
 revealing itself. There is not ^'^X Tjny, a possibility of com- 
 parison with Thee, ovk earc (Ew. § 321, c) laovv rt crot — "ipv 
 as in Ixxxix. 7, Isa. xl. 18 — they are too powerful (Q>*y of a 
 powerful sum, as in Ixix. 5, cxxxix. 17, cf. Jer. v. 6) for one to 
 enumerate. According to Rosenmiiller, Stier, and Hupfeld, 
 yba "li]} px even affirms the same thing in other words : it is 
 not possible to lay them forth to Thee (before Thee) ; but that 
 man should "lay forth" (Symmachus eKOeaOai) before God 
 His marvellous works and His thoughts of salvation, is an 
 unbecoming conception. The cohortative forms, which follow, 
 '''•'??"]^,1 '^T^'^j admit of being taken as a protasis to what follows, 
 after the analogy of Job xix. 18, xvi. 6, xxx. 26, Ps. cxxxix. 8 : 
 if I wish to declare them and speak them forth, they are too 
 powerful (numerous) to be enumerated (Ges. § 128, 1, d). 
 The accentuation, however, renders it as a parenthetical clause : 
 I would (as in li. 18, Iv. 13, Job vi. 10) declare them and 
 speak them forth. He would do this, but because God, in the 
 fulness of His wondrous works and thoughts of salvation, is 
 absolutely without an equal, he is obliged to leave it undone — 
 they are so powerful (numerous) that the enumeration of them 
 falls far short of their powerful fulness. The words alioqui 
 2')roniinciarem et eloquerei' have the character of a parenthesis, 
 and, as ver. 7 shows, this accords with the style of this Psalm. 
 
 , Vers. 7-9. The connection of the thoughts is clear : great 
 and manifold are the proofs of Thy loving-kindness, how am 
 I to render thanks to Thee for them ? To this question hei 
 
 _first of all gives a negative answer : God delights not in out- 
 ward sacrifices. The sacrifices are named in a twofold way : 
 (a) according to thelnaterial of which they consist, viz. n3T, the 
 animal sacrifice, and ^^^.p, the meal or meat offering (including 
 the 'ilD3, the wine or drink offering, which is the inalienable 
 accessory of the accompanying minchci) ; {b) according to their 
 purpose, in accordance with which they bring about either the I 
 turning towards one of the good pleasure of God, as more 
 especially in the case of the '^^'iV, or, as more especially in the 
 case of the T\^\^n (in this passage '"'^9'^)) ^^^^ turning away of the 
 divine displeasure. The fact of the n3t and '"ipiy standing first, 
 has, moreover, its special reason in the fact that naf specially 
 designates the sEelamim offerings, and to the province of these 
 
 -^ 
 
38 PSALM XL 7-9. 
 
 \ latter belongs the thank-offering proper, viz. the toda-shelamim 
 l^cfferipg ; and that n?iy as^the sacrifice of adoration (Trpoaevxv), 
 » which is also always a general thanksgiving (ev'^apiaTla), is 
 most natural, side by side with the shelamim, to him who gives 
 thanks. When it is said of God, that He does not delight in 
 and desire such non-personal sacrifices, there is as little inten- 
 Ition as in Jer. vii, 22 (cf. Amos v. 21 sqq.) of saying that the 
 Isacrificial Tora is not of divine origin, but that the true, essential 
 \ivi]\ of God is not directed to such sacrifices. 
 
 Between these synonymous utterances in ver. la and 7c 
 stands the clause 7 ^''"13 ^'!^\^. In connection with this posi- 
 tion it is natural, with Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, De Wette, and 
 Stier, to explain it "ears hast Thou pierced for me" = this 
 hast Thou engraven upon my mind as a revelation, this dis- 
 closure hast Thou imparted to me. But, although nni)^ to dig, 
 is even admissible in the sense of digging through, piercing 
 (vid. on xxii. 17), there are two considerations against this 
 interpretation, viz.: (1) that then one would rather look for l.fi^ 
 instead of D^Jfs* after the analogy of the phrases I.TX nhi^ \fii "i"'j;n, 
 and IJJ* nns, since the inner sense, in which the external organs 
 of sense, with their functions, have their basis of unity, is com- 
 monly denoted by the use of the singular ; (2) that according 
 to the syntax, J^^sn, nna, and n'^XC' are all placed on the same 
 level. Thus, therefore, it is with this very -"^ nna D^jrx that 
 the answer is intended, in its positive form, to begin ; and the 
 primary passage, 1 Sam. xv. 22, favours this view: '■^ Hath 
 Jahve delight in ivhole bwmt-offerings and sacrifices as in one's 
 ohexjing the voice of Jahve ? Behold, to obey is better than sacri- 
 fice, to attend belter than the fat of rams I" The assertion of 
 David is the echo of this assertion of Samuel, by which the 
 sentence of death was pronounced upon the kingship of Saul, 
 and consequently the way of that which is well-pleasing to God 
 , was traced out for the future kingship of David. God — says 
 David — desires not outward sacrifices, but obedience ; ears 
 hath He digged for me, i.e. formed the sense of hearing, 
 bestowed the faculty of hearing, and given therewith the 
 instruction to obey.* The idea is not that God has given 
 
 * There is a similar expression in the Tamul Rural, Graul's translation, 
 S. 63, No. 418 : " An ear, that was not hollowed out by hearing, has, even 
 
PSALM XL. 7-9. 39 
 
 him ears in order to hear that disclosure concerninrr tlie true 
 will of God (Hupfeld), but, in general, to hear the word of 
 Qod, and to obey that which is heard. God desires not sacri- i 
 fices but hearing ears, and consequently the submission of the -^ 
 person himself in willing obedience. To interpret it " Thou 
 hast appropriated me to Thyself D^iy ^?y^," after Ex. xxi. 6, 
 Deut. XV. 17, would not be out of harmony with the context; 
 but it is at once shut out by the fact that the word is not 1T^^, 
 but Q^'^tX. Concerning the generalizing rendering of the LXX., 
 acofia 8e KarTjprlaco fiov, following which Apollinaris renders it 
 avrap i/xol ^poTe7]<i reKrrjvao adpKa fyeveOXij^;^ and the Italic 
 (which is also retained in the Fsalterium Bomanum), corpus 
 aiitem jyerfecisti mild; vide on Heb. x. 5, Commentary, S. 460 sq. 
 [transl. vol. ii. p. 153]. ''^ 
 
 The ^Jyil^K TX, which follows, now introduces the expression \ 
 oJ[ the obedience, with which he placed himself at the service 
 of God, when he became conscious of what God's special will -- 
 concerning him was. With reference to the fact that obedience 
 and not sacrifice has become known to him as the will and 
 requirement of God, he has said : " Lo, I come," etc. By the 
 words " Lo, I come," the servant places himself at the call of 
 his master, Num. xxii. 38, 2 Sam. xix. 21. It is not likely 
 that the words vV 3in3 iDp vbyoii then form a parenthesis, 
 since ver. 9 is not a continuation of that " Lo, I come," but a 
 new sentence. We take the Beth, as in Ixvi. 13, as the Beth 
 of the accompaniment ; the roll of the book is the Tora, and 
 more especially Deuteronomy, written upon skins and rolled up 
 together, which according to the law touching the king (Deut. 
 xvii. 14-20) was to be the vade-mecum of the king of Israel. 
 And vy cannot, as synonymous with the following ^^^3, signify 
 as much as " written upon my heart," as De Wette and Thenius 
 render it — a meaning which, as Maurer has already correctly 
 replied, vj? obtains elsewhere by means of a conception that is 
 altogether inadmissible in this instance. On the contrary, this 
 preposition here, as in 2 Kings xxii. 13, denotes the object of 
 the contents ; for pV 303 signifies to write anything concerning 
 any one, so that he is the subject one has specially in view {e.g. 
 
 if hearing, the manner of not hearing." The " hollowing out" meaning in 
 this passage an opening of the inward sense of hearing by instruction. 
 
40 PSALM XL. 10, IL 
 
 of the judicial decision recorded in writing, Job xiii. 26). 
 Because Jahve before all else requires obedience to His will, 
 David comes with the document of this will, the Tora, which 
 prescribes to him, as a man, and more especially as the king, 
 the right course of conduct. Thus presenting himself to the 
 God of revelation, he can say in ver. 9, that willing obedience 
 to God's Law is his delight, as he then knows that the written 
 Law is written even in his heart, or, as the still stronger expres- 
 sion used here is, in his bowels. The principal form of ''J-'O 
 does not occur in the Old Testament ; it was CVP (from yp, 
 '"lyp, or even ''VP)j according to current Jewish pronunciation 
 Q\Vp (which Kimchi explains as dual) ; and the word properly 
 means (rid. on Isa. xlviii. 19) the soft parts of the body, which 
 even elsewhere, like C^onn^ which is synonymous according to 
 its original meaning, appear pre-eminently as the seat of 
 sympathy, but also of fear and of pain. This is the only 
 passage in which it occurs as the locality of a mental acqui- 
 sition, but also with the associated notion of loving acceptance 
 and cherishing protection (cf. the Syriac phrase K''J?D 1J3 DD, 
 som b'gau infajo, to shut up in the heart = to love). Tliat the 
 Tora is to be written upon the tables of the heart is even indi- 
 cated by the Deuteronomion, Deut. vi. 6, cf. Prov. iii. 3, vii. 3. 
 This reception of the Tora into the inward parts among the 
 people hitherto estranged from God is, according to Jer. xxxi. 
 33, the characteristic of the new covenant. But even in the 
 Old Testament there is among the masses of Israel " a people 
 with My law in their heart" (Isa. li. 7), and even in the Old 
 Testament, " he who hath the law of his God in his heart" is 
 called righteous (Ps. xxxvii. 31). As such an one who has 
 the Tora within him, not merely beside him, David presents 
 himself on tlie way to the throne of God. 
 
 Vers. 10, 11. The self-presentation before Jahve, intro- 
 duced l)y 'TTIP^ t^{, extends from ri^n to '•y'?; consequently ''rii.'tj'n 
 joins on to ^mcK, and the Nppx which stands in the midst of 
 perfects describes the synchronous past. The whole is a retro^ 
 
 spect. "it?3, *, (root 1^3), starting from its sensible primary 
 
 signification to scrape off, scratch off, rub smooth, means : to 
 smooth any one {gliitien)^ E"gk to gladden one, i.e. vultum ejus 
 diducerej to make him joyful and glad, more especially to cheer 
 
PSALM XL. 12, 13. 41 
 
 one by good news (e.g. basharahu or bashshanihu hi-mauludin, 
 he has cheered him by the intelligence of the birth of a son), 
 in Hebrew directly equivalent to evayyeXi^eiv {evayyeki^ecrOat). 
 He has proclaimed to all Israel the evangel of Jahve's justi- 
 fying and gracious rule, which only changes into retribution 
 towards those who despise His love ; and he can appeal to the 
 Omniscient One (Jer. xv. 15), that neither through fear of '\ 
 naen, nor through shame and indolence, has he restrained his \ "^ 
 lips from confessing Him. God's conduct, in accordance with 
 the prescribed order of redemption, is as a matter of fact 
 called P'ly, and as an attribute of His holy love, ni^n:; ; just as 
 njlOX is His faithfulness which fulfils the promises made and 
 which does not suffer hope to be put to shame, and nyic'n is 
 His salvation as it is manifested in facts. This rich matter for 
 the preaching of the evangel, wdiich may be comprehended in 
 the two words n^SI nnrij the Alpha and Omega of God's self- 
 attestation in the course of the redemptive history, he has not 
 allowed to slumber as a dead, unfruitful knowledge hidden 
 deep down in his heart. The new song which Jahve put 
 into his mouth, he has also really sung. Thus far we have the ( zr 
 first part of the song, which renders thanks for past mercies. ' 
 
 Vers. 12, 13. Now, in accordance with the true art of 
 prayer, petition developes itself out of thanjsegiving. The two 
 Nps, ver. ID and here, stand in a reciprocal relation to one 
 another : he refrained not his lips ; therefore, on His part, let 
 not Jahve withhold His tender mercies so that they should not 
 be exercised towards him C^sp). There is just the same cor- 
 relation of mercy and truth in ver. 11 and here: he wishes 
 continually to stand under the protection of these two saving 
 powers, which he has gratefully proclaimed before all Israel. 
 With ""S, ver. 13, he bases these desires upon his own urgent 
 need. T\\V'] are the evils, which come even upon the righteous 
 (xxxiv. 20) as trials or as chastenings. vy =132X is a more 
 circumstantial form of expression instead of "'^^2DS, xviii. 5. 
 His misdeeds have taken hold upon him, i.e. overt/Jven him in 
 their consequences (J"'b"7, as in Deut. xxviii. 15, 4o ; cf. 1??, 
 Prov. v. 22), inasmuch as they have changed into decrees of 
 suffering. He cannot see, because he is closely encompassed 
 on all sides, and a free and open view is thereby altogether 
 taken from him (the expression is used elsewhere of loss of 
 
42 PSALM XL. 14-16. 
 
 sight, 1 Sam. Hi. 2, iv. 15, 1 Kincrs xiv. 4). The interpreta- 
 tion adopted by Hupfeld and Ilitzig : I am not able to survey, 
 viz. their number, puts into the expression more than it really 
 expresses in the common usage of the language. His heart, 
 i.e. the power of vital consistence, has forsaken him, he is dis- 
 concerted, dejected, as it were driven to despair (xxxviii. 11). 
 This feeling of the misery of sin is not opposed to the date of 
 the Psalm being assigned to the time of Saul, vid. on xxxi. 11. 
 Vers, 14—16. In the midst of such sufferings, which, the 
 longer they last, discover him all the more to himself as a sinner, 
 he prays for speedy help. The cry for help in ver. 14 turns 
 with n>p towards the will of God ; for this is the root of alF~1 
 things. As to the rest, it resembles xxii. 20 (xxxviii. 23). The 
 persecuted one wishes that the purpose of his deadly foes may 
 as it were rebound against the protection of God and miserably 
 miscarry, nnispp^ ad abripiendam earn (with Dagesh in the 3 
 according to Ges. § 45, 2, Ew. § 245, a, and not as Gesenius, 
 Thesaurus, p. 1235, states, aspirated*), is added to ^CJ'p3 ''C'p2Q by 
 way of explanation and definiteness. ^sb*^ from ODt^j to become 
 torpid, here used of outward and inward paralysis, which is 
 the result of overpowering and as it were bewitching surprise 
 or fright, and is called by the Arabs rob or rdb (paralysis 
 through terror) [cf. Job, i. 322, note]. An ?y following upon 
 ^iQb'^ looks at first sight as though it introduced the object and 
 reason of this fright ; it is therefore not : as a I'eward, in con- 
 sequence of their infamy, which would not be 2\>V'?V, but merely 
 
 the accusative 3py (Isa. v. 23, Arabic c— oJic), it is rather : on 
 
 account of the reward (xix. 12) of their disgrace (cf., as be- 
 longing to the same period, cix. 29, xxxv. 26), i.e. of the reward 
 which consists in their being put to shame (Hitzig). v as 
 in iii. 3, xli. 6 : with reference to me. nsn nsn (Aquila, aa 
 
 * After ^ the aspirate usually disappears, as here and in cxviii. 13 ; 
 but there are exceptions, as pDJ^ C'inj!', Jer. i. 10, and frequently, 
 •]i-H^!^, ih. xlvii. 4. After 3 and 3 it usually remains, as in Ixxxvii. 6, Job 
 iv. 13, xxxiii. 15, 2 Sam. iii. 34, 1 Kings i. 21, Eccles. v. 10 ; but again 
 there are exceptions, as jbK'a, Gen, xxxv. 22, liDp, Jer, xvii. 2. In Gen. 
 xxiii. 2 it is pointed nnb3^ according to the rule, and in my Comment. S. 
 423 it is to be read "with a Dagesh." 
 
PSALM XLI. 43 
 
 ad, avrfj cry7;^p7;cra/iei/09, as Eusobius says, oyTW? ix^vo'V Trj 
 'E^paiKfj (ficovfj) is an exclamation of sarcastic delii^rht, which 
 finds its satisfaction in another's misfortune (xxxv. 25). 
 
 Vers. 17^ 18. On ver. 17 compare xxxv. 27. David wishes, 
 a^ he does in that passage, that the pious may most heartily 
 rejoice in God, the goal of their longing ; and that on account 
 of the salvation that has become manifest, which they love 
 /(2 Tim. iv. 8), they may continually say: Let Jahve become 
 jgreat, i.e. be magnified or celebrated with praises ! In ver. 18 
 With ^JSI he comes back to his own present helpless state, but 
 only in order to contrast with it the confession of confident 
 hope. True he is P''3N1 ^jy (as in cix. 22, Ixxxvi. 1, cf. xxv. 
 16), but He who ruleth over all will care for him: Dominus 
 solicitus erit pro me (Jerome). 3^'n in the same sense in which 
 in ver. 6 the nncriD, i.e. God's thoughts of salvation, is con- 
 ceived of (cf. the corresponding North-Palestinian expression 
 in Jonah i. 6). A sigh for speedy help ("^D^^"''^, as in Dan. 
 ix. 19 with a transition of the merely tone-long Tsere into a 
 pausal Pathach, and here in connection with a preceding closed 
 syllable, Olshausen, § 91, d, under the accompanying influence 
 of two final letters which incline towards the a sound) closes 
 this second part of the Psalm. The first part is nothing but 
 thanksgiving, the second is exclusively prayer. 
 
 PSALM XLL 
 
 COMPLAINT OF A SUFFERER OF BEING SURROUNDED BY 
 HOSTILE AND TREACHEROUS PERSONS. 
 
 2 BLESSED is he who regardeth the afflicted, 
 In the day of evil Jahve will deliver him. 
 
 3 Jahve will protect him and preserve him, 
 That he may be pronounced happy in the land ; 
 
 And Thou dost not give him over to the greed of hig 
 enemies. 
 
 4 Jahve will support him on the bed of sickness, 
 
 All his couch dost Thou turn, when he falleth sick. 
 
 5 As for me, I say : Jahve, be merciful unto mc, 
 O heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee. 
 
44 PSALM XLL 
 
 G ^line enemies, however, speak evil of me : 
 "When will he die and his name perish"?!" 
 
 7 And if one cometh to see me, he speaketh deceit, 
 His heart gathereth that which is groundless to itself, 
 He goeth abroad, he telleth it. 
 
 8 Together against me do all those whisper one to another 
 
 who hate me, 
 Against me do they imagine evil for me : 
 
 9 " An incurable evil is welded to him, 
 
 And when once he lieth down he will not rise up again." 
 
 10 Even the man of my friendship in whom I trusted. 
 Who did eat of my bread, lifteth his heel high against me. 
 
 11 And Thou, Jahve, be merciful unto me and raise me up, 
 Then will I requite them. 
 
 12 By this I should like to know, that Thou hast pleasure in 
 
 me : 
 That mine enemy cannot exult over me. 
 
 13 And as for me, in mine integrity dost Thou uphold me. 
 And dost set me before Thine eyes for ever. 
 
 14 Blessed be Jahve the God op Israel from ever- 
 
 lasting TO everlasting. 
 Amen, Amen. 
 
 After a Psalm with nt^'s follows one beginning with '•"itJ'X; 
 so that two Psalms with '•"iK'N close the First Book of the 
 Psalms, which begins with ''lUH. Ps. xli. belongs to the time 
 of the persecution by Absalom. Just as the Jahve-Psalm xxxix. 
 forms with the Elohim-Psalm Ixii. a coherent pair belonging to 
 this time, so does also the Jahve-Psalm xli. with the Elohim- 
 Psalm Iv. These two Psalms have this feature in common, viz. 
 that the complaint concerning the Psalmist's foes dwells with 
 especial sadness upon some faithless bosom-fi'iend. In Ps. xli. 
 David celebrates the blessing which accompanies sincere sym- 
 pathy, and depicts the hostility and falseness which he himself 
 experiences in his sickness, and more especially from a very 
 near friend. It is the very same person of whom he complains 
 in Ps. Iv., that he causes him the deepest sorrow — no ideal 
 character, as Hengstenberg asserts ; for these Psalms have the 
 
PSALM XLI. 45 
 
 most distinctly impressed individual physiognomy of the writer's 
 own times. In Ps. Iv. the poet wishes for the wings of a dove, 
 in order that, far away from the city, he might seek for himself 
 a safe spot in the wildej'ness ; for in the city deceit, violence, 
 and miscliief prevail, and the storm of a wide-spread conspiracy 
 is gathering, in which he himself sees his most deeply attached 
 friend involved. We need only supplement what is narrated 
 in the second Book of Samuel by a few features drawn from 
 these two Psalms, and these Psalms immediately find a satis- 
 factory explanation in our regarding the time of their composi- 
 tion as the period of Absalom's rebellion. The faithless friend 
 is that Ahithophel whose counsels, according to 2 Sam. xvi. 23, 
 had with David almost the appearance of being divine oracles. 
 Absalom was to take advantage of a lingering sickness under 
 which his father suffered, in order to play the part of the 
 careful and impartial judge and to steal the heart of the men 
 of Israel. Ahithophel supported him in this project, and in 
 four years after Absalom's reconciliation with his father the 
 end was gained. These four years were for David a time of 
 increasing care and anxiety ; for that which was planned cannot 
 have remained altogether concealed from him, but he had 
 neither the courage nor the strength to smother the evil under- 
 taking in the germ. His love for Absalom held him back ; the 
 consciousness of his own deed of shame and bloodshed, which 
 was now notorious, deprived him of the alacrity essential to 
 energetic interference ; and the consciousness of the divine 
 judgments, which ought to follow his sin, must have determined 
 him to leave the issue of the conspiracy that was maturing 
 under his very eyes entirely to the compassion of his God, 
 without taking any action in the matter himself. From the 
 standpoint of such considerations, Ps. xli. and Iv. lose every 
 look of beinff alien to the historv of David and his times. One 
 confirmation of their Davidic origin is the kindred contents of 
 Ps. xxviii. 
 
 Jesus explains (John xiii. 18) that in the act of Judas 
 Iscariot Ps. xli. 10 is fulfilled, o rpcoycov /xer ifiov top aprov, 
 iirrjpep eV ifie rrjv Trrepvav avrov (not following the LXX.) ; 
 and John xvii. 12, Acts i. 16 assume in a general way that 
 the deed and fate of the traitor are foretold in the Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures, viz. in the Davidic Psalms of the time of 
 
46 PSALM XLI. 2-4 
 
 Absalom — the treachery and tlie end of Ahithophel belong to 
 the most prominent typical features of David's affliction in 
 this second stage of persecution (^vid. Hofmann, Weissagung 
 und Erfullu7ig, ii. 122). 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The Psalm opens by celebrating the lot, so rich 
 irt promises, of the sympathetic man. 7'^ is a general designa- 
 tion of the poor {e.g. Ex. xxx. 15), of the sick and weakly 
 (Gen xli. 19), of the sick in mind (2 Sam. xiii. 4), and of that 
 which outwardly or inwardly is tottering and consequently 
 weak, frail. To show sympathising attention, thoughtful con- 
 sideration towards such an one (?X -'''SC'n as in Neh. viii. 13, 
 cf. ^V Prov. xvii. 20) has many promises. The verb n'n^ which 
 elsewhere even means to call to life again (Ixxi. 20), in this 
 instance side by side with preserving, viz. from destruction, has 
 the signification of preserving life or prolonging life (as in 
 xxx. 4, xxii. 30). The Pual iti'X signifies to be made happy 
 (Prov. iii. 18), but also declaratively : to be pronounced happy 
 (Isa. ix. 15) ; here, on account of the pN3 that stands with it, 
 it is the latter. The Chethib iti'X'' sets forth as an independent 
 promise that which the Keri "lE'Nl joins on to what has gone 
 before as a consequence. ?N, ver. 3c (cf. xxxiv. 6 and fre- 
 quently), expresses a negative with full sympathy in the utter- 
 ance. K'aJS jri3 as in xxvii. 12. The supporting in ver. 4a is a 
 keeping erect, which stops or arrests the man who is sinking 
 down into death and the grave. ''1'n (= davj, similar form to 
 ^^^, ^V^, but wanting in the syllable before the tone) means 
 sickness. If ver. 4a is understood of the supporting of the 
 head after the manner of one who waits upon the sick (cf. 
 Cant. ii. G), then ver. 4 must, with Mendelssohn and others, be 
 understood of the making of the couch or bed. But what then 
 is meant by the word ^3 ? ^^'^V is a sick-bed in Ex. xxi. 18 
 in the sense of being bedridden ; and J^3?!^ (cf. xxx. 12) is a 
 changing of it into convalescence. By UDw'O'^D is not meant 
 the constant lying down of such an one, but the affliction that 
 casts him down, in all its extent. Tliis Jahve turns or changes, 
 so often as such an one is taken ill (iv^-?, at his falling sick, 
 parallel with '"(l bivi'y). He gives a complete turn to the 
 " sick-bed " towards recovery, so that not a vestige of the sick- 
 ness remains behind. 
 
PSALM XLI. 5-10. 47 
 
 Vers. 5-7. He, the poet, is treated in his distress of soul 
 in a manner totally different from the way just described which 
 is so rich in promises of blessing. He is himself just such a 
 ?1, towards whom one ought to manifest sympathising con- 
 sideration and interest. But, whilst he is addressing God in 
 the language of penitential prayer for mercy and help, his 
 enemies speak evil to him, i.e. with respect to him, wishing that 
 he miirht die and that his name might perish. nx2") is as an 
 exception Milra, inasmuch as N draws the tone to its own 
 syllable; cf. on the other hand nTjn, Isa. xxxii. 11 (Hitzig). 
 ••rio (prop, extension, length of time) has only become a Semitic 
 interrogative in the signification quando by the omission of the 
 
 interrogative ^^» (common Arabic in its full form ^J^^i}, emata). 
 
 n^XI is a continuation of the future. In ver. 7 one is singled 
 out and made prominent, and his hypocritically malicious con- 
 duct described, ni^^"! of a visit to a sick person as in 2 Sam. xiii. 
 5 sq., 2 Kings viii. 29. 0^? is used both with the perf. (1. 18, 
 Ixiii. 7, Ixxviii. 34, xciv. 18, Gen. xxxviii. 9, Amos vii. 2, Isa. 
 xxiv. 13, xxviii. 25) and with the fut. (Ixviii. 14, Job xiv. 14), 
 like quiim, as a blending together of si and quando, Germ. 
 
 we7m (if) and waiin (when). In )2? "i^T* two Rebias come 
 together, tlie first of which has the greater value as a dis- 
 tinctive, according to the rule laid down in Baer's Psalterium^ 
 p. xiv. Consequently, following the accents, it must not be 
 rendered: "falsehood doth his heart speak." The LXX., 
 Vulgate, and Targum have discerned the correct combination 
 of the words. Besides, the accentuation, as is seen from the 
 Targum and expositors, proceeds on the assumption that ^3? is 
 equivalent to 1373. But why may it not be the subject-notion ? 
 "His heart gathereth" is an expression of the activity of his 
 mind and feelings, concealed beneath a feigned and friendly 
 outward bearing. The asyndeton portrays the despatch with 
 which he seeks to make the material for slander, which has 
 been gathered together, public both in the city and in the 
 country. 
 
 Vers. 8-10. Continuation of the description of the conduct 
 of the enemies and of the false friend, trn^nn, as in 2 Sam. 
 xii. 19, to whisper to one another, or to whisper among them- 
 selves; the Hithpa. sometimes (cf. Gen. xlii. 1) has a reciprocal 
 
48 PSALM XLI. 11-13. 
 
 meaning like the Niphal. The intelligence brought out by 
 hypocritical visitors of the invalid concerning his critical condi- 
 tion is spread from mouth to mouth by all who wish him ill as 
 satisfactory news ; and in fact in whispers, because at that time 
 caution was still necessary, vy stands twice in a prominent posi- 
 tion in the sense of contra me. V '"'^1 belong together : they 
 maliciously invent what will be the very worst for him (going 
 beyond what is actually told them concerning him). In this 
 connection there is a feeling in favour of ?yv3 being intended 
 of an evil fate, according to xviii. 5, and not according to ci. 3 
 (cf. Deut. XV. 9) of pernicious or evil thought and conduct. 
 And this view is also supported by the predicate 13 pi^'^ : " a 
 matter of destruction, an incurable evil (Hitzig) is poured out 
 upon him," i.e. firmly cast upon him after the manner of cast- 
 ing metal (Job xli. 15 sq.), so that he cannot get free from it, 
 and he that has once had to He down will not again rise up. 
 Thus do we understand 1t^'^^. in ver. 96 ; there is no occasion to 
 take it as an accusative by departing from the most natural 
 sense, as Ewald does, or as a conjunction, as Hitzig does. Even 
 the man of his peace, or literally of his harmonious relationship 
 (UO^ '^■''K as in Obad. ver. 7, Jer. xx. 10, xxxviii. 22), on whom 
 he has depended with fullest confidence, who did eat his bread, 
 i.e. was his messmate (cf. Iv. 15), has made his heel great 
 against him, LXX. e/MeyaXwev eV e'/ie TTTepvtcr/xov. The com- 
 bination 3py ?'''^J^' is explained by the fact that 3py is taken in 
 the sense of a thrust with the heel, a kick : to give a great 
 kick, i.e. with a good swing of the foot. 
 
 Vers. 11-13. Having now described their behaviour to- 
 wards him, sick in soul and body as he is, so devoid of affection, 
 yea, so malignantly hostile and so totally contrary to the will 
 and promise of God, David prays that God would raise him 
 up, for he is now lying low, sick in soul and in body. The 
 prayer is followed, as in xxxix. 14 and many other passages, by 
 the future with ah : that I may be able to requite them, or : 
 then will I requite them. What is meant is the requiting 
 which it was David's duty as a duly constituted king to exer- 
 cise, and which he did really execute by the power of God, 
 when he subdued the rebellion of Absalom and maintained his 
 ground in opposition to faithlessness and meanness. Instead 
 of nx HND (Gen. xlii. 33, cf. xv. 8, Ex. vii. 17, Num. xvi. 
 
PSALM XLI. U. • 49 
 
 28, Josh. iii. 10) the expression is ''P^T^] HNTa in the sense of (ex 
 hoc) cognoverim. On ^3 m'sn cf. xviii. 20, xxii. 9, xxxv. 27. 
 By the second ''3, the riNia, which points forwards, is explained. 
 The adversatively accented subject ^^Xl stands first in ver. 13rt 
 as a nom. absoL, just as in xxxv. 13. Ver. 13 states, retrospec- 
 tively from the standpoint of fulfilment, what will then be 
 made manifest and assure him of the divine good pleasure, viz. 
 Jahve upholds him ("iion as in Ixiii. 9), and firmly sets him as 
 His chosen one before Him (cf. xxxix. 6) in accordance with 
 the Messianic promise in 2 Sam. vii. 16, which speaks of an 
 unlimited future. 
 
 Ver. 14. The closing doxology of the First Book, vid. 
 Introduction, p. 15. Concerning '^'n3 vid. xviii. 47. The 
 expression " from aeon to sson" is, according to Berachoth ix. 5, 
 directed against those who deny the truth of the future world. 
 JDX1 }0X (a double aXrjde'i or aX'7]d(0'i) seals it in a climactic 
 form. 
 
 VOL. n. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF THE PSALTER. 
 Ps. XLir.-LXXII. 
 
 PSALM XLII.-XLIII. 
 
 LONGING FOR ZION IN A HOSTILE COUNTRY " * 
 
 2 AS a hind, which panteth after the water-brooks, 
 So panteth my soul after Thee, Elohim. 
 
 3 My soul thirsteth for Elohim, for the living God :. * 
 When shall I come and appear before Elohim ? ! ; 
 
 4 My tears have been my food by day and night, » 
 While they say continually unto me : Wherq is thy God? 
 
 5 I think thereon, pouring out my soul within me : 
 
 How I passed along among the throng, how I accompanied 
 them to the house of Elohim 
 
 Among the sound of rejoicing and thanksgiving,' — a multi- 
 tude keeping holy-day. 
 
 6 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why groanest 
 
 thou within me? 
 Hope in Elohim, for ). shall yet give thanks to Him, 
 That He is the health of my countenance and my God. i 
 
 7 Within me is my soul bowed down, therefore do I remem- 
 
 ber Thee 
 From the land of Jordan and of the Hermons, from the 
 mountain of Miz'ar. 
 
 8 Flood calleth to flood at the sound of Thy cataracts, 
 All Thy breakers and Thy billows have passed over me, 
 
 50 
 
PSALM XLII.-XLIII. 51 
 
 9 By day Jahve will command His loving-kindness, 
 
 And at night a song concerning Him is with me, prayer to 
 the God of my life. 
 
 10 Therefore say I to God, my rock: Why dost Thou forget 
 
 me? 
 Why must I go mourning under the oppression of the 
 enemy? 
 
 11 Like a crushing in my bones my oppressors scoff at me, 
 While they say to me continually : Where is thy God ? 
 
 12 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why groanest 
 
 thou within me ? 
 Hope in Elohim, for I shall yet give thanks to Him, 
 J That He is the health of my countenance and my God. 
 
 1 JUDGE me, Elohim, and plead my cause against an un- 
 . J merciful people. 
 
 From the man of deceit and roguery be Thou pleased to 
 rescue me ; 
 
 2 For Thou art God, my fortress, why dost Thou spurn me ? 
 i Why must I go about mourning under the oppression of 
 
 4 the enemy? 
 
 3 Send' Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me, 
 
 Let them bring me to Thy holy mountain and to Thy 
 tabernacles — 
 
 fThen will I go in unto the altar of Elohim, 
 To the God of my exultant joy, 
 
 And ^ive thanks to Thee with the cithern, Elohim my God. 
 5 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why groanest 
 , thou within me ? 
 Hope in Elohim, for I shall yet give thanks to Him, 
 
 That He is the health of my countenance and my God. 
 i 
 
 Tlie Second Book of Psalms consists entirely of Elohimic 
 Psalms (yrd. Introduction, p. 22) ; for whilst in the First Book 
 mn'' occurred 272 times and Wnbn only 15 times, the relation is 
 here reversed : DM^N occurs 164 times, and mn'' only 30 times, 
 and in almost every instance by a departure from the custo- 
 mary mode of expression for reasons that lie close at hand. 
 
 At the head of these Psalms written in the Elohimic style 
 there stand seven inscribed mp-'-ja^. That here as in n?'y the 
 
52 rSALM XLII.-XLIII. 
 
 b is Lamed aiictoris, is made clear by the fact that none of these 
 Psalms, as might be expected, have Tilb in addition to the name 
 of the author. The LXX. renders it rot"? vloi<; Kope, just as 
 it does Tfo Aavlh, without distinguishing the one ? from the 
 other indicating the authorship, and even in the Tahnud a 
 similar meaning to the Lamed of IXV? is assumed. It is cer- 
 tainly remarkable that instead of an author it is always the 
 family that is named, a rule from which Ps. Ixxxviii. (which 
 see) is only a seeming departure. The designation " Bohmische 
 Bruder''^ in the hyninology of the German church is very 
 similar. Probably the Korahitic songs originally formed a 
 book of themselves, which bore the title mp ^:3 '•T'C' or some- 
 thing similar; and then the mp ^22. of this title passed over to 
 the inscription of each separate song of those incorporated in 
 two groups in the Psalm-collection, just as appears also to be 
 the case with the inscription DvJ/On T'C*, which is repeated fifteen 
 times. Or we must suppose that it had become a family cus-\ 
 torn in the circle of the singers among the Korahites to allow \ 
 the individual to retreat behind the joint responsibility of family I 
 
 \ unity, and, vying together, to expiate the name of their unforfc' 
 tunate ancestor by the best liturgical productions. * 
 
 For Korah, the great-grandson of Levi, and grandson of 
 Kehath, is the same as he who perished by a divine judgment 
 on account of his rebellion against Moses and Aaron (Num. 
 ch. xvi.), whose sons, however, were not involved with him in 
 this judgment (Num. xxvi. 11). In David's time the mp "ija 
 •were one of the most renowned families of the Levite race of 
 the Kehathites. The kingship of the promise very soon found 
 valiant adherents and defenders in this family. Korahites 
 gathered together to David to Ziklag, in order to aid in defend- 
 ing him and his title to the throne with the' sword (1 Chron. 
 
 - xii, 6) ; for n'mi^n in tiiis passage can hardly (as Bertheau is 
 of opinion) be descendants of the mp of the family of Judali 
 mentioned in 1 Chron. ii. 43, but otherwise unrenowned, since 
 that name is elsewhere, viz. in ch. ix. 19^ 31, a Levitic family 
 name. In Jerusalem, after the Exile, Korahites were keepers 
 of the temple gates (1 Chron. ix. 17, Neh. xi. 19), and the 
 chronicler there informs us that even in David's time they were 
 keepers of the threshold of the 7ns (erected over the ^Vrk on 
 Zion) ; and still earlier, in the time of Moses, in the camp of 
 
PSALM XLII.-XLlir. 53 
 
 Jalive they were appointed as watchers of the entrance. They 
 retained this ancient calling, to which allusion is made in Ps. 
 Ixxxiv. 11, in connection with the new arrangements instituted 
 by David. The post of door-keeper in the temple was assigned 
 to two branches of the Korahite families together with one 
 Merarite (1 Chron. xxvi. 1-19). But they also even then 
 served as musicians in the sanctuary. Heman, one of the 
 three precentors (to be distinguished from Heman the wise 
 man mentioned iu 1 Kings v. 11 [Engl. iv. 31]), was a 
 Korahite (1 Chron. vi. 18-23) ; his fourteen sons belonged, 
 together with the four sons of Asaph and the six sons of Ethan, 
 to the twenty-four heads of the twenty-four divisions of the 
 musicians (1 Chron. ch. xxv.). The Korahites were also 
 renowned even in the days of Jehoshaphat as singers and musi- 
 cians ; see 2 Chron. xx. 19, where a plural Q^^■||^^ "ijii (cf. Ges. 
 § 108, 3) is formed from mp"'':3, which has as it were become 
 smelted together as one word. Whereas in the period after 
 the Exile there is no longer any mention of them in this 
 character. We may therefore look for Korahitic Psalms be- 
 longing to the post-Davidic time of the kings; whereas we 
 ought at the outset to be less inclined to find any post-exilic 
 Psalms among them. The common feature of this circle of 
 songs consists herein, — they delight in the praise of Elohim as 
 the King who sits enthroned in Jerusalem, and join in the 
 services in His temple with the tenderest and most genuine 
 emotion. And this impress of unity which they bear speaks 
 strongly in favour of taking mp"''Jn^ iu the sense of denoting 
 authorship. 
 
 The composer of the ^''Db'D, Ps. xlii., finds himself, against 
 his will, at a great distance from the sanctuary on Zion, the 
 resting-place of the divine presence and manifestation, sur- 
 rounded by an ungodly people, who mock at him as one for- 
 saken of God, and he comforts his sorrowful soul, looking 
 longingly back upon that which it has lost, with the prospect of 
 God's help which will soon appear. All the complaints and 
 hopes that he expresses sound very much like those of David 
 during the time of Absalom. David's yearning after the house 
 of God in Ps. xxiii., xxvi., Iv., Ixiii., finds its echo here: 
 the conduct and outlines of the enemies are also just the same ; 
 even the sojourn in the country east of Jordan agrees with 
 
54 rSALM XLII.-XLIII. 
 
 David's settlement at that time at Mahanaim in the mountains 
 of Gilead. The Korahite, however, as is to be assumed in 
 connection with a lyric poem, speaks out of the depth of his 
 own soul, and not, as Hengstenberg and Tholuck maintain, 
 " as from the soul of David." He merely shares David's 
 vexation, just as he then in Ixxxiv. 10 prays for the anointed 
 one. This Ps. Ixxxiv. breathes forth the same feelings, and even 
 in other respects bears traces of the same author ; cf. ''H 7Slj 
 Ixxxiv. 3, xlii. 3 ; ^'ni:3^p, Ixxxiv. 2, xliii. 3 ; l^ninaTD, Ixxxiv. 
 4, xliii. 4 ; and the similar use of IW, Ixxxiv. 5, xlii. 6, cf. Isa. 
 xlix. 20, Jer. xxxii. 15. The distinguishing features of the 
 Korahitic type of Psalm meet us in both Psalms in the most 
 strong and vivid manner, viz. the being joyous and weeping 
 with God's anointed, the praise of God the King, and the yearn- 
 ing after the services in the holy place. And there are, it is 
 true, thoughts that have been coined by David which we here 
 and there distinctly hear in them (cf. xlii. 2 sq., Ixxxiv. 3, with 
 Ixiii. 2) ; but they are reproduced with a characteristic beauty 
 ])eculiar to the author himself. We do not, therefore, in the 
 least doubt that Ps. xlii. is the poem of a Korahitic Levite, who 
 found himself in exile beyond the Jordan among the attendants 
 of David, his exiled king. 
 
 Concerning Ps. xliii. Eusebius has said : otl ixepo<i eoixev 
 eivat Tov irpo avrov hchrjXtarat, €K t€ twv ofiolaiv iv a/x(f)OTepoLi; 
 Xoytov Kol e'/c Ti]<; e/M(ji€pov<; 8Lavola<;, and an old Midrash reckons 
 147 I'salms, taking Ps. xlii.-xliii. together as one, just as with 
 ix.-x., xxxii.-xxxiii. The similarity of the situation, of the 
 general impress, of the structure, and of the refrain, is decisive 
 in favour of these Psalms, which are commonly reckoned as 
 two, being one. The one Psalm consists of three parts : thrice 
 his pain breaks forth into complaint, and is each time again 
 overcome by the admonitory voice of his higher consciousness. 
 In the depicting of the past and the future there is unmistake- 
 able progress. And it is not imtil the third part (Ps. xliii.) 
 that complaint, resignation, and hope are perfected by the 
 language of confident prayer which supervenes. The unity of 
 the Psalms is not affected by the repetition of xlii. 106 in xliii. 
 2b, since xlii. lib is also a repetition of xlii. 46. Beside an 
 edging in by means of the refrain, the poet is also fond of such 
 internal links of connection. The third part has thereby come 
 
 1 
 
PSALM XLII. 2-6. 55 
 
 to consist of thirteen lines, whereas the other two parts con- 
 sist of twelve lines each. 
 
 What a variegated pattern card of hypotheses modern 
 criticism opens out before lis in connection with this Psalm 
 (xlii.-xliii.) ! Vaihinger regards it as a song composed by one 
 of the Levites who was banished by Athaliah. Ewald thinks 
 that King Jeconiah, who was carried away to Babylon, may 
 have composed the Psalm ; and in fact, when (and this is 
 inferred from the Psalm itself) on the journey to Babylon, he 
 may have been detained just a night in the vicinity of Hermon. 
 Keuss (in the Nouvelle Revue de Th^ologie, 1858) prefers to 
 suppose it is one of those who were carried off with Jeconiah 
 (among whom there were also priests, as Ezekiel). Hitzig, 
 however, is no less decisive in his view that the author is a 
 priest who was carried off in the direction of Syria at the time 
 of the wars of the Seleucidse and Ptolemies ; probably Onias iii., 
 high priest from 199 B.C., the collector of the Second Book of 
 the Psalms, whom the Egyptians under the general Skopas 
 carried away to the citadel of Paneas. Olshausen even here, 
 as usual, makes Antiochus Epiphanes his watchword. In 
 opposition to this positive criticism, Maurer adheres to the 
 negative ; he says : qucerendo elegantissimi carminis scnptore 
 frustra^se fatigant interpretes. 
 
 Ps. xlii. 2-6. The poet compares the thirsting of his soul 
 after God to the thirsting of a stag, /''i* (hke other names of 
 animals is epicoene, so that there is no necessity to adopt 
 Bottcher's emendation 3iyn ri?>X3) is construed with a feminine 
 predicate in order to indicate the stag (hind) as an image of 
 the soul. 3iy is not merely a quiet languishing, but a strong, 
 audible thirsting or panting for water, caused by prevailing 
 drought, Ixiii. 2, Joel i. 20 ; the signification desiderare refers 
 
 back to the primary notion of inclinare (cf. J.x»]l, the act of 
 inclining), for the primary meaning of the verb ^jZ is to be 
 
 slanting, inclined or bent, out of which has been developed 
 the signification of ascending and moving upwards, which is 
 transferred in Hebrew to an upward-directed longing. More- 
 over, it is not with Luther (LXX., Vulgate [and authorized 
 version]) to be rendered : as the (a) stag crieth, etc., but (and 
 
56 PSALM XLII. 2-6. 
 
 it is accented accordingly): as a stag, which, etc. P''SX = pDX is, 
 according to its primary signification, a watercourse holding 
 water (yid. xviii. 16). By the addition of D)0 the full and 
 flowing watercourse is distiniiuished from one that is dried up. 
 ?V and ?X point to the difference in the object of the longing, 
 viz. the hind has this object beneath herself, the soul above 
 itself ; the longing of the one goes deorsum, the longing of the 
 other sursum. The soul's longing is a thirsting ''n 7Xp. Such 
 is the name here applied to God (as in Ixxxiv. 3) in the sense 
 in which flowing water is called living, as the spring or foun- 
 tain of life (xxxvi. 10) from which flows forth a grace that 
 never dries up, and which stills the thirst of the soul. The 
 spot where this God reveals Himself to him who seeks Him is 
 the sanctuary on Zion : when shall I come and appear in the 
 presence of Elohim ? ! The expression used in the Law for 
 the three appearings of the Israelites in the sanctuary at 
 solemn feasts is 'n ''JD-^N n\p} or ""JSTiit, Ex. xxiii. 17, xxxiv. 23. 
 Here we find instead of this expression, in accordance with tiie 
 licence of poetic brevity, the bare ace. localis (which is even 
 used in other instances in the definition of localities, e.g. Ezek. 
 xl. 44). Bottcher, Olshausen, and others are of opinion that 
 riNlS in the mind of the poet is to be read i^^?"!^, and that it has 
 only been changed into '"'^'^^ through later religious tiuiidity; 
 but the avoidance of the phrase 'n \J3 nxT is explained from 
 tiie fundamental assumption of the Tora that a man could not 
 behold God's D'':s without dying, Ex. xxxiii. 20. The poet 
 now tells us in ver. 4 what the circumstances were which drove 
 him to such intense longing. His customary food does not 
 revive him, tears are his daily bread, which day and night run 
 down upon his mouth (cf. Ixxx. 6, cii. 20), and that i^?:??, when 
 say to him, viz. the speakers, all day long, i.e. continually : 
 Where is thy God ? Without cessation, these mocking words 
 are continually heard, uttered again and again by those who 
 are round about him, as their thoughts, as it were, in the soul 
 of the poet. This derision, in the Psalms and in the Prophets, 
 is always the keenest sting of pain : Ixxix. 10, cxv. 2 (cf. Ixxi. 
 11), Joel ii. 17, Mic. vii. 10. 
 
 In this gloomy present, in which he is made a mock of, as 
 one who is forsaken of God, on account of his trust in the 
 faithfulness of the promises, he calls to remembrance the 
 
PSALM XLII. 2-C. 57 
 
 bright and cheerful past, and he pours out his soul within 
 him (on the vy used liere and further on instead of ''2 or "'2"ip2 
 and as distinguishing between the ego and the soul, vid. Psychol. 
 S. 152 ; tr. p. 180), inasmuch as he suffers it to melt entirely 
 away in pain (Job xxx. 16). As in Ixxvii. 4, the cohortatives 
 affirm that he yields himself up most thoroughly to this bitter- 
 sweet remembrance and to this free outward expression of his 
 pain, npx (Jicucce) points forwards ; the ^3 (quod) which fol- 
 lows opens up the expansion of this word. The futures, as 
 expressing the object of the remembrance, state what was a 
 habit in the time past. I^y frequently signifies not prcetei'ire, 
 but, without the object that is passed over coming into con- 
 sideration, porro ire. '^D (a collateral form of TjO), properly a 
 thicket, is figuratively (cf. Isa. ix. 17, x. 34) an interwoven 
 mass, a mixed multitude. The rendering therefore is : that I 
 moved on in a dense crowd (here the distinctive Zinnor). 
 The form" D"7.1^ is Hithpa., as in Isa. xxxviii. 15, after the form 
 na'nn from the verb nn^j " to pass lightly and swiftly along," 
 
 derived by reduplication from the root NT (cf. Ijlj), which has 
 the primary meaning to push, to drive {eXavveiv^ pousser)^ and 
 
 in various combinations of the 1 (Ni, ^j, m, c->, 2'^, ^1) 
 
 expresses manifold shades of onward motion in lighter or 
 heavier thrusts or jerks. The suffix, as in ''Jb'15 = ""Sy 713^ 
 Job xxxi. 18 (Ges. § 121, 4), denotes those in reference to 
 whom, or connection with whom, this moving onwards took 
 place, so that consequently ^T}^ includes within itself, together 
 with the subjective notion, the transitive notion of D"!11^^, for 
 the singer of the Psalm is a Levite ; as an example in support 
 of this D-HTS', vid. 2 Chron. xx. 27 sq., cf. ver. 21. JJin |iDn is 
 the apposition to the personal suffix of this mix : with them, a 
 multitude keeping holy-day. In ver. 6 the poet seeks to solace 
 and encourage himself at this contrast of the present with tlie 
 past: Why art thou thus cast down . . . (LXX. Iva rLirepl- 
 XviTd el, /c.T.X., cf. Matt. xxvi. 38, John xii. 27). It is the 
 spirit wiiich, as the stronger and more valiant part of the man, 
 speaks to the soul as to the aKevot acOeveaTepov; the s[)iritual 
 man soothes the natural man. The Hltlipa. nninrn, which 
 occurs only here and in Ps. xliii., signifies to bow one's self 
 
58 rSALM XLII. 7-12. 
 
 very low, to sit clown upon the jirouncl like a mourner (xxxv. 
 14, xxxviii. 7), and to bend one's self downwards (xliv. 26). 
 nion (the future of which Ben-Asher here points ''^p.^X, but 
 Ben-Naphtali Vsnni), to utter a deep groan, to speak quietly 
 and mumbling to one's self. Why this gnawing and almost 
 desponding grief? I shall yet praise Him with thanksgiving, 
 jiraise VJQ niyiC'";, the ready succour of His countenance turned 
 towards me in mercy. Such is the text handed down to us. 
 Although it is, however, a custom with the psalmists and pro- 
 phets not to express such refrainlike thoughts in exactly the 
 same form and words (cf. xxiv. 7, 9, xlix. 13, 21, Ivi. 5, 11, 
 lix, 10, 18), nevertheless it is to be read here by a change in the 
 division both of the words and the verses, according to ver. 12 
 and xliii. 5, '^^i^] 'JS n)V^&, as is done by the LXX. (Cod. 
 Alex.), Syriac, Vulgate, and most modern expositors. For the 
 words V3Q niytC'^, though in themselves a good enough sense 
 (vid. e.g. xliv. 4, Isa. Ixiv. 9), produce no proper closing cadence, 
 and are not sufficient to form a line of a verse.* 
 
 Vers. 7-12. The poet here continues to console himself 
 with God's help. God Himself is indeed dishonoured in him ; 
 He will not suffer the trust he has reposed in Him to go un- 
 justified. True, vV seems at the beginning of the line to be 
 tame, but from vV and T}3t?j the beginning and end of the 
 line, standing in contrast, vj; is made emphatic, and it is at the 
 same time clear that 13"?j; is not equivalent to It^'X |3 vV — 
 which Gesenius asserts in his Lexicon, erroneously referring to 
 i. 5, xlv. 3, is a poetical usage of the language; an assertion for 
 which, however, there is as little support as that |2~?y ""a in 
 Num. xiv. 43 and other passages is equivalent to "'3 I^vV. In 
 all such passages, e.g. Jer. xlviii. 36, jS'^V means " therefore," 
 and the relationship of reason and consequence is reversed. 
 So even here : witiiin him his soul is bowed very low, and on 
 account of this downcast condition he thinks continually of 
 God, from whom he is separated. Even in Jonah ii. 8 this 
 thinking upon God does not appear as the cause but as the 
 consequence of pain. The " land of Jordan and of Hermo- 
 nim " is not necessarily the northern mountain range together 
 
 * Even an old Hebrew MS. dirqcts attention to the erroneousness of the 
 Soph pimik here ; vid. Finsker, Einkitung^ S. 133 f. 
 
PSALM XLII. 7-12. 59 
 
 with tlie sources of the Jordan. The LtikI beyond tlie Jordan 
 is so called in opposition to pn^ I'ts'^ the land on this side. 
 According to Dietrich (Abhandluvgen, S. 18), D''?iO")n is an 
 amplificative plural : the Hermon, as a peak soaring far above 
 all lower summits. John Wilson (^Lands of the Bible, ii. IGl) 
 refers the plural to its two summits. But the plural serves to 
 denote the whole range of the Antilebanon extending to the 
 south-east, and accordingly to designate the east Jordanic 
 country. It is not for one moment to be supposed that the 
 psalmist calls Hermon even, in comparison with his native 
 Zion, the chosen of God, lyV? "''!', i-e. the mountain of little- 
 ness : the other member of the antithesis, the majesty of Zion, 
 is wanting, and the 10 which is repeated before in is also 
 opposed to this. Hitzig, striking out the of "ino, makes it 
 an address to Zion : " because I remember thee out of the 
 land of Jordan and of summits of Hermon, thou little moun- 
 tain;" but, according to ver. 8, these words are addressed to 
 Elohim. In the vicinity of Milz'ar, a mountain unknown to 
 us, in the country beyond Jordan, the poet is sojourning; 
 from thence he looks longingly towards the district round 
 about his home, and just as there, in a strange land, the wild 
 waters of the awe-inspiring mountains roar around him, there 
 seems to be a corresponding tumult in his soul. In ver. 8a he 
 depicts the natural features of the country round about him — 
 and it may remind one quite as much of the high and magni- 
 ficent waterfalls of the lake of Muzerih (yid. Job, ii. 422) as of 
 the waterfall at the source of the Jordan near Paneas and the 
 waters that dash headlong down the mountains round about — 
 and in ver. 8b he says that he feels just as though all these 
 threatening masses of water were rolling like so many waves 
 of misfortune over his head (Tholuck, Hitzig, and Riehm). 
 Billow follows billow as if called by one another (cf. Isa. vi. 3 
 concerning the continuous antiphon of the seraphim) at the 
 roar Q^p^ as in Hab. iii. 16) of the cataracts, which in their 
 terrible grandeur proclaim the Creator, God (LXX. tcov 
 KarappaKTwv aov) — all these breaking, sporting waves of God 
 pass over him, who finds himself thus surrounded by the 
 mighty works of nature, but taking no delight in them ; and 
 in them all he sees nothing but the mirrored image of the 
 many afflictions which threaten to involve him in utter destruc- 
 
60 PSALM XLII. 7-12. ' 
 
 tion (cf. the borrowed passage in that mosaic work taken from 
 the Psalms, Jon. ii. 4). 
 
 He, however, calls upon himself in ver. 9 to take coura2;e 
 in the hope that a morning will dawn after this night of afflic- 
 tion (xxx. 6), when Jahve, the God of redemption and of the 
 people of redemption, will command His loving-kindness (cf. 
 xliv. 5, Amos ix. 3 sq.) ; and when this by day has accom- 
 plished its work of deliverance, there follows upon the day of 
 deliverance a night of thanksgiving (Job xxxv. 10) : the joyous 
 excitement, the strong feeling of gratitude, will not suffer him 
 to sleep. The suffix of ^'^^^ is the suffix of the object : a hymn 
 in praise of Him, prayer (viz. praiseful prayer, Hab. iii. 1) to 
 the God of his life (cf. Sir. xxiii. 4), i.e. who is his life, and 
 will not suffer him to come under the dominion of death. 
 Therefore will he say (n"iaii<), in order to bring about by prayer 
 such a day of loving-kindness and such a night of thanksgiving 
 songs, to the God of his rock, i.e. who is his rock (gen. appos.) : 
 Why, etc. ? Concerning the different accentuation of no^ here 
 and in xliii. 2, vid. on xxxvii. 20 (cf. x. 1). In this instance, 
 where it is not followed by a guttural, it serves as a " varia- 
 tion" (Hitzig) ; but even the retreating of the tone when a 
 guttural follows is not consistently carried out, vid. xlix. 6, cf. 
 1 Sam. xxviii. 15 (Ew. § 243, b). The view of Vaihinger and 
 Hengstenberg is inadmissible, viz. that vers. 10 to 11 are the 
 " prayer," which the psalmist means in ver. i) ; it is the prayer- 
 ful sigh of the yearning for deliverance, which is intended to 
 form the burthen of that prayer. In some MSS. we find the 
 reading n\n3 instead of nV"J3 ; the 3 is here really synonymous 
 with the 3, it is the Beth essentice (vid. xxxv. 2) : after the 
 manner of a crushing (cf. Ezek. xxi. 27, and the verb in Ixii. 4 
 of overthrowing a wall) in my bones, i.e. causing me a crunch- 
 ing pain which seethes in my bones, mine opjjrossors reproach 
 me (n?n with the transfer of the primary meaning carpere^ as 
 is also customary in the Latin, to a plucking and stripping one 
 of his good name). The use of 2 here differs from its use 
 in ver. 106 ; for the reproaching is not added to the crushing 
 as a continuing state, but is itself thus crushing in its operation 
 (vid. ver. 4). Instead of ibxa we have here the easier form of 
 expression D^P^? ; and in the refrain '''p^). '^.s, which is also to 
 be restored in ver. 6. 
 
PSALM XLIII. 1-3. Gl 
 
 Ps. xllii. 1-3. The Elohimic Judica (the introit of the 
 so-called Cross or Passion Sunday which opens the celehritas 
 Passionis), with which the supplicatory and plaintive first 
 strophe of the Psalm begins, calls to mind the Jeliovic Judica 
 in vii. 9, xxvi. 1, xxxv. 1, 24: judge me, i.e. decide my cause 
 (LXX. Kplvov /Lte, Symmachus Kpivov fxot). nTt has the tone 
 upon the ultima before the ''3''"1 which begins with the half- 
 guttural 1, as is also the case in Ixxiv. 22, cxix. 154. The 
 second prayer runs: vindica me a gente impia; ip standing for 
 contra in consequence of a constr. p)Tcegnans. 'T'pn"N7 is here 
 equivalent to one practising no "ipn towards men, that is to 
 say, one totally wanting in that lon, by which God's lon is to 
 be imitated and repaid by man in his conduct towards his 
 fellow-men. There is some uncertainty whether by ^"^ one 
 chief enemy, the leader of all the rest, is intended to be men- 
 tioned side by side with the unloving nation, or whether the 
 special manner of his enemies is thus merely individualized. 
 n^iy means roguish, mischievous conduct, utterly devoid of all 
 sense of right. In ver. 2 the poet establishes his petition by a 
 twofold Why. He loves God and longs after Him, but in the 
 mirror of his present condition he seems to himself like one 
 cast off by Him. This contradiction between his own con- 
 sciousness and the inference which he is oblif^ed to draw from 
 his afflicted state cannot remain unsolved. "'•Tyo "''P?!^, God of 
 my fortress, is equivalent to who is my fortress. Instead of '^?.^4 
 we here have the form ^?']r'^j of the slow deliberate gait of one 
 who is lost in his own thoughts and feelings. The sting of his 
 pain is his distance from the sanctuary of his God. In con- 
 nection with ver. 3 one is reminded of Ivii. 4 and Ex. xv. 13, 
 quite as much as of xlii. 9. "Light and truth" is equivalent 
 to mercy and truth. What is intended is the light of mercy 
 or loving-kindness which is coupled with the truth of fidelity 
 to the promises; the light, in which the will or purpose of love, 
 which is God's most especial nature, becomes outwardly mani- 
 fest. The poet wishes to be guided by these two angels of 
 God; he desires that he may be brought (according to the 
 Chetluh oi the Babylonian text ''iixn*, "let come upon me;" 
 but the ^X which follows does not suit this form) to the place 
 where his God dwells and reveals Himself. " Tabernacles" 
 is, as in Ixxxiv. 2, xlvi. 5, an amplificative designation of the 
 
62 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 tent, magnificent in itself and raised to special honour by Him 
 wlio dwells therein 
 
 Vers. 4, 5. The poet, in anticipation, revels in the thought 
 of that which he has prayed for, and calls upon his timorous 
 soul to hope confidently for it. The cohortatives in ver. 4 are, 
 as in xxxix. 14 and frequently, an apodosis to the petition. 
 The poet knows no joy like that which proceeds from God, 
 and the joy which proceeds from Him he accounts as the very 
 highest ; hence he calls God v''a rinob' 7Xj and therefore he 
 knows no higher aim for his longing than again to be where 
 the fountainhead of this exultant joy is (Hos. ix. 5), and 
 where it flows forth in streams (xxxvi. 9). Removed back 
 thither, he will give thanks to Him with the cithern {^Beth 
 instriim.). He calls Him ''^^. ^''^^^.^ an expression which, in 
 the Elohim-Psalms, is equivalent to M^N miT' in the Jahve- 
 Psalms. The hope expressed in ver. 4 casts its rays into the 
 prayer in ver. 3. In ver. 5, the spirit having taken courage iu 
 God, holds this picture drawn by hope before the distressed soul, 
 that she may therewith comfort herself. Instead of ^onni, xlii. 
 6^ the expression here used, as in xlii. 12, is "'Dnri'n?^^. Varia- 
 tions like these are not opposed to a unity of authorship. 
 
 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 A LITANY OF ISRAEL, HARD PRESSED BY THE ENEMY, AND 
 YET FAITHFUL TO ITS GOD. 
 
 2 ELOHIM, with our own ears have we heard. 
 Our fathers have declared to us : 
 
 A work hast Thou wrought in their days, in the days of old. 
 
 3 Thou, — Thine own hand did drive out peoples and did 
 
 plant them, 
 Did destroy nations and did spread them out. 
 
 4 For not by their own sword did they acquire the land, 
 And their own arm did not obtain for them the victory ; 
 But Thy right hand, Tliine arm, the light of Thy counte- 
 nance, because Thou didst love them. 
 
 5 Thou, Thou art my King, Elohim : 
 Command the full salvation of Jacob ! 
 
PSALM XLIV. 63 
 
 6 By Thee do we push down our oppressors, 
 
 In Thy name do we tread down those who rise up against 
 us. 
 
 7 For not in mine own bow do I trust, 
 
 And my sword doth not obtain for me the victory. 
 
 8 No indeed, Thou givest us the victory over our oppressors, 
 And dost put to shame those who hate us. 
 
 9 In Elohim do we make our boast continually, 
 
 And to Thy name will we ever give thanks. (Sela.) 
 
 10 Nevertheless Thou hast cast off and put us to confusion, 
 And wentest not forth with our armies ; 
 
 11 Thou madest us to turn back before the oppressor, 
 And those who hate us spoiled just as they liked. 
 
 12 Thou gavest us up like sheep for consumption, 
 And among the heathen didst Thou scatter us, 
 
 13 Thou didst sell Thy people for a mere nothing. 
 And didst not set a high price upon them. 
 
 14 Thou didst make us a reproach to our neighbours, 
 
 A scorn and a derision to those who are round about us. 
 
 15 Thou didst make us a proverb among the heathen, 
 A shaking of the head among the peoples. 
 
 16 Continually is my confusion before me, 
 And the shame of my face covereth me ; 
 
 17 Because of the voice of him who reproacheth and blas- 
 
 phemeth, 
 Because of the sight of the enemy and the revengeful. 
 
 18 All this is come upon us and we have not forgotten 
 
 Thee, 
 And have not become faithless to Thy covenant. 
 
 19 Our heart has not turned back, 
 
 That our step should have declined from Thy path, 
 
 20 That Thou hast cruslied us in the place of jackals, 
 And didst cover us with the shadow of death. 
 
 21 If we had forgotten the name of our God, 
 And stretched out our hands to a strange god : 
 
 22 Would not Elohim have searciied it out? 
 
 For He knovveth the hidden thiiiiis of the heart. 
 
64 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 23 No indeed, for Thy sake are we slain continually, 
 We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. 
 
 24 Awake then, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? 
 Arouse Thyself, cast not off for ever ! 
 
 25 Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, 
 
 Why forgettest Thou our affliction and oppression ? 
 
 26 For our soul is bowed down to the dust, 
 Our body cleaveth to the earth. 
 
 27 Oh arise for our help, 
 
 And redeem us, for Thy loving-kindness' sake. 
 
 The Korahitic MasMl Ps. xlii., with its counterpart Ps. xliii., 
 is followed by a second, to which a place is here assigned by 
 manifold accords with Ps. xlii.-xliii., viz. with its complaints 
 (cf. xliv. 26 with the refrain of xliii., xlii. ; xliv. 10, 24 sq. with 
 xliii. 2, xlii. 10), and prayers (cf. xliv. 5 with xliii. 3, xlii. 9). 
 The counterpart to this Psalm is Ps. Ixxxv. Just as Ps. xlii.- 
 xliii. and Ixxxiv. form a pair, so do Ps. xliv. and Ixxxv. as 
 being Korahitic plaintive and supplicatory Psalms of a national 
 character. Moreover, Ps. Ix. by David, Ps. Ixxx. by Asaph, 
 and Ps. Ixxxix. by Ethan, are nearest akin to it. In all these 
 three there are similar lamentations over the present as con- 
 trasting with the former times and with the promise of God ; 
 but they do not contain any like expression of consciousness of 
 innocence, a feature in which Ps. xliv. has no equal. 
 
 In this respect the Psalm seems to be most satisfactorily 
 explained by the situation of the DT'On (saints), who under the 
 leadership of the Maccabees defended their nationality and their 
 religion against the Syrians and fell as martyrs by thousands. 
 The war of that period was, in its first beginnings at least, a 
 holy war of religion ; and the nation which then went forth on 
 the side of Jahve against Jupiter Olympius, was really, in dis- 
 tinction from the apostates, a people true to its faith and con- 
 fession, which had to lament over God's doom of wrath in 1 
 Mace. i. 64, just as in this Psalm. There is even a tradition 
 that it was a stated lamentation Psalm of the time of the 
 Maccabees. Tlie Levites daily ascended the pulpit (pH) and 
 raised the cry of prayer : Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord ? ! 
 These Levite criers praying for the interposition of God were 
 called Dn-iiyo (wakers). It is related in B. Sola 48a of 
 
rSALM XLIV. 65 
 
 Jochanan the high priest, i.e. John Hyrcanus (135-107 B.C.), 
 that he put an end to these D''"niyD, saying to them : " Doth the 
 Deity sleep ? Hath not the Scripture said : Behold the Keeper 
 of Israel slumbereth not and sleepeth not!? Only in a time 
 when Israel was in distress and the peoples of the world in rest 
 and prosperity, only in reference to such circumstances was it 
 said: Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?" 
 
 Nevertheless many considerations are opposed to the com- 
 position of the Psalm in the time of the Maccabees. We will 
 mention only a few. In the time of the Maccabees the nation 
 did not exactly suffer any overthrow of its " armies" (ver. 10) 
 after having gathered up its courage: the arms of Judah, of 
 Jonathan, and of Simon were victorious, and the one defeat 
 to which Hitzig refers the Psalm, viz. the defeat of Joseph and 
 Azaria against Gorgias in Jamnia (1 Mace. v. 55 sqq.), was a 
 punishment brought upon themselves by an indiscreet enter- 
 prise. The complaints in vers. 1 sq. are therefore only partially 
 explained by the events of that time ; and since a nation is a 
 unit and involved as a whole, it is also surprising that no 
 mention whatever is made of the apostates. But Ewald's 
 reference of the Psalm to the time of the post-exilic Jerusalem 
 is still more inadmissible; and when, in connection with this 
 view, the question is asked, What disaster of war is then in- 
 tended ? no answer can be given ; and the reference to the time 
 of Jehoiachin, which Tholuck in vain endeavours to set in a 
 more favourable light — a king who did evil in the eyes of 
 Jahve, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, with which the descriptions of 
 character drawn by Jeremiah, ch. xxii. 20-30, and by Ezekiel, 
 ch. xix., fully accord — is also inadmissible. On the other 
 hand, the position of the Psalm in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of Psalms belonging to the time of Jehoshaphat, and also 
 to a certain extent its contents, favours the early part of the 
 reign of king Joash, in which, as becomes evident from the 
 prophecy of Joel, there was no idolatry on the part of the 
 people to be punished, and yet there were severe afflictions of 
 the people to be bewailed. It was then not long since the 
 Philistines and Arabs from the neighbourhood of the Cushites 
 had broken in upon Judah, ransacked Jerusalem and sold 
 the captive people of Judah for a mere song to the Greeks 
 (2 Chron. xxi. 16 sq., Joel iv. 2-8). But this reference to. 
 VOL. II. « 
 
GG rSALM XLIV. 
 
 cotemporary history is also untenable. That unhappy event, 
 together with others, belongs to the category of well-merited 
 judgments, which came upon king and people in the reign of 
 Jehoram ; nor does the Psalm sound like a retrospective glance 
 at the time of Jehoram from the standpoint of the time of 
 Joash : the defeat of which it complains, is one that is uow 
 only just experienced. 
 
 Thus we seem consequently driven back to the time of 
 David ; and the question arises, whether the Psalm does not 
 admit, with Ps. Ix., with which it forms a twin couple, of being 
 understood as the offspring of a similar situation, viz. of the 
 events which resulted from the Syro-Ammonitish war. The 
 fact that a conflict with the foes of the kingdom in the south, 
 viz. with the Edomites, was also mixed up with the wars with 
 the Ammonites and their Syrian allies at that period, becomes 
 evident from Ix. 1 sq. when compared with 2 Sam. viii. 13, 
 where the words iiraTa^e rrjv ^IBovfxatav (LXX.) have fallen 
 out. Whilst David was contending with the Syrians, the 
 Edomites came down upon the country that was denuded of 
 troops. And from 1 Kings xi. 15 it is very evident that they 
 then caused great bloodshed ; for, according to that passage, 
 Joab buried the slain and took fearful revenge upon the 
 Edomites : he marched, after having slain them in the Valley 
 of Salt, into Iduma^a and there smote every male. Perhaps, 
 with Hengstenberg, Keil, and others, the Psalm is to be ex- 
 plained from the position of Israel before this overthrow of the 
 Edomites. The fact that in ver. 12 the nation complains of a 
 dispersion among the heathen may be understood by means of 
 a deduction from Amos i. G, according to which the Edomites 
 had carried on a traffic in cajjtive Israelites. And the lofty 
 self-consciousness, which finds expression in the Psalm, is after 
 all best explained by the times of David ; for these and the 
 early part of the times of Solomon are the only period in the 
 history of Israel when the nation as a whole could boast of 
 being free and pure of all foreign influence in its worship. In 
 the kindred Ps. Ix., Ixxx. (also Ixxxix.), it is true this self- 
 consciousness does not attain the same lofty expression ; in this 
 respect Ps. xl. stands perfectly alone : it is like the national 
 mirroring of the Book of Job, and by reason of this takes a 
 unique position in the range of Old Testament literature side 
 
PSALJI XLIV. 2-1. 67 
 
 by side with Lam. cli. iii. and the deutero-Isaiah. Israel's 
 affliction, which could not possibly be of a punitive character, 
 resembles the affliction of Job ; in this Psalm, Israel stands in 
 exactly the same relation to God as Job and the " Servant of 
 Jahve" in Isaiah, if we except all that was desponding in Job's 
 complaint and all that was expiatory in the affliction of the 
 Servant of Jahve. But this very self-consciousness does some- 
 what approximately find expression even in Ix. 6 [4]. In that 
 passage also no distinction is made between Israel and the God- 
 fearing ones in Israel ; but the psalmist calls Israel absolutely 
 the God-fearing ones, and the battle, in which Israel is defeated, 
 but not without hope of final victory, is a battle for the truth. 
 
 The charge has been brought against this Psalm, that it 
 manifests a very superficial apprehension of the nature of sin, 
 in consequence of which the writer has been betrayed into 
 accusing God of unfaithfulness, instead of seeking for guilt in 
 the congregation of Israel. This judgment is unjust. The 
 writer certainly cannot mean to disown the sins of individuals, 
 nor even this or that transgression of the whole people. But 
 any apostasy on the part of the nation from its God, such as 
 could account for its i-ejection, did not exist at that time. The 
 supremacy granted to the heathen over Israel is, therefore, an 
 abnormal state of things, and for this very reason the poet, on 
 the ground of Israel's fidelity and of God's loving-kindness, 
 prays for speedy deliverance. A Psalm born directly out of 
 the heart of the Nevv Testament church would certainly sound 
 very differently. For the New Testament church is not a 
 national community; and both as regards the relation between 
 the reality and idea of the church, and as regards the relation 
 between its afflictions and the motive and design of God, the 
 view of the New Testament church penetrates far deeper. It 
 knows that it is God's love that makes it conformable to the 
 passion of Christ, in order that, being crucified unto the world, 
 it may become through suffering partaker of the glory of its 
 Lord and Head. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The poet opens with a tradition coming down 
 from the time of Moses and of Joshua which they have heard 
 with their own ears, in order to demonstrate the vast distance 
 between the character of the former times and the present, just 
 
G8 PSALM XLIV. 5-9. 
 
 as Asapli, also, in Ixxviii. 3, appeals not to the written but to 
 the spoken word. That which has been heard follows in the 
 oratio directa. Ver. 3 explains what kind of "work" is in- 
 tended : it is the granting of victory over the peoples of 
 Canaan, the work of God for which Moses prays in xc. 16. 
 Concerning 1*1^, vid. on iii. 5, xvii. 14. The position of the 
 words here, as in Jxix. 11, Ixxxiii. 19, leads one to suppose that 
 1*]^ is treated as a permutative of nris, and consequently in the 
 same case with it. The figure of " planting" (after Ex. xv. 17) 
 is carried forward in ^^^'^). ; for this word means to send forth 
 far away, to make wide-branching, a figure which is wrought 
 up in Ps. Ixxx. It was not Israel's own work, but C"?, no in- 
 deed, for [Germ. «em, denn~\ = imo) God's work: "Thy right 
 hand and Tliine arm and the light of Thy countenance," they 
 it was which brought Israel salvation, i.e. victory. The com- 
 bination of synonyms "^vy^V^ ''IT'T. is just as in Ixxiv. 11, Sir. 
 xxxiii, 7, %et/c>a koX ^pa-^lova Be^iov, and is explained by both 
 the names of the members of the body as applied to God being 
 only figures : the right hand being a figure for energetic inter- 
 position, and the arm for an effectual power that carries through 
 the thing designed (cf. e.g. Ixxvli. 16, Isa. liii. 1), just as the 
 light of His countenance is a figure for His loving-kindness 
 which lights up all darkness. The final cause was His purpose 
 of love : for (inasmuch as) Thou wast favourable to them (pf] 
 as in Ixxxv. 2). The very same thought, viz. that Israel owes 
 the possession of Canaan to nothing but Jahve's free grace, 
 runs all through Deut. eh. ix. 
 
 Vers. 5-9. Out of the retrospective glance at the past, so 
 rich in mercy, springs up (ver. 5) the confident prayer con- 
 cerning the present, based upon the fact of the theocratic 
 relationship which began in the time of the deliverance wrought 
 under ^Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 5). In the substantival clause nriNI 
 ■•370 X^in^ Nin is neither logical copula nor predicate (as in cii. 
 28, Deut. xxxii. 39, there equivalent to "i^'n Xin nriN*, cf. 1 
 Chron. xxi. 17), but an expressive resumption of the subject, 
 as in Isa. xliii. 25, Jer. xlix. 12, Neh. ix. 6 sq., Ezra v. 11, and 
 in the frequently recurring expression D^^?X^ Xin nin^ ; it is 
 therefore to be rendered : Thou — He who (such an one) is my 
 King. May He therefore, by virtue of His duty as king 
 which He has voluntarily taken upon Hiniself, and of the 
 
PSALM XLIV. 10-13. C9 
 
 kingly authority and power indwelling in Ilim, command the 
 salvation of Jacob, full and entire (xviii. 51, liii. 7). n|i\* as in 
 xlii. 9. Jacob is used for Israel just as Elohhn is used instead 
 of Jahve. If Elohim, Jacob's King, now turns graciously to 
 Plis people, they will again be victorious and invincible, as ver. 
 6 affirms. n53 with reference to T}J>. as a figure and emblem of 
 strength, as in Ixxxix. 25 and frequently; ^^''Oi? equivalent to 
 ^rpy D''?pi5. But only in the strength of God (^3 as in xviii. 
 30) ; for not in my bow do I trust, etc., ver. 7. This teaching 
 Israel has gathered from the history of the former times ; there 
 is no bidding defiance with the bow and sword and all the 
 carnal weapons of attack, but Thou, etc., ver. 8. This "Thou" 
 in l^riy^'i'^ is the emphatic word ; the preterites describe facts 
 of experience belonging to history. It is not Israel's own 
 might that gives them the supremacy, but God's gracious 
 might in Israel's weakness. Elohim is, therefore, Israel's 
 glory or pride: "In Elohim do we praise," i.e. we glory or 
 make our boast in Him ; cf. ^V ?pn, x. 3. The music here 
 joins in after the manner of a hymn. The Psalm here soars 
 aloft to the more joyous height of praise, from which it now 
 falls abruptly into bitter complaint. 
 
 Vers. 10-13. Just as ^5< signifies imo vero (Iviii. 3) when 
 it comes after an antecedent clause that is expressly or virtu- 
 ally a negative, it may mean " nevertheless, o/aco?," when it 
 opposes a contrastive to an affirmative assertion, as is very 
 frequently the case with D3 or Q^l. True, it does not mean this 
 in itself, but in virtue of its logical relation : we praise Thee, we 
 celebrate Tliy name unceasingly — also (= nevertheless) Thou 
 hast cast off. From this point the Psalm comes into closest 
 connection with Ps. Ixxxix. 39, on a still more extended scale, 
 however, with Ps. Ix., which dates from the time of the Syro- 
 Ammonitish war, in which Psalm ver. 10 recurs almost word 
 for word. The nisay are not exactly standing armies (an ob- 
 jection which has been raised against the Maccabean explana- 
 tion), they are the hosts of the people that are drafted into 
 battle, as in Ex. xii. 41, the hosts that went forth out of Egypt. 
 Instead of leading these to victory as their victorious Gaptaiu- 
 (2 Sam. V. 24), God leaves them to themselves and allows 
 them to be smitten by the enemy. The enemy spoil i'^p, i.e. 
 just as they like, without meeting with any resistance, to their 
 
70 rSALM XLIV. 14-22. 
 
 hearts' content. And whilst He gives over (iJ^iJ as in Mic. v. 2, 
 and tlie first t^^ in Isa. xli. 2) one portion of the people as 
 "sheep appointed for food," another becomes a diaspora or 
 dispersion among the heathen, viz. by being sold to them as 
 slaves, and that pn"N73, " for not-riches," i.e. for a very low 
 price, a mere nothing. We see from Joel iv. [iii.] 3 in what way 
 this is intended. The form of the litotes is continued in ver. 
 136 : Thou didst not go higli in the matter of their purchase- 
 money ; the rendering of Maurer is correct : in statuendis 
 pretiis eorum. The 3 is in this instance not the Beth of the 
 price as in ver. 13o, but, as in the phrase 3 y}_i}f the Beth of 
 the sphere and thereby indirectly of the object, nan in the 
 sense of the Aramaic ''3"i (cf. Prov. xxii. 16, and the deriva- 
 tives n"'3"iri, JT'a'iD), to make a profit, to practise usury (Hup- 
 feld), produces a thought that is unworthy of God ; vid. on the 
 other hand, Isa. Iii. 3. At the head of the strophe stands (ver. 
 10a) a perfect with an aorist following ; i<5fri iib) is consequently 
 a negative ^<>*^5. And ver. 18, which sums up the whole, shows 
 that all the rest is also intended to be retrospective. 
 
 Vers. 14-17. To this defeat is now also added the shame 
 that springs out of it. A distinction is made between the 
 neighbouring nations, or those countries lying immediately 
 round about Israel (ni3''3Dj as in the exactly similar passage 
 Ixxix. 4, cf. Ixxx. 7, which closely resembles it), and the nations 
 of the earth that dwell farther away from Israel. -'K'O is here 
 a jesting, taunting provei-b, and one that holds Israel up as an 
 example of a nation undergoing chastisement (vid. Hab. ii. 6). 
 The shaking of the head is, as in xxii. 8, a gesture of malicious 
 astonishment. In "''''pjn ^"^^3 (as in xxxviii. 18) we have both 
 the permanent aspect or look and the perpetual consciousness. 
 Instead of " shame covers my face," the expression is " the 
 shame of my face covers me," i.e. it has overwhelmed my 
 entire inward and outward being (cf. concerning the radical 
 notions of t'ia, vi. 11, and isn^ xxxiv. 6). The juxtaposition of 
 " enemy and revengeful man" has its origin in viii. 3. In ver. 
 17 ?ipp and ''3S'? alternate ; the former is used of the impression 
 made by the jeering voice, the other of the impression pro- 
 duced by the enraged mien. 
 
 Vers. 18-22. If Israel compares its conduct towards God 
 with this its lot, it cannot possibly regard it as a punishment 
 
PSALM XLIV. 23-27. 71 
 
 that it has justly incurred. Construed with tlie accusative, 
 Ni3 signifies, as in xxxv. 8, xxxvi. 12, to come upon one, and 
 more especially of an evil lot and of powers that are hostile. 
 i|?.K', to lie or deceive, with 3 of the object on whom the decep- 
 tion or treachery is practised, as in Ixxxix. 34. In ver. 1% 
 IVJ'K is construed as fein., exactly as in Job xxxi. 7 ; the fut. 
 consec. is also intended as such (as e.g. in Job iii. 10, Num. 
 xvi. 14) : that our step should have declined from, etc. ; inward 
 apostasy is followed by outward wandering and downfall. This 
 is therefore not one of the many instances in which the ii^ of 
 one clause also has influence over the clause that follows (Ges. 
 § 152, 3). ■'3, ver. 20, has the sense of qnocl: we have not 
 revolted against Thee, that Thou shouldest on that account 
 have done to us the thing which is now befallen us. Con- 
 cerning D''])ri fid. Isa. xiii. 22. A "place of jackals" is, like 
 a habitation of dragons (Jer. x. 22), the most lonesome and 
 terrible wilderness ; the place chosen was, according to this, an 
 inhospitable "i310, far removed from the dwellings of men. HDS 
 is construed with ?V of the person covered, and with 3 of that with 
 which (1 Sam. xix. 13) he is covered: Thou coveredst us over 
 with deepest darkness (vicL xxiii. 4). 2X, ver. 21, is not that 
 of asseveration (verily we have not forgotten), but, as the 
 interrogatory apodosis ver. 22a shows, conditional : if we have 
 (= should have) forgotten. This would not remain hidden 
 from Him who knoweth the heart, for the secrets of men's 
 hearts are known to Him. Both the form and matter here 
 again strongly remind one of Job ch. xxxi., more especially 
 ver. 4; cf. also on niDPyrij Job xi. 6, xxviii. 11. 
 
 Vers. 23-27. The church is not conscious of any apostasy, 
 for on the contrary it is suffering for the sake of its fidelity. 
 Such is the meaning intended by ''3, ver. 23 (cf. xxxvii. 20). 
 The emphasis lies on ^ vy, which is used exactly as in Ixix. 8. 
 Paul, in Rom. viii. 36, transfers this utterance to the sufferings 
 of the New Testament church borne in witnessing for the truth, 
 or I should rather say he considers it as a divine utterance 
 corresponding as it were prophetically to the sufferings of the 
 New Testament church, and by anticipation, coined concerning 
 it and for its use, inasmuch as he cites it with the words «a^a><? 
 'yeypaiTTai. The suppliant cries nniy and nv^^n are Davidic, 
 and found in his earlier Psalms, vii. 7, xxxv. 23, lix. 5 sq., cf. 
 
Si 
 
 72 PSALM XLV. 
 
 Ixxviii. 05. God is said to sleep when lie does not interpose in 
 whatever is taking pUice in the outward world here below ; for 
 the very nature of sleep is a turning in into one's own self from 
 all relationship to the outer world, and a resting of the powers 
 which act outwardly. The writer of our Psalm is fond of 
 couplets of synonyms like ^^^n^\ ^'!^y in ver. 25 ; of. ver. 4, 
 ^yi-in ^:^o% Ps. cxix. 25 is an echo of ver. 26. The sui)pliant 
 cry no^p (in this instance in connection with the nmry which 
 follows, it is to be accented on the ultima) is Davidic, iii. 8, 
 vii. 7 ; but originally it is Mosaic. Concerning the ah of '"'^^'^Ty, 
 here as also in Ixiii. 8 of like meaning with ''^"Jt^r', xxii. 20, and 
 frequently, vid. 'on iii. 3. 
 
 ^'^^ PSALM XLV.</- ^L 
 
 U MARRIAGE SONG IN HONOUR OF THE PEERLESS KING. [ 
 
 \ 
 
 7- 
 
 2 MY heart overflows with goodly speech, 
 
 I say to myself : " My production is concerning a king," 
 
 My tongue is the pen of a quick writer. 
 t3 With beauty art thou arrayed beyond the children of 
 men, 
 
 Gracefulness is shed upon thy lips; 
 
 Therefore hath Elohim blessed thee for ever. 
 
 4j Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, 
 I Thy brightness and thy majesty. 
 
 5 And in thy majesty press through, ride on, 
 
 For the sake of truth and of the suffering of innocence. 
 And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible deeds. 
 
 6 Thine arrows are sharp, — peoples shall fall under thee, — 
 In the heart of the king's enemies ! 
 
 7 Thy throne, Elohim, endureth for ever and ever, 
 An upright sceptre is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 
 
 8 Loving righteousness, thou hatest wickedness ; 
 Therefore hath Elohint thy God anointed thee 
 With the oil of joy above thy fellows. 
 
PSALM XLV. 73 
 
 9 Myrrh and aloes, cassia are all tliy garments ; 
 
 Out of ivory palaces doth the music of stringed instruments 
 make thee glad. 
 
 10 Kings' daughters are among thy beloved ones, 
 The queen hath set herself at thy right hand 
 In ornaments of gold of Ophir. 
 
 11 Hearken, O daughter, and see and incline thine ear, 
 And forget thine own people and thy father's house ; 
 
 12 And if the king desireth thy beauty, — 
 For he is tliy Lord, — then do thou do homage to him. 
 
 13 And the daughter of Tyre, with gifts shall they conciliate 
 
 thy face, ^^^^ 
 
 The richest among the peoples. 
 
 14 All glory is the king's daughter in the inner chamber, 
 Of gold-woven textures is her clothing. 
 
 15 In variegated embroidered garments is she escorted to the 
 
 king ; 
 Virgins after her, her companions. 
 Are brought unto thee — 
 
 16 They are escorted with joy and exultation, 
 They enter into the king's palace. — 
 
 17 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons, 
 Thou shalt set them as princes in all lands. 
 
 18 Thy name will I remember in every generation, 
 Therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever. 
 
 To a Korahitic Mashil is appended a song of the same 
 
 name, and likewise bearing a royal impress after the style of 
 
 the Korahitic productions. But whilst in xliv. 5 the words 
 
 " Thou, Thou art my King^ Elohim," are addressed in prayer 
 
 to the God of Israel, in this Psalm the person of the king who 
 
 \ is celebrated is a matter of doubt and controversy. Xhe Epistle 
 
 H to the Hebrews (ch. i, 8) proceeds on the assumption that it is Mf^ 
 
 vjUhe future Christ, the Son of God. It is supported in this 
 
 "^Wiewby a tradition of the ancient synagogue, in accordance 
 
 with which the Targumist renders ver. 3, " 7'Aj/ beaiUi/, King 
 
 Messiah^ is greater than that of the children of men.^' This 
 
74 PSALM XLV. 
 
 Messianic interpretation must be very ancient. Just as Ezek. 
 
 xxi. 32 refers back to n!?'':;', Gen. xlix. 10, ii23 7« among the 
 
 names of the Messiah in Isa. ix. 5 (cf. Zech. xii. 8) refers back 
 
 in a similar manner to Ph. xlv. And whilst the reception of 
 
 the Song of Songs into the canon admits of being understood 
 
 even without the assumption of any prophetically allegorical 
 
 meaning in it, the reception of this Psalm without any such 
 
 assumption is unintelligible. But this prophetically Messianic 
 
 Isense is therefore not the original meaning of the Psalm. 
 
 "The Psalm is a poem composed for some special occasion the 
 
 motive of which is some cotemporary event. The king whom 
 
 it celebrates was a cotemporary of the poet. If, however, it 
 
 was a king belonging to David's family, then he was a possessor 
 
 of a kingship to which were attached, according to 2 Sam. ch. 
 
 vii., great promises extending into the unlimited future, and 
 
 on which, consequently, hung all the prospects of the future 
 
 prosperity and glory of Israel ; and the poet is therefore fully 
 
 \ warranted in regarding him in the light of the Messianic idea, 
 
 land the church is also fully warranted in referring the song, 
 
 |l which took its rise in some passing occasion, as a song for all 
 
 ages, to the great King of the future, the goal of its hope. 
 
 I Moreover, we find only such poems of an occasional and indi- 
 
 I vidual character received into the Psalter, as were adapted to 
 
 J remain in constant use by the church as prayers and spiritual 
 
 songs. 
 
 With respect to the historical occasion of the song, we 
 adhere to the conjecture advanced in our commentary on 
 Canticles and on the Epistle to the Hebrews, viz. that it wasj 
 I (composed in connection with the marriage of Jorani of Judahj 
 jwith Athaliah. The reference to the marriage of Ahab of 
 Israel with Jezebel of Tyre, set forth by Hitzig, is at once set 
 aside by the fact that the poet idealizes the person celebrated, 
 as foreshadowing the Messiah, in a way that can only be justi- 
 fied in connection with a Dav'uHc king. It could more readily 
 /l be Solom on the king of Israel, whose appearance was fair as 
 ' til at of a woman, but majestic as that of a hero.* Even to the 
 present day several interpretersf explain the Psalm of Solo- 
 
 * So Disraeli in his romance of Ahoy (1845). 
 
 t So even Kurtz iu the Dorpater Zeitschri/l for 1865, S. 1-24. 
 
J- 
 
 PSALM XLV. 75 
 
 mon's marriage with the daughter of Pharaoh; but the entire Jt 
 
 ['alSsence of any mention of Egypt js decisive against this view. ^ 
 
 Hence Hupfeld imagines a daughter of Hiram to be the bride, 
 
 by reference to the Zidonian Ashtoreth which is mentioned 
 
 among Solomon's strange gods (1 Kings xi. 5, 33). But the 
 
 fact that the king here celebrated is called upon to go forth to 
 
 battle, is also strange, whilst the glory of Solomon consists in 
 
 1 his being, in accordance with his name, the Prince of Peace, 
 
 1 or nm3?p C'"'Nj 1 Chron. xxii. 9. Further, the wish is expressed 
 
 for him that he may have children who shall take the place of i 
 , his ancestors: Solomon, however, had,^ royal father,_but not 
 I royal fathers ; and there is the less ground for any retrospective 
 feTerence to the princes of Judah as Solomon's ancestors 
 (which Kurtz inclines to), since of these only one, viz. Nah- 
 shon, occurs among the ancestry of David. 
 
 All this speaks against Solomon, but just with equal force/ 1 
 
 iin favour of Joram, as being the king celebrated. Tliis Joram i, 
 lis the son of Jehoshaphat, the second Solomon of the Israelitish )\-|- ^ 
 'history. He became king even during the lifetime of his pious 
 father, under whom the Salomonic prosperity of Israel was 
 revived (cf. 2 Chron. xviii. 1 with xxi. 3, 2 Kings viii. 16, and I ^ 
 Winer's Realioorterhuch under Jehoraiii) ; he was also married 
 to Athaliah during his father's lifetime ; and it is natural, that 
 just at that time, when Judah had again attained to the height 
 of the glory of tiie days of Solomon, the highest hopes should 
 be gathered around these nuptials. This explains the name( 
 '^J5J' which the queen bears, — a name that is elsewhere Glial- ^ 
 "diean (Dan. v. 2 sq.) and Persian (Neh. ii. 6), and is more 
 North-Palestinian * than Jewish ; for Athaliah sprang from 
 the royal family of Tyre, and was married by Joram out of \ ^ 
 the royal family of Israel. If she is the queen, then the ex- I 
 hortation to forget her people and her father's house has all j 
 Ithe greater force. And it becomes intelligible why the homage 
 I of Tyre in particular, and only of Tyre, is mentioned. Tiie 
 Salomonic splendour of Asiatic perfumes and costly things is 
 thus quite as easily explained as by referring the Psalm to 
 Solomon. For even Jehoshaphat had turned his attention to 
 
 1 * In Deborah's song (Judg. v. 30) probably hl^ is to be read instead 
 
 of ^h^ nsiv^. 
 
76 PSALM XLV. 
 
 foreifrn wares, more especially Indian gold ; he even prepared 
 a fleet for the purpose of going to Ophir, but, ere it started, 
 it was wrecked in the harbour of Ezion-geber (1 Kings xxii. 
 48-50, 2 Chron. xx. 35 sqq.). And Solomon, it is true, had a 
 tliwne of ivory (1 Kings x. 18), and the Salomonic Song of 
 
 il Songs (vii. 5) makes mention of a tower of ivory ; but he had 
 ino ivory palace; whereas the mention of lti'"'b3''ri in our Psalml 
 Tliarmonizes surprisingly with the fact that Ahab, the father! 
 of Athaliah, built a palace of ivory (]^~T\''2J^ which the Book 
 -L of Kings, referring to the annals, announces as something! 
 (especially worthy of note, 1 Kings xxii. 39 (of. Amos iii. 15, I 
 
 But why should not even Joram, at a crisis of his life so 
 ' rich in hope, have been a type of the Messiah ? His name is 
 found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Matt. i. 8. Joram 
 and Athaliah are among the ancestors of our Lord. This 
 significance in relation to the history of redemption is still left 
 them, although they have not realized the good wishes expressed 
 by the poet at the time of their marriage, just as in fact Solo- 
 mon also began in the spirit and ended in the flesh. Joram 
 hand Athaliah have themselves cut away all reference of the 
 ! llPsalm to them by their own godlessness. It is with this Psalm 
 ^ ' just as it is with the twelve thrones upon which, according to 
 the promise, Matt. xix. 28, the twelve apostles shall sit and 
 ! judge the twelve tribes of Israel. This pi'omise was uttered 
 ' even in reference to Judas Iscariot. One of the twelve seats 
 belonged to him, but he has fallen away from it. Matthias 
 became heir to the throne of Judas Iscariot, and who has 
 become the heir to the promises in this Psalm ? All the glorious 
 [/ things declared in the Psalm depend upon this as the primary 
 \ y assumption, as essential to their being a blessing and being 
 realized, viz. that the king whom it celebrates should carry out 
 the idea of the theocratic kingship. To the Old Testament 
 prophecy and hope, more especially since the days of Isaiah, 
 the Messiah, and to the New Testament conception of the ful- 
 filment of prophecy Jesus Christ, is the perfected realization 
 of this idea. 
 
 The inscription runs : To the Precentor, upon Lilies, hv the 
 Bene-Korah, a meditation, a,^&ong of [that ichich is lovely. 'Con- 
 cerning Maskil, vid. on xxxii. 1. ]^"i^ is the name for the (six- 
 
 6 V -C«r\7-i- 
 
I 
 
 PSALM XLV. 77 
 
 leafed) Illy,* that is wide-spread in its use in the East ; it is 
 "not tlie (five-leafed) rose, which was not transplanted into 
 Palestine until a much later period. In D"'3K'b'"7y Hengstenberg 
 sees a symbolical reference to the "lovely brides" mentioned 
 in the Psalm. Luther, who renders it "concerning the roses," 
 understands it to mean the ros(B futurce of the united church 
 of the future. We would rather say, with Bugenhagen, Joh. 
 » Gerhard, and other old expositors, "The heavenly Bridegrooml 
 and the spiritual bride, they are the two roses or lilies that are \ -^ 
 discoursed of in this Psalm." But the meaning 'of Q'^j^iy'b]} 
 must be such as will admit of the inscribed r\TlV l^^'bv, Ix. 1, 
 and nny D''3y'ti'"bN (which is probably all one expression not- 
 withstanding the Athnach), Ixxx. 1, being understood after the 
 analogy of it. The preposition pV (?i<) forbids our thinking of 
 a musical instrument, perhaps lily-shaped bells.f There must 
 therefore have been some well-known popular song, which 
 began with the words " A lily i s the testimony . . ." or "Lilies ' ' *' 
 are the testimonies (nnv) . . . ;" and the Psalm is composed '^' 
 and intended to be sung after the melody of this song in praise 
 of the Tora.J It is questionable whether n"l^T. (Origen iSiScod, 
 Jerome ididotli) in the last designation of the Psalm is to be 
 taken as a collateral form of ri"i''T (love, and metonymically an 
 bbject of love, Jer. xii. 7), or whether we are to explain it 
 
 after the analogy of nin^, Isa. xxxii. 4, and riinb3, Isa. xxvi. 10 : ■ 
 
 it is just on this neuter use of the pZ«?'. fern, that the inter- A ^ 
 change which sometimes occurs of oili with uth in an abstract 
 signification (Ew. § 165, c) is based. In the former case it [ I » 
 ought to be rendered a song_of Jove (Aquila aafxa 7rpoa(f)i,-\ ^ 
 Xi'a?) ; in the latter, a song of that which is beloved, i.e. lovely, p 
 or lovable, and this is the more natural rendering. The ad- ' 
 jective T'lJ signified beloved, or even (Ixxxiv. 2) lovable. It is 
 things that are love^because exciting love, therefore lovely, 
 
 * This name is also ancient Egyptian, vid. the Book of the Dead, 
 Ixxxi. 2 : nut seshni pir am t.ah-en-Phra, i.e. I am a lily, sprung from 
 the fields of the sun -god. 
 
 t Vide C. Jessen, On the lily of the Bible, in Hugo von Mohl's 
 Botanische Zeitung, 1861, No. 12. Thrupp in his Introduction (18C0) also 
 imderstands D^JK^ii' to mean cymbals in the form of a lily. 
 
 X The point of comparison, then, to adopt the language of Gregory of 
 Nyssa, is to 'hu.y.i: fi,v TS K«i ^lovcJOe; iTco; of the lily. 
 
78 PSALM XLV. 2, 3. 
 
 most pleasing tliin£i;s, wliicli, as m^T* vt^ says, form the contents 
 of the song. nTT "1"'^' does not signify a marriage-song ; this 
 would be called nann T'B' (cf , xxx. 1 ). Nor does it signify a 
 secular erotic song, instead of which the expression Q"'?Jy '^''p, 
 Ezek. xxxiii. 32, or even (after Ezek. xvi. 8 and other passages) 
 D>"in i^B^^ would have been used. TT is a noble word, and used 
 of holy love. 
 
 \: 
 
 Vers, 2, 3. The verb E^nn, as n^"niD shows, signifies origi- 
 nally to bubble up, boil, and is used in the dialects generally 
 
 lof excited motion and lively excitement ; it is construed with 
 the accusative after the manner of verbs denoting fulness, like 1 
 the synonymous J?33, cxix. 171 (cf. Talmudic ni::i t^'^^-ln H^IB'!?, 
 let thy tongue overflow with songs of praise). Whatever the | 
 heart is full of, with that the mouth overflows ; the heart of 
 the poet gushes over with a "good word." I2"n is a matter 
 that finds utterance and is put into the form of words; and 
 y\D describes it as good M'ith the collateral idea of that which is 
 cheerful, pleasing, and rich in promise (Isa. lii. 7, Zech. i. 13). 
 The fact that out of the fulness and oppression of his heart so 
 good a word sj)rings forth, arises from the subject in which 
 now his whole powers of mind are absorbed : I^ am saying or 
 thinking C^i^ pausal form by DecM, in order that the intro- 
 ductory formula may not be mistaken), i.e. my purpose is: i 
 T]7pp "'b*J?0, my works or creations (not smg.^ but pliir., just as 
 also ''Jipo in Ex. xvii. 3, Num. xx. 19, where the connection 
 leads one to expect the plural) shall be dedicated to the king ; 
 or even : the thought completely fills me, quite carries me 
 l\ away, that they concern or have reference to the king. In I "* 
 
 1 the former case "n^jy? dispenses with the article because it is 
 used after the manner of a proper name (as in xxi. 2, Ixxii. 1); 
 in the latter, because the person retires before the office or 
 dignity belonging to it: and this we, in common with Hitzig, 
 ])refer on account of the self-conscious and reflecting 'JN "IDN 
 by which it is introduced. He says to himself that it is a king] 
 
 A to whom his song refers ; and this lofty theme makes his tongue 1 
 
 so eloquent and fluent that it is like the style of a Tpa/x/iareu? 1 
 
 6^vypa(f)0';. Thus it is correctly rendered by the'XiXX. :)' 
 
 wiiereas "i^no "IDID as an epithet applied to Ezra (ch. vii. 6)' 
 
 does not denote a rapid writer, but a learned or skilled scribe. 
 
PSALM XLV. 2, 3. 79 
 
 ^ Rapidly, like the style of an agile writer, does the tongue of 
 
 pthe poet move ; and it is obliged to move thus rapidly because 
 of the thoughts and words that flow forth to it out of his heart. 
 The chief thing that inspires him is the^eauty of the kino-. 
 The form ^""P^^l, which certainly ought to have a passive sense 
 (Xquila KoXXei iKaWicodi]^), cannot be explained as formed by 
 reduplication of the first two radicals of the verb na^ (^^Q^) ; for 
 there are no examples to be found in support of quinqueliterals 
 thus derived. What seems to favour this derivation is this, 
 that the legitimately formed Pealal '"!p''3'' (cL the adjective 
 ''?'^?''. = ''r'''r'^ Jer. xlvi. 20) is made passive by a change of 
 vowels in a manner that is altogether peculiar, but still expli- 
 cable in connection with this verb, which is a twofold weak 
 verb. The meaning is : Thou art beyond compare beautifully 
 
 I fashioned, or endowed with beauty beyond the children of men. 
 
 I The HjDS are specially singled out from, among all the features 
 of beauty in him. Over his lips is poured forth, viz. from 
 above, in (gracefulness or benevolence), inasmuch as, even with- 
 out his speaking, the form of his lips and each of their move- 
 ments awakens love and trust; it is evident, however, that 
 from such lips, full of %a/3t9, there must proceed also \6<yoL t^? 
 ')(api,To<i (Luke iv. 22, Eccles. x. 12). In this beauty of the 
 
 ^king and this charm of his lips the psalmist sees a manifesta- 
 tion of the everlasting blessing of God, that is perceptible to 
 the senses. It is not to be rendered : because Elohim hath 
 blessed thee for ever. The assertion that 13"?^ is used in some 
 passages for "IK^V^ I3"?y cannot be proved {yid. on xlii. 7). But 
 the meaning of the psalmist is, moreover, not that the king, 
 because he is so fair and has such gracious lips, is blessed of 
 God. If this were the idea, then the noble moral qualities of 
 which the beauty of this king is the transparent form, ought 
 to be more definitely expressed. Thus personally conceived, 
 as it is here, beauty itself is a blessing, not a ground for 
 blessing. The fact of the matter is this, beauty is denoted 
 by p~by as a reason for the blessing being known or recognised, 
 not as a reason why the king should be blessed. From his 
 outward appearance it is at once manifest that tiie king is one 
 who is blessed by God, and that blessed for ever. The psalmist 
 could not but know that "grace is deceitful and beauty vain" 
 (Prov. xxxi. 30), therefore the beauty of this king was in his 
 
 Y-'. 
 
 L 
 
80 rSALM XLV. 4-6. 
 
 eyes more than mere earthly beauty; it appears to him in 
 ,the li<zht of a celestial transfiijuration, and for this very reason 
 I as an imperishable gift, in which there becomes manifest an 
 unlimited endless blessinrr. 
 
 Vers. 4-6. In the ever blessed one the greatest strength 
 Wnd vigour are combined with the highest beauty. He is a 
 J^ jlhero. The praise of his heroic strength takes the form of a 
 ' summons to exert it and aid the good in obtaining the victory 
 over evil. Brightness and majesty, as the objects to li^n, 
 alternating with the sword, are not in apposition to this which 
 is their instrument and symbol (Hengstenberg), but permuta- 
 tives, inasmuch as "lijn is zeugmatically referable to both objects : 
 the king is (1) to gird himself with his sword, and (2) to sur- 
 round himself with his kingly, God-like doxa. I'ln") lin is the 
 brilliancy of the divine glory (xcvi. 6), of which the glory of 
 the Davidic kingship is a reflection (xxi. 6) ; mentioned side 
 by side with the sword, it is, as it were, the panoply that sur- 
 rounds the king as bright armour. In ver. 5 1"nni, written 
 accidentally a second time, is probably to be struck out, as 
 Olshausen and Hupfeld are of opinion. Hitzig points it ^lini, 
 "and step forth;" but this is not Hebrew. As the text runs, 
 wa-haddrclia (with Legarme preceded by Illitj, vid. Accentsystem 
 xiii. § 8c, 9) looks as though it were repeated out of ver. 4 in 
 the echo-like and interlinked style that we frequently find in 
 the songs of degrees, e.g. cxxi. 1,2; and in fact repeated as 
 an accusative of more exact definition (in the same bold manner 
 as in xvii. 13, 14) to npv, which, like ^\^, starting from the 
 
 primary notion of cleaving, breaking through, pressing forward, 
 
 A comes to have the notion of carrying anything through pros- 
 
 • / perously, of being successful, pervadere et bene procedere (cf. 
 
 the corresponding development of signification in ,^\j, ^\j\)f 
 
 and, according to Ges. § 142, rem. 1, gives to 3D"i the adverbial 
 
 notion of that which is effectual (victorious) or effective and 
 
 successful. We cannot determine whether l?"!. is here intended 
 
 >\/ io say vein ciivru or veld eqno ; but certaiiTly not upon a mule 
 
 ^or an ass (1 Kings i. 44, Zecli. ix. 9), which are the beasts 
 
 U ridden in a time of peace. The king going forth to battle 
 
 either rides in a war-chariot (like Ahab and Jehoshaphat, 
 
 1 Kings ch. xxii.), or upon a war-horse, as in Apoc. xix. 11 
 
 > J 
 
PSALM XLV. 4-6. 81 
 
 the Logos of God is borne upon a white horse. That which 
 he is to accomphsh as he rides forth in majesty is introduced 
 by "I3'^""'y (for the sake of, on account of), which is used just 
 as in Ixxix. 9, 2 Sam. xviii. 5. The combination Pl^!"'"i]^y is very 
 similar to D^aTiny, Mic. i. 11 (nakedness-ignominy = ignomi- 
 nious nakedness), if nijy = nViV, is to be taken as the name of a 
 virtue. The two words are then the names of virtues, hke 
 ri»S (truth = veracity, which loves and practises that which is 
 true and which is hostile to lying, falseness, and dissimulation) ; 
 and whereas ni^y p-t^ would signify meek righteousness, and 
 P'l^* nyy, righteous meekness, this conjunction standing in the 
 middle between an addition and an asyndeton denotes meekness 
 and righteousness as twin-sisters and reciprocally pervasive. 
 The virtues named, however, stand for those who exemplify 
 them and who are in need of help, on whose behalf the king is 
 called upon to enter the strife : the righteous, if they are at 
 the same time ^'''ijy (Q'".jy), are doubly worthy and in need of 
 his help. Nevertheless another explanation of ni^y presents 
 itself, and one that is all the more probable as occurring just 
 in this Psalm which has such a North-Palestinian colourinij. 
 The observation, that North-Palestinian writers do not always 
 point the construct state with^ ath, in favour of which Hitzig, 
 on Ixviii. 29, wrongly appeals to Hos. x. 6, Job xxxix. 13, but 
 rightly to Judg. vii. 8, viii. 32 (cf. Deut. xxxiii. 4, 27), is per- 
 fectly correct. Accordingly ni3y may possibly be equivalent to 
 npy, but not in the signification business, affair = IHJy, parallel 
 with "1?"^, but in the signification afflictio (after the form '^]^'}., 
 Ezek. xxviii. 17) ; so that it may be rendered: in order to put 
 a stop to the oppression of righteousness or the suffering of 
 inpocence. The jussive Tlini, like iNnM in ver. 12, begins the 
 apodosis of a hypothetical protasis that is virtually there (Ew. 
 § 347, b) : so shall thy right hand teach thee, i.e. lead thee forth 1 
 and cause thee to see terrible things, i.e. awe-inspiring deeds, l-f- 
 But in ver. 6 both summons and desire pass over into the 
 expression of a sure and hopeful prospect and a vision, in 
 which that which is to be is present to the mind : thine arrows 
 are sharpened, and therefore deadly to those whom they hit; 
 peoples shall fall (^-'3';)* under thee, i.e. so that thou passest 
 
 /, 
 
 * It is not ii^s"' ; for tlie pause falls upon Q'^mii}, and the Atlmacli of 
 VOL. IL 6 
 
82 PSALM XLV. 7, 8. 
 
 1 over them as tlicy He upon the ground ; in the heart of the 
 enemies of the king, viz. they {i.e. the arrows) will stick. The 
 I harsh ellipse is explained by the fact of the poet having the 
 scene of battle before his mind as though he were an eye- 
 witness of it. The words "in the heart of the king's enemies" 
 are an exclamation accompanied by a pointing with the finger. 
 Thither, he means to say, those sharp arrows fly and smite. 
 Crusius' explanation is similar, but it goes further than is 
 required : apostrophe per prosopopceiam directa ad sagittas quasi 
 juhenSf quo tendere debeant. We are here reminded of ex. 2, 
 where a similar ^'npa occurs in a prophetico-messianic connec- 
 tion. Moreover, even according to its reference to cotemporary 
 liistory the whole of this strophe sounds Messianic. The poet 
 desires that the king whom he celebrates may rule and triumph 
 after the manner of the Messiah ; that he may succour truth 
 and that which is truly good, and overcome the enmity of the 
 world, or, as Ps. ii. expresses it, that the God-anointed King of 
 Zion may shatter everything that rises up in opposition with 
 an iron sceptre. This anointed One, however, is not only the 
 Son of David, but also of God. He is called absolutely "i?, 
 o vm. Isaiah calls Him, even in the cradle, "lisa 7X, ch. ix. 5, 
 cf. X. 21. We shall not, therefore, find it to be altogether 
 intolerable, if the poet now addresses him as C\npx, although 
 the picture thus far sketched is thoroughly human in all its 
 ideality. 
 
 Vers. 7, 8. In order to avoid the addressino; of the kinfr 
 . with the word Elohim, ver. Qa has been interpreted, (1) " Thy 
 / throne of God is for ever and ever," — a rendering which is 
 grammatically possible, and, if it were intended to be expressed, 
 must have been expressed thus (Nagelsbach, § G4, ^) ; (2) "Thy 
 throne is God (= divine) for ever and ever ;" but it cannot 
 possibly be so expressed after the analogy of " the altar of wood 
 = wooden" (cf. ver. 9), or "the time is showers of rain = 
 rainy" (Ezra x. 13), since God is neither the substance of 
 the throne, nor can the throne itself be regarded as a repre- 
 sentation or figure of God : in this case the predicative Elohhn 
 
 1^3'< stands merely in the place of Zakeph (Xuni. vi. 12). The Athnach 
 after Olewejored does not produce any pausal effect ; vid. 1. 23, Ixviii. 9, 1-i, 
 Ixix. 4, cxxix. 1, and cf. supra, vol. i. p. 95, note 2. 
 
-4 
 
 PSALM XLV. 7, 8. 83 
 
 would require to be taken as a genitive for DVIPX NB3j which, 
 however, cannot possibly be supported in Hebrew by any 
 syntax, not even by 2 Kings xxiii. 17, cf. Ges. § 110, 2, b. 
 Accordingly one might adopt the first mode of interpretation, 
 which is also commended by the fact that the earthly throne 
 of the theocratic king is actually called nin' SD3 in 1 Chron. 
 xxix. 23. But the sentence " thy throne of God is an ever- 
 lasting one " sounds tautological, inasmuch as that which the 
 predicate asserts is already implied in the subject ; and we have 
 still first of all to try whether DTIPK cannot, with the LXX. 
 Bpovo'i aov, 6 0609, et9 alcova at(Jovo<;, be taken as a vocative. 
 Now, since before everything else God's throne is eternal 
 (x. 16, Lam. v. 19), and a love of righteousness and a hatred 
 of evil is also found elsewhere as a description of divine holiness 
 (v. 5, Isa. Ixi. 8), D\"i!5N would be obliged to be regarded as 
 addressed to God, if language addressed to the king did not 
 follow with |3"^y. But might D\"i^S by any possibility be even 
 addressed to the king who is here celebrated? It is certainly 
 true that the custom with the Elohim-Psalms of using Eloldui 
 as of equal dignity with Jalive is not favourable to this sup- 
 ])Osition ; but the following surpassing of the DTIPX by D^'^7X 
 y^h^ renders it possible. And since elsewhere earthly autho- 
 rities are also called D\"i7S, Ex. xxi. 6, xxii. 7 sq., Ps. Ixxxii., 
 cf. cxxxviii. 1, because they are God's representatives and the 
 bearers of His image upon earth, so the king who is celebrated 
 in this Psalm may be all the more readily styled EloJihn, when 
 in his heavenly beauty, his irresistible doxa or glory, and his 
 divine holiness, he seems to the psalmist to be the perfected 
 realization of the close relationship in which God has set David 
 and his seed to Himself. He calls him Q'*'? ''?:!, just as Isaiah 
 \calls the exalted royal child whom he exultingly salutes in 
 eh. ix. 1-6, liarpx. He gives him this name, because in 
 the transparent exterior of his fair humanity he sees the 
 glory and holiness of God as having attained a salutary or 
 merciful conspicuousness among men. At the same time, 
 however, he guards this calling of the king by the name Elohim 
 against being misapprehended by immediately distinguishing 
 the God, who stands above him, from the divine king by the 
 words "Elohim, thy God," which, in the Korahitic Psalms, 
 and in the Elohiraic Psalms in general, is equivalent to " Jahve, 
 
84 PSALM XLV. 9, 10. 
 
 thy God" (xllli. 4, xlviii. 15, 1. 7); and the two words are 
 accordingly united by Munach* Because the king's sceptre 
 is a "sceptre of uprightness" (cf. Isa. xi. 4), because he loves 
 righteousness and consequently {fut. consec.) hates iniquity, 
 therefore God, his God, has anointed him with the oil of joy 
 (Isa. Ixi. 3 ; cf. on the construction Amos vi. 6) above his 
 fellows. What is intended is not the anointing to his office 
 (cf. Ixxxix. 21 with Acts x. 38) asli dedication to a happy and 
 prosperous reign, but that God lias poured forth upon him, 
 more especially on this his nuptial day, a superabundant joy, 
 both outwardly and in his spirit, such as He has bestowed upon 
 no other king upon the face of the earth. That he rises high 
 above all those round about him is self-evident ; but even 
 among his fellows of royal station, kings like "himself, he has 
 no equal. It is a matter of question whether the writer of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. i. 8) has taken the first o 0eo9 of 
 the expression o ©eo? 6 ©eo? crov as a vocative. ApoUinaris 
 does not seem so to have understood him; for he renders it 
 TovveKcjL aoi &eo<; avTo<i ei]v irepi'^evev aXoi(^i]v '^picra<i rep- 
 '7ra)\i]<; fieTO'^^^oi,^ Trapd •jrdvja'i ekaiw, and the Greek expositors 
 also take 6 0eo9 here as a nominative. 
 
 Vers. 9, 10. The song of that which is lovely here reaches 
 the height towards which it aspires from the beginning. It 
 has portrayed the lovelj king as a man, as a hero, and as a 
 divine ruler ; now it describes him as a bridegroom on the day 
 of his nuptials. The sequence of the thoughts and of the 
 Ifigures corresponds to the history of the future. When 
 fBabylon is fallen, and the hero riding upon a white horse, 
 I upon whom is inscribed the name " King of kings and Lord 
 I of lords," shall have smitten the hostile nations with the sword 
 *that goeth out of His mouth, there then follows the marriage 
 of the Lamb, for which the way has been prepared by these 
 avenging victories (Apoc. xix. 7 sq.). It is this final 7a/i09 
 
 * The vie-w that the Munach is here vicariits TipTiclix anterloris (Dach- 
 sclt in his Bihlia Acccntuata) is erroneous, vid. Acccntuationssystem, xviii. 
 § 4. It is the conjunctive to '?Im5x, which, in Heidenheini and Baer, on 
 the authority of tlie Codices, has Tiplicha anterior, not Afhnach as in the 
 editions heretofore published. The pro^Dcr place for the Atlmacli would at 
 first be by ji^'b' ; but according to Acccntuationssystem^ xix. § 6, it cannot 
 stand there. 
 
PSALM XLV. 9, 10. 85 
 
 which the Psalm, as a song of the congi-egation, when the light 
 Avas dawning upon the Old Testament church, sees by antici- 
 pation, and as it were goes forth to meet it, rejoicing to behold " 
 it afar off. The king's garments are so thoroughly scented 
 with costly spices that they seem to be altogether woven out 
 of them. And ""^Q out of the ivory palaces enchant him. This 
 "•^O has been taken mostly, according to Isa. lix. 18 (cf. also 
 Isa. lii. 6), as a repetition of the |0 : '' out of ivory palaces, ^ 
 whence they enchant thee." But this repetition serves no 
 special purpose. Although the apocopated plural in z, instead 
 of im, is controvertible in Biblical Hebrew {vid. on xxii. 17, 
 2 Sam. xxii. 44), still there is the venture that in this instance 
 ■•^9 is equivalent to Q''^o, the music of stringed instruments j 
 (cl. 4) ; and if in connection with any Psalm at all, surely'we ^ 
 may venture in connection with this Psalm, which in other re- 
 spects has such an Aramaic or North-Palestinian colouring, to 
 acknowledge this apocope, here perhaps chosen on account of 
 the rhythm. In accordance with our historical rendering of the 
 Psalm, by the ivory palaces are meant the magnificent resi- 
 dences of the king, who is the father of the bride. Out of the 
 inner recesses of these halls, inlaid within with ivory and 
 consequently resplendent with the most dazzling whiteness, the / 
 bridegroom going to fetch his bride, as he approaches and / ^ 
 enters them, is met by the sounds of festive music: viewed in - 
 the lio;ht of the New Testament, it is that music of citherns or 
 ' harps which the seer (Apoc. xiv. 2) heard like the voice of 
 many waters and of mighty thunder resounding from heaven. 
 The Old Testament poet imagines to himself a royal citadel 
 that in its earthly splendour far surpasses that of David and 
 of Solomon. Thence issues forth the sound of festive music 
 zealous, as it were, to bid its welcome to the exalted king. 
 
 Even the daughters of kings are among his precious ones, i . 
 "li^^ is the name for that which is costly, and is highly prized I 
 and loved for its costliness (Prov. vi. 20). The form ^^nnip'3 
 resembles the form nnip^, Prov. xxx. 17, in the appearance of 
 the i and supplanting the Sheba mobile, and also in the Dag. 
 dirimens in the p (cf. ^^ipy, Gen. xlix. 17; K'nipo, Ex. xv. 17).* 
 
 * It is the reading of Ben-Naphtali that has here, as an exception, 
 become the receptus ; whereas Ben-Asher reads ^jWlp^S- Saadia, liashi, 
 
86 PSALM XLV. 11-13. 
 
 > Now, however, he has chosen for himself his_qwn_groper_wife, 
 ^ 1 who is here called by a name commonly used of Chaklaean and 
 I Persian queens, and, as it seems (cf. on Judg. v. 30), a North- 
 Palestinian name, ^^^!* instead of '^^^'i- From the fact that, 
 glittering with gold of Ophir, she has taken the place of honour 
 at the right hand of the king {'^i^^., dd prcet., uot jyarL), it is 
 evklent that her relationship to the king is at this time just in 
 the act of being completed. Who are those daughters of kings 
 / and who is this queen standing in closest relationship to the 
 y ' I king? The former are the heathen nations converted to Christ, 
 and tlie latter is the Israel which is remarried to God in Christ, 
 after the fulness of the heathen is come in. It is only when 
 Israel is won to Him, after the fulness of the heathen is come 
 in (Rom. xi. 25), that the morning of the great day will dawn, 
 which this Psalm as a song of the church celebrates, riijn 
 D"'37p cannot certainly, like "''if"n3j be a personificative designa- 
 tion of heathen kingdoms, although ?i^ is the believing Israel 
 conceived of as one person. Itjs actually kings' daughters as 
 ' ]the representatives of their nations that are intended ; and the 
 relation of things is just the same here as in Isa. xlix. 23, where, 
 of the Israelitish church of the future, it is predicted that kings 
 shall be its foster-fathers and their princesses its nursing- 
 mothers. 
 
 Vers. 11-13. The poet next turns to address the one 
 
 J bi'ide of the king, who is now honoured far above the kings' 
 
 daughters. With ^V^C' he implores for himself a hearing ; by 
 
 "•N"! he directs her eye towards the new relationship into which 
 
 Simsou ha-Nalcdan and others, who derive the word from "ipn (to visit, 
 wait on), follow the receptus, comparing nD''ti'a, Isa. xlii. 2i, in support of 
 the form of writing. Also in nnp"'^, Prov. xxx. 17 ; rh^''\, Jer. xxv. 36 ; 
 jilfT'S, Ecclcs. ii. 13, the otherwise rejected orthography of Ben-Naphtali 
 (who pointed ^^rT'l, Job xxix. 21, bx"ib'''i', iri''1, and the like) is retained, 
 as quite an exception, in the textus receptus. Vide S. D. Luzzatto, Prole- 
 gomeni, § cxcix., and Grammatica della Liiujua Ebraica, § 193. 
 
 * Bar- Ali says that in Babylonia Venus is called DS^ll hiC rid. Lagarde, 
 Gesammelle Ahhandl. S. 17. Windischmauu {Zoroastrische Studien, S. 161) 
 erroneously compares cagar (pronounced tshagar) as a name of one of the 
 two wives of Zarathustra ; but it happens that this is not the name of the 
 wife who holds the first rank (Noo-Persic padishuh-zen), but of the second 
 (cakir-zen, bond-woman). 
 
 V 
 
PSALM XLV. 11-13. 87 
 
 she is just entering ; by ^3?>5 ^tpn he bespeaks lier attention to the 
 exhortation that follows ; by r\2 he puts himself in a position 
 in relation to her similar to that which the teacher and preacher 
 occupies who addresses the bridal pair at the altar. She is to 
 forget her people and her father's house, to sever her natural, 
 inherited, and customary relationships of life, both as regards 
 outward form and inward affections ; and should the king 
 desire her beauty, to which he has a right, — for he, as being 
 her husband (1 Pet. iii. 6), and more especially as being king, 
 is her lord, — she is to show towards him her profoundest, 
 reverent devotion. INnil is a hypothetical protasis according to 
 Ges. § 128, 2, c. The reward of this willing submission is the 
 universal homage of the nations. It cannot be denied on the 
 ground of syntax that "iliTini admits of being rendered " and 
 O daughter of Tyre" (Hitzig), — a rendering which would also 
 give additional support to our historical interpretation of the 
 Psalm, — although, apart from the one insecure passage, Jer. 
 XX. 12 (Ew. § 340, c), there is no instance to be found in which 
 a vocative with 1 occurs (Prov. viii. 5, Joel ii. 23, Isa. xliv. 21), 
 when another vocative has not already preceded it. But to 
 what purpose would be, in this particular instance, this apo- 
 strophe with the words "TifTl?, from which it looks as though 
 she were indebted to her ancestral house, and not to the king 
 whose own she is become, for the acts of homage which are 
 prospectively set before her ? Such, however, is not the case ; 
 " daughter of Tyre" is a subject-notion, which can all the more 
 readily be followed by the predicate in the plural, since it stands 
 first almost like a nomin. absol. The daughter, i.e. the popu- 
 lation of Tyre — approaching with presents shall they court (lit. 
 stroke) thy face, i.e. meeting thee bringing love, they shall seek 
 to propitiate thy love towards themselves. CP.Si) n^n corresponds 
 
 to the Latin _22iii^^''6 in the sense of delenire; for n^n, \s^ (root 
 ^n, whence ^^n, Jo-, solvit^ laxavif), means properly to be soft 
 and tender, of taste to be sweet (in another direction : to be 
 Tax, weak, sick) ; the Plel consequently means to soften, con- 
 ciliate, to make gentle that which is austere. Tyre, however, 
 is named only by way of example ; DV 'T''^'J{ is not an apposi- 
 tion, but a continuation of the subject : not only Tyre, but in 
 general those who are the richest among each separate people or 
 
83 PSALM XLV. 14-16. 
 
 nation. Just as D^X VTr"^ (Isa. xxix. 19) are the poorest of man- 
 kind, so Dy n"'t^•J; are the richest among the peoples of the earth. 
 
 As regards the meaning which the congregation or church 
 has to assign to the whole passage, the correct paraphrase of 
 the words "and forget thy people" is to be found even in the 
 Targum : " Forget the evil deeds of the ungodly among thy 
 people, and the house of the idols which thou hast served in 
 the house of thy father." It is not indeed the hardened mass 
 of Israel which enters into such a loving relationship to God 
 and to His Christ, but, as prophecy from Deut. ch. xxxii. 
 onward declares, a remnant thoroughly purged by desolating 
 and sifting judgments and rescued, which, in order to belong 
 wholly to Christ, and to become the holy seed of a better 
 future (Isa. vi. 13), must cut asunder all bonds of connection 
 with the stiff-neckedly unbelieving people and paternal house, 
 and in like manner to Abram secede from them. This church 
 of the future is fair ; for she is expiated (Deut. xxxii. 43), 
 washed (Isa. iv. 4), and adorned (Isa. Ixi. 3) by her God. 
 And if she does homage to Him, without looking back, He 
 not only remains her own, but in Him everything that is glori- 
 ous belonging to the world also becomes her own. Highly 
 honoured by the King of kings, she is the queen among the 
 daughters of kings, to whom Tyre and the richest among 
 peoples of every order are zealous to express their loving and 
 joyful recognition. Very similar language to that used here 
 of the favoured church of the Messiah is used in Ixxii. 10 sq. 
 of the Messiah Himself. 
 
 Vers. 14-1 G. Now follows the description of the manner 
 in which she absolutely leaves her father's house, and richly 
 adorned and with a numerous train is led to the king and makes 
 her entry into his palace; and in connection therewith wei 
 must bear in mind that the poet combines on the canvas of one/ 
 picture (so to speak) things that lie wide apart both as to time 
 and place. He sees her first of all in her own chamber (nccjsi^i 
 prop, towards the inside, then also in the inside, Ges. § 90, 2, Z*), 
 and how there* she is nothing but splendour (iTni33"^3j prop. 
 
 * In Babylonia these words, according to B. Jelamoth 77a, are cited 
 in favour of domesticity as a female virtue ; in Palestine (N3"iy02) more 
 appropriately, Gen. xviii. 9. The LXX. Codd. Vat. et Sinait. has 'Ea£/3w» 
 
PSALM XLV. 17, 18. 89 
 
 mere splendour, fern, of 1133 as in Ezek. xxili. 41 ; cf. ^3D'^3, 
 xxxix. 6, mere nothingness), her clothing is gold-interwoven 
 textures {i.e. such as are interwoven with threads of gold, or 
 woven in squares or diamond patterns and adorned with gold 
 in addition). She, just like Esther (Esth. ii. 12), is being led 
 to the king, her husband, and this takes place fiioij"!?, in varie- 
 gated, embroidered garments (? used just as adverlDially as in 
 2 Chron. xx. 21, niin?), with a retinue of virgins, her com- 
 panions, who at the same time with herself become the property 
 of her spouse. According to the accents it is to be rendered : 
 virgines post earUy socice ejus, adducuntur tihi, so that •^'''QiJ^I is 
 an apposition. This is also in harmony with the allegorical 
 interpretation of the Psalm as a song of the church. The 
 bride of the Lamb, whom the writer of the Apocalypse beheld, 
 arrayed in shining white linen (hyssus\ which denotes her 
 righteousness, just as here the variegated, golden garments 
 denote her glory, is not just one person nor even one church, 
 but the church of Israel together with the churches of the 
 Gentiles united by one common faith, which have taken a 
 hearty and active part in the restoration of the daughter of 
 Zion. The procession moves on with joy and rejoicing ; it is 
 the march of honour of the one chosen one and of the many 
 chosen together with her, of her friends or companions ; and 
 to what purpose, is shown by the hopes which to the mind of 
 the poet spinng up out of the contemplation of this scene. 
 
 Vers. 17, 18. All this has its first and most natural meaning 
 in relation to cotemporary history, but without being at vari- 
 ance with the reference of the Psalm to the King ^lessiah, as 
 used by the church. Just as the kings of Judah and of Israel 
 allowed their sons to share in their dominion (2 Sam. viii. 18, 
 1 Kings iv. 7, cf. 2 Chron. xi. 23; 1 Kings xx. 15), so out of 
 the loving relationship of the daughter of Zion and of the 
 virgins of her train to the King Messiah there spring up 
 children, to whom the regal glory of the house of David 
 which culminates in Him is transferred, — a royal race among 
 which He divides the dominion of the earth (yid. Ps. cxlix.) ; 
 for He makes His own people " kings and priests, and they 
 
 -f 
 
 (Eusebius), which is meaningless; Cod. Alex, correctly, huSiv (Italic, Jerome, 
 Syriac, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Apollinaris). 
 
90 PSALM XLVI. 
 
 shall reign on the earth" (Apoc. v. 10). Those children are 
 to be understood here which, according to Ps. ex., are born to 
 Him as the dew out of the womb of the morning's dawn — the 
 ever-youthful nation, by which He conquers and rules the 
 world. Wiien, therefore, the poet says that he will remember 
 the name of the king throughout all generations, this is based 
 upon the twofold assumption, that he regards himself as a 
 member of an imperishable church (Sir. xxxvii. 25), and that 
 he regards the king as a person worthy to be praised by the 
 church of every age. Elsewhere Jahve's praise is called a 
 praise that lives through all generations (cii. 13, cxxxv. 13) ; 
 here the king is the object of the everlasting praise of the 
 church, and, beginning with the church, of the nations also. 
 On ^^nini (as in the name '1"iin^) cf. the forms in cxvi. 6, Ixxxi, 
 6. First of all Israel, whom the psalmist represents, is called 
 upon to declare with praise the name of the Messiah from 
 generation to generation. But it does not rest with Israel 
 alone. The nations are thereby roused up to do the same 
 thing. The end of the covenant history is that Israel and the 
 nations together praise this love-worthy, heroic, and divine 
 King : " His name shall endure for ever ; as long as the sun 
 shall His name bud, and all nations shall be blessed in Him 
 (and) shall praise Him" (Ixxii. 17). 
 
 ^ - a'^tl.) PSALM XLVI. 
 
 A SURE STRONGHOLD IS OUR GOD. 
 
 2 ELOHIM is unto us a refuge and safe retreat, 
 >^ \ As a help in distresses He is thoroughly proved. 
 
 3 Therefore do we not fear when the earth changeth. 
 And the mountains fall into the heart of the ocean ; 
 
 4 Let the waters thereof roar, let them foam, 
 
 Let mountains shake at the swelling thereof. (^Sela.) 
 
 5 There is a ri^^er — the streams whereof make glad the city 
 
 of Elohim, 
 ^ The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 
 
 " Einfeste Burg iat unser Gotiy 
 
PSALM XLVI. 91 
 
 G Elohim is in the midst of lier, she tottereth not, 
 Elohim helpeth her, when the morning dawneth. 
 
 7 The peoples rage, the kingdoms totter — 
 He raiseth His voice, and the earth melteth. 
 
 8 Jahve of Hosts is with us^ 
 A stronghold unto us is the God of Jacob. (^Sela.) 
 
 9 Go, behold the deeds of Jahve, 
 Who maketh desolations upon the earth, 
 
 10 Who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth, 
 Who breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder, 
 Who destroyeth the chariots by fire. 
 
 11 " Cease ye, and know that I am Elohim ! 
 I will be exalted among the peoples, I will be exalted upon 
 
 the earth." 
 
 12 Jahve of Hosts is with us, 
 A stronghold unto us is the God of Jacob. (Sela.) 
 
 When, during the reign of Jelioshaphat, the Moabites, 
 Ammonites, and Edomites (more particularly the Maonites, 
 for in 2 Chron. xx.l it is to be read D'^Jiy^sno) carried war into 
 the kingdom of David and threatened Jerusalem, the Spirit of 
 the Lord came upon yahaziel the Asaphite in the temple con- 
 gregation which the king had called together, and he prophesied 
 a miraculous deliverance on the morrow. Then the Levite 
 singers praised the God of Israel with jubilant voice, viz. 
 singers of the race of Kohath, and in fact out of the family of 
 Korah. On the following day Levite singers in holy attire [ 
 and w^ith song went forth before the army of Jehoshaphat. 
 The enemy, surprised by the attack of another plundering} 
 band of the sons of the desert, had turned their weapons 
 against one another, being disbanded in the confusion of flight, 
 and the army of Jehoshaiihat found the enemy's camp turned \ 
 into a field of corpses. In the feast of thanksgiving for victory , - 
 which followed in Emek ha-Beracha the Levite singers again 
 also took an active part, for the spoil-laden army marched , ^ 
 i thence in procession to Jerusalem and to the temple of Jahve, 
 \ accompanied by the music of the nablas, citherns, and trumpets. 
 Thus in the narrative in 2 Chrou. xxii. does the chronicler give 
 us the key to the Asaphic Psalm Ixxxiii. (Ixxvi. ?) and to the 
 
92 
 
 PSALM XLVI. 
 
 A 
 
 y 
 
 \ 
 
 ICorahitic Psalms xlvi., xlvii., xlviii. It is indeed equally 
 admissible to refer these three Korahitic Psalms to the defeat 
 I of Sennacherib's army under Ilezekiah, but this view has not 
 the same liistorical consistency. After the fourteenth year 
 of Hezckiah's reign the congregation could certainly not help 
 connecting the thought of the Assyrian catastrophe so recently 
 experienced with this Psalm ; and more especially since Isaiah 
 had predicted this event, following the language of this Psalm 
 very closely. For Isaiah and this Psalm are remarkably linked 
 together. 
 
 Just as Ps. ii. is, as it were, the quintessence of the book 
 of Immanuel, Isa. ch. vii.-xii., so is Ps. xlvi. of Isa. ch. 
 xxxiii., that concluding discourse to Isa. ch. xxviii.-xxxii., 
 which is moulded in a lyric form, and was uttered before the 
 deliverance of Jerusalem at a time of the direst distress. The 
 fundamental thought of the Psalm is expressed there in ver. 2 in 
 the form of a petition ; and by a comparison with Isa. xxv. 4 sq. 
 we may see what a similarity there is between the language of the 
 psalmist and of the prophet. Isa. xxxiii. 13 closely resembles 
 the concluding admonition ; and the image of the stream in 
 the Psalm has suggested the grandly bold figure of the prophet 
 in ver. 21, which is there more elaborately wrought up: "A^o 
 indeedj tJiere dwells for tis a glorious One, Jahve — a place of 
 streams, of canals of wide extent, into which no fleet of rowing 
 vessels shall venture, and which no mighty man-of-war shall 
 cross." The divine determination expressed in Q^iNt we also 
 hear in Isa. xxxiii. 10. And the prospect of the end of war 
 reminds us of the familiar prediction of Isaiah (ch. ii.), closely 
 resembling Micah's in its language, of eternal peace ; just as 
 vers. 8, 12 remind us of the watch-word ^H IJDV in Isa. vii.-xii. 
 The mind of Isaiah and that of Jeremiah have, each in its own 
 peculiar way, taken germs of thought [lit. become impregnated) 
 from this Psalm. 
 
 We have already incidentally referred to the inscribed 
 words r\)Dbv'?V, on vi. 1. Bottcher renders them ad voces 
 puberes, "for tenor voices," a rendering which certainly accords 
 with the fact that, according to 1 Chron. xv. 20, they were 
 accustomed to sing Jy\u?])-bv D'^^J^j and the Oriental sounds, 
 according to Villoteau (Description de VEgypte), correspond 
 avuc six sons vers taigu de Voctave du medium de la voix de 
 
PSALM XLVI. 2-4. 93 
 
 tenor. But niP^y does not signify voces puheres, but piiellce 
 
 puberes (from nb]}, J-c, cogn. chn, As^, to have attained to 
 
 puberty) ; and although certainly no eunuchs sang in the 
 temple, yet there is direct testimony that Levite youths were 
 among the singers in the second temple;* and Ps. Ixviii. 
 mentions the mo^y who struck the timbrels at a temple festi- 
 val. Moreover, we must take into consideration the facts that 
 the compass of the tenor extends even into the soprano, that 
 the singers were of different ages down to twenty years of age, 
 and that Oriental, and more particularly even Jewish, song 
 is fond of falsetto singing. We therefore adopt Perret-Gentil's 
 rendering, chant avec voix de femmes^ and still more readily ' j. 1^ 
 Armand de Mestral's, en soprano ; whereas Melissus' rendering, 
 "upon musical instruments called Alamoth (the Germans 
 would say, upon the virginal)," has nothing to commend it. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The congregation begins with a general declara- i 
 tion of that which God is to them. This declaration is the t 
 result of their experience. Luther, after the LXX. and Vulg., 
 renders it, " in the great distresses which have come upon us." 
 As thoucjh NVOJ could stand for nisvonn and that this afiain 
 could mean anything else but "at present existing," to which 
 ^^<p is not at all appropriate. God Himself is called 1X0 XV»3 p|^ 
 as being one who allows Himself to be found in times of dis- 
 tress (2 Chron. xv. 4, and frequently) exceedingly ; i.e. to those 
 who then seek Him He reveals Himself and verifies His word f -f 
 beyond all measure. Because God is such a God to them, 
 the congregation or church does not fear though a still greater \ 
 distress than that which they have just withstood, should break 
 in upon them : if the earth should change, i.e. effect, enter 
 upon, undergo or suffer a change (an inwardly transitive 
 Tliphil, Ges. § 53, 2) ; and if the mountains should sink down 
 
 * The Mishna, EracMn 13Z*, expressly informs us, that whilst the 
 Levitea sang to the accompanying play of the nablas and citherns, their 
 youths, standing at their feet below the pulpit, sang with them in order to 
 give to the singing the harmony of high and deep voices (b^n, condimen- 
 tum). These Levite youths are called '>-|y^; or a'^^l^sn ''lyiD, parvuli (although 
 the Geniara explains it otherwise) or adjulores Levitarum. 
 
94 PSALM XLVI. 5-8. 
 
 into the heart (3?3 exactly as in Ezek. xxvii. 27, Jon. ii. 4) 
 of the sea (ocean), i.e. even if these should sink back again into 
 
 [ the waters out of which they appeared on the third day of the 
 creation, so that consequently the old chaos should return. 
 • I The church supposes the most extreme case, viz. the falling 
 -/ I in of the universe which has been creatively set in order. 
 "VVe are no more to regard the language as being allegorical 
 here (as Hengstenberg interprets it, the mountains being = 
 the kingdoms of the world), than we would the language of 
 Horace: sifractus illahatur orhis (^Carm. iii. 3, 7). Since Q''J3^_ 
 is not a numerical but amplificative plural, the singular suffixes 
 
 I in ver. 4 may the more readily refer back to it. nixa, pride, 
 self-exaltation, used of the sea as in Ixxxix. 10 ri^^^a, and in 
 Job xxxviii. 11 p5<3 are used. The futuresin ver. 4 do not 
 continue the infinitive construction : if the waters thereof roar, 
 foam, etc. ; but they are, as their position and repetition indi- 
 cate, intended to have a concessive sense. And this favours 
 the supposition of Hupfeld and Ewald that the refrain, vers. 
 
 8, 12, which ought to form the apodosis of this concessive 
 clause (cf. cxxxix. 8-10, Job xx. 24, Isa. xl. 30 sq.) has acci- 
 dentally fallen out here. In the text as it lies before us ver. 4 
 attaches itself to XTJ"Np : (we do not fear), let its waters {i.e. the 
 waters of the ocean) rage and foam continually ; and, inasmuch 
 as the sea rises high, towering beyond its shores, let the moun- 
 tains threaten to topple in. The music, Avhich here becomes 
 
 1 forte, strengtiiens the believing confidence of the congregation, 
 -- \ despite this wild excitement of the elements. 
 
 Vers. 5-8. Just as, according to Gen. ii. 10, a stream 
 
 issued from Eden, to water the whole garden, so a stream 
 
 _^ I makes Jerusalem as it were into another paradise: a river — 
 
 whose streams make glad the city of Elohim (Ixxxvii. 3, xlviii. 
 
 9, cf. ci. 8) ; VJ7S (used of the windings and branches of the 
 main-stream) is a second permutative subject (xliv. 3). What 
 
 I is intended is the_ river of grace, which is also likened to a river 
 I of paradise in xxxvi. 9. When the city of God is threatened 
 and encompassed by foes, still she shall not hunger and thirst, 
 nor fear and despair ; for the river of grace and of her ordi- 
 ^ nances and promises flows with its rippling waves through the 
 holy place, where the dwelling-place or tabernacle of the Most 
 High is pitched. K'Ti?, Sauctum (cf. El-Kuds as a name of 
 
PSALM XLVI. 9-12. 95 
 
 Jerusalem), as in Ixv. 5, Isa. Ivii. 15; Via, Ex. xv. 16. "'p.3!i'0, 
 dwellings, like DiJS^'o, xliii. 3, Ixxxiv. 2, cxxxii. 5, 7, equivalent 
 to " a glorious dwelling." In ver. 6 in the place of the river /j 
 we find Him from whom the river issues forth. Elohim helps 
 her "ip3 riiJDp — there is only a night of trouble, the return of 
 the morning is also the sunrise of speedy help. The preterites 
 in ver. 7 are hypothetical : if peoples and kingdoms become 
 enraged with enmity and totter, so that the church is in danger 
 of being involved in this overthrow — all that God need do 
 is to make a rumbling with His almighty voice of thunder 
 (i^ip2 \n:, as in Ixviii. 34, Jer. xii. 8, cf. nt3S3 Dnn, to make a 
 lifting with the rod, Ex. vii. 20), and forthwith the earth melts 
 (i^D, as in Amos ix. 5, Niph. Isa. xiv. 31, and frequently), i.e. 
 their titanic defiance becomes cowardice, the bonds of their 
 confederation slacken, and the strength they have put forth is 
 destroyed — it is manifest that Jahve Tsehaoth is with His people. 
 This name of God is, so to speak, indigenous to tiie Korahitic I 
 Psalms, for it is the proper name of God belonging to the time | 
 of the kings (yid. on xxiv. 10, lix. 6), on the very verge of 
 which it occurs first of all in the mouth of Hannah (1 Sam. i. 
 11), and the Korahitic Psalms have a royal impress upon them. -f- 
 In the God, at whose summons all created powers are obliged 
 to marshal themselves like the hosts of war, Israel has a steep 
 stronghold, 33b^P, which cannot be scaled by any foe — the army \ 
 I of the confederate peoples and kingdoms, ere it has reached 
 I Jerusalem, is become a field of the dead. 
 
 Vers. 9-12. The mighty deeds of Jahve still lie visibly, 
 before them in their results, and those who are without thai 
 pale of the church are to see for themselves and be convinced. 
 In a passage founded upon this, Ixvi. 5, stands Wrh^f. m^J?D» ; 
 here, according to Targum and Masora {yid. Psalter, ii. 472), 
 mn"' nipysD.* Even an Elohimic Psalm gives to the God of 
 Israel in opposition to all the world no other name than rTin\ 
 nirSi;' does not here signify stujpenda (Jer. viii. 21), but in 
 
 * Nevertheless U^ri^H ni^^DD is also found here as a various reading 
 that goes back to the time of the Talmud. The oldest Hebrew Psalter of 
 1477 reads thus, vide Rcpertorium fiir Bibl. unci Moryenliind. Liter, v. 
 (1779), 148. Norzi decides in favour of it, and Biesenthal has also adopted 
 it in his edition of the Psalter (1837), which in other respects is a repro- 
 duction of Heideuheim's text. 
 
96 PSALM XLVII. 
 
 accordance with tlie phrase ^^r? ^^^, Isa. xiii. 9, and frequently: 
 devastatipns, viz. among the enemies wlio have kept the field 
 
 : (against the city of God. The participle ri''3^D is designedly 
 used in carrying forward the description. The annihilation of 
 
 ! the worldly power ^vhich the church has just now experienced 
 for its rescue, is a prelude to the ceasing of all war, Mic. iv. 3 
 (Isa. ii. 4), Unto the ends of the earth will Jahve make an 
 end of waging war ; and since He has no pleasure in war in 
 general, much less in war waged against His own people, all 
 the imjilements of war He in part breaks to pieces and in part 
 consigns to the flames (cf. Isa. liv. 16 sq.). Cease, cries He 
 (ver. 12) to the nations, from making war upon my people, and 
 know that I am God, the invincible One, — invincible both in 
 Myself and in My people, — who will be acknowledged in My 
 
 -+j exaltation by all the world. A similar inferential admonition 
 closes Ps. ii. With this admonition, which is both warning 
 and threatening at the same time, the nations are dismissed ; 
 but the church yet once more boasts that Jahve Tsebaoth is its 
 God and its stronghold. 
 
 PSALM XLVII. 
 
 EXULTATION AT THE LORD's TRIUMPHANT ASCENSION. 
 
 2 ALL ye peoples, clap your hands. 
 Shout unto Elohim with loud rejoicing. 
 
 3 For Jahve is highly exalted, terrible, 
 A great King over all the earth. 
 
 4 He subdued peoples under us, 
 And nations under our feet. 
 
 5 He chose for us our inheritance, 
 
 The pride of Jacob, whom He hath loved. (Sela.) 
 
 6 Elohim is gone up with a shout, 
 J;dive with the sound of a trumpet. 
 
 7 Harp ye to Elohim, harp. 
 Harp ye to our King, harp ! 
 
 8 For the King of all the earth is Elohim— 
 Harp ye songs of praise. 
 
PSALM XLVII. 97 
 
 9 Elohim ruleth as king over the nations, 
 
 Elohim hath set Himself upon His holy throne. 
 
 10 The princes of the peoples gather themselves together — 
 A people of the God of Abraham. 
 For the shields of the earth are Elohim's, 
 Very highly exalted is He. 
 
 Whilst between Ps. x\v. and xlvi. scarcely any other bond 
 of relationship but the similar use of the significant 13"?y can 
 be discovered, Ps. xlvii. has, in common with Ps. xlvi., not only 
 the thought of the kingly exaltation of Jahve over the peoples 
 of the earth, but also its historical occasion, viz. Jehoshaphat's 
 victory over the allied neighbouring nations, — a victory without 
 a conflict, and consequently all the more manifestly a victory 
 of Jahve, who, after having fought for His people, ascended 
 again amidst the music of their celebration of victory ; an event 
 that was outwardly represented in the conducting of the Ark 
 back to the temple (2 Chron. xx. 28). Ps. xlvii. has grown 
 out of this event. The strophe schema cannot be mistaken, 
 viz. 8. 8. 4. 
 
 On account of the blowing of the trumpet* mentioned in 
 ver. 6, this Psalm is the proper new year's Psalm in the 
 synagogue (together with Ps. Ixxxi., the Psalm of the second 
 new year's feast day) ; and on account of the mention of the 
 ascension of Jahve, it is the Psalm for Ascension day in the 
 church. Luther styles it, the " Christ ascended to Heaven of 
 the sons of Korah." Paulus Burgensis quarrels with Lyra 
 because he does not interpret it directly of the Ascension ; and 
 Bakius says : Lyranus a Jiidceis sednctus, in corlice hceret. The 
 whole truth here, as is often the case, is not to be found on 
 either side. The Psalm takes its occasion from an event in 
 the reign of Jehoshaphat. But was the church of the ages 
 succeeding required to celebrate, and shall more especially 
 the New Testament church still celebrate, that defeat of the 
 
 * lu couuection with which, npy then is intended to point to the fact 
 that, when the sound of the trumpets of Israel begins, God rises from the 
 throne of justice and takes His seat upon the tlirone of mercy: vid. Buxtorf, 
 Lex. Talmud, col. 2505. 
 
 VOL. IL : 7 
 
98 PSALM XLVII. 2-5. 
 
 allied nciglibouring peoples? This defeat brought the people 
 of God repose and respect for a season, but not true and lasting 
 peace ; and the ascent at that time of Jahve, who had fought 
 here on earth on behalf of His people, was not as yet the ascent 
 above the powers that are most hurtful to Ilis people, and that 
 stand most in the way of the progress of salvation, viz. those 
 powers of darkness which form the secret background of every- 
 thing that takes place upon earth that is in opposition to God. 
 Hence this Psalm in the course of history has gained a pro- 
 phetic meaning, far exceeding its first occasion, which has only 
 been fully unravelled by the ascension of Christ. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. " Thereupon the fear of ElohirrC^ — so closes the 
 chronicler (2 Chron. xx. 29) the narrative of the defeat of the 
 confederates — " came upon all kingdoms of the countries, when 
 thexj heard that Jahve had fought against the enemies of Israel.'^ 
 The psalmist, however, does not in consequence of this parti- 
 cular event call upon them to tremble with fear, but to rejoice ; 
 for fear is an involuntary, extorted inward emotion, but joy a 
 perfectly voluntary one. The true and final victory of Jahve 
 consists not in a submission that is brought about by war and 
 bloodshed and in consternation that stupefies the mind, but in 
 a change in the minds and hearts of the peoples, so that they 
 render joyful worship unto Him. In order that He may thus 
 become the God of all peoples. He has first of all become the 
 God of Israel ; and Israel longs that this the purpose of its 
 election may be attained. Out of tliis longing springs the call 
 in ver. 2. The peoples are to show the God of revelation their 
 joy by their gestures and their words ; for Jahve is absolutely 
 exalted (P VV, here it is a pi*edicate, just as in Ixxviii. 50 it is an 
 attribute), terrible, and the sphere of His dominion has Israel 
 for its central point, not, however, for its limit, but it extends 
 over the whole earth. Everything must do homage to Him in 
 His own people, whether willingly or by constraint. According 
 to the tenses employed, what is affirmed in ver. 4 appears to be 
 a principle derived from their recent experience, inasmuch as 
 the cotemporary fact is not expressed in an historical form, 
 but generalized and idealized. But in?'!, ver. 5a, is against 
 this, since the choosing (election) is an act done once for all 
 and not a continued act; we are therefore driven to regard the 
 
PSALM XLVII. 6-9. 99 
 
 futures, as in Num. xxiii. 7, Judg. ii. 1, as a statement of 
 historical facts. Concerning l^T, He bent, made to stoop, 
 vid. xviii. 48. There is now no necessity for altering "in^l into 
 3nTj and more especially since this is not suited to the fact 
 which has given occasion to the Psalm. On the contrary, "IHT 
 presupposes that in the event of the day God has shown Him- 
 self to be a faithful and powerful Lord [_lit. feudal Lord] of 
 the land of Israel ; the hostile confederation had thought of 
 nothing less than driving Israel entirely out of its inheritance 
 (2 Chron. xx. 11). The Holy Land is called the pride (pxa) 
 of Jacob, as being the gift of grace of which this, the people 
 of God's love, can boast. In Amos vi. 8 3pj;^ psi has a different 
 meaning (of the sin of pride), and again another sense in Nali. 
 ii. 3 (of the glory of all Israel in accordance with the promise) ; 
 here it is similar to Isa. xiii. 19. fiK has a conjunctive accent 
 instead of being followed by 3Iakkeph, as in Ix. 2, Prov. iii. 12 
 (these are the only three instances). The strophe which 
 follows supports the view that the poet, in ver. 5, has a recent 
 act of God before his mind. 
 
 Vers. 6-9. The ascent of God presupposes a previous 
 descent, whether it be a manifestation of Himself in order 
 to utter some promise (Gen. xvii. 22, Judg. xiii. 20) or a 
 triumphant execution of judgment (vii. 8, Ixviii. 19). So 
 here : God has come down to fight on behalf of His people. 
 They return to the Holy City and He to His throne, which is 
 above on Zion, and higher still, is above in heaven. On nj)nnn 
 and isijj' pip cf. xcviii. 6, 1 Chron. xv. 28, but more especially 
 Amos ii. 2 ; for the " shout" is here the people's shout of 
 victory, and "the sound of the horn" the clear sound of the 
 horns announcing the victory, with reference to the celebra- 
 tion of the victory in the Valley of praise and the homeward 
 march amidst the clanging music (2 Chron. xx. 26 sq.). The 
 poet, who has this festival of victory before his mind as having 
 recently taken place, desires that the festive sounds may find 
 an unending and boundless echo unto the glory of God. "i'2T 
 is first construed with the accusative as in Ixviii. 33, then with 
 the dative. Concerning «'''?t:'D = ojS^ TrvevfiaTiKi} (Eph. v. 19, 
 Col. iii. 16), vid. on xxxii. 1. That which excites to songs of 
 praise is Jahve's dominion of the world which has just been 
 made manifest. ^^9 is to be taken in just the same historical 
 
100 FSALM XLVII. 10. 
 
 sense as it3aatK€V(Ta<;, Apoc. xi. 15-18. What has taken place 
 is a prelude of the final and visible entering upon the kingdom, 
 the announcement of which the New Testament seer there 
 hears. God has come down to earth, and after having obtained 
 for Himself a recognition of His dominion by the destruction 
 of the enemies of Israel, He has ascended again in visible 
 kinf^ly glory. Imago conscensi a Messia throni glorice^ says 
 Chr. Aug. Crusius, tunc erat deportatio arcce foederis in sedem 
 regni. 
 
 Ver. 10. In the mirror of the present event, the poet reads 
 the great fact of the conversion of all peoples to Jahve which 
 closes the history of the world. The nobles of the peoples 
 (••n^na ^ith the twofold meaning of generosi), the " shields (i.e. 
 the lords who are the defenders of their people) of the earth " 
 (Hos. iv. 18), enter into the society of the people of the God 
 of Abraham ; Tre'pa? al 7rpo<i rov irarpidp'^'qv 'A{3paa/ji, eXa^ov 
 v'iroa-)(eaei<i, as Theodoret observes. The promise concerning 
 the blessing of the tribes of the nations in the seed of the 
 patriarch is being fulfilled ; for the nobles draw the peoples 
 who are protected by them after themselves. It is unnecessary 
 to read DV instead of QP with Ewald, and following the LXX. 
 and Syriac ; and it is also inadmissible, since one does not say 
 Dy PjDJ^:, but p or bx. Even Eusebius has rightly praised Sym- 
 machus and Theodotion, because they have translated the 
 ambiguous a/A by \ao'i {rov Oeov ^A/Spadfj,), viz. as being a 
 nominative of the effect or result, as it is also understood by 
 the Targum, Jerome, Luther, and most of the Jewish exposi- 
 tors, and among modern expositors by Crusius, Hupfeld, and 
 Hitzig : They gather and band themselves together as a people 
 or into a people of the God of Abraham, they submit them- 
 selves with Israel to the one God who is proved to be so 
 glorious.* The conclusion (ver. 11) reminds one of the song 
 of Hannah, 1 Sam. ii. 8. Thus universal homage is rendered 
 to Him : He is gone up in triumph, and is in consequence 
 thereof highly exalted {^^^]\, 3cZ^)ne^, the result or consequence 
 of the rhi'm ver. G). 
 
 * It is also accented accordingly, viz. 1SDS3 with rdia magnum, which 
 (and in this respect it is distinguished from Mugrask) makes a pause ; and 
 this is then followed by the supplementing clause with Zinnor, Galgal, and 
 Olewejored, 
 
PSALM XLVIII. 101 
 
 PSALM XLVIII. 
 
 THE INACCESSIBLENESS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 2 GREAT is Jahve and greatly to be praised 
 In the city of our God, His holy mountain. 
 
 3 Beautifully elevated, a joy of the whole earth 
 Is mount Zion, the angle of the north. 
 
 The city of the great King. 
 
 4 Elohim in her palaces became known as a stronghold. 
 
 5 For, lo, the kings allied advanced together ; 
 
 6 Yet they beheld, they were amazed immediately, 
 
 bewildered they fled away. 
 
 7 Trembling hath seized upon them there, 
 
 pangs as of travail. 
 
 8 With an east wind didst Thou break 
 
 the ships of Tarshish, 
 
 9 As we have heard, so have we seen 
 
 In the city of Jahve of Hosts, the city of our God — 
 Elohim upholdeth her for ever. (Sela.) 
 
 10 We thought, Elohim, upon Thy loving-kindness 
 In the midst of Thy temple. 
 
 11 As is Thy name, Elohim, so is Thy praise 
 Unto the ends of the earth ; 
 
 Full of righteousness is Thy right hand. 
 
 12 Let mount Zion rejoice. 
 
 Let the daughters of Judah exult 
 Because of Thy judgments. 
 
 13 Walk ye about Zion and go round about her, 
 Tell her towers, 
 
 14 ^lark well her bulwark, 
 ^larch through her palaces, 
 
 That ye may tell it the next generation : 
 
102 PSALM XLVIII. 2-0. 
 
 15 That snch an one is Elohim our God for ever — 
 He will guide us 
 
 After " Math:' 
 
 Ps. xlviii. is also a song of thanksgiving for victory. It is 
 connected with Ps. xlvi. and xlvii. by the fundamental thought 
 of the exaltation of Jahve above the peoples of the earth ; but 
 is distinguished from them both in this respect, viz. that, in 
 accordance with the favourite characteristic of Korahitic poetry, 
 the song of thanksgiving for victory has become a song in 
 praise of Jerusalem, the glorious and strong city, protected by 
 God who sits enthroned in it. The historical occasion is the 
 same. The mention of the kings points to an army of con- 
 federates ; ver. 10 points to the gathering held in the temple 
 before the setting out of the army ; and the figurative repre- 
 sentation of the hostile powers by the shattered ships of 
 Tarshish does not apply to any period so well as to the time of 
 Jehoshaphat. The points of coincidence between this Psalm 
 (cf. ver. 7 with Isa. xxxiii. 14; ver. 8 with Isa. xxxiii. 21; 
 ver. 13 with Isa. xxxiii. 18 ; ver. 15 with Isa. xxxiii. 22), as 
 well as Ps. xlvi., and Isaiah do not prove that he is its author. 
 
 Vers. 2-9. Viewed as to the nature of its subject-matter, 
 the Psalm divides itself into three parts. We begin by con- 
 sidering the three strophes of the first part. The middle 
 strophe presents an instance of the rising and falling coesural 
 schema. Because Jahve has most marvellously delivered Jeru- 
 salem, the poet begins with the praise of the great King and 
 of His Holy City. Great and praised according to His due 
 (7pno as in xviii. 4) is He in her, is He upon His holy moun- 
 tain, which there is His habitation. Next follow, in ver. 3, two 
 predicates of a threefold, or fundamentally only twofold, sub- 
 ject ; for psy ""D?"!-? ij^ whatever way it may be understood, is 
 in apposition to P'V~''!'- The predicates consequently refer to 
 Zion-Jerusalem ; for 3"i Tj^p n;;"i(5 is not a name for Zion, but, 
 inasmuch as the transition is from the holy mountain to the 
 Holy City (just as the reverse is the case in ver. 2b), Jerusalem ; 
 OTC 7roXt9 icrrl tov fieyakov /Sao-tXew?, Matt. v. 35. Of Zion- 
 Jerusalem it is therefore said, it is ^13 ns^^ beautiful in promi- 
 
PSALM XLVIII. 2-9. 103 
 
 nence or elevation (fii3 from eii3, Arabic ndfa, nanf, root fi3, the 
 
 stronger force of 2:, ( J, to raise one's self, to mount, to come 
 
 sensibly forward ; just as na^ also goes back to a root ^C, cjb, 
 uJ., which signifies " to rise, to be high," and is transferred in 
 tlie Hebrew to eminence, perfection, beauty of form), a beauti- 
 fully rising terrace-like height ; * and, in the second place, it 
 is the joy (b'itJ'p) of the whole earth. It is deserving of beino- 
 such, as the people who dwell there are themselves convinced 
 (Lam. ii. 15) ; and it is appointed to become such, it is indeed 
 such even now in hope, — hope which is, as it were, being antici- 
 patorily verified. But in what sense does the appositional ''ri3T 
 (iav follow immediately upon ji'yiri? Hitzig, Ewald, Heng- 
 stenberg, Caspari (il/icAa, p. 359), and others, are of opinion 
 that the hill of Zion is called the extreme north with reference 
 to the old Asiatic conception of the mountain of the gods — old 
 Persic Ar-hurg (Al-hurg)^ also called absolutely hara or 
 haraili^f old Indian Kaildsa and Mei'uX — forming the con- 
 necting link between heaven and earth, which lay in the inac- 
 cessible, holy distance and concealment of the extreme north. 
 But the poet in no way betrays the idea that he applies this 
 designation to Zion in an ideal sense only, as being not inferior 
 to the extreme north (Bertheau, Lage des Paradieses, S. 50, 
 and so also S. D. Luzzatto on Isa. xiv. 13), or as having taken 
 the place of it (Hitzig). That notion is found, it is true, in 
 Isa. xiv. 13, in the mouth of the king of the Chaldeans; but, 
 with the exception of the passage before us, we have no trace 
 of the Israelitish mind having blended this foreign mythological 
 style of speech with its own. We therefore take the expression 
 "sides of the north" to be a topographical designation, and 
 intended literally. Mount Zion is thereby more definitely 
 designated as the Temple-hill ; for the Temple-hill, or Zion in 
 tlie narrower sense, formed in reality the north-eastern angle 
 
 * Luther with Jerome (departing from the LXX. and Vulgate) renders 
 it: " ^[ount Zion is like a beautiful branch," after the Mishna-Talmudic 
 C)i3, a branch, Maccoth 12a, wliich is compared also by Saadia and Dunash. 
 The latter renders it " beautiful in branches," and refers it to the Mount 
 of Olives. 
 
 t Vide Spiegel, Erdn, S. 287 f. 
 
 X Vide Lassen, ludische Alterthumskunde, ii. 8i7. 
 
10 1: rSALM XLVIII. 2-9. 
 
 or corner of ancient Jerusalem. It is not necessarily the ex- 
 treme north (Ezek. xxxviii. 6, xxxix. 2), which is called pQV TiDT; 
 for cna"!^. are the two sides, then the angle in which the two 
 side lines meet, and just such a northern angle was Mount 
 Moriah by its position in relation to the city of David and the 
 lower city. 
 
 Ver. 4, where the pointing is rightly V^i^, not HiJ, shows 
 that the praise sung by the poet is based upon an event in 
 cotemporary history. Elohim has made Himself known by the 
 loftily built parts* of Jerusalem (cxxii. 7) ^?*fPp (the ^ that 
 is customary with verbs of becoming and making), i.e. as an 
 inaccessible fortress, making them secure against any hostile 
 attack. The fact by which He has thus made Himself known 
 now immediately follows. C?^'?'^ points to a definite number 
 of kings known to the poet ; it therefore speaks in favour of 
 the time of peril and war in the reign of Jehoshaphat and 
 against that in the reign of Hezekiah. IJ^iJ is reciprocal: to 
 appoint themselves a place of meeting, and meet together there. 
 "i?y, as in Judg. xi. 29, 2 Kings viii. 21, of crossing the fron- 
 tier and invasion (Hitzig), not of perishing and destruction, as 
 in xxxvii. 3G, Nah. i. 12 (De Wette) ; for nj?lJ requires further 
 progress, and the declaration respecting their sudden downfall 
 dues not follow till later on. The allies encamped in the desert 
 of Tekoa, about three hours distant from Jerusalem. The 
 extensive view at that point extends even to Jerusalem : as soon 
 as they saw it they were amazed, i.e. the seeing and astonish- 
 ment, panic and confused flight, occurred all together ; there 
 went forth upon them from the Holy City, because Elohim 
 dwells therein, a D'nbx rmr\ (I Sam. xiv. 15), or as we should 
 say, a panic or a panic-striking terror. Concerning |3 as ex- 
 pressive of simultaneousness, vid. on Hab. iii. 10. "^^'^^ in the 
 correlative protasis is omitted, as in Hos. xi. 2, and frequently ; 
 cf. on Isa. Iv. 9. Trembling seized upon them there (2C', as in 
 xiv. 5), pangs as of a woman in travail. In ver. 8, the descrip- 
 tion passes over emotionally into the form of address. It 
 moulds itself according to the remembrance of a recent event 
 
 * LXX. : £v Tocie: fiocpiaii^ oivrii?, on which Gregory of Nyssa remarks 
 {Opera, Ed. Paris, t. i. p. 333) : fixpus "hiyn rx; to)u oUolof^mfcetTuu Tripi- 
 ypufxs iv TiTpuyuuu t^ axVf^^Ti- 
 
PSALM XLVIII. 10-12. 105 
 
 of the poet's own time, viz. the destruction of the merchant 
 fleet fitted out by Jehoshaphat in conjunction with Ahaziah, 
 king of Israel (1 Kings xxii. 49, 2 Chron. xx. 36 sq.). The 
 general meaning of ver. 8 is, that God's omnipotence is irre- 
 sistible. Concerning the "wind of the east quarter," which 
 here, as in Ezek. xxvii. 26, causes shipwreck, vid. on Job 
 xxvii. 21. The "ships of Tarshish," as is clear from the con- 
 text both before and after, are not meant literally, but used as 
 a figure of the worldly powers ; Isaiah (ch. xxxiii.) also com- 
 pares Assyria to a gallant ship. Thus, then, the church can 
 say that in the case of Jerusalem it has, as an eye-witness, 
 experienced that which it has hitherto only heard from the 
 tradition of a past age (ns"j and V^'^ as in Job xlii. 5), viz. 
 that God holds it erect, establishes it, for ever. Hengstenberg 
 observes here, " The Jerusalem that has been laid in ruins is 
 not that which the psalmist means ; it is only its outward form 
 which it has put off" [Jit. its broken and deserted pupa]. It is 
 true that, according to its inner and spiritual nature, Jerusalem 
 continues its existence in the New Testament church ; but it is 
 not less true that its being trodden under foot for a season in 
 the Kuipol edvoiv no more annuls the promise of God than 
 Israel's temporary rejection annuls Israel's election. The 
 Holy City does not fall without again rising up. 
 
 Vers. 10-12. Now follows grateful praise to God, who 
 hears prayer and executes justice, to the joy of His city and 
 of His people. By I3''!3"n the poet refers back to the service 
 held in the temple before the army set out, as narrated in 
 2 Chron. ch. xx., to the prayers offered in the time of their 
 impending danger, and to the remembrance of the favour 
 hitherto shown towards Jerusalem, from which source they 
 drew the comfort of hope for the present time. HOTj to com- 
 pare, to hold one thing over against another, in this instance 
 by causing the history of the past to pass before one's mind. 
 To God's mighty deeds of old is now added a new one. The 
 Name of God, i.e. the sum of His self-attestations hitherto, 
 was the subject of the IVDT in the temple, and more particu- 
 larly of the Korahitic songs (2 Chron. xx. 19) ; and this name 
 has gloriously verified itself by a new deed of righteousness. 
 His fame extends even to the ends of the earth (2 Chron. xx. 
 29) He has proved Himself to be One whose right hand is 
 
106 PSALM XLVIII. 13-15. 
 
 full of riuliteoiisness, and who practises rigliteousness or Justice 
 where it is necessary. Let, then, the Holy City, let the 
 country cities of Judah (Isa. xl. 9, cf. xvi. 2) rejoice. The 
 whole inheritance of Israel was threatened. Now it is most 
 gloriously delivered. 
 
 Vers. 13-15. The call is addressed not to the enemies of 
 Jerusalem — for it would be absurd to invite such to look round 
 about upon Jerusalem with joy and gladness — but to the people 
 of Jerusalem itself. From the time of the going forth of the 
 army to tlie arrival of the news of victory, they have remained 
 behind the walls of the city in anxious expectation. Now they 
 are to make the circuit of the city (^"i?'"?, still more definite than 
 33D^ Josh. vi. 3) outside the walls, and examine them and see 
 that its towers are all standing, its bulwark is intact, its palaces 
 are resplendent as formerly. ■^^"'Dr? " upon its bulwark," = 
 np^n? (Zech. ix. 4), with softened suffix as in Isa. xxiii. 17, xlv. 
 6, and frequently ; Ew. § 247, d. 3E3 (according to another 
 reading, i"'Pr'7) signifies, in B. Baha kamma 816, to cut through 
 (a vineyard in a part where there is no way leading through 
 it) ; the signification " to take to pieces and examine, to con- 
 template piece by piece," has no support in the usage of the 
 language, and the signification "to extol" {erholien, Luther 
 following Jewish tradition) rests upon a false deduction from 
 the name njps. Louis de Dieu correctly renders it : Dividite 
 palatia, h. e. ohamhulate inter j^aicitia ejus, secando omnes pala- 
 tiorum vias, quo omnia possitis commode intueri. They are to 
 convince themselves by all possible means of the uninjured 
 state of the Holy City, in order that they may be able to tell 
 to posterity, that HTj such an one, such a marvellous helper as 
 is now manifest to them, is Elohim our God. He will also in 
 the future guide us. . . . Here the Psalm closes ; for, although 
 in3 is wont to be construed with hv in the signification (vyeLv eiri 
 (xxiii. 2, Isa. xlix. 10), still "at death" [lit. dying], i.e. when it 
 comes to dying (llengstenberg), or "even unto i^V as in ver. 
 11, xix. 7) death" [lit. dying] (Hupfeld), forms no suitable 
 close to this thorouij;hly national sonfif, havinc reference to a 
 people of whom the son of Sirach says (ch. xxxvii. 25) : ^wrj 
 uvSpo^ iv uptdfiw rifiepcov Koi al rj/Mepai toO 'IcrparfK uvapidfJirjTOi. 
 The rendering of ^lendelssohn, Stier, and others, "over death," 
 i.e. beyond death (Syriac), would be better ; more accurately : 
 
rSALM XLIX. 107 
 
 beyond clying = destruction (Bnnsen, BihehoerTc, Th. i. S. clxi.). 
 But the expression does not admit of this extension, and 
 the tliought comes upon one unexpectedly and as a surprise 
 in this Psalm belonging to the time before the Exile. The 
 Jerusalem Talmud, Megilla, ch. ii. (fol. 73, col. h, ed. Venet), 
 presents a choice of the following interpretations : (1) niopy = 
 mo^ySj in youthfulness, adopting which, but somewhat dif- 
 ferently applied, the Targum renders, " in the days of youth ;" 
 (2) niD^y ^^''^^*3, like virgins, with which Luther's rendering 
 coincides : like youth (luie die Jugent) ; (3) according to the 
 reading niDPy, which the LXX. also reproduces: in this and 
 the future world, noting at the same time that Akilas (Aquila) 
 translates the word by aOavaala : " in a world where there is 
 no death." But in connection with this last rendering one 
 would rather expect to find niD'bx (Prov. xii. 28) instead of 
 niD'^y. rii07J?j however, as equivalent to atcoz/e? is ]\Iishnic, not 
 Biblical ; and a Hebrew word DlDpy (0^071;) in the sense of the 
 Aramaic rao''?y cannot be justified elsewiiere. We see from 
 the wavering of the MSS., some of which give Ti^tybv^ and others 
 riiDpy, and from the wavering of expositors, what little success 
 is likely to follow any attempt to gain for nia"^y, as a substan- 
 tial part of the Psalm, any sense that is secure and in accord- 
 ance both with the genius of the language and with the context. 
 Probably it is a marginal note of the melody, an abbreviation 
 for 137 ^^'crbv^ ix. 1. And either this note, as in Hab. iii. 19 
 "•riiyjjn njkjp?, stands in an exceptional manner at the end 
 instead of the beginning (Hitzig, Reggio), or it belongs to the 
 nV30^ of the following Psalm, and is to be inserted there 
 (Bottcher, De inferis, § 371). If, however, n"iQ"^y does not 
 belong to the Psalm itself, then it must be assumed that the 
 proper closing words are lost. The original close was probably 
 more full-toned, and somewhat like Isa. xxxiii. 22. 
 
 PSALM XLIX. 
 
 OF THE VANITY OF EARTHLY PROSPERITY AND GOOD 
 A DIDACTIC POEM. 
 
 2 HEAR ye this, all ye peoples 
 
 Observe, all ye inhabitants of the world, 
 
108 rSALM XLIX. 
 
 3 Both low and liigli, 
 Rich and poor together ! 
 
 4 My mouth shall utter wisdom 
 
 And the meditation of my heart is understanding, 
 
 5 I will incline mine ear to the maxim, 
 
 I will disclose my riddle with the accompaniment of the 
 cithern. 
 
 6 Wherefore should I fear in the days of misfortune, 
 AVhen the evil-doing of my supplunters encompasseth me, 
 
 7 Who trust in their wealth 
 
 And boast themselves in the abundance of their riches ? 
 
 8 A man is not able by any means to redeem his brother, 
 Nor can he give to God a ransom for him, 
 
 9 (Too costly is the redemption of their soul, 
 And he must give it up for ever) ; 
 
 10 That he should live continually, 
 [And] not see the grave. 
 
 11 No indeed, he must see, that wise men the. 
 Likewise the fool and the stupid man perish, 
 And leave to others their wealth. 
 
 12 Their thought is that their houses are for ever, 
 Their dwellings from generation to generation ; 
 They proclaim their names over lands. 
 
 13 But man in pomjy hath no abiding, 
 
 He is like to the beasts that are destroyed. 
 
 14 This is the lot of those who are full of self-confidence, 
 And who following them yield assent to their mouth. {Sela^ 
 
 15 Like sheep gathered to Hades death doth shepherd them, 
 And the upright shall triumph over them on that morning, 
 Whereas their form, falling a prey to the devouring of 
 
 Hades, becomes habitationless. 
 
 16 Yet Elohim will redeem my soul from the power of 
 
 Plades, 
 For He will take me up. (Sela.) 
 
 17 Be not thou afraid, when a man becometh rich, 
 When the glory of his house is increased. 
 
 18 For when he dicth he shall take nothing away with him. 
 His glory doth not go down after him. 
 
PSALM XLIX. 2-5. 109 
 
 19 Though a man blesseth his soul during his life — 
 And they praise thee that thou dost enjoy thyself — 
 
 20 It shall come to the generation of his fathers : 
 In eternity they shall never see the light. 
 
 21 Man in pomp ^ and yet having no understanding ^ 
 Is like to the beasts that are destroyed. 
 
 To the pair of Psalms xlvii. and xlviii. is appended Ps. 
 xlix., which likewise begins with an appealing " all ye peoples ;" 
 in other respects, being a didactic song, it has nothing in 
 common with the national and historical Psalms, xlvi.-xlviii. 
 The poet here steps forward as a preacher in the midst of men. 
 His theme is the transitoriness of the prosperity of the ungodly, 
 and, on the other hand, the hope of the upright which rests on 
 God. Accordingly the Psalm falls into the following divisions : 
 an introduction, vers. 2-5, which by its very promissory tone 
 reminds one of the speeches of Elihu in the Book of Job, and 
 the two parts of the sermon following thereupon, vers. 6-13, 
 14-21, which are marked out by a refrain, in which there is 
 only a slight variation of expression. In its dogmatic character 
 it harmonizes with the Psalms of the time of David, and by 
 its antique and bold form takes rank with such Psalms as Ps. 
 xvii. by David and Ixxiii. by Asaph. Since also in the didactic 
 Psalms of David and Asaph we meet with a style differing 
 from that of their other Psalms, and, where the doings of the 
 ungodly are severely rebuked, we find a harsher and more 
 concise mode of expression and a duller, heavier tone, there is 
 nothing at variance with the assumption that Ps. xlix. was 
 composed by the writer of Ps. xlii.-xliii. and Ixxxiv. ; and 
 more especially since David has composed Psalms of a kindred 
 character (xxxix. and Ixii.) in the time of the persecution by 
 Absalom. Nothing, however, is involved in this unity of the 
 author. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. Introduction. Very similarly do the elder (in 
 the reign of Jehoshaphat) and the younger Micha (Micah) 
 introduce their prophecies (1 Kings xxii. 28, Mic. i. 2), and 
 Elihu in the Book of Job his didactic discourses (ch. xxxiv. 2, 
 cf. xxxiii. 2). It is an universal theme which the poet intends 
 to take up, hence he calls upon all peoples and all the iuhabi- 
 
110 PSALM XLIX. 6-13 
 
 tants of the *i^n. Such is the word first of all for this iemporal 
 life, which glides by unnoticed, then for the present transitory 
 world itself {vid. on xvii. 14). It is his intention to declare to 
 the rich the utter nothingness or vanity of their false ground 
 of hope, and to the poor the superiority of their true ground of 
 hope ; hence he wishes to have as hearers both mx ''J3, children 
 of the common people, who are men and have otherwise nothing 
 distinctive about them, and K'''X"''p3j children of men, i.e. of 
 rank and distinction (vid. on iv. 3) — rich and poor, as he adds 
 to make his meaning more clear. For his mouth will, or shall, 
 utter niMn, not : all sorts of wise teachings, but : weighty 
 wisdom. Just in like manner DiJUn signifies profound insight 
 or understanding; cf. plurals like nira, Isa. xxvii. 11, njJVki'^, 
 Ps. xlii. 12 and frequently, nipty, Jer. xxii. 21. The parallel 
 word riiJiDn in the passage before us, and the plural predicate 
 in Prov. xxiv. 7, show that ^i^^^Hj here and in Prov. i. 20, ix. 1, 
 cf. xiv. 1, is not to be regarded, with Hitzig, Olshausen, and 
 others, as another form of the singular nio^n. Side by side 
 with the speaking of the mouth stands 27 nijn (with an un- 
 changeable Kametz before the tone-syllable, Ew. § 166, c): the 
 meditation (LXX. fieXeTrj) of the heart, and in accordance 
 therewith the well-thought-out discourse. What he intends to 
 discourse is, however, not the creation of his own brain, but 
 what he has received. A ^'tl'D, a saying embodying the wisdom 
 of practical life, as God teaches men it, presents itself to his 
 mind demanding to be heard ; and to this he inclines his ear in 
 order that, from being a diligent scholar of the wisdom from 
 above, he may become a useful teacher of men, inasmuch as 
 he opens up, i.e. unravels, the divine Mashal, which in the 
 depth and fulness of its contents is a HTn^ i.e. an involved 
 riddle (from l^n, cogn. "iJXj 11?^), and plays the cithern thereby 
 (3 of the accompaniment). The opening of the riddle does not 
 consist in the solving of it, but in the setting of it forth, nna, 
 to open = to propound, deliver [of a discourse], comes from 
 the phrase VS"nx nns, Prov. xxxi. 26 ; cf. cxix. 130, where 
 nriQj an opening, is equivalent to an unlocking, a revelation. 
 
 Vers. 6-13. First division of the sermon. Those who 
 have to endure suffering from rich sinners have no need to 
 fear, for the might and splendour of their oppressors is hasten- 
 ing towai'ds destruction. J?"J ''p^. are days in wliich one cxperi- 
 
PSALM XLIX. 6-18. Ill 
 
 ences evil, as In xciv. 13, cf. Amos vi. 3. The genitive yn is 
 continued in ver. 66 in a clause that is subordinate to the ''ID"'3 
 of ver. 6a (cf. 1 Sam. xxv. 15, Job xxix. 2, Ps. xc. 15). The 
 poet calls his crafty and malicious foes ''^\?V. There is no 
 necessity for reading "'^ipy as Bottcher does, since without doubt 
 a participial noun 3py, siipplantator, can be formed from 3i?y, 
 supplantare ; and although in its branchings out it coincides 
 with ipy, planta^ its meaning is made secure by the connection. 
 To render the passage : " when wickedness surrounds me about 
 my heels," whether with or without changing py into fiy (Hup- 
 feld, von Ortenberg), is proved on all sides to be inadmissible : 
 it ought to have been ?)V instead of t^V ; but even then it would 
 still be an awkward expression, " to surround any one's heels," * 
 and the D''ntp'3rij which follows, would be unconnected with 
 what precedes. This last word comes after ''^ipy, giving minute- 
 ness to the description, and is then continued quite regularly 
 in ver. lb by the finite verb. Up to this point all is clear 
 enough ; but now the difficulties accumulate. One naturally 
 expects the thought, that the rich man is not able to redeem 
 himself from death. Instead of this it is said, that no man is able 
 to redeem another from death. Ewald, Bottcher, and others, 
 therefore, take nx, as in Ezek. xviii. 10, xxi. 20 {vid. Hitzig), 
 to be a careless form of writing for 'H^, and change "Tis^ into 
 the reflexive •"''IS"' ; but the thought that is sought thus to be 
 brought out is only then arrived at with great difficulty : the 
 words ought to be iK'SJ n^B^ \h C'^N "HS. The words as they 
 stand assert : a brother (nx, as a prominently placed object, 
 with Rehia magnum^ = Vnx, cf. Ezek. v. 10, xviii. 18, Mic. vii. 
 6, Mai. i. 6) can a man by no means redeem, i.e. men cannot 
 redeem one another. Hengstenberg and Hitzig find the 
 thought that is to be expected in ver. Sb : the rich ungodly 
 man can with all his riches not even redeem another {^^), 
 much less then can he redeem himself, offer a "123 for himself. 
 
 • This might be avoided if it were possible for t^py f\V to mean " the 
 sin that foUo-ws my heels, that follows me at the heels ; " but apart from 
 py being unsuitable with this interpretation, an impossible meaning is 
 thereby extorted from the genitive construction. This, however, is per- 
 haps what is meant by the expression of the LXX., ^ dvou/x rij; vriovri; 
 fiov, so much spoken of in the Greek Church down to the present day. 
 
112 PSALM XLIX, 6-13. 
 
 But if tlip poet meant to be so understood, he must have 
 written i<^] and iti'SJ isb. Vers. 8a and 8b bear no appearance 
 of referring to different persons; the second clause is, on the 
 contrary, the necessary supplement of the first : Among men 
 certainly it is possible under some circumstances for one who 
 is delivered over to death to be freed by money, but no ">S3 
 (= C'Q3 pns, Ex. xxi. 30 and frequently) can be given to God 
 
 All idea of the thought one would most naturally look for 
 must therefore be given up, so far as it can be made clear why 
 the poet has given no direct expression to it. And this can be 
 done. The thought of a man's redeeming himself is far from 
 the poet's mind ; and the contrast which he has before his 
 mind is this : no man can redeem another, Elohim only can 
 redeem man. That one of his fellow-men cannot redeem a 
 man, is expressed as strongly as possible by the words n'"i£i-xi? 
 •'''^?1 ; the negative in other instances stands after the intensive 
 infinitive, but here, as in Gen. iii. 4, Amos ix. 8, Isa. xxviii. 
 28, before it. By an easy flight of irony, ver. 9 says that the 
 XvTpou which is required to be paid for the souls of men is too 
 precious, i.e. exorbitant, or such as cannot be found, and that 
 he (whoever might wish to lay it down) lets it alone (is obliged 
 to let it alone) for ever. Tims much is clear enough, so far 
 as the language is concerned (/'J^). according to the consec. 
 temp. = ^'^^'^).), and, although somewhat fully expressed, is per- 
 fectly in accordance with the connection. But how is ver. 10 
 attached to what precedes ? Hengstenberg renders it, " he 
 must for ever give it up, that he should live continually and 
 not see the grave." But according to the syntax, 'H"! cannot be 
 attached to Pini, but only to the futures in ver. 8, ranking 
 with which the voluntative Ti^l, et vivat, is equivalent to the 
 consequential ut vivat (Ew. § 347, a). Thus, therefore, nothing 
 remains but to take ver. 9 (which von Ortenberg expunges as 
 a gloss upon ver. 8) as a parenthesis ; the principal clause 
 affirms that no man can give to God a ransom that shall pro- 
 tect another against death, so that this other should still con- 
 tinue (niy) to live, and that without end (nv^^), without seeing 
 the grave, i.e. without being obliged to go down into the grave. 
 The '3 in ver. 11 is now confirmatory of what is denied by its 
 opposite ; it is, therefore, according to the sense, imo (cf. 1 Kings 
 
PSALM XLIX. 6-13. 113 
 
 xxi. 15): . . . tliat he may not see the grave — no indccc], 
 without being able to interpose and alter it, he must see how 
 all men, without distinction, succumb to death. Designedly 
 the word used of the death of wise men is niD, and of the death 
 of the fool and the stupid man, "i^X. Kurtz renders : " totrether 
 with the fool and the slow of understanding;" but "in^ as a pre- 
 position cannot be supported ; moreover, I^Tyi would then have 
 " the wise" as its subject, which is surely not the intention of 
 the poet. Everything without distinction, and in mingled con- 
 fusion, falls a prey to death ; the rich man must see it, and yet 
 he is at the same time possessed by the foolish delusion that 
 he, with his wealth, is immortal. The reading Q"^^ip (LXX., 
 Targ., Syr.), preferred by Ewald, and the conjecture Cil^p, 
 adopted by Olshausen and Riehm, give a thought that is not 
 altogether contrary to the connection, viz. the narrow grave is 
 the eternal habitation of those who called broad lands their 
 own ; but this thought appears here, in view of ver. 12c, too 
 early, ^ij? denotes the inward part, or that which is within, 
 described according to that which encircles or contains it: 
 that which is within them is, "their houses (pronounce bdttemo) 
 are for ever" (Hengstenberg, Hitzig) ; i.e. the contents of their 
 inward part is the self-delusion that their houses are everlast- 
 ing, and their habitations so durable that one generation after 
 another will pass over them ; cf. the similar style of expression 
 in X. 46, Esth. v. 7. Hitzig further renders : men celebrate 
 their names in the lands ; Dti'a \fr\\>^ to call with a name = 
 solemnly to proclaim it, to mention any one's name with 
 honour (Isa. xliv. 5). But it is unlikely that the subject of 
 1^^"lp should now ao;ain be any other than the rich men them- 
 selves ; and TWT\\^ ''py for pxn-732 or JTi^'7^^ i^ contrary to the" 
 usao;e of the lanfTuan;e. nonx is the earth as tillao;e, niDlX 
 (only in this passage) in this connection, fields, estates, lands ; 
 the proclaiming of names is, according to 2 Sam. xii. 28, 1 
 Kings viii. 43, Amos ix. 12, equivalent to the calling of the 
 lands or estates after their (the possessors') names (Bottcher, 
 Hupfekl, Kurtz). The idea of the rich is, their houses and 
 dwelling-places (and they themselves who have grown up to- 
 gether with them) are of eternal duration ; accordingly they 
 solemnly give their own names to their lands, as being the 
 names of immortals. But, adds the poet, man ip'3, in the 
 VOL. II. 8 
 
114 PSALM XLIX. 14-21. 
 
 pomp of his riches and outward show, abideth not (non per^ 
 nociat = non permanet). ip''^ is the complement of the subject, 
 altliough it locrically (cf. xxv. 13) also belongs to T^\'^2, 
 Bijttcher has shown the impropriety of reading P^pa here 
 according to ver. 21. There are other instances also of refrains 
 that are not exact repetitions ; and this correction is moreover 
 at once overthrown by the fact that bl will not suit p^^, it would 
 stamp each man of rank, as such, as one deficient in intelli- 
 gence. On the other hand, this emotional negative 73 is ad- 
 mirably suitable to p^'' : no indeed, he has no abiding. He is 
 comjiared i/'^'P? like the New Testament d)fio 1(067]), of like kind 
 and lot, to cattle (3 as in Job xxx. 19). ^^I^ is an attributive 
 clause to riicn33 : like heads of cattle which are cut off or 
 destroyed. The verb is so chosen that it is appropriate at the 
 same time to men who are likened to the beasts (Hos. x. 7, 15, 
 Obad. ver. 5, Isa. vi. 5). 
 
 Vers. 14-21. Second part of the discourse, of equal com- 
 pass with the first. Those who are thought to be immortal 
 are laid low in Hades; whilst, on the other hand, those who 
 cleave to God can hope to be redeemed by Him out of Hades. 
 Olshausen complains on this passage that the expression is 
 abrupt, rugged, and in part altogether obscure. The fault, 
 however, lies not, as he thinks, in a serious corruption of the 
 text, but in the style, designedly adopted, of Psalms like this of 
 a gloomy turn. D3"}1 HI refers back to ver. 13, which is the 
 proper niashul of the Psalm : this is their way or walk ( ^"IT 
 as in xxxvii. 5, cf. Hag. i. 5). Close upon this follows iD7 ?p3 
 (their "way), of those (cf. Ixix. 4) who possess self-confidence ; 
 ''?? signifies confidence both in a good and bad sense, self- 
 conlidencc, impudence, and even (Eccles. vii. 25) in general, 
 folly. The attributive clause is continued in ver. 14^* : and of 
 those who after them (i.e. when they have spoken, as Hitzig 
 takes it), or in a more universal sense : after or behind them 
 (i.e. treading in their footsteps), have pleasure in their mouth, 
 i.e. their haughty, insolent, rush words (cf. Judg. ix. 38). If 
 the meaning were " and after them go those who," etc., then 
 one would expect to find a verb in connection with Dn''?.r!^ (cf. 
 Job xxi. 33). As a collateral definition, " after them = after 
 their death," it would, however, without any reason, exclude 
 the idea of the assent given by their cotcmporaries. It is 
 
PSALM XLIX. 14-21. 115 
 
 therefore to be explained according to Job xxix. 22, or more 
 universally according to Deut. xii. 30. It may seem remark- 
 able that the music here strikes in forte ; but music can on its 
 part, in mournfully shrill tones, also bewail the folly of the 
 world. 
 
 Ver. 15, so full of eschatological meaning, now describes 
 what becomes of the departed. The subject of WC' (as in Ixxiii. 
 0, where it is Milra, for 'iOK^) is not, as perhaps in the case of 
 airatToixTLv^ Luke xii. 20, higher powers that are not named ; 
 but TW (here ^n^'), as in iii. 7, Hos. vi. 11, Isa. xxii. 7, is used 
 in a semi-passive sense : like a herd of sheep they lay them- 
 selves down or they are made to lie down ''i^^h'^ (thus it is 
 pointed by Ben-Asher ; whereas Ben-Naphtali points ''i^5tJ'?, 
 with a silent Shehd), to Hades = down into Hades (cf. Ixxxviii. 
 7), so that they are shut up in it like sheep in their fold. And 
 who is the shepherd there who rules these sheep with his rod ? 
 ^T?. ^)]^- Not the good Shepherd (xxiii. 1), whose pasture is 
 the land of the living, but Death, into whose power they have 
 fallen irx'ecoverably, shall pasture them. Death is personified, 
 as in Job xviii. 14, as the king of terrors. The modus consecu- 
 tivus, 'i^l'!!, now expresses the fact that will be realized in the 
 future, which is the reverse side of that other fact. After the 
 night of affliction has swiftly passed away, there breaks forth, 
 for the upright, a morning ; and in this morning they find 
 themselves to be lords over these their oppressors, like con- 
 querors, who put their feet upon the necks of the vanquished 
 (the LXX. well renders it by KaraKvpceiKTova-tv). Thus shall 
 it be with the upright, whilst the rich at their feet beneath, in 
 the ground, are utterly destroyed. "i|53p lias Rehia magnum^ 
 D''"iK'^ has Asla-Legarme ; accordingly the former word does not 
 belong to what follows (in the morning, then vanishes . . .), 
 but to what precedes. "i^V or ">"'V (as in Isa. xlv. 16) signifies a 
 
 form or image, just as n'^l^f (i" ,,^) is generally used ; properly, 
 
 that which is pressed in or pressed out, i.e. primarily something 
 moulded or fashioned by the pressure of the hand (as in the 
 case of the potter, "'^''') or by means of some instrument that 
 impresses and cuts the material. Here the word is used to 
 denote materiality or corporeity, including the whole outward 
 appearance {(pavTaauZj Acts xxv. 23). The ib which refers to 
 
116 PSALM XLIX. 14-21. 
 
 this, shows tliat £5"^,^^*! is not a contraction of ^^1'^'^^] (vid. on 
 xxvii. 5). Their materiality, tlieir whole outward form be- 
 loniiinir to this present state of being, becomes (falls away) 
 i)iStr ni^3^. The Lamed is used in the same way as in '^V'^( nM, 
 Isa. vi. 13; and ^iJ^y' is subject, like, e.g.^ the noun that follows 
 the infinitive in Ixviii. 19, Job xxxiv. 22. The same idea is 
 obtained if it is rendered : and their form Hades is ready to 
 consume {conmmtxirus est) ; but the order of the words, though 
 not making this rendering impossible (cf. xxxii. 9, so far as 
 vny there means "its cheek"), is, howevei', less favourable to 
 it (cf. Prov. xix. 8, Esth. iii. 11). n^3 was the most appro- 
 priate word for the slow, but sure and entire, consuming away 
 (Job xiii. 28) of the dead body which is gnawed or destroyed 
 in the grave, this gate of the lower world. To this is added 
 Sh ^3TO as a necative definition of the effect : so that there no 
 longer remains to it, i.e. to the pompous external nature of the 
 ungodly, any dwelling-place, and in general any place what- 
 ever ; for whatever they had in and about themselves is de- 
 stroyed, so that they wander to and fro as bare shadows in the 
 dreary waste of Hades. To them, who thought to have built 
 houses for eternity and called great districts of country after 
 their own names, there remains no longer any ?3T of this cor- 
 poreal nature, inasmuch as Hades gradually and surely destroys 
 it ; it is for ever freed from -its solid and dazzling shell, it wastes 
 away lonesome in the grave, it perishes leaving no trace behind. 
 Hiipfeld's interpretation is substantially the same, and that of 
 Jerome even is similar : et fujnra eorwn conteretur in infero 
 post haJiitaculnm snum ; and Syminachus: to 8e Kparepov avTojv 
 TraXaicoaei aBrj<; utto t?}? olKi'jcrew^; t?}? ivri'/xov ainwv. 
 
 Other expositors, it is true, solve the riddle of the half-verse 
 in a totally different way. ^Mendelssohn refers D"i^V to the 
 upright : whose being lasts longer than the grave (survives it), 
 hence it cannot be a habitation (eternal dwelling) to it; and 
 adds, " the poet could not speak more clearly of the resurrec- 
 tion (immortality)." * A modern Jewish Christian, Isr. Pick, 
 looked upon in Jerusalem as dead, sees here a prediction of 
 the breaking through of the realm of the dead by the risen 
 
 ♦ In the fragments of a commentary to Lis trauslation of Psalms, con- 
 tributed by David FriecUundcr. 
 
PSALM XLIX. 14-21. 117 
 
 One : " Their Rock is there, to break through the reahn of the 
 dead, that it may no longer serve Him as an abode." * Von 
 Hofmann's interpretation (last of all in his Schriftbeweis ii. 2, 
 499, 2d edition) lays claim to a more detailed consideration, 
 because it has been sought to maintain it against all objections. 
 By the morning he understands the end of the state or condition 
 of death both of the righteous and of the ungodly. " In the 
 state of death have they both alike found themselves: but now 
 the dominion of death is at an end, and the dominion of the 
 righteous begins." But those who have, according to ver. 15, 
 died are only the ungodly, not the righteous as well. Hofmann 
 then goes on to explain : their bodily form succumbs to the 
 destruction of the lower world, so that it no longer has any 
 abode ; which is said to convey the thought, that the ungodly, 
 " by means of the destruction of the lower world, to which 
 their corporeal nature in common with themselves becomes 
 subject, lose its last gloomy abode, but thereby lose their cor- 
 poreal nature itself, which has now no longer any continuance :" 
 " their existence becomes henceforth one absolutely devoid of 
 possessions and of space, [the exact opposite of the time when 
 they possessed houses built for eternity, and broad tracts of 
 country bore their name."] But even according to the teach- 
 ing of the Old Testament concerning the last things, in the 
 period after the Exile, the resurrection includes the righteous 
 and the unrighteous (Dan. xii. 2) ; and according to the teach- 
 ing of the New Testament, the damned, after Death and Hades 
 are cast into the lake of fire, receive another ^UT, viz. Gehenna, 
 which stands in just the same relation to Hades as the trans- 
 formed world does to the old heavens and the old earth. The 
 thought discovered in ver. 15, therefore, will not bear being put 
 to the proof. There is, however, this further consideration, 
 that nothing whatever is known in any other part of the Old 
 Testament of such a destruction of Sheol ; and ni?2p found in 
 the Psalm before us would be a most inappropriate word to 
 express it, instead of which it ought to have been rii?3p ; for the 
 figurative language in cii. 27, Isa. li. 6, is worthless as a justi- 
 fication of this word, which signifies a gradual wearing out and 
 
 * In a fugitive paper of the so-callefl Amen Congregation, which now 
 unhappily exists no longer, iu Miiuchcu-Gladbach. 
 
118 rSALM XLIX. 14-21. 
 
 using up or consuming, and must not, in opposition to the 
 itsage of the language, be explained according to ?? and v3. 
 For this reason we refrain from making this passage a locus 
 classicus in favour of an eschatological conception which cannot 
 be supported by any other passage in the Old Testament. On 
 the other side, however, the meaning of "ii^3? is limited if it be 
 understood only of the morning which dawns upon the righteous 
 one after the night of affliction, as Kurtz does. What is, in 
 fact, meant is a morning which not merely for individuals, but 
 for all the upright, will be the end of oppression and the dawn 
 of dominion : the ungodly are totally destroyed, and they (the 
 upright) now triumph above their graves. In these words is 
 expressed, in the manner of the Old Testament, the end of all 
 time. Even according to Old Testament conception human 
 history closes with the victory of good over evil. So far ver. 
 15 is really a " riddle" of the last great day ; expressed in New 
 Testament language, of the resurrection morn, on which ol aytot 
 rov Koa/jiov Kptvovai (1 Cor. vi. 2). 
 
 With '^i^, in ver. 16 (used here adversatively, as e.g. in Job 
 xiii. 15, and as I?^ is more frequently used), the poet contrasts 
 the totally different lot that awaits him with the lot of the rich 
 who are satisfied in themselves and unmindful of God. ^X be- 
 longs logically to ''?'S3, but (as is moreover frequently the case 
 with PI, D|, and ^N) is, notwithstanding this relation to a follow- 
 ing member of the sentence, placed at the head of the sentence : 
 yet Elohim will redeem my soul out of the hand of Sheol 
 (Ixxxix. 49, Hos. xiii. 14). In what sense the poet means this 
 redemption to be understood is shown by the allusion to the 
 history of Enoch (Gen. v. 24) contained in ^Jn;?^ ^3. Biittcher 
 shrewdly remarks, that this line of the verse is all the more 
 expressive by reason of its relative shortness. Its meaninn" 
 cannot be : He will take me under His protection ; for njp^ does 
 not mean this. The true parallels are Ixxiii. 24, Gen. v. 24. 
 The removals of Enoch and Elijah were, as it were, finirer- 
 posts which pointed forward beyond the cheerless idea they 
 possessed of the way of all men, into the depth of Hades. 
 Glancing at these, the poet, who here speaks in the name of 
 all upright sufferers, gives expression to the hope, that God 
 will wrest him out of the power of Sheol and take him to 
 Himself. It is a hope that possesses no direct word of God 
 
PSALM XLIX. 14-21. 119 
 
 upon which it could rest ; it is not until later on that it receives 
 the supj)ort of divine promise, and is for the present only a 
 " bold flight" of faith. Nor can we, for this very reason, 
 attempt to define in what way the poet conceived of this re- 
 demption and this taking to Himself. In diis matter he 
 himself has no fully developed knowledge ; the substance of 
 his hope is only a dim inkling of what may be. This dimness 
 that is only gradually lighted up, which lies over the last things 
 in the Old Testament, is the result of a divine plan of educa- 
 tion, in accordance with which the hope of eternal life was 
 gradually to mature, and to be born as it were out of this 
 wrestling faith itself. This faith is expressed in ver. 16; and 
 the music accompanies his confidence in cheerful and rejoicing 
 strains. 
 
 After this, in vers. 17 sqq., there is a return from the lyric 
 strain to the gnomic and didactic. It must not, with Mendels- 
 sohn, be rendered : let it (my soul) not be afraid ; but, since 
 the psalmist begins after the manner of a discourse : fear thou 
 not. The increasing "li^^, i-e. might, abundance, and outward 
 show (all these combined, from ^33, grave esse), of the prosper- 
 ous oppressor is not to make the saint afraid : he must after all 
 die, and cannot take hence with him ^^Hj the all = anything 
 whatever (cf. ^^7, for anything whatever, Jer. xiii. 7). ^3, ver. 
 17, like idv, puts a supposable case; ^3, ver. 18, is confirma- 
 tory ; and ""S, ver. 19a, is concessive, in the sense of ''3"23, 
 according to Ew. § 362, b : even though he blessed his soul 
 during his life, i.e. called it fortunate, and flattered it by 
 cherished voluptuousness (cf. Deut. xxix. 18, it^??3 ^^ann^ and 
 the soliloquy of the rich man in Luke xii. 19), and though they 
 praise thee, O rich man, because thou dost enjoy thyself (Luke 
 xvi. 25), wishing themselves equally fortunate, still it (the soul 
 of such an one) will be obliged to come or pass vni3S "liTiy. 
 There is no necessity for taking the noun in here in the rare 
 signification dwelling (Arabic ddr, synonym of memil), and it 
 appears the most natural way to supply iJ^'S? as the subject to 
 NUri (Hofmann, Kurtz, and others), seeing that one would ex- 
 pect to find T'nux in the case of NUn being a form of address. 
 And there is then no need, in order to support the synallage, 
 which is at any rate inelegant, to suppose that the suffix In- 
 takes its rise from the formula vnbN^i'N! (npx3) Ni3, and is, in 
 
120 PSALM L. 
 
 spite of the misuitable grammatical connection, retained, just 
 as l^n^ and D??, without regard to the suffixes, signify " toge- 
 ther" and "ail together" (Bottclier). Certainly the poet 
 delights in difficulties of style, of which quite sufficient remain 
 to him without adding this to the list. It is also not clear 
 whether ver. 206 is intended to be taken as a relative clause 
 intimately attached to vnusij or as an independent clause. The 
 latter is admissible, and therefore to be preferred : there are 
 the proud rich men together with their fathers buried in dark- 
 ness for ever, without ever again seeing the light of a life 
 which is not a mere shadowy life. 
 
 The didactic discourse now closes with the same proverb as 
 the first part, ver. 13. But instead of ly^''? the expression 
 here used is P?^ ^'^], which is co-ordinate with "ij^^s as a second 
 attributive definition of the subject (Ew. § 351, b) : a man in 
 glory and who has no understanding, viz. does not distinguish 
 between that which is perishable and that which is imperish- 
 able, between time and eternity. The proverb is here more 
 precisely expressed. The gloomy prospect of the future does 
 not belong to the rich man as such, but to the worldly and 
 carnally minded rich man. 
 
 ■ ' { '■ • "' '-^ 
 
 ""■ ^. PSALM L. , (^M*''^^ \ 
 
 " DIVINE DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE TRUE SACRIFICE ^ 
 ,^ ' AND WORSHIP. 
 
 M^^' 1 EL ELOHIM JAIIVE speaketh, 
 
 »■ j^ And summoneth the earth from the rising of the sun to its 
 
 '* ' fjoing down. 
 
 y ■ 2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, Eloliim shineth. 
 
 3 Our God will come and shall not keep silence; 
 P^ire devoureth before Him, 
 
 And round about Ilim it is very tempestuous. 
 
 4 lie calleth to the heavens above 
 
 And to the earth to come to judge His people. 
 
 5 " Gather My saints together unto INIe, i 
 Who make a covenant with Me over sacrifice!" — \^ 
 
PSALM L. 121 
 
 6 And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, 
 
 For Elohim purposeth to sit in judgment. {Sela.) 
 
 7 Hear, then. My people, and I will speaki; ^ 
 \ O^Israel, and I will testify to thee — 
 
 Elohim, thy God am I. 
 
 8 Not for thy sacrifices do Ivreprovejthee, 
 
 And thy burnt-offerings are continually before Me. 
 
 9 I have no need to take bullocks out of thy house, 
 Nor he-goats out of thy folds. 
 
 10 For Mine is every beast of the forest, 
 The cattle upon a thousand hills. 
 
 11 I know every bird of the mountains, 
 
 And that which moveth on the meadows is with Me. 
 
 12 If I were hungry I would not tell thee, 
 For Mine is the world and its fulness. 
 
 13 Should I eat the flesh of bulls ? 
 
 And the blood of he-goats should I drink ? 
 
 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving, 
 
 And pay to the Most High thy vows. :^ 
 
 15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble — 
 
 I will deliver thee, and thou slialt honour Me. 
 
 vy 
 
 16 But to the evil-doer Elohim saith : 
 
 How dost thou dare to tell My statutes, fi 
 
 And that thou takest My covenant into thy mouth ; 
 
 17 Whereas thou nevertheless hatest instruction, 
 And castest My words behind thee?! 
 
 18 When thou seest a thief, thou takest pleasure in him. 
 And with adulterers dost thou make thyself familiar. 
 
 19 Thou lett^st thy mouth loose to wickedness, >' 
 And thy tongue frameth deceit. 
 
 20 Thou sittest and slanderest thy brother, 
 Upon thy mother's son thou brlngest reproach. 
 
 21. These things doest thou, and, because I keep silence, 
 - Thou thinkest I am exactly like thee — 
 
 I will show thee and set it before thine eyes, y' 
 
 22 Consider, now, this, ye who forget God, 
 
 Lest I tear in pieces and there be none to rescue. 
 
122 PSALM L. 
 
 23 Whoso offereth tlianksglvinfr, lionoureth Me truly, 
 . And prepareth a way, in which I may show him the salva- 
 ^ ' tion of Elohim, 
 
 With the preceding Psalm the series of the Korahitic 
 Elohim-Psalnis of the primary collection (Ps. i.-lxxii.) closes. 
 [There are, reckoning Ps. xlii. and xliii. as one Psalm, seven of 
 them (Ps. xlii.-xlix.). They form the principal group of the 
 Korahitic Psalms, to which the third book furnishes a supple- 
 ^ ment, bearing in part an Elohimic (Ps. Ixxxiv.) and in part a 
 Jehovic impress (Ps. Ixxxv., Ixxxvii., Ixxxviii.). The Asaphic] 
 I Psalms, on the contrary, b elon g, exclusively to the Elohimic 
 - 11 style of Psalms, but do not, however, all stand together : the 
 principal group of them is to be found in the third book (Ps. 
 Ixxiii.-lxxxiii.), and the primary collection contains only one 
 (Soi them, viz. Ps. 1., which is here placed immediately after Ps. 
 I xlix. on account of several points of mutual relationship, andj-f- 
 more especially because the prominent Hear then, My peoplel a- 
 •Vl (1. 7), is in accord with the beginning of Ps. xlix.. Hear, all ye\ ^ 
 \peoples. 
 
 According to 1 CJjron. xxiii. 2-5, the whole of the thirty- ^A 
 eight thousand Levites vvere divided by David into four |f "^ 
 divisions (24,000 4- 6000 + 4000 + 4000). To the fourth 'I ^ 
 
 4 division (4000) was assigned the music belonging to divine 
 worship. Out of this division, however, a select company of 
 two hundred and eighty-eight singers was further singled out, 
 and divided into twenty-four classes. These last were placed 
 under three leaders or precentors (^Sangmeister), viz. fourteen! 
 - classes under Heman the Kehathite and his fourteen sons; 
 four classes under Asaph the Gersonite and his four sons;, 
 'and six classes under Etlian (Jeduthun) and his six sons 
 (1 Chron. ch. xxv., cf. ch. xv. 17 sqq.). The instruments 
 played by these three leaders, which they made use of on 
 V account of their clear, penetrating sound, were the cymbals v 
 (1 Chron. XV. 19). Also in 1 Chron. xvi. 5, where Asaph is 
 described as the chief (^"''<"i'^) of the sacred music in the tent 
 where the Ark was placed, he strikes the cymbals. That he 
 /• 11 was the chief, first leader, cannot be affirmed. The usual I , 
 lorder of the names is " Ileman, Asaph, and Ethan." The 
 isame order is also observed in the genealofries of the three in 
 
 \r^X_B_\., 
 
PSALM L. 123 
 
 1 Cliron. vi. 16-32. Heman takes the prominent place, and / 
 at his right hand stands Asaph, and on his left Ethan. 
 
 History bears witness to the fact that Asaph was also a \ 
 /jPsalm-wr^ter. For, according to 2jOhron. xxix. 30, Hezekiah 
 'bi'oiight " the words of David and of Asaph the seer" into use' 
 , liacain in the service of the house of God. And in the Book 
 jof Nehemiah, ch. xii. 46, David and Asaph are placed side by 
 side as D^'inb'on '•trxn in the days of old in Israel. 
 ^ The twelve Psalms bearing the inscription ^^^? are all 
 X/Elohimic. The name of God mri'' does not occur at all in two 
 (Ixxvii., Ixxxii,), and in the rest only once, or at the most twice. 
 Side by side with DN"i?s, "'^"'X and pi^ are used as favourite names, 
 and especial preference is also given to )iyy. Of compounded 
 names of God, n'in^_ 2''n7X 7Sl (only besides in Josh. xxii. 22) in 
 the Psalter, and niX^V Q'''?^^ in the Old Testament Scriptures 
 generally (vid. Symholce, pp. 14— 16), are exclusively peculiar to 
 
 f{ them. So far as concerns their contents, they are distinguished 
 |_ from the Korahitic Psalms by their prophetically judicial 
 [ character. As in the prophets, God is frequently introduced 
 as speaking ; and we meet with detailed prophetical pictures 
 of the appearing of God the Judge, together with somewhat 
 long judicial addresses (Ps. 1., Ixxv., Ixxxii.). The appellation 
 ^.f'^'!', which Asaph bears in 2 Chron. xxix. 30, accords with this ; 
 notwithstanding the chronicler also applies the same epithet to 
 both the other precentors. The ground of this, as with NliJ^ 
 which is used by the chronicler of the singing and playing of 
 instruments in the service of the house of God, is to be found 
 in the intimate connection between the sacred lyric and pro- 
 phecy as a whole. The future visionary character of the A^ 
 il Asaphic Psalms has its reverse sTde in tne historical past. We 
 '' frequently meet with descriptive retrospective glances at facts 
 of the primeval history (Ixxiv. 13-15, Ixxvii. 15 sqq., Ixxx. 9-12, 
 r Ixxxi. 5-8, Ixxxiii. 10-12), and Ps. Ixxviii. is entirely taken up 
 ■ Il with holding up the mirror of the ancient history of the nation 
 to the people of the present. If we read the twelve Psalms of 
 A Asaph in order one after the other, we shall, moreover, observe . / T ? 
 1 1 this striking characteristic, that mention is made of Joseph and I - : 
 I the tribes descended from him more frequently than anywhere I 
 else (Ixxvii. 16, Ixxviii. 9, 67 sq., Ixxxi. 6, Ixxx. 2 sq.). Nor _£! 
 is another feature less remarkable, viz. that the mutual rela- 
 
-\ 
 
 124 rSALM L. 
 
 k tionsliip of Jahve to Israel is set forth under tlie figure of the 
 
 .(shepherd and his flock rather than any other (Ixxiv. ], Lxxvii. 
 
 21, Ixxviii. 52, of. Ixx.-lxxii., Ixxix. 13, Ixxx. 2). Moreover 
 
 these Psalms deli<^ht in other respects to vary the designations 
 
 for the people of God as much as possible. 
 
 In Ps. 1., Ixxiii.-lxxxiii., we have before us a peculiar type 
 of Psalms. The inscription H^^c' has, so to speak, deep-lying [I . 
 internal grounds in its support. But it does not follow from 
 this inscription that all these Psalms were composed by the aged 
 Asaph, who, as Ixxviii. 69 shows, lived until the early part of 
 Solomon's reign. The outward marks peculiar to Asaph were 
 "continued in his posterity even into the period after the Exile. 
 History mentions Asaphites under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 
 14), under Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix. 13), and among the exiles 
 who returned (Ezra ii. 41, of. iii. 10, one hundred and twenty- 
 eight Asaphites ; Neh. vii. 44, of. xi. 22, a hundred and forty- 
 eight of them). Since down to the period after the Exile even 
 the cj'mbals (D^rip^'p) descended to them from their ancestor, 
 the poetic talent and enthusiasm may also have been hereditary 
 among them. The later " Psalms of Asaph," whether com- i 
 posed by later Asaphites or some other person, are inscribed 
 flDxij because, by whomsoever, they are composed in the style 
 -"t^lj of Asaph and after Asaphic models. Ps. 1., however, is an 
 I original Psalm of Asaph. 
 
 After the manner of the prophets the twofold truth is here 
 advanced, that God has no delight in animal sacrifice without 
 the sacrifice of prayer in which the heart is engaged, and that 
 the confession of His word without a life that accords with 
 His word is an abomination to Him. It is the very same funda- 
 mental thought which is expressed in xl. 7-9, Ixix. 31 sq., li. 
 18 sq., and underlies Ps. xxiv. (1-0) and xv. ; they are all/l 
 echoes of the grand utterance of Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 22), the/' "^ 
 father of the poetry of the Psalms. It cannot surprise one 
 that stress is laid on this denunciation of a heartless service 
 of works by so many voices during the Davidic age. The 
 nothingness of the ojnis operatum is also later on the watch- 
 word of the propliets in times when religious observances, 
 well ordered and in accordance with legal prescription, pre- 
 dominate in Judah. Nor should it seem strange that Asaph 
 [[ the Levite, who was appointed to the sanctuary on Zion, ex- 
 
PSALM L. 1-3. 125 
 
 presses himself thus ; for Jeremiah was also a Levite and even I \ ^ 
 a priest (cohen), and yet no one has spoken a bolder, and more 
 cutting word against the outward and formal service of sacrifice 
 than he (Jer. vii. 22 sq.). Both these objections being removed, 
 there is nothing else that stands in the way of our ascribing 
 this Psalm to Asaph himself. This is favoured by echoes of 
 the Psalm in the prophets (cf. ver. 2 with Lam. ii. 15, and the 
 verse-ending ver. 8, xxxviii. 18, with Isa. xlix. 16), and there 
 is nothing opposed to it in the form of the language. 
 
 Vers. 1-3. The theophany. The names of God are heaped j] 
 up in ver. 1 in order to gain a thoroughly full-toned exordium V 
 for the description of God as the Judge of the world. Hupfeld 
 considers this heaping up cold and stiff; but it is exactly in 
 accordance with the taste of the Elohimic style. The three 
 names are co-ordinate with one another; for 0'''}^^ ?^ does not 
 mean " God of gods," which would rather be expressed by 
 D"'n'Sxn Vn'^j^^ or ^''px bii. PX is the name for God as the Almighty ; ; 
 ^''>P^. as the Revered One ; ^}}}!'. as the Being, absolute in His • 
 existence, and who accordingly freely influences and moulds his- 
 tory after His own plan — this His peculiar proper-name is the 
 third in the triad. Perfects alternate in vers. 1-6 with futures, 
 /at one time the idea of that which is actually taking place, and 
 at another of that which is future, predominating. Jahve sum- 
 mons the earth to be a witness of the divine judgment upon 
 the people of the covenant. The addition " from the rising of \ 
 the sun to its going down," shows that the poet means the earth \ " 
 in respect of its inhabitants. Pie speaks, and because what He 
 speaks is of universal significance Pie makes the earth in all 
 its compass His audience. This summons precedes His self- 
 manifestation. It is to be construed, with Aquila, the Syriac, 
 Jerome, Tremellius, and Montanus, "out of Zion, the perfec- 
 tion of beauty, Elohim shineth." Zion, the perfect in beauty 
 (cf. the dependent passage Lam. ii. 15, and 1 Mace. ii. 12, where 
 the temple is called i) KaXXovr] rjf^cov), because the place of i 
 the presence of God the glorious One, is the bright spot whence , 
 the brightness of the divine manifestation spreads forth like the I, 
 rising sun. In itself certainly it is not inappropriate, with the 
 LXX., Vulgate, and Luther, to take ''S^'^i^D as a designation 
 of the manifestation of Elohim in His glory, which is the noii 
 
126 rSALM L. 4-6. 
 
 jyhis ultra of beauty, and consequently to be explained accord- 
 ing to Ezek. xxviii. 12, cf. Ex. xxxiii. 19, and not according 
 to Lam. ii. 15 (more particularly since Jeremiah so readily 
 gives a new turn to the language of older writers). But, 
 taking the fact into consideration that nowhere in Scripture is 
 beauty (^S).) thus directly predicated of God, to whom peculiarly 
 belongs a glory that transcends all beauty, we must follow the 
 guidance of the accentuation, which marks ''a''"i'i53D by Mercha 
 as in apposition with P*V (cf . Psychol. S. 49 ; tr. p. 60). The 
 y poet beholds the appearing of God, an appearing that resembles 
 the rising of the sun (J^''?i'"', as in the Asaph Psalm Ixxx. 2, 
 after Deut. xxxiii. 2, from V^], with a transition of the primary 
 
 notion of rising, «_i.;, «_i^, to that of beaming forth and lighting 
 
 up far and wide, as in «_k«c) ; for " our God will come and by 
 
 no means keep silence." It is not to be rendered : Let our 
 God come (Hupfeld) and not keep silence (Olshausen). The 
 former wish comes too late after the preceding j?''S"in (^^\ is 
 consequently veniet, and written as e.g. in xxxvii. 13), and the 
 latter is superfluous. ^^5, as in xxxiv. 6, xli. 3, Isa. ii. 9, and 
 frequently, implies in the negative a lively interest on the part 
 of the writer : He cannot, He dare not keep silence, His glory 
 ' will not allow it. He who gave the Law, will enter into judg- 
 \ ment with those who have it and do not keep it ; He cannot 
 long look on and keep silence. He must punish, and first of 
 all by word in order to warn them against the punislmient by 
 deeds. Fire and storm are the harbin2;ers of the Lawo;iver of 
 Sinai who now appears as Judge. The fire threatens to con- 
 sume the sinners, and the storm (viz. a tempest accompanied 
 with lightning and thunder, as in Job xxxviii. 1) threatens to 
 drive them away like chaff. The expression in ver. ob is like 
 xviii. 9. The fern. Nipli. nnyi.": does not refer to ti'S, but is 
 used as neuter : it is stormed, i.e. a storm rages (Apollinaris, 
 ekaCKairlaOri acpoSpa). The fire is His wrath ; and the storm 
 the power or force of His wrath. 
 
 Vers. 4-6. The iudrrnient scene. To the heavens above 
 («'yp, elsewhere a preposition, here, as in Gen. xxvii. 39, xlix. 
 25, an adverb, desuper, superne) and to the earth God calls 
 (7)^ Nnp as, e.g.^ Gen. xxviii. 1), to both i'sy pn?^ in order to sit 
 in judgment upon His people in their presence, and with them 
 
PSALM L. 7-15. 127 
 
 ' as witnesses of His doings. Or is it not that they are summoned 
 to attend, but that the commission, ver. 5, is addressed to them 
 (Olshausen, Hitzig) ? Certainly not, for the act of gatliering 
 is not one that properly belongs to the heavens and the earth, 
 which, however, because they exist from the beginning and will 
 last for ever, are suited to be witnesses (Deut. iv. 26, xxxii. 1, 
 Isa. i. 2, 1 Mace. ii. 37). The summons ^SpJ;^ is addressed, as 
 in Matt. xxiv. 31, and frequently in visions, to the celestial 
 spirits, the servants of the God here appearing. The accused 
 who are to be brought before the divine tribunal are mentioned 
 by names which, without their state of mind and heart cor- 
 responding to them, express the relationship to Himself in 
 which God has placed them (cf. Deut. xxxii. 15, Isa. xlii. 
 19). They are called n)''T?Q, as in the Asaph Psalm Ixxix. 2. 
 
 I This contradiction between their relationship and their conduct /. 
 
 ' makes an undesigned but bitter irony. In a covenant rela- 
 tionship, consecrated and ratified by a covenant sacrifice ("vy 
 niT similar to xcii. 4, Num. x. 10), has God placed Plimself 
 towards them (Ex. xxiv.) ; and this covenant relationship is 
 also maintained on their part by offering sacrifices as an expres- 
 sion of their obedience and of their fidelity. The participle , 
 WS here implies the constant continuance of that primary ! "^ 
 covenant-making. Now, while the accused are gathered up, 
 the poet hears the heavens solemnly acknowledge the righteous- 
 ness of the Judge beforehand. The participial construction 
 Nin DSb', which always, according to the connection, expresses 
 the present (Nah. i. 2), or the past (Judg. iv. 4), or the future 
 (Isa. XXV. 31), is in this instance an expression of that which is 
 near at hand {fut. instans). Nin has not the sense of ipse (Ew. 
 § 314, a), for it corresponds to the " I" in tosb' ^JX or t^sb^ ^^:n ; 
 and ''3 is not to be translated by nam (Hitzig), for the fact that 
 God intends to judge requires no further announcement. On 
 the contrary, because God is just now in the act of sitting in 
 judgment, the heavens, the witnesses most prominent and 
 nearest to Him, bear witness to His righteousness. The 
 earthly music, as the n^D directs, is here to join in with the 
 celestial praise. Nothing further is now wanting to the com- 
 pleteness of the judgment scene; the action now begins. 
 
 Vers. 7-15. Exposition of the sacrificial Tura for the good 
 of those whose holiness consists in outward works. Tlic forms 
 
128 PSALM L. 7-15. 
 
 strengtlioned by ali, in ver. 7, describe God's earnest desire to 
 Ihave Israel for willing hearers as being quite as strong as His 
 'desire to speak and to bear witness. 3 T'i'ili, obtestari aliquem^ 
 to come forward as witness, either solemnly assuring, or, as 
 here and in the Psalm of Asaph, Ixxxi. 9, earnestly warning 
 
 and punishing (cf. j^^^ with c— ?, to bear witness against any 
 
 one). On the Dagesh forte conjunctive in ^3^ vicL Ges. § 20, 
 2, a. lie who is speaking has a right thus to stand face to face 
 with Israel, for he is Elohim, the God of Israel — by which 
 designation reference is made to tlie words *1M?S nin'' "i^jx (Ex. 
 XX. 2), with which begins the Law as given from Sinai, and 
 which here take the Elohimic form (whereas in IxxxL 11 they 
 remain unaltered) and are inverted in accordance with the con- 
 text. As ver. 8 states, it is not the material sacrifices, which 
 Israel continually, without cessation, offers, that are the object 
 of the censuring testimony. '^'T'''^^'!? even if it has Mugrash, as 
 in Baer, is not on this account, according to the interpretation 
 given by the accentuation, equivalent to T'^I^'IJ'"''!''' (cf- on the 
 other hand xxxviii. 18) ; it is a simple assertory substantival 
 clause : thy burnt-offerings are, without intermission, continu- 
 ally before Me. God will not dispute about sacrifices in their 
 outward characteristics; for — so vers. 9-11 go on to say — He 
 does not need sacrifices for the sake of receiving from Israel 
 what He does not otherwise possess. His is every wild 
 beast O^V, as in the Asaph Psalm, Ixxix. 2) of the forest. His 
 the cattle ^•'JJ "T^^in?, upon the mountains of a thousand, i.e. 
 upon the thousand (and myriad) mountains (similar to I2p?p ""rip 
 or toJJO '•no), or : where they live by thousands (a similar com- 
 Ijination to "tiC'V p33). Both explanations of the genitive are 
 unsupported by any perfectly analogous instance so far as 
 language is concerned ; the former, however, is to be preferred 
 on account of the singular, which is better suited to it. He 
 knows every bird that makes its home on the mountains ; VT, 
 as usually, of a knowledge which masters a subject, compasses 
 it and makes it its own. Whatever moves about the fields is 
 with Him, i.e. is within the range of His knowledge (cf. Job 
 xxvii. 11, X. 13), and therefore of His power; Tf (here and in 
 the Asaph Psahn Ixxx. 14) from NTXT = yryr, to move to and 
 fro, like tD"'9 from i^^^^, to sweep out, cf. klvcottctov, kvmBoXov, 
 
PSALM L. 16-21. 129 
 
 from Kivetv. Bat just as little as God requires sacrifices in 
 order thereby to enrich Himself, is there any need on His part 
 that might be satisfied by sacrifices, vers. 12 sq. If God 
 should hunger, He would not stand in need of man's help in 
 order to satisfy Himself ; but He is never hungry, for He is 
 the Being raised above all carnal wants. Just on this account, 
 what God requires is not by any means the outward worship 
 of sacrifice, but a spiritual offering, the worship of the heart, 
 ver. 14. Instead of the D''D^B', and more particularly niin nnr, 
 Lev. vii. 11—15, and ^l^ '•^p^'j Lev. vii. 16 (under the generic 
 idea of which are also included, strictly speaking, vowed thank- 
 offerings), God desires the thanksgiving of the heart and the 
 performance of that which has been vowed in respect of our 
 moral relationship to Himself and to men ; and instead of the 
 npiy in its manifold forms of devotion, the prayer of the heart, 
 which shall not remain unanswered, so that in the round of 
 this Xo'yiKrj Xarpeia everything proceeds from and ends in 
 ev^apia-Tia. It is not the sacrifices offered in a becoming 
 spirit that are contrasted with those offered without the heart 
 (as, e.g.j Sir. xxxii. [xxxv.] 1-9), but the outward sacrifice 
 appears on the whole to be rejected in comparison with the 
 spiritual sacrifice. This entire turning away from the outward 
 form of the legal ceremonial is, in the Old Testament, already 
 a predictive turning towards that worship of God in spirit and 
 in truth which the new covenant makes alone of avail, after 
 the forms of the Law have served as swaddling clothes to the 
 New Testament life which was coming into being in the old 
 covenant. This " becoming" begins even in the Tora itself, 
 especially in Deuteronomy. Our Psalm, like the Chokma 
 (Prov. xxi. 3), and prophecy in the succeeding age (cf. 
 Hos. vi. 6, Mic. vi. 6-8, Isa. i. 11-15, and other passages), 
 stands upon the standpoint of this concluding book of the 
 Tora, which traces back all the requirements of the Law to the 
 fundamental command of love. 
 
 Vers. 16-21. The accusation of the manifest sinners. It 
 is not those who are addressed in vers. 7 sqq., as Hengstenberg 
 thinks, who are here addressed. Even the position of the words 
 nps yw'1^1 clearly shows that the divine discourse is now turned 
 to another class, viz. to the evil-doers, who, in connection with 
 open and manifest sins and vices, take the word of God upon 
 VOL. IL 9 
 
130 PSALM L. 16-21. 
 
 their lips, a distinct class from those who base their sanctity 
 upon outward works of piety, who outwardly fulfil the com- 
 mands of God, but satisfy and deceive themselves with this 
 outward observance. ? "^Y^^j what hast thou, that thou = it 
 belongs not to thee, it does not behove thee. "With ^^^\ in 
 ver. 17, an adversative subordinate clause begins : since thou 
 dost not care to know anything of the moral ennobling which 
 it is the design of the Law to give, and my words, instead of 
 having them as a constant test-line before thine eyes, thou 
 castest behind thee and so turnest thy back upon them (cf. 
 Isa. xxxviii. 17). p.ljil is not from yn (LXX., Targum, and 
 Saadia), in which case it would have to be pointed Yy^)j but 
 ^^ from n^*1, and is construed here, as in Job xxxiv. 9, with DV : 
 to have pleasure in intei'course with any one. In ver. 18a the 
 transgression of the eighth commandment is condemned, in 
 ver. ISb that of the seventh, in vers. 19 sq. that of the ninth 
 (concerning the truthfulness of testimony). ni;"i3 ns rD\^^ to 
 give up one's mouth unrestrainedly to evil, i.e. so that evil 
 issues from it. HC'ri, ver. 20a, has reference to gossiping com- 
 pany (cf. i. 1). "'3T signifies a thrust, a push (cf. ^1^), after 
 which the LXX. renders it erlOeL'i cncavhaXov (cf. Lev. xix. 
 14), but it also signifies vexation and mockery (cf. K[^^ ', it is 
 therefore to be rendered : to bring reproach (Jerome, oppro- 
 brium) upon any one, to cover him with dishonour. The pre- 
 position 3 with i|i"^ has, just as in Num. xii. 1, and frequently, 
 a hostile signification. "Thy mother's son" is he who is born 
 of the same mother with thyself, and not merely of the same 
 father, consequently thy brother after the flesh in the fullest 
 sense. What Jahve says in this passage is exactly the same 
 as that which the apostle of Jesus Christ says in Rom. ii. 17-24. 
 This contradiction between the knowledge and the life of men 
 God must, for His holiness' sake, unmask and punish, ver. 21. 
 The sinner thinks otherwise: God is like himself, i.e. that is 
 also not accounted by God as sin, which he allows himself to 
 do under the cloak of his dead knowledge. For just as a man 
 is in himself, such is his conception also of his God (vid. xviii. 
 26 sq.). But God will not encourage this foolish idea: "I will 
 therefore reprove thee and set (it) in order before thine eyes" 
 ('"'t'"'^''!!'!) not n^ti'Sl, in order to give expression, the second time 
 at least, to the mood, the form of which has been obliterated 
 
PSALM L. 22, 23. 131 
 
 by the suffix) ; He will set before the eyes of the sinner, who 
 practically and also in theory denies the divine holiness, the 
 real state of his heart and life, so that he shall be terrified at 
 It. Instead of nSn, the infin. intensit. here, under the influence 
 of the close connection of the clauses (Evv. § 240, c), is nrn ; 
 the oratio ohliqua begins with it, without ""S (quod). "^if^3 
 exactly corresponds to the German deines Gleichen, thine 
 equal. 
 
 Vers. 22, 23. Epilogue of the divine discourse. Under the 
 name ^i^i^. ''0?^ ai'e comprehended the decent or honourable 
 whose sanctity relies upon outward works, and those who know 
 better but give way to licentiousness ; and they are warned of 
 the final execution of the sentence which they have deserved. 
 In dead works God delighteth not, but whoso offereth thanks- 
 giving (viz. not slielamhn-toda, but the toda of the heart), he 
 praises Him* and "^y}^ Cib'. It is unnecessary with Luther, 
 following the LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac versions, to read i^'f. 
 The Talmudic remark Dt^l N^S m\ npn ^^ [do not read Db''i, 
 but D*ii'11 assumes Db'l to be the traditional readincj. If we take 
 TjlT DC' as a thought complete in itself, — which is perfectly 
 possible in a certain sense {vid. Isa. xliii. 19), — then it is best 
 explained according to the Vulgate {qui ordlnat viam), with 
 Bottcher, Maurer, and Hupfeld : viam h. e. recta incedere (lege 
 agere) parans ; but the expression is inadequate to express this 
 ethical sense (cf. Prov. iv. 26), and consequently is also without 
 example. The LXX. indicates the correct idea in the render- 
 ing Koi eKel oSo9 y hel^oi avraj to acorrjpiov Geov. The yn Du'1 
 (designedly not pointed "n']"i|)j which standing entirely by itself 
 has no definite meaning, receives its requisite supplement by 
 means of the attributive clause that follows. Such an one 
 prepares a way along which I will grant to him to see the sal- 
 vation of Elohim, i.e. along which I will grant him a rapturous 
 yision of the full reality of My salvation. The form ''^•5'|2D^ Is 
 without example elsewhere. It sounds like the likewise epen- 
 thetical ''^^^^'Ji?', Prov. i. 28, cf. viii. 17, Hos. v. 15, and may 
 be understood as an imitation of it as regards sound. ''^^7?^': 
 (= ■'^7.^?"!) Is In the writer's mind as the form out of pause 
 
 * In VeJicy«^', old Bactrianyac (whence jag' jax, the primitive word of 
 «y/oj), the uotious of offering aud of praising lie one within the other. 
 
132 PSALM LI. 
 
 (Gcs. § 58, 4). With ver. 23 the Psalm recurs to its central 
 point and climax, vcr. 14 sq. What Jahve here discourses in 
 a post-Sinaitic appearing, is the very same discourse concerning 
 the worthlessness of dead works and concerning the true will 
 of God that Jesus addresses to the assembled people when He 
 enters upon His ministry. The cycle of the revelation of the 
 Gospel is linked to the cycle of the revelation of the Law by 
 the Sermon on the Mount ; this is the point at which both 
 cycles touch. 
 
 PSALM LI. 
 
 PENITENTIAL PRAYER AND INTERCESSION FOR RESTORA- 
 TION TO FAVOUR. 
 
 3 BE merciful to me, Eiohim, according to Thy loving- 
 
 kindness. 
 According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my 
 transgressions ! 
 
 4 Wash me thoi'oughly from mine iniquity, 
 And from my sin make me clean. 
 
 5 For of my transgressions I am conscious, 
 And my sin is ever present to me. 
 
 6 Against Thee only have I sinned, 
 
 And done that which is evil in Thine eyes; 
 J That Thou mayest appear just wiien Thou speakest, 
 Clear when Thou judgest. 
 
 7 Behold, in iniquity was I born, 
 
 And in sin did my mother conceive me. 
 
 8 Behold, truth dost Thou desire in the reins. 
 
 And in the hidden part do Thou make me to know wisdom. 
 
 9 Oh purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; 
 W^sh me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
 
 10 Make me to hear joy and gladness. 
 
 That the bones which Thou hast crushed may exult. 
 
 11 Hide Thy face from my sins, 
 
 And all my iniquities do Thou blot out. 
 
 J 
 
'' ' 12 Create me a clean heart, Elohim, 
 
 PSALM LI. 133 
 
 And renew a stedfast spirit in my Inward part. 
 
 13 Cast me not from Thy presence, 
 
 And Tliy Holy Spirit take not from me. 
 
 14 Turn again upon me the joy of Thy salvation, 
 And with a spirit of willingness uphold me. 
 
 ^15 Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, 
 And sinners shall be converted to Thee. 
 
 16 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, Elohim, God of my J'^ 
 
 salvation, '^ 
 
 Then shall my tongue exult over Thy righteousness. 
 
 17 O Lord, open Thou my lips, 
 
 And my mouth shall declare Thy praise. 
 
 18 For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it, 
 Burnt-offering Thou desirest not. 
 
 19 The sacrifices of Elohim are a broken spirit, 
 
 A heart broken and contrite, Elohim, Thou dost not 
 ^ \ despise ! — 
 
 20 Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion, 
 Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem ; 
 
 21 Then shalt Thou deliiiht in true sacrifices, burnt-offerinf; 
 
 and whole-burnt-offering ; 
 Then shall bullocks be offered on Thine altar. 
 
 The same depreciation of the external sacrifice that is ex- 
 pressed in Ps. 1. finds utterance in Ps. li., which supplements 
 the former, according as it extends the spiritualizing of the 
 sacrifice to the offering for sin (cf. xl. 7). This Psalm is the 
 a. [ first of the Davidic Elohim-Psalms. The inscription runs : -* 
 To the Precentor, a Psalm hy David, lohen Natlian the prophet ^'^ 
 came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheha. The careless-^ 
 ^^n^ss of_the Hebrew stjle shows itself in the fact that oiie~ancr , 
 the same phrase is used of Nathan's coming in an official capa- " "S 
 city to David (cf. 2 Sam. xii. 1) and of David's going in unto 
 Bathsheba Q^ Ni3, as in Gen. vi. 4, xvi. 2, cf. 2 Sam. xi. 4). ' 
 The comparative 'i?r"?^'?j as a particle of time in the whole com- i 
 pass of the Latin quum, holds together that which piecedes and /' "" 
 
134 PSALJI LI. 3, 4. 
 
 that which subsequently takes place. Followed by the perfect 
 (2 Sam. xii. 21, 1 Sam. xii. 8), it lias the sense of j^osi^am 
 (cf. the confusing of this "iu\S3 with "iC'X ^nnx, Josh. ii. 7). By 
 t<i23 the period within which the composition of the Psalm, 
 mils is merely indicated in a general way. The Psahn shows 
 us how David strufjirles to ffain an inward and conscious cer- 
 tainty of the forgiveness of sin, whicn was announced to himi 
 by Nathan (2 Sam. xii. 13). In Ps. vi. and xxxviii. we have! 
 already heard David, sick in soul and body, praying for for- 
 giveness ; in Ps. li. he has even become calmer and more 
 cheerful in his soul, and there is nothing wanting to him except 
 the rapturous realization of the favour within the range of 
 which he already finds himself. On the other hand, Ps. xxxii. 
 
 'lies even beyond Ps. li. For what David promises in H. 15, 
 
 ;viz. that, if favour is again shown to him, he will teach the 
 apostate ones the ways of God, that he will teach sinners how 
 they are to turn to God, we heard him fulfil in the sententious 
 
 \didactic Ps. xxxii. 
 
 Hitzig assigns Ps. li., like Ps. 1., to the writer of Isa. ch. 
 
 xl.-lxvi. But the manifold coincidences of matter and of style 
 
 only prove that this prophet was familiar with the two Psalms'. 
 
 We discern in Ps. li. four parts of decreasing length. The 
 
 ■, first part, vers. 3-11, contains the prayer for remission of sin; 
 
 \ the second, vers. 12-15, the prayer for renewal ; the third, 
 
 \ vers. 16-19, the vow of spiritual sacrifices; the fourth, vers. 
 
 ^ 1 20, 21, the intercession for all Jerusalem. The divine name 
 
 \£Jlohi7n occurs five times, and is appropriately distributed 
 throughout the Psalm. 
 
 -L Vers. 3, 4. Prayer for the remission of sin. Concerning 
 the interchangeable names for sin, vid. on xxxii. 1 sq. Although 
 the primary occasion of the Psalm is the sin of adultery, still 
 V David says "'V^'S, not merely because many other sins were de- 
 veloped out of it, as his guilt of blood in the case of Uriah, the 
 scandal put into the mouths of the enemies of Jahve, and his 
 self-delusion, which lasted almost a whole year; but also because 
 each solitary sin, the more it is perceived in its fundamental 
 character and, as it were, microscopically discerned, all the 
 more docs it appear as a manifold and entangled skein of sins, 
 and stands forth in a still more intimate and terrible relation, 
 
 r 
 
PSALM LI. 5, C. ] 35 
 
 y 
 
 as of cause and effect, to the whole corrupt and degenerated 
 condition in which the sinner finds himself. In nnp sins are 
 conceived of as a cumulative debt (according to Isa. xliv. 22, 
 cf. xliii. 25, like a thick, dark cloud) written down (Jer. xvii. 
 1) against the time of the payment by punishment. In "'JDSi' 
 (from DZi3j Tfkvveiv^ to wash by rubbing and kneading up, dis- 
 tinguished from }*n"J, Xoveiv, to wash by rinsing) iniquity is 
 conceived of as deeply ingrained dirt. In ""^^n^j the usual 
 word for a declarative and de facto making clean, sin is con- 
 ceived of as a leprosy, Lev. xiii. 6, 34. The Keri runs ''^?3| nnn 
 (imperat. IJiph., like ^"in, xxxvii. 8), "make great or much, 
 wash me," i.e. (according to Ges. § 142, 3, b) wash me alto- 
 gether, penifus et fotum, which is the same as is expressed by 
 the Chethib ^rD\} (prop, multum faciendo = midtum, prorsus^ I 
 , Ges. § 131, 2). In 3^3 (Isa. Ixiii. 7) and 3nri is expressed the,' 
 
 ^ I depth of the consciousness of sin ; profunda enim nialitia, as ^ 
 Martin Geier observes, insolitam raramque gratiam postulat. 
 Vers. 5, 6. Substantiation of the prayer by the considera- 
 
 ^ I tion, that his sense of sin is more than superficial, and that he 
 is ready to make a penitential confession. True penitence is \ 
 not a dead knowledge of sin committed, but a living sensitive ) 
 consciousness of it (Isa. lix. 12), to which it is ever present as / 
 a matter and ground of unrest and pain. This penitential 
 sorrow, which pervades the whole man, is, it is true, no merit 
 that wins mercy or favour, but it is the condition, without 
 vi'hich it is impossible for any manifestation of favour to take 
 place. Such true consciousness of sin contemplates sin, of 
 whatever kind it may be, directly as sin against God, and in its 
 ultimate ground as sin against Him alone (^9*? ^^^^ ? of the 
 person sinned against, Isa. xlii. 24, Mic. vii. 9) ; for every 
 relation in which man stands to his fellow-men, and to created 
 things in general, is but the manifest form of his fundamental 
 relationship to God ; and sin is " that which is evil in the eyes 
 of God " (Isa. Ixv. 12, Ixvi. 4), it is contradiction to the will of 
 God, the sole and highest Lawgiver and Judge. Thus it is, as 
 David confesses, with regard to his sin, in order that . . . 
 This |yop must not be weakened by understanding it to refer to 
 the result instead of to the aim or purpose. If, however, it is 
 intended to express intention, it follows close upon the moral 
 relationship of man to God expressed in ^"]?^ "^^ and ^'J^l^ Vl^j 
 
136 PSALM LI. 7, 8. 
 
 — a relationship, tlie aim of which is, tliat God, when He now 
 condemns the sinner, may appear as the just and holy One, 
 who, as the sinner is obliged liimself to acknowledge, cannot 
 do otherwise than pronounce a condemnatory decision concern- 
 ing him. When sin becomes manifest to a man as such, he 
 must himself say Amen to the divine sentence, just as David 
 does to that passed upon him by Nathan. And it is just the 
 nature of penitence so to confess one's self to be in the wrong 
 in order that God may be in the right and gain His cause. If, 
 however, the sinner's self-accusation justifies the divine right- 
 eousness or justice, just as, on the other hand, all self-justifica- 
 tion on the part of the sinner (which, however, sooner or later 
 will be undeceived) accuses God of unrighteousness or injustice 
 (Job xl. 8) : then all human sin must in the end tend towards 
 the glorifying of God. In this sense ver. 6b is applied by Paul 
 (Rom. iii. 4), inasmuch as he regards what is here written in 
 the Psalter — ottco? civ SLKatwdfj^; iv rot? \o<yoi<i gov, kcu vLKrjari'i 
 iv Tftj KptveaSai ere (LXX.) — as the goal towards which the 
 whole history of Israel tends. Instead of ^l^na (infin. like 
 ^n?^'; Gen. xxxviii. 17, in this instance for the sake of similarity 
 of sound * instead of the otherwise usual form l?"^), in Thy 
 speaking^ the LXX. renders ev Tol<i XoyoLfj aov = T'l^lr^ j i^"^' 
 stead of ^t??tf 3, iv too KpiveaOai ere = ^USt^'na (injin. Niph.), 
 provided KplveaOai, is intended as passive and not (as in Jer. ii. 
 9 LXX., cf. Matt. v. 40) as middle. The thought remains 
 essentially imchanged by the side of these deviations; and 
 even the taking of the verb nDT, to be clean, pure, in the Syriac 
 signification vckuv, does not alter it. That God may be justified 
 in His decisive speaking and judging; that He, the Judge, 
 may gain His cause in opposition to all human judgment, 
 towards this tends David's confession of sin, towards this tends 
 all human history, and more especially the history of Israel. 
 
 Vers. 7, 8. David here confesses his hereditary sin as the 
 root of his actual sin. The declaration moves backwards from/ 
 his birth to conception, it consequently penetrates even to the 
 most remote point of life's beginning. ''^p<in stands instead of 
 
 * Cf. the following forms, chosen on account of their accord : — i^KOi 
 xxxii. 1; C)M3n, kviii. 3; nrxv, Cuut. iii. 11 ; ninc", Isa. xxii. 13 ; D'HOD, 
 ib. XXV. 6 ; Dl^n, ib. xxv. 7. 
 
PSALM LI. 7, 8. 137 
 
 W7i3^ perhaps (although elsewhere, e.g. in xc. 2, the idea of 
 painfulness is kept entirely in the background) with reference 
 to the decree, " with pain shalt thou bring forth children," 
 Gen. iii. 16 (Kurtz) ; and instead of "'riX nnirij with still more 
 definite reference to that which precedes conception, the ex- 
 pression is ■'J^'?!!!'.. (for ''^n^n|'.., following the same interchange 
 of vowel as in Gen. xxx. 39, Judg. v. 28). The choice of 
 the verb decides the question whether by py and Ntpn is meant 
 the guilt and sin of the child or of the parents, on'' (to burn 
 , with desire) has reference to that, in coition, which partakes of 
 
 ■^ the animal, and may well awaken modest sensibilities in man, 
 without \'{\V and NDH on that account characterizing birth and 
 conception itself as sin ; the meaning is merely, that his parents 
 were sinful human beings, and that this sinful state (habitus) 
 has opei'ated upon his birth and even his conception, and from 
 this point has passed over to him. What is thereby expressed 
 is not so much any self-exculpation, as on the contrary a self- 
 accusation which glances back to the ultimate ground of natural 
 corruption. He is sinful P^li?.'?^ '"i"!?'? (Iviii. 4, Gen. viii. 21), 
 is ><OJ£irp xotD, an unclean one springing from an unclean (Job 
 xiv. 4), flesh born of flesh. That man from his first beginning 
 onwards, and that this beginning itself, is tainted with sin ; that 
 the proneness to sin with its guilt and its corruption is propa- 
 gated from parents to their children ; and that consequently in 
 the single actual sin the sin-pervaded nature of man, inasmuch 
 as he allows himself to be determined by it and himself resolves 
 j in accordance with it, becomes outwardly manifest — therefore 
 1 the fact of hereditary sin is here more distinctly expressed than 
 
 -^ I in any other passage in the~Dld Testament, since the Old 
 '•Testament conception, according to its special character, which 
 always fastens upon the phenomenal, outward side rather than 
 penetrates to the secret roots of a matter, is directed almost 
 entirely to the outward manifestation only of sin, and leaves 
 its natural foundation, its issue in relation to primeval history, 
 and its demonic background undisclosed. The ][} in ver. 7 is 
 followed by a correlative second in in ver. 8 (cf. Isa. Iv. 4 sq., 
 liv. 15 sq.). Geier correctly says: Orat ut sibi in peccatis 
 concepto veraque cordis prohitate carenii penitioreni ac mysticam 
 largiri velit sapientiam, ciijus medio liberetur a peccati tuvi reatu 
 turn dominio. ri»x is the nature and life of man as conformed 
 
138 PSALM LI. 9-11. 
 
 to the nature and will of God (cf. aXijOeia, Eph. iv. 21). <^^^^, 
 wisdom which is most intimately acquainted with {eindringlich 
 weiss) such nature and life and the way to attain it. God 
 delights in and desires truth Hin^a. The Beth of this word is 
 not a radical letter here as it is in Job xii. 6, but the preposi- 
 tion. The reins utpote adipe ohducti, here and in Job xxxviii. 
 36, according to the Targum, Jerome, and Parchon, are called 
 ninLJ {Ps>/choL S. 2G9 ; tr. p. 317). Truth in the reins (cf. xl. 
 9, God's law in visceribus meis) is an upright nature in man's 
 deepest inward parts ; and in fact, since the reins are accounted 
 as the seat of the tenderest feelings, in man's inmost experience 
 land perception, in his most secret life both of conscience and 
 of mind (xvi. 7). In the parallel member OriD denotes the 
 hidden inward part of man. Out of the confession, that 
 according to the will of God truth ought to dwell and rule in 
 man even in his reins, comes the wish, that God would impart 
 to him {i.e. teach him and make his own), — who, as being born 
 and conceived in sin, is commended to God's mercy, — that 
 wisdom in the hidden part of his mind which is the way to 
 such truth, 
 y Vers. 9-11. The possession of all possessions, however, 
 
 most needed by him, the foundation of all other possessions, is 
 J tiie assurance of the forgiveness of his sins. The second 
 futures in ver. 9 are consequents of the first, which are used 
 as optatives. Ver. 9a recalls to mind the sprinkling of the 
 leper, and of one unclean by reason of his contact with a dead 
 body, by means of the bunch of hyssop (Lev. eh. xiv.. Num. 
 ch. xix.), the /SoTavr) KaOapTiKi] (Biihr, Symbol, ii. 503) ; and 
 ver. 96 recalls the washings which, according to priestly direc- 
 tions, the unclean person in all cases of uncleanness had to 
 undergo. Purification and washing which the Law enjoins, 
 are regarded in connection with the idea implied in them, and 
 with a setting aside of their symbolic and carnal outward side, 
 inasmuch as the performance of both acts, which in other 
 \ cases takes place through priestly mediation, is here sup- 
 plicated directly from God Himself. Manifestly 3ilX3 (not 
 ^^^'^??) is intended to be understood in a spiritual sense. It 
 is a spiritual medium of purification without the medium itself 
 being stated. The New Testament believer confesses, with 
 Petrarch in the second of his seven penitential Psalms : omnes 
 
PSALM LI. 12, 13. 139 
 
 soj'des meas una giitta, vel tenuis, sacri sanguinis ahsterget. But 
 there is here no mention made of atonement by blood ; for the 
 antitype of the atoning blood was still hidden from David. The 
 operation of justifying grace on a man stained by the blood- 
 red guilt of sin could not, liowever, be more forcibly denoted 
 
 I than by the expression that It makes him whiter than snow 
 (cf. the dependent passage Isa. i. 18). And history scarcely 
 records a grander instance of the change of blood-red sin into 
 dazzling whiteness than this, that out of the subsequent 
 
 J marriage of David and Bathsheba sprang Solomon, the most 
 
 I richly blessed of all kings. At the present time David's very 
 bones are still shaken, and as it were crushed, with the sense 
 of sin. n''3T is an attributive clause like ijys^ in vii. 16. Into 
 what rejoicing will this smitten condition be changed, when he 
 only realizes within his soul the comforting and joyous assur- 
 ing utterance of the God who is once more gracious to him ! 
 For this he yearns, viz. that God would hide His face from the 
 sin which He is now visiting upon him, so that it may as it 
 were be no longer present to Him ; that He would blot out all 
 his iniquities, so that they may no longer testify against him. 
 Here the first part of the Psalm closes; the close recurs to the 
 language of the opening (ver. 3i). 
 
 Vers. 12, 13. In the second part, t he pray er for justifica-j 
 
 II tion is followed by the prayer for renewing. A clean heart 
 I that is not beclouded by sin and a consciousness of sin (for 3? 
 
 includes the conscience. Psychology, S. 134; tr. p. 160); ajl 
 I stedf ast spirit (p3J, cf . Ixxviii. 37, cxii. 7) is a spirit certain i \ ' 
 I respecting his state of favour and well-grounded in it. David's 
 ' prayer has reference to the very same thing that is promised by 
 the prophets as a future work of salvation wrought by God the 
 Redeemer on His people (Jer. xxiv. 7, Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 26); 
 it has reference to those spiritual facts of experience which, it 
 is true, could be experienced even under the Old Testament 
 relatively and anticipatively, but to the actual realization of 
 which the New Testament history, fulfilling ancient prophecy, 
 has first of all produced effectual and comprehensive grounds 
 and motives, viz. [xerdvoLa (3^ = i^oO?), Kaivrj KTicn'i, iraXiy- 
 fyepecria Kal avaKatvcoai^ irvevfiaro^; (Tit. iii. 5). David, with- //' 
 out distinguishing between them, thinks of himself as king, as 
 Israelite, and as man. Consequently we are not at liberty to 
 
 H~- 
 
140 rSALM LI. 14-19. 
 
 say that t^7i'- 1'''"' (^s in Isa. Ixiii. IG), Trvev/xa dyccoavvrj^i = 
 ayiov, is here the Spirit of grace in distinction from the Spirit 
 of office. If Jahve should reject David as He rejected Saul, 
 this would be the extreme manifestation of ancrer (2 Kings 
 xxiv. 20) towards him as king and as a man at the same time. 
 
 , I The Holy Spirit is none other than that which came upon him 
 
 I by means of the anointing, 1 Sam. xvi. 13. This Spirit, by 
 
 I sin, he has grieved and forfeited. Hence he prays God to 
 
 show favour rather than execute His right, and not to take this 
 
 - " His Holy Spirit from him. 
 
 Vers. 14, 15. In connection with ^^'"'1^ D''"', the old exposi- 
 tors thought of 3''"|3, a noble, a prince, and '^^''1^, nobility, high 
 rank, Job xxx. 15, LXX. Trveufiari, rjye/jiovLKQj (spiritu princi- 
 pali) arijpt^ov fie, — the word has, however, without any doubt, 
 f\ its ethical sense in this passage, Isa. xxxii. 8, cf. f^^lJ, Ps. liv. 
 8 ; and the relation of the two words nan J nil is not to be 
 taken as adjectival, but genitival, since the poet has just used 
 nn in the same personal sense in ver. 12a. Nor are they to be 
 taken as a nominative of the subject, but — what corresponds 
 more closely to the connection of the prayer — according to 
 Gen. xxvii. 37, as a second accusative of the object: with a 
 spirit of willingness, of willing, noble impulse towards that 
 which is good, support me ; i.e. imparting this spirit to me, 
 uphold me constantly in that which is good. What is meant 
 I is not the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit made free from 
 
 J I the dominion of sin by the Holy Spirit, to which good has 
 become an inward, as it were instinctive, necessity. Thus 
 assured of his justification and fortified in new obedience, 
 David will teach transgressors the ways of God, and sinners 
 shall be converted to Him, viz. by means of the testimony 
 concerning God's order of mercy which he is able to bear as 
 the result of his own rich experience. 
 I Vers. 16-19. The third part now begins with a doubly 
 
 urgent prayer. The invocation of God by the name Eloldui 
 is here made more urgent by the addition of ^rij?VJ'n \n'?X ; inas- 
 much as the prayers for justification and for renewing blend 
 together in the " deliver me." David does not seek to lessen 
 his guilt; he calls it in C^'i by its right name, — a word which 
 L jfeignifies blood violently shed, and then also a deed of blood and 
 blood-guiltiness (ix. 13, cvi. 38, and frequently). We have 
 
PSALM LI. 20, 21. 141 
 
 also met with ^^^ construed with |J? of the sin in xxxix. 9. He 
 had given Uriah over to death in order to possess himself of 
 Bathsheba. And the accusation of his conscience spoke not 
 merely of adultery, but also of murder. Nevertheless the 
 consciousness of sin no longer smites him to the earth, Mercy 
 has lifted him up ; he prays only that slie would complete her 
 work in him, then shall his tongue exultingly praise (|3"! with 
 an accusative of the object, as in lix. 17) God's righteousness, 
 which, in accordance with the promise, takes the sinner under 
 its protection. But in order to perform what he vowed he 
 would do under such circumstances, he likewise needs grace, 
 and prays, therefore, for a joyous opening of his mouth. In 
 sacrifices God delighteth not (xl. 7, cf. Isa. i. 11), otherwise he 
 would bring some (n^riSI, darem^ sc. si velles, vid. on xl. 6) ; 
 whole-burnt-offerings God doth not desire : the sacrifices that 
 are well-pleasing to Him and most beloved by Him, in com- 
 parison with which the flesh and the dead work of the mplj? and 
 the D'nnT (n^'izh^) is altogether worthless, are thankfulness (1. 23) 
 out of the fulness of a penitent and lowly heart. There is 
 here, directly at least, no reference to the spiritual antitype of 
 the sin-offering, which is never called n3T. The inward part of 
 a man is said to be broken and crushed when his sinful nature 
 is broken, his ungodly self slain, his impenetrable hardness 
 softened, his haughty vainglorying brought low, — in fine, when 
 he is in himself become as nothing, and when God is every- 
 thing to him. Of such a spirit and heart, panting after grace 
 or favour, consist the sacrifices that are truly worthy God's 
 acceptance and well-pleasing to Him (cf. Isa. Ivii. 15, where 
 such a spirit and such a heart are called God's earthly temple).* 
 Vers. 20, 21. From this spiritual sacrifice, well-pleasing to 
 I God, the Psalm now, in vers. 20 sq., comes back to the material 
 sacrifices that are offered in a right state of mind ; and this is 
 
 * The Talmud finds a significance in the plural TIST- Joshua ben Levi 
 (2?. Sanhedrin 43i) says : At the time when the temi)le was standing, who- 
 ever brought a burnt-offering received the reward of it, and whoever 
 brought a meat-offcrirg, the reward of it ; but tlie lowly was accounted 
 by the Scriptures as one who offered every kind of sacrifice at once (ip^X3 
 |bl3 ni^mpn !?3 nnpn). in Irenaeus, iv. 17, 2, and Clemens Alexandrinus, 
 I'lvdag. iii. 12, is found to duai'ix. tu Qsu Kuphlx avuTiTptfiuiv/i the addition • 
 
142 PSALM LI. 20, 21. 
 
 to be explained by tlie consideration that David's prayer for 
 himself here passes over into an intercession on behalf of all 
 Israel : Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion. TIN may 
 be a sign of the accusative, for 3''£p^^ (Tipn) does take the accu- 
 sative of the person (Job xxiv. 21) ; but also a preposition, for 
 as it is construed with ? and DVj so also with riN in the same 
 signification (Jer. xviii. 10, xxxii. 41). p1V"''n3T are here, as in 
 iv. 6, Deut. xxxiii. 19, those sacrifices which not merely as 
 - regards their outward character, but also in respect of the 
 inward character of him who causes them to be offered on his 
 behalf, are exactly such as God the Lawgiver will have them 
 to be. By py^ beside npiy might be understood the priestly 
 vegetable whole-offering, Lev. vi. 15 sq. (r^?[l nmp^ Epistle to 
 the Hehrews, ii. 8), since every npiy as such is also P\p2 ; but 
 Psalm-poetry does not make any such special reference to the 
 sacrificial tora. ?y31 is, like 7'h'2 in 1 Sam. vii. 9, an explicative 
 addition, and the combination is like nynn "liVO"", xliv. 4, ^ani px, 
 xc. 2, and the like. A /'vS 27^' (Hitzig, after the Phoenician 
 sacrificial tables) is unknown to the Israelitish sacrificial wor- 
 ship. The prayer : Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem, is not 
 I inadmissible in the mouth of David ; since HJZi signifies not 
 '■ merely to build up what has been thrown down, but also to go, 
 on and finish building what is in the act of being built (Ixxxix. 
 i 3) ; and, moreover, the wall built round about Jerusalem byl 
 Solomon (1 Kings iii. 1) can be regarded as a fulfilment of 
 ^ David's prayer. 
 
 Nevertheless what even Theodoret has felt cannot be denied: 
 Tot9 ev Ba/3v\a)vt . . . dp/xoTTet to, f))]/u.aTa. Through peni- 
 f tence the way of the exiles led back to Jerusalem. The sup- 
 ' position is very natural that vers. 20 sq. may be a liturgical 
 addition made by the church of the Exile. And if the ori<rin 
 'of Isa. ch. xl.-lxvi. in the time of the Exile were as indisput- 
 able as the reasons against such a position are forcible, then it 
 would give support not merely to the derivation of vers. 20 sq. 
 (cf. Isa. Ix. 10, 5, 7), but of the whole Psalm, from the time of 
 the Exile ; for the general impress of the Psalm is, according 
 to the accurate observation of Hitzig, thoroughly deutero- 
 Isaianic. But the writer of Isa. xl.-lxvi. shows si<xns in other 
 respects also of the most familiar acquaintance with the earlier 
 literature of the Shir and the Mashal; and that he is none 
 
PSALM LII. 143 
 
 other than Isaiah reveals itself in connection with this Psalm 
 by the echoes of this very Psalm, which are to be found not 
 only in the second but also in the first part of the Isaianic 
 collection of prophecy (cf. on vers. 9, 18). We are therefore 
 driven to the inference, that Ps. li. was a favourite Psalm of 
 Isaiah's, and that, since the Isaianic echoes of it extend equally 
 from the first verse to the last, it existed in the same complete 
 form even in his day as in ours ; and that consequently the 
 close, just like the whole Psalm, so beautifully and touchingly 
 expressed, is not the mere addition of a later age. 
 
 PSALM LII. 
 
 THE PUNISHMENT THAT AWAITS THE EVIL TONGUE. 
 
 3 WHY boastest thou thyself of wickedness, O thou mighty 
 
 one?! — 
 The mercy of God endureth continually. 
 
 4 Destruction doth thy tongue devise, 
 
 Like a sharpened razor, O worker of guile ! 
 
 5 Thou lovest evil rather than good, 
 
 Lying instead of speaking that which is right. (^Sela.) 
 
 6 Thou lovest only destroying words, O deceitful tongue ! 
 
 7 Thus then will God smite thee down for ever, 
 He will seize thee and pluck thee out of the tent. 
 And root thee out of the land of the living. (^Sela.) 
 
 8 The righteous shall see it and fear. 
 And over him shall they laugh : 
 
 9 "Behold there the man who made not Elohim his hiding- 
 
 place. 
 And boasted of the abundance of his riches, trusted in his 
 self-devotedness !" 
 
 10 I, however, am like a green olive-tree in the house of Elohim, 
 I trust in the mercy of Elohim for ever and ever. 
 
 11 I will give thanks to Thee for ever, that Thou hast accom- 
 
 plished it; 
 And I will wait on Thy name, because it is so gracious, in 
 the presence of Thy saints. 
 
144 FSALM LII. 3-6. 
 
 With Ps. HI., wliicli, side by side with Ps. li., exhibits the 
 contrast between the false and the right use of the tongue, 
 begins a series of Elohimic Mashils (Ps. lii.-lv.) by David. It 
 is one of the eight Psahns whicli, by the statements of the 
 inscriptions, of which some are capable of being verified, and 
 others at least cannot be replaced by anything that is more 
 credible, are assigned to the time of his persecution by Saul 
 (vii., lix., Ivi., xxxiv., lii., Ivii., cxlii., liv.). Augustine calls 
 them Psalmos fugitivos. The inscription runs : To the Precentor j 
 a meditation (yid. xxxii. 1), by David, when Doeg the Edomite 
 came and told Saul and said to him : David is gone in to the 
 house of Ahimelech. By NU3, as in li. 2, liv. 2, the writer of 
 the inscription does not define the exact moment of the com- 
 position of the Psalm, but only in a general way the period in 
 which it falls. After David had sojourned a short time with 
 Samuel, he betook himself to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; 
 and he gave him without hesitation, as being the son-in-law of 
 the king, the shew-bread that had been removed, and the sword 
 of Goliath that had been hung up in the sanctuary behind the 
 ephod. Doeg the Edomite was witness of this ; and when 
 Saul, under the tamarisk in Gibea, held an assembly of his 
 serving men, Doeg, the overseer of the royal mules, betrayed 
 what had taken place between David and Ahimelech to him. 
 Eighty-five priests immediately fell as victims of this betrayal, 
 and only Abiathar {Ebjathar) the son of Ahimelech escaped 
 and reached David, 1 Sam. xxii. 6—10 (where, in ver. 9, ''TIS 
 is to be read instead of nay, cf. ch. xxi. 8). 
 
 Vers. 3-6. It is bad enough to behave wickedly, but bad 
 in the extreme to boast of it at the same time as an heroic act. 
 Doeg, who causes a massacre, not, however, by the strength of 
 his hand, but by the cunning of his tongue, does this. Hence 
 he is sarcastically called 1133 (cf. Isa. v. 22). David's cause, 
 however, is not therefore lost ; for it is the cause of God, whose 
 loving-kindness endures continually, without allowing itself to 
 be affected, like the favour of men, by calumny. Concerning 
 niin vid, on v. 10. nw'> is as usual treated as fern. ; nn:)"i nb'y 
 (according to the Masora with Tsere) is consequently addressed 
 to a person. In ver. 5 V) after J^3nx has the Dagcsh that is 
 usual also in other instances according to the rule of the TiS 
 
PSALM LII. 7-9. 145 
 
 P*m», especially In connection with the letters n33"nn (with 
 which Eesh is associated in the Book of Jezira, Michlol 9 6 J, 
 of. Q>?>b)* The JO of nitSO and "i?"=ip is not meant to affirm that 
 he loves good, etc., less than evil, etc., but tliat he does not 
 love it at all (cf. cxviii. 8 sq., Hab. ii. 16). The music which 
 comes in after ver. 5 has to continue the accusations con 
 amarezza without words. Then in ver. 6 the singing again 
 takes them up, by addressing the adversary with the words 
 "thou tongue of deceit" (cf. cxx. 3), and by reproaching him 
 with loving only such utterances as swallow up, i.e. destroy 
 
 without leaving a trace behind (I??3, pausal form of y?3, like 
 VV3 in cxix. 36, cf. the verb in xxxv. 25, 2 Sam. xvii. 16, xx. 
 19 sq.), his neighbour's life and honour and goods. Hupfeld 
 takes ver. 66 as a second object ; but the figurative and weaker 
 expression would then follow the unfigurative and stronger one, 
 and "to love a deceitful tongue" might be said with reference 
 to this character of tongue as belonging to another person, not 
 with reference to his own. 
 
 Vers. 7-9. Tlie announcement of the divine retribution 
 begins with Da as in Isa. Ixvi. 4, Ezek. xvi. 43, Mai. ii. 9. The 
 ''HN is not, as one might suppose, the holy tent or tabernacle, 
 that he has desecrated by making it the lurking-place of the 
 betrayer (1 Sam. xxi. 8 [7]), which would have been expressed by 
 iSlXDj but his own dwelling. God will pull him, the lofty and 
 
 * pTnO TIN is the name by which the national grammarians designate 
 a group of two words, of which the first, ending with Kametz or Segol, has 
 the accent on the penult.^ and of which the second is a monosyUable, or 
 likewise is accented on the penult. The initial consonant of the second 
 word in this case receives a DarjcsJi, in order that it may not, in conse- 
 quence of the first ictus of the group of words " coming out of the distance," 
 i.e. being far removed, be too feebly and indistinctly uttered. This dagesh- 
 iug, however, only takes place when the first word is already of itself JMilel, 
 
 or at least, as e.g. ri"'3 nxVO, had a half -accented penult., and not when it 
 
 is from the very first Milra and is only become Mild by means of the 
 retreating of the accent, as ahs nb'I?) Ixxviii. 12, cf. Deut. xxiv. 1. The 
 
 :■(,:■ T jr 
 
 penultima-accent has a greater lengthening force in the former case than 
 in the latter ; the following syllables are therefore uttered more rapidly in 
 the first case, and the Dagesh is intended to guard against the third syllable 
 being too hastily combined with the second. Concerning the rule, vid. 
 Baer's Thnrath Emeth, p. 29 sq. 
 
 VOL. II. 10 
 
146 PSALM LII. 10, 11. 
 
 imperious one, down (r*ri3, like a tower perhaps, Judg. viii. 9, 
 Ezek. xxvi. 9) from his position of honour and his prosperity, 
 and dracf him forth out of his habitation, much as one rakes a 
 coal from the hearth (nnn Biblical and Talmudic in this sense), 
 and tear him out of this his home C^^J, cf. p^^, Job xviii. 14) 
 and remove him far away (Deut. xxviii. 63), because he has 
 betrayed the homeless fugitive ; and will root him out of the 
 land of the living, because he has destroyed the priests of God 
 (1 Sam. xxii. 18). It then proceeds in vers. 8 sq. very much 
 like xl. Ah, 5, just as the figure of the razor also coincides with 
 Psalms belonging to exactly the same period (li. 8, Ivii. 5, cf. 
 L"b^, vii. 13). The excitement and indignant anger against 
 one's foes which expresses itself in the rhythm and the choice 
 of words, has been already recognised by us since Ps. vii. as a 
 characteristic of these Psalms. The hope which David, in ver. 
 8, attaches to God's judicial interposition is the same as e.g. 
 in Ps. Ixiv. 10. The righteous will be strengthened in the fear 
 of God (for the play of sounds cf. xl. 4) and laugh at him 
 whom God has overthrown, saying ; Behold there the man, etc. 
 According to Iviii. 11, the laughing is joy at the ultimate break- 
 ing through of justice long hidden and not discerned ; for even 
 the moral teaching of the Old Testament (Prov. xxiv. 17) 
 reprobates the low malignant joy that glories at the overthrow 
 of one's enemy. By n£p2*1 the former trust in mammon on the 
 part of the man who is overtaken by punishment is set forth 
 as a consequence of his refusal to put trust in God, in Him 
 
 who is the true tij?o = jLcc, hiding-place or place of protection 
 
 {vid. on xxxi. 3, xxxvii. 39, cf. xvii. 7, 2 Sam. xxii. 33). n^n is 
 here the passion for earthly things which rushes at and falls 
 upon them {animo fertui-). 
 
 Vers. 10, 11. The gloomy song now brightens up, and in 
 calmer tones draws rapidly to a close. The betrayer becomes 
 like an uprooted tree ; the betrayed, however, stands firm and 
 is like to a green-foliaged olive (Jer. xi. 16) which is planted 
 in the house of Elohim (xc. 14), that is to say, in sacred and 
 inaccessible ground; cf. the promise in Isa. Ix. 13. The 
 weighty expression ri^C^V ^3 refers, as in xxii. 32, to the gracious 
 and just carrying out of that which was aimed at in the election 
 of David. If this be attained, then he will for ever give thanks 
 
PSALM LIII. 147 
 
 and further wait on the Name, i.e. the self-attestation, of God, 
 which is so gracious and kind, he will give thanks and "wait" 
 in the presence of all the saints. This "waiting," "^jlP^.}., is 
 open to suspicion, since what he intends to do in the presence 
 of the saints must be something that is audible or visible to 
 them. Also "hoping in the name of God" is, it is true, not 
 an unbiblical notional combination (Isa. xxvi. 8) ; but in con- 
 nection with niD ""a ^»ty which follows, one more readily looks 
 for a verb expressing a thankful and laudatory proclamation 
 (cf. liv. 8). Hitzig's conjecture that we should read >^}J^^_}. 
 is therefore perfectly satisfactory. T^^D. ^^l does not belong 
 to aiD, which would be construed with ''}^V'^, and not H:, but 
 to the two votive words; cf. xxii. 26, cxxxviii. 1, and other 
 passages. The whole church (xxii. 23 sq., xl. 10 sq.) shall be 
 witness of his thankfulness to God, and of his proclamation of 
 the proofs which God Himself has given of His love and 
 favour. 
 
 PSALM LIII. 
 
 ELOHIMIC VARIATION OF THE JAHVE-PSALM XIV. 
 
 2 THE fool hath said in his heart : " There is no God ; " 
 Corruptly and abominably do they carry on their iniquity, 
 There is none that doeth good. 
 
 3 Elohim looketh down from heaven upon the children of 
 
 men, 
 To see if there be any that have understanding. 
 If any that seek after God. 
 
 4 Every one of them is gone back, altogether they are corrupt. 
 There is none that doeth good, 
 
 Not even one. 
 
 5 Are the workers of iniquity so utterly devoid of under- 
 
 standing, 
 AVho eating up my people eat up bread, 
 (And) call not on Elohim 1 
 
148 PSALM LIII. 
 
 6 Then were they in great fear, when there was no fear ; 
 For Elohim scattered the bones of him that encamped 
 
 round about thee ; 
 Thou didst put them to shame, for Elohim had despised 
 them. 
 
 7 Oh that tlie salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! 
 When Elohim turneth the captivity of His people, 
 Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad. 
 
 Psalms Hi. and liv., which are most closely related by 
 occasion, contents, and expression, are separated by the inser- 
 tion of Ps. liii., in which the individual character of Ps. lii., the 
 description of moral corruption and the announcement of the 
 divine curse, is generalized. Ps. liii. also belongs to this series 
 according to its species of poetic composition ; for the inscrip- 
 tion runs : To the Precentor, after Machalath, a Maskil of David. 
 The formula n?no"7y recurs in Ixxxviii. 1 with the addition of 
 ni3yp. Since Ps. Ixxxviii. is the gloomiest of all the Psalms, 
 and Ps. liii., althonsh havino[ a bright border, is still also a 
 dark picture, the signification of '"^pD^, laxness (root ?n, opp. 
 no), sickness, sorrow, which is capable of being supported by 
 Ex. XV. 26, must be retained. rhr\D~bv signifies after a sad 
 tone or manner ; whether it be that n?nD itself (with the ancient 
 dialectic feminine termination, like ^^''^^, Ixi. 1) is a name for 
 such an elegiac kind of melody, or that it was thereby designed 
 to indicate the initial word of some popular song. In the 
 latter case rbm is the construct form, the standard song 
 beginning 37 rr?m or some such way. The signification to be 
 sweet (Aramaic) and melodious (^thiopic), which the root "bn 
 obtains in the dialects, is foreign to ?Iebrew. It is altogether 
 
 inadmissible to combine n^HD with ^3^<, ease, comfort (Germ. 
 
 GcmdchlicJdeit, cf. mdcJilichj easily, slowly, with indhlich, by 
 degrees), as Ilitzig does ; since irio. Rabbinic, to pardon, coin- 
 cides more reailily with nriD, li. 3, 11. So that we may regard 
 machalath as equivalent to mcslo, not piano or andante. 
 
 That the two texts, Ps. xiv. and liii., are " vestiges of an 
 original identity" (Ilupfeld) is not established: Ps. liii. is a 
 later variation of Ps. xiv. The musical designation, common 
 
PSALM LIII. 2-5. 149 
 
 only to the earlier Psalms, at once dissuades one from coming 
 down beyond the time of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah. Moreover, 
 we have here a manifest instance that even Psalms which are 
 composed upon the model of, or are variations of Davidic 
 Psahns, were without any hesitation inscribed l)lh. 
 
 Beside the critical problem, all that remains here for the 
 exegesis is merely the discussion of anything peculiar in the 
 deviations in the form of the text. 
 
 Ver. 2. The well-grounded asyndeton I3''i?nn ^rT'nOT is here 
 dismissed ; and the expression is rendered more bombastic by 
 the use of h^V instead of M^. b}V (the masculine to rih]V), 
 p7'avitaSf is the accusative of the object (cf. Ezek. xvi. 52) to 
 both verbs, which give it a twofold superlative attributive 
 notion. Moreover, here inTi^n is accented with Mugrash in 
 our printed texts instead of Tarclia. One 3Iiigrash after 
 another is contrary to all rule. 
 
 Ver. 3. In both recensions of the Psalm the name of God 
 occurs seven times. In Ps. xiv. it reads three times Elohim 
 and four times Jalive; in the Psalm before us it is all seven 
 times Elohim^ which in this instance is a proper name of equal 
 dignity with the name JaJive. Since the mingling of the two 
 names in Ps. xiv. is perfectly intentional, inasmuch as Elohim 
 in vers. 1, 2c describes God as a Being most highly exalted and 
 to be reverentially acknowledged, and in ver. 5 as the Being 
 who is present among men in the righteous generation and 
 who is mighty in their weakness, it becomes clear that David 
 himself cannot be the author of this levelling chan£je, which is 
 carried out more rigidly than the Elohimic character of the 
 Psalm really demands. 
 
 Ver. 4. Instead of bbn, the totality, we have i?3, which 
 denotes each individual of the whole, to which the suffix, that 
 has almost vanished (xxix. 9) from the genius of the language, 
 refers. And instead of "iD, the more elegant JD, without any 
 distinction in the meaning. 
 
 Ver. 5. Here in the first line the word "^3, which, as in 
 V. 6, vi. 9, is in its right place, is wanting. In Ps. xiv. there 
 then follow, instead of two tristichs, two distichs, which are per- 
 haps each mutilated by the loss of a line. The writer who has 
 retouched the Psalm has restored the tristichic symmetry that 
 
150 rSALM LI II. 6. 
 
 liad been lost sight of, but he has adopted rather violent means : 
 inasmuch as he has fused down the two distichs into a single 
 tristich, which is as closely as possible adapted to the sound of 
 their letters. 
 
 Ver. 6. The last two lines of this tristich are in letters so 
 similar to the two distichs of Ps. xiv., that they look like an 
 attempt at the restoration of some faded manuscript. Never- 
 theless, such a close following of the sound of the letters of the 
 original, and such a changing of the same by means of an 
 interchange of letters, is also to be found elsewhere (more 
 especially in Jeremiah, and e.g. also in the relation of the 
 Second Epistle of Peter to Jude). And the two lines sound 
 so complete in themselves and full of life, that this way of 
 accounting for their origin takes too low an estimate of them. 
 A later poet, perhaps belonging to the time of Jehoshaphat or 
 Hezekiah, has here adapted the Davidic Psalm to some terrible 
 catastrophe that has just taken place, and given a special cha- 
 racter to the universal announcement of judgment. The addi- 
 tion of ins T\\rri6 (supply "it^s; = D*^ 1^'^?, Ixxxiv. 4) is meant to 
 imply that fear of judgment had seized upon the enemies of 
 the people of God, when no fear, i.e. no outward ground for 
 fear, existed ; it was therefore D^"^?^? ^Tl^} (1 Sam. xiv. 15), a 
 God-wrought panic. Such was the case with the host of the 
 confederates in the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 22-24) ; 
 such also with the army of Sennacherib before Jerusalem (Isa. 
 xxxvii. 36). "'3 gives the proof in support of this fright from 
 the working of the divine power. The words are addressed to 
 the people of God : Eloldm hath scattered the hones (so that 
 vmburied they lie like dirt upon the plain a prey to wild beasts, 
 cxli. 7, Ezek, vi. 5) of thy besieger, i.e. of him who had en- 
 camped against thee. "Hjn instead of ^pn = ti^^j; 'ipn.* By the 
 might of his God, who has overthrown them, the enemies of 
 
 * So it has been explained by Menachem; whereas Dunash •WTongly 
 takes the "] of "^jn as part of the root, overlooking the fact that with the 
 sudix it ought rather to have been r\yr\ instead of r\m. It is true that 
 witbia the province of the verb uch docs occur as a pausal masculine suffix 
 n stead of eWia, with the preterite (Deut. vi. 17, Isa. xxx. 19, Iv. 5, and 
 even out of pause in Jer. xxiii. 37), and with the infinitive (Deut. xxviii. 
 24, Ezek. xxviii. 15), but only in the passage before us with the participle. 
 
PSALM LIV. 151 
 
 His people, Israel has put them to shame, i.e. brought to 
 nouoht in a way most shameful to them, the project of those 
 who were so sure of victory, who imagined they could devour 
 Israel as easily and comfortably as bread. It is clear that in 
 this connection even ver. 5 receives a reference to the foreign 
 foes of Israel originally alien to the Psalm, so that conse- 
 quently Mic. iii. 3 is no longer a parallel passage, but passages 
 lilce Num. xiv. 9, our bread are they (the inhabitants of 
 Canaan) ; and Jer. xxx. 16, all they that devour thee shall be 
 devoured. 
 
 Ver. 7. The two texts now again coincide. Instead of 
 T\Vr\i}\ we here have T\'\V^\ ; the expression is strengthened, the 
 plural signifies entire, full, and final salvation. 
 
 PSALM LIV. 
 
 CONSOLATION IN THE PRESENCE OP BLOODTHIRSTY 
 ADVERSARIES. 
 
 3 ELOHIM, by Thy name save me, 
 
 And by Tliy strength maintain my cause ! 
 
 4 Elohim, hear my prayer. 
 Hearken to the words of my mouth : 
 
 5 For strangers are risen up against me. 
 And violent men seek after my life ; 
 
 They set not Elohim before their eyes. (Sela.) 
 
 6 Behold, Elohim is my helper. 
 
 The Lord it is who upholdeth my soul. 
 
 7 He will requite the evil to mine enemies — 
 By virtue of Thy truth cut Thou them off. 
 
 Attached to the participle this masculine suffix closely approximates to the 
 Aramaic ; with proper substantives there are no examples of it found in 
 Hebrew. Sinison ha-Nakdan, in his D''J1pn lian (a ms. in Leipzig Univer- 
 sity Library, fol. 296), correctly observes that forms like TjO!^, T]?3y, are 
 not biblical Hebrew, but Aramaic, and are only found in the language of 
 the Talmud, formed by a mingling of the Hebrew and Aramaic. 
 
152 PSALM LIV. 3-5. 
 
 8 With willing mind will I sacrifice unto Thee, 
 
 I will give thanks to Thy name, Jahve, that it is gracious. 
 
 9 For out of all distress hath it delivered me, 
 
 And upon mine enemies doth mine eye delight itself. 
 
 Here again we have one of the eight Psalms dated from 
 the time of Saul's persecution, — a Maskil, like the two preced- 
 ing Psalms, and having points of close contact both with Ps. 
 liii. (cf. ver. 5 with hii. 3) and with Ps. lii. (cf. the resemblance 
 in the closing words of ver. 8 and lii. 11) : To the Precentor^ 
 loith the accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. on iv. 1), « 
 meditation, by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul : 
 Is not David hidden among us? Abiathar, the son of Ahime- 
 lech, had escaped to David, who with six hundred men was 
 then in the fortified town of Keila (Keilah), but received 
 through Abiathar the divine answer, that the inhabitants 
 would give him up if Saul should lay siege to the town. 
 Thereupon we find him in the wilderness of Ziph; the 
 Ziphites betray him and pledge themselves to capture him, and 
 thereby he is in the greatest straits, out of which he was only 
 rescued by an invasion of the Philistines, which compelled 
 Saul to retreat (1 Sam. xxiii. 19 sqq.). The same history 
 which the earlier narrator of the Books of Samuel relates here, 
 we meet with once more in 1 Sam. ch. xxvi., related with 
 fuller colouring. The form of the inscription of the Psalm 
 is word for word the same as both in 1 Sam. xxiii. 19 and in 
 1 Sam. xxvi. 1 ; the annals are in all three passages the ultimate 
 source of the inscription. 
 
 Vers. 3-5. This short song is divided into two parts by 
 Sela. The first half prays for help and answer. The Name 
 of God is the manifestation of His nature, which has mercy as 
 its central point (for the Name of God is 310, ver. 8, lii. 11), 
 so that TPV? (which is here the parallel word to ^nnUJ3) is 
 consequently equivalent to T^?n3. The obtaining of right for 
 any one (Pi like t2SC', vii. 9, and frequently, H nb'y, ix. 5) is 
 attributed to the all-conquering might of God, which is only 
 one side of the divine Name, i.e. of the divine nature which 
 manifests itself in the diversity of its attributes. r|Sn (ver. 
 46) is construed with ^ (cf. f'N, Ixxvii. 2) like ITX ntpn, Lxxviii. 1. 
 
rSALM LIV. 6-9, 153 
 
 The Targum, misled by Ixxxvi. 14, reads ni''"ir instead of CIT in 
 ver. 5. The inscription leads one to think of the Ziphites in 
 particular in connection with " strangers" and " violent men." 
 The two words in most instances denote foreign enemies, Isa. 
 XXV. 2 sq., xxix. 5, Ezek. xxxi. 12 ; but "ij is also a stranger in 
 the widest sense, regulated in each instance according to the 
 opposite, e.g. the non-priest, Lev. xxii. 10 ; and one's fellow- 
 countrymen can also turn out to be D''^''iy, Jer. xv. 21. The 
 Ziphites, although Judaans like David, might be called 
 " strangers," because they had taken the side against David ; 
 and " violent men," because they pledged themselves to seize 
 and deliver him up. Under other circumstances this might 
 have been their duty as subjects. In this instance, however, 
 it was godlessness, as ver. be (cf. Ixxxvi. 14) says. Any one 
 at that time in Israel who feared God more than man, could 
 not lend himself to be made a tool of Saul's blind fury. God 
 had already manifestly enough acknowledged David. 
 
 Vers. 6-9. In this second half, the poet, in the certainty 
 of being heard, rejoices in help, and makes a vow of thanks- 
 giving. The 3 of ''3003 is not meant to imply th^t God is one 
 out of many who upheld his threatened life ; but rather that 
 He comes within the category of such, and fills it up in Himself 
 alone, cf. cxviii. 7 ; and for the origin of this Beth essentia, 
 xcix. 6, Judg. xi. 35. In ver. 7 the Kert merits the prefer- 
 ence over the Chetlnb (evil shall " revert" to my spies), which 
 would at least require ?V instead of ? (cf. vii. 17). Concerning 
 ""IT^j vid. on xxvii. 11. In the rapid transition to invocation 
 in ver. 7b the end of the Psalm announces itself. The truth 
 of God is not described as an instrumental agent of the cutting 
 off, but as an impelling cause. It is the same Beth as in the 
 expression "^^IJa (Num. xv. 3) : by or out of free impulse. 
 These free-will sacrifices are not spiritual here in opposition to 
 the ritual sacrifices (1. 14), but ritual as an outward representa- 
 tion of the spiritual. The subject of ''P^^ is the Name of God ; 
 the post-biblical language, following Lev. xxiv. 11, calls God 
 straightway Dli'n, and passages like Isa. xxx. 27 and the one 
 before us come very near to this usage. The praiterites men- 
 tion the ground of the thanksgiving. What David now still 
 hopes for, will then lie behind him in the past. The closing 
 line, ver. 96, recalls xxxv. 21, cf. lix. 1], xcii. 12 ; the invoking 
 
154 rSALM LV. 
 
 of the curse upon his enemies in ver. 7 recalls xvii. 13, Ivi. 8, 
 lix. 12 sqq. ; and the vow of thanksgiving in ver. 8 recalls xxii. 
 26, XXXV. 18, xl. 10 sqq. 
 
 PSALM LV. 
 
 PRAYER OF ONE WHO IS MALICIOUSLY BESET AND 
 BETRAYED BY HIS FRIEND. 
 
 2 GIVE ear, Elohim, to my prayer, 
 
 And veil not Thyself from my supplication ; 
 
 3 Oil hearken to me and answer me ! 
 
 I toss to and fro in my thoughts and must groan, 
 
 4 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression 
 
 of the evil-doer. 
 
 For they roll iniquity upon me, 
 And in anger do they pursue me. 
 
 5 My heart writhes within me. 
 
 And the terrors of death have fallen upon me, 
 
 6 Fear and trembling come upon me, 
 And horror hath covered me. 
 
 7 I thought : Oh that I had wings like a dove. 
 Then would I fly away and be at rest ! 
 
 8 Yea, I would flee afar off, 
 
 I would lodge in the wilderness. {Sela.) 
 
 9 I would soar to my place of refuge 
 From the raging wind, from the tempest, 
 
 10 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues, 
 For I see violence and strife in the city. 
 
 11 Day and night they go their rounds upon its walls, 
 And evil and trouble are in the midst of it. 
 
 12 Destruction is in the midst of it, 
 
 And oppression and guile depart not from its market-place. 
 
 13 For it is not an enemy that reproacheth me, then I would 
 
 bear it; 
 
PSAOI LV. 155 
 
 Neitlicr is it he that hateth me that exalteth himself 
 
 against me, 
 Then I could indeed hide myself from him. 
 
 14 But thou wast a man on an equality with me, my companion 
 
 and familiar friend, 
 
 15 We who were wont to have sweet intercourse together, 
 To the house of Elohim we walked in the festive throng. 
 
 16 Let death surprise them, 
 
 Let them go down alive to Hades ; 
 
 For wickedness is in their dwelling, in their inward part. 
 
 17 As for me, to Elohim do I cry, 
 And Jahve will save me. 
 
 18 Evening and morning and at noon will I meditate and groan. 
 And He will hear my voice, 
 
 19 He will deliver, in peace, my soul, so that they come not 
 
 at me; 
 For they are very many against me. 
 
 20 God will hear, and answer them — 
 
 Yea, He sitteth enthroned from the very beginning — (^Sela) 
 
 Even them, who think nothing of another, 
 And who fear not Elohim. 
 
 21 He layeth his hand upon those who are at peace with him, 
 He violateth his covenant. 
 
 22 Smooth are the butter-words of his mouth, 
 
 and war is his heart ; 
 Soft are his words as oil, and yet are sword-blades. 
 
 23 Cast thy burden upon Jahve, 
 He, He will sustain thee ; 
 
 He will never suffer the righteous to be moved. 
 
 24 And Thou, Elohim, shalt cast them down into the abyss of 
 
 the pit. 
 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their lives; 
 But I trust in Thee. 
 
 Ps. liv. is followed by another Davidic Psalm bearing the 
 same inscription : 2o the Precentor^ with accompaniment of 
 
156 rSALM LV. 2-9, 
 
 stringed instruments^ a meditation, by David. It also accords 
 with the former in the form of the prayer with which it opens 
 (of. ver. 2 with hv. 3 sq.) ; and it is the Elohimic counterpart 
 of the Jahve-Psalm xh. If the Psalm is by David, we require 
 (in opposition to Hengstenberg) an assignable occasion for it in 
 the history of his life. For how could the faithless bosom 
 friend, over whom the complaint concerning malicious foes 
 here, as in Ps. xli., lingers with special sadness, be a mere 
 abstract personage ; since it has in the person of Judas Iscariot 
 its historical living antitype in the life and passion of the 
 second David ? This Old Testament Judas is none other than 
 Ahithophel, the right hand of Absalom. Ps. Iv. belongs, like 
 Ps. xli., to the four years during which the rebellion of Absalom 
 was forming ; only to a somewhat later period, when Absalom's 
 party were so sure of their cause that they had no need to make 
 any secret of it. How it came to pass that David left the 
 beginnings and progressive steps of the rebellion of Absalom 
 to take their course without bringing any other weapon to bear 
 against it than the weapon of prayer, is discussed on Ps. xli. 
 
 Hitzig also holds this Psalm to be Jeremianic. But it con- 
 tains no coincidences with the language and thoughts of Jere- 
 miah worth speaking of, excepting that this prophet, in ch. ix. 
 1, gives utterance to a similar wish to that of the psalmist in 
 vers. 7-9, and springing from the same motive. The argument 
 in favour of Jeremiah in opposition to David is consequently 
 referred to the picture of life and suffering which is presented 
 in the Psalm ; and it becomes a question whether this harmonizes 
 better with the persecuted life of Jeremiah or of David. The 
 exposition which follows here places itself — and it is at least 
 worthy of being attempted — on the standpoint of the writer of 
 the inscription. 
 
 Vers. 2-9. In this first group sorrow prevails. David 
 spreads forth his deep grief before God, and desires for himself 
 some lonely spot in the wilderness far away from the home or 
 lurking-place of the confederate band of those who are com- 
 passing his overthrow. "Veil not Thyself" here, where what 
 is spoken of is something audible, not visible, is equivalent to 
 "veil not Thine ear," Lam. iii. 56, which He designedly does, 
 when the right state of heart leaves the praying one, and con- 
 
PSALM LV. 2-9. 157 
 
 sequently that wliich makes it acceptable and capable of being 
 answered is wanting to the prayer (cf. Isa. i. 15). J}^'^ signifies 
 
 a shrub (Syriac shucho, Arabic ^>^)j and also reflection and 
 
 care (Arabic, carefulness, attention ; Aramaic, no, to babble, 
 talk, discourse). The Hiph. ^^^l, which in Gen. xxvii. 40 
 signifies to lead a roving life, has in this instance the significa- 
 tion to move one's self backwards and forwards, to be inwardly 
 uneasy ; root Ti, J^, to totter, whence rdda^ jaruda, to run up 
 
 and down (IV. to desire, will) ; raula, to shake (said of a soft 
 bloated body) ; radda, to turn (whence taraddud, a moving to 
 and fro, doubting) ; therefore : I wander hither and thither in 
 my reflecting or meditating, turning restlessly from one thought 
 to another. It is not necessary to read "^^^i^XI after Ixxvii. 4 
 instead of i^^^'i^^l? since the verb Din = non^ xlii. 6, 12, is secured 
 by the derivatives. Since these only exhibit Din, and not Q"'''} 
 (in Arabic used more particularly of the raving of love), np\nxi, 
 as also *'"'"!^, is Hiph., and in fact like this latter used with an 
 inward object: I am obliged to raise a tumult or groan, bi'eak 
 out into the dull murmuring sounds of pain. The cohortative 
 not unfrequently signifies " I have to" or " I must" of incite- 
 ments within one's self which are under the control of outward 
 circumstances. In this restless state of mind he finds himself, 
 and he is obliged to break forth into this cry of pain on account 
 of the voice of the foe which he cannot but hear ; by reason of 
 the pressure or constraint (^^1?^) of the evil-doer which he is 
 compelled to feel. The conjecture rii5y^' (Olshausen and Hup- 
 feld) is superfluous. <^\>)i is a more elegant Aramaizing word 
 instead of n"iy. 
 
 The second strophe begins with a more precise statement of 
 that which justifies his pain. The Hiph. t3"'0n signifies here, 
 as in cxl. 11 (Chethib), declinare: they cast or roll down evil 
 (calamity) upon him and maliciously lay snares for him ^^?3j 
 breathino; ano;er ao;ainst him, who is conscious of having mani- 
 fested only love towards them. His heart turns about in his 
 body, it writhes (•'"'OJ) ; cf. on this, xxxviii. 11. Fear and 
 trembling take possession of his inward parts ; N2| in the ex- 
 pression ^3 N*3^, as is always the case when followed by a tone 
 syllable, is a so-called "iinx J1DJ, i.e. it has the tone that has 
 retreated to the penult, (Deut. i. 38, Isa. vii. 24, Ix. 20), 
 
158 PSALM LV. 10-17. 
 
 although this is only with difficulty discernible in our printed 
 copies, and is therefore (yid. Accentsystem, vi. § 2) noted with 
 Mercha, The fut. coiisec. which follows introduces the lieight- 
 ened state of terror which proceeds from this crowding on of 
 fear and trembling. ^loreover, the wish that is thereby urged 
 from him, which David uttered to himself, is introduced in 
 the third strophe by a fut. consec* " Who will give me ? " is 
 equivalent to " Oh that I had!" Ges. § 13G, 1. In ^p^'^\ is 
 involved the self-satisfying signification of settling down (Ezek. 
 xxxi. 13), of coming to rest and remaining in a place (2 Sam. 
 vii. 10). Without going out of our way, a sense perfectly in 
 accordance with the matter in hand may be obtained for •T^'"''?^ 
 "h t:^2?p, if n^J^ns is taken not as Kal (Ixxi. 12), but after Isa. 
 V. 19, Ix. 12, as IJiph. : I would hasten, i.e. quickly find for 
 myself a place which might serve me as a shelter from the 
 raging wind, from the storm. '^Vb ni"> is equivalent to the 
 
 Arabic rihin sdijat-in, inasmuch as ^^t^, " to move one's self 
 
 quickly, to go or run swiftly," can be said both of light (Koran, 
 Ixvi. 8) and of water-brooks (yid. Jones, Comm. Foes. Asiat., 
 ed. Lipsice, p. 358), and also of strong currents of air, of winds, 
 and such like. The correction "T^VP? proposed by Hupfeld, 
 produces a disfiguring tautology. Among those about David 
 there is a wild movement going on which is specially aimed at 
 his overthrow. From this he would gladly flee and hide him- 
 self, like a dove taking refuge in a cleft of the rock from the 
 approaching storm, or from the talons of the bird of prey, 
 fleeing with its noiseless but persevering flight.f 
 
 Vers. 10-17. In the second group anger is the prevailing 
 feeling. In the city all kinds of party passions have broken 
 loose ; even his bosom friend has taken a part in this hostile 
 
 * That beautiful old song of the chiirch concerning Jesus has grown 
 out of this strophe : — 
 
 Ecquis hinas columhinas 
 Alas dahit animee f 
 Et in olinam crucis palmam 
 Evolat citissime, etc. 
 t Kimclii observes that the dove, when she becomes tired, draws in one 
 wing and flies with the other, and thus the more surely escapes. Aben- 
 Ezra liuds an allusion here to the carrier-pigeon. 
 
PSALM LV. 10-17. 159 
 
 rising. The retrospective reference to the confusion of tongues 
 at Babel which is contained in the word 3?3 (cf. Gen. x. 25), 
 also in remembrance of ?23, (Gen. xi. 1-9), involves the choice 
 of the word y??, which here, after Isa. xix. 3, denotes a swallow- 
 ing up, i.e. annihilation by means of confounding and renderino- 
 utterly futile. DJiti'P is the object to both imperatives, the 
 second of which is Jp3 (like the pointing usual in connection 
 with a final guttural) for the sake of similarity of sound. In- 
 stead of y^l Don, the pointing is 2n"i DDn, which is perfectly 
 regular, because the y^")) with a conjunctive accent logically 
 hurries on to ^V^ as its supplement.* The subjects to ver. 11a 
 are not violence and strife (Hengstenberg, Hitzig), for it is 
 rather a comical idea to make these personified run round about 
 upon the city walls; but (cf. lix. 7, 15) the Absalomites, and 
 in fact the spies who incessantly watch the movements of 
 David and his followers, and who to this end roam about upon 
 the heights of the city. The narrative in 2 Sam. ch. xv. shows 
 how passively David looked on at this movement, until he 
 abandoned the palace of his own free will and quitted Jeru- 
 salem. The espionage in the circuit of the city is contrasted 
 with the movements going on within the city itself by the word 
 2"ip3. We are acquainted with but few details of the affair ; 
 but we can easily fill in the details for ourselves in accordance 
 with the ambitious, base, and craftily malicious character of 
 Absalom. The assertion that deceit ('""?19) and the extremest 
 madness had taken possession of the city is confirmed in ver. 
 13 by ''3. It is not open enemies who might have had cause 
 for it that are opposed to him, but faithless friends, and among 
 them that Ahithophel of Giloh, the scum of perfidious ingrati- 
 tude. The futures i^'^XI and inDSI are used as subjunctives, 
 and \ is equivalent to alioqui, as in li. 18, cf. Job vi. 14. He 
 tells him to his face, to his shame, the relationship in which he 
 had stood to him whom he now betrays. Ver. 14 is not to be 
 rendered : and thou art, etc., but : and thou (who dost act thus) 
 tcast, etc. ; for it is only because the principal clause has a 
 
 * Certain exceptions, however, exist, inasmuch as \ sometimes remains 
 even in connection with a disjunctive accent, Isa. xlix. 4, Jer. xl. 10, xli. 
 16 ; and it is pointed 1 in connection with a conjunctive iu Gen. xlv. 23, 
 
 xlvi. 12, Lev. ix. 3, Mic. ii. 11, Job iv. 16, Ecclcs. iv. 8. 
 
160 PSALM LV. 10-17. 
 
 retrospective meaning that the futures P''^jp3 and "^^n^ describe 
 what was a custom in the past. The expression is designedly 
 "•snya triJN and not '•aiya B'^N ; David does not make him feel 
 liis kingly eminence, but places himself in the relation to him 
 of man to man, putting him on the same level with himself 
 and treating him as his equal. The suffix of ''3"iy3 is in this 
 instance not subjective as in the 1D"iy3 of the law respecting the 
 asham or trespass-offering : according to my estimation, but 
 objectively : equal to the Avorth at which I am estimated, that 
 is to say, equally valued with myself. What heart-piercing 
 significance this word obtains when found in the mouth of the 
 second David, who, although the Son of God and peerless King, 
 nevertheless entered into the most intimate human relationship 
 as the Son of man to His disciples, and among them to that 
 Iscariot! ^W from ^?5^, Arabic alifay to be accustomed to 
 anything, assuescere^ signifies one attached to or devoted to any 
 one ; and V^^^p, according to the Hebrew meaning of the verb 
 yT^, an intimate acquaintance. The first of the relative clauses 
 in ver. 15 describes their confidential private intercourse; the 
 second the unrestrained manifestation of it in public. liD here, 
 as in Job xix. 19 {yid. supra on xxv. 14). liD P''Jiionj to make 
 friendly intercourse sweet, is equivalent to cherishing it. tJ^H 
 stands over against liD, just like liD, secret counsel, and Tf^"!, 
 loud tumult, in Ixiv. 3. Here C'J"i is just the same as that 
 which the Korahitic poet calls JJin jiDH in xlii. 5. 
 
 In the face of the faithless friend who has become the head 
 of the Absalomite faction David now breaks out, in ver. 16, 
 into fearful imprecations. The ChetJnb is riiD"'!^'', desolationes 
 (super eos) ; but this word occurs only in the name of a place 
 (" House of desolations "), and does not well suit such direct 
 reference to persons. On the other hand, the Kert mo H""^]^ 
 let death ensnare or impose upon them, gives a sense that is 
 not to be objected to ; it is a pregnant expression, equivalent to : 
 let death come upon them unexpectedly. To this i^'^^l corre- 
 sponds the Ci''|n of the second imprecation : let them go down 
 alive into Hades (^'i^w', perhaps originally nbix';:', the n of which 
 may have been lost beside the n that follows), i.e. like the com- 
 pany of Korah, while their life is yet vigorous, that is to say, 
 let them die a sudden, violent death. The drawing together of 
 the decipiat {opprimat) mors into one word is the result of the 
 
PSALM LV. 18-24. 161 
 
 ancient scriptio conthma and of the defective mode of writing, 
 ''tl'\ like ^y, cxli. 5, ''3S, 1 Kings xxi. 29. Bottcher renders it 
 differently : let death crash in upon them ; but the future form 
 '']^l = nsc^^ from nsc' = "^^U is an imaginary one, wliich cannot 
 be supported by Num. xxi. 30. Hitzig renders it : let death 
 benumb them (C?!) ; but this gives an inconceivable figure, 
 with the turgidity of which the trepidantes Manes in Virgil, 
 ^Jneid viii. 246, do not admit of comparison. In the confirma- 
 tion, ver. 16c J ti'V\i^2, together with the D^lp? which follows, 
 does not pretend to be any advance in the thought, whether 
 "liJD be rendered a settlement, dwelling, TrapocKta (LXX., 
 Targum), or an assembly (Aquila, Symmachus, Jerome). 
 Hence Hitzlg's rendering : in their shrine, in their breast 
 (=: iv Ta> Orjaavpcp rr)? KapBia<; avTwv, Luke vi. 45), D"J^30 being 
 short for Drii^jp in accordance with the love of contraction 
 which prevails in poetry (on xxv. 5). But had the poet in- 
 tended to use this figure he would have written D3")p m_i3D3 , 
 and is not the assertion that wickedness is among them, that it 
 is at home in them, really a climax? The change of the names 
 of God in ver. 17 is significant. He calls upon Him who is 
 exalted above the world, and He who mercifully interposes in 
 the history of the world helps him. 
 
 Vers. 18-24. In the third group confidence prevails, the 
 tone that is struck up in ver. 17 being carried forward. Even- 
 ing, morning, and noon, as the beginning, middle, and close of 
 the day, denote the day in its whole compass or extent : David 
 thus gives expression to the incessancy with which he is deter- 
 mined to lay before God, both in the quiet of his spirit and in 
 louder utterances, whatsoever moves him. The fat. consec. y??!?''! 
 connects the hearing (answer) with the prayer as its inevitable 
 result. Also in the prcet. HTQ expression is given to the cer- 
 tainty of faith ; and DiPK^a side by side with it denotes, with the 
 same pregnancy of meaning as in cxviii. 5, the state of undis- 
 turbed outward and inward safety and prosperity, into which 
 God removes his soul when He rescues him. If we read 
 oni-k^rob, then mp is, as the ancient versions regard it, the 
 infinitive: ne appropinqnent mild; whereas since the time of 
 J. H. Michaelis the preference has been given to the pro- 
 nunciation mi-lfrdb : a conjllctu mihi sc. parato^ in which case 
 it would be pointed "^7,i?P (with Metheg), whilst the Jiss., in 
 VOL. IL 11 
 
1G2 PSALM LV. 18-24. 
 
 order to guard against the reading with a, point it "3^ip^. 
 Hitzig is right when he observes, that after the negative |D the 
 infinitive is indicated beforehand, and that v = ''^y^ xxvii. 2, is 
 better suited to this. Moreover, the confirmatory clause ver. 
 lyZ* is connected with what precedes in a manner less liable to 
 be misunderstood if 2"ipD is taken as infinitive : that they may 
 not be able to gain any advantage over me, cannot come near 
 me to harm me (xci. 10). For it is not until now less precari- 
 ous to take the enemies as the subject of vn, and to take ''"I'sy in 
 a hostile sense, as in Job x. 17, xiii. 19, xxiii. 6, xxxi. 13, cf. QV 
 xciv. 16, and this is only possible where the connection suggests 
 this sense. Heidenheim's interpretation: among the magnates 
 were those who succoured me (viz. Hushai, Zadok, and Abi- 
 jithar, by whom the counsel of Ahithophel was frustrated), does 
 not give a thought characteristic of the Psalms. And with 
 Abcn-Ezra, who follows Numen Rahha 294a, to think of the 
 assistance of angels in connection with Ci''ii"13j certainly strongly 
 commends itself In view of 2 Kings vi. 16 (with which Hitzig 
 also compares 2 Chron. xxxii. 7) ; here, however, it has no 
 connection, whereas tlie thought, " as many (consisting of 
 many) are they with me, i.e. do they come forward and fight 
 with me," is very loosely attached to what has gone before. 
 The Beth essentice serves here, as it does frequently, e.g. xxxix. 
 17, to denote the qualification of the subject. The preterite 
 of confidence is followed in ver. 20 by the future of hope. 
 Although side by side with i'^*^, njj? presumptively has the 
 signification to answer, i.e. to be assured of the prayer being 
 heard, yet this meaning is in this instance excluded by the fact 
 that the enemies are the object, as is required by ver. 20d 
 (even if ver. 19^* is understood of those who are on the side of 
 the poet). The rendering of the LXX. : eiaaKouaerac 6 ©eo? 
 Kol TaiTecvcoaei, auTov<; 6 virdpj(o}v irpo rcov alwvcov, is appro- 
 priate, but requires the pronunciation to be 03y*^, since the 
 signification to bow down, to humble, cannot be proved to 
 belong either to Kal or H'tpJdl. But even granted that D?y.l 
 might, according to 1 Kings viii. 35 (yid. Keil), signify raTru- 
 vcoaei auTou?, it is nevertheless difiicult to believe that Djyi is 
 not intended to have a meaning correlative with i'DC'^, of which 
 it is the continuation. Saadia has explained 0}V\ in a manner 
 worthy of attention, as being for D^ n^y^ he will testify against 
 
PSALM LV. 18-24. 163 
 
 them; an interpretation which Aben-Ezra endorses. Heng- 
 stenberg's is better : " God will hear (the tumult of the enemies) 
 and answer tiiem (judicially)." The original text may have 
 been D7.1? ■^^'' ^^-l^.-V But as it now stands, Dli^ 2^'''! represents 
 a subordinate clause, with the omission of the Nin, pledgincr 
 that judicial response : since He it is who sitteth enthroned 
 from earliest times (yid. on vii. 10). The bold expression 3^'' 
 Dip is an abbreviation of the view of God expressed in Ixxiv. 
 12, Hab. i. 12, cf. Deut. xxxiii. 27, as of Him who from 
 primeval days down to the present sits enthroned as King and 
 Judge, who therefore will be able even at the present time to 
 maintain His majesty, which is assailed in the person of His 
 anointed one. 
 
 Ver. 20c. In spite of this interruption and the accompany- 
 ing clashing in of the music, 1t;'^^ with its dependent clause 
 continues the DJyi, more minutely describing those whom God 
 will answer in His wrath. The relative clause at the same 
 time gives the ground for this their fate from the character 
 they bear : they persevere in their course without any regard 
 to any other in their godlessness. The noun '"i^vrij which is 
 used elsewhere of a change of clothes, of a reserve in time of 
 war, of a relief of bands of workmen, here sio;nifies a chand-e 
 of mind (Targum), as in Job xiv. 14 a change of condition ; 
 the plural means that every change of this kind is very far 
 from them. In ver. 21 David again has the one faithless foe 
 among the multitude of the rebels before his mind. Vipi^ is 
 equivalent to WK Ci^u?'^, Gen. xxxiv. 21, those who stood in 
 peaceful relationship to him (^i^'t^, xli. 10). David classes 
 himself with his faithful adherents. ri''"]3 is here a defensive 
 and offensive treaty of mutual fidelity entered into in the pre- 
 sence of God. By nbK' and ??n is meant the intention which, 
 though not carried out as yet, is already in itself a violation 
 and profanation of the solemn compact. In ver. 22 the de- 
 scription passes into the tone of the coasural schema. It is 
 impossible for nxoriD, so far as the vowels are concerned, to be 
 equivalent to niKDno^ since this change of the vowels would 
 obliterate the preposition ; but one is forbidden to read msono 
 (Targum, Symmachus, Jerome) by the fact that VS (LXX. 
 rod TrpoacoTTOv avTov, as in Prov. ii. 6) cannot be the subject 
 to ip^n. Consequently D belongs to the noun itself, and the 
 
164 PSALM LV. 18-24. 
 
 denominatire niSDHO (from nson), like nisnjJO (from H^), 
 dainties, signifies articles of food prepared from curdled milk ; 
 here it is used figuratively of "milk- words" or butter-words" 
 which come from the lips of the hypocrite softly, sweetly, and 
 supplely as cream : os nectar projnit, mens aconita vomit. In the 
 following words uy^ni?'! (3'Ji?.1) the Makkeph (in connection 
 with which it would have to be read uk'roh just the same as in 
 ver, 19, since the — has not a Metheg) is to be crossed out (as 
 in fact it is even wanting here and there in mss. and printed 
 editions). The words are an independent substantival clause : 
 war (2'^P, a pushing together, assault, battle, after the form 
 3n3 with an unchangeable a) is his inward part and his words 
 are swords ; these two clauses correspond. 131 (properly like 
 
 cJij to be thin, weak, then also : to be soft, mild ; root "l"), p"i, 
 
 tendere, tenuare) has the accent on the ultima, vid. on xxxviii. 
 20. nn^ns is a drawn, unsheathed sword (xxxvii. 14). 
 
 The exhortation, ver. 23, which begins a new strophe and 
 is thereby less abrupt, is first of all a counsel M'hich David gives 
 to himself, but at the same time to all who suffer innocently, 
 cf. xxvii. 14. Instead of the obscure aira^ ryeypa/j,. 1?\}\ we 
 read in xxxvii. 5 *13"n, and in Prov. xvi. 3 'I"'b'J?0, according to 
 which the word is not a verb after the form ^y^^. (Chajug', 
 Gecatilia, and Kimchi), but an accusative of the object (just 
 as it is in fact accented ; for the Legarme of nin' has a lesser 
 disjunctive value than the Zinnor of 13n^). The LXX. 
 renders it eirlppLy^ov iirl Kvpiov rijv fiepijuvdv crov. Thus are 
 these words of the Psalm applied in 1 Pet. v. 7. According 
 to the Talmud ^n"" (the same form as 3iip) signifies a burden. 
 " One day," relates Rabba bar-Chana, B. Eosh ha-Shana, 26b, 
 and elsewhere, " I was walking with an Arabian (NabatjBan ?) 
 tradesman, and happened to be carrying a heavy pack. And he 
 said to me, ""n^^JX nn "l"'3n"' ^\"3C', Take thy burden and throw it 
 on my camel." Hence it is wiser to refer 3iT to ^^1, to give, 
 apportion, than to a stem 3n) = 3XJ, cxix. 131 (root 2S, ix), to 
 desire ; so that it consequently does not mean desiring, longing, 
 care, but that which is imposed, laid upon one, assigned or 
 allotted to one (Bottcher), in which sense the Chaldee deri- 
 vatives of 3ri^ (Targum Ps. xi. 6, xvi. 5, for n:o) do actually 
 occur. On whomsoever one casts what is allotted to him to 
 
PSALM LVI. 1G5 
 
 carry, to him one gives it to carry. The admonition proceeds 
 on the principle that God is as willing as He is able to bear 
 even the heaviest burden for us ; but this bearing it for us is 
 on the other side our own bearing of it in God's strength, and 
 hence the promise that Is added runs : He will sustain thee 
 (^3^3), that thou mayest not through feebleness succumb. Ver. 
 2oc also favours this figure of a burden : He will not give, i.e. 
 suffer to happen (Ixxviii. 66), tottering to the righteous for 
 ever. He will never suffer the righteous to totter. The right- 
 eous shall never totter (or be moved) with the overthrow that 
 follows ; whereas David is sure of this, that his enemies shall 
 not only fall to the ground, but go down into Hades (which is 
 here, by a combination of two synonyms, nriK' "1X3, called a well, 
 i.e. an opening, of a sinking in, i.e. a pit, as e.g. in Prov. viii. 
 31, Ezek. xxxvi. 3), and that before they have halved their 
 days, i.e. before they have reached the half of the age that 
 might be attained under other circumstances (cf. cii. 25, Jer. 
 xvi. 11). By D''n7X nrixi prominence is given to the fact that 
 it is the very same God who will not suffer the righteous to fall 
 who casts down the ungodly; and by ''3S1 David contrasts him- 
 self with them, as being of good courage now and in all time 
 to come. 
 
 PSALM LVI. 
 
 CHEERFUL COURAGE OF A FUGITIVE. 
 
 2 BE gracious unto me, Elohim, for man is greedy after me, 
 All the day he, fighting, oppresseth me. 
 
 3 Mine adversaries are greedy after me all the day, 
 For many are they who proudly war against me. 
 
 4 In the day that I fear do I cling confidingly to Thee, 
 
 5 Through Elohim will I praise His word, 
 In Elohim do I trust, without fearing : 
 What can flesh do unto me ? 
 
 6 All the day long they wrest my words, 
 Against me are all their thoughts for evil. 
 
 7 They band together, they set spies — 
 
 They watch my heels, because seeking after my life. 
 
1C6 PSALM LVI. 
 
 8 By such evil-doing shall they escape ? — 
 In wrath cast down the peoples, Elohim ! 
 
 9 ^ly fugitive life Thou hast told, 
 
 My tears are laid up in Thy bottle — 
 Are they not in Thy book ? 
 
 10 Then must mine enemies fall back in the day that I call ; 
 This I know : that Elohim is for me. 
 
 11 Through Elohim do I praise the word, 
 Through Jahve do I praise the word. 
 
 12 In Elohim do I trust without fearing: 
 What can men do unto me ? 
 
 13 Binding upon me, Elohim, are Thy vows; 
 I will pay thank-offerings unto Thee. 
 
 14 For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, 
 Yea my feet from falling, 
 
 That I might walk before Elohim in the light of life. 
 
 To Ps. Iv., which in vers. 7 sq. gives utterance to the wish : 
 " Oh that I had ivings like a dove,''^ etc., no Psalm could be more 
 appropriately appended, according to the mode of arrangement 
 adopted by the collector, than Ps. Ivi., the musical inscription 
 of which runs : To the Precentor^ after " The silent dove among 
 the far o/," hy David, a Michtam. Ci''i?m. is a second genitive, 
 cf. Isa. xxviii. 1, and either signifies distant men or longigna, 
 distant places, as in Ixv. 6, cf. Ci"'p''i;3, xvi. 6. Just as in Iviii. 2, 
 it is questionable whether the punctuation D^S has lighted upon 
 the correct rendering. Hitzig is anxious to read CipX, "Dove 
 of the people in the distance ;" but DPS, people, in spite of Egli's 
 commendation, is a word unheard of in Hebrew, and only con- 
 jectural in Phoenician. Olshausen's Dpi< more readily com- 
 mends itself, " Dove of the distant terebinths." As in other 
 like inscriptions, 7y does not signify de (as Joh. Campensis 
 renders it in his paraphrase of the Psalms (1532 and fre- 
 quently) : Prafecto miisices, de columba muta qua; procul 
 uvolaverat), but secundum; and the coincidence of the defining 
 of the melody with the situation of the writer of the Psalm is 
 explained by the consideration that the melody is chosen with 
 reference to that situation. The LXX. (cf. the Targum), 
 
PSALM LVI. 2-5. 1G7 
 
 interpreting the figure, renders : virep tou \aov rov airo rwv 
 a<yLU)v (from the sanctuary) fief^aKpv/xfMevov, for which Sym- 
 machus has : <^v\ov aircocrfxivov. The rendering of Aquila is 
 correct : virep TrepoaTepd'i aXdXov p,aKpva/ji(op. From Ps. Iv. 
 (vers. 7 sq., cf. xxxviii. 14) we may form an idea of the standard 
 song designated by the words D''pm DPX r\^V ; for Ps. Iv. is not 
 this song itself, and for this reason, that it belongs to the time 
 of Absalom, and is therefore of later date than Ps. Ivi., the 
 historical inscription of which, "when the Philistines assaulted 
 him in Gath" (cf. ^1,)^, 1 Sam. xxi. 14), carries us back into 
 the time of Saul, to the same time of the sojourn in Pliilistia 
 to which Ps. xxxiv. is assigned. Ps. Ivi. exhibits many points 
 of the closest intermingling with the Psalms of this period, and 
 thus justifies its inscription. It is a characteristic possessed in 
 common by these Psalms, that the prospect of the judgment 
 that will come upon the whole of the hostile world is combined 
 with David's prospect of the judgment that will come upon his 
 enemies: Ivi. 8, vii. 9, lix. 6 (12). The figure of the bottle in 
 which God preserves the tears of the suffering ones corresponds 
 to the sojourn in the wilderness. As regards technical form, 
 Ps. Ivi. begins the series of Davidic Elohimic Michtammim, Ps. 
 Ivi.-lx. Three of these belong to the time of Saul. These 
 
 I three contain refrains, a fact that we have already recognised 
 on xvi. 1 as a peculiarity of these ",favourite-word-poems." 
 
 ^The favourite words of this Ps. Ivi. are ('i)"i31 b'priii DM^S2 and 
 
 • V T T / T T V -: |- - 
 
 Vers. 2-5. Q^n'^JS and tJ'iJN*, ver. 2 (ix. 20, x. 18), are anti- 
 theses : over against God, the majestic One, men are feeble 
 beings. Their rebellion against the counsel of God is ineffec- 
 tive madness. If the poet has God's favour on his side, then 
 he will face these pigmies that behave as though they were 
 giants, who fight against him Ciiio, moving on high, i.e. proudly 
 (cf. DiiGO Ixxiii. 8), in the invincible mio;ht of God. ^^^, 
 inhiare^ as in Ivii. 4 ; Dn?, as in xxxv. 1, with p like ^i^, e.n. in 
 Jer. i. 19. Thus, then, he does not fear ; in the day when (Gos. 
 § 123, 3, h) he might well be afraid (conjunctive future, as e.g. 
 in Josh. ix. 27), he clings trustfully to Q^ as in iv. 6, and 
 frequently, Pi'ov. iii. 5) his God, so that fear cannot come near 
 him. He has the word of His promise on his side (p^^. as e.g. 
 
1G8 PSALM LVI. 6-8. 
 
 cxxx. 5) ; Q'''?^^?, through God will he praise tin's His word, 
 inasmuch as it is gloriously verified in him. Hupfeld thus 
 correctly interprets it ; whereas others in part render it " in 
 Elohim do I praise His word," in part (and the form of this 
 favourite expression in ver. llah is opposed to it) : "Elohim do 
 I celebrate, His word." Hitzig, however, renders it : " Of God 
 do I boast in matter," i.e. in the present affair ; which is most 
 chillingly prosaic in connection with an awkward brevity of 
 language. The exposition is here confused by x. 3 and xliv. 
 9. ^j'^i does not by any means signify gloriari in this passage, 
 but celehrare ; and D\n!?N*2 is not intended in any other sense 
 than that in Ix. 14. 3 ntpn is equivalent to the New Testament 
 phrase iria-Tevetv iv. ^^y^ ^^^ is a circumstantial clause with a 
 finite verb, as is customary in connection with Np, xxxv. 8, Job 
 xxix. 24, and ?3, Prov. xix. 23. 
 
 Vers. 6-8. This second strophe describes the adversaries, 
 and ends in imprecation, the fire of anger being kindled against 
 them. Hitzig's rendering is : " All the time they are injuring 
 my concerns," i.e. injuring my interests. This also sounds 
 unpoetical. Just as we say niin D?pn, to do violence to the 
 Tora (Zeph. iii. 4, Ezek. xxii. 26), so we can also say: to 
 tortui'e any one's words, i.e. his utterances concerning himself, 
 viz. by misconstruing and twisting them. It is no good to 
 David that he asseverates his innocence, that he asserts his 
 filial faithfulness to Saul, God's anointed; they stretch his 
 testimony concerning himself upon the rack, forcing upon it a 
 false meaning and wrong inferences. They band themselves 
 together, they place men in ambush. The verb n^3 signifies 
 
 sometimes to turn aside, turn in, dwell (= j^-); sometimes, to 
 
 be afraid (= 13), ^j) ; sometimes, to stir up, excite, cxl. 3 
 
 (= ni|) ; and sometimes, as here, and in lix. 4, Isa. liv. 15 : to 
 gather together (= 13X). The Ke7i reads ^^isy^ (as in x. 8, 
 Prov. i. 11), but the scriptio plena points to Hiph. (cf. Job 
 xxiv. 6, and also Ps. cxxvi. 5), and the following nr^n leads one 
 to the conclusion that it is the causative 13''2V;! that is intended : 
 tiiey cause one to keep watch in concealment, they lay an 
 ambush (synon. ^''"ixn, 1 Sam. xv. 5) ; so that nj:)n refers to the 
 liers-in-wait told off by them : as to these — they observe my 
 heels or (like the feminine plural in Ixxvii. 20, Ixxxix. 52) foot- 
 
PSALM LVI. 9-12, 169 
 
 prints (Rasln : mes traces), i.e. all my footsteps or movements, 
 because (properly, " in accordance with this, that," as in Mic. 
 iii. 4) they now as formerly (which is implied in the perfect, cf. 
 lix. 4) attempt my life, i.e. strive after, lie in wait for it (p}\^ 
 like ip^, Ixxi. 10, with the accusative = f n^^i? in cxix. 95). To 
 this circumstantial representation of their hostile proceedings is 
 appended the clause io?"LD?Si pN"?y, which is not to be under- 
 stood otherwise than as a question, and is marked as such by 
 the order of the words (2 Kings v. 26, Isa. xxviii. 28) : In spite 
 of iniquity [is there'] escape for them ? i.e. shall they, the liers-in- 
 wait, notwithstanding such evil good-for-nothing mode of action, 
 escape? At any rate t3?3 is, as in xxxii. 7, a substantivized in- 
 finitive, and the " by no means" which belongs as answer to this 
 question passes over forthwith into the prayer for the overthrow 
 of the evil ones. This is the customary interpretation since 
 Kimchi's day. Mendelssohn explains it differently : " In vain 
 be their escape," following Aben-Jachja, who, however, like 
 Saadia, takes t2^Q to be imperative. Certainly adverbial notions 
 are expressed by means of ^V, — e.g. "'{^r-'V, abundantly, xxxi. 24 ; 
 ip*^"^j;, falsely, Lev. V. 22 (vid. Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1028), — 
 but one does not say ?2r\~by^ and consequently also would hardly 
 have said ]\^~?V (by no means, for nothing, in vain) ; moreover 
 the connection here demands the prevailing ethical notion for 
 jlX. Hupfeld alters D^Q to D?Qj and renders it : " recompense 
 to them for wickedness," which is not only critically improbable, 
 but even contrary to the usage of the language, since D^3 signi- 
 fies to weigh out, but not to requite, and requires the accusative 
 of the object. The widening of the circle of vision to the 
 whole of the hostile world is rightly explained by Hengstenberg 
 by the fact that the special execution of judgment on the pax t 
 of God is only an outflow of His more general and compre- 
 hensive execution of judgment, and the belief in the former 
 has its root in a belief in the latter. The meaning of T]in 
 becomes manifest from the preceding Psalm (Iv. 24), to which 
 the Psalm before us is appended by reason of manifold and 
 closely allied relation. 
 
 Vers. 9-12. What the poet prays for in ver. 8, he now 
 expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces 
 himself. "13 (ver. 9) is not to be rendered " flight," which cer- 
 tainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen) ; but 
 
170 PSALM LVI. 9-12. 
 
 " a beins; futrltive " the unsettled life of a fugitive (Prov. xxvii. 
 8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many 
 temporary stays here and there. And upon the fact that God, 
 that lie whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret 
 hidinn--place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) 
 it, the poet lays great stress ; for he has long ago learnt to despair 
 of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to ^13 as 
 an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka; and this 
 is then followed by nrTiBD with the conjunctive Galgal and the 
 pausal nnx with Olewejored (the — ^ of which is placed over the 
 final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when 
 the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or 
 dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable). He who counts 
 (Job xxxi. 4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has 
 already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, 
 although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, 
 but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces 
 from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. 
 Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes no''b> as 
 imperative, as e.g. in 1 Sam. viii. 5; but since Q''C^, no''b', is also 
 the form of the passive participle (1 Sam. ix. 24, and frequently, 
 2 Sam. xiii. 32), it is more natural, in accordance with the 
 surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance 
 (posita est lacrima mea), and consequently to pronounce it as 
 Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Bottcher, and Hitzig). ^njJon (Eccles. 
 iv. 1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to """IJ, with which 
 ^1X32 forms a play in sound ; and the closing clause ^ri'^spn Npn 
 unites with nrnSD in the first member of the verse. Both ver. 
 ^b and ver. 9c are wanting in any particle of comparison. The 
 fact thus figuratively set forth, viz. that God collects the tears 
 of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together 
 with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mai. 
 iii. 1 6), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to 
 himself. The TX which follows may be taken either as a logical 
 " in consequence of so and so" (as e.g. xix. 14, xl. 8), or as a 
 " then" fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering 
 life (viz. when there have been enough of the "wandering" and 
 of the "tears"), or "at a future time" (more abruptly, like D"^ 
 in xiv. 5, xxxvi. 13, vid. on ii. 5). ^^''^ ^^^? ^^ ^^^ ^^^ expansion 
 of this IN, which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says 
 
PSALM LVI. 13, 14. 171 
 
 that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as 
 a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will 
 be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour 
 w'ill coincide w^ith the cry for help. By "'^V1'"'"i.t in ver. 106 
 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is 
 not to be rendered, after Job xix. 19: "I who know," which 
 is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with 
 what precedes ; but, after 1 Kings xvii. 24 : this I know (of 
 this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. HT as a neuter, just 
 as in connection with Vy^ in Prov. xxiv. 12, and also frequently 
 elsewhere (Gen. vi. 15, Ex. xiii. 8, xxx. 13, Lev. xi. 4, Isa. 
 xxix. 11, cf. Job XV. 17) ; and y as e.g. in Gen. xxxi. 42. 
 Through Elohim, ver. 11 continues, will I praise i^T : thus 
 absolutely is the word named ; it is therefore the divine word, 
 just like 13 in ii. 12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine 
 Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the 
 first case and then JaJive, in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm 
 style, as in Iviii. 7. The refrain in ver. 12 (cf. ver. 5b) indicates 
 the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read DINI in- 
 stead of "1^3 in this instance, just as in ver. 11 13'n instead of 
 ina^ (ver. 5a), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms 
 of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form. 
 
 Vers. 13, 14. In prospect of his deliverance the poet pro- 
 mises beforehand to fulfil the duty of thankfulness. vV, in- 
 cumbent upon me, as in Prov. vii. 14, 2 Sam. xviii. 11. T"}^^, 
 Avith an objective subject, are the vows made to God ; and 
 nnin are distinguished from them, as e.g. in 2 Chron. xxix. 
 31. He will suffer neither the pledged i"}.-? "'^r^ nor the 
 min ''Db^ to be wantino-; for — so will he be then able to sinij 
 and to declare — Thou hast rescued, etc. The perfect after ^3 
 denotes that which is then past, as in lix. 17, cf. the dependent 
 passage cxvi. 8 sq. There the expression is 2"'*n^ J^i^"!^ instead 
 of D""!!?! lis (here and in Elihu's speech. Job xxxiii. 30). 
 Light of life (John viii. 12) or of the living (LXX. tcop 
 ^(ovTwv) is not exclusively the sun-light of this present life. 
 Life is the opposite of death in the deepest and most compre- 
 hensive sense ; light of life is therefore the opposite of the night 
 of Hades, of this seclusion from God and from His revelation 
 in human history. 
 
172 PSALM LVir. 
 
 PSALM LVII. 
 
 BEFORE FALLING ASLEEP IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 2 BE gracious unto me, Elohim, be gracious unto me, 
 Por in Thee hath my soul hidden ; 
 
 And in the shadow of Thy wings do I seek refuge, 
 Until the destruction passeth by. 
 
 3 I call upon Elohim, the Most High, 
 Upon God who performeth it for me : 
 
 4 He will send from heaven and save me. 
 
 If he who is greedy for me doth slander — (^Sela.) 
 Elohim will send His mercy and truth. 
 
 5 My soul is in the midst of lions, 
 
 I will lie down among those who breathe forth fire. 
 The children of men — their teeth are spears and 
 
 arrows, 
 And their tongue is a sharp sword. 
 
 6 Oh show Thyself exalted above the heavens, Elohim, 
 Above the whole earth Thy glory ! 
 
 7 They had laid a net for my steps. 
 They had bowed down my soul. 
 
 They had digged out a pit before me — 
 They themselves fall therein. (Sela.) 
 
 8 Confident is my heart, Elohim, confident is my heart, 
 I will sing and play upon the harp. 
 
 9 Awake up, my glory, 
 
 Awake up, O harp and cithern, 
 I will awake the morning dawn ! 
 
 10 1 will praise Thee among the peoples, O Lord, 
 
 I will praise Thee upon the harp among the nations. 
 
 1 1 For great unto the heavens is thy mercy. 
 And unto the clouds Thy truth. 
 
PSALM LVir. 173 
 
 12 Oh show Thyself exalted above the heavens, Elohim, 
 Above the whole earth Thy glory. 
 
 The Psalms that are to be sung after the melody nntrri-px 
 (Ivii., Iviii., lix. Davidic, Ixxv. Asaphic) begin here. The 
 direction referring to the musical execution of the Psalm ought 
 properly to be rin*^n"?N bv (?X) ; but this is avoided as being 
 unmelodious, and harsh so far as the syntax is concerned. 
 The Geneva version is correct : pour le chanter sur Al taschchet. 
 There is no actual reference in the words to Deut. ix. 26, or 
 1 Sam. xxvi. 9 (why not also to Isa. Ixv. 8 ?). 
 
 The historical inscription runs : ivheii he Jled from Saul, in 
 the cave. From the connection in the history from which this 
 statement is extracted, it will have been clear whether the Psalm 
 belongs to the sojourn in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. ch. xxii.) 
 or in the labyrinthine cave upon the alpine heights of Engedi, 
 " by the sheep-folds" (1 Sam. ch. xxiv.), described in Van de 
 Velde's Journey, ii. 74-76. 
 
 How manifold are the points in which these Psalms be- 
 longing to the time of Saul run into one another ! Ps. Ivii. 
 has not merely the supplicatory " Be gracious unto me, Elohim," 
 at the beginning, but also ^IXK^ applied in the same way (Ivii. 4, 
 Ivi. 2 sq.), in common with Ps. Ivi ; in common with Ps. vii., 
 ^Ti23 = ''ti'SJ (Ivii. 9, vii. 6) ; the comparison of one's enemies 
 to lions and lionesses (Ivii. 5, vii. 3) ; the figure of the digging 
 of a pit (Ivii. 7, vii. 16) ; with Ps. lix. the figure of the sword 
 of the tongue (Ivii. 5, lix. 8, cf. lii. 4) ; with Ps. lii. the poetical 
 expression niin (Ivii. 2, lii. 4) ; with Ps. xxii. the relation of the 
 deliverance of the anointed one to the redemption of all peoples 
 (Ivii. 10, xxii. 28 sqq.). Also with Ps. xxxvi. it has one or two 
 points of contact, viz. the expression " refuge under the shadow 
 of God's wings" (ver. 2, xxxvi. 8), and in the measuring of the 
 mercy and truth of God by the height of the heavens (ver. 11, 
 xxxvi. 6). Yet, on tlie other hand, it has a thoroughly charac- 
 teristic impress. Just as Ps. Ivi. delighted in confirming what 
 was said by means of the interrogatory N^n (vers. 9, 14), so 
 Ps. Ivii. revels in the figure epizeuxis, or an emphatic repetition 
 of a word (vers. 2, 4, 8, 9). Ps. cviii. (which see) is a cento 
 taken out of Ps. Ivii. and Ix. 
 
 The strophe-schema of Ps. Ivii. is the growing one : 4. 5. 6; 
 
174 PSALM LVII. 2-6. 
 
 4. 5. 6.* Here also the Miclitam is not wanting in its promi- 
 nent favourite word. A refrain of a lofty character closes the 
 first and second parts. In the first part cheerful submission 
 rules, in the second a certainty of victory, which by anticipation 
 takes up the song of praise. 
 
 Vers. 2-6. By means of the two distinctive tense-forms 
 the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as 
 that which has once taken place ('"i^^C fj'oni non = '•DH out of 
 pause, like the same forms in Ixxiii. 2, cxxii. 6), and still, 
 because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, 
 renewed ("^PH^)* The shadow of the wings of God is the pro- 
 tection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings 
 is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this 
 protection. Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for 
 refuge now as he has done before, until ni^in^ i,e. the abysmal 
 danger that threatens him, be overpast, ^;?'a?fe7'U'^7'ti (cf. Isa. 
 xxvi. 20, and on the enallage numeri x. 10, Ges. § 147, a). 
 Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the 
 divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in 
 need of it ; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted trium- 
 phant resistance of the impending trials. The effort on his 
 own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes 
 refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and 
 rules the universe, pv?? is without the article, which it never 
 takes ; and "ipii (ver. 3^) is the same, because it is regularly 
 left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully 
 defined, Amos ix. 12, Ezek. xxi. 19 (Hitzig). He calls upon 
 God who accomplisheth concerning, i.e. for him (Esth. iv. 10), 
 who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one ; 
 ■ici3 is transitive as in cxxxviii. 8. The LXX. renders rov 
 evepjeTyjaavTci fie, as though it were vV Prpi (xiii. G, and fre- 
 quently) ; and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning 
 is exactly the same. But although h^} and "iroj fall back upon 
 one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive 
 final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification 
 
 * The Syriac version reckons only 29 arixoi (fctgoine) ; vid. the Hexa- 
 plarian version of this Psahn taken from Cod. 14,434 (Add. MSS.) in the 
 liiitish Museum, in Heideuheim's Vicrltljahrsschrift., No. 2 (1861). 
 
PSALM LVII. 2-6. 175 
 
 that is strictly maintained. In ver. 4 follow futures of hope. 
 In this instance " that which brings me deliverance " is to be 
 supplied in thought to n^^\ (cf. xx. 3) and not n^ as in xviii. 
 17, cf. cxliv. 7 ; and this general and unmentioned object is 
 then specialized and defined in the words " His mercy and 
 His truth " in ver. 4c. Mercy and truth are as it were the two 
 good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf. xliii. 
 3) bring the divine ny^B'^ to an accomplishment. The words 
 "•DXb' Fi^ri standing between a and c have been drawn by the 
 accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably inter- 
 preting it thus : He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever 
 (^Sela). But ^7.1 always (e.g. Isa. xxxvii. 23) has God as its 
 object, not as its subject. ''StUiy f)nn is to be connected with 
 what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges. § 155, 4, a) : sup- 
 posing that he who is greedy or pants for me (inhians mihi) 
 slandereth, then Elohini will send His mercy and His truth. 
 The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and 
 accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis. 
 
 In ver. 5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation 
 of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, 
 natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one's 
 own course. Since C:S3p has Zarlia (Zinnor) and D''tpn:3 Olewe- 
 jored, it is accordingly to be rendered : " My soul is in the 
 midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones ; the 
 children of men — tlieir teeth are a spear and arrows." The 
 rendering of the LXX., of Theodotion, and of the Syriac 
 version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both 
 begin a new clause with iKotfji')]d7]v (n^Dl), and I slept) ; whereas 
 Aquila and Symmachus (taking ''^'23, as it seems, as a periphrastic 
 expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all 
 as far as □'•on? as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two 
 parts, just as the accentuators do, at D"'Dn^. The rendering of 
 Aquila is iv fxeaw \eaivoiv KOCfjurjOijao/jbat, Xd^pwv ; that of Sym- 
 machus : ev fiearp XeovTwv evOapaoiv eKoifxtjdrjv, or according to 
 another reading, fiera^v Xeovrcov iKoi[xr)d'qv ^Xeyovrcov. They 
 are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may 
 be able to reproduce the '•ti'DJ, changes n3D*J'S into n^y^y : Anima 
 mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocieniium. This construction, 
 however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. 
 We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka 
 
176 PSALM LVII. 2-6. 
 
 above D^^^p (^ plural form that only occurs in this one passage 
 in the Psalter, = ^''!^?)' lu a general way it is to be observed 
 that this D"'Nnb in connection with ^^S^'^' is not so much the 
 accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although 
 it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the 
 object with verbs of dwelling ; on 331J' cf. Ruth iii, 8, 14, and 
 Ps. Ixxxviii. 6, Mic. vii. 5 (where at least the possibiHty of this 
 construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it 
 is doubtful (1) what CPH^ signifies. The rendering "flaming 
 ones " is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Sym- 
 machus. The verb tDn^ obtains this signification apparently 
 from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and 
 accordingly Thcodotion renders it by avaXcaKovTccv, and Aquila 
 most appropriately by Xd^pcov (a word used of a ravenous 
 furious longing for anything). But DH^ nowhere means "to 
 devour;" the poet must, therefore, in connection with D"'Dn7, 
 have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the 
 lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong 
 desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The ques- 
 tion further arises, (2) how the cohortative nn^'CN is meant to 
 be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that 
 which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward 
 impulse — never, however, without willing it one's self (Ew. 
 § 228, a) — the rendering " I must," or " therefore must I lie 
 down," commends itself. But the contrast, which has been 
 almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey 
 and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires 
 the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We 
 need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb 2y\y 
 liere has the sense of cicbitum ire (iv. 9). Starting from this 
 n33:;'S we look to ver. 9, and it at once becomes clear that we 
 have before us an evening or nightly song. David the per- 
 secuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept 
 the testimony of the inscription, in a cave : his soul is in the 
 midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed 
 to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, 
 feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for 
 the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, 
 are worse than beasts of prey : teeth and tongue are murderous 
 weapons. This more than brutal joy at the destruction of 
 
PSALM LVII. 7-12. 177 
 
 one's neighbour * which prevails among men, urges him to put 
 forth tlie prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the 
 heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some 
 visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted 
 One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i.e. may become 
 manifest (or even : exalted be His glory, ^^1^), over the whole 
 earth beneath, — His glory which to His saints is a health- 
 diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a 
 consuming fire, — so that the whole world shall be compelled to 
 acknowledge tliis glory in which His holiness manifests itself, 
 and shall become conformed to it after everything that is 
 hostile is overthrown. 
 
 Vers. 7-12. In this second half of the Psalm the poet 
 refreshes himself with the thou£i:ht of seeing that for which he 
 longs and prays realized even with the dawning of the morning 
 after this night of wretchedness. The perfect in ver. Id is the 
 perfect of certainty; the other perfects state what preceded 
 and is now changed into the destruction of the crafty ones 
 themselves. If the clause ^^23 pjDa is rendered : my soul was 
 bowed down (cf. 7^^, cix. 22), it forms no appropriate corollary 
 to the crafty laying of snares. Hence PiD3 must be taken as 
 transitive : he had bowed down my soul ; the change of number 
 in the mention of the enemies is very common in the Psalms 
 relating to these trials, whether it be that the poet has one 
 enemy kut i^o'^rp before his mind or comprehends them all in 
 one. Even the LXX. renders koI KaTeKafz-^av rrjv "^^v^^i^v 
 fxov, it is true, as though it were 1SM1, but can scarcely have 
 read it thus. This line is still remarkable ; one would expect 
 for ver. lb a thought parallel with ver. Id, and perhaps the 
 poet wrote 1t^'D3 5)33, his (the net-layer's) own soul bends (viz. 
 in order to fall into the net). Then ^IDD like bsJ would be prfl?^ 
 conJidenticB. In this certainty, to express which the music here 
 becomes triumphantly /or^^, David's heart is confident, cheerful 
 (Symmachus eSpata), and a powerful inward impulse urges 
 him to song and harp. Although |i33 may signify ready, 
 equipped (Ex. xxxiv. 2, Job xii. 5), yet this meaning is to be 
 
 * Cf. Sir. XXV. 15, in the Hebrew: nOH pxi jHS tJ'XI ^J?D B'N"I pS 
 3''1X non hv^ ("o poison exceeds the poison of the serpent, and no wrath 
 e.xceeds the wrath of an enemy). 
 
 VOL. IL 12 
 
178 PSALM LVII. 7-12. 
 
 rejected here in view of li. 12, Ixxviii. 37, cxli. 7 : it is not 
 appropriate to the emphatic repetition of the word. His even- 
 ino- mood which found expression in ver. 4, was hope of victory ; 
 the morning mood into wliich David here transports himself, is 
 certainty of victory. He calls upon his soul to awake Ol^^p as 
 in xvi. 9, xxx. 13), he calls upon harp and cithern to awake 
 (y\22) 1533.1 with one article that avails for both words, as in Jer. 
 xxix. 3, Neh. i. 5 ; and niiy with the accent on the ultima on 
 account of the coming together of two aspirates), from which 
 he has not parted even though a fugitive ; with the music of 
 stringed instruments and with song he will awake the not yet 
 risen dawn, the sun still slumbering in its chamber : >^'}^V^, exper- 
 gefaciam (not expergiscar), as e.g. in Cant. ii. 7, and as Ovid 
 {Metam. xi. 597) says of the cock, evocat auroram* His song 
 of praise, however, shall not resound in a narrow space where 
 it is scarcely heard ; he will step forth as the evangelist of his 
 deliverance and of his Deliverer in the world of nations (2'''r'i'3 ; 
 and the parallel word, as also in cviii. 4, cxlix. 7, is to be written 
 D"'J3X^3 with Lamed raphafum and Metheg before it) ; his voca- 
 tion extends beyond Israel, and the events of his life are to be 
 for the benefit of mankind. Here we perceive the self-con- 
 sciousness of a comprehensive mission, which accompanied 
 David from the beginning to the end of his royal career (vid. 
 xviii. 50). What is expressed in ver. 11 is both motive and 
 theme of the discourse among the peoples, viz. God's mercy 
 and truth which soar high as the heavens (xxxvi. 6). That 
 they extend even to the heavens is only an earthly conception 
 of their infinity (cf. Eph. iii. 18). In the refrain, ver. 12, 
 which only differs in one letter from ver. 6, the Psalm comes 
 back to the language of prayer. Heaven and earth have a 
 mutually involved history, and the blessed, glorious end of this 
 history is the sunrise of the divine doxa over both, here- prayed 
 for. 
 
 * With reference to the above passage in the Psahns, the Talmud, B. 
 Bcraclwlh 3/>, says, " A cithern used to hang above David's bed ; and when 
 midnight came, the north wind blew among the strings, so that they 
 sounded of themselves ; and forthwith he arose and busied himself with the 
 TOra until the pillar of the dawn ("inC'n 'WOV) ascended." Rashi observes, 
 "The dawn awakes the other kings; but I, said David, will awake the 
 dawn (-iHw-n DS ■niJ/'D ^JN)-" 
 
PSALM LVIIL 179 
 
 PSALM LVIIL 
 
 CRY FOR VENGEANCE UPON THOSE WHO PERVERT JUSTICE. 
 
 2 DO ye really, O ye gods, speak righteousness. 
 Do ye in uprightness judge the children of men ? 
 
 3 Nay, in heart ye work iniquities. 
 
 In the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands. 
 
 4 Apostate are the ungodly from the womb, 
 
 Gone astray from the birth are the speakers of lies. 
 
 5 Poison have they after the likeness of the poison of the 
 
 serpent, 
 Like a deaf adder which stoppeth her ear, 
 
 6 That she may not hear the voice of the charmers, 
 The skilful practiser of sorcery. 
 
 7 Elohim, bi'eak their teeth in their mouth. 
 
 The teeth of the lions do Thou wrench out, Jahve ! 
 
 8 They must melt away as running water ; 
 
 When he shooteth his arrows they are as though cut off. 
 
 9 (Let them be) as a snail that goes along dissolving as it goes, 
 (As) the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the 
 
 sun. 
 
 10 Before, then, your pots feel the thorn. 
 
 Whether it be raw or at boiling heat — He whirleth it away. 
 
 1 1 The righteous shall rejoice that he seeth vengeance, 
 
 He shall bathe his footsteps in the blood of the ungodly. 
 
 12 And men shall confess: Verily the righteous findeth fruit. 
 Verily there is a deity judging in the earth. 
 
 Their teeth, said Ps. Ivii., are spear and arrows, and their 
 tongue a sharp sword ; Ps. Iviii. prays : crush their teeth in 
 their mouth. This prominent common thought has induced the 
 collector to append the one Michtam of David, to be sung al- 
 tashcheth, to the other. Ps. Iviii., however, belongs to another 
 period, viz. to the time of Absalom. The incomparable boldness 
 of the language does not warrant us in denying it to David. 
 
180 PSALM LVIII. 2, 3. 
 
 In no one Psalm do we meet with so many In'gli-flown figures 
 coming together within the same narrow compass. But that 
 it is David who speaks in this Psahn is to a certain extent 
 guaranteed by Ps. Ixiv. and cxh These three Psalms, of which 
 the closing verses so closely resemble one anotlier that they at 
 once invite comparison, show that the same David who writes 
 elsewhere so beautifully, tenderly, and clearly, is able among 
 his manifold transitions to rise to an elevation at which his 
 words as it were roll alon^ like rumbling thunder through the 
 gloomy darkness of the clouds, and more especially wdiere they 
 supplicate (Iviii. 7) or predict (cxl. 10) the judgment of God. 
 
 The cumulative use of ici3 in different applications is pecu- 
 liar to this Psalm. Its Michtam character becomes clearly 
 defined in the closing verse. 
 
 Vers. 2, 3. The text of ver. 2a runs : Do ye really dictate 
 the silence of righteousness'? i.e. that before which righteous- 
 ness must become silent, as the collector (cf. Ivi. 1) appears to 
 have read it (D^X = D^^*, B. Chnllin 89a). But instead of nh^ 
 it is, with Houbigant, J. D. Michaelis, Mendelssohn, and others, 
 to be read D?S (= Dvi?, as in Ex. xv. 11), as an apostrophe of 
 those who discharge the godlike office of rulers and judges. 
 Both the interrogative ^^^^\[ (with ii as is always the case at 
 the head of interrogative clauses), num vere, which proceeds 
 from doubt as to the questionable matter of fact (Num. xxii. 
 37, 1 Kings viii. 27, 2 Chron. vi. 18), and the parallel member 
 of the verse, and also the historical circumstances out of which 
 the Psalm springs, demand this alteration. Absalom with his 
 followers had made the administration of justice the means of 
 stealing from David the heart of his people ; he feigned to be 
 the more impartial judge. Hence David asks : Is it then really 
 so, ye gods (D'S>' like Q'!?"^^5, Ixxxii. 1, and here, as there, not 
 without reference to their superhumanly proud and assumptive 
 bearing), that ye speak righteousness, that ye judge the children 
 of men in accordance with justice? Nay, on the contrary (^X, 
 zmo, introducing an answer that goes beyond the first No), in 
 heart (i.e. not merely outwardly allowing yourselves to be carried 
 away) ye prepare villanics (bi?3, as in Mic. ii. 1 ; and n5iy, as 
 in Ixiv. 7, from Tih)]} = n^iy^ xcii. 16, Job v. 16, with 6 = a-\-iu), 
 in the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands (so that 
 
PSALM LVIII. 4-6. 181 
 
 consequently violence fills the balances of your pretended jus- 
 tice). Lil^ ''J3 in ver. 2b is the accusative of the object; if it 
 had been intended as a second vocative, it ought to have been 
 K'''X"''33 (iv. 3). The expression is inverted in order to make it 
 possible to use the heavy energetic futures. H^? (mostly erro- 
 ously marked with Pazei') has Athnach, cf. xxxv. 20, Ixxvi. 12. 
 Vers. 4-6. After this bold beginning the boldest figures 
 follow one another rapidly ; and the first of these is that of the 
 serpent, which is kept up longer than any of the others. The 
 verb "i^T (cogn. I^D) is intentionally written lit in this instance 
 in a neuter, not an active sense, plural nf, like ^^2, Ub. Bakius 
 recognises a retrospective reference to this passage in Isa. 
 xlviii. 8. In such passages Scripture bears witness to the fact, 
 which is borne out by experience, that there are men in whom 
 evil from childhood onwards has a truly diabolical character, 
 i.e. a selfish character altogether incapable of love. For although 
 hereditary sinfulness and hereditary sin (guilt) are common to 
 all men, yet the former takes the most manifold combinations 
 and forms ; and, in fact, the inheriting of sin and the complex 
 influence of the power of evil and of the power of grace on the 
 propagation of the human race require that it should be so. 
 The Gospel of John more particularly teaches such a dualism 
 of the natures of men. iJ3?"n?3n (with Hebia, as in xviii. 18a) 
 is not the subject : the poison belonging to them, etc., but a 
 clause by itself : poison is to them, they have poison ; the con- 
 struct state here, as in Lam. ii. 18, Ezek. i. 27, does not express 
 a relation of actual union, but only a close connection. Dtp^^l! 
 (with the orthophonic Dagesh which gives prominence to the 
 Teth as the commencement of a syllable) is an optative future 
 form, which is also employed as an indicative in the poetic 
 style, e.g. xviii. 11. The subject of this attributive clause, 
 continuing the adjective, is the deaf adder, such an one, viz., 
 as makes itself deaf ; and in this respect (as in their evil serpent 
 nature) it is a figure of the self-hardening evil-doer. Then 
 with "i*^'J<. begins the more minute description of this adder. 
 There is a difference even among serpents. The^/ belong to 
 the worst among them that are inaccessible to any kind of 
 human influence. All the arts of sorcery are lost upon them. 
 D''*^'n?D are the whisperers of magic formulae (cf. Arabic najfa- 
 thdtf adjurations), and D'''?3n lain is one who works binding by 
 
182 PSALM LVIir. 7-10. 
 
 spells, exorcism, and tying fast by magic knots (cf. "i3n, to 
 bind = to bewitcli, cf. jJb, ^, Persic hend = KaTdBeafio<:y 
 
 vid. Isaiahj i. 118, ii. 242). The most inventive affection and 
 the most untiring patience cannot change their mind. Nothing 
 therefore remains to David but to hope for their removal, and 
 to pray for it. 
 
 Vers. 7-10. The verb D"iri is used much in the same way 
 in ver. la as apdcraeiv {e.g. Iliad, xiii. 577, diro 8e rpvcjxiXeiav 
 dpa^ev), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ''DNS* 
 is, as in Job vii. 5, =r ^13^\ The Jewish expositors, less appro- 
 priately, compare 2DS:>', Num. xxxii. 24, and ^NT3 =r W3, Isa. 
 xviii. 2, 7 ; '^IP^t^, Chethib, Jer. xxx. 16, and "^9^.]^, Zech. xiv. 
 10, more nearly resemble it. The treading (bending) of the 
 bow is here, as in Ixiv. 4, transferred to the arrows ( = |3i3, xi. 
 2) : he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though 
 cut off in the front, i.e. as inoperative as if they had no heads 
 or points (i03 as in Isa. xxvi. 18). In ver. 9 follow two 
 figures to which the apprecatory "let them become" is to be 
 supphed. Or is it perhaps to be rendered : As a snail, which 
 Thou causest to melt away, i.e. squashest with the foot (DOPI, 
 as in xxxix. 12, fut. Hiph. of HDn = DpD)^ let him perish? 
 The chancre of the number does not favour this ; and accordinor 
 to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing 'il?'7 
 with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.g. 
 on n^n, np i^n, the words 'n^n> D?^n belong together, and they 
 are also accented accordingly : as a snail or slug which goes 
 alone in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it o;oes (P'.3n after 
 the form ?3n from -'r'^^*). The snail has received its name 
 from this apparent dissolving into slime. For ?v2B' (with 
 Dag. dirimens for ^v^C') is the naked slimy snail or slug (Tar- 
 gum, according to ancient conception, N7P3ri Tn] " the slime- 
 worm"), from /?3K', to make wet, moist.f In the second figure, 
 
 * lu the Phoenician, the Cyprian copper mine Tu,u,ua<joc: appears to 
 have taken its name from DDfl, Uque/actio (Levy, PhOnizische Studien, 
 iii. 7). 
 
 t " God has created nothing without its use," says the Talmud, B. 
 Shahbath 77b ; " He has created the snail (riTlS^ i'l^^'ki') to heal bruises by 
 laying it upon them:" cf. Genesis Jlabba, ch. li. init., where S"l!?2t^ is ex- 
 plained by NVD'^, "'^^''D, ''''^''2, x-oyx.'^M, aiai'Ko;, Umax. Abraliam b. David 
 
PSALM LVIII. 7-10. 183 
 
 the only sense in which nCN f'QD belong together is " the un- 
 timely birth of a woman;" and rather than explain with the 
 Talmud {B. Moed katan 6Z>) and Targum (contrary to the 
 accents) : as an abortion, a mole,* one would alter riK'K into 
 ^t^'^?. But this is not necessary, since the construct form ncj'X 
 is found also in other instances (Deut. xxi. 11, 1 Sam. xxviii. 
 7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close co- 
 ordinate construction. So here, where tJ'nK^ lTn"?3, according to 
 Job iii. 16, Eccles. vi. 3-5, is an attributive clause to DK'X ?33 
 (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used 
 collectively (E\v. § 176, V). The accentuation also harmonizes 
 here with the syntactic relation of the words. In ver. 10, l^? 
 (plural in African, i.e. Punic, in Dioscorides arahlv) is the 
 rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like CH^, the broom, not only 
 makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that 
 retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in 
 cooking. The alternative i03 — i^3 signifies sive, sive, whether 
 the one or the other, ""n is that which is living, fresh, viz. the 
 fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of ^f^^ 
 (1 Sam. ii. 15) ; p"in, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. 
 There is no need to understand pin metonymically, or perhaps 
 as an adjective = chai'von, of boiled meat : it is a statement of 
 the condition. The suffix of l^'^yt!-'";, however, refers, as being 
 neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to 
 the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is : whether 
 raw or in a state of heat, i.e. of being cooked through. He 
 ( Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg 
 
 of Fez, the cotemporary of Saadia, has explained it in his Arabico-Hebrew 
 Lexicon by jIT^n^X, the slug. Nevertheless this is properly the name of 
 the snail with a house (pTllJ), Talmudic pT^TI, and even at the present day 
 
 in Syria and Palestine ^.^*'X=>^ (which is pronounced halezoii) ; -whereas 
 
 Pv3'.^^ in conformity with the etymon and with the figure, is the naked 
 snail or slug. The ancient versions perhaps failed to recognise this, because 
 the slug is not very often to be seen in hot eastern countries ; but bv2^ 
 in this signification can be looked upon as traditional. The rendering '' a 
 rain-brook or mountain-torrent (Arabic seil sdbil) which running runs 
 away," would, to say nothing more, give us, as Rosenmiiller has already 
 observed, a figure that has been made use of already in ver. 8. 
 
 * The mole, which was thought to have no eyes, is actually called in 
 post-biblical Hebrew nCi'S, plur. nV^^'H {yid. Kelim xxi. 3). 
 
184 PSALM LVIII. 11, 12. 
 
 rightly remarks, '■'■ To the raw meat correspond the immature 
 plots, and to the cooked the mature ones." To us, who regard 
 the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like 
 Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the 
 new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation 
 with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, 
 disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence 
 with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that 
 did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until 
 the moat in the pot was almost done through ; yet, on the 
 other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crack- 
 ling heat which should fully cook the meat. 
 
 Vers. 11, 12. Finally, we have a view of the results of the 
 judicial interposition of God. The expression made use of to 
 describe the satisfaction which this gives to the righteous is 
 thoroughly Old Testament and warlike in its tone (cf. Ixviii. 
 24). David is in fact king, and perhaps no king ever remained 
 so long quiet in the face of the most barefaced rebellion, and 
 checked the shedding of blood, as David did at that time. If, 
 however, blood must nevertheless flow in streams, he knows 
 full well that it is the blood of the partisans of his deluded son ; 
 so that the men who were led the further astray in their judg- 
 ment concerning him, the more inactive he remained, will at 
 last be compelled to confess that it does really repay one to be 
 just, and that there is really one higher than the high ones 
 (Eccles. V. 7 [8]), a deity (i^'''?^^^) above the gods (QvX) who, 
 though not forthwith, will nevertheless assuredly execute judg- 
 ment in the earth. '^X here, as in Job xviii. 21, Isa. xlv. 14, 
 retains its originally affirmative signification, which it has in 
 common with \y^. C'^^^^. is construed with the plural (Ges. § 
 112, rem. 3), as is frequently the case, e.g. 2 Sam. vii. 23 (where, 
 liowevcr, the chronicler, in 1 Chron. xvii. 21, has altered the 
 older text). This is not because the heathen are speaking 
 (Baur), but in order to set the infinite majesty and omni- 
 ])Otcncc of the heavenly Judge in contrast with these puffed- 
 up "gods." 
 
PSALM LIX. 185 
 
 PSALM LIX. 
 
 PRAYER OF AN INNOCENT MAN WHOM MEN ARE TRYING 
 
 TO TAKE. 
 
 2 DELIVER me from mine enemies, O my God, 
 From tiiose who rise up against me bear me away ! 
 
 3 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, 
 And from men of blood save me ! 
 
 4 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul. 
 
 The shameless gather themselves together against me — 
 Not on account of transgression on my part and on account 
 of sin, Jahve ! 
 
 5 Without sin they run and make themselves ready ; 
 Awake to meet me, and examine ! 
 
 6 And do Thou, Jahve Elohim of hosts, God of Israel, 
 Stir Thyself to visit all the heathen. 
 
 Spare not all those who are atrociously faithless. (&^a.) 
 
 7 They come again at evening, they howl like dogs, 
 And go the rounds in the city. 
 
 8 Lo they foam at their mouth ; 
 Swords are in their lips. 
 
 For "who doth hear it?!" 
 
 9 And Thou, Jahve, laughest at them, 
 Thou mockest at all the heathen. 
 
 10 My strength, -upon Thee loill 1 waitj 
 For Elohim is my fortress. 
 
 11 My God will come to meet me with His mercy, 
 
 Elohim will cause me to rejoice over those who lie in wait 
 for me. 
 
 12 Slay them not, lest my people forget it, 
 
 Cause them to go astray by Thy power and cast them down ; 
 Thou art our shield, O Lord ! .• 
 
 13 The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips, 
 Therefore let them be ensnared in their pride, 
 
 And on account of the curse and the deceit which they 
 utter. 
 
> 
 
 186 PSALM LIX. 
 
 14 Destroy in wrath, destroy, that they may be no more, 
 And that they may know that Elohim is Ruler in Jacob 
 Unto the ends of the earth ! (Sela.) 
 
 15 They come again at evening, tliey howl like dogs, 
 And go the rounds in the city. 
 
 16 They wander to and fro in order to eat; 
 
 If they are not satisfied, they stay over night — 
 
 17 But as for me, I shall sing of Thy strength, 
 And exult, in the morning, over Thy mercy ; 
 That Thou hast been a fortress to me, 
 
 And a refuge in the day when I was afraid. 
 
 18 ^fl/ strength, to Thee will I harp, 
 
 For Elohim is my fortress, my merciful God. ' 
 
 This Michtam, after the melody Al-tashcheth, coinciding with \ 
 Ivii. 5 and Iviii. 7 in the figure used in ver. 8, is the earliest 
 amons the Davidic Psalms which are dated from the time of 
 Saul's persecution. When Sard sent and they (those wlio were 
 sent by him) icatched the house in order to slay him (David) ; 
 it therefore belongs to the time spoken of in l^Sam. xix. 11 sqq. 
 This inscription is no more intended to imply that the Psalm 
 was composed on that night before the flight, which was 
 rendered possible by the artifice of Michal, than the inscription 
 of Ps. li. is meant to imply that the origin of the Psalm was 
 coincident with the arrival of Nathan. The 3 of such inscrip- 
 M tions only sets forth in a general way the historical groundwork 
 'of the song. If we consider the contents of the Psalm from 
 this point of view, we shall obtain a tolerably distinct picture of 
 the situation. We must imagine that Saul, even before he 
 issued that command to watch David's house the ni£[ht throufrh 
 and to slay him in the morning, i.e. to assassinate him behind 
 Michal's back (1 Sam. xix. 11), sought to get rid of him in 
 some more secret way ; that the venal men of his court, them- 
 selves not less ill-disposed towards David, had offered him their 
 hand for the deed; and that in consequence of this, great 
 activity, which was probably seen through by him whose life 
 was threatened, was observable in Gibea, and that more espe- 
 cially every evening, when the bandits strolled through the city 
 in order to meet with the dreaded rival and give him his death- 
 
PSALM LIX. 2-10. 187 
 
 Llow. The Psalms and the Propliets .are often the medium 
 through which we gain a deeper insight into events which are 
 only sketclied in the historical books after their most prominent 
 outward features. 
 
 In consideration of the fact that the description of the 
 nightly proceedings of the enemies is repeated after the manner 
 of a refrain, and that the poet in ver. 17 contrasts his believ- 
 ingly joyous prospects for the coming morning with the in- 
 effectual ardour with which they pass the night patrolling the , ^ 
 streets, Psalm lix. seems to be an evening song belonging to • 
 those perilous days spent in Gibea. ^ 
 
 Vers. 2-10. First part. As far as ver. 4 we recognise 
 strain's familiar in the Psalms. The enemies are called ^^o^ipnp | "^ 
 as in Job xxvii. 7, cf. Ps. xvii. 7 ; D"'?y as shameless, D''J3 ''^V or 
 ^*???. ''IV', as in Isa. Ivi. 11, on account of their bold shameless 
 greediness, dogs. On si? in a subordinate clause, vid. Ewald, 
 § 286, g: without there being transgression or sin on my side, 
 which might have caused it. The suffix (transgression on my 
 pjirt) is similar to xviii. 24. |iy"vll (cf. Job xxxiv. 6) is a ' 
 I similar adverbial collateral definition : without there existing 
 any sin, which ought to be punished. The energetic future ( 
 \j^ru2un depicts those who servilely give effect to the king's evil ^ 
 I caprice ; they run hither and thither as if attacking and put 
 themselves in position. |p.i3n = pS'^nn^ like the Ilithpa. 'IDarij 
 Prov. xxvi. 26, the Hothpa. 03311, Lev. xiii. 55 sq., and the 
 Nithpa. 1233, Deut. xxi. 8. Surrounded by such a band of 
 assassins, David is like one besieged, who sighs for succour ; 
 1 and he calls upon Jahve, who seems to be sleeping and inclined 
 {to abandon him, with that bold n^?"!^ "^l^IPP '"'1^^', to awake to, 
 meet him, i.e. to join him with His help like a relieving army, 
 and to convince Himself from personal observation of the 
 extreme danger in which His charge finds himself. The con- 
 tinuation was obliged to be expressed by '^^^^'!, because a special 
 appeal to God interposes between nn^y and •1■^^?'^. In the 
 emphatic " Thou," however, after it has been once expressed, \ 
 \s implied the conditional character of the deliverance by the .' 
 absolute One. And each of the divine names made use of in 
 this lengthy invocation, which corresponds to the deep anxiety | ^ 
 \ of the poet, is a challenge, so to speak, to the ability and will- 
 
li 
 
 188 PSALM LIX. 2-10. 
 
 ingness, the power and promise of God. The juxtaposition 
 Jahve Eloliim Tsehaoth (occurring, besides this instance, in 
 Ixxx. 5, 20, Ixxxiv. 9), ^Yhich is peculiar to the Elohimic Psalms, 
 is to be explained by the consideration that Eloliim had become 
 / a proper name like Jahve^ and that the designation Jahve 
 Tsehaoth, by the insertion of Elohim in accordance with the 
 style of the Elohimic Psalms, is made still more imposing and 
 solemn ; and now niS3^* is a genitive dependent not merely 
 upon nin"* but upon D^n^X nin"' (similar to Ivi. la, Isa. xxviii. lb; 
 Symholiv, p. 15). ^^?^\ ""'P^. is in apposition to this threefold ^ 
 name of God. The poet evidently reckons himself as belong- 
 ing to an Israel from which he excludes his enemies, viz. the 
 true Israel which is in reality the people of God. Among the 
 h^then, against whom the poet invokes God's interposition, 
 are included the heathen-minded in Israel ; this at least is the ^' 
 view which brings about this extension of the prayer. Also in 
 1 connection with the words 1}.^^ ''1^^"^? the poet, in fact, has chiefly \ 
 j before his mind those who are immediately round about him 
 'and thus disposed. It is those who act treacherously from 
 'extreme moral nothingness and worthlessness (tJ.^J genit^epexeg.^. 
 The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous ; it j 
 y gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God ; and 
 the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought ' 
 to a close. 
 
 The second begins by again taking up the descriptioii of,, 
 the movements of the enemy which was begun in vers. 4, 5. U 
 We see at a glance how here ver. 7 coincides with ver. 5, and 
 ver. 8 with ver. 4, and ver. 9 with ver. 6. Hence the impre- 
 catory rendering of the futures of ver. J7 is not for a moment 
 to be entertained. By day the emissaries of Saul do not 
 ' venture to carry out their plot, and David naturally does not 
 ' run into their hands. They therefore come back in the even- 
 ing, and that evening after evening (cf. Job xxiv. 14) ; they 
 snarl or howl like dogs {^^[}, used elsewhere of the growling of 
 the bear and the cooing of the dove ; it is distinct from naj, 
 
 i.._.J, ^X), to bark, and 273, to yelp), because they do not want 
 
 ^ [ to betray themselves by loud barking, and still cannot altogether 
 conceal their vexation and rage ; and they go their rounds in j 
 the city (like "i^i?! naiD^ Cant. iii. 2, cf. supra Iv. 11), in order U 
 
PSALM LIX. 11-18. 189 
 
 to cut off their victim from flight, and perhaps, what woukl be 
 very welcome to them, to run against him in the darkness. 
 The further description in ver. 8 follows them on this patrol. 
 What they belch out or foam out is to be inferred from the 
 fact that swords are in their lips, which they, as it were, draw 
 so soon as they merely move their lips. Their mouth overflows 
 with murderous thouo;hts and with slanders concerning David, 
 by which they justify their murderous greed to themselves as 
 if there were no one, viz. no God, who heard it. But Jahve, 
 from whom nothing, as with men, can be kept secret, laughs 
 at them, just as He makes a mockery of all heathen, to whom 
 this murderous band, which fears the light and is unworthy of 
 the Israelitish name, is compared. This is the primary passage 
 to xxxvii. 13, ii. 4; for Ps. lix. is perhaps the oldest of the 
 Davidic Psalms that have come down to us, and therefore also 
 the earliest monument of Israelitish poetry in which the divine 
 name Jahve Tsehaoth occurs ; and the chronicler, knowing that 
 it was the time of Samuel and David that brought it into use, 
 uses this name only in the life of David. Just as this strophe 
 opened in ver. 7 with a distich that recurs in ver. 15, so it also 
 closes now in ver. 10 with a distich that recurs below in ver. 
 18, and that is to be amended according to the text of that ' 
 passage. For all attempts to understand i^J? as being genuine 
 prove its inaccuracy. With the old vei'sions it has to be read 
 My ; but as for the rest, moti'X must be retained in accordance 
 with the usual variation found in such refrains: my strength, 
 Thee will I regard (1 Sam. xxvi. 15; observe, 2 Sam. xi. 16), 
 or upon Thee will I wait (cf. /, cxxx. 6) ; i.e. in the conscious- 
 ness of my own feebleness, tranquil and resigned, I will look 
 for Thine interposition on my behalf. 
 
 Vers. 11-18. In this seconcLhalf of the Psalm the_cry of 
 fear is hushed. Hope^ reigns, and anger burns more fiercely. 
 The Kert says that ver. 11a is to be read : ''^^"li?'! '''^PD ''[P^., my 
 gracious God will anticipate me, — but with whati This ques- 
 tion altogether disappears if we retain the Chetldb and point 
 npn ^npx : my God will anticipate me with His mercy (cf. xxi. 
 4), i.e. will meet me bringing His mercy without any effort of 
 mine. Even the old translators have felt that Hon must be- 
 long to the verb as a second object. The LXX. is perfectly 
 correct in its rendering, 6 ©eo? fiov to eXeo-? avrov Trpocjiddaet 
 
r 
 
 190 PSALM LIX. 11-18. 
 
 fie. The Keri has come into existence in looking to ver. 18, 
 according to which it seems as though ''"^pn \'i?X ought to be 
 added to the refrain, ver.* 10 (cf. a similar instance in xlii. 6, 
 7). But ver. 11a would be stunted by doing this, and it 
 accords with Biblical poetic usage that the refrain in ver. 18 
 should be climactic in comparison with ver. 10 (just as it also 
 does not altogether harmonize in its first half) ; so that Olshau- 
 sen's proposal to close ver. 10 with ""1011 \n7X and to begin 
 ver. 11 with non (cf. Ixxix. 8) is only just to be put on record. 
 The prayer " slay them not" does not contradict the prayer 
 that follows for their destruction. The poet wishes that those 
 who lie in wait for him, before they are totally swept away, 
 may remain for a season before the eyes of his people as an 
 example of punishment. In accordance with this, i'2y"':n, by a 
 comparison of the Hipli. in Num. xxxii. 13, and of the Kal in 
 ver. 16, cix. 10, is to be rendered : cause them to wander about 
 (Targum, cf. Genesis Rabba, ch. xxxviii. init., ic^tp?L5) ; and in 
 connection with ^''^3 one is involuntarily reminded of x. 10, 14, 
 and is tempted to read ^^nn or ^^H?: cause them to wander 
 
 about in adversity or wretchedness, = cJJU- jAj:., vita caligi- 
 
 nosa h. e. misera), and more especially since "J^Tia occurs no- 
 where else instead of lij^T? or ^^''^^3. But the Jod in ^!^^^n is 
 unfavourable to this supposition ; and since the martial apos- 
 trophe of God by *'our shield" follows, the choice of the word 
 is explained by the consideration that the poet conceives of the 
 power of God as an army (Joel ii. 25), and perhaps thinks 
 directly of the heavenly host (Joel iv. [iii.] 11), over which the 
 Lord of Hosts holds command (Hitzig). By means of this 
 He is first of all to cause them to go astray (131 VJ, Gen. iv. 
 12), then utterly to cast them down (Ivi. 8). The Lord {^p^) 
 is to do this, as truly as He is Israel's shield against all the 
 heathen and all pseudo-Israelites who have become as heathen. 
 The first member of ver. 13 is undoubtedly meant descrip- 
 tively : " the sin of their mouth (the sin of the tongue) is the 
 word of their lips" (with the dull-toned suffix mo, in the use of 
 ■Q'hich Ps. lix. associates itself with the Psalms of the time of 
 Saul, Ivi., xi., xvii., xxii., xxxv., Ixiv.). The combination ll^^ll 
 D:iNJ3j however, more readily suggests parallel passages like 
 Prov. xi. 6 than Prov. vi. 2 ; and moreover the |p of the ex- 
 
PSALM LIX. 11-18. 191 
 
 pression 1^(1301 >^^^^\ which is without example in connection 
 with iBp, and, taken as expressing the motive (Hupfelcl), ought 
 to be joined with some designations of the disposition of mind, 
 is best explained as an appended statement of the reason for 
 which they are to be ensnared, so that consequently ^"ispl (cf. 
 Ixix. 27, Ixiv. 6) is an attributive clause ; nor is this contrary 
 to the accentuation, if one admits the Munach to be a transfor- 
 mation of Mugrash. It is therefore to be rendered : " let them, \ 
 then, be taken in their pride, and on account of the curse and iju 
 deceit which they wilfully utter." If, by virtue of the right- 
 eousness of the Ruler of the world, their sin has thus become 
 their fall, then, after they have been as it were a warning 
 example to Israel, God is utterly to remove them out of the 
 way, in order that they (it is unnecessary to suppose any 
 change of subject), while perishing, may perceive that Elohim 
 is Ruler in Jacob {^, used elsewhere of the object, e.g. Mic. v. 1, 
 is here used of the place of dominion), and as in Jacob, so 
 from thence unto the ends of the earth (p like ?y, xlviii. 11) 
 wields the sceptre. Just like the first group of the first part, ( + 
 this first group of the second part also closes with Sela. 
 
 The second group opens like the second group in the first 
 part, but with this exception, that here we read ^^C'^l, which 
 loosely connects it with what precedes, whereas there it is 131B'^. 
 The pQ_et's gaze is again turned towards his present straitened K 
 condition, and again the pack of dogs by which Saul is hunt- 
 iing him present themselves to his mind. nan points towards ■ " 
 an antithesis that follows, and which finds its expression in ""^Nl. 
 ^3yjl and "ii^3? stand in direct contrast to one another, and in > 
 addition to this ^"iJ?? has preceded. The reading of the LXX. 
 (Vulgate, Luther, [and authorized version]), koX 'yo'yyvaovaiv^ 
 wVl or 1J?'1, is thereby proved to be erroneous. But if l^v'l is \ 
 the correct reading, then it follows that we have to take ver. 16 
 not as foretelling what will take place, but as describing that " 
 which is present; so that consequently the fut. consec. (as is 
 frequently the case apart from any historical connection) is 
 only a consecutive continuation of ]'^V^^\ (for which the Keri has 
 py'3"'. ; the form that was required in ver. 12, but is inadmis- 
 sible here) : they wander up and down (yi3 as in cix. 10, cf. Ti3, 
 Job XV. 23) to eat (that is to say, seeking after food); and if they 
 are not satisfied, they pass the night, i.e. remain, eager for food 
 
192 PSALM LX. 
 
 and expecting it, over night on the spot. This interpretation 
 is the most natural, the simplest, and the one that harmonizes 
 best not only with the text before us (the punctuation ^V^^\j 
 not ^ystf'*, gives the member of the clause the impress of being 
 a protasis), but also with the situation. The poet describes 
 the activity of his enemies, and that by completing or re- 
 touching the picture of their comparison to dogs : he himself 
 is the food or prey for which they are so eager, and which they 
 would not willingly allow to escape them, and which they 
 nevertheless cannot get within their grasp. Their morbid 
 desire remains unsatisfied : he, however, in the morning, is 
 able to sing of the power of God, which protects him, and 
 exultantly to praise God's loving-kindness, which satiates and 
 satisfies him (xc. 14) ; for in the day of fear, which to him is 
 now past, God was his inaccessible stronghold, his unapproach- 
 able asylum. To this God, then, even further the play of his 
 harp shall be directed ('"i^^I^^.), just as was his waiting or hoping 
 {^y^% ver. 10). 
 
 PSALM LX. 
 
 DRILL PSALM AFTER A LOST BATTLE. 
 
 3 ELOIIIM, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast scattered us, 
 Thou hast been angry, restore us again ! 
 
 4 Thou hast made the land to tremble. Thou hast torn it 
 
 asunder, 
 Heal its breaches, for it tottereth ! I 
 
 5 Thou hast made Thy people experience a hard thinf'. 
 Thou hast given us wine to drink to intoxication. 
 
 6 Thou hast given those who fear Thee a banner 
 
 To lift themselves up on account of the truth. (Sela.) 
 
 7 In order that Thy beloved may be delivered. 
 Save now with Thy right hand and answer me I!! 
 
 8 Elohim hath promised in His holiness : 
 
 I shall rejoice, I shall portion out Shechem, 
 And measure out the valley of Succoth. 
 
PSALM LX. 193 
 
 9 Mine is Gilead and mine Manasseli, 
 And Ephraim is the helm of my head, 
 Judah is my sceptre, 
 
 10 Moab is my wash-pot, 
 Upon Edom I cast my shoe. 
 
 Cry out concerning me, O Philistia ! 
 
 11 Who will conduct me to the fortified city? 
 Who will bring me to Edom?! 
 
 12 Hast not Thou, Elohim, cast us off. 
 
 And goest not forth, Elohim, with our armies? — 
 
 13 Grant us deliverance from the oppressor; 
 Yea, vain is the help of man. 
 
 14 In Elohim shall we obtain the victory, 
 And He will tread down our oppressors. 
 
 This last of the Elohimic Michtammim of David is dated I 
 from the time of the Syro-Ammonitish war: When he (David) ' " 
 tvaged loar (HijjJi^Qi n^'J^ to pull, to seize by the hair) 2oith (n^^ 
 like ?y in Num. xxvi. 9 ; according to Ben-Asher, with Segol 
 instead of Makheph here, as in xlvii. 5, Prov. iii. 12, three 
 passages which ai'e noted by the Masora) Aram of the tioo rivers 
 (the people of the land of the twin streams, Mecroirorafiia) and 
 with Aram Zohah (probably between the Euphrates and Orontes 
 north-east of Damascus), and Joah returned (^y^l., transition 
 from the infinitive to the finite verb, Ges. § 132, rem. 2) and 
 smote Edom in the Valley of Salt (the Edomitish Ghor, i.e. the 
 salt plain, some ten miles wide, at the southern extremity of the 
 \Dead Sea) with twelve thousand men. This historical inscrip- 
 tion comes from an historical work which c;ave the Psalm in! 
 this connection. It is not taken out of any of the histories '-r 
 that have been preserved to us. For both in 2 Sam. viii. 13 
 and in 1 Chron. xviii. 12 we find the number eighteen thousand 
 instead of twelve. In the former passage, in which ^^ nL**y is 
 substantially equivalent to the Roman triumphnm agere, we 
 have to read Q"'^"rii< after the inscription of our Psalm instead 
 of D1XT1X. It is, however, still more probable that the words 
 ^'^^"'^? ^-- (LXX. eirdra^e t7]v ^ISov/xaiav) have accidentally 
 fallen out. The fact that here in the Psalm the victory over 
 the Edomites is ascribed to Joab, in the Chronicles to Abshai 
 VOL. IL - 18 ^ 
 
19 i PSALM LX. 
 
 (Abishai), and in 2 Sam. ch. viii. to David, is a difference 
 which mav easily be reconciled by the consideration that the 
 army of David was under the supreme command of Joab, 
 ^ and this battle in the Valley of Salt was fought against the 
 Edomites by Joab indirectly through his brother (cf. 2 Sam. 
 X. 10). 
 
 The inscription carries us into the time of the greatest, 
 1 longest, and most glorious of David's wars, that with the 
 \ Ammonites, which, so far as these were concerned, ended in the 
 i second year in the conquest of Kabbah {vid. Ps. xxi.), and with 
 their Arama?an allies, among whom Hadadezer, the ruler of the 
 powerful kingdom of Zobah, was defeated in the first year at 
 Chelam on the other side the Jordan. Then when, in the 
 1 second year, he endeavoured to fortify himself anew in the 
 1 districts on the banks of the Euphrates, he was completely 
 subjugated together with the Syrians who had come to his 
 assistance. Thus are the accounts of Aramaean wars related 
 in 2 Sam. ch. viii. and x.-xii. to be combined. Whilst, now, 
 the arms of David were making such triumphant progress in 
 the north, the Edomites in the south had invaded the land 
 . which was denuded of troops, and here a new war, which 
 jeopardized all the results that had been gained in the north, 
 awaited the victorious army. Ps. Ix. refers more especially to < 
 this Edomitish war. Hengstenberg is wrong when he infers 
 from the inscription that it was composed after the victory in 
 the Valley of Salt and before the conquest of Iduma^a. The 
 I inscription only in a general way gives to the Psalm its histori- 
 ' cal setting. It was composed before the victory in the Valley 
 of Salt, and presupposes the Israelitisli south had been at that 
 I time grievously laid waste by the Edomites, against whom they 
 were unable to oppose an adequate force. We may also infer 
 from other indications how the occupation of the neighbouring 
 and brother-country by the Edomites called for vengeance 
 against them ; vid. on Ps. xliv. That Korahitic Psalm may 
 have been composed after the Davidic Psalm, and is designedly, 
 by ver. 10, brought into relationship with it. In the cento Ps. 
 cviii. vers. 7—14 correspond to Ix. 7-14. 
 
 The Micldam character of the Psalm manifests itself both 
 I in the fact that a divine oracle is unfolded in it, and also in the 
 ' fact that the language of complaint, " Elohim, Thou hast cast 
 
1 
 
 PSALM LX. 3-7. 195 
 
 US ojEf" (cf. xliv. 10), is repeated as its favourite utterance. ' 
 Concerning nny Jv^>C'"?J?, q^er " A Lily is the testimony " (or 
 " The Lily of the testimony")^ vid. on xlv. 1. The additiory I 
 of T^^S' is to be interpreted according to riti'f? n'iin;"''J3 I'q'^^^ 2 I 
 SanfTi. 18 : the song is thereby appointed to be sung in con- \ 
 nection with the practice of the bow. The elegy on Saul and 1 
 Jonathan was suited to tliis by reason of the praise which is 
 therein given to the bow of Jonathan, the favourite weapon of 
 that brave warrior, and by the indirect remembrance of the 
 skilful Philistine archers, who brought a disgrace upon the 
 name of Israel in the battle on Gilboa, that needed as speedily 
 as possible to be wiped out. Ps. Ix., this most martial of all 
 the Psalms^ is also a song at the practice of arms, which was 
 designed to inflame and to hallow the patriotic martial ardour 
 of the young men when they were being exercised. 
 ' Hengstenberg and others, who reckon according to the 
 Masoretic verses, divide the Psalm into three strophes of four 
 Masoretic verses each. The fact that the use made of Ps. Ix. 
 in Ps. cviii. begins with ver. 7, jlV^H'' jyoS, lends some colour to 
 this division, which is also strengthened by the Sela. Never- 
 theless vers. 6 and 7 belong inseparably together. 
 
 Vers. 3-7. This first strophe contains complaint and I ^ 
 prayer; and establishes the prayer by the greatness of the 
 need and Israel's relationship to God. The sense in which 
 ^Jrips is intended becomes clear from 2 Sam. v. 20, where 
 David uses this word of the defeat of the Philistines, and 
 explains it figuratively. The word signifies to break through j 
 what has hitherto been a compact mass, to burst, blast, scatter, 
 disperse. The prayer is first of all timidly uttered in 13? 33itJ'ri 
 in the form of a wish ; then in nD"i (yev. 45) and nj;"''jnn (ver. 
 lb) it waxes more and more eloquent. ? 33iC' here signifies to 
 grant restoration (like ^ ^''^n^ to give rest ; xxiii. 3, Isa. Iviii. 
 12). The word also signifies to make a turn, to turn one's self [^ 
 away, in which sense, however, it cannot be construed with ?. 
 
 On '^'^'pVf Dunash has already compared *^, riunpere, scinderej 
 
 and Mose ha-Darshan the Targumic 0,^3 = ^P, Jer. xxii. 14. 
 The dee_p Wi^unds which the Edomites had inflicted upon the 
 country, are after all a wrathful visitation of God Himself — 
 
196 PSAOI LX. 3-7. 
 
 reeling or intoxicating wine, or as npynn p^ (not r)j properly 
 conceived of, is : wine which is sheer intoxication (an apposition 
 instead of the genitive attraction, vid. on Isa. xxx. 20), is reached 
 .out by Him to His people. The figure of the intoxicating cup 
 has passed over from the Psalms of David and of Asaph to the 
 prophets {e.g. Isa. li. 17, 21). A kindred thought is expressed 
 in the proverb : Quern Dens jjerdere vult, eum dementat. All 
 the preterites as far as l^^'^iPV"'!' (ver. 5i) glance back plaintively 
 at that which has been suffered. But ver. 6 cannot be thus 
 intended ; for to ex})lain with Ewald and Hitzig, following the 
 LXX., " Thou hast set up a banner for those who reverence 
 Thee, not for victory, but for flight," is inadmissible, notwith- 
 standing the fact that Dw'p "':)3?:i D^: is a customary phrase and 
 the inscribed 11??? is favourable to the mention of the bow. 
 For (1) The words, beginning with '^T\l, do not sound hke an 
 utterance of something worthy of complaint, — in this case it 
 ought at least to have been expressed by opijrinp tin (only for 
 flight, not for victory) ; (2) it is more than improbable that the 
 bow, instead of being called riL''i;3 (feminine of the Arabic mascu- 
 line kaiis), is here, according to an incorrect Aramaic form of 
 writing, called tS'if'p, whereas this word in its primary form Of p 
 (Prov. xxii. 21) corresponds to the Aramaic ^<9'^!'^P not in the 
 signification *' a bow," but (as it is also intended in the Targum 
 of our passage) in the signification "truth" (Arabic kist of 
 strict unswerving justice, root t'p, to be hard, strong, firm; just 
 as, vice versd, the word sidl; coming from a synonymous root, is 
 equivalent to "truth"). We therefore take the perfect predi- 
 cation, like ver. 4a, as the foundation of the prayer which 
 follows : Thou hast given those who fear Thee a banner to 
 muster themselves (^sich aufpanieren), i.e. to raise themselves as | 
 around a standard or like a standard, on account of the truth 
 — help then, in order that Thy beloved ones may be delivered, 
 with Thy right hand, and answer me. This rendering, in 
 accordance with which ver. 6 expresses the good cause of Israel 
 in opposition to its enemies, is also favoured by the heightened 
 -^\ effect of the music, which comes in here, as Sela prescribes. 
 The reflexive DDIJDn here therefore signifies not, as Hithpal. of 
 D^3, "to betake one's self to flight," but "to raise one's self" — 
 a signification on behalf of which we cannot appeal to Zech. 
 ix. 16, where riiDDi^no is apparently equivalent to ni^Vi^no, 
 
PSALM LX. 8-10, 197 
 
 " sparkling,"' but which here results from the juxtaposition with 
 D3 (cf. np3j iv. 7), inasmuch as Dp itself, like ^j, is so called 
 
 from DD3, ^3, to set up, raise, whether it be that the Hithpo. 
 falls back upon the Kal of the verb or that it is intended as a 
 denominative (to raise one's self as a banner, sich aufpanieren).'^ 
 It is undeniable that not merely in later {e.g. Neh. v. 15), but 
 also even in older Hebrew, V.sp denotes the reason and motive 
 {e.g. Deut. xxviii. 20). Moreover Ps. xliv. is like a com- 
 mentary on this t^C'p ''^30, in which the consciousness of the 
 people of the covenant revelation briefly and comprehensively 
 expresses itself concerning their vocation in the world. Israel 
 looks upon its battle against the heathen, as now against Edom, 
 as a rising for the truth in accordance with its mission. By 
 reason of the fact and of the consciousness which are expressed 
 in ver. 6, arises the prayer in ver. 7, that Jahve would inter- 
 pose to help and to rescue His own people from the power 
 of the enemy. '^T^\ is instrumental {yid. on iii. 5). It is to 
 be read '^}}V according to the Keri, as in cviii. 7, instead of 
 1J3y; so that here the king of Israel is speaking, who, as he 
 prays, stands in the place of his people. 
 
 Vers. 8-10. A ^ivine utterance, promising him victory, 
 which he has heard, is expanded in this second strophe. By 
 reason of tliis he knows himself to be in the free and inalien- 
 able possession of the land, and in opposition to the neighbour- 
 ing nations, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, to be the victorious 
 lord to whom they must bow. The grand word of promise in 
 2 Sam, vii. 9 sq. is certainly sufficient in itself to make this 
 feeling of certainty intelligible, and perhaps vers. 8-10 are only 
 
 * [This expression well illustrates the power of the German language 
 in coining words, so that the language critically dealt with may be exactly 
 reproduced to the German mind. The meaning will at once be clear when 
 we inform our readers that Panier is a banner or standard ; the reflexive 
 denominative, therefore, in imitation of the Hebrew, sich aiifpanieren signi- 
 fies to " up-standard one's self," to raise one's self up after the manner of a 
 standard, which being " done into English" may mean to rally (as around 
 a standard). We have done our best above faithfully to convey the mean- 
 ing of the German text, and we leave our readers to infer from this illus- 
 tration the difliculties with which translators have not unfrequently to 
 contend.— Tn.] 
 
198 PSALM LX. 8-10. 
 
 a pictorial reproduction of that utterance ; but it Is also_possible 
 I that ^t the time when Edom threatened the abandoned border- 
 ' ino- kingdom, David received an oracle from the high priest 
 y by means of the Urjm and Thummim, which assured him of 
 \ the undiminished and continued possession of the Holy Land 
 and the sovereignty over the bordering nations. That which 
 ' God speaks " in His holiness" is a declaration or a promise for 
 the sure fulfilment and inviolability of which He pledges His 
 holiness ; it is therefore equal to an oath " by His holiness " 
 (Ixxxix. 36, Amos iv. 2). The oracle does not follow in a 
 direct form, for it is not God who speaks (as Olshausen thinks), 
 to whom the expression <^p}!^. is unbecoming, nor is it the people 
 (as De Wette and Hengstenberg), but the king, since what 
 follows refers not only to the districts named, but also to their 
 inhabitants. ''3 might have stood before n?^ys, but without it 
 the mode of expression more nearly resembles the Latin me 
 exultaturiim esse (cf. xlix. 12). Shechem in the centre of the 
 I region on this side the Jordan, and the valley of Succoth in the 
 ■^' heart of the region on the other side, form the beginning ; for 
 
 there is not only a c:.;^L> (the name both of the eminence and 
 
 of the district) on the west side of the Jordan south of Beisan 
 
 (Scythopolis), but there must also have been another on the 
 
 other side of the Jordan (Gen. xxxiii. 17 sq., Judg. viii. 4 sq.) 
 
 which has not as yet been successfully traced. It lay in the 
 
 vicinity of Jabbok (ez-Zerka), about in the same latitude with 
 
 Shechem (Sicheni), south-east of Scythopolis, where Estori ha- 
 
 Parchi contends that he had found traces of it not far from the 
 
 left baidv of the Jordan. Josh. xiii. 27 gives some information 
 
 concerning the P^V (valley) of Succoth. The town and the 
 
 valley belonged to the tribe of Gad. Gilead, side by side with 
 
 Manasseh, ver. 9rt, comprehends the districts belonging to the 
 
 tribes of Gad and Reuben. As far as ver. 9c, therefore, fi'ee 
 
 dominion in the cis- and trans-Jordanic country is promised to 
 
 David. The proudest predicates are justly given to Ephraim and 
 
 4 Judah, the two chief tribes ; the former, the most numerous 
 
 I and powerful, is David's helmet (the protection of his head), 
 
 and Judah his staff of command (Pi?n», the command-giving = 
 
 V staff of command, as in Gen, xlix. 10, Num. xxi. 18) ; for Judah, 
 
 \ by virtue of the ancient promise, is the royal tribe of the people 
 
PSALM LX. 8-10. 199 
 
 wlio are called to the dominion of the world. This designation 
 i|\of Judah as the kin^s staff or sceptre and the marshal's baton 
 shows that it is the king who is speaking, and not the people. 
 ►To him, the king, who has the promise, are Moab, Edom, and 
 iPhilistia subject, and will continue so. Moab the boastful 
 serves him as a wash-basin;* Edom the crafty and malicious 
 is forcibly taken possession of by him and obTiged to submit 
 and Philistia the w^ike is obliged to cry aloud concerning 
 him, the irresistible ruler. Y^l "i"'D is a wash-pot or basin in / . 
 distinction from a seething-pot, which is also called "i^p. The 
 throwing of a shoe over a territory is a sign of taking forcible 
 possession, just as the taking off of the shoe (i^^v'!!) is a sign of I ^ 
 the renunciation of one's claim or right : the shoe is in both 
 instances the symbol of legal possession, f The rendering of I 
 the last line, with Hitzig and Hengstenberg : " exult concern- 
 ing me, O Philistia," i.e. hail me, though compelled to do so, as 
 king, is forbidden by the vP, instead of which we must have 
 looked for v. The verb y^l certainly has the general significa- 
 tion " to break out into a loud cry," and like the Hiph. (e.g. 
 
 * A royal attendant, the tasht-dcn; cup- or wash-basin-bearer, carried 
 
 the wash-basin for the Persian king both when in battle and on a journey 
 
 (vid. Spiegel, Avesta ii. LXix.). Moab, says the Psalmist, not merely I 
 
 waits upon him with the wash-basin, but himself serves as such to him. 
 ' — " * 
 
 t The sandal or the shoe, I. as an object of li?«, of treading down, 
 
 oppressing, signifies metaphorically, (1) a man that is weak and incapable 
 of defending himself against oppression, since one says, ma kuntu ndlan, 
 I am no shoe, i.e. no man that one can tread under his feet ; (2) a wife 
 (fiuie suhjicitur), since one says, g'alaa na'lahu, he has taken off his shoe, 
 
 i.e. cast off his wife (cf. Lane imder ^Ijvsi-, which even signifies a shoe 
 
 and a wife). II. As an instrument of ^,, tropically of the act of oppress- 
 
 ing and of reducing to submission, the ,Jjti serves as a symbol of sub- 
 jugation to the dominion of another. Rosenmiiller (Das alte und neue 
 Moryenland., No. 483) shows that the Abyssinian kings, at least, cast a shoe 
 upon anything as a sign of taking forcible possession. Even supposing 
 this usage is based upon the above passage of the Psalms, it proves, how- 
 ever, that a people thinking and speaking after the Oriental type associated 
 this meaning with the casting of a slioe upon anything. — Fleischer. Cf. 
 Wetzstein's Excursus at the end of this volume. 
 
200 PSALM LX. 11-14 
 
 Isa. XV. 4) the Ililhjml can also be used of a loud outcry at 
 violence. 
 
 Vers. 11-14. The third strophe reverts to prayer ; but 
 the prayer~iio\v breathes more freely with a self-conscious 
 courage for the strife. The fortified city ("'i^''? "'"'V) is not 
 Rixbbath Ammou ; but, as becomes evident from the parallel 
 member of the verse and 2 Kings xiv. 7, the Idumaean chief 
 city of .SiJ^' (^^?) or Petra (vid. Knobel on Gen. xxxvi. 42, 
 cf. Ps. xxxi. 22, 2 Chron. viii. 5, xi. 5 together with xiv. 5). 
 The wish : who will conduct me = Oh that one would conduct 
 me (Ges. § 136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the pro- 
 spect of victory ; concerning ''Jro ""Oj quis perduxerit me^ vid. on 
 xi. 3. What follows is not now to be rendered : Not Thou (who 
 but Thou), Elohim, who . . . (Hitzig) — for in order to have been 
 understood thus and not as in ver. 3, xliv. 10, the poet could 
 not have omitted itJ'X — on the contrary, the interrogatory N?n 
 is the foundation on which the supplicatory nan is raised. The 
 king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that 
 victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in 
 anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given 
 power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel 
 {vid. xliv. 10). Tr\\V (not nnty z= mjis?) is, as in cviii. 13, equiva- 
 lent to •iri"]fy The view that it is equal to "'^'iTy, the suffix being 
 cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid. on xvi. 6, cf. 
 iii. 3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very 
 recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who 
 have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays 
 for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, 
 as is most confidently expressed in ver. 14. p^"] nb'y^ to do 
 valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to : to be victorious, as 
 in cxviii. 16. In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is 
 in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accord- 
 ance with its deserts. 
 
rSALM LXI. 201 
 
 PSALM LXI. 
 
 PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING OF AN EXPELLED KING ON 
 HIS WAY BACK TO THE THRONE. 
 
 2 OH hear, Elohim, my plaintive cry, 
 Oh hearken to my prayer ! 
 
 3 From the end of the earth I cry to Thee when my heart 
 
 languisheth. 
 Up a rock too high for me do Thou lead me ; 
 
 4 For Thou hast become a refuge for me, 
 
 A strong tower, hiding me from the enemy. 
 
 5 I shall dwell in Thy tabernacle for aeons, 
 
 I shall find refuge in the protection of Thy wings. {Sela.) 
 
 6 For Thou, Elohim, hast hearkened to my vows. 
 
 Thou hast given back the heritage of those who fear Thy 
 name. 
 
 7 Days to the days of the king do Thou add, 
 
 Let his years be as a generation and a generation. 
 
 8 Let him remain for ever in the presence of Elohim — 
 jSIercy and truth do Thou appoint to preserve him — 
 
 9 So will I harp unto Thy name for it for ever, 
 That I may pay my vows day by day. 
 
 The Davidic Michtammim are now ended, and there follows 
 a short Davidic song nrjrpy. Does this expression mean 
 "with the accompaniment of stringed instruments 1" Not 
 strictly, for this is expressed by the inscription nirjjn (\y. 1, 
 cf. Isa. XXX. 29, 32). But the formula may signify " upon the 
 music of stringed instruments,^' i.e. upon stringed instruments. 
 And this is more probable than that nrJJ is the beginning of a 
 standard song. * The termination ath is not necessarily the con- 
 struct state. It was the original feminine termination; and 
 the prevailing one in Phoenician. 
 
 Some expositors, like Koster, Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen, 
 feel themselves here also bound, by reason of the "ip^ of the 
 inscription, to seek a place for this Psalm as far down as the 
 Babylonian Exile and the times of the Ptolemies and the 
 
202 PSALM LXI. 2-5. 
 
 Scleucidse. Hupfeld deals somewhat more kindly with the 
 irh in this instance, and Bottcher {De Inferis, p. 204) refutes 
 the hypotheses set up in its stead in order finally to decide in 
 favour of the idea that the king of whom the Psalm speaks is 
 Cyrus — which is only another worthless bubble. We abide 
 by the proudly ignored in?, and have as our reward a much 
 more simple interpretation of the Psalm, without being obliged 
 with Ewald to touch it up by means of a verse of one's own 
 invention interwoven between verses 5 and 6. It is a Psalm 
 of the time of Absalom, composed in Malianaim or elsewhere 
 in Gilead, when the army of the king had smitten the rebels 
 in the wood of Ephraim. It consists of two parts of eight 
 lines. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the 
 more limited sense* into the country on the other side of the 
 Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the 
 extreme corner of the earth (not : of the land, cf. xlvi. 10, 
 Deut. xxviii. 49, and frequently), far from the presence of God 
 (Ilengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of 
 separation from the abode of God by reason of which the 
 distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the 
 exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great. For he 
 still continually needed God's helpful intervention ; the en- 
 veloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues 
 
 (flt:y, u-ck=, according to its radical signification : to bend and 
 
 lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else 
 and covers it, here of a self-enveloping) ; a rock of difficulties 
 still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural 
 strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable. 
 But he is of good courage : God will lead him up with a sure 
 step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky 
 
 * Just as in Num. xxxii. 29 sq. the country cast of Jordan is excluded 
 from the name "the land of Canaan" in the stricter sense, so by the 
 Jewish mind it was regarded from the earliest time to a certain extent as 
 a foreign country ()'-is!5 HVin), although inhabited by the two tribes and a 
 half ; so that not only is it said of Moses that he died in a foreign land, 
 but even of Saul that he is buried in a foreign land (^Numeri llabba, oh. 
 viii. and elsewhere). 
 
PSALM LXI. 6-9. 203 
 
 ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has 
 ah'eady proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a 
 strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the per- 
 secuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over 
 him (cf. Prov. xviii. 10). He is already on the way towards 
 his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper 
 home : ho will or he has to (in accordance with the will of 
 God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa. xxxviii. 10, Jer. iv. 21) 
 in God's tabernacle (vid. on xv. 1) throughout seons (an utter- 
 ance which reminds one of the synchronous Ps. xxiii. ver. 6). 
 With "11)1 is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf. 
 Arabic g'dr ollah, the charge or protege of God, and Beduinic 
 gaiir, the protecting hearth ; g'aioir, according to its form = 
 1.3, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of 
 this protection follows : he has to, or will trust, i.e. find refuge, 
 beneath the protection of God's wings. During the time the 
 tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear 
 no such mention of dwelling in God's tabernacle or house. It 
 was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship 
 with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation 
 of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms 
 that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an 
 expression is not yet to be found ; for in Ps. lii. 7, when it is 
 desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling- 
 place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant. We see also 
 from its second part that this Ps. Ixi. does not belong to the 
 time of Saul ; for David does not speak here as one who has 
 drawn very near to his kingly ofiice (cf. xl. 8), but as one who 
 is entering upon a new stage in it. 
 
 Vers. 6-9. The second part begins with a confirmation 
 of the gracious purpose of God expressed in ver. 5. David 
 believes that he shall experience what he gives expression to in 
 ver. 5 ; for God has already practically shown him that neither 
 his life nor his kingship shall come to an end yet; He has 
 answered the prayers of His chosen one, that, blended with 
 vows, resulted from the lowly, God-resigned spirit which finds 
 expression in 2 Sam. xv. 25 sq., and He has given or delivered 
 up to him the land which is his by inheritance, when threatened 
 by the rebels as robbers, — the.land to which those who fear the 
 covenant God have a just claim. It is clear enough that the 
 
204 PSALM LXI. 6-9. 
 
 receivers are " those who fear the name of Jahve;" the genitive ^ 
 relation describes the nGni as belonging to them in opposition 
 to those who had usurped it. Or does nu'"}"; here perhaps mean 
 the same as ri;fnN in xxi. 3 ? Certainly not. ? npT |n: is a 
 customary phrase, the meaning of which, " to give anything to 
 any one as his inheritance or as his own property," is to be 
 retained (e.g. Deut. ii. 19). God has acknowledged David's 
 cause ; the land of Israel is again wrested from those to whom 
 it does not belong ; and now begins a new era in the reign of 
 its rightful king. In view of this the king prays, in vers. 7, 8, 
 that God would add another goodly portion to the duration of 
 his life. The words sound like intercession, but the praying 
 one is the same person as in vers. 2-5. The expression NSpa 
 Nn'L"p (the King Messiah) of the Targum shows to whom the 
 church referred the word '' kinsr " after the extinction of the 
 Davidic dynasty. The exalted tone of the wish expressed in 
 ver. 7b (cf. Joel ii. 2) favours this without absolutely requiring 
 it (cf. 2"''?^iy, ver. 5, xxi. 5, and the royal salutation, 1 Kings 
 i. 31, Dan. ii. 4, and frequently). There ought (as also e.g. in 
 ix. 8) not to be any question whether y^l, in ver. 8 signifies 
 " to sit enthroned," or " to sit " = " to abide ;" when the person 
 spoken of is a king it means " to remain enthroned," for \Yith 
 him a being settled down and continuous enthronement are co- 
 incident. 10 in ver. Sb is imperat. apoc. for n2?p (after the form 
 ^C, D?, ""V). The poet prays God to appoint mercy and truth 
 as guardian angels to the king (xl. 12, Prov. xx. 28, where out 
 of pause it is ^li?^. ; cf. on the other hand Ixxviii. 7, Prov. ii. 11, 
 v. 2). Since the poet himself is the king for whom he prays, 
 the transition to the first person in ver. 9 is perfectly natural. 
 13 signifies, as it always does, so or thus = in accordance there- 
 with, corresponding to the fulfilment of these my petitions, 
 thankfully responding to it. ^W^ is the infinitive of the aim 
 or purpose. Singing praise and accompanying it with music, 
 he will make his whole life one continuous paying of vows. 
 
PSALM LXII. 205 
 
 PSALM LXII. 
 
 RESIGNATION TO GOD WHEN FOES CROWD IN UPON ONE. 
 
 2 VERILY resignation to Eloliim is my soul, 
 From Him cometh my salvation. 
 
 3 Verily He is my rock and my salvation, 
 My fortress, I shall not be greatly moved. 
 
 4 How long will ye rush in upon a man, 
 
 How long will ye thrust him in all of you as a bowing wall, 
 a tottering fence ? ! — 
 
 5 Only from his exaltation have they determined to thrust 
 
 him down, 
 Seeing they love lies, each one blesseth with his mouth, 
 And in their inward part they curse. (^Sela.) 
 
 6 Verily to Elohim resign thyself, my soul ; 
 For from Him cometli my hope. 
 
 7 Verily He is my rock and my salvation, 
 My fortress, I shall not be moved. 
 
 8 Upon Elohim dependeth my salvation and my glory ; 
 
 The rock of my defence, and my refuge, have I in Elohim. 
 
 9 Trust in Ilim at all times, ye people ! 
 Pour out your heart before Plim, 
 Elohim is a refuge for us ! {Sela.) 
 
 10 Only a breath are the children of men, the sons of nobles a 
 
 lie ; 
 Going swiftly upward in the balance, they are altogether 
 like a breath. 
 
 11 Trust not in oppression, and through plunder become not 
 
 vain. 
 Increase of wealth do not deign to regard ! 
 
 12 One thing hath Elohim spoken, 
 These two have I heard : 
 That power is of Elohim, 
 
 13 And Thine, O Lord, is mercy — 
 
 For Thou recompensest every man according to his work. 
 
206 rSALM LXII. 2-5. 
 
 Concerning tliis Psalm, which is phiced next to the preced- 
 ing Psahn by reason of several points of mutual relationship 
 (cf. Ixii. 8b with Ixi. 4, 8 ; Ixii. % with Ixi. 4 ; Ixii. 136 with 
 Ixi. 9), as being a product of the time of the persecution by 
 Absalom, and also concerning pnn^-py, we have spoken already 
 in the introduction to Ps. xxxix., which forms with it a twin 
 pair. The particle ^^? occurs there four times, and in this 
 Psalm even as many as six times. The strophic structure 
 somewhat resembles that of Ps. xxxix., in that here we also 
 have longer strophes which are interspersed by tristichs. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. The poet, although apparently irrecoverably 
 lost, does not nevertheless despair, but opposes one thing to 
 the tumultuous crowding in upon him of his many foes, viz. 
 quiet calm submission, — not, however, a fatalistic resignation, 
 but that which gives up everything to God, whose hand (yid. 
 2 Sam. xii. 7-13) can be distinctly recognised and felt in what 
 is now happening to him. 'H^? (yea, only, nevertheless) is the 
 language of faith, with which, in the face of all assault, estab- 
 lished truths are confessed and confirmed ; and with which, in 
 the midst of all conflict, resolutions, that are made and are to 
 be firmly kept, are deliberately and solemnly declared and 
 affirmed. There is no necessity for regarding ri^JDM (not '"i*P^"^), 
 which is always a substantive (not only in xxii. 3, xxxix. 3, but 
 also in this instance and in Ixv. 2), and which is related to no^n, 
 silence, xciv. 17, cxv. 17, just as '^*^''r'J{, Jer. xxxii. 19, is related 
 to i^^yV., as an accus. absoL: in silent submission (Hupfeld). 
 Like npsn in cix. 4, it is a predicate : his soul is silent sub- 
 mission, i.e. altogether resigned to God without any purpose 
 and action of its own. His salvation comes from God, yea, 
 God Himself is his salvation, so that, while God is his God, he 
 is even already in possession of salvation, and by virtue of it 
 stands imperturbably firm. We see clearly from xxxvii. 24, 
 what the poet means by n2"i. He will not greatly, very much, 
 particularly totter, i.e. not so that it should come to his falling 
 and remaining duwn. nan is an adverb like 021^ cxxiii. 4, and 
 n3-in, Eccles. v. 19. 
 
 There is some difficulty about the aira^ Xeyo/x. =irininn (ver. 
 4a). Abuhvalid, whom Parclion, Kiniclii, and most others 
 
 follow, compares the Arabic Js^J^ l::^j&, the man brags; but 
 
PSALM LXII. 2-5. 207 
 
 this (.::^^J5l (intensive form i.::.^^^) signifies only in a general 
 way to speak fluently, smoothly and rapidly one word after 
 another, which would give too poor an idea here. There is 
 
 another u:,-Ji) (cogn. CJ^Xi, proscindere) which has a meaning 
 that is even better suited to this passage, and one which is still 
 retained in the spoken language of Syria at the present day : 
 hattani is equivalent to " he compromised me " ( := Jiataka 
 es-sitra 'anm, he has pulled my veil down), dishonoured me 
 before the world by speaking evil concerning me ; whence in 
 Damascus el-hettdt is the appellation for a man who without 
 any consideration insults a person before others, whether he be 
 
 present or absent at the time. But this t::.,^jS) only occurs in Kal 
 and with an accusative of the object. The words inmnn nas'iy 
 l^''i<"/'y find their most satisfactory explanation in the CLi^ 
 
 in common use in Damascus at the present day, which is not 
 
 used in Kal^ but only in the intensive form. The Plel ci^yb 
 
 Ij Lc. signifies to rush upon any one, viz. with a shout and 
 
 raised fist in order to intimidate him.* From this nin, of which 
 
 even the construction with ix together with the intensive form 
 
 is characteristic, we here read the P'd. rin^^^ which is not badly- 
 rendered by the LXX. e-TmlOeaOe, Vulgate irruitis. In ver. 
 46 it is a question whether the reading =in^"iri of the school of 
 Tiberias or the Babylonian ^ninn is to be preferred. Certainly 
 the latter ; for the former (to be rendered, " may you " or 
 "ye shall be broken in pieces, slain") produces a thought that 
 is here introduced too early, and one that is inappropriate to 
 the fiiiures that follow. Standinij as it still does under the 
 
 * Neshwan and the Kamus say : " haicirata and Imjjuta hi-fulCxn-in 
 signifies to call out to any one in order to put him in terror (<^j ^Ls);" 
 " but in Syria," as Wetzstcin goes on to say, "the verb does not occur 
 as vied. Jod, nor is haivwata there construed with <__?, but only -with jcii. 
 
 A very ready phrase with the street boys in Damascus is i-L-'»^" ^-i) ^^1' 
 
 ' -, ' why dost tliou threaten me? ' " 
 
208 PSALM LXII. 2-5. 
 
 regimen of -^^xnyj in^nn is to be read as a Plel; and, as the 
 following figures show, is to be taken, after xlii. 11, in its 
 primary signification contundere (root p).* The sadness of the 
 poet is reflected in the compressed, obscure, and peculiar 
 character of the expression. ti'^X and D2p3 (a single one — 
 ye all) stand in contrast, 'lil "'"'i??, sicut parietem = similem 
 paneti (cf. Ixiii. 6), forms the object to ininn. The transmitted 
 reading n^^rrnn "ina^ although not incorrect in itself so far as the 
 gender (Prov. xxiv. 31) and the article are concerned (Ges. 
 § 111, 2, a), must apparently be altered to n^in"] nnna (Olsliau- 
 sen and others) in accordance with the parallel member of the 
 verse, since both nnia and 17.^ are words that can be used of 
 every kind of surrounding or enclosure. To them David 
 seems like a bent, overhanging wall, like a wall of masonry 
 that has received the thrust that must ultimately cause its fall ; 
 and yet they rush in upon him, and all together they pursue 
 against the one man their work of destruction and ruin. 
 Hence he asks, with an indignation that has a somewhat 
 sarcastic tinge about it, how long this never-satiated self- 
 satisfying of their lust of destruction is meant to last. Their 
 determination (YT^ as in Isa. xiv. 24) is clear. It aims only or 
 entirely (J\^, here tantummodo, prorsus) at thrusting down from 
 his high position, that is to say from the throne, viz. him, the 
 man at whom they are always rushing (n''7np =: ^•"'"'"nnp). No 
 means are too base for them in the accomplishment of their 
 object, not even the mask of the hypocrite. The clauses which 
 assume a future form of expression are, logically at least, sub- 
 ordinate clauses (Ew. § 341, b). The Old Testament language 
 allows itself a change of number like V23 instead of D'7"'23, even 
 to the very extreme, in the hurry of emotional utterance. The 
 singular is distributive in this instance : suo quisqtie ore, like i^ 
 
 * The reading of Ben-Asher ^injnn is followed by Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, 
 and others, taking this form (which could not possibly be anything else) as 
 Piial. The reading of Ben-Naphtali ^njkin is already assumed in B. San- 
 hedrin 119a. Besides these the reading !inynn (without Dag.') is also 
 found, which cannot be taken as a resolved Piel, since the Metlieg is want- 
 ing, but is to be road teruizchu, and is to be taken (as also the reading 
 ^JL"^D, ci. 5, and Di]>^n|1, 1 Chron. xxiii. 6, xxiv. 3) as Poal {vid. on xciv. 
 
 20, cix. 10). 
 
PSALM LXII. 6-9. 209 
 
 In Isa. ii. 20, «'^0, Isa. v. 23, cf. xxx. 22, Zecli. xiv. 12. The 
 ^■)ointing ^bbp^. follows the rule of 'h'?p\ xxii. 27, 13 JT, cxlix. 5, 
 nd the like (to which the only exceptions are ■'J^n^ ""pprij ri33i). 
 
 Vers. 6-9. The beginning of the second group goes back 
 nd seizes upon the beginning of the first. ^Nl is affirmative 
 oth in ver. 6 and in ver. 7. The poet again takes up the 
 motional affirmations of vers. 2, 3, and, firm and defiant in 
 aith, opposes them to his masked enemies. Here what he says 
 o his soul is very similar to what he said of his soul in ver. 2, 
 asmuch as he makes his own soul objective and exalts him- 
 elf above her; and it is just in this that the secret of person- 
 Mi ity consists. He here admonishes her to that silence which 
 n ver. 2 he has already acknowledged as her own ; because all 
 piritual existence as being living remains itself unchanged only 
 y means of a perpetual "becoming" (mittelst steten Werdens)^ 
 f continuous, self-conscious renovation. The " hope " in ver. 
 h is intended to be understood according to that which forms 
 s substance, W'hich here is nothing more nor less than salva- 
 ion, ver. 2h. That for which he who resigns himself to God 
 opes, comes from God ; it cannot therefore fail him, for God 
 he Almighty One and plenteous in mercy is surety for it. 
 avid renounces all help in himself, all personal avenging of 
 lis own honour — his salvation and his honour are D^'^'PS"7y 
 vid, on vii. 11). The rock of his strength, i.e. his strong 
 efence, his refuge, is 2"'n?S3 ; it is where Elohim is, Elohim is 
 ; in person (3 as in Isa. xxvi. 4). By Dy, ver. 9, the king 
 ddresses those who have remained faithful to him, whose 
 eeble faith he has had to chide and sustain in other instances 
 Iso in the Psalms belonging to this period. The address does 
 .'not suit the whole people, who had become for the most part 
 
 i drawn into the apostasy. Moreover it would then have been 
 ■■sy (my people). QJ? frequently signifies the people belonging 
 to the retinue of a prince (Judg. iii. 18), or in the service of 
 any person of rank (1 Kings xix. 21), or belonging to any 
 union or society whatever (2 Kings iv. 42 sq.). David thus 
 J names those who cleave to him; and the fact that he cannot 
 J say "my people" just shows that the people as a body had 
 I become alienated from him. But those who have remained to 
 him of the people are not therefore to despair ; but they are 
 to pour out before God, who will know how to protect both 
 VOL. II. u 
 
210 PSALM LXII. 10-13. 
 
 them and their kaig, whatever may lie heavily upon their 
 heart. 
 
 Vers. 10-13. Just as all men with everything earthly 
 upon which they rely are perishable, so also the purely earthly 
 form which the new kingship has assumed carries within itself 
 the germ of ruin ; and God will decide as Judge, between the 
 dethroned and the usurpers, in accordance with the relationship 
 in which they stand to Him. This is the internal connection 
 of the third group with the two preceding ones. By means of 
 the strophe vers. 10-13, our Psalm is brought into the closest 
 reciprocal relationship with Ps. xxxix. Concerning D1S"''32 and 
 tr''X"''33 vid. on xlix. 3, iv. 3. The accentuation divides ver. 10 
 quite correctly. The Athnach does not mark Hipp D^JKsrpa as 
 an independent clause : they are upon the balance ni7j?7, for a 
 going up ; they must rise, so light are they (Hengstenberg). 
 Certainly this expression of the periphrastic future is possible 
 (vid. on xxv. 14, Hab. i. 17), still we feel the want here of the 
 subject, which cannot be dispensed with in the clause as an 
 independent one. Since, however, the combining of the words 
 with what follows is forbidden by the fact that the infinitive 
 with ? in the sense of the ahlat. gerund, always comes after the 
 principal clause, not before it (Ew. § 280, d), we interpret : 
 upon the balances ad ascendendum = certo ascensuri, and in 
 fact so that this is an attributive that is co-ordinate with 3T3. 
 Is the clause following now meant to affirm that men, one and 
 all, belong to nothingness or vanity (|0 partitivxini), or that they 
 are less than nothing (ip comparat.) ? Umbreit, Stier, and 
 others explain Isa. xl. 17 also in the latter way; but parallels 
 like Isa. xli. 24 do not favour this rendering, and such as Isa. 
 xliv. 11 are opposed to it. So also here the meaning is not 
 that men stand under the category of that which is worthless 
 or vain, but that they belong to the domain of tlie worthless or 
 vain. 
 
 The warning in ver. 11 does not refer to the Absalomites, 
 but, pointing to these as furnishing a salutary example, to 
 those who, at the sight of the prosperous condition and joyous 
 life on that side, might perhaps be seized with envy and covet- 
 ousness. Beside 3 npa the meaning of 3 ?2n is nevertheless 
 not : to set a vain hope upon anything (for the idea of hoping 
 does not exist in this verb in itself, Job xxvii. 12, Jer. ii. 5, nor 
 
PSALM LXII. 10-13. 211 
 
 in tills construction of the verb), but : to be befooled, blinded 
 by something vain (Hitzig). Just as they are not to suffer 
 their heart to be befooled by their own unjust acquisition, so 
 also are they not, when the property of others increases (3^3, 
 root 33, to raise one's self, to mount up ; cf. Arabic nabata^ to 
 sprout up, grow ; nahara^ to raise ; intransitive, to increase, and 
 many other verbal stems), to turn their heart towards it, as 
 though it were something great and fortunate, that merited 
 special attention and commanded respect. Two great truths 
 are divinely attested to the poet. It is not to be rendered : 
 once hath God spoken, now twice (Job xl. 5, 2 Kings vi. 10) 
 hav'e I heard this ; but after Ixxxix. 36 : One thing hath God 
 spoken, two things (it is) that I have heard ; or in accordance 
 with the interpunction, which here, as in xii. 8 (cf. on ix. 16), 
 is not to be called in question : these two things have I heard. 
 Two divine utterances actually do follow. The two great 
 truths are : (1) that God has the power over everything earthly, 
 that consequently nothing takes place without Him, and that 
 whatever is opposed to Him must sooner or later succumb ; 
 (2) that of this very God, the sovereign Lord C'^"'^.), is mercy 
 also, the energy of which is measured by His omnipotence, 
 and which does not suffer him to succumb upon whom it is 
 bestowed. "With ""S the poet establishes these two revealed 
 maxims which God has impressed upon his mind, from His 
 righteous government as displayed in the history of men. He 
 recompenses each one in accordance with his doing, Kara ret 
 ep^a avTov, as Paul confesses (Rom. ii. 6) no less than David, 
 and even (yid. LXX.) in the words of David. It shall be 
 recompensed unto every man according to his conduct, which 
 is the issue of his relationship to God. He who rises in opposi- 
 tion to the will and order of God, shall feel God's power (rj?) 
 as a power for punishment that dashes in pieces ; and he who, 
 anxious for salvation, resigns his own will to the will of God, 
 receives from God's mercy or loving-kindness C^pn), as from 
 an overflowing fulness, the promised reward of faithfulness : 
 his resignation becomes experience, and his hoping attainment. 
 
212 PSALM LXIII. 
 
 PSALM LXIII. 
 
 MORNING HYMN OF ONE WHO IS PERSECUTED, IN A 
 WATERLESS DESERT. 
 
 2 ELOIIIM, Thou art my God, early do I seek Thee ; 
 My soul tliirsteth after Thee, my flesh pineth for Thee 
 In a land of dryness, and is wearied without water. 
 
 3 Thus have I looked after Thee in the sanctuary, 
 To sec Thy power and Thy glory. 
 
 4 For Thy loving-kindness is better than life, 
 My lips shall praise Thee. 
 
 5 Thus will I bless Thee while I live, 
 In Thy name will I lift up my hands. 
 
 6 As with marrow and fat is my soul satisfied, 
 And witli jubilant lips doth my mouth sing praise. 
 
 7 "When I remember Thee upon my bed. 
 Throughout the night-watches do I meditate upon Thee. 
 
 8 For Thou hast become a help to me, 
 
 And in the shadow of Thy wings can I shout for joy. 
 
 9 My soul followcth hard after Thee, 
 Thy right hand holdeth me fast. 
 
 10 But they, to destruction do they seek my soul: 
 They shall go into the abysses of the earth. 
 
 11 They deliver him into the power of the sword, 
 A portion of jackals do they become. 
 
 12 Nevertheless the king shall rejoice in Elohim, 
 Every one shall glory who sweareth by Him ; 
 
 For the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. 
 
 Now follows Ps. Ixiii., the morning Psalm of the ancient 
 church with which the singing of the Psalms was always intro- 
 duced at the Sunday service.* This Psalm is still more closely 
 
 • Coiistihttinnes AposloUae, ii. 59 : 'ExaoT^j vi/^ipag avvadpoi^Krds Sp6pov 
 K»t ta-:r'tpct; \px'K'KovTi; k»1 -Trpooivx^/aii/oi tv rolg Kvpiux.oi;' 6'pdpov fciy hiyovreg 
 yi/xhftiv TO* $/3' (Ixiii.), ioTripu.; oi tov p/a' (cxli.)- Athanasius says just the 
 
rSALM LXIII. 213 
 
 .•elated to Ps. Ixi. than Ps. Ixii. Here, as in Vs. 1x1., David 
 gives utterance to his longing for the sanctuary ; and in both 
 Psalms he speaks of himself as king (yid. Symbolce, p. 56). 
 All the three Psalms, Ixi.-lxiii., were composed during the time 
 of Absalom ; for we must not allow ourselves to be misled by 
 the inscription, A Psalm, by David, lohen he was in the wilder- 
 ness of Judah (also LXX., according to the correct reading 
 and the one preferred by Euthymius, t?}? ^lovSata^;, not t% 
 'IBovfxaia<i), into transferring it, as the old expositors do, to the 
 time of Saul. During that period David could not well call 
 himself "the king;" and even during the time of his persecu- 
 tion by Absalom, in his flight, before crossing the Jordan, he 
 tarried one or two days "i2*TDn nu"ij;2, in the steppes of the desert 
 (2 Sam. XV. 23, 28, xvii. 16), Le. of the wilderness of Judah 
 lying nearest to Jerusalei^i, that dreary waste that extends 
 along the western shore of the Dead Sea. We see clearly 
 from 2 Sam. xvi. 2 ("13"IS2 ?irn) and xvi. 14 (2'?:.y), that he 
 there found himself in the condition of a ^.''.J^. The inscription, 
 when understood thus, throws light upon the whole Psalm, and 
 verifies itself in the fact that the poet is a king ; that he longs 
 for the God on Zion, where he has been so delighted to behold 
 Him, who is there manifest; and that he is persecuted by 
 enemies who have plotted his ruin. The assertion that he is in 
 the wilderness (ver. 2) is therefore no mere rhetorical figure ; 
 and when, in ver. 11, he utters the imprecation over his 
 enemies, " let them become a portion for the jackals,"" the influ- 
 ence of the desert upon the moulding of his thoughts is clearly 
 seen in it. 
 
 We have here before us the Davidic original, or at any 
 rate the counterpart, to the Korahitic pair of Psalms, xlii., 
 xliii. It is a song of the most delicate form and deepest 
 spiritual contents; but in part very difficult of exposition. 
 When we have, approximately at least, solved the riddle of 
 
 same in liis De virginitate: Trpo; Spdpou t6v \pa.'h,u6v rovrou hkyt-zi, x.t.x. 
 Hence Ps. Ixiii. is called directly o opdptvos (the morning hymn) in Constit. 
 Apostol. viii. 37. Eusebius alludes to the fact of its being so in Ps. xci. 
 (^xcii.), p. 608, ed. Montfaucon. In the Syrian order of service it is like- 
 wise the morning Fsalm kxt i^ox^iv, vid. Dietrich, De psalterii usu publico 
 et divislone in Ecclesia Syriaca, p. 3. The LXX. renders *]"inC'S in ver. 2, 
 ■xrpoi <TB dp^pi^u, and miDK'N^ iii ver. 7, £y toi; opipot; {in maiiUinis). 
 
214 PSALM LXIII. 2-4. 
 
 one Psalm, the second meets us with new riddles. It is nol 
 merely the poetical classic character of the language, and the 
 spiritual depth, but also tliis half-transparent and half-opaque 
 covering which lends to the Psalms such a powerful and un- 
 varying attractiveness. They are inexhaustible, there always 
 remains an undeciphered residue ; and therefore, though the 
 work of exposition may progress, it does not come to an end. 
 But how much more difficult is it to adopt this choice spiritual 
 love-song as one's own prayer! For this we need a soul that 
 loves after the same manner, and in the main it requires such 
 a soul even to understand it rightly ; for, as the saintly Bernard 
 says, lingua a77io)'is non atnanti harhara est. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. If the words in ver. 2 were ^"^n'^'^. '"'^*? 2"''?%, 
 then we would render it, with Bottcher, after Gen. xlix. 8 : 
 Elohim, Thee do I seek, even Thee! But v^ forbids this 
 construction ; and the assertion that otherwise it ought to be, 
 " Jahve, my God art Thou" (cxl. 7), rests upon a non-recog- 
 nition of the Elohimic style. JEloJdm alone by itself is a voca- 
 tive, and accordingly has Mehupach lecjarme. The verb *inE? 
 signifies earnest, importunate seeking and inquiring {e.g. Ixxviii. 
 34), and in itself has nothing to do with "inc'j the dawn; but 
 since ver. 7 looks back upon the night, it apjiears to be chosen 
 with reference to the dawning morning, just as in Isa. xxvi. 9 
 also, "in'v' stands by the side of n^^n njx. The LXX. is there- 
 fore not incorrect when it renders it : tt^o? ae opOpt^co (cf. 6 
 Xao9 wpdpc^ev 7rpo9 avrov^ Luke xxi. 38) ; and ApoUinaris 
 strikes the right note when he begins his paraphrase, 
 
 NfxTot fitr ecfi(l!i'hVKYiv al /accKxp f/,<x,x.»p oi^Cpiyfipixjau — 
 At uight -whcu the moruiug dawns will I exult around Thee, 
 most blessed One. 
 
 The supposition that nx2 is equivalent to pX3 TJ'S3, or even 
 that the Beth is Beth essentia^ (" as a," etc.), are views that have 
 no ground whatever, except as setting the inscription at defi- 
 ance. What is meant is the parched thirsty desert of sand in 
 which David finds himself. We do not render it : in a dry 
 and languishing land, for n'y is not an adjective, but a substan- 
 tive, — the transition of the feminine adjective to the masculine 
 primary form, which sometimes (as in 1 Kings xix. 11) occurs, 
 therefore has no application here ; nor : in the land of drought 
 
PSALM LXIII. 2-4. 215 
 
 and of weariness, for who would express himself thus ? Hl'.VI, 
 referring to the nearest subject '''!^|, continues the description 
 of the condition (cf. Gen. xxv. 8). In a region where he is 
 surrounded by sun-burnt aridity and a nature that bears only 
 one uniform ash-coloured tint, which casts its unrefreshing 
 image into his inward part, which is itself in much the same 
 parched condition, his soul thirsts, his flesh languishes, wearied 
 and in want of water (languidiis deficiente aqua), for God, the 
 living One and the Fountain of life. ^03 (here with the tone 
 drawn back, n»3, like ins, 1 Chron. xxviii. 10, TpV, Hab. iii. 
 11) of ardent longing which consumes the last energies of a 
 man (root D3, whence J03 and D»3 to conceal, and therefore 
 like ^^J^, ^r^j proceeding from the idea of enveloping ; Arabic 
 
 ^^, to be blind, dark, pale, and disconcerted). The LXX. 
 
 and Theodotion erroneously read nJ33 (how frequently is this 
 the case !) ; whereas Aquila renders it iireTadr], and Symma- 
 chus still better, ifieLperac (the word used of the longing of love). 
 It is not a small matter that David is able to predicate such 
 languishing desire after God even of his flesh; it shows us 
 that the spirit has the mastery within him, and not only forcibly 
 keeps the flesh in subjection, but also, so far as possible, draws 
 it into the realm of its own life — an experience confessedly 
 more easily attained in trouble, which mortifies our carnal 
 nature, than in the midst of the abundance of outward pros- 
 perity. The God for whom he is sick [lit. love-sick] in soul 
 and body is the God manifest upon Zion. 
 
 Now as to the |3 in ver. 3 — a particle which is just such 
 a characteristic feature in the physiognomy of this Psalm as 
 ■^N is in that of the preceding Psalm — there are two notional 
 definitions to choose from : thus = so, as my God (Ewald), 
 and : with such longing desire (as e.g. Oettinger). In the 
 former case it refers back to the confession, " Elohim, my God 
 art Thou," which stands at the head of the Psalm ; in the 
 latter, to the desire that has just been announced, and that not 
 in its present exceptional character, but in its more general 
 and constant character. Tliis reference to what has imme- 
 diately gone before, and to tlie modality, not of the object, but 
 of the disposition of mind, deserves the preference. "Thus" 
 is accordingly equivalent to " longing thus after Thee." The 
 
216 PSALM LXIII. 5-9. 
 
 two p in vers. 3 and 5 are parallel and of like import. The 
 alternation of the perfect (ver. 3) and of the future (ver. 5) 
 implies that what has been the Psalmist's favourite occupation 
 heretofore, shall also be so in the future. Moreover, n'^if psa 
 and cnpa form a direct antithesis. Just as he does now in a 
 dry land, so formerly in the sanctuary he looked forth longingly 
 towards God (nrn with the conjoined idea of solemnity and 
 devotion). We have now no need to take rWirh as a gerundive 
 (videndo), which is in itself improbable ; for one looks, peers, 
 gazes at anything just for the purpose of seeing what the 
 nature of the object is (xiv. 2, Isa. xlii. 18). The purpose of 
 his gazing upon God was to gain an insight into the nature of 
 God, so far as it is disclosed to the creature ; or, as it is ex- 
 pressed here, to see His power and glory, i.e. His majesty on its 
 terrible and on its light and loving side, to see this, viz., in its 
 sacrificial appointments and sacramental self-attestations. Such 
 longing after God, which is now all the more intense in the 
 desert far removed from the sanctuary, filled and impelled him ; 
 for God's loving-kindness is better than life, better than this 
 natural life (yid. on xvii. 14), which is also a blessing, and as 
 the prerequisite of all earthly blessings a very great blessing. 
 The loving-kindness of God, however, is a higher good, is in 
 fact the highest good and the true life : his lips shall praise this 
 God of mercy, his morning song shall be of Him ; for that 
 which makes him truly happy, and after which he even now, 
 as formerly, only and solely longs, is the mercy or loving-kind- 
 ness pen) of this God, the infinite worth of which is measured by 
 the greatness of His power {]]}) and glory pi^?). It might also 
 be rendered, " Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, 
 my lips shall praise Thee ;" but if ''3 is taken as demonstrative 
 (fur), it yields a train of thought that that is brought about not 
 merely by what follows (as in the case of the relative because), 
 but also by what precedes : " for Thy loving-kindness . . . my 
 lips shall then praise Thee" (^jin2v'^. with the suffix appended to 
 the energetic plural form t<«, as in Isa. Ix. 7, 10, Jer. ii. 24). 
 
 Vers. 5-9. This strophe again takes up the !3 (ver. 3) : 
 thus ardently longing, for all time to come also, is he set 
 towards God, with such fervent longing after God will he 
 bless Him in his life, i.e. entirely filling up his life therewith 
 (\*n3 as in civ. 33; cxlvi. 2 ; of. liaruch iv. 20, ev rats TjiJiepaa 
 
PSALM LXIII. 5-9. 2 1 7 
 
 fiov), and in His name, i.e. invoking it and appealing to it, will 
 he lift up his hands in prayer. The being occupied with God 
 makes him, even though as now in the desert he is obliged to 
 suffer bodily hunger, satisfied and cheerful like the fattest and 
 most marrowy food : velnt adipe et pingiiedine satiatur anima 
 mea. From Lev. iii. 17, vii. 25, Grussetius and FriscU infer 
 that spirituales epulce are meant. And certainly the poet can- 
 not have had the sacrificial feasts (Hupfeld) in his mind ; for 
 the 37n of the shelamim is put upon the altar, and is removed 
 from the part to be eaten. Moreover, however, even the Tora 
 does not bind itself in its expression to the letter of that prohi- 
 bition of the fat of animals, vid. Deut. xxxii. 14, cf. Jer. xxxi. 
 14. So here also the expression " with marrow and fat" is the 
 designation of a feast prepared from well-fed, noble beasts. 
 He feels himself satisfied in his inmost nature just as after a 
 feast of the most nourishing and dainty meats, and with lips of 
 jubilant songs (accus. instrum. according to Ges. § 138, rem. 3), 
 i.e. with lips jubilant and attuned to song, shall his mouth sing 
 praise. What now follows in ver. 7 we no longer, as formerly, 
 take as a protasis subsequently introduced (like Isa. iv. 3 sq.) : 
 " when I remembered . . . meditated upon Thee," but so that 
 ver. la is the protasis and ver. Ih the apodosis, cf. xxi. 12, Job 
 ix. 16 (Hitzig) : When I remember Thee (meminevim, Ew. § 
 355, b) upon my bed (stratis meis, as in cxxxii. 3, Gen. xlix. 4, 
 cf. ] Chron. v. 1) — says he now as the twilight watch is passing 
 gradually into the morning — I meditate upon Thee in the 
 night-watches (Symmachus, KaB' eKciarrjv <^v\aicTqv\ or during, 
 throughout the night-watches (like ^'Hzi in ver. 5) ; i.e. it is no 
 passing remembrance, but it so holds me that I pass a great 
 part of the night absorbed in meditation on Thee. He has no 
 lack of matter for his meditation ; for God has become a help 
 (auxilio, vid. on iii. 3) to him : He has rescued him in this 
 wilderness, and, well concealed under the shadow of His wings 
 (vid. on xvii. 8, xxxvi. 8, Ivii. 2), which affords him a cool 
 retreat in the heat of conflict and protection against his per- 
 secutors, he is able to exult (1?.']^, the potential). Between 
 himself and God there subsists a reciprocal relationship of 
 active love. According to the schema of the crosswise position 
 of words (chiasmus), T'^nx and ^3 intentionally jostle close 
 against one another: he depends upon God, following close 
 
218 PSALM LXIII. 10-12. 
 
 behind Him, i.e. following Him everywhere and not leaving 
 Him when He wishes to avoid him ; and on the other side 
 God's right hand holds him fast, not letting him go, not aban- 
 doning him to his foes. 
 
 Vers. 10-12. The closing strophe turns towards these foes. 
 By ritsni he contrasts with his own person, as in lix. 16 sq., Ivi. 
 7 sq., the party of the enemy, before which he has retreated 
 into the desert. It is open to question whether nsicrp is in- 
 tended to be referred, according to xxxv. 17, to the persecuted 
 one (to destroy my life), or, with Hupfeld, to the persecutors 
 (to their own destruction, they themselves for destruction). If 
 the former reference to the persecuted be adopted, we ought, in 
 order to give prominence to the evidently designed antithesis to 
 ver. 9, to translate : those, however, who . . • , shall go down 
 into the depths of the earth (Bottcher, and others) ; a rendering 
 which is hazardous as regards the syntax, after i^^[} and in con- 
 nection with this position of the words. Therefore translate : 
 On the other hand, those, to (their own) ruin do they seek my 
 soul. It is true this ought properly to be expressed by DrixiSi'Pj 
 but the absence of the suffix is less hazardous than the above 
 relative rendering of V^i??\ What follows in ver. 105-11 is 
 the expansion of riNVti'?. The futures from 1N3^ onwards are to 
 be taken as predictive, not as imprecatory ; the former accords 
 better with the quiet, gentle character of the whole song. It 
 shall be with them as with the company of Korah. nvjjinn 
 )r}^\} is the interior of the earth down into its deepest bottom ; 
 this signification also holds good in cxxxix. 15, Isa. xliv. 23.* 
 The phrase 3nn "y-bv n^in here and in Jer. xviii. 21, Ezek. 
 xxxv. 5 (JHiph.j not of 1"13, to drag, tear away, but 133^ to draw 
 towards, flow), signifies properly to pour upon = into the hands 
 (Job xvi. 11), i.e. to give over ("i"'2Dn) into the power of the 
 sword ; effundent eitm is (much the same as in Job iv. 19, xviii. 
 18, and frequently) equivalent to effundetur. The enallage is 
 
 * In this passage in Isaiah are meant the depths of the earth (LXX. 
 6ifiihi» T^f y^;)' ^^6 earth down to its inmost part, with its caverns, 
 abysses, and subterranean passages. The apostle, however, in Eph. iv. 9 
 by T« icctruTipx TVjc yy;g means exactly the same as what in our passage is 
 called in the LXX. roe x.xToiTotra, t^j yvj; : the interior of the earth = the 
 under world, just as it is understood by all the Greek fathers (so far as my 
 knowledge extends) ; the comparative xuTurepoi is used just like hipTepof. 
 
PSALM LXIV. 219 
 
 like V. 10, vii. 2 sq., and frequently : the singular refers to each 
 individual of the homogeneous multitude, or to this multitude 
 itself as a concrete persona moralis. The king, however, who 
 is now banished from Jerusalem to the habitation of jackals, 
 will, whilst they become a portion (n:o = ri}3rp), i.e. prey, of the 
 jackals {yid. the fulfilment in 2 Sam. xviii. 7 sq.), rejoice in 
 Elohim. Every one who sweareth by Him shall boast himself. 
 Theodoret understands this of swearing Kara rrjv tov ^aarCKewi 
 crcoTTjplav. Hengstenberg compares the oath n'yis ''n^ Gen. xlii. 
 15. Ewald also (§ 217,/) assumes this explanation to be un- 
 questionable. But the Israelite is to swear by the name of 
 Jahve and by no other, Deut. vi. 13, Isa. Ixv. 16, cf. Amos 
 viii. 14. If the king were meant, why was it not rather ex- 
 pressed by Sb Vli^'iin, he who swears allegiance to him ? The 
 syntax does not help us to decide to what the in refers. 
 Heinrlch Moeller (1573) says of the n as referred to the king : 
 peregrinitm est et coactum ; and A. H. Franke in his Introductio 
 in Psalterium says of it as referred to Elohim : coachim est. 
 So far as the language is concerned, both references are admis- 
 sible ; but as regards the subject-matter, only the latter. The 
 meaning, as everywhere else, is a swearing by God. He who, 
 without allowing himself to turn from it, swoi'e by Elohim, the 
 God of Israel, the God of David His anointed, and therefore 
 acknowledo;ed Him as the Beini? exalted above all thIno;s, shall 
 boast himself or " glory," inasmuch as it shall be practically 
 seen how well-founded and wise was this recognition. He shall 
 glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped, 
 forcibly closed, viz. those who, together with confidence in the 
 Christ of God, have by falsehood also undermined the reverence 
 which is due to God Himself. Ps. Ixiv. closes very similarly, 
 and hence is placed next in order. 
 
 PSALM LXIV. 
 
 INVOCATION OF DIVINE PROTECTION AGAINST THE 
 FALSENESS OF MEN. 
 
 2 HEAR, Elohim, my voice in my complaint. 
 
 From the terror of the enemy do Thou preserve my life ; 
 
220 PSALM LXIV. 2-5. 
 
 3 Hide me from the conspiracy of evil-doers, 
 
 From the tumultuous throng of the workers of iniquity, 
 
 4 Who whet their tongue like a sword, 
 Who aim their arrows, bitter words, 
 
 5 To shoot, in lurking-places, at the virtuous — 
 Suddenly they shoot at him, and fear not. 
 
 6 They make firm for themselves an evil agreement, 
 They decide to lay snares, 
 
 They ask, who can observe them ? 
 
 7 They search out knavish things — 
 
 They are ready with a cunningly-wrought-out plan — 
 And the inward part of a man, and the heart, is deep ! 
 
 8 But Elohim will shoot them with an arrow. 
 Suddenly do their wounds come. 
 
 9 And they are obliged to fall, upon them cometh their own 
 
 tongue ; 
 All who see them shall shake the head. 
 
 10 Then all men shall fear and declare the deed of Elohim, 
 And His work shall they consider well. 
 
 11 The righteous shall rejoice in Jahve and trust in Him, 
 And all the upright in heart shall glory. 
 
 Even Hilary begins the exposition of this Psalm with the 
 words Psalmi SKperscriptio Jdstoriam non coniinetj in order at 
 the outset to give up all attempt at setting forth its historical 
 connection. The Midrash observes that it is very applicable 
 to Daniel, who w'as cast into the lions' den by the satraps by 
 means of a delicately woven plot. This is indeed true ; but 
 only because it is wanting in any specially defined features and 
 cannot with any certainty be identified with one or other of the 
 two great periods of suffering in the life of David. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. The Psalm opens with an octostich, and closes 
 in the same way. The infinitive noun ^'V signifies a complaint, 
 expressed not by the tones of pain, but in words. The render- 
 ing of the LXX. (here and in Iv. 3) is too general, kv rat 
 Oeecrdai fie. The "terror" of the enemy is that proceeding 
 from him {cjcn. ohj. as in Dcut. ii. 15, and frequently). The 
 
rSALM LXIV. 6, 7. 221 
 
 generic singular 2Mx is at once particularized in a more detailed 
 description with the use of the plural. *iiD is a club or clique ; 
 ntJ'J") (Targumic = lif^n, e.g. Ezek. xxx. 10) a noisy crowd. The 
 perfects after ■lt^'^?. affirm that which they now do as they have 
 before done ; cf. cxl. 4 and Iviii. 8, where, as in this passage, 
 the treading; or bending of the bow is transferred to the arrow. 
 "10 121 is the interpretation added to the figure, as in cxliv. 7 
 That which is bitter is called "lO, root "lO, stringere, from the 
 harsh astringent taste ; here it is used tropically of speech that 
 wounds and inflicts pain (after the manner of an arrow or a 
 stiletto), TTLKpol Xoyoc. AVitli the Kal r\)V? (xi. 2) alternates 
 the Ilijy/i. iny. With Dxns the description takes a new start. 
 INT^ N?1, forming an assonance with the preceding word, means 
 that they do it without any fear whatever, and therefore also 
 without fear of God (Iv. 20, Deut. xxv. 18). 
 
 Vers. 6, 7. The evil speech is one with the bitter speech 
 in ver. 4, the arrow which they are anxious to let fly. This 
 evil speech, here agreement or convention, they make firm to 
 themselves (^sihi), by securing, in every possible way, its effec- 
 tive execution. "iSD (frequently used of the cutting language 
 of the ungodly, lix. 13, Ixix. 27; cf. Talmudic 'p'^^f P*^?">SD, 
 to speak as with three tongues, i.e. slanderously) is here con- 
 strued with b of that at which their haughty and insolent 
 utterances aim. In connection therewith they take no heed of 
 God, the all-seeing One : they say (ask), qiiis conspiciat ijjsis. 
 There is no need to take i07 as being for )h (Hitzig) ; nor is it 
 the dative of the object instead of the accusative, but it is an 
 ethical dative : who will see or look to them, i.e. exerting any 
 sort of influence upon them? The form of the question is not 
 the direct (lix. 8), but the indirect, in which ""P, seq.fiU., is used 
 in a simply future (Jer. xliv. 28) or potential sense (Job xxii. 
 17, 1 Kings i. 20). Concerning vhSv, vid. Iviii. 3. It is 
 doubtful whether =130)1* is the first person ( = ^3iori) as in Num. 
 xvii. 28, Jer. xliv. 18, or the third person as in Lam. iii. 22 
 ( — ^ori, which first of all resolved is ^lOJri, and then transposed 
 =i:ori, like n'TO=n^n3;o = n\WO, Isa. xxiii. 11). The reading 
 1:00, from which Rashi proceeds, and which Luther follows in 
 
 * !lJOri in Baer's Psalterium is an error that Las been carried over from 
 Heideuhcim's. 
 
PSALM LXIV. 8-11. 
 
 Ins translation, is opposed by the LXX. and Targum ; it does 
 not suit the governing subject, and is nothing but an involuntary 
 lightening of the difficulty. If we take into consideration, that 
 Dpri signifies not to make ready, but to be ready, and that con- 
 sequently ti'^HD b'Sn is to be taken by itself, then it must be 
 rendered either: they excogitate knavish tricks or villauies, 
 " we are ready, a clever stroke is concocted, and the inward 
 part of man and the heart is deep!" or, wdiich we prefer, since 
 there is nothing to indicate the introduction of any soliloquy : 
 they excogitate knavish tricks, they are ready — a delicately 
 devised, clever stroke (nominative of the result), and (as the 
 poet ironically adds) the inward part of man and the heart is 
 (verily) deep. There is nothing very surprising in the form 
 ^jori for iJ^rij since the Psalms, whenever they depict the sinful 
 designs and doings of the ungodly, delight in singularities of 
 language. On 3^5] (not 3^}) = (p'ii) nhz^i^h, cf. cxviii. 14a. 
 
 Vers. 8-11. Deep is man's heart and inward part, but not 
 too deep for God, who knoweth the heart (Jer. xvii. 9 sq.). 
 And He will just as suddenly surprise the enemies of His 
 anointed with their death-blow, as they had plotted it for him. 
 The futt. consec. that follow represent that which is future, with 
 all the certainty of an historical fact as a retribution springing 
 from the malicious craftiness of the enemies. According to 
 the accentuation, ver. 8 is to be rendered : " then will Elohim 
 shoot them, a sudden arrow become their wounds." Thus at 
 length Ilupfeld renders it ; but how extremely puzzling is the 
 meaning hidden behind this sentence ! The Targum and the 
 Jewish expositors have construed it differently : " Then will 
 Elohim shoot them with arrows suddenly;" in this case, how- 
 ever, because ver. 86 then becomes too blunt and bald, DNns 
 has to be repeated in thought with this member of the verse, 
 and this is in itself an objection to it. We interpunctuate with 
 Ewald and Hitzig thus : then does Elohim shoot them with an 
 arrow, suddenly arise (become a reality) their wounds (cf. Mic. 
 vii. 4), namely, of those who had on their part aimed the 
 murderous weapon against the upright for a sudden and sure 
 shot. Ver. 9a is still more difficult. Kimchi's interpretation, 
 which accords with the accents : et corruere facient earn super 
 se, linguam suam, is intolerable ; the proleptic suffix, having 
 reference to U:v:'b (Ex. iii. 6, Job xxxiii. 20), ought to have 
 
PSALM LXIV. 8-11. 223 
 
 been feminine (yid. on xxii. 16), and " to make their own tongue 
 fall upon themselves" is an odd fancy. The objective suffix 
 will therefore refer per enallagen to the enemy. But not thus 
 (as Hitzig, who now seeks to get out of the difficulty by an 
 alteration of the text, formerly rendered it) : " and they cause 
 those to fall whom they have slandered [lit. upon whom their 
 tongue came]." This form of retribution does not accord with 
 the context ; and moreover the gravely earnest i^vV, like the 
 in — , refers more probably to the enemies than to the objects of 
 their hostility. The interpretation of Ewald and Hengstenberg 
 is better : " and one overthrows him, inasmuch as their tongue, 
 i.e. the sin of their tongue with which they sought to destroy 
 others, comes upon themselves." The subject to 'i'^.''''^'?*l, as in 
 Ixiii. 11, Job iv. 19, vii. 3, Luke xn. 20, is the powers which 
 are at the service of God, and which are not mentioned at all ; 
 and the thought 2^i-? ^^Vi' (a circumstantial clause) is like 
 cxl. 10, where in a similar connection the very same singularly 
 rugged lapidary, or terse, style is found. In ver. 96 we must 
 proceed on the assumption that ? nxn in such a connection 
 signifies the gratification of looking upon those who are justly 
 punished and rendered harmless. But he who tarries to look 
 upon such a scene is certainly not the person to flee from it ; 
 ^nijnn does not here mean " to betake one's self to flio[ht" 
 (Ewald, Hitzig), but to shake one's self, as in Jer. xlviii. 27, 
 viz. to shake the head (xliv. 15, Jer. xviii. 16) — the recognised 
 (yid. xxii. 8) gesture of malignant, mocking astonishment. The 
 approbation is awarded, according to ver. 10, to God, the just 
 One. And with the joy at His righteous interposition, — viz. 
 of Him who has been called upon to interpose, — is combined a 
 fear of the like punishment. The divine act of judicial retri- 
 bution now set forth becomes a blessing to mankind. From 
 mouth to mouth it is passed on, and becomes an admonitory 
 nota bene. To the righteous in particular it becomes a consola- 
 tory and joyous strengthening of his faith. The judgment of 
 Jahve is the redemption of the righteous. Thus, then, does 
 he rejoice in his God, who by thus judging and redeeming 
 makes history into the history of redemption, and hide himself 
 the more confidingly in Him ; and all the upright boast them- 
 selves, viz. in God, who looks into the heart and practically 
 acknowledges them whose heart is directed unswervingly 
 
224 PSALM LXV. 
 
 towards Him, and conformed entirely to Him. lu place of 
 the futt. consec, which have a prophetic reference, simple futt. 
 come in here, and between these a perf. consec. as expressive of 
 that which will then happen when that which is prophetically 
 certain has taken place. 
 
 PSALM LXV. 
 
 THANKSGIVING SONG FOR VICTORY AND BLESSINGS 
 BESTOWED. 
 
 2 TO Thee resignation is as praise, Elohim, in Zion, 
 And to Thee is the vowed paid. 
 
 3 O Thou who answerest prayer ! to Thee doth all flesh come. 
 
 4 If instances of iniquity have overpowered me — 
 Our transgressions Thou, Thou expiatest them. 
 
 5 Blessed is he who is chosen to dwell near Thee 
 
 in Thy courts ! 
 We will enjoy the good of Thy house, 
 
 of Thy holy Temple!! 
 
 G In terrible deeds of righteousness dost Thou answer us, 
 
 O God of our salvation. 
 The confidence of all the ends of the earth 
 
 and of the farthest sea, 
 
 7 Who setteth fast the mountains by His strength, 
 
 girded with might, 
 
 8 Who stilleth the roar of the seas, the roar of their waves, 
 And the tumult of the nations. 
 
 9 Therefore the dwellers at the boundaries of the earth are 
 
 afraid at Thy tokens. 
 The outgoings of the morning and of the evening Thou 
 makest to sing for jov. 
 
 10 Thou hast visited the land, that it should overflow, 
 Abundantly didst Thou enrich it. 
 The fountain of Elohim was full of water — 
 Thou didst prepare their corn, for Thou didst thus pre- 
 pare it ; 
 
PSALM LXV. 225 
 
 11 Watering the furrows of the land, softening the ridges 
 
 thereof. 
 By showers of rain Tliou madest it loose : 
 Its increase didst Thou bless. 
 
 12 Thou hast crowned the year of Thy goodness, 
 And Thy tracks drop Avith fat. 
 
 13 The pastures of the steppe drop. 
 
 And with rejoicing do the hills gird themselves. 
 
 14 The meadows are clothed with flocks, 
 
 And the valleys are covered over with corn — 
 Everything shouts for joy, everything sings. 
 
 In this Psalm, the placing of which immediately after the 
 preceding is at once explicable by reason of the I'^T'.l so pro- 
 minent in both (Ixiv. 10, Ixv. 9), we come upon the same inter- 
 mingling of the natural and the historical as in Ps. viii., xix., 
 xxix. The congregation gathered around the sanctuary on 
 Zion praises its God, by whose mercy its imperilled position 
 in relation to other nations has been rescued, and by whose 
 goodness it again finds itself at peace, surrounded by fields rich 
 in promise. In addition to the blessing which it has received in 
 the bounties of nature, it does not lose sight of the answer to 
 prayer which it has experienced in its relation to the world of 
 nations. His rule in human history and His rule in nature 
 are, to the church, reflected the one in the other. In the latter, 
 as in the former, it sees the almighty and bountiful hand of 
 Him who answers prayer and expiates sins, and through judg- 
 ment opens up a way for His love. The deliverance which 
 it has experienced redounds to the acknowledgment of the 
 God of its salvation among the most distant peoples ; the 
 beneficial results of Jahve's interposition in the events trans- 
 piring in the world extend temporally as well as spiritually 
 far beyond the bounds of Israel ; it is therefore apparently the 
 relief of Israel and of the peoples in general from the oppres- 
 sion of some worldly power that is referred to. The spring of 
 the third year spoken of in Isa. xxxvii. 30, when to Judah the 
 overthrow of Assyria was a thing of the past, and they again 
 had the fields ripening for the harvest before their eyes, offers 
 the most appropriate historical basis for the twofold purport of 
 VOL. IL 15 
 
22G PSALM LXV. 2-5. 
 
 the Psalm. The inscription, To the Precentor^ a Psalm, hy 
 David, a song (of. Ixxv. 1, Ixxvi. 1), does not mislead us in this 
 matter. For even we regard it as uncritical to assign to David 
 all the Psalms bearing the inscription in?. The Psalm in 
 many mss. (Complutensian, Vulgate), beside the words El<i to 
 T€\o? T^aX/xo? Tc3 AaviS u)Bij, has the addition a>Sr] 'lepefilou 
 KoX 'Ie^eKiJ]\, (eV) tov \aov Trj<i irapoiKia'; ore efieWov eKiro- 
 peveaOac. At the head of the following Psalm it might have 
 some meaning, — here, however, it has none. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. The praise of God on account of the mercy 
 with which He rules out of Zion. The LXX. renders aol 
 irpeiret v/xvo<;, but n^pnj Ubi par est, h. e. convenit laus (Ewald), 
 is not a usage of the language (cf. xxxiii. 1, Jer. x. 7). n'OT 
 signifies, according to xxii. 3, silence, and as an ethical notion, 
 resignation, Ixii. 2. According to the position of the words it 
 looks like the subject, and n?nn like the predicate. The accents 
 at least {Illuj, Shalsheletli) assume the relationship of the one 
 word to the other to be that of predicate and subject ; conse- 
 quently it is not : To Thee belongeth resignation, praise (Heng- 
 stenberg), but : To Thee is resignation praise, i.e. resignation 
 is (given or presented) to Thee as praise. Hitzig obtains the 
 same meaning by an alteration of the text: ^^nn n'^Dl j?; but 
 opposed to this is the fact that ? ??n is not found anywhere in 
 the Psalter, but only in the writings of the chronicler. And 
 since it is clear that the words nS~n "{? belong together (xl. 4), 
 the poet had no need to fear any ambiguity when he inserted 
 iT'DT between them as that which is given to God as praise in 
 Zion. "What is intended is that submission or resignation to 
 God which gives up its cause to God and allows Him to act 
 on its behalf, renouncing all impatient meddling and inter- 
 ference (Ex. xiv. 14). The second member of the sentence 
 affirms that this praise of pious resignation does not remain 
 unanswered. Just as God in Zion is praised by prayer which 
 resigns our own will silently to His, so also to Him are vows 
 paid when He fulfils such prayer. That the answers to prayer 
 are evidently thought of in connection with this, we see from 
 ver. 3, where God is addressed as the " Hearer or Answerer of 
 prayer." To Him as being the Hearer and Answerer of prayer 
 all flesh comes, and in fact, as T^y implies (cf. Isa. xlv. 24), 
 
PSALM LXV. G-9. 227 
 
 without finding help anywhere else, it clears a way for itself 
 until it gets to Him ; i.e. men, absolutely dependent, impotent 
 in themselves and helpless, both collectively and individually 
 (those only excepted who are determined to perish or despair), 
 flee to Him as their final refuge and help. Before all else it 
 is the prayer for the forgiveness of sin which He graciously 
 answers. The perfect in ver. 4a is followed by the future in 
 ver. 4J. The former, in accordance with the sense, forms a 
 hypothetical protasis : granted that the instances of faults have 
 been too powerful for me, i.e. (cf. Gen. iv. 13) an intolerable 
 burden to me, our transgressions are expiated by Thee (who 
 alone canst and also art willing to do it). "'']3'i is not less sig- 
 nificant than in xxxv. 20, cv. 27, cxlv. 5, cf. 1 Sam. x. 2, 2 
 Sam. xi. 18 sq. : it separates the general fact into its separate 
 instances and circumstances. How blessed therefore is the lot 
 of that man whom (supply "IC'N) God chooses and brings near, 
 i.e. removes into His vicinity, that he may inhabit His courts 
 (future with the force of a clause expressing a purpose, as e.g. 
 in Job XXX. 28, which see), i.e. that there, where He sits 
 enthroned and reveals Himself, he may have his true home 
 and be as if at home {vid. xv. 1) ! The congregation gathered 
 around Zion is esteemed worthy of this distinction among the 
 nations of the earth ; it therefore encourages itself in the 
 blessed consciousness of this its privilege flowing from free 
 grace (ina), to enjoy in full draughts {]}2\y with 3 as in ciii. 5) 
 the abundant goodness or blessing (3^t2) of God's house, of the 
 holy (ayiov) of His temple, i.e. of His holy temple ({i'^i? as in 
 xlvi. 5, cf. Isa. Ivii. 15). For for all that God's grace offers 
 us we can give Him no better thanks than to hunger and thirst 
 after it, and satisfy our poor soul therewith. 
 
 Vers. 6-9. The praise of God on account of the loving- 
 kindness which Israel as a people among the peoples has ex- 
 perienced. The future ^3yn confesses, as a present, a fact of 
 experience that still holds good in all times to come, nisni: 
 might, according to xx. 7, as in cxxxix. 14, be an accusative of 
 the more exact definition ; but why not, according to 1 Sam. 
 XX. 10, Job ix. 3, a second accusative under the government of 
 the verb ? God answers the prayer of His people superabun- 
 dantly. He replies to it nisniJ, terrible deeds, viz. p"i>*3, by a 
 rule which stringently executes the will of His righteousness 
 
228 rSAUI LXV. C-9. 
 
 (vid. on Jer. xlli. G) ; in this instance against the oppressors of 
 Ilis people, so that henceforth everywhere upon earth He is a 
 ground of confidence to all those who are oppressed. " The 
 sea (D^ construct state, as is frequently the case, with the reten- 
 tion of the a) of the distant ones" is that of the regions lying 
 afar off (cf. Ivi. 1). Venema observes, Signijicatur, Deum esse 
 cei'tissimnm prcesidium, sive agnoscatur ah hominihus et eijidatuvy 
 sive non (therefore similar to <yv6vT€<;, Kom. i. 21 ; Psychol. S. 
 347 ; tr. p. 408). But according to the connection and the 
 subjective colouring the idea seems to have, '1^1 ^^2^ is to be 
 understood of the believing acknowledgment which the God of 
 Israel attains among all mankind by reason of His judicial and 
 redemptive self-attestation (cf. Isa. xxxiii. 13, 2 Chron. xxxii. 
 22 sq.). In the natural world and among men He proves 
 Himself to be the Being girded with power to whom everything 
 must yield. He it is who setteth fast the mountains (cf. Jer. 
 X. 12) and stilleth the raging of the ocean. In connection with 
 the giant mountains the poet may have had even the worldly 
 powers (yid. Isa. xli. 15) in his mind ; in connection with the 
 seas he gives expression to this allegorical conjunction of 
 thouMits. The roaring of the billows and the wild tumult of 
 the nations as a mass in the empire of the world, both are 
 stilled by the threatening of the God of Israel (Isa. xvii. 
 12-14). When He shall overthrow the proud empire of the 
 world, whose tyranny the earth has been made to feel far and 
 wide, then will reverential fear of Him and exultant joy at the 
 end of the thraldom (vid. Isa. xiv. 3-8) become universal. 
 nhis (from the originally feminine niX = dwdjat, from ni^X^ to 
 mark. Num. xxxiv. 10), arjixeta^ is the name given here to His 
 marvellous interpositions in the history of our earth. '').Vi^, 
 ver. n (also in Isa. xxvi. 15), out of construction is nivp. "The 
 exit places of the morning and of the evening" are the East 
 and West with reference to those who dwell there. Luther 
 erroneously understands \SV1D as directly referring to the crea- 
 tures which at morning and evening " sport about {xoehern)^ 
 i.e. go safely and joyfully out and in." The meaning is, 
 the regions whence the morning breaks forth and where the 
 evening sets. The construction is zeugmatic so far as Ni3, not 
 NV^, is said of the evening sun, but only to a certain extent, for 
 neither does one say niy X13?:) (Ewald). Perret-Gentil ren- 
 
PSALM LXV. 10-14. 229 
 
 ders it correctly : les lieux (fou surgissent Vauhe et le crepuscide. 
 God makes both these to shout for joy, inasmuch as lie com- 
 mands a calm to the din of war. 
 
 Vers. 10-14. The praise of God on account of the pre- 
 sent year's rich blessing, which He has bestowed upon the land 
 of His people. In vers. 10, 11 God is thanked for having 
 sent down the rain required for the ploughing (vid. Com- 
 mentary on Isaiah, ii. 522) and for the increase of the seed 
 sown, so that, as vers. 12-14 affirm, there is the prospect 
 of a rich harvest. The harvest itself, as follows from ver. 
 14 J, is not yet housed. The whole of vers. 10, 11 is a retro- 
 spect ; in vers. 12-14 the whole is a description of the blessing 
 standing before their eyes, which God has put upon the year 
 now drawing to a close. Certainly, if the forms nn and 
 nn: were supplicatory imperatives, then the prayer for the 
 early or seed-time rain would attach itself to the retrospect 
 in ver. 11, and the standpoint would be not about the time of 
 the Passover and Pentecost, both festivals belonging to the 
 beo-inninf!; of the harvest, but about the time of the feast of 
 Tabernacles, the festival of thanksgiving for the harvest, and 
 vers. 12-14 would be a glance into the future (Hitzig). But 
 there is nothing to indicate that in ver. 11 the retrospect 
 changes into a looking forward. The poet goes on with the 
 same theme, and also arranges the words accordingly, for 
 which reason n-in and rinj are not to be understood in any other 
 way. V\^p beside "'"'t^'i?;!' (to enrich) signifies to cause to run 
 over, overflow, i.e. to put anything in a state of plenty or abun- 
 dance, from [>v:y {Hiph. Joel ii. 24, to yield in abundance), 
 
 jL;, to push, impel, to cause to go on in succession and to 
 
 follow in succession. ri3"i (for which we find nnn in Ixii. 3) is 
 an adverb, copiously, richly (cxx. 6, cxxiii. 4, cxxix. 1), like rixp, 
 a hundred times (Eccles. viii. 12). nSTC'yn is Iliph. with the 
 middle syllable shortened, Ges. § 53, 3, rem. 4. The fountain 
 (2PB) of God is the name given here to His inexhaustible stores 
 of blessing, and more particularly the fulness of tho waters of 
 the heavens from which He showers down fertilizing rain. |3, 
 " thus thoroughly," forms an alliteration with p^n, to prepare, 
 and thereby receives a peculiar twofold colouring. The mean- 
 ing is : God, by raising and tending, prepared the produce of 
 
230 PSALM LXV. 10-14. 
 
 the field which the inhabitants of the land needed ; for He thus 
 thoroughly prepared the land in conformity with the fulness of 
 His fountain, viz. by copiously watering (nn infin. ahsol. instead 
 of nn, as in 1 Sam. iii. 12, 2 Chron. xxiv. 10 ; Ex. xxii. 22, 
 Jer. xiv. 19, IIos. vi. 9) the furrows of the land and pressing 
 down, i.e. softening by means of rain, its ridges (^!"|.'>"'f, defec- 
 tive plural, as e.g. in Euth ii. 13), which the ploughshare has 
 
 made. C^'ri (related by root with Jj, tell^ a hill, prop, that 
 which is thrown out to a place, that which is thrown up, a 
 mound) signifies a furrow as being formed by casting up or 
 (if from Jo, ebreclier, to make a fracture, rent, or notch in 
 
 anything) by tearing into, breaking up the ground ; 1113 (re- 
 lated by root with uclidud and chatty the usual Arabic words 
 for a furrow*) as being formed by cutting into the ground. 
 In ver. 12 the year in itself appears as a year of divine good- 
 ness ('"i^iDj bonitas), and the prospective blessing of harvest as 
 the crown which is set upon it. For Thou hast crowned " the 
 
 * Fiirst erroneously explains D^n as a bed or strip of ground between 
 two deep furrows, in distinction from n^yo or n''3J^D {vid. on cxxix. 3), a 
 furrow. Beds such as we have in our potato fields are unknown to Syrian 
 agriculture. There is a mode which may be approximately compared with 
 it called ketif (?]n3), another far wider called meskeha (iia^b'Jp). The 
 Arabic tilm (D^n, Hebrew D^Pl = talm), according to the Kamus (as actu- 
 ally in Magrebinish Arabic) takim (D!?n), corresponds exact to our furrow, 
 i.e. (as the Turkish Kamus explains) a ditch-like fissure which the iron of 
 the plough cuts into the field. Neshwan (i. 491) says : " The verb talam, 
 fat. jatlum and jatlim, signifies in Jemen and in the Ghor (the land on the 
 
 shore of the Red Sea) the crevices (j^i-i.!!) which the ploughman forms, 
 
 and tilm, collective plural tilcim, is, in the countries mentioned, a furrow of 
 the corn-field. Some persons pronounce the word even thihn, collective plural 
 thildm.'' Thus it is at the present day universally in Haiirdn; in Edreat 
 I heard the water-furrow of a corn-field called thilm el-kandh (i'UuS^ Jj). 
 But this pronunciation with C-> is certainly not the original one, but has 
 arisen through a substitution of the cognate and more famihar verbal stem 
 jjj, cf. ^Jj, to slit (shurem, a harelip). In other parts of Syria and Pales- 
 tine, also where the distinction between the sounds ci^* and c^» is carefully 
 observed, I have only heard the pronunciation iilm. — TVetzstein. 
 
rSALM LXVI. 231 
 
 year of Thy goodness" and " with Thy goodness" are different 
 assertions, with which also different (although kindred as to 
 substance) ideas are associated. The futures after J^ilt^V depict 
 its results as they now lie out to vicAV. The chariot-tracks 
 (vid. Deut. xxxiii. 26) drop with exuberant fruitfulness, even 
 the meadows of the uncultivated and, without rain, unproduc- 
 tive pasture land (Job xxxviii. 26 sq.). The hills are personi- 
 fied in ver. lob in the manner of which Isaiah in particular is 
 so fond {e.g. ch. xliv. 23, xlix. 13), and which we find in the 
 Psalms of his type (xcvi. 11 sqq., xcviii. 7 sqq., cf. Ixxxix. 13). 
 Their fresh, verdant appearance is compared to a festive gar- 
 ment, with which those which previously looked bare and 
 dreary gird themselves ; and the corn to a mantle in which the 
 valleys completely envelope themselves (^tpy with the accusa- 
 tive, like u-dkitJ with l-j of the garment : to throw it around 
 
 one, to put it on one's self). The closing words, locking them- 
 selves as it were with the beginning of the Psalm together, 
 speak of joyous shouting and singing that continues into the 
 present time. The meadows and valleys (Bottcher) are not the 
 subject, of which it cannot be said that they sing ; nor can the 
 same be said of the rustling of the waving corn-fields (Kimchi). 
 The expression requires men to be the subject, and refers to 
 men in the widest and most general sense. Everywhere there is 
 shouting coming up from the very depths of the breast (Hith- 
 paL), everywhere songs of joy ; for this is denoted by 1"'?' iu 
 distinction from pp. 
 
 PSALM LXVI. 
 
 THANKSGIVING FOR A NATIONAL AND PERSONAL 
 DELIVERANCE. 
 
 1 RAISE a joyful shout unto Elohim, all ye lands, 
 
 2 Harp the glory of His name, 
 Give glory as praise unto Him. 
 
 3 Say unto Elohim : " How terrible are Thy works ! 
 
 By reason of Thine omnipotence must Thy foes submit 
 to Thee. 
 
232 PSALM LXVI. 
 
 4 All lands shall do homage to Thee and harp to Thee, 
 They shall harp to Thy name." {Sela.) 
 
 5 Come ye and see the mighty deeds of Elohim, 
 Who rulcth terribly over the children of men ! 
 
 6 He hath turned the sea into dry land, 
 Through the river they passed on foot — 
 Then we rejoiced in Him ! 
 
 7 He who ruleth in His strength for ever — 
 His eyes keep watch upon the nations. 
 
 Let not the rebellious thus exalt themselves ! (Sela.) 
 
 8 Bless, O ye peoples, our God, 
 
 And make His praise to sound aloud — 
 
 9 Who putteth our soul in life, 
 
 And hath not given our feet over to stumbling. 
 
 10 For Thou hast proved us, Elohim, 
 
 Thou hast smelted us as the smelting of silver. 
 
 11 Thou didst bring us into the mountain-hold, 
 
 Thou didst lay an oppressive burden upon our loins ; 
 
 12 Thou didst cause men to ride over our head, 
 We fell into fire and into water — 
 
 Yet Thou didst bring us out into rich abundance. 
 
 13 I will enter Thy house with burnt-offerings, 
 I will pay Thee my vows, 
 
 14 Which my lips have uttered, 
 
 And which my mouth hath spoken, when I was straitened. 
 
 15 Burnt-offerings of fat sheep will I bring to Thee, 
 Together with the incense of rams, 
 
 I will offer bullocks with kids. (Sela.) 
 
 16 Come, hear, and I will tell, all ye who fear Elohim, 
 What He hath done for my soul, 
 
 17 Unto Him with my mouth did I cry — 
 And a hymn was under my tongue. 
 
 18 If I had purposed evil in my heart, 
 The Lord would not hear. 
 
 19 Elohim hath, however, heard. 
 
 He hath hearkened to the cry of my prayer. 
 
PSALM LXVI. 233 
 
 20 Blessed be Elohira, 
 
 AVho hath not turned away my prayer 
 And His mercy from me. 
 
 From Ps. Ixv. onwards we find ourselves in the midst of a 
 series of Psalms which, with a varying arrangement of the 
 words, are inscribed both "iinTD and "i"'C' (Ixv.-lxviii.). The two 
 words "liDTp "T'ti' stand according to the accents in the stat. constr. 
 (Ixxxviii. 1), and therefore signify a Psalm-song* This series, 
 as is universally the case, is arranged according to the com- 
 munity of prominent watchwords. In Ps. Ixv. 2 we read : 
 " To Thee is the vow paid" and in Ixvi. 13 : " / ivill pay Thee 
 my voics ;^' in Ps. Ixvi. 20: '^Blessed he Elohim" and in Ixvii. 
 8 : " Elohim shall bless us." Besides, Ps. Ixvi. and Ixvii. have 
 this feature in common, that nVJO?, which occurs fifty-five times 
 in the Psalter, is accompanied by the name of the poet in every 
 instance, with the exception of these two anonymous Psalms. 
 The frequently occurring Sela of both Psalms also indicates 
 that they were intended to have a musical accompaniment. 
 These annotations referring to the temple-music favour the 
 pre-exilic rather than the post-exilic origin of the two Psalms. 
 Both are purely Elohimic; only in one instance (Ixvi. 18) does 
 '^P^., equally belonging to this style of Psalm, alternate with 
 Elohim. 
 
 On the ground of some deliverance out of oppressive bond- 
 age that has been experienced by Israel arises in Ps. Ixvi. the 
 summons to the whole earth to raise a shout of praise unto God. 
 The congregation is the subject speaking as far as ver. 12. 
 From ver. 13 the person of the poet appears in the foreground ; 
 but that which brings him under obligation to present a thank- 
 offering is nothing more nor less than that which the whole 
 congregation, and he together with it, has experienced. It is 
 hardly possible to define this event more minutely. The lofty 
 consciousness of possessing a God to whom all the world must 
 bow, whether cheerfully or against its will, became strong 
 among the Jewish people more especially after the overthrow 
 
 * If it were meant to be rendered canticum psahnus (not psalmi) it 
 would surely have been accented lioto T'JJ' n>;:Db (for "ilDTO T'C' ni'ioS 
 according to section xvm. of the Accenluationssyslem). 
 
234 PSALM LXVI. 1-7. • 
 
 of Assyria in the reign of Hezekiah. But there is no ground 
 for conjecturing either Isaiah or Hezekiah to be the composer 
 of tliis Psalm. If ub)]} in ver. 7 signified the world (Hitzig), 
 then he would be (vid. xxiv. 9) one of the latest among the 
 Old Testament writers ; but it has the same meaning here that 
 it has everywhere else in Old Testament Hebrew. 
 
 In the Greek Ciiurch this Psalm is called WaXfib'? ava- 
 o-Tdae(o<; ; the LXX. gives it this inscription, perhaps with 
 reference to ver. 12, €^i]yay6'i rifx,d<; ek auaylrv^tp. 
 
 Vers. 1-4. The phrase ^ *'i32 D''b' signifies " to give glory 
 to God" in other passages (Josh. vii. 19, Isa. xlii. 12), here with 
 a second accusative, either (1) if we take iri?nri as an accusa- 
 tive of the object : facite laiidatmiem ejus gloriam = gloriosam 
 (Maurer and others), or (2) if we take 1i33 as an accusative 
 of the object and the former word as an accusative of the 
 predicate : reddite honorem laitdem ejus (Hengstenberg), or (3) 
 also by taking inbnn as an apposition : reddite honorem, scil. 
 laudem ejus (Hupfeld). We prefer the middle rendering: 
 give glory as His praise, i.e. to Him as or for praise. It is 
 unnecessary, with Hengstenberg, to render : How terrible art 
 Thou in Thy works ! in that case nriK ought not to be wanting. 
 T'lf'i'O might more readily be singular (Hupfeld, Hitzig) ; but 
 these forms with the softened Jod of the root dwindle down to 
 only a few instances upon closer consideration. The singular 
 of the predicate (what a terrible affair) here, as frequently, e.g. 
 cxix. 137, precedes the plural designating things. The song 
 into which the Psalmist here bids the nations break forth, is 
 essentially one with the song of the heavenly harpers in Apoc. 
 XV. 3 sq., which begins, MeyuXa koX Oavfiaara ra epya aov. 
 
 Vers. 5-7. Although the summons : Come and see . . . 
 (borrowed apparently from xlvi. 9), is called forth by cotem- 
 porary manifestations of God's power, the consequences of 
 which now lie open to view, the rendering of ver. 6c, " then 
 will we rejoice in Him," is nevertheless unnatural, and, rightly 
 looked at, neither grammar nor the matter requires it. For 
 since Dl^ in this passage is equivalent to TK, and the future after 
 t^5 takes the signification of an aorist ; and since the cohortative 
 form of the future can also {e.g. after ^y, Ixxiii. 7, and in 
 clauses having a hypothetical sense) be referred to the past, 
 
PSALM LXVI. 8-12. 235 
 
 nnd does sometimes at least occur where the writer throws 
 himself back into the past (2 Sam. xxii. .38), the rendering: 
 Then did we rejoice in Him, cannot be assailed on syntactical 
 grounds. On the "we," cf. Josh. v. 1, ChetJdb, Hos. xii. 5 [4]. 
 The church of all ages is a unity, the separate parts being 
 jointly involved in the whole. The church here directs the 
 attention of all the world to the mighty deeds of God at the 
 time of the deliverance from Egypt, viz. the laying of the Red 
 Sea and of Jordan dry, inasmuch as it can say in ver. 7, by 
 reason of that which it has experienced in the present, that the 
 sovereign power of God is ever the same : its God rules in His 
 victorious might 0711?, i.e. not "over the world," because that 
 ought to be CJpiya, but "in eternity" (accusative of duration, 
 as in Ixxxix. 2 sq., xlv. 7), and therefore, as in the former days, 
 so also in all time to come. His eyes keep searching watch 
 among the peoples ; the rebellious, who struggle against His 
 yoke and persecute His people, had better not rise, it may go 
 ill with them. The ChetMh runs ^O"*"!), for which the Kert is 
 101T. The meaning remains the same ; D'l.n can (even without 
 T, C'N"ij pj;^, Ixv. 5) mean " to practise exaltation," siiperbire. 
 By means of i^^ this proud bearing is designated as being 
 egotistical, and as unrestrainedly boastful. Only let them not 
 imagine themselves secure in their arrogance ! There is One 
 more exalted, whose eye nothing escapes, and to whose irre- 
 sistible mio;ht whatever is not conformed to His gracious will 
 succumbs. 
 
 Vers. 8-12. The character of the event by which the 
 truth has been verified that the God who redeemed Israel out 
 of Egypt still ever possesses and exercises to the full His 
 ancient sovereign power, is seen from this reiterated call to the 
 peoples to share in Israel's Gloria. God has averted the peril 
 of death and overthrow from His people : Pie has put their 
 soul in life (^''^n?, like D^\2 in xii. 6), i.e. in the realm of life ; 
 He has not abandoned their foot to tottering unto overthrow 
 (Dio the substantive, as in cxxi. 3 ; cf. the reversed construc- 
 tion in Iv. 23). For God has cast His people as it were into a 
 smelting-furnace or fining-pot in order to purify and to prove 
 them by suffering ; — this is a favourite figui'e with Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah, but is also found in Zech. xiii. 9, Mai. iii. 3. Ezek. 
 xix. 9 is decisive concerninrr the meanin£C of m^i'O where N"'3n 
 
236 PSALM LXVI. 13-15. 
 
 nn"iV03 signifies "to bring into the holds or prisons;" besides, 
 the figure of the fowllng-net (although this is also called nn^va 
 as well as nni^'rp) has no footing here in the context. nii^iD 
 (yid. xviii. 3) signifies specula^ and that both a natural and an 
 artificial watch-post on a mountain ; here it is the mountain-hold 
 or prison of the enemy, as a figure of the total loss of freedom. 
 The laying on of a heavy burden mentioned by the side of it 
 in ver. lib also accords Avell with this. nj^y^O, a being oppressed, 
 the pressure of a burden, is a Ilophal formation, like ntsp^ a 
 being spread out, Isa. viii. 8 ; of. the similar masculine forms 
 in Ixix. 3, Isa. viii. 13, xiv. 6, xxix. 3. The loins are men- 
 tioned because when carrying heavy loads, which one has to 
 stoop down in order to take up, the lower spinal region is called 
 into exercise, t^'i^?^ is frequently (ix. 20 sq., x. 18, Ivi. 2, Isa. 
 li. 12, 2 Chron. xiv. 10) the word used for tyrants as being 
 wretched mortals, perishable creatures, in contrast Avith their 
 all the more revolting, imperious, and self-deified demeanour. 
 God so ordered it, that " wretched men" rode upon Israel's 
 head. Or is it to be interpreted : He caused them to pass over 
 Israel (cf. cxxix. 3, Isa. li. 23)? It can scarcely mean this, 
 since it would then be in dorso nostro, which the Latin ver- 
 sions capriciously substitute. The preposition p instead of ?}} 
 is used with reference to the phrase ? ^^'l : sitting upon Israel's 
 liead, God caused them to ride along, so that Israel was 
 not able to raise its head freely, but was most ignominiously 
 wounded in its self-esteem. Fire and water are, as in Isa. 
 xliii. 2, a figure of vicissitudes and perils of the most extreme 
 character. Israel was nigh to being burnt up and drowned, 
 but God led it forth n^^n?, to an abundant fulness, to abun- 
 dance and superabundance of prosperity. The LXX., which 
 renders et<? ava-\lru^/]v (Jerome absolutely : i;i refrhjeriuiii), has 
 read ^^in;? ; Symmachus, et? evpvxcoplavy probably reading 
 ^^^uT (cxix. 45, xviii. 20). Both give a stronger antithesis. 
 But the state of straitness or oppression was indeed also a state 
 of privation. 
 
 Vers. 13-15. From this point onwards the poet himself 
 speaks, but, as the diversity and the kind of the sacrifices show, 
 as being a member of the community at large. The r\Sh\V 
 stand first, the gifts of adoring homage ; 3 is the Beth of the 
 accompaniment, as in Lev. xvi. 3, 1 Sam. i.'21, cf. Ileb. ix. 25. 
 
rSALM LXVI. lC-20. 237 
 
 " My vows " refer more especially to "i"!3 W*^. riQ n^*3 also 
 occurs elsewhere of the involuntary vowing to do extraordinary 
 things urged from one by great distress (Judg. xi. 35). "ity'x 
 is an accusative of the object relating to the vows, quce aperue- 
 rtint = apetiendo nuncupaverunt labia mea (Geier). In ver. 15 
 '"ib'^j used directly (like the Aramaic and Phoenician 12]}) in 
 the signification "to sacrifice" (Ex. xxix. 3(3-41, and fre- 
 quently), alternates with "^^^[1, the synonym of 1''9i?'?. The 
 sacrifices to be presented are enumerated. ^''0''^ (incorrect for 
 ^V^) are marrowy, fat lambs ; lambs and bullocks ("ip^) have 
 the most universal appropriation among the animals that were 
 fit for sacrifices. The ram (■'l^), on the contrary, is the animal 
 for the whole burnt-offering of the high priest, of the princes 
 of the tribes, and of the people ; and appears also as the animal 
 for the shelamim only in connection with the shelamim of 
 Aaron, of the people, of the princes of the tribes, and, in Num. 
 vi. 14, of the Nazarite. The younger he-goat (liJ^y) is never 
 mentioned as an animal for the whole burnt-offering ; but, 
 indeed, as an animal for the shelamim of the princes of the 
 tribes in Num. eh. vii. It is, therefore, probable that the 
 shelamim which were to be offered in close connection with the 
 whole burnt-offerings are introduced by OVj so that JT^bi? signi- 
 fies the fat portions of the shelamim upon the altar smoking in 
 the fire. The mention of " rams " renders it necessary that 
 we should regard the poet as here comprehending himself 
 among the people when he speaks thus. 
 
 Vers. 16-20. The words in ver. 16 are addressed in the 
 widest extent, as in vers. 5 and 2, to all who fear God, where- 
 soever such are to be found on the face of the earth. To all 
 these, for the glory of God and for their own profit, he would 
 gladly relate what God has made him to experience. The 
 individual-looking expression "'^'SJp is not opposed to the fact of 
 the occurrence of a marvellous answering of prayer, to which 
 he refers, being one which' has been experienced by him in 
 common with the whole cono-recation. He cried unto God 
 with his mouth (that is to say, not merely silently in spirit, but 
 audibly and importunately), and a hymn (Doii^* something 
 
 * Kimchi {Mlclihl 146rt) and rarchon (under DDl) read WCiTi wiHi 
 Pathach ; and HeideuLeim and Baer have adopted it. 
 
238 rsALM Lxvii. 
 
 that rises, collateral form to Disii, as '^hSv and 3nr^ to ^^iy and 
 33it') was under my tongue ; i.e. I became also at once so sure 
 of my being heard, that I even had the song of praise in 
 readiness (yid. x. 7), with which I had determined to break 
 forth when the help for which I had prayed, and which was 
 assured to me, should arrive. For the purpose of his heart was 
 not at any time, in contradiction to his words, px, God-Abhorred 
 vileness or worthlessness ; HNT with the accusative, as in Gen. 
 XX. 10, Ps. xxxvii. 37 : to aim at, or design anything, to have 
 it in one's eye. We render : If I had aimed at evil in my 
 heart, the Lord would not hear ; not : He would not have 
 heard, but : He would not on any occasion hear. For a 
 hypocritical prayer, coming from a heart which has not its 
 aim sincerely directed towards Him, He does not hear. The 
 idea that such a heart was not hidden behind his prayer is 
 refuted in ver. 19 from the result, which is of a totally opposite 
 character. In the closing doxology the accentuation rightly 
 takes nom Tipan as belonfrincj together. Praver and mercy 
 
 :-:*T-: oOO .- •/ 
 
 'Stand in the relation to one another of call and echo. When 
 God turns away from a man his prayer and His mercy, He 
 commands him to be silent and refuses him a favourable 
 answer. The poet, however, praises God that He has deprived 
 him neither of the joyfulness of prayer nor the proof of His 
 favour. In this sense Augustine makes the following practical 
 observation on this passage : Cum videris non a te amotam 
 deprecationem tuamy securus esto, quia non est a te amota miseri- 
 cordia ejus. 
 
 PSALM LXVIL 
 
 HARVEST THANKSGIVING SONG. 
 
 2 ELOIIIM be merciful unto us and bless us. 
 May He cause His face to shine among us— (&?a.) 
 
 3 That Thy way may be known upon earth, 
 Among all the heathen Thy salvation. 
 
 4 Peoples shall praise Thee, Elohim, 
 
 The peoples shall praise Thee, all of them. 
 
 \ 
 
PSALM LXVII. 239 
 
 5 Nations shall rejoice and shout for joy, 
 For Thou wilt judge peoples in uprightness, 
 
 And the nations upon earth Thou wilt lead. {Sela.") 
 
 6 Peoples shall praise Thee, Elohim, 
 
 The peoples shall praise Thee^ all of them. 
 
 7 The earth hath yielded her fruit, 
 Elohim our God doth bless us. 
 
 8 Elohim shall bless us, 
 
 And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. 
 
 Like Ps. Ixv., this Psalm, inscribed To the Precentor, loith 
 accomjyani^nent of stringed instruments, a song-Psalm ("i^tJ' "IIDTO), 
 also celebrates the blessing upon the cultivation of the ground. 
 As Ps. Ixv. contemplated the corn and fruits as still standing 
 in the fields, so this Psalm contemplates, as it seems, the har- 
 vest as already gathered in, in the light of the redemptive 
 history. Each plentiful harvest is to Israel a fulfilment of the 
 promise given in Lev. xxvi. 4, and a pledge that God is with 
 His people, and that its mission to the whole world (of peoples) 
 shall not remain unaccomplished. This mission-tone referring 
 to the end of God's work here below is unfortunately lost in 
 the church's closing strain, " God be gracious and merciful 
 unto us," but it sounds all the more distinctly and sweetly in 
 Luther's hymn, " JEs ivoll uns Gott genddig sein,''^ throughout. 
 
 There are seven stanzas: twice three two-line stanzas, 
 having one of three lines in the middle, which forms the clasp 
 or spangle of the septiad, a circumstance which is strikingly 
 appropriate to the fact that this Psalm is called "the Old 
 Testament Paternoster" in some of the old expositors.* The 
 second half after the three-line stanza begins in ver. G exactly 
 as the first closed in ver. 4. 'i^?!'.^'! is repeated three times, in 
 order that the whole may bear the impress of the blessing of 
 the priest, which is threefold. 
 
 * Vid. Sonntag's Ttluli Psalmorum (1687), where it is on tliis account 
 laid out as the Eogate Fsalui. 
 
240 PSALM LXVIII. 
 
 Vers. 2, 3. The Psalm begins (ver. 2) with words of the 
 priest's benediction in Num. vi. 24-26. By ^JriN* the church 
 desires for itself the unveiled presence of the light-diffusing 
 loving countenance of its God. Here, after the echo of the 
 holiest and most glorious benediction, the music strikes in. 
 "With ver. 3 the Beracha passes over into a Tepliilla. nyn? is 
 conceived with the most general subject : that one may know, 
 that may be known Thy way, etc. The more graciously God 
 attests Himself to the church, the more widely and successfully 
 does the knowledge of this God spread itself forth from the 
 church over the whole earth. They then know His ^"i.^, i.e. 
 the progressive realization of His counsel, and His nvv^'^, the 
 salvation at which this counsel aims, the salvation not of Israel 
 merely, but of all mankind. 
 
 Vers. 4, 5. Now follows the prospect of the entrance of 
 all peoples into the kingdom of God, who will then praise Him 
 in common with Israel as their God also. His judging {p^v) 
 in this instance is not meant as a judicial punishment, but as a 
 righteous and mild government, just as in the christological 
 parallels Ixxii. 12 sq., Isa. xi. 3 sq. it^''^ in an ethical sense 
 for Q''")^'''^, as in xlv. 7, Isa. xi. 4, Mai. ii. 6. nmn as in xxxi. 
 4 of gracious guidance (otherwise than in Job xii. 23). 
 
 Vers. 6-8. The joyous prospect of the conversion of 
 heathen, expressed in the same words as in ver 4, here receives 
 as its foundation a joyous event of the present time : the earth 
 has just yielded its fruit (cf. Ixxxv. 13), the fruit that had 
 been sown and hoped for. This increase of corn and fruits is 
 a blessing and an earnest of further blessing, by virtue of 
 which (Jer. xxxiii. 9, Isa. Ix. 3 ; cf. on the contrary Joel ii. 17) 
 it shall come to pass that all peoples unto the uttermost bounds 
 of the earth shall reverence the God of Israel. For it is the 
 way of God, that all the good that He manifests towards Israel 
 shall be for the well-being of mankind. Lyr*''' 
 
 ^ ^' PSALM LXVIII. 
 
 HYMN OF WAR AND VICTORY IN THE STYLE OF DEBORAH. 
 
 (« 
 
 2 LET Elohim arise, let His enemies be scattered, 
 And let those who hate Him flee before His face. 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 241 
 
 3 As smoke is driven away, do Thou drive them away ; 
 As wax melteth before the fire, 
 
 Let the wicked perish before Elohim. 
 
 4 And let the righteous rejoice, let them exult before Elohim, 
 And let them be glad with joy. 
 
 5 Sing unto Elohim, harp His name. 
 
 Pave 1^ highway 'for Him who rideth along through the 
 
 steppes ; 
 Jah is His name, and exult ye before Him. 
 
 6 A Father of the fatherless and an Advocate of the widows 
 Is Elohim in His holy habitation. 
 
 7 Elohim maketh a household for the solitary, 
 He leadeth forth prisoners into prosperity ; 
 Yet the rebellious abide in a land of drought. 
 
 8 Elohim, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, 
 When Thou didst march along in the wilderness — (^Sela.) 
 
 9 The earth shook, 
 
 The heavens also dropped before Elohim, 
 Yon Sinai before Elohim, the God of Israel. 
 
 10 With plentiful rain didst Thou, Elohim, water Thine in- 
 
 heritance, 
 And when it was parched, Thou hast confirmed it. 
 
 11 Thy creatures have settled down therein. 
 
 Thou didst provide with Thy goodness for the poor, 
 Elohim. 
 
 12 The Lord will sound forth the mandate; 
 
 Of the women who herald victory there is a great army. 
 
 13 The kings of hosts shall flee, shall flee, 
 
 And she that tarrieth at home shall divide the spoil. 
 
 34 If ye encamp among the sheep-folds, 
 The dove's wino;s are covered with silver 
 And her feathers with glistening gold. ,^ 
 
 15 AVhen the Almighty scattereth kings therein, 
 It becometh snow-white upon Zalmon. ' 
 VOL. IL 16 
 
242 PSALM LXVIII. 
 
 U; A mountain of Elohim is the mountain of Bashan, 
 A mountain full of peaks is the mountain of Bashan. 
 
 17 AVhy look ye enviously, ye many-peaked mountains, 
 Upon the mountain which Elohim hath chosen, to dwell 
 
 thereon ? 
 Yea, Jahve will dwell [there] for ever. 
 
 18 The war-chariots of Elohim are. myriads, a thousand thou- 
 
 sands, 
 The Lord is among them, it is a SiQai in holiness. 
 
 19 Thou hast ascended up to the height, Thou hast led captives 
 
 captive, 
 Thou hast received giftg among men, 
 Even from the rebellious, that Jah Elohim might dwell 
 
 [there]. 
 
 20 Blessed be the Lord : 
 
 Day by day doth lie bear our burden, 
 He, God, is our salvation. (iSda-) 
 
 21 He, God, is to us a God for deeds of deliverance, 
 And Jahve the Lord hath ways of escape for death. 
 
 22 Yea, Elohim will smite the head of His enemies, 
 
 The hairy scalp of him who stalketh along in his trespasses. 
 
 23 The Lord hath said : Out of Bashan will I bring back, 
 
 I will bring back out of the depths of the sea, 
 
 24 That thou mayest bathe thy foot in blood, 
 
 That the tongue of thy dogs may have its share of the 
 enemy. 
 
 25 They behold Thy splendid procession, Elohim, 
 
 The splendid procession of my God, my King in holiness. 
 
 26 Before went the singers, behind the- players on stringed in- 
 
 struments, 
 In the midst of damsels striking timbrels. 
 
 27 In the choirs of the congregation bless ye Elohim, 
 The Lord, ye who arc out of the fountain of Israel. 
 
 28 There is Benjamin the youngest, their ruler; 
 The princes of Judali — their motley band. 
 
 The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. 
 
rsALM Lxviii, 243 
 
 29 Tliy God hath commandecl thy supreme power — 
 Upliold in power, Elohim, what Thou hast wrought for us ! — 
 
 30 From Thy temple above Jerusalem 
 Let kings present offerings into Thee. 
 
 f Threaten the wild beast of the reed, the troops of bulls with 
 the calves of the people, 
 That they may prostrate themselves with ingots of silver ! — 
 He hatli scattered the peoples that delight in wars. 
 
 32 Magnates come out of Egypt, 
 
 Cush — quickly do his hands stretch out unto Elohim. 
 
 33 Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing unto Elohim, 
 Praising the Lord with stringed instruments — (Sela.) 
 
 34 To Him who ridetli in the heaven of heavens of the 
 
 primeval time — 
 Lo, He made Himself heard with His voice, a mighty voice. 
 
 35 Ascribe ye might unto Elohim ! 
 
 Over Israel is His majesty, 
 
 And His omnipotence in the heights of the heavens. 
 
 36 Terrible is Elohim out of thy sanctuaries ; 
 
 " The God of Israel giveth might and abundant strength 
 
 to the people ! " 
 Blessed be Elohim ! ^ 
 
 Is it not an admirably delicate tact with which the collec-, 
 tor makes the T'EJ' 11»T0 lxviii. follow upon the y^ "IIOTQ Ixvii. ? \ 
 The latter began with the echo of the benediction which 
 !Moses puts into the mouth of Aaron and his sons, the former 
 with a repetition of those memorable words in which, at the 
 breaking up of the camp, he called upon Jahve to advance 
 before Israel (Num. x. 35). " It is in reality," says liitzig of 
 Ps. lxviii., "no easy task to become master of this Titan." 
 And who would not agree with him in this remark ? It is a, 
 Psalm in the style of Deborah, stalking along upon the highest 
 ^ pinnacle of hymnic feeling and recital ; all that is most glorious 
 in the literature of the earlier period is concentrated in it: 
 Moses' memorable words, Moses' blessing, the prophecies of 
 Balaam, the Deuteronomy, the Song of Hannah re-echo here. 
 But over and above all this, the language is so bold and so 
 
244 
 
 PSALM LXVIII. 
 
 peculiarly its own, that we meet with no less than thirteen 
 words that do not occur anywhere else. It is so distinctly 
 Elohimic in its impress, that the simple EloMm occurs twenty- 
 three times ; but in addition to this, it is as though the whole 
 cofnucopia of divine names were poured out upon it : nin^ in 
 ver. 17 ; 'jns six times ; aXH twice ; ''"^'^ in ver. 15 ; nj in ver. 5 ; 
 ^:ns rv\r\> m ver. 21; nvi!5X .t in ver. 19; so that this Psalm 
 L among all the Elohimic Psalms is the most resplendent. In 
 connection with the great difficulty that is involved in it, it is 
 no wonder that expositors, more especially the earlier exposi- 
 tors, should differ widely in their apprehension of it as a whole 
 or in separate parts. This circumstance has been turned to 
 wrong account by Ed. Reuss in his essay, " Der acht-und- 
 sechzigste Psalm, Ein Denhnal exegetischer Noth und Kunst zu 
 Ehren unsrer ganzen Zunft, Jena, 1851," for the purpose of 
 holding up to ridicule the uncertainty of Old Testament exe- 
 gesis, as illustrated in this Psalm. 
 
 The Psalm is said, as Reuss ultimately decides, to have 
 been written between the times of Alexander the Great and! 
 the Maccabees, and to give expression to the wish that the 
 Tsraelite^'many of whom were far removed from Palestine and 
 scattered abroad in the wide earth, mio;ht soon be acjain united 
 in their fatherland. But this apprehension rests entirely upon 
 violence done to the exegesis, more particularly in the supposi- 
 tion that in ver. 23 the exiles are the persons intended by those 
 whom God will bring back. Reuss makes out those who are 
 brought back out of Bashan to be the exiles in Syria, and those 
 who are brought back out of the depths of the sea he makes 
 out to be the exiles in Egypt. He knows nothing of the 
 remarkable concurrence of the mention of the Northern tribes 
 (including Benjamin) in ver. 28 with the Asaphic Psalms : 
 .Fudah and Benjamin, to his mind, is Judaea ; and Zebulun and 
 Naphtali, Galilee in the sense of the time after the return from 
 exile. The " wild beast of the reed" he correctly takes to be an 
 emblem of Egypt ; but lie makes use of violence in order to 
 bring in a reference to Syria by the side of it. Nevertheless 
 Olshausen praises the services Reuss has rendered with respect 
 to this Psahn ; but after incorporating two whole pages of the 
 " Denkmar in his commentary he cannot satisfy himself with 
 the period between Alexander and the Maccabees, and by 
 
 -V- 
 
vi^. 
 
 PSALM LXVIII. 245 
 
 means of three considerations arrives, in this instance also, at 
 the common refuge of the Maccabeean period, which possesses 
 such an irresistible attraction for him. 
 
 In opposition to this transplanting of the Psalm into the \ , (f ' 
 time of the Maccabees we appeal to Hitzig, who is also quick- i 
 sighted enough, when there is any valid ground for it, in find- o^ 
 ' ing out Maccabsean Psalms. He refers the Psalm to the 
 victorious campaign of Joram against faithless Moab, under- j 
 taken in company with Jehoshaphat. Bottcher, on the other! / j 
 hand, sees in it a festal hymn of triumph belonging to the time 
 of Hezekiah, which was sung antiphonically at the great fra- 
 ternizing Passover after the return home of the young king 
 from one of his expeditions against the Assyrians, who had 
 even at that time fortified themselves in the country east of the 
 Jordan (Bashan). Thenius (following the example of Kodiger) 
 holds a different view. He knows the situation so very defi- 
 nitely, that he thinks it high time that the discussion concern- 
 ing this Psalm was brought to a close. It is a song composed 
 to inspirit the army in the presence of the battle which Josiah 
 un,dertook against Necho, and tlie prominent, hateful character 
 in ver. 22 is Pharaoh with his lofty artificial adornment of hair 
 upon his shaven head. It is, however, well known what a i 
 memorably tragical issue for Israel that battle had ; the Psalm 
 would therefore be a memorial of the most lamentable disap- ' 
 pointment. 
 
 All these and other recent expositors glory in not advanc- J^ ^ 
 ing any proof whatever in support of the inscribed TTip. And 
 
 yet there ai'e two incidents in David's life, with regard to 
 / which the Psalm ought first of all to be accurately looked at, 
 
 1 before we abandon this Ifb to the winds of conjecture. The 
 nfirst is the bringing home of the Ark of the covenant to Zion, ) 
 
 I to which, e.g., Franz Volkmar Reinhard (in vol. ii. of the Velt- ; -'s. 
 
 V husen Commentationes Tlieol. 1795), Stier, and Hofmann refer j 
 the Psalm. But the manner in which the Psalm opens with a ^ 
 
 r^ paraphrase of Moses' memorable words is at once opposed to ' ^ 
 
 X this ; and also the impossibility of giving unity to the explana- 
 tion of its contents by such a reference is against it. Jahve 
 has long since taken up His abode upon the holy mountain ; 
 the poet in this Psalm, which is one of the Psalms of war and 
 victory, describes how the exalted One, wlio now, however, as 
 
<; 
 
 24G PSALM LXVIIL 
 
 in the days of old, rides along through the highest heavens at 
 
 the head of His people, casts down all powers hostile to Him 
 
 and to His people, and compels all the world to confess that 
 
 the God of Israel rules from His sanctuary with invincible 
 
 might. A far more appropriate occasion is, therefox'e, to be 
 
 *^ found in the Syro-Ammonitish war of David, in which the 
 
 Ark was taken with them by the people (2 Sam. xi. 11) ; and 
 
 the hvmn was not at that time first of all composed when, at 
 
 the close of the war, the Ark was brought back to the holy 
 
 /C- ; mountain (Hengstenberg, Reinke), but when it was set in 
 
 <■ I motion from thence at the head of Israel as they advanced 
 
 \\gainst the confederate kings and their army (2 Sam. x. 6). 
 
 The war lasted into the second year, when a second campaign 
 
 was obliiied to be undertaken in order to brinsj it to an end: 
 
 and this fact offers at least a second possible period for the 
 
 If origin of the Psalm. It is clear that in vers. 12-15, and still 
 
 more clear that in vers. 20-24 (and from a wider point of view, 
 
 vers. 29-35), the victory over the hostile kings is only hoped 
 
 for, and in vers. 25-28, therefore, the pageantry of victory is 
 
 ^ «een as it were beforehand. It is the spij^it of faith, which here 
 
 f celebrates beforehand the victory of Jahve, and sees in the 
 
 \ 1 single victoiy a pledge of His victory over all the nations of 
 
 'the earth. The theme of the Psalm, generalized beyond its 
 
 immediate occasion, is the victory of the God of Israel over the 
 
 ^ world. Regarded as to the nature of its contents, the whole 
 
 divides itself into two halves, vers. 2-19, 20-35, which are on 
 
 the whole so distinct that the first dwells more upon the mighty 
 
 ^ d|ed God has wrought, the second upon the im_pressions it pro- 
 
 ( 'i ) duces upon the church and upon the peoples of the earth; in both 
 
 \ parts it is viewed now as future, now as past, inasmuch as the 
 
 longing of prayer and the confidence of hope soar aloft to the 
 
 height of prophecy, before which futurity lies as a fulfilled fact. 
 
 I The musical Sela occurs three times (vers. 8, 20, 33). These 
 
 three forle passages furnish important points of view for the 
 
 apprehension of the collective meaning of the Psalm. 
 
 But is David after all the author of this Psalm? The 
 general character of the Psalm is more Asaphic than Davidic 
 {vid. Ilabakkuk, S. 122). Its references to Zalmon, to Benja- 
 min and the Northern tribes, to the song of Deborah, and in 
 general to the Book of Judges (although not in its present 
 
PSALJI LXVIII. 2-7. 247 
 
 form), give It an appearance of being Ephraimitish. Among 1 
 itlie Davidic Psalms it stands entirely alone, so that criticism is IJ- 
 Wite unable to justify the Dlb. And if the ^Yords in ver. 29a 
 are addressed to the king, it points to some other poet than 
 David. But is it to a cotemporary poet? The mention of the 
 sanctuary on Zion in vers. 30, 36, does not exclude such an 
 one. Only the threatening of the " wild beast of the sedge" 
 (ver. 31) seems to bring us down beyond the time of David ; 
 for the inflammable material of the hostility of Egypt, which 
 broke out into a flame in the reign of Eehoboam, was first 
 gathering towards the end of Solomon's reign. Still Egypt 
 was never entirely lost sight of from the horizon of Israel ; and 
 the circumstance that it is mentioned in the first rank, where 
 the submission of the kingdoms of this world to the God of 
 Israel is lyrically set forth in the prophetic prospect of the 
 future, need not astonish one even in a poet of the time of 
 David. And does not ver. 28 compel us to keep on this side 
 of the division of the kingdom ? It ought then to refer to the 
 common expedition of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat against Moab 
 (Hitzig), the indiscriminate celebration of which, however, was\ 
 no suitable theme for a psalmist. i/ 
 
 Vers. 2-7. The Psalm begins with the expression of a wish 
 that the victory of God over all His foes and the triumphant 
 exultation of the righteous were near at hand. Ewald and 
 Hitzig take D^nbx Dip'' hypothetically : If God arise. His enemies 
 will be scattered. This rendering is possible in itself so far as 
 the syntax is concerned, but here everything conspires against 
 it ; for the futures in vers. 2-4 form an unbroken chain ; then 
 a glance at the course of the Psalm from ver. 20 onwards shows 
 that the circumstances of Israel, under which the poet writes, 
 urged forth the wish : let God arise and humble His foes ; and 
 finally the primary passage, Num. x. 35, makes it clear that 
 the futures are the language of prayer transformed into the 
 form of the wish. In ver. 3 the wish is addressed directly to 
 God Himself, and therefore becomes petition, ^"^^n is inflected 
 (as vice versa ^I'li^, vii. 6, from ^"^y) from ^I'^an (like \T\^^, Jer. 
 xxxii. 4) ; it is a violation of all rule in favour of the confor- 
 mity of sound (cf. ni\*ipn for ni^pn^ Lev. xiv. 43, and snpra on 
 li. 0) with ^"^^^j the object of which is easily supplied {dispellas^ 
 
248 PSALM LXVIII. 2-7. 
 
 «c. hostes tuos), and is purposely omitted in order to direct 
 attention more stedfastly to tlie omnipotence which to every 
 creature is so irresistible. Like smoke, wax (ijn, root il, ttj/c, 
 Sanscrit tak, to shoot past, to run, Zend tak\ whence vitak'iiia, 
 dissolving, Neo-Persic guddchten; causative: to cause to run 
 in different directions = to melt or smelt) is an emblem of 
 human feebleness. As Bakius observes. Si creatura creaturam 
 non fert, quomodo creatura creatoris indignantis faciem ferre 
 possit ? The wish expressed in ver. 4 forms the obverse of the 
 preceding. The expressions for joy are heaped up in order to 
 describe the transcendency of the joy that will follow the re- 
 lease from the yoke of the enemy, "p.?? is expressively used in 
 alternation with ""JBD in vers. 2, 3 : by the wrathful action, so 
 to speak, that proceeds from His countenance [just as the heat 
 radiating from the fire melts the wax] the foes are dispersed, 
 whereas the righteous rejoice before His gracious countenance. 
 As the result of the challenge that has been now expressed 
 in vers. 2-4, Elohim, going before His people, begins His 
 march ; and in ver. 5 an appeal is made to praise Him with 
 song. His name with the music of stringed instruments, and to 
 make a way along which He may ride ^^^^"^^3. In view of ver. 
 34 we cannot take nuiy, as do the Targum and Talmud (B. 
 Chagiga 126), as a name of one of the seven heavens, a mean- 
 ing to which, apart from other considerations, the verb 3"]j?j to 
 be effaced, confused, dark, is not an appropriate stem-word; 
 but it must be explained according to Isa. xl. 3. There Jahve 
 calls in the aid of His people, here He goes forth at the head 
 of His people ; He rides through the steppes in order to fight 
 against the enemies of His people. Not merely the historical 
 reference assigned to the Psalm by Hitzig, but also the one 
 adopted by ourselves, admits of allusion being made to the 
 "steppes of Moab ;" for the way to Medeba, where the Syrian 
 mercenaries of the Ammonites had encamped (1 Chron. xix. 7), 
 lay through these steppes, and also the way to Kabbath Amnion 
 (2 Sam. X. 7 sq.). iVd calls upon them to make a way for Him, 
 the glorious, invincible King (cf. Isa. Ivii. 14, Ixii. 10) ; ^^D 
 signifies to cast up, heap up or pave, viz. a raised and suitable 
 street or highway, Symmachus KUTaaTpcoaare. He who thus 
 rides along makes the salvation of His people His aim : '' Jah 
 is His name, therefore shout with joy before Him." The Beth 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 2-7. 249 
 
 in ri^3 (Symmaclius, Quinta : to) is the Beth essentia', wliicli 
 here, as in Isa. xxvi. 4, stands beside the subject : His name is 
 (exists) in fT", i.e. His essential name is iT, His self-attestation, 
 by which He makes Himself capable of being known and 
 named, consists in His being the God of salvation, who, in the 
 mif^ht of free grace, pervades all history. This Name is a 
 fountain of exultant rejoicing to His people. 
 
 This Name is exemplificatively unfolded in vers. 6 sq. 
 The highly exalted One, who sits enthroned in the heaven of 
 glory, rules in all history here below and takes an interest in 
 the lowliest more especially, in all circumstances of their lives 
 following after His own to succour them. He takes the place 
 of a father to the orphan. He takes up the cause of the 
 widow and contests it to a successful issue. Elohim is one 
 who makes the solitary or isolated to dwell in the house ; nn^3 
 with He locale, which just as well answers the question where 1 
 as whither 1 ri^3, a house = family bond, is the opposite of 
 T'n^, solitarius, recluse, xxv. 16. Dachselt correctly renders it, 
 i)i domum, h.e. familiam numerosam durahilemque eos ut patres- 
 familias plantdhit. He is further One who brings forth (out 
 of the dungeon and out of captivity) those who are chained 
 into abundance of prosperity. ni"it:'i3, occurring only here, is 
 a pluralet. from "iti'2, synonym "it^'i^, to be straight, fortunate. 
 Ver. Ic briefly and sharply expresses the reverse side of this 
 His humanely condescending rule among mankind. ^X is here 
 (cf. Gen. ix. 4, Lev. xi. 4) restrictive or adversative (as is more 
 frequently the case with )3X) ; and the preterite is the preterite 
 of that which is an actual matter of experience. The Q"'*1"!!)D, 
 i.e. (not from IID, the apostate ones, Aquila dipiaTa/xevoi, but 
 as in Ixvi. 7, from IID) the rebellious, Symmaclius aTreiOeh, 
 who were not willing to submit to the rule of so gracious a 
 God, had ever been excluded from these proofs of favour. 
 These must inhabit nr^ny (accusative of the object), a sun- 
 scorched land ; from nny, to be dazzlingly bright, sunny, dried 
 or parched up. They remain in the desert without coming 
 into the land, which, fertilized by the waters of grace, is 
 resplendent with a fresh verdure and with rich fruits. If the 
 poet has before his mind in connection with this the bulk of 
 tlie people delivered out of Egypt, a)v to, KooXa eirea-av iv rf) 
 ipi]/ji(p (Heb. iii. 17), then the transition to what follows is 
 
250 FSALM LXVIII. 8-11. 
 
 much more easily effected. There is, however, no necessity 
 for any such intermediation. The poet had the march through 
 the desert to Canaan under the guidance of Jahve, the irre- 
 sistible Conqueror, in his mind even from the beginning, and 
 now he cxnressly calls to mind that marvellous divine leading 
 in order that the present age may take heart thereat. 
 
 Vers. 8-11. In vers. 8 sq. the poet repeats the words of 
 Deborah (Judg. v. 4 sq.), and her words again go back to 
 Deut. xxxiii. 2, of. Ex. xix. 15 sqq. ; on the other hand, our 
 Psalm is the original to Hab. ch. iii. The martial verb N)>*^ 
 represents Elohini as, coming forth from His heavenly dwelling- 
 place (Isa. xxvi. 21), He places Himself at the head of Israel. 
 The stately verb ^V)' represents Him as He accompanies the 
 hosts of His people with the step of a hero confident of victory ; 
 and the terrible name for the wilderness, li^V^ is designedly 
 chosen in order to express the contrast between the scene of 
 action and that which they beheld at that time. The verb to 
 ^yp nt is easily supplied ; Dachselt's rendering according to 
 the accents is correct : hie mons Sinai (sc. in specie ita tremuit). 
 The description fixes our attention upon Sinai as the central 
 point of all revelations of God during the period of deliverance 
 by the hand of Moses, as being the scene of the most glorious 
 of them all {yicl. on Hab. p. 136 sq.). The majestic pheno- 
 mena which proclaimed the nearness of God are distributed 
 over the whole journeying, but most gloriously concentrated 
 themselves at the giving of the Law on Sinai. The earth 
 trembled throughout the extended circuit of this vast granite 
 range, and the heavens dropped, inasmuch as the darkness of 
 thunder clouds rested upon Sinai, pierced by incessant light- 
 nings (Ex. ch. xix.). There, as the original passages describe 
 it, Jahve met His people ; He came from the east, His people 
 from the west; there they found themselves together, and 
 shaking the earth, breaking through the heavens, He gave 
 thorn a pledge of the omnipotence which should henceforth 
 defend and guide them. The poet has a purpose in view in 
 calling Elohim in this passage "the God of Israel;" the cove- 
 nant relationship of God to Israel dates from Sinai, and from 
 this period onwards, by reason of the Tura, He became Israel's 
 King (Dcut. xxxiii. 5). Since the statement of a fact of earlier 
 history has preceded, and since the preterites alternate with 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 8-11. 251 
 
 them, the futures that follow in vers. 10, 11 are to be under- 
 stood as referring to the synchronous past ; bufr hardly so that 
 ver. 10 should refer to the miraculous supply of food, and more 
 especially the rain of manna, durinfT the journeyings through 
 the wilderness. The giving of the Law from Sinai has a view 
 to Israel being a settled, stationary people, and the deliverance 
 out of the land of bondage only finds its completion in the 
 taking and maintaining possession of the Land of Promise. 
 Accordingly vers. 10, 11 refer to the blessing and protection 
 of the people who had taken up their abode there. 
 
 The npnj of God {cjenit. auctoris, as in 2 Mace. ii. 4) is the 
 land assigned by Him to Israel as an inheritance ; and DtJ'S 
 nuiJ an emblem of the abundance of gifts which God has 
 showered down upon the land since Israel took up its abode 
 in it. nniJ is the name given to a deed and gift springing 
 from an inward impulse, and in this instance the intensive idea 
 of richness and superabundance is associated therewith by 
 means of the plural ; ninn^ DK'a is a shower-like abundance of 
 good gifts descending from above. The Hipliil ^''^n here governs 
 a double accusative, like the Kal in Prov. vii. 17, in so far, that 
 is, as "[vbVil is drawn to ver. 10a; for the accentuation, in opposi- 
 tion to the Targum, takes nx^:") ID^rii together : Thine inherit- 
 ance and that the parched one {Waio epexeget. as in 1 Sam. 
 xxviii. 3, Amos iii. 11, iv. 10). But this " and that" is devoid of 
 aim; why should it not at once be read nxpsn? The rendering 
 of Bottcher, " Thy sickened and wearied," is inadmissible, too, 
 according to the present pointing ; for it ought to be ^O^H-?. or 
 ^n?n3. And with a suffix this Niplial becomes ambiguous, and 
 more especially so in this connection, where the thought of "^^H?, 
 an inherited possession, a heritage, lies so naturally at hand. 
 ^t'lj™. is therefore to be drawn to ver. 10a, and ver. lOh must 
 begin with •l^^^?'', as in the LXX., Kal rjaOevrjcre, av Be Karrjp- 
 riafji) avTtjv. It is true nX73 is not a hypothetical preterite 
 equivalent to "^nxSjl ; but, as is frequently the case with the 
 anarthrous participle (Ew. § 341, b), it has the value of a 
 hypothetical clause : " and if it (Israel's inheritance) were in a 
 parched, exhausted condition (cf. the cognate root ^[f^, Gen. 
 xlvii. 13), then hast Thou always made it again firm" (viii. 4, 
 Ex. XV. 17), i.e. strengthened, enlivened it. Even here the 
 idea of the inhabitants is closely associated with the land itself ; 
 
252 PSALM LXVIII. 12-15. 
 
 in ver. 11 they are more especially thought of: "Thy creatures 
 dwelt therein." Nearly all modern expositors take n^n either 
 according to 2 Sam. xxiii. 11, 13 (cf. 1 Chron. xi. 15), in the 
 
 signification tent-circle, ring-camp (root in, ^s-, to move in a 
 circle, to encircle, to compass), or in the signification of ^^». 
 (from ^jk:»^ = ''!;n, '"i^'7)) a race or tribe, i.e. a collection of living 
 
 beings (cf. "'in, 1 Sam. xviii. 18). But the Asaphic character 
 of this Psalm, which is also manifest in other points, is opposed 
 to this rendering. This style of Psalm is fond of the compari- 
 son of Israel to a flock, so that also in Ixxiv. 19 y^'iV riTl signi- 
 fies nothing else than "the creatures [Gethier, collective] of 
 Thy poor, Thy poor creatures." This use of n^O is certainly 
 peculiar ; but not so remarkable as if by the " creatures of 
 God" we had to understand, with Hupfeld, the quails (Ex. ch. 
 xvi.). The avoiding of ^'^\]'^ on account of the idea of hrutum 
 (Ixxlii. 22) which is inseparable from this word, is sufficient to 
 account for it ; in iTH, ^woy, there is merely the notion of 
 moving life. We therefore are to explain it according to MIc. 
 vii. 14, where Israel is called a flock dwelling in a wood in the 
 midst of Carmel : God brought it to pass, that the flock of 
 Israel, although sorely persecuted, nevertheless continued to 
 inhabit the land. ^3^ as in ver. 15, refers to Canaan. VV ^^ 
 ver. 116 is the ecclesia pressa surrounded by foes on every 
 side : Thou didst prepare for Thy poor with Thy goodness, 
 Elohim, i.e. Thou didst regale or entertain Thy poor people 
 with Thy possessions and Thy blessings. ^ pPi?, as in Gen. 
 xllii. IG, 1 Chron. xll. 39, to make ready to eat, and therefore 
 to entertain; nniu as in Ixv. 12, 'n 3^D, Jer. xxxi. 12. It 
 would be quite inadmissible, because tautological, to refer P?!? 
 to the land according to Ixv. 10 (Ewald), or even to the desert 
 (Olshausen), which the description has now left far behind. 
 
 Vers. 12-15. The futures that now follow are no longer 
 to be understood as referring to previous history ; they no 
 longer alternate with preterites. Moreover the transition to 
 the language of address in ver. 14 shows that the poet here 
 looks forth from his present time and circumstances into the 
 future ; and the introduction of the divine name ''3'lS, after 
 Elohim has been used eleven times, is an indication of a new 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 12-15. 253 
 
 commencement. The prosperous condition in which God 
 places His church by giving it the hostile powers of the world 
 as a spoil is depicted. The noun "lON, never occurring in the 
 genitival relationship, and never with a suffix, because the 
 specific character of the form would be thereby obliterated, 
 always denotes an important utterance, more particularly God's 
 word of promise (Ixxvii. 9), or His word of power (Hab. iii. 9), 
 which is represented elsewhere as a mighty voice of thunder 
 (Ixviii. 34, Isa. xxx. 30), or a trumpet-blast (Zech. ix. 14) ; in 
 the present instance it is the word of power by which the Lord 
 suddenly changes the condition of His oppressed church. The 
 entirely new state of things which this omnipotent behest as it 
 were conjures into existence is presented to the mind in ver. 
 12b : the women who proclaim the tidings of victory — a great 
 host. Victory and triumph follow upon God's "ipi<, as upon 
 His creative ""n^. The deliverance of Israel from the army of 
 Pharaoh, the deliverance out of the hand of Jabin by the 
 defeat of Sisera, the victory of Jephthah over the Ammonites, 
 and the victorious single combat of David with Goliath were 
 celebrated by singing women. God's decisive word shall also 
 go forth this time, and of the evangelists, like Miriam (Mirjam) 
 and Deborah, there shall be a great host. 
 
 Ver. 13 describes the subject of this triumphant exultation. 
 iH upf eld regards vers. 13-15 as the song of victory itgelfj the 
 [fragment of an ancient triumphal ode (epinikion) reproduced 
 \liere ; but there is nothing standing in the way that should 
 lorbid our here recardino; these verses as a direct continuation 
 ver. 12. The ''hosts" are the numerous well-equipped 
 armies which the kings of the heathen lead forth to the battle 
 against the people of God. The unusual expression " kings of 
 hosts" sounds very much like an ironically disparaging anti- 
 thesis to the customary "Jahve of Plosts" (Bottcher). He, 
 the Lord, interposes, and they are obliged to flee, staggering as 
 they go, to retreat, and that, as the anadiplosis (cf. Judg. v. 7, 
 xix. 20) depicts, far away, in every direction. The fat. ener- 
 gicum with its i<Z<i?na-accentuation gives intensity to the pictorial 
 expression. The victors then turn homewards laden with rich 
 spoils, n^n ni3j here in a collective sense, is the wife who stays 
 \ at home (Judg. v. 24) while the husband goes forth to battle. 
 It is not : the ornament (niJ as in Jer. vi. 2) of the house, 
 
J\ 
 
 254 PSALM LXVIII. 12-15. 
 
 which Luther, with the LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac, adopts in 
 his version,* but : the dweller or homely one (of. ril3, a dwelling- 
 place, Job viii. 6) of the house, r) olKovp6<i. The dividing of 
 the spoil elsewhere belongs to the victors ; what is meant here 
 is the distribution of the portions of the spoil that have fallen 
 to the individual victors, the further distribution of which is 
 left for the housewife (Judg. v. 30 sq., 2 Sam. i. 24). Ewald ' 
 now recognises in vers. 14 sq. the words of an ancient song of 
 victory; but ver. 136 is unsuitable to introduce them. The 
 /language of address in ver. l^js-the poet's own, and he here 
 describes the condition of the people who are victorious by the 
 help of their God, and who again dwell peaceably in the land 
 after the war. DX passes out of the hypothetical signification 
 into the temporal, as e.g. in Job xiv. 14 {vid. on lix. 16.) The 
 lying down among the sheep-folds (D'n?^ = D;'ri2w'Pj cf. t3S'^, 
 DSC'p, the staked-in folds or pens consisting of hurdles standing 
 two by two over against one another) is an emblem of thriving 
 peace, which (like vers. 8, 28) points back to Deborah's song, 
 Judg. V. 16, cf. Gen. xUx. 14. Just such a time is now also 
 before Israel, a time of peaceful prosperity enhanced by rich 
 spoils. Everything shall glitter and gleam with silver and 
 gold. Israel is God's turtle-dove, Ixxiv. 19, cf. Ivi. 1, Hos. vii. 
 ' 11, xi. 11. Hence the nevy circumstances of ease and comfort 
 are likened to the varied hues of a dove disporting itself in the 
 sun. Its wings are as though overlaid with silver (nana, not 
 3. pr(Kt., but part. fern. Niph. as predicate to ''S??, cf. 1 Sara. 
 iv. 15, Mic. iv. 11» i. 9; Ew. § 317, a), therefore like silver 
 wings (cf. Ovid, Metam. ii. 537 : Niveis' argentea pennis Ales) ; 
 and its pinions with gold-green,f and that, as the reduplicated 
 
 « 'I 
 
 • IlaiiKchre," says he, is the housewife or matron as being the adorn- 
 ment of the house ; vU. F. Dietrich, Frau und Dame, a lecture bearing upon 
 the history of language (1864), S. 13. 
 
 t Ewald remarks, " Arabian poets also call the dove T* , J^ the greenish 
 yellow, golden gleaming one, vid. Koscgartcn, Chrcstom. p. 15G, 5." But 
 this Arabic poetical word for the dove signifies rather the ash-green, whity 
 blackish one. Nevertheless the signification greenish for the Hebrew 
 P1\?y. ^ established. Bartenoro, on Negaim xi. 4, calls the colour of the 
 wings of the peacock p-ip-|> ; and I am here reminded of what Wetzstein 
 once told me, that, according to an Arab proverb, the surface of good 
 coffee ought to be "like the neck of the dove," i.e. so oily that it gleams 
 
PSALM LXVill. 12-15. 255 
 
 form implies, with the iridescent or glistening hue of the finest 
 gold (^""7? ^^^ d^^^j ^^^ shining gold). Side by side with this 
 bold simile there appears in ver. 15 an equally bold but con- 
 trastive figure, which, turning a step or two backward, likewise 
 vividly illustrates the results of their God-given victory. The 
 suffix of '"^ refers to the land of Israel, as in Isa. viii. 21, Ixv. 9. 
 po.'y, according to the usage of the language so far as it is now 
 preserved to us, is not a common noun : deep darkness (X^r- 
 gum = ^.^^PV), it is_the nanie of a mountain in Ephraim, the"^, 
 i trees of which Abimelech transported in order to set fire to the 
 tower of Shechem (Judg. ix. 48 sqq.). The Talmudic litera- 
 ture was acquainted with a river taking its rise there, and also 
 somewhat frequently mentions a locality bearing a similar 
 name to that of the mountain. The mention of this mountain 
 may in a general way be rendered intelligible by the consider- 
 ation that, like Shiloh (Gen. xlix. 10), it is situated about in 
 the centre of the Holy Land.* Jv'L^n signifies to bring forth 
 
 snow, or even, like ^Jj^, to become snow-white ; this Hiph. is 
 
 not a word descriptive of colour, like PSpi?. Since the protasis 
 is b'7!23j and not ^^"?3?, i?^^ is intended to be impersonal (cf. 
 1. 3, Amos iv. 7, Mic. iii. 6) ; and the voluntative form is ex- 
 plained from its use in apodoses of hypothetical protases (Ges. 
 § 128, 2). It indicates the issue to which, on the supposition of 
 the other, it must and shall come. The words are therefore to be 
 
 like the eye of a peacock. A way for the transition from green to grey in 
 aurak as the name of a colour is already, however, opened up in post- 
 biblical Hebrew, when to frighten any one is expressed by D>J3 p''"1in, 
 Genesis Rahba, 47a. The intermediate notion is that of fawn colour, i.e. 
 yellowish grey. In the Talmud the plumage of the full-grown dove is 
 called Hint and 3"inV, Chullin, 22b. 
 
 * In Toslfla Para, ch. viii., a river of the name of |1?07Vn m"11'' is men- 
 tioned, the waters of which might not be used in preparing the water of 
 expiation (riNUn ''O), because they were dried up at the time of the war, 
 and thereby hastened the defeat of Israel (viz. the overthrow of Barcochba). 
 Gratz {GcscJiichte der Judex, iv. 157, 459 f.) sees in it the Nahar Arsiif, 
 which flows down the mountains of Ephraim past Bethar into the Medi- 
 terranean. The village of Zalmon occurs in the Mishna, Jehamoth xvi. 6, 
 and frequently. The Jerusalem Gcmara {Maascroth i. 1) gives pre- 
 eminence to the carob-trees oi Zalmona side by side with those of Shitta 
 and Gadara. 
 
256 PSALM LXVIII. 12-15. 
 
 rendered : then it snows on Zalmon ; and the snowing is either 
 an cmblcni of the glistcning_spoil that falls into their hands in 
 such abundance, or it is a figure of the becoming white, whether _ 
 from bleached bones (cf. Virgil, JEn. v. 865 : alii ossibus 
 scopuli ; xii. 36 : campi ossibus albent ; Ovid, Fasti i. 558 : 
 humanis ossibus albet humus) or even from the naked corpses 
 (2 Sam. i. 19, ^^^n "ri^niDn-^y). Whether we consider the point 
 of comparison to lie in the spoil being abundant as the flakes 
 of snow, and like to the dazzling snow in brilliancy, or in the 
 white pallid corpses, at any rate |i»pv? is not equivalent to 
 lioi'V??, but what follows " wdien the Almighty scatters kings 
 therein" is illustrated by Zalmon itself. In the one case 
 Zalmon is represented as the battle-ground (cf. ex. 6), in the 
 other (which better corresponds to the nature of a wooded 
 mountain) as a place of concealment. The protasis 'lJ1 b'lsn 
 favours the latter ; for K*"]?? signifies to spread wide apart, to 
 cause a compact whole — and the host of "the kings" is con- 
 ceived of as such — to fly far asunder into many parts (Zech. ii. 
 10, cf. the Niph. in Ezek. xvii. 21). The hostile host disperses 
 in all directions, and Zalmon glitters, as it were with snow, 
 from the spoil that is dropped by those who flee. Homer also 
 {Iliad, xix. 357-361) likens the mass of assembled helmets, 
 shields, armour, and lances to the spectacle of a dense fall of 
 snow. In this passage of the Psalm before us still more than 
 in Homer it is the spectacle of the fallen and far seen glisten- 
 ling snow that also is brought into the comparison, and not 
 j merely that which is falling and that which covers everything 
 {vid. Iliad, xii. 277 sqq.). The figure is the pendant of the 
 figure of the dove.* 
 
 * Wet2atein gives a different explanation (Reise in den heiden TracTionen 
 und urn das HanrCimjchirge in the Zeitschrift fiir allgem. Erdktmde, 1859, S. 
 198). " Then fell S7ioiv on Zalmon, i.e. the mountain clothed itself in a 
 briglit garment of light in celebration of this joyous event. Any one -who 
 has been in Palestine knows how very refreshing is the spectacle of the 
 distant mouutain-top capped with snow. The beauty of this poetical 
 figure is enhanced by the fact that Zalmon (^Ulii), according to its ety- 
 mology, Bignifics a mountain range dark and dusky, either from shade, 
 forest, or black rock. The last would well suit the mountains of Haurau, 
 among which Ptolemseus (p. 3G5 and 370, Ed. Wilhcrr/) mentions a moun- 
 tain (according to one of the various readings) 'Aax^uauos.'" 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 16-19. 257 
 
 Vers. lG-10. This victory of Israel over the kings of the 
 Gentiles gives~the poet the joyful assurance that Zion is the 
 inaccessible dwelling-place of Elohim, the God of the heavenly 
 hosts. The mention of Zalmon leads him to mention other i 
 mountains. He uses the mountains of Bashan as an emblem 
 of tlie hostile powers east of Jordan. These stand over 
 against the people of God, as the mighty mountains of Bashan 
 'rising in steep, only slightly flattened peaks, to little hill-like 
 2Iou. In the land on this side Jordan the limestone and 
 thalk formation with intermingled strata of sandstone pre- 
 dominates ; the mountains of Bashan, however, are throughout 
 volcanic, consisting of slag, lava, and more particularly basalt 
 (basanites), which has apparently taken its name from Bashan 
 (Basan).* As a basalt range the mountains of Bashan are 
 conspicuous among other creations of God, and are therefore 
 I called "the mountain of Elohim :" the basalt rises in the form 
 of a cone with the top lopped off, or even towers aloft like so 
 many columns precipitous and rugged to sharp points ; hence 
 the mountains of Bashan are called Cl''ii^32 "in, i.e^a mountain 
 range (for in, as is well known, signifies both the single eminence 
 1 and the range of summits) of many peaks = a many-peaked 
 mountain ; |i23 is an adjective like i^yi, 7?^^. With this boldly 
 formed mass of rock so gloomily majestic, giving the impression 
 of antiquity and of invincibleness, when compared with the 
 ranges on the other side of unstable porous limestone and softer 
 formations, more particularly with Zion, it is an eniblem of the 
 world and its powers standing over against the people of God 
 as a threatening and seemingly invincible colossus. The poet 
 asks these mountains of Bashan " why," etc. ? 1^1 is explained 
 from the Arabic (X* ., which, in accordance vs^ith its root j^ t, 
 signifies to cleave firmly to a place (Jirmiter inlicesit loco), pro- 
 perly used of a beast of prey couching down and lying in wait 
 for prey, of a hunter on the catch, and of an enemy in ambush ; 
 hence then : to lie in wait for, lurk, ivehpeveiv, craftily, insidiose 
 (whence rd-^id, a lier-in-wait, tarraftsud, an ambush), here : to 
 regard enviously, invidiose. In Arabic, just as in this instance, 
 it is construed as a direct transitive with an accusative of the 
 
 * This is all the more probable as Semitism has no proper word for 
 basalt ; in Syria it is called hafj'ar aswad, " black stone." 
 
 VOL. IL 17 
 
258 PSALM LXVIII. 16-19. 
 
 object, whereas the original signification would lead one to look 
 for a dative of the object (? "IVJ), which does also really occur 
 in the common Arabic. Olewejored is placed by D''JJ3J, but 
 wliat follows is not, after all, the answer: "the mountain — 
 Klohim has chosen it as the seat of His throne," but inn is the 
 dbject of the interrogative clause: Quare hvoidiose observatis, 
 monies cacuminosi, hiuic montem {heiKTiKoi<i : that Zion yonder), 
 quern, etc. (an attributive clause after a determinate substantive, 
 as in Hi. 9, Ixxxix. 50, and many other instances, contrary to 
 the Arabic rule of style). Now for the first time, in ver. 17f, 
 follows that which is boastfully and defiantly contrasted witli 
 
 >Lthe proud mountains: "Jalive will also dwell for ever;" not 
 only that Elohim has chosen ZIon as the seat of His throne, it 
 will also continue to be the seat of His throne, Jahve wil l co n- 
 tinue to dwell [there] for ever. Grace is superior to nature, 
 I and the church superior to the world, powerful and majestic as 
 this may seem to be. Zion maintains its honour over against 
 the mountains of Bashan. 
 
 Ver._18 now describes the kind of God, so to speak, who 
 
 f sits enthroned on Zion. The war-chariots of the heavenly 
 hosts are here collectively called 33"], as in 2 Kings vi. 17. 
 D^n'ai (with Declu, not Olewejored) is a dual from riim ; and 
 this is either an abstract noun equivalent to ril3"i (from which 
 comes the apocopated i3"i — !a-i)j a myriad, consequently D^ns"!, 
 two myriads, or a contracted plural out of nism, Ezra ii. 69, 
 therefore the dual of a plural (like D^niDin, D^nim^) : an indefi- 
 nite plurality of myriads^and this again doubled (Hofrtiann). 
 With this sense, in comparison with which the other is poor 
 and meagre, also harmonizes the expression iXJC' ''a^X, thousands 
 of repetition {aira^ Xeyofi. = l)3t^'), i.e. thousands and again thou- 
 sands, numberless, incalculabie thousands; cf. the other and 
 synonymous expression in Dan. vii. 10.* It is intended to 
 
 * Tradition (Targum, Saadia, and Abulwalid) takes \ii::^ forthwith as 
 a synonym of ix^o, an angel. So also the LXX. (Jerome) : x''^txli; 
 ivdn»oC>Tuv (|S3t' = pS::'), and Symraachus, x'?^'«0£j iix'^^uTuv (from HNC'?). 
 The stem-word is, however, nrj*, just as tl'^yz\ Arabic thinan, ithndii, is 
 also formed from a singular that is to be assumed, viz. |t^, Ji ( .^i'), and 
 this from r\yz^, ^ (cf. ja from n:3, ^). 
 
rSALM LXVIII. 16-19. 259 
 
 give a conception of the " hosts " which Elohim is to set in 
 array against the "kings of hosts," i.e. the martial power of the 
 kingdom of the world, for the protection and for the triumph of 
 His own people. Chariots of fire and horses of fire appear 
 in 2 Kings ii. 11, vi. 17 as God's retinue; in Dan. vii. 10 it 
 is angelic forces that thus make themselves visible. They 
 surround Him on both sides in many myriads, in countless 
 thousands. D^ ""yis (with Beth oxiphatum*), the Lord is among 
 I them (cf. Isa. xlv. 14), i.e. they are round about Him, He has 
 them with Him (Jer. xli. 15), and is present with them. It 
 now becomes clear why Sinai is mentioned, viz. because at the 
 giving of the Law Jahve revealed Plimself on Sinai surrounded 
 by "ten thousands of saints" (Deut. xxxiii. 2 sq.). But in 
 ^vllat sense is it mentioned ? Zion, the poet means, presents to ' 
 , the spiritual eye now a spectacle such as Sinai presented in the 
 earlier times, although even Sinai does not belong to the 
 (giants among the mountains :f God halts there with His angel 
 host as a protection and pledge of victory to His people. The 
 conjectures ''2'^DD X3 and ''J''DD D3 (Ilitzig) are of no use to us. 
 We must either render it : Sinai is in the sanctuary, i.e. as it 
 were transferred into the sanctuary of Zion ; or : a Sinai is it 
 I in holiness, i.e. it presents a spectacle such as Sinai presented 
 ' when God by His appearing surrounded it with holiness. The 
 use of the expression ^'}jp^ in ver. 25, Ixxvii. 14, Ex. xv. 11, 
 decides in favour of the latter rendering. 
 
 With ver. 19 the Psalm changes to prayer. According to 
 vii. 8, xlvii. 6, Dii^? appears to be the height of heaven ; but 
 since in vers. 16-18 Zion is spoken of as Jahve's inaccessible 
 dwelHng-place, the connection points to 1^'V ^^"^^j Jei"' xxxi. 12, 
 cf. Ezek. xvii. 23, xx. 40. Moreover the preterites, which 
 
 * This is one of the three passages (the others being Isa. xxxiv. 11, 
 Ezek. xxiii. 42; cf. Ew. § 93, h) in which the dageshing of the opening 
 mute of the following word is given up after a soft final consonant, when 
 the words are connected by a conjunctive accent or Makkeph. 
 
 t Cf. the epigram in Sadi's Garden of Roses, " Of all mountains Sinai 
 is the smallest, and yet the greatest in rank and worth in the estimation of 
 God," etc. On the words tj'npa "ij''D which follow we may to a certain 
 extent compare the name of honour given to it in Arabic, tur m'ana, " Sinai 
 of ponsivencss " (Portsch, Die persischen Handschriflcn der Guthaer Bibli- 
 olhck, IS'o'J, S. 21). 
 
260 PSALM LXVllI. lG-19. 
 
 under other circumstances we should bo obliged to take as pro- 
 phetic, thus find their most natural explanation as a retrospective 
 glance at David's storminr^ of " the stronghold of Zion" (2 Sam. 
 V. 6-10) as the deed of Jahve Himself. But we should exceed 
 the bounds of legitimate historical interpretation by referring 
 D"iS3 ni:rip nnip^ to the Netldnhn, Ezra viii. 20 (cf. Num. xvii. 
 6), those bondmen of the sanctuary after the manner of the 
 Gibconites, Josh. ix. 23. The Beth of mS3 is not Beth sub- 
 stantia' : gifts consisting of men, so that these themselves are 
 the thing given (J. D. Michaelis, Ewald), but the expression 
 signifies inter homines, as in Ixxviii. 60, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, Jer. 
 xxxii. 20. Dii^^ n''^y mentions the ascending of the triumphant 
 One ; ''3?^ n""?^ (cf. Judg. v. 12), the subjugation of the enemy ^.j 
 '131 Jnnp^j the receiving of the gifts betokening homage and 
 allegiance (Deut. xxviii. 38, and frequently), which have been 
 -- f \ presented to Him since He has taken possession of Zion, — there 
 'Pie sits enthroned henceforth over men, and receives gifts like 
 to the tribute which the vanquished bring to the victor. These 
 He has received among men, and even (^^\, atgue etiam, as in 
 Lev. xxvi. 39-42) among the rebellious ones. Or does a new 
 independent clause perhaps begin with Ci^iip '^'^\% This point 
 will be decided by the interpretation of the words that follow. 
 Side by side with an infinitive with ? expressing a purpose, the 
 one following noun (here a twofold name) has the assumption 
 against it of being the subject. Is D\ibx rT" then consequently 
 the object, or is it an apostrophe? If it be taken as the lan- 
 guage of address, then the definition of the purpose, \ydh, 
 ought, as not being suited to what immediately precedes, to 
 refer back to n'hv ; but this word is too far off. Thus, there- 
 fore, the construction of D\n^X n'' with pC'b, as its object, is 
 apparently intended (Ewald, Hupfeld) : and even the rebellious 
 are to dwell (Cos. § 132, rem. 1) with Jali Elohim {ciccus. as 
 in V. 5, and frequently). Tliis interpretation is also the one 
 most generally adopted among the old expositors. The Targum 
 renders : and even the rebellious who turn and repent, even 
 upon them will the Shechina of the glory of Jiili Elohim 
 descend and dwell ; the Syriac version : and even the rebellious 
 will (''not" is probably to be crossed out) dwell before God 
 (^nrs Dip piDJ?^) ; and Jerome : insuper et non credentes inhabi- 
 tare Dominum JJeum. Thus Theodoret also understands the 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 16-19. 261 
 
 versions of the LXX. and of Aquila : " Thou hast not re- 
 garded their former disobedience, but notwithstandino- their 
 rebellion hast Thou continually been gracious to them ew? 
 avTov<i oiKTjTTJpiov oLKetov a7r6(j)r]va<i.^^ The expression, however, 
 sounds too grand to have " the rebellious ones " as its subject, 
 and more particularly in view of ver. 7. Hence we take 
 ^''"1!'.^° ^^1 with Ci']^7^ : and even among rebellious ones (hast 
 Thou received gifts), or: and even rebellious ones (give Thee); 
 and jsp'? as a clause denoting the purpose, followed by the 
 subject (as e.g. in 2 Sam. xix. 20) : in order that Jah Elohim 
 may dwell, i.e. continue to dwell (as in ver. 17, cf. Isa. Ivii. 15). 
 
 ^ The first half of the Psalm ends here. With the words 
 / Jdh Elohim the Psalm has reached a summit upon which it 
 
 j\ takes its rest. God has broken forth on behalf of His people 
 ^ against their enemies, and He now triumphs over and on behalf 
 of men. The circumstance of Elohim arising is the rise of tliel 
 \final glory, and His becoming manifest as Jdh Elohim is its 
 zenith. Paul (Eph. iv. 8) gathers up the meaning of ver. 19, 
 ^'ithout following the LXX., in the following manner: az/a/3a<? 
 ei? v-v^o? y^a\(t)T€vaev al^fiaXcoaiav koX eScoKe Sofxara TOL<i 
 av6p(j07rot<;. Might he perhaps have had the Targum, with 
 which the Svriac version an;rees, in his mind at the time : xrinn'' 
 
 L " • L O ' T : - : 
 
 NL'^J ""jnp l^nn pnp ? He interprets in the light and in the sense 
 of the history that realizes it. For the ascension of Elohim in 
 its historical fulfilment is none other than the ascension of 
 Christ. This latter was, however, as the Psalm describes it, a 
 triumphal procession (Col. ii. 15) ; and what the Victor has 
 gained over the powers of darkness and of death, He has gained 
 not for His own aggrandisement, but for the interests of men. 
 It is ^1^^ ^^^^Pj gifts which Pie now distributes among men, and 
 which benefit even the erring ones. So the apostle takes the 
 words, inasmuch as he changes eXa/Se? into eScoKe. The giftsi 
 are the charismata which come down from the Exalted One 
 upon His cliurch.* It is a distribution of gifts, a dispensing off 
 blessing, which stands related to His victory as its primary ^ 
 cause ; for as Victor He is also the possessor of blessing, His | 
 
 /, 
 
 * In this respect Ps. Ixviii. is the most appropriate Psahn for the 
 Dominica Pentecostes, just as it is also, in the Jewish ritual, the Psalm of 
 the second Shabuoth day. 
 
2C)2 PSALM LXVIII. 20-28. 
 
 gifts are as it werejhejpoils of the victory He has gained over 
 sin^death, and Satan.* The apostle is the more warranted in 
 tliis interpretation, since Elohim in what follows is celebrated as 
 the Lord who also brings out of death. This praise in the his- 
 torical fulfilment applies to Ilim, Avho, as Theodoret observes 
 on vcr. 21, has opened up the prison-house of death, which for 
 us had no exit, and burst the brazen doors, and broken asunder 
 the iron bolts,f viz. to Jesus Ciu'ist, who now has the keys of 
 Death and of Hades. 
 
 Vers. 20-28. Now begins the second circuit of the hymn.i 
 Comforted by the majestic picture of the future that he has 
 beheld, the poet returns to the present, in which Israel is still' 
 oppressed, but yet not forsaken by God. The translation follows' 
 the accentuation, regular and in accordance with the sense, I 
 which has . been restored by Baer after Heidenheim, viz. '•nx 
 has Zarla, and 1i^ Dny^ Oleicejored preceded by the sub-dis- 
 tinctive Rebia parvum ; it is therefore : Benedictus Dominator : 
 quotidie hajulat nobis, — with which the Targum, Rashi, and 
 Kimchi ao;ree.t DDV like Nb'3 and ?3D, unites the significations 
 
 C5T -T/ TT - r 7 O 
 
 to lay a burden upon one (Zech. xii. 3, Isa. xlvi. 1, 3), and to 
 carry a burden ; with ^V it signifies to lay a burden upon any 
 one, here with ? to take up a burden for any one and to bear 
 it for him. It is the burden or_]oi'essure of the hostile world 
 that is meant, which the Lord day by day helps His church to , 
 j bear, inasmuch as He is mighty by His strength in her who off 
 ' herself is so feeble. The divine name ?X, as being the subject 
 of the sentence, is i'NH : God is our salvation. The music here 
 again strikes in foHe, and the same thought that is emphasized 
 
 * Just so Iliilemann in the second division of his Bihchtudien (1861) ; 
 whereas to Hofniann {Schrl/tJmccis, ii. 482 ff.) the New Testament applica- 
 tion of the citation from the Psalm is differently brought about, because he 
 refers neither ly^ficO^uTivavj ulxfiu'huaictu nor x«ts;3>! tig rd x.ciTUTipce. [^ip/i 
 TTii -/ii; to the descent of the Lord into Hades. 
 
 t Just so tliat portion of the Gospel of Nicodemus that treats of Christ's 
 descent into Hades; vUl. Tischendorf, EvangcUa Apocrypli. (1853), p. 307. 
 
 X According to the customary accentuation the second Di"' has Mercha 
 or Olcwejoreil, and ^:S"D»y\ Miiyrash. But this Mityrash has the position 
 of the accents of the SiUuk-memhat against it ; for although it does excep- 
 tionally occur that two conjunctives follow Mugrash (Acccntsi/stem, xvii. 
 ^ 0), yet these cannot in any case be Mahpach sarkatum and llluL 
 
rSALM LXVIII. 20-28. 2G3 
 
 _ by: the mnsic in its turn, is also repeated in ver. 21a with - 
 lieightened expression : God is to us a God niyw'iop, who grants 
 us help in rich abundance. The j)htralet. denotes not so much 
 the many single proofs of help, as the riches of rescuing power 
 and grace. In ver. 21b nv^? corresponds to the ^3?; for it is 
 not to be construed T\\iy^ nisyin : Jahve's, the Lord, are the 
 outgoings to death (Bottcher), i.e. He can command that one / 
 
 ■''shall not fall a prey to death. nix^'ID, the parallel word to 
 nwiD, signifies, and it is the most natural meaning, the escap- 
 ings ; t^yj, evadere, as in 1 Sam. xiv. 41, 2 Kings xiii. 5, Eccles. 
 yii. 18. In Jahve's power are means of deliverance for death, i.e. 
 even for those who are already abandoned to death. With "H^? ~ 
 a joyously assuring inference is drawn from that which God is 
 to Israel. The parallelism of the correctly divided verse shows 
 that \i^ii~\ here, as in ex. 6, signifies cajmt in the literal sense, 
 and not in the sense of p^^incejjs. The hair-covered scalp is, 
 Imentioned as a token of arrogant strenn;th, and unhumbled and / 
 impenitent pride, as in Deut. xxxii. 42, and as the Attic KOfxdv 
 directly signifies to strut along, give one's self airs. The geni- 
 tival construction is the same as in Isa. xxviii. 1&, xxxii. lob. 
 The form of expression refers back to Num. xxiv. 17, and so 
 to speak inflects this primary passage very similarly to Jer. 
 xlviii. 45. If lyb' lp'^p be an object, then t^'sn ought also to 
 be a second object (that of the member of the body) ; the order 
 of the words does not in itself forbid this (cf. iii. 8 with Deut. 
 xxxiii. 11), but would require a different arrangement in order 
 to avoid ambiguity. In ver. 23 the poet hears a divin e utter- ( 
 ance, or records one that he has heard : '' From Bashan will I ' 
 brino; back, I will bring back from the eddies of the sea (from 
 ?!|X = ??y, to whiz, rattle ; to whir l, , edd y), i.e. the depths or 
 ab}^sses of the sea." WhoiuJ When after the destruction of i 
 
 ' Jerusalem a ship set sail for Rome with a freight of distinguished 1 
 and well-formed captives before whom was the disgrace of 
 
 i| prostitution, they all threw themselves into the sea, comforting 
 
 '1 themselves with this passage of Scripture {Gittin 51b, cf. Echa 
 Rabbathi 66a). They therefore took ver. 23 to be a promise 
 which has Israel as its object ; * but the clause expressing a 
 
 U' 
 
 * So also the Targum, which .understands the promise to refer to the 
 restoration of the righteous who have been eaten by Avild beasts and 
 
/ 
 
 264 PSALM LXVIII. 20-28. 
 
 purpose, ver. 24, and the paraphrase in Amos ix. 2 sq., show 
 that the foes of Israel are conceived of as its object. Even if 
 these Lave hidden themselves in the most out-of-tlie-way places, 
 God will fetch them back and make His own people the execu- 
 "^ tioners of His justice upon them. The expectation is that the 
 flight of the defeated foes will take a southcrnly direction, and 
 that they will hide themselves in the primeval forests of Bashan, 
 \ and still farther southward in the depths of the sea, i.e. of the 
 Dead Sea (D* as in Isa. xvi. 8, 2 Chron. xx. 2). Opposite to 
 the hiding in the forests of the mountainous Bashan stands the 
 hiding in the abyss of the sea, as the extreme of remoteness, 
 that which is in itself impossible being assumed as possible. 
 The first member of the clause expressing the purpose, ver. 24, 
 becomes more easy and pleasing if we read ^nnri (LXX., 
 Syriac, and Vulgate, ict intingatur), according to Iviii. 11. So 
 far as the letters are concerned, the conjecture Y^^^ (from 
 which }*n»n, according to Chajug', is transposed), after Isa. Ixiii. 
 1, is still more natural (Hitzig): that thy foot may redden itself 
 in blood. This is certainly somewhat tame, and moreover D'^t? 
 would be better suited to this rendering than Q"13. As the text 
 now stands, I'ncn* is equivalent to Ciynjpn (them, viz. the 
 enemies), and QH^ ^73"} is an adverbial clause (setting or plung- 
 ing thy foot in blood). It is, however, also possible that rO? 
 
 IS used like ^J£L^o (vehementer commovere) : ut concutias s. 
 
 agites pedem titam in sanguine. Can it now be that in ver. 246 
 from among the number of the enemies the one who goes about 
 glorying in his sins, the Vfl Kari^oxw (cf. Isa. xi. 4, Hab. iii. 
 13, and other passages), is brought prominently forward by ^n3D? 
 Hardly so ; the absence of p>n {lambat) cannot be tolerated, cf. 
 
 drowned in the sea (Midrash : pj:^^ = nvns ^l^ ^3^) ; cf. also the tliingg 
 related from tlie time of the Khaliphs in Jost's Geschichte des Judeuthums, 
 ii. 399, and Giiitz' Gcsch. derJuden, v. 347. 
 
 • The Gaja of the first closed syllable warns one to make a proper pause 
 upon it, in order that the guttural of the second, so apt to be slurred over, 
 may be distinctly pronounced ; cf. innn, Ixv. 5 ; p^mn, ciii. 12. So also 
 with the sibilants at the beginning of tiie second syllable, e.g. xmri, Gen. 
 i. 11, in accordance with which, in xiv. 1, Uii. 2, we must write in^nB''n 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 20-23. 265 
 
 1 Kings xxi. 19, xxii, 38. It is more natural, with Simonis, to 
 refer in^O back to \y^p (a word wliich is usually fern., but some- 
 times perhaps is masc, xxii. 16, Prov. xxvi. 28) ; and, since 
 side by side with 13'30 only inJD occurs anywhere else (Ew. § 
 263, h), to take it in the signification pars ejus (I^ from J^D = 
 nj^j after the form W, jn^ yp^ of the same meaning as ™^, ri:p, 
 
 Ixiii. 11), in favour of which Hupfeld also decides. 
 
 What is now described in vers. 25-28, is not the rejoicing 
 
 lover a victory gained in the immediate past, nor the rejoicing I y 
 
 Aover the earlier deliverance at the Red Sea, but I srae l's joyful 
 celebration when it shall have experienced the avenging and 
 
 1 redemptive work of its God and King. According to IxxvliT 
 
 1 14, Hab. iii. 6, rib'^pn appears to be God's march against the 
 enemy ; but what follows shows that the pompa magnijica of 
 God is intended, after He has overcome the enemy. Israel's . 
 
 ^esUval of victory is looked upon as a triumphal procession of ' 
 jGod Himself, the King, who governs in holiness, and has now / 
 
 I 'subjugated and humbled the unholy world ; K'^P? as in ver. 18. 
 The rendering "in the sanctuary" is very natural in this pas- 
 sage, but Ex. XV. 11, Ps. Ixxvii. 14, are against it. The sub- , 
 
 . ject of 1i<'J is all the world, more especially those of the heathen 
 who have escaped the slaughter. The perfect signifies : they 
 
 have seen, just as ^O^p, they have occupied the front position. 
 
 Singers head the procession, after them (""1!!?,* an advert) as in 
 Gen. xxii. 13, Ex. v. 1) players upon citherns and harps (Q^^^3, 
 participle to 1.2?), and on either side virgins with timbrels 
 (Spanish adufe) ; nissin, apocopated part. Poel with the reten- 
 tion of e (cf. '"li^ipiLr, cvii. 9), from ^sri, to strike the ^in (^j). 
 
 It is a retrospective reference to the song at the Sea, now I 
 again come Into life, which Mimm and the ^vomeu of Israel | 
 ^ sang amidst the music of tiinbrels. The deliverance which is 
 now being celebrated is the counterpart of the deliverance out 
 of Egypt. Songs resound as in ver. 27, " in gatherings of the — ■ — 
 
 * This "inx, according to B. Nedarim S7b, is a so-called n"'lS1D "liuy 
 (^ablatio scribarum), the sophcrira (sofrim) who watched over the faithful 
 preservation of the text having removed the reading "insi, so natural 
 according to the sense, here as in Gen. xviii. 5, xxiv. 55, Num. xxxi. 2, and 
 marked it as not genuine. 
 
266 PSALM LXVIII. 20-28, 
 
 confjrcgation (and, so to speak, in full choirs) praise ye Elohim." 
 ni^nprp"(^D^bnpaj xxvi. 12) is the plural to ^nf? (xxii. 23), which 
 forms none of its own (cf. post-biblical nipnp from >^}^\^). Ver. 
 276 is abridged from ^sib'^ "ilpoo DHN "IB'S '•ans 1D13, praise ye 
 the Lord, ye who have Israel for your fountainhead. ''p^,, in 
 accordance with the sense, has Mugrash. Israel is here the 
 name of the patriarch, from whom as from its fountainhead 
 the nation has spread itself abroad; cf. Isa. xlviii. 1, li. 1, and 
 as to the syntax TSO, those who descend from thee, Isa. Iviii. 
 12. In the festive assembly all the tribes of Israel are repre-' 
 scntcd by their princes. Two each from the southern and 
 northern tribes are mentioned. Out of Benjamin was Israel's 
 first king, the first royal victor over the Gentiles ; and in Ben- 
 jamin, according to the promise (Deut. xxxiii. 12) and accord- 
 ing to the accounts of the boundaries (Josh, xviii. 16 sq., xv. 7 
 sq.), lay the sanctuary of Israel. Thus, therefore, the tribe 
 which, according both to order of birth (Gen. xliii. 29 sqq.) 
 and also extent of jurisdiction and numbers (1 Sam. ix. 21), 
 was "little,"' was honoured beyond the others.* Judah, how- 
 ever, came to the throne in the person of David, and became for 
 ever the royal tribe. Zebulun and Naphtali are the tribes highly 
 praised in Deborah's song of victory (Judg. v. 18, cf. iv. 6) on 
 account of their patriotic bravery. D'l'i, giving no sense when 
 taken from the well-known verb CTn, falls back upon nnn^ and 
 is consequently equivalent to Wp (cf. Lam. i. 13), subduing or 
 ruling them ; according to the sense, equivalent to D3 nnh (1 
 Kings V. 30, ix. 23, 2 Chron. viii. 10), like D^J'sn, not " their 
 leader up," but 6 uvayayoov avTov<i, Isa. Ixiii. 11, not = Dnnh 
 (like Dn'^l'y, Dn"'X'i)j which would signify their subduer or their 
 subduers. The verb nnn, elsewhere to subjugate, oppress, hold 
 down by force, Ezek. xxxiv. 4, Lev. xxv. 53, is here used of 
 the peaceful occupation of the leader who maintains the order 
 of a stately and gorgeous procession. For the reference to the 
 enemies, " their subduer," is without any coherence. But to 
 render the parallel word Cno^i "their (the enemies') stoning" 
 (Ilengstenberg, Vaihinger, and others, according to Buttcher's 
 
 * Tcrtullian calls the Apostle Paul, with reference to his name and his 
 Bcnjamitiijli origin, parvus Bcvjamin, just as Augustine calls the poetess of 
 the Magiiijicat, nostra tympanifitria. 
 
rSALJI LXVIII. 29-3G. 267 
 
 '' Pi'ohen*'), is, to say nothing more, devoid of taste ; moreover 
 23"! does not mean to throw stones with a sling, but to stone as 
 a judicial procedure. If we assign to the verb DJ"! the primary 
 
 signification congererey accumularej after VIII., and ^ ' 
 
 tlien onon signifies their closely compacted band, as Jewish 
 expositors have explained it (Di'Up IX dS"1P). Even if we con- 
 nect ^T\ with DiP'i, variegaref or compare the proper name 
 
 C3"! = , socius (Bottcher), we arrive at much the same 
 
 meaning. Hupfeld's conjecture Cp'^J"! is consequently un- 
 necessary. 
 
 Vers. 29-36. The poet now looks forth beyond the domain 
 of Israel, and describes the effects of Jahve's deed of judg- 
 ment and deliverance in the Gentile world. The language of 
 ver. 29a is addressed to Israel, or rather to its king (Ixxxvi. 16, 
 ex. 2) : God, to whom everything is subject, has given Israel 
 T'y, victory and power over the world. Out of the conscious- 
 ness that He alone can preserve Israel upon this height of 
 power upon which it is placed, who has placed it thereon, 
 grows the prayer : establish (ni^i? with ^j for ii, as is frequently 
 the case, and with the accent on the ultima on account of the 
 following Aleph, vid. on vi. 5), Elohim, that which Thou hast 
 wrought for us; W, rohorare, as in Prov. viii. 28, Eccles. vii. 
 19, LXX. Bvvd/xcoaov^ Symmachus ivia'^vcrov. It might also 
 be interpreted : show Thyself powerful (cf. •"'9^"', xxi. 14), 
 Tliou who (Isa. xlii. 24) hast wrought for us (7^3 as in Isa. 
 xliii. 13, with ?, like ? nby^ Isa. Ixiv. 3) ; but in the other way 
 of taking it the prayer attaches itself more sequentially to what 
 precedes, and Ixii. 12 shows that IT can also represent the 
 neuter. Hitzig has a still different rendering: the powerful 
 divine help, which Thou hast given us; but although n— 
 instead of n— in the stat. construct, is Ephraimitish style (vid. 
 on xlv. 5), yet n-W for ty is an unknown word, and the expres- 
 sion "from Thy temple," which is manifestly addressed to 
 Elohim, shows that ri^ys is not the language of address to the 
 king (according to Hitzig, to Jehoshaphat). The language of 
 prayerful address is retained in ver. oO. From the words 1^3\na 
 D^i;''n'' bv there is nothing to be transported to ver. 296 (Hup- 
 feld) ; for ver. 30 would thereby become stunted. The words 
 
1 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 268 PSAL5I LXVIII. 29-3e. 
 
 i 
 
 together are the statement of the starting-point of the obla- 
 tions belonging to ^b'lS" : starting from Thy temple, which 
 soars aloft over Jerusalem, may kings bring Thee, who sittest 
 ehthroncd there in the Holy of holies, tributary gifts C^ as in 
 Ixxvi. 12, Isa. xviii. 7). In this connection (of prayer) it is the 
 expression of the desire that the Temple may become the zenith 
 or cynosure, and Jerusalem the metropolis, of the world. In 
 this passage, where it introduces the seat of religious worship, 
 the taking of IP as expressing the primary cause, " because or 
 on account of Thy Temple" (Ewald), is not to be entertained. 
 In ver. 31 follows a summons, which in this instance is only 
 Ithe form in which the prediction clothes itself. The " beast of 
 the reed" is not the lion, of which sojourn among the reeds is 
 not a characteristic (although it makes its home inter ariin- 
 dineta Mesopotamice, Ammianus, xviii. 7, and in the thickets of 
 the Jordan, Jer. xlix. 19, 1. 44, Zech. xi. 3). The reed is in 
 itself an emblem of Egypt (Isa. xxxvi. 6, cf. xix. 6), and it is 
 therefore either the crocodile, the usual emblem of Pharaoh 
 and of the power of Egypt (Ezek. xxix. 3, cf. Ps. Ixxiv. 13 sq.) 
 that is meant, or even the hippopotamus (Egyptian 2>ehe-m6ut)^ 
 which also symbolizes Egypt in Isa. xxx. 6 (which see), and 
 according to Job. xl. 21 fs inore appropriately than the croco- 
 dile (D^3 IC'S pnn, Isa. xxvii. 1) called n^j? n^n. Egypt ap- 
 / \ pears here as the greatest and most dreaded worldly power. 
 Elohim is to check the haughty ones who exalt themselves over 
 Israel and Israel's God. ^''TZiXj strong ones, are bulls (xxii. 
 13) as an emblem of the kings; and vJJ? explains itself by the 
 genit. epexeg. D'''3y : together with (^Beth of the accompaniment 
 as in ver. 316, Ixvi. 13, and beside the plur. laimanus, Jer. xli. 
 If)) the calves, viz. the peoples, over whom those bulls rule. 
 With the one emblem of Egypt is combined the idea of defiant 
 self-confidence, and with the other the idea of comfortable 
 security {vid. Jer. xlvi. 20 sq.). That which is brought pro- 
 minently forward as the consequence of the menace is moulded 
 in keeping with these emblems. DEinnrp^ which has been ex- 
 plained by Flamiuius substantially correctly : ut supplex v£niatj 
 is intended to be taken as a imrt. fut. (according to the Arabic 
 
 grammar, ^^^ j\^, lit. a predisposed condition). It thus 
 comprehensively in the singular (like l^V in viii. 9) with one 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 29-36. 269 
 
 stroke depicts thoroughly humbled pride ; for DB"i (cf. DO"i) 
 {signifies to stamp, pound, or tramplcy-to knock down, and the 
 Hithpa. either to behave as a trampling one, Prov. vi. 3, or to 
 trample upon one's self, i.e. to cast one's self violently upon the 
 ground. Others explain it as conculcandum se jyrcchere ; but 
 such a meaning cannot be shown to exist in the sphere of the 
 Hebrew Hithpael; moreover this "suffering one's self to be 
 trampled upon" does not so well suit the words, which require 
 a more active sense, viz. fip3"''5fn2i, in which is expressed the 
 idea that the riches which the Gentiles have hitherto employed 
 in the service of God-opposed worldliness, are now offered to the 
 God of Israel by those who both in outward circumstances and 
 in heart are vanquished (cf. Isa. Ix. 9). ^??"n (from Yfl-, 
 confrinrjere) is a piece of uncoined silver, a bar, wedge, or 
 ingot of silver. In "i73 there is a wide leap from the call "iW 
 to the language of description. This rapid change is also to 
 be found in other instances, and more especially in this dithy- 
 rambic Psalm we may readily give up any idea of a change in 
 the pointing, as "i.^? or IT? (LXX. SLaa/copircaov) ; "iT^j as it 
 stands, cannot be imperative (Hitzig), for the final vowel essen- 
 tial to the imperat. Piel is wanting. God hath scattered the 
 peoples delighting in war ; war is therefore at an end, and the 
 peace of the world is realized. 
 
 In ver. 32, the contemplation of the future again takes a 
 different turn : futures follow as the most natural expression 
 of that which is future. The form ^''1^^!'., more usually found 
 in pause, here stands pathetically at the beginning, as in Job 
 
 xii. 6. D"'30y'nj compared with the Arabic jLs^ (whence a ^ 
 
 a nose, a word erroneously denied by Gesenius), would signify 
 the supercilious, contemptuous (cf. ""li, nasutus, as an appella- 
 tion of a proud person who will put up with nothing). On 
 the other hand, compared with Jij-s^, it would mean the fat 
 
 ones, inasmuch as this verbal stem (root ^jL.s^, cf. nnc'n, 2 Sam. 
 xxii. 12), starting from the primary signification "to be pressed 
 together," also signifies " to be compressed, become compact," 
 i.e. to regain one's plumpness, to make flesh and fat, applied, 
 according to the usage of the language, to wasted men and 
 
270 PSALM LXVIII. 29-36. 
 
 animals. The commonly compared ♦^..lo*., vir magni famulitii, 
 
 is not at all natural, — a usage which is brought about by the 
 intransitive signification proper to the verb starting from its 
 radical signification, "to become or be angry, to be zealous 
 about any one or anything," inasmuch as the nonien verbale 
 
 "^^A^^ signifies in the concrete sense a person, or collectively 
 
 persons, for ^Yhose maintenance, safety, and honour one is 
 keenly solicitous, such as the members of the family, house- 
 hold attendants, servants, neighbours, clients or proteges, 
 guest-friends ; also a thing which one ardently seeks, and over 
 the preservation of which one keeps zealous watch (Fleischer). 
 Here there does not appear to be any connecting link whatever 
 in the Arabic which might furnish some hold for the Hebrew ; 
 hence it will be more advisable, by comparison of ??P'^'n and 
 }t^'n, to understand by n''JDD'n, the resplendent, most distin- 
 guished ones, pe7'illustres. The dignitaries of Egypt come to 
 give glory to the God of Israel, and Ethiopia, disheartened 
 by fear before Jahve (cf. Hab. iii. 7), causes his hands to run 
 to Elohim, i.e. hastens to stretch them out. Thus it is inter- 
 preted by most expositors. But if it is VT^ why is it not also 
 |"i-i>? "\Y"e reply, the Hebrew style, even in connection with 
 words that stand close beside one another, does not seek to 
 avoid either the enallage generis {e.g. Job xxxix. 3, 16), or the 
 enalL nximeri (e.g. Ixii. 5). But "to cause the hands to run" 
 is a far-fetched and easily misunderstood figure. We may 
 avoid it, if, with Bottcher and Olshausen, we disregard the 
 accentuation and interpret thus, " Gush — his hands cause to 
 hasten, i.e. bring on in haste (1 Sam. xvii. 17, 2 Chron. 
 XXXV. 13), to Elohim," viz. propitiating gifts; P"!? being the 
 l)redicate to vn^^, according to Ges. § 146, 3. 
 
 Ver. 33. The poet stands so completely in the midst of this 
 glory of the end, that soaring onwards in faith over all the 
 kingdoms of the world, he calls upon them to render praise to 
 the God of Israel, na^b attaches itself to the dominating 
 notion of =nV in ver. 33a. The heavens of heavens (Deut. x. 
 14) are by D'li' described as primeval (perhaps, following the 
 order of their coming into existence, as extending back beyond 
 the heavens that belong to our globe, of the second and fourth 
 
PSALM LXVIII. 29-36. 271 
 
 day of Creation). God is said to ride along in tlie primeval 
 heavens of the heavens (Deut. xxxiii. 26), when by means of 
 the cherub (xviii. 11) He extends His operations to all parts 
 of these infinite distances and heights. The epithet " who 
 rideth along in the heavens of heavens of the first beginning " 
 denotes the exalted majesty of the superterrestrial One, who 
 on account of His immanency in history is called "He who 
 rideth along through the steppes" (nnnya na^, ver. 5). In 
 vip3 |ri^ we have a repetition of the thought expressed above 
 in ver. 12 by i?3X jn^ ; what is intended is God's voice of 
 power, which thunders down everything that contends against 
 Him. Since in the expression Pips inJ (xlvi. 7, Jer. xii. 8) the 
 voice, according to Ges. § 138, rem. 3, note, is conceived of as 
 the medium of the giving, i.e. of the giving forth from one's 
 self, of the making one's self heard, we must take t'y ?ip not as 
 the object (as in the Latin phrase sonitum dare), but as an 
 apposition:* behold, He maketh Himself heard with His 
 voice, a powerful voice. Thus let them then give God T'y, i-e. 
 render back to Him in praise that acknowledges His omnipo- 
 tence, the omnipotence which He hath, and of which He gives 
 abundant proof. His glory ("^J^^) rules over Israel, more par- 
 ticularly as its guard and defence ; His power (ty), however, 
 embraces all created things, not the earth merely, but also the 
 loftiest regions of the sky. The kingdom of grace reveals the 
 majesty and glory of His redemptive work (cf. Eph. i. 6), the 
 kingdom of nature the universal dominion of His omnipotence. 
 To this call to the kingdoms of the earth they respond in ver. 
 36 : " Awful is Elohim out of thy sanctuaries." The words 
 are addressed to Israel, consequently Q''ii''^PO is not the heavenly 
 and earthly sanctuary (Ilitzig), but the one sanctuary in Jeru- 
 salem (Ezek. xxi. 7 [2]) in the manifold character of its holy 
 places (Jer. li. 51, cf. Am. vii. 9). Commanding reverence — 
 such is the confession of the Gentile world — doth Elohim rule 
 from thy most holy places, O Israel, the God who hath chosen 
 thee as His mediatorial people. The second part of the con- 
 fession runs : the God of Israel giveth power and abundant 
 strength to the people, viz. Nvhose God He is, equivalent to 
 
 * Tlie accentuation docs not deciclc ; it admits of our taking it in both 
 ways. Cf. xiv. 5, xli. 2, Iviii. 7, Ixviii. 28, Frov. xiii. 22, xxvii. 1. 
 
272 FSALM LXIX. 
 
 iBl'^, xxix. 11. Israel's might in the omnipotence of God it is 
 wliich the Gentile world has experienced, and from which it 
 has deduced the universal fact of experience, ver. 36i. All 
 peoples with their gods succumb at last to Israel and its God. 
 This confession of the Gentile world closes with D'^n'^X ^113 
 (which is preceded by Mugrash transformed out of Athnach). 
 Tiiat which the psalmist said in the name of Israel in ver. 20, 
 " Blessed be the Lord," now re-echoes from all the world, 
 " Blessed be Elohim." The world is overcome by the church 
 of Jahvc, and that not merely in outward form, but spiritually. 
 The taking up of all the kingdoms of the world into the king- 
 dom of God, this the great theme of the Apocalypse, is also 
 after all the theme of this Psalm. The first half closed with 
 Jahve's triumphant ascension, the second closes with the 
 results of His victory and triumph, which embrace the world 
 of peoples. 
 
 PSALM LXIX. 
 
 PRAYER OUT OF THE DEPTH OF AFFLICTION BORNE 
 FOR THE SAKE 0^ THE TRUTH. 
 
 2 SAVE me, Elohim, for the waters press upon my life. 
 
 3 I have sunk in the mud of the abyss, and there is no standing ; 
 I am fallen into the depths of the waters and a flood over- 
 
 floweth me. 
 
 4 I am wearied by my calling, my throat is parched. 
 Mine eyes have failed, I who wait for my God. 
 
 5 More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me 
 
 without a cause. 
 Numerous are my destroyers, mine enemies falsely — 
 That which I stole not, I must then restore. 
 
 6 Elohim, Thou knowest of my foll}^, 
 
 And my guiltinesses are not hidden from Thee. 
 
 7 Let not tiiose be ashamed, in me, who wait on Thee, O 
 
 Lord, Jahve of hosts. 
 Let not those be confounded, in me, who seek Thee, O God 
 of Israel ! 
 
PSALM LXIX. 273 
 
 8 For for Thy sake have I borne reproach, 
 Shame hath covered my face. 
 
 9 I am become estranged from my bretliren, 
 And an alien to my mother's children. 
 
 10 For the zeal of Thy house hath consumed me, 
 
 And the reproaches of those who reproach Thee are fallen 
 upon me. 
 
 11 As for me, my soul wept fasting, 
 And it became reproaches to me. 
 
 12 I made sackcloth my garment, 
 And became a satire to them. 
 
 13 Those who sit in the gate talk of me 
 And the music of the carousers. 
 
 14 Yet I, I pray to Thee, Jahve, in a time of favour, 
 Elohim, by reason of Thy great mercy ; 
 Answer me with the truth of Thy salvation ! 
 
 15 Rescue me out of the mud, that I sink not ; 
 
 Let me be rescued from my haters and out of the depths of 
 the waters. 
 
 16 Let not the flood of waters overflow me. 
 And let not the abyss swallow me up. 
 
 And let not the well close its mouth upon me. 
 
 17 Answer rile, Jahve, for good is Tliy loving-kindness; 
 According to the abundance of Thy compassion turn Thou 
 
 unto me. 
 
 18 And hide not Thy face from Thy servant, 
 For I am afraid, speedily answer me. 
 
 19 Draw near to my soul, redeem it. 
 Because of mine enemies deliver me. 
 
 20 Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame, and my dis- 
 
 honour ; 
 Present to Thee are all mine adversaries. 
 
 21 Kcproach hath broken my heart, and I became sick unto 
 I hoped for pity, but in vain, [death . 
 And for comforters — finding none. 
 
 VOL. II. 18 
 
274 PSALM LXIX. 
 
 22 They gave me for my meat gall, 
 
 And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. 
 
 23 Let their table before them become a snare, 
 And to the unconcerned a trap. 
 
 24 Let their eyes be darkened that they see not, 
 And make their loins continually to shake. 
 
 25 Pour out upon them Thine indignation, 
 
 And let the burning of Thine anger seize them. 
 
 26 Let their village be desolate, 
 
 In their tents let there be no dweller. 
 
 27 For him who is smitten of Thee they persecute, 
 And of the pain of Thy pierced ones do they tell. 
 
 28 Add Thou iniquity to their iniquity, 
 
 And let them not enter into Thy righteousness. 
 
 29 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, 
 
 And with the righteous let them not be written down ! 
 
 30 I, however, am afHicted and in pain. 
 
 Thy help, Elohim, shall set me up on high. 
 
 31 I will praise the name of Elohim with song, 
 And extol it with thanksgiving. 
 
 32 And it shall please Jahve better than young bullocks, 
 Having horns, cleaving the hoof. 
 
 33 The afflicted seeing it, shall rejoice ; 
 
 Ye who seek after Elohim — let your heart revive ! 
 
 34 For observant of the needy is Jahve, 
 And His captives doth He not despise. 
 
 35 Let heaven and earth praise Him, 
 
 The seas and everything that moveth therein. 
 
 36 For Elohim will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, 
 That they may dwell there and possess them. 
 
 37 And the seed of His servants shall inherit them. 
 And those who love His name shall dwell therein. 
 
 This Psalm follows Ps. Ixviii. because in vers. 36 sq. the 
 very same thought is expressed in unfigurative language, that 
 
PSALM LXIX. 275 
 
 we found in Ixvlii. 11 represented under a figure, viz. Thy 
 creatures dwelt therein. In other respects the two Psahns are 
 as different as day and night. Ps. Ixix. is not a martial and 
 triumphal Psalm, but a Psalm of affliction which does not 
 brighten until near the close ; and it is not the church that is 
 the speaker here, as in the preceding Psalm, but an individual. 
 This individual, according to the inscription, is David ; and if 
 David, it is not the ideal righteous man (Hengstenberg), but 
 David the righteous, and that when he was unjustly persecuted 
 by Saul. The description of suffering harmonizes in many 
 points with the Psalms belonging to the time of Saul, even the 
 estrangement of his nearest adherents, Ixix. 9, xxxi. 12 (cf. 
 xxvii. 10) ; the fasting till he is thoroughly enfeebled, Ixix. 11, 
 cix. 24 ; the curse upon his foes, in which respect Ps. xxxv., 
 Ixix., and cix. form a fearful gradation ; and the inspiriting 
 call to the saints who are his companions in suffering, Ixix. 33, 
 xxii. 27, xxxi. 25. Were there no doubt about Ps. xl. being 
 Davidic, then the Davidic origin of Ps. Ixix. would at the same 
 time be firmly established; but instead of their inscriptions 
 in^ being mutually confirmatory, they tend, on the contrary, 
 to shake our confidence. These two Psalms are closely related 
 as twin-Psalms : in both the poet describes his suffering as a 
 sinking into a miry pit ; in both we meet with the same depre- 
 ciation of ceremonial sacrifice ; the same method of denoting a 
 great multitude, " more than the hairs of my head," Ixix. 5, 
 xh 13 ; and the same prospect of the faith of the saints being 
 strengthened, Ixix. 33, 7, xL 17, 4. 
 
 But whilst in Ps. xl. it is more the style and in general 
 the outward form than the contents that militate against its 
 Davidic authorship, in Ps. Ixix. it is not so much in form as 
 in subject-matter that we find much that does not accord with 
 David's authorship. For this reason Clericus and Vogel (in 
 his dissertation Inscriptiones P^almorum serius demum additas 
 videri, 1767) have long ago doubted the correctness of the 
 "Vph ; and liitzig has more fully supported the conjecture pre- 
 viously advanced by Seller, von Bengel, and others, that Ps. 
 Ixix., as also Ps. xl., is by Jeremiah. The following points 
 favour this view ; (1) The martyrdom which the author 
 endured in his zeal for the house of God, in his self-mortifica- 
 tion, and in this consuming of himself with the scorn and 
 
270 PSALM LXIX. 
 
 deadly hostility of his foes ; we may compare more particularly 
 Jer. XV. 15-18, a confession on the part of the prophet very 
 closely allied in spirit to both these Psalms. (2) The murder- 
 ous animosity which the prophet had to endure from the men 
 of Anathoth, Jer. xi. 18 sq., with which the complaint of the 
 psalmist in ver. 9 fully accords. (3) The close of the Psalm, 
 vers. 35-37, which is like a summary of that which Jeremiah 
 foretells in the Book of the Kestoration, ch. xxx.-xxxiii. 
 (4) The peculiar character of Jeremiah's sufferings, who was 
 cast by the princes, as being an enemy to his country, into the 
 waterless but muddy cistern of prince Malchiah (Malkija) in 
 the court of the guard, and there as it were buried alive. It is 
 true, in Jer. xxxviii. 6 it is said of this cistern that there was 
 "no water, but only mire," which seems to contradict the 
 language of the Psalm ; but since he sank into the mud, the 
 meaning is that just then there was no water standing in it as 
 at other times, otherwise he must at once have been drowned. 
 Nevertheless, that he was in peril of his life is clear to us from 
 the third hinah (Lam. ch. iii.), which in other respects also has 
 many points of close contact with Ps. Ixix. ; for there in vers. 
 53-58 he says : " Tlietj cut off my life in the pit and cast stones 
 at me. Waters flowed over my head ; I thought : I am undone. 
 I called upon 2hy name, Jahve, out of the lowest j^it- Thou 
 didst hear my cry : Hide not Thine ear from the outpouring of 
 'my heart, from my cry for help I Thou didst draw near in the 
 day that I cried, Thou saidst : Fear not." The view of Hitzig, 
 that in Ps. Ixix. we have this prayer out of the pit, has many 
 things in its favour, and among them, (5) the style, which on 
 the whole is like that of Jeremiah, and the many coincidences 
 with the prophet's language and range of thought visible in 
 single instances. But how could this Psalm have obtained the 
 inscription in?? Could it be on account of the similarity 
 between the close of Ps. Ixix. and the close of Ps. xxii. ? And 
 why should not Ps. Ixxi., which is to all appearance by Jere- 
 miah, also have the inscription Til^? Ps. Ixix. is wanting in 
 that imitative character by which Ps. Ixxi. so distinctly points 
 to Jeremiah. Therefore we duly recognise the instances and 
 considerations brought forward against the Jeremianic author- 
 ship by Keil {Luth. Zdtschrift, ISGO, S. 485 f.) and Kurtz 
 {porpater Zeitschrifty 18G5, S. 58 ff.), whilst, on the contrary, 
 
PSALM LXIX. 277 
 
 we still maintain, as formerly, that the Psalm admits of being 
 much more satisfactorily explained from the life of Jeremiah 
 than that of David. 
 
 The passion Psalms are the part of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures most frequently cited in the New Testament ; and 
 after Ps. xxii. thei*e is no Psalm referred to in so many ways 
 as Ps. Ixix. (1) The enemies of Jesus hated Him without a 
 cause : this fact, according to John xv. 25, is foretold in ver. 5. 
 It is more probable that the quotation by John refers to Ixix. 5 
 than to XXXV. 19. (2) When Jesus drove the buyers and 
 sellers out of the Temple, ver. 10a received its fulfilment, 
 according to John ii. 17 : the fierce flame of zeal against the 
 profanation of the house of God consumes Him, and because 
 of this zeal He is hated and despised. (3) He willingly bore 
 this reproach, being an example to us ; ver. 10b of our Psalm 
 being, according to Rom. xv. 3, fulfilled in Him. (4) Accord- 
 ing to Acts i. 20, the imprecation in ver. 26a has received its 
 fulfilment in Judas Iscariot. The suffixes in this passage are 
 plural ; the meaning can therefore only be that indicated by 
 J H. Michaeh's, quod ille primus et prce reliquis Imjus maledic- 
 tionis se fecerit participem. (5) According to Rom. xi. 9 sq., 
 vers. 23 sq. of the Psalm have been fulfilled in the present 
 rejection of Israel. The apostle does not put these impreca- 
 tions directly into the mouth of Jesus, just as in fact they are 
 not appropriate to the lips of the suffering Saviour; he only 
 says that what the psalmist there, in the zealous ardour of the 
 prophetic Spirit — a zeal partaking of the severity of Sinai and 
 of the spirit of Elias — invokes upon his enemies, has been com- 
 pletely fulfilled in those who wickedly have laid violent hands 
 upon the Holy One of God. The typically prophetic hints of 
 the Psalm are far from being exhausted by these New Testa- 
 ment quotations. One is reminded, in connection with ver. 13, 
 of the mockery of Jesus by the soldiers in the prsetorium. Matt, 
 xxvii. 27—30; by ver. 22, of the offer of vinegar mingled with 
 gall (according to Mark xv. 23, wine mingled with myrrh) 
 which Jesus refused, before the crucifixion. Matt, xxvii. 34, 
 and of the sponge dipped in vinegar which they put to the 
 mouth of the crucified One by means of a stalk of hyssop, 
 John xix. 29 sq. When John there says that Jesus, freely and 
 consciously preparing Himself to die, only desired a drink in 
 
278 PSALM LXU. 2-14. 
 
 order that, according to God's appointment, the Scripture might 
 receive its utmost f ulfihnent, he thereby points back to Ps. xxii. 
 16 and Ixix. 22. And Avhat an amount of New Testament 
 h'glit, so to speak, falls upon ver. 27a when we compare with 
 it Isa. ch. liii. and Zech. xiii. 7 ! The whole Psalm is typically 
 prophetic, in as far as it is a declaration of a history of life and 
 suffering moulded by God into a factual prediction concerning 
 Jesus the Christ, whether it be the story of a king or a prophet ; 
 and in as far as the Spirit of prophecy has even moulded the 
 declaration itself into the language of prophecy concerning the 
 future One. 
 
 The Psalm falls into three parts, consisting of the following 
 strophes : (1) 3. 5. 6. 6. 7 ; (2) 5. 6. 7 ; (3) 6^6. 6. 6. 6. Does 
 CSCT^ perhaps point to the preponderating six-line strophes 
 under the emblem of the six-leaved lily ? This can hardly be 
 the case. The old expositors said that the Psalm was so in- 
 scribed because it treats of the white rose of the holy innocence 
 of Christ, and of the red rose of His precious blood. \'c})^ 
 pi'operly does not signify a rose; this flower was altogether 
 unknown in the Holy Land at the time this Psalm was written. 
 The rose was not transplanted thither out of Central Asia until 
 much later, and was called Til. (poSov) ; pC'IK', on the other hand, 
 is the white, and in the Holy Land mostly red, lily — certainly, 
 as a plant, a beautiful emblem of Christ. Propter me, says 
 Origen, qui in convalle eranij Sponsus descendit et Jit lilium. 
 
 Vers. 2-14. Out of deep distress, the work of his foes, 
 the complaining one cries for help; he thinks upon his sins, 
 which his sufferings bring to his remembrance, but he is also 
 distinctly conscious that he is an object of scorn and hostility 
 for God's sake, and from His mercy he looks for help in accord- 
 ance with His promises. The waters are said to rush in unto 
 the soul C^'Drnyj^ when they so press upon the imperilled one 
 that the soul, i.e. the life of the body, more especially the breath, 
 is threatened ; cf. Jonah ii. 6, Jer. iv. 10. Waters are also a 
 figure of calamities that come on like a flood and drag one into 
 their vortex, xviii. 17, xxxii. 6, cxxiv. 5, cf. Ixvi. 12, Ixxxviii. 
 8, 18 ; here, however, the figure is cut off in such a way that 
 it conveys the impression of reality expressed in a poetical form, 
 us in Ps. xl., and much the same as in Jonah's psalm. The 
 
PSALM LXIX. 2-14. 279 
 
 soft, yielding morass is called l.V^, and the eddying deep np^iVO. 
 The nomen Hophal. "'^I'l^r signifies properly a being placed, then 
 a standing-place, or firm standing (LXX. viroaraaL^), like 
 nt^Pj that which is stretched out, extension, Isa. viii. 8. ^?^'^ 
 
 (Ephraimitish Hpinp) is a streaming, a flood, from b2,\^, J>f-;, to 
 
 stream, flow (cf. note on Iviii. 9a). 2 Si3, to fall into, as in 
 Ixvi. 12, and ^^^ with an accusative, to overflow, as in cxxiv. 4. 
 The complaining one is nearly drowned in consequence of his 
 sinking down, for he has long cried in vain for help : he is 
 wearied by continual crying (3 W), as in vi. 7, Jer. xlv. 3), his 
 throat is parched ("inj from "T^n ; LXX. and Jerome : it is 
 become hoarse), his eyes have failed (Jer. xiv. 6) him, who 
 waits upon his God. The participle ^^VP, equal to a relative 
 clause, is, as in xviii. 51, 1 Kings xiv. 6, attached to the suflSx 
 of the preceding noun (Hitzig). Distinct from this use of the 
 participle without the article is the adverbially qualifying par- 
 ticiple in Gen. iii. 8, Cant. v. 2, cf '•n, 2 Sam. xii. 21, xviii. 14. 
 There is no necessity for the correction of the text pQID (LXX. 
 aTTo ToO eXirl^eLv fie). Concerning the accentuation of ^^l vid. 
 on xxxviii. 20. Apart from the words " more than the hairs 
 of my head" (xl. 13), the complaint of the multitude of ground- 
 less enemies is just the same as in xxxviii. 20, xxxv. 19, cf. 
 cix. 3, both in substance and expression. Instead of ''n^p^D, 
 my destroyers, the Syriac version has the reading "nioyyo (more 
 numerous than my bones), which is approved by Hupfeld ; but 
 to reckon the multitude of the enemy by the number of one's 
 own bones is both devoid of taste and unheard of. Moreover 
 the reading of our text finds support, if it need any, in Lam. 
 iii. 52 sq. The words, " what I have not taken away, I must 
 then restore," are intended by way of example, and perhaps, as 
 also in Jer. xv. 10, as a proverbial expression : that which I 
 have not done wrong, I must suffer for (cf. Jer. xv. 10, and the 
 similar complaint in Ps. xxxv. 11). One is tempted to take I^ 
 in the sense of "nevertheless" (Ewald), a meaning, liowever, 
 which it is by no means intended to convey. In this passage 
 it takes the place of nxr (cf. ovTO)<i for ravra, Matt. vii. 12), 
 inasmuch as it gives prominence to the restitution desired, as 
 an inference from a false assumption : then, although I took it 
 not away, stole it not. 
 
280 PSALM LXIX. 2-14. 
 
 The transition from the bewailing of suffering to a confes- 
 sion of sin is like xl. 13. In the undeserved persecution which 
 he endures at the hand of man, he is obliged nevertheless to 
 recognise well-merited chastisement from the side of God. And 
 whilst by ri^T nnx (cf. xl. 10, Jer. xv. 15, xvii. 16, xviii. 23, and 
 on h as an exponent of the object, Jer. xvi. 16, xl. 2) he does 
 not acknowledo;e himself to be a sinner after the standard of his 
 own shortsightedness, but of the divine omniscience, he at the 
 same time commends his sinful need, whicli with self-accusing 
 modesty he calls riP^X (xxxviii. 6) and nine's; (2 Chron. xxviii. 
 10), to the mercy of the omniscient One. Should he, the 
 sinner, be abandoned by God to destruction, then all those who 
 are faithful in their intentions towards the Lord would be 
 brought to shame and confusion in him, inasmuch as they 
 would be taunted with this example. T)'? designates the godly 
 from the side of the TrlarL^, and ^"'^'i??l? from the side of the 
 dydin]. The multiplied names of God are so many appeals to 
 God's honour, to the truthfulness of His covenant relationship. 
 The person praying here is, it is true, a sinner, but that is no 
 justification of the conduct of men towards him ; he is suffering 
 for the Lord's sake, and it is the Lord Himself who is reviled 
 in him. It is upon this he bases his prayer in ver. 8. T?^, 
 for Thy sake, as in xliv. 23, Jer. xv. 15. The reproach that he 
 has to bear, and ignominy that has covered his face and made 
 it quite unrecognisable (xliv. 16, cf. Ixxxiii. 17), have totally 
 estranged (xxxviii. 12, cf. Ixxxviii. 9, Job xix. 13-15, Jer. 
 xii. 6) from him even his own brethren Cnx, parallel word 
 ^EX V3, as in 1. 20; cf., on the other hand, Gen. xlix. 8, where 
 the interchange designedly takes another form of expression) ; 
 for the glow of his zeal (nx^ip from NJ^, according to the Arabic, 
 to be a deep or bright red) for the house of Jahve, viz. for the 
 sanctity of the sanctuary and of the congregation gathered 
 about it (which is never directly called " the house of Jahve'' 
 in the Old Testament, vid. Kohler on Zech. ix. 8, but here, as in 
 Num. xii. 7, Hos. viii. 1, is so called in conjunction with the 
 sanctuary), as also for the honour of Him who sits enthroned 
 therein, consumes him, like a fire burning in his bones which 
 incessantly breaks forth and rages all through him (Jer. xx. 9, 
 xxiii. 9), and therefore all the malice of those who are estranged 
 from God is concentrated upon and against him. 
 
PSALM LXIX. 2-14. 281 
 
 He now goes on to describe how sorrow for tlie sad condi- 
 tion of the house of God has brought nothing but reproach to 
 him (cf. cix. 24 sq.). It is doubtful whether ''^'23 is an alter- 
 nating subject to '"'??^,\ (/i(^. consec. without being apocopated), 
 cf. Jer. xiii. 17, or a more minutely defining accusative as in 
 Isa. xxvi. 9 (yid. on iii. 5), or whether, together with Dii*?, it 
 forms a circumstantial clause (et flevi dum in jejunio esset 
 anirna mea\ or even whether it is intended to be taken as an 
 accusative of the object in a pregnant construction (= nD3 
 W^\ ^?V*^, xlii. 5, 1 Sam. i. 15) : I wept away my soul in fast- 
 ing. Among all these possible renderings, the last is the least 
 probable, and the first, according to xliv. 3, Ixxxiii. 19, by far 
 the most probable, and also that which is assumed by the ac- 
 centuation.* The reading of the LXX. '"'3y^?l^, koX avveKa^^ra 
 (Olshausen, Hupfeld, and Bottcher), is a very natural (xxxv. 
 13) exchange of the poetically bold expression for one less 
 choice and less expressive (since t^'^3 n^y is a phrase of the 
 Pentateuch equivalent to Dl^). The garb of mourning, like 
 the fasting, is an expression of sorrow for public distresses, not, 
 as in xxxv. 13, of personal condolence ; concerning "^J^^}^, vid. 
 on iii. 6. On account of this mourning, reproach after re- 
 proach comes upon him, and they fling gibes and raillery at 
 him ; everywhere, both in the gate, the place where the judges 
 sit and where business is transacted, and also at carousals, he 
 is jeered at and traduced (Lam. iii. 14, cf. v. 14, Job xxx. 9). 
 3 n''b' signifies in itself fahidari de . . . without any bad 
 secondary meaning (cf. Prov. vi. 22, confahulahitur tecum) ; 
 here it is construed first with a personal and then a neuter 
 subject (cf. Amos viii. S), for in ver 136 neither ''n''NT (Job 
 xxx. 9, Lam. iii. 14) nor "'3N (Lam. iii. 63) is to be supplied. 
 Ver. 14 tells us how he acts in the face of such hatred and 
 scorn ; ^JXI, as in cix. 4, saixasmis hostium siiam opponit in 
 precibus constantiam (Geier). As for himself, his prayer is 
 directed towards Jalive at the present time, when his affliction 
 
 * The Mnnach of UVil is a transformation of DecM (just as the Munaali 
 of niDin? is a transformation of Hfugrash), in connection with which "'ti'QJ 
 might certainly be conceived of even as object {ci. xxvi. Qa) ; bat this after 
 n33S1 (not n33Sl)i and as being without example, could liardly have 
 entered the minds of the puuctuists. 
 
282 PSALM LXIX. 15-22, 
 
 as a witness for God gives him the assurance that He will be 
 \Ycll-pleascd to accept it (pvn ny =: \\)ii ny3, Isa. xlix. 8). It 
 is addressed to Ilim who is at tlie same time Jahve and Elohim, 
 — the revealed One in connection with the history of redemp- 
 tion, and the absolute One in His exaltation above the w'orld, — 
 on the ground of the greatness and fulness of His mercy : may 
 He then answer him with or in the truth of His salvation, i.e. 
 the infallibility with which His purpose of mercy verifies itself 
 in accordance with the promises given. Thus is ver. 14 to be 
 explained in accordance with the accentuation. According to 
 Isa. xlix. 8, it looks as though |1V"i DJJ must be drawn to ^3jy 
 (Hitzig), but xxxii. 6 sets us right on this point; and the fact 
 that "inon'ana is joined to ver. 14a also finds support from v. 8. 
 But the repetition of the divine name perplexes one, and it may 
 be asked whether or not the accent that divides the verse into 
 its two parts might not more properly stand beside pvn, as in 
 xxxii. 6 beside NVa ; so that ver. 14i runs : Elohim, hy virtue 
 of the greatness of Thy mercy hear me, hy virtue of the truth of 
 Thy salvation. 
 
 Vers. 15-22. In this second part the petition by which 
 the first is as it were encircled, is continued ; the peril grows 
 greater the longer it lasts, and with it the importunity of the 
 cry for help. The figure of sinking in the mire or mud and 
 in the depths of the pit (1X3, \y. 24, of. nia, xl. 3) is again 
 taken up, and so studiously wrought out, that the impression 
 forces itself upon one that the poet is here describing something 
 that has really taken place. The combination "from those 
 who hate me and from the depths of the waters" shows that 
 "the depths of the waters" is not a merely rhetorical figure; 
 and the form of the prayer : let not the pit (the well-pit or 
 covered tank) close (-itsxn ^vith Dagesh in the Telh, in order to 
 guard against its being read itpxri ; cf. on the signification of 
 itSfr^, clausus = claudus, scil. mariu) its mouth {i.e. its upper 
 opening) upon me, exceeds the limits of anything that can be 
 allowed to mere rhetoric. " Let not the water-flood overflow 
 me " is intended to say, since it has, according to ver. 3, already 
 liappened, let it not go further to my entire destruction. The 
 "answer me" in ver. 17« is based upon the plea that God's 
 loving-kindness is 3ic, i.e. good, absolutely good (as in the 
 kindred passion-Psalm, cix. 21), better than all besides (Ixiii. 4), 
 
PSALM LXIX. 15-22. 283 
 
 the means of healing or salvation from all evil. On ver. 176 
 cf. li. 3, Lam. iii. 32. In ver. 18 the prayer is based upon the 
 painful situation of the poet, which urgently calls for speedy 
 help ("in'? beside the imperative, cii. 3, cxliii. 7, Gen. xix. 22, 
 Esth. vi. 10, is certainly itself not an imperative like y}[}, li. 4, 
 but an adverbial infinitive as in Ixxix. 8). i^?"}!^, or, in order to 
 ensure the pronunciation horhah in distinction from hcrbah, 
 Deut. XV. 9, nn"ii^_ (in Baer*), is imperat. Kal; cf. the fulfilment 
 in Lam. iii. 57. The reason assigned, " because of mine 
 enemies," as in v. 9, xxvii. 11, and frequently, is to be under- 
 stood according to xiii. 5 : the honour of the all-holy One 
 •cannot suffer the enemies of the righteous to triumph over 
 him.f The accumulation of synonyms in ver. 20 is Jeremiah's 
 custom, ch. xiii. 14, xxi. 5, 7, xxxii. 37, and is found also in 
 Ps. xxxi. (ver. 10) and xliv. (vers. 4, 17, 25). On n-jT^ ns-in 
 ^3?, cf. li. 19, Jer. xxiii. 9. The aira^ r^eypaix. "^^'l^XT^ (historical 
 tense), from B'lJ, is explained by ti'^JX from ^^^^ sickly, danger- 
 ously ill, evil-disposed, which is a favourite word in Jeremiah. 
 Moreover 1=13 in the signification of manifesting pity, not found 
 elsewhere in the Psalter, is common in Jeremiah, e.g. ch. xv. 
 5 ; it signifies originally to nod to any one as a sign of a pity 
 that sympathizes with him and recognises the magnitude of the 
 evil. " To give wormwood for meat and t^N"i""'0 to drink" is a 
 Jeremianic (ch. viii. 14, ix. 14, xxiii. 15) designation for in- 
 flicting the extreme of pain and anguish upon one. K'Ni (C'n) 
 signifies first of all a poisonous plant with an umbellated head 
 of flower or a capitate fruit ; but then, since bitter and poison- 
 ous are interchantreable notions in the Semitic lanffuases, it 
 signifies gall as the bitterest of the bitter. The LXX. renders: 
 KaX eSwKav eh to ^pw/xd fiov '^oXtjv, Kal et9 rrjv hi^^av fiov 
 kiroTcadv fxe 6^o<;. Certainly 3 103 can mean to put sometliing 
 into something, to mix something with it, but the parallel word 
 
 * Originally — was the sign for every kind of o, hence the Masora in- 
 cludes the Pjltan also under the name cjtDn YDp ] '^id. Luther. Zcilschrift, 
 1863, S. 412 f., cf. Wright, Genesis, p. xxix. 
 
 t Both ""C'aj and >2>x, contrary to logical interpunction, are marked 
 with Munach ; the former ought properly to have DecM, and the latter 
 Mugrash. But since neither the /l«/(H«c/i-word nor the Silluk-word has 
 two syllables preceding the tone syllable, the accents are transformed 
 according to Accentualionssystem, xviii. § 2, 4. 
 
284 rsALM LXix 23-37. 
 
 ^N0>*^ (for my thirst, i.e. for the quenching of it, Neh. ix. 15, 
 20) favours tlie supposition that the 3 of ''^^133 is Beth essentice, 
 after which Luther renders : " tliey give me gall to eat." The 
 aira^ yeypafx. nn3 (Lam. iv. 10 J^^"!?) signifies ^p(bcn<;, from 
 •T13, /SijSpwaKeiv (root ^op, Sanscrit gar^ Latin vor-are). 
 
 Vers. 23-37. The description of the suffering has reached 
 its climax in ver. 22, at which the wrath of the persecuted one 
 flames up and bursts forth in imprecations. The first impre- 
 cation joins itself upon ver. 22. They have given the sufferer 
 gall and vinegar; therefore their table, which was abun- 
 dantly supplied, is to be turned into a snare to them, from 
 which they shall not be able to escape, and that 2^^.^??? iw the 
 very midst of their banqueting, whilst the table stands spread 
 out before them (Ezek. xxiii. 41). D"'>pi?l^' (collateral form of 
 DVpPy') is the name given to them as being carnally secure ; the 
 word signifies the peaceable or secure in a good (Iv. 21) and in 
 a bad sense. Destruction is to overtake them suddenly, " when 
 they say: Peace and safety" (1 Thess. v. 3). The LXX. 
 erroneously renders : koX eh avTwrroBoaiv = D"'D^?t^'p1. The asso- 
 ciation of ideas in ver. 24 is transparent. With their eyes they 
 have feasted themselves upon the sufferer, and in the strength 
 of their loins they have ill-treated him. These eyes with their 
 bloodthirsty malignant looks are to grow blind. These loins 
 full of defiant self-confidence are to shake ("'V'?'?, imperat. Hiph. 
 like prr\7^, Job xiii. 21, from l^ypn, for which in Ezek. xxix. 7, 
 and perhaps also in Dan. xi. 14, we find TDi'n). Further: 
 God is to pour out Ilis wrath upon them (Ixxix. 6, IIos. v. 10, 
 Jer. X. 25), i.e. let loose against them the cosmical forces of 
 destruction existing originally in His nature. fJSVI has the 
 Dagesh in order to distinguish it in pronunciation from ^pyT. 
 In ver. 26 nTtp (from "i^d, to encircle) is a designation of an 
 encamping or dwelling-place (LXX. eVauXt?) taken from the 
 
 circular encampments (Arabic ci;]^jw, sirdtj and jU J, dudr) of 
 
 the nomads (Gen. xxv. 16). The laying waste and desolation 
 of his own house is the most fearful of all misfortunes to the 
 Semite {Job, i. 327). The poet derives the justification of such 
 fearful imprecations from the fact that they persecute him, 
 who is besides smitten of God. God has smitten him on 
 account of his sins, and that by having placed him in the 
 
PSALM LXIX. 23-37. 285 
 
 midst of a time in which he must be consumed with zeal and 
 sohcitude for the house of God. The suffering decreed for 
 him by God is therefore at one and the same time suffering as 
 a chastisement and as a witnessing for God ; and they heighten 
 this suffering by every means in their power, not manifesting 
 any pity for him or any indulgence, but imputing to him sins 
 that he has not committed, and requiting him with deadly 
 hatred for benefits for which they owed him thanks. 
 
 There are also some others, although but few, who share 
 this martyrdom with him. The psalmist calls them, as he looks 
 up to Jahve, ^ vPn, Thy fatally smitten ones ; they are those to 
 whom God has appointed that they should bear within them- 
 selves a pierced or wounded heart (vid. cix. 22, cf. Jer. viii. 18) 
 in the face of such a godless age. Of the deep grief (?N, as in 
 ii. 7) of these do they tell, viz. with self-righteous, self-blinded 
 mockery (cf . the Talmudic phrase ynn t^^bl "12D or yin pc^^ n2D, 
 of evil report or slander). The LXX. and Syriac render ^Z>'^pv 
 (prpocriBrjKav) : they add to the anguish ; the Targum, Aquila, 
 Symmachus, and Jerome follow the traditional text. Let God 
 therefore, by the complete withdrawal of His grace, suffer them 
 to fall from one sin into another — this is the meaning of the 
 da cidpam super culpam eorum — in order that accumulated 
 judgment may correspond to the accumulated guilt (Jer. xvi. 
 18). Let the entrance into God's righteousness, i.e. His justi- 
 fying and sanctifying grace, be denied to them for ever. Let 
 them be blotted out of D^«n "isp (Ex. xxxii. 32, cf. Isa. iv. 3, 
 Dan. xii. 1), that is to say, struck out of the list of the living, 
 and that of the living in this present world ; for it is only in 
 the New Testament that we meet with the Book of Life as a 
 list of the names of the heirs of the ^(or) aloivto^. According 
 to the conception both of the Old and of the New Testament 
 the Q''i?"'"^>* are the heirs of life. Therefore ver. 29i wishes that 
 they may not be written by the side of the righteous, who, 
 according to Hab. ii. 4, " live," i.e. are preserved, by their faith. 
 With ■'JXl the poet contrasts himself, as in xl. 18, with those 
 deserving of execration. They are now on high, but in order 
 to be brought low ; he is miserable and full of poignant pain, 
 but in order to be exalted ; God's salvation will remove him 
 from his enemies on to a height that is too steep for them (lix. 
 2, xci. 14). Then will he praise Q?J}) and magnify (?'n^) the 
 
286 PSALM LXIX. 23-37. 
 
 Name of God with song and thankful confession. And such 
 spiritual nnin, such thank-offering of the heart, is more pleasing 
 to God than an ox, a bullock, i.e. a young ox (=: liti'n ns, an 
 ox-bullock, Judg. vi. 25, according to Ges. § 113), one having 
 horns and a cloven hoof (Ges. § 53, 2). The attributives do 
 not denote the rough material animal nature (Hengstenberg), 
 but their legal qualifications for being sacrificed, pi?'? is the 
 name for the young ox as not being under three years old (cf. 
 1 Sam. i. 24, LXX. ev fi6ax<p rpLerl^ovri) ; ons?? as belonging 
 to the clean four-footed animals, viz. those that are cloven- 
 footed and chew the cud, Lev. ch. xi. Even the most stately, 
 full-grown, clean animal that may be offered as a sacrifice 
 stands in the sight of Jahve very far below the sacrifice of 
 grateful praise coming from the heart. 
 
 When now the patient sufferers (^''l^i?) united with the poet 
 by community of affliction shall see how he offers the sacrifice 
 of thankful confession, they will rejoice. ^N"i is a hypothetical 
 preterite ; it is neither IS"}"! (per/, consec), nor ^^^T. (xh 4, lii. 8, 
 evii. 42, Job xxii. 19). The declaration conveying information 
 to be expected in ver. 336 after the Waio apodoseos changes 
 into an apostrophe of the "seekers of Elohim:" their heart 
 shall revive, for, as they have suffered in company with him 
 who is now delivered, they shall now also refresh themselves 
 with him. We are at once reminded of xxii. 27, where this is 
 as it were the exhortation of the entertainer at the thank-offer- 
 ing meal. It would be rash to read yp^ in ver. 34, after xxii. 
 25, instead of Vob^ (Olshausen); the one object in that passage 
 is here generalized : Jahve is attentive to the needy, and doth 
 not despise His bound ones (cvii. 10), but, on the contrary, He 
 takes an interest in them and helps them. Starting from this 
 proposition, which is the clear gain of that which has been 
 experienced, the view of the poet widens into the prophetic 
 pros})cct of the bringing back of Israel out of the Exile into 
 tlie Land of Promise. In the face of this fact of redemption. 
 of the future he calls upon (cf. Isa. xliv. 23) all created things 
 to give praise to God, who will bring about the salvation of 
 Zion, will build again the cities of Judah, and restore the land, 
 freed from its desolation, to the young God-fearing generation, 
 the children of the servants of God among the exiles. The 
 feminine suffixes refer to '^^ (cf, Jer. ii. 15, xxii. 6 Chethib). 
 
PSALM LXX. 287 
 
 The tenor of Isa. Ixv. 9 is similar. If the Psahii were written 
 by David, the closing turn from ver. 34 onwards might be more 
 difficult of comprehension than xiv. 7, li. 20 sq. If, however, 
 it is by Jeremiah, then we do not need to persuade oux'selves 
 that it is to be understood not of restoration and re-peopling, 
 but of continuance and completion (Hofmann and Kurtz). 
 Jeremiah lived to experience the catastrophe he foretold ; but 
 the nearer it came to the time, the more comforting were the 
 words with which he predicted the termination of the Exile 
 and the restoration of Israel. Jer. xxxiv. 7 shows us how 
 natural to him, and to him in particular, was the distinction 
 between Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The predictions 
 in Jer. ch. xxxii., xxxiii., which sound so in accord with vers. 
 36 sq., belong to the time of the second siege. Jerusalem was 
 not yet fallen ; the strong places of the land, however, already 
 lay in ruins. 
 
 PSALM LXX. 
 
 CRY OF A PERSECUTED ONE FOR HELP. 
 
 2 ELOHIM, to deliver me— 
 Jahve to my help, make haste ! 
 
 3 Let those be ashamed and confounded who seek my soul. 
 Let those fall back and be put to shame who desire my 
 
 misfortune, 
 
 4 Let those turn back as a reward of their shame, 
 Who say : Aha, aha I 
 
 5 Let all those heartily rejoice in Thee who seek Thee, 
 And let those continually say "Elohim be magnified" who 
 
 love Thy salvation. 
 
 6 I, however, am needy and poor — 
 Elohim, make haste unto me ! 
 
 My help and my Deliverer art Thou, 
 Jahve, make no tarrying ! 
 
 This short Psalm, placed after Ps. Ixix. on account of the 
 kindred nature of its contents (cf. more especially ver. G witli 
 Ixix. 30), is, with but few deviations, a repetition of Ps. xl. 14 
 
283 PSALM LXXI. 
 
 sqq. Tliis portion of the second half of Ps. xl. is detached 
 from it and converted into the Elohimic style. Concerning 
 i^atni', at the presentation of the memorial portion of the mincha, 
 vid. xxxviii. 1. It is obvious that David himself is not the 
 author of the Psalm in this stunted form. The IH^ is more- 
 over justified, if he composed the original Psalm which is here 
 modified and appropriated to a special liturgical use. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. We see at once at the very beginning, in the 
 omission of the n>n (xl. 14), that what we have here before us 
 is a fragment of Ps. xl., and perhaps a fragment that only acci- 
 dentally came to have an independent existence. The "'??''^*'?p, 
 which was under the government of nvi, now belongs to n'C'^rij 
 and the construction is without example elsewhere. In ver. 3 
 (= xl. 15) "in;; and nniSpp are given up entirely ; the original is 
 more full-toned and soaring. Instead of iJSb'^, tor^yescant, ver. 
 4a has ^^VJ*^, recedant (as in vi. 11, cf. ix. 18), which is all the 
 more flat for cominfj after linx 1JD\ In ver. 4^, after Dncsn 
 the Vj which cannot here (cf., on the contrary, xxxv. 21) be 
 dispensed with, is wanting. 
 
 Vers. 5, 6. 110X''1 instead of 'nDN"' is unimportant. But 
 since the divine name Jahve is now for once chosen side by 
 side with Elohim, it certainly had a strong claim to be retained 
 in ver. bh. Instead of inyiti'n we have iny'i:^'^ here ; instead of 
 "'n"iTy here ''iTy. And instead of 'h 3t>'n^ '•ynx we have here 
 "•p'lTj^n D^n?X, — the hope is turned into petition : make haste 
 unto me, is an innovation in expression that is caused by the 
 taking over of the ''^. 
 
 PSALM LXXI. 
 
 PRAYER OF A GREY-HEADED SERVANT OP GOD FOR 
 FURTHER DIVINE AID. 
 
 1 IN Thee, Jahve, have I hidden, let me not be ashamed 
 
 for ever. 
 
 2 Through Thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me. 
 Incline Thou Thine ear unto me and save me. 
 
PSALM LXXI. 289 
 
 3 Be Thou to me a rock of liabitation to take me up alvvay ; 
 Thou hast given commandment to save me, 
 
 For my rock and my fortress art Thou. 
 
 4 My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked, 
 Out of the grasp of the evil-doer and the violent man. 
 
 5 For Thou art my hope, O Lord Jahve, 
 My trust from my youth. 
 
 6 Upon Thee have I been supported from the womb, 
 
 Thou art He who didst separate me from my mother's 
 
 bowels, 
 Of Thee is my song of praise continually. 
 
 7 As a wonder am I to many, 
 
 But Thou art my refuge, a strong one. 
 
 8 ^ly mouth shall be filled with Thy praise, 
 All the day long with Thy glorification. 
 
 9 Cast me not away in the time of old age ; 
 Now when my strength f aileth, forsake me not ! 
 
 10 For mine enemies speak concerning me. 
 
 And those who lie in wait for my soul take counsel together, 
 
 11 Saying : " Elohim hath forsaken him ; 
 Persecute and seize him, for he cannot be rescued." 
 
 12 Elohim, be not far from me, 
 
 My God, to my help make haste ! 
 
 13 Let be ashamed, let vanish away, the adversaries of my soul ; 
 Let those be covered with reproach and dishonour who seek 
 
 my hurt. 
 
 14 But I will hope continually. 
 
 And will yet praise Thee more and more. 
 
 15 My mouth shall tell of Thy righteousness. 
 
 Of Thy salvation continually, for I know not the numbers 
 thereof. 
 
 16 I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jahve, 
 I will praise Thy righteousness, Thee alone. 
 
 17 Elohim, Thou hast taught me from my youth up. 
 And until now do I declare Thy wondrous works. 
 
 VOL. IL 19 
 
290 PSALM LXXI. 
 
 18 Even to old age and white hairs, Elohim, forsake me not, 
 Till I declare Thine arm to posterity, to all that shall come 
 
 Thy strength. 
 
 19 And Thy righteousness, Elohim, feacheth to the sky; 
 Thou who doest great things— Elohim, who is like Thee?! 
 
 20 Who hast caused us to see distresses many and sore, 
 Thou wilt quicken us again, 
 
 And out of the abysses of the earth Thou wilt bring us up 
 again ; 
 
 2 1 Thou wilt increase my dignity and turn Thyself to com- 
 
 fort me. 
 
 22 I will also praise Thee upon the nabla, Thy truth, my God ; 
 I will play to Thee upon the cithern, O Holy One of Israel. 
 
 23 My lips shall exult, when I shall harp to Thee, 
 And my soul, which Thou hast redeemed. 
 
 2-4 Also my tongue shall continually make known Thy right- 
 eousness. 
 That those are ashamed, that those are put to the blush 
 who seek my hurt. 
 
 The Davidic Psalm Ixx. is followed by an anonymous 
 Psahn which begins like Ps. xxxi. and closes like Ps. xxxv., in 
 which ver. 12, just like Ixx. 2, is an echo of xl. 14. The 
 whole Psalm is an echo of the language of older Psalms, which 
 is become the mental property, so to speak, of the author, and 
 is revived in him by experiences of a similar character. Not- 
 witlistamling the entire absence of any thorough originality, it 
 has an individual, and in fact a Jereniianic, impress. 
 
 The following reasons decide us in considering the Psalm 
 as coming from the pen of Jeremiah : — (1) Its relationship to 
 Psalms of the time of David and of the earlier times of the 
 kings, but after David, leads us down to somewhere about the 
 age of Jeremiah. (2) This anthological weaving together of 
 men's own utterances taken from older original passages, and this 
 skilful variation of them by merely slight touches of his own, is 
 exactly Jeremiah's manner. (3) In solitary instances the style 
 of Psalm Ixix., slow, loose, only sparingly adorned with figures, 
 and here and there prosaic, closely resembles Jeremiah; also 
 
PSALM LXXI. 1-6. 291 
 
 to him corresponcls the situation of the poet as one who is per- 
 secuted ; to him, the retrospect of a hfe rich in experience and 
 full of miraculous guidings ; to him, whose term of active ser- 
 vice extended over a period of more than thirty years under 
 Zedekiah, the transition to hoary age in which the poet finds 
 himself; to him, the reference implied in ver. 21 to some high 
 office ; and to him, the soft, plaintive strain that pervades the 
 Psalm, from which it is at the same time clearly seen that the 
 poet has attained a degree of age and experience, in which he 
 is accustomed to self-control and is not discomposed by personal 
 misfortune. To all these correspondences there is still to be 
 added an historical testimony. The LXX. inscribes the Psalm 
 Tft) AavcSj VLcov ^loivahdjB Kol twv Trpoircov al^/maXcorcadevrcov. 
 According to this inscription, the rw AavtS of which is errone- 
 ous, but the second part of which is so explicit that it must be 
 based upon tradition, the Psalm was a favourite song of the 
 Rechabites and of the first exiles. The Eechabites are that 
 tribe clinging to a homely nomad life in accordance with the 
 will of their father, which Jeremiah (ch. xxxv.) holds up before 
 the men of his time as an example of self-denying faithful 
 adherence to the law of their father which puts them to shame. 
 If the Psalm is by Jei'emiah, it is just as intelligible that the 
 Kechabites, to whom Jeremiah paid such a high tribute of 
 respect, should appropriate it to their ow^n use, as that the first 
 exiles should do so. Hitzig infers from ver. 20, that at tiie 
 time of its composition Jerusalem had already fallen ; whereas 
 in Ps. Ixix. it is only the cities of Judah that as yet lie in 
 ashes. But after the overthrow of Jerusalem we find no cir- 
 cumstances in the life of the prophet, who is no more heard of 
 in Egypt, that will correspond to the complaints of the psalmist 
 of violence and mockery. Moreover the foe in ver. 4 is not 
 the Chaldeean, whose conduct towards Jeremiah did not merit 
 these names. Nor can ver. 20 have been written at the time 
 of the second siege and in the face of the catastrophe. 
 
 Vers. 1-6. Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from 
 early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance 
 out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes 
 (vers. 1-3) is taken from xxxi. 2-4, the second (vers. 4-6, with 
 the exception of vers. 4 and 6c-) from xxii. 10, 11 ; both, how- 
 
292 PSAOI LXXI. 1-6. 
 
 ever, in comparison with Ps. Ixx. exhibit the far more encroach- 
 in o- variations of a poet who reproduces the Linguage of others 
 with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read Tij?» in ver. 3, xc. 
 1, xci. 9, instead of PVO, which he holds to be an error in writ- 
 inir. But this old Mosaic, Dcuteronoraial word (vid. on xc. 1) 
 — cf . the post-biblical oath pi'on (by the Temple !) — is unassail- 
 able. Jalive, who is called a rock of refuge in xxxi. 3, is here 
 called a rock of habitation, i.e. a high rock that cannot be 
 stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode ; and this figure 
 is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of 
 xxxi. 3 : T'pn t<i3^, constantly to go into, i.e. whither I can 
 constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, 
 betake myself for refuge. The additional ri''^y is certainly not 
 equivalent to ^-iV ; it would more likely be equivalent to *itj'i< 
 n^lV ; but probably it is an independent clause : Thou hast (in 
 fact) commanded, i.e. unalterably determined (xliv. 5, Ixviii. 29, 
 cxxxiii. 3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the 
 words JT'IV T^n Nu!? corresponds the expression niTi^iD n^l^ in 
 xxxi. 3, which the LXX. renders koI et9 oIkov Kara^vyri<i^ 
 whereas instead of the former three words it has Ka\ et? tottov 
 o^vpov, and seems to have read niivno JT'n^, cf. Dan. xi. 15 (Hit- 
 zig). In ver. 5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine 
 name ^ip)^\ '^.li?'? in Jer. xvii. 13, 1. 7 (cf. 17 eX7rt9 rjfj^wv used of 
 Christ in 1 Tim. i. 1, Col. i. 27). '^3»D3 is not less beautiful 
 than ""J^^X'n in xxii. 11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. 
 iii. 6), and in its self-conscious continuance, He was and is the 
 upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of 
 my life. And ''tiJ instead of ''nj in xxii. 10, is just such another 
 felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the mean- 
 ing of this ''113 according to nw = NIHj (!;>-, retribuere (prop, to cut 
 
 up, distribute), because ?^3 is the representative of this Aramgeo- 
 Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be 
 derived from na, transire, the participle of which, if it would 
 admit of a transitive meaning = ''N"'>*iD (Targum), ought to be 
 ^T3. The verb nTJ, in accordance with its radical signification 
 of ahscindere (root TJ, synon. yp, Ip, t3p, and the like), denotes 
 in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of 
 the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, 
 and even to his birth. The LXX. cr/ce7rao-T?;9 {/j^ov) is an 
 
PSALM LXXI. 7-18. 293 
 
 erroneous reading for eKairaaTrj';, as is clear from xxii. 10, 
 iiiaTTd(7a<i fxe. ^ ??ri, xliv. 9 (cf. 3 H'^b', Ixix. 13), is at the 
 bottom of the expression in ver. 6c. The God to whom he 
 owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, 
 inexhaustible theme of his praise. 
 
 Vers. 7-12. Brought safely through dangers of every 
 
 ox" 
 
 kind, he is become risi»3j as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic \.z^\ 
 
 from l::_-JI, cognate CJJt, ^?n, to bend, distort: a turning 
 round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e. that which 
 is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze 
 upon him as such with astonishment (xl. 4). It is his God, 
 however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will 
 look to be thus wonderfully preserved : T'y'Dno, as in 2 Sam. 
 xxii. 33. T'y is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid. 
 siipra^ vol. i. 274) in order that what God is to, and does for, 
 the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independ- 
 ently [lit. unalloyed]. Ver. 8 tells us what it is that he firmly 
 expects on the ground of what he possesses in God. And on 
 this very ground arises the prayer of ver. 9 also : Cast me not 
 away (viz. from Thy presence, li. 13, Jer. vii. 15, and fre- 
 quently) in the time (J^.V?, as in Gen. viii. 11) of old age — he 
 is therefore already an old man {\\^l), though only just at the 
 beginning of the nJipT. He supplicates favour for the present 
 and for the time still to come : now that my vital powers are 
 failing, forsake me not ! Thus he prays because he, who has 
 been often wondrously delivered, is even now threatened by 
 foes. Ver, 11, introduced by means of ver. 10, tells us what 
 their thoughts of him are, and what they purpose doing. v, 
 ver. 10a, does not belong to ''■?''.i^', as it does not in xxvii. 2 also, 
 and elsewhere. The ? is that of relation or of reference, as in 
 xli. 6. The unnecessary IJ^^^? betrays a poet of the later period ; 
 cf. cv. 11, cxix. 82 (where it was less superfluous), and on the 
 contrary, Ixxxiii. 5 sq. The later poet also reveals himself in 
 ver. 12, which is an echo of very similar prayers of David in 
 xxii. 12, 20 (xl. 14, cf. Ixx. 2), xxxv. 22, xxxviii. 22 sq. The 
 Davidic style is to be discerned here throughout in other points 
 also. In place of Htt'^n the Keri substitutes Hk^^n^ which is the 
 form exclusively found elsewhere. 
 
 Vers. 13-18. In view of xl. 15 (Ixx. 3), xxxv. 4, 26, cLx. 
 
201 rSALM LXXI. 13-18. 
 
 29, and otlier passages, the reading of IJ^.^S";, with the Syriac, 
 instead of va"* in ver. 13a commends itself; but there are also 
 other instances in this Psalm of a modification of the original 
 passages, and the course of the thoughts is now climactic : con- 
 fusion, ruin (cf. vi. 11), and in fact ruin accompanied by re- 
 proach and shame. This is the fate that the poet desires for 
 his deadly foes. In prospect of this he patiently composes 
 himself, ver. 14a (cf. xxxi. 25) ; and when righteous retribu- 
 tion appears, he will find new matter and ground and motive 
 for the praise of God in addition to all such occasion as he has 
 hitherto had. The late origin of the Psalm betrays itself 
 again here ; for instead of the prcet. Iliph. Pl''pin (which is found 
 only in the Books of Kings and in Ecclesiastes), the older 
 language made use of the pro'^. Kal. Without ceasing shall 
 his mouth tell ("^SD, as in Jer. li. 10) of God's righteousness, 
 of God's salvation, for he knows not numbers, i.e. the counting 
 over or through of them (cxxxix. 17 sq.) ; * the divine proofs of 
 righteousness or salvation "iSEtt icyy (xl. 6), they ai'e in them- 
 selves endless, and therefore the matter also which they furnish 
 for praise is inexhaustible. He will tell those things which 
 cannot be so reckoned up ; he will come with the mighty deeds 
 of the Lord Jahve, and with praise acknowledge His right- 
 eousness, Him alone. Since ni"i33, like the New Testament 
 Bvvdju.ei'ij usually signifies the proofs of the divine n"ii32 (e.g. 
 XX. 7), the Beth is the Beth of accompaniment, as e.g. in xl. 8, 
 
 Ixvi. 13. 3 Ni3j venire cum, is like <__? 'U- (icJOj equivalent 
 
 to afferre, he will bring the proofs of the divine power, this 
 rich material, with him. It is evident from vers. 18 sq. that 
 niinja does not refer to the poet (in the fulness of divine 
 strength), but, together with inpnv, forms a pair of words that 
 have reference to God. '^"v!??, according to the sense, joins 
 closely upon the suflix of ^riPlV (cf. Ixxxiii. 19) : Thy right- 
 eousness (which has been in mercy turned towards me). Thine 
 alone {te solum = tui solius). From youth up God has iu- 
 
 * The LXX. renders oi)x t'/ywi' '5'iO«y^«Ts/«j; the Psalterium Romanum, 
 no7i coguovi uvfjotlationcs ; Psalt. Gallicuin (Vulgate), non cognovi Uteraturam 
 (instead of which the Psalt. Ilebr., Utcralnras). According to Bottchcr, 
 the poet really means that he did not understand the art of writing. 
 
rSALM LXXI. 19-24. 295 
 
 structed him, viz. in His ways (xxv. 4), which are worthy of all 
 praise, and hitherto (i^jn^iy, found only in this passage in the 
 Psalter, and elsewhere almost entirely confined to prose) has 
 he, " the taught of Jahve " ('n l^'^p), had to praise the wonders 
 of His rule and of His leadings. May God, then, not forsake 
 him even further on nn'^i^l nJipriy. The poet is already old 
 (li^T), and is drawing ever nearer to '^^"'b', silvery, hoary old age 
 (of. 1 Sam. xii. 2). ^May God, then, in this stage of life also 
 to which he has attained, preserve him in life and in His 
 favour, until (ny=iK'X"ny, as in cxxxii. 5, Gen. xxxviii. 11, 
 and frequently) he shall have declared His arm, i.e. His mighty 
 interposition in human history, to posterity ("lil), and to all 
 who shall come (supply "i^^), i.e. the whole of the future 
 generation. His strength, i.e. the impossibility of thwarting His 
 purposes. The primary passage for this is xxii. 31 sq. 
 
 Vei's. 19-24. The thought of this proclamation so thoroughly 
 absorbs the poet that he even now enters upon the tone of it ; 
 and since to his faith the deliverance is already a thing of the 
 past, the tender song with its uncomplaining prayer dies away 
 into a loud song of praise, in which he pictures it all to himself. 
 Without vers. 19-21 being subordinate to T'JX'ny in ver. 18, 
 ^np^i•'l is coupled by close connection with "]muj. Ver. 19a 
 is an independent clause ; and DiiD'Hy takes the place of the 
 predicate : the righteousness of God exceeds all bounds, is 
 infinite (xxxvi. 6 sq., Ivii. 11). The cry ^i03 ""D, as in xxxv. 
 10, Ixxxix. 9, Jer. x. 6, refers back to Ex. xv. 11. According 
 to the Chethib, the range of the poet's vision widens in ver. 20 
 from the proofs of the strength and righteousness of God 
 which he has experienced in his own case to those which he has 
 experienced in common with others in the history of his own 
 nation. The Keri (cf. on the other hand Ix. 5, Ixxxv. 7, Deut. 
 xxxi. 17) rests upon a failing to discern how the experiences 
 of the writer are interwoven with those of the nation. SiK'n in 
 fioth instances supplies the corresponding adverbial notion to 
 tie principal verb, as in Ixxxv. 7 (cf. li. 4). Dinn, prop, a 
 ri mbling, commonly used of a deep heaving of waters, here 
 signifies an abyss. "The abysses of the earth" (LXX. e« tcov 
 d/bvaawv t^9 77)9, just as the old Syriac version renders the 
 
 N(!W Testament a/3i;cro-o9, e.g. in Luke viii. 31, by "[iDOonZ) are, 
 
296 rSALM LXXI. 19-24. 
 
 like the gates of death (ix. 14), a figure of extreme perils and 
 dancers, in the midst of which one is as it were half hidden in 
 the abyss of Hades. The past and future are clearly distin- 
 guished in the sequence of the tenses. When God shall again 
 raise His people out of the depth of the present catastrophe, 
 then will He also magnify the n?"ia of the poet, i.e. the dignity 
 of his office, by most brilliantly vindicating him in the face of 
 his foes, and will once more (^i^iri, fat. Niph. like 3VC'ri above) 
 comfort him. He on his part will also (cf. Job xl. 14) be 
 grateful for this national restoration and this personal vindica- 
 tion : he will praise God, will praise Plis truth, i.e. His fidelity 
 to His promises. ???"''??? instead of ?^l^ sounds more circum- 
 stantial than in the old poetry. The divine name " The Holy 
 One of Israel" occurs here for the third time in the Psalter ; the 
 other passages are Ixxviii. 41, Ixxxix. 19, which are older in time, 
 and older also than Isaiah, who uses it thirty times, and Habak- 
 kuk, who uses it once. Jeremiah has it twice (ch. 1. 29, li. 5), 
 and that after the example of Isaiah. In vers. 23, 24a the 
 poet means to say that lips and tongue, song and speech, shall 
 act in concert in the praise of God. n33"iri with Dagesh also in 
 the second Nun, after the form na^iprij n^bc'ri, side by side wdtli 
 which we also find the reading n33"in and the readins; n33"in 
 which is in itself admissible, after the form njiosri, '"'fjyrij but 
 is here unattested.* The cohortative after "'3 (LXX. orav) is 
 intended to convey this meaning : when I feel myself impelled 
 to harp unto Thee. In the perfects in the closing line that 
 which is hoped for stands before his soul as though it liad 
 already taken place, ""a is repeated with triumphant emphasis. 
 
 * Hcidenheim reads n33*lPl with Segol, following the statement of Ibn- 
 Bil'am in his K")pon ^oyD and of Mose ha-Nakdan in his lipjn ""am, that 
 Scf/ul always precedes the ending n3, with the exception only of nSH and 
 n3TSn. Baer, on the other hand, reads n33"in, following Aben-Ezra anc 
 Kimchi (^Michlol 66b). 
 
^[z 
 
 rsALM Lxxii. \ 297 
 
 PSALM LXXII. 
 
 I 
 
 PRAYER FOR THE DOMINION OF PEACE OF THE •^ 
 ANOINTED ONJl OF GOD. - 
 
 1 ELOHIM, give Thy rights unto the king, 
 And Thy righteousness unto the king's son. 
 
 2 May he govern Thy people with uprightness, 
 And Thine afflicted with justice. 
 
 3 May the mountains bring peace to the people, 
 And the hills by righteousness. '^ ' 
 
 4 May he judge the afflicted among the people, 
 Save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. 
 
 5 !May they fear Thee as_long as the sun, ' * 
 And before the moon to alT generations. 
 
 6 ^lay he come down like rain upon the meadow-grass, 
 As showers, a heavy rain upon the earth. 
 
 7 In his days may the righteous flourish. 
 And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more. 
 
 8 And may he have dominion from sea to sea, 
 And from the river unto the ends of the earth. 
 
 9 Before him slyill the inhabitants of the wilderness bow, 
 And his enemies shall lick the dust. 
 
 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring gifts, 
 The kings of Saba and Meroe shall offer tribute. 
 
 11 And all kings shall do homage to him, 
 , All peoples shall serve him. 
 
 12 For he shall deliver the needy who crieth, 
 And the afflicted who have no succour. 
 
 13 He shall deal gently with the poor and needy. 
 And help the souls of the needy ; 
 
 14 From oppression and violence he shall redeem their soul, 
 And precious is their blood in his eyes : 
 
 15 And he shall live, and he will present him with gold of Saba, 
 And he \\ill pray for him always, bless him continually. 
 
298 PSALM LXXII. 
 
 J 
 
 16 May there be abundance of com in the land unto the top 
 of the mountains, 
 
 !May its fruit wave like Lebanon, 
 
 And may they blossom out of cities like the hgrbs of the 
 earth. "^ 
 
 17 May his name endure for ever, 
 Before the sun may his name throw out shoots. 
 And may they bless themselves in him, may all peoples call 
 
 him blessed. 
 
 18 Blessed be Jahve Elohim the God of Israel, 
 Who alone doeth wondrous things. 
 
 19 And blessed be His glorious name for ever, 
 And let the whole earth be filled with His 
 
 GLORY. 
 
 Amen, and Amen. 
 
 20 Ended are the prayers of David the son of Jesse. 
 
 This last Psalm of the primary collect ion, un ited to Ps. 
 Ixxi.TjyTommilnrty of the prominent wor c^npl^,) ap pears, as 
 we look to the superscription, Ixxii. 20, to be said^lo be' a 
 Psalm of David ; so that consequently ^"ob^h designates Solo- 
 mon as the subject, not the ajithor. But the Lamed oi r^'ohvh 
 here and in cxxvii. 1 cannot have any other meaning than that 
 which the Lamed always has at the head of the Psalms when 
 it is joined to proper names ; it is then always the expression 
 \ denoting that the Psalm belongs to the person named, as its 
 I author. Then in style and general character the Psalm has 
 
 J Inot the least kinship with the Psalms of David. Charac- 
 teristic of Solomon, on the other hand, are the movement 
 proverb-like, and for the most part distichic, which has less of 
 original freshness and directness than of an artificial, reflective, 
 and almost sluggish manner, the geographic range of view, the 
 
 . f richness in figures drawn from nature, and the points of con- 
 I tact with the Book of Job, which belongs incontrovertibly to 
 
 -1 the circle of the Salomonic literature: these are coincident 
 signs which are decisive in favour of Solomon. But if Solomon 
 
 -j is the author, the question arises, who is the subject of the 
 Psalm? According to Ilitzig, Ptolemy Philadelphus ; but no 
 true Israelite could celebrate him in this manner, and there is 
 no reliable example of carmina of this character having found 
 
PSALM LXXII. 299 
 
 their way into the song-hook of Israel. The subject of the 
 iPsahii is either Solomon (LXX. et? ^aXcD/jUoov) or the Messiah 
 VTargum, "O God, give Thy regulations of right to the King 
 Messiali, NH^B'rp S3^!?5'"). Both are correct. It is Solomon 
 himself to whom the intercession and desires of blessing of this 
 Psalm refer. Solomon, just as David with Psalms xx. and xxi., . 
 put it into the heart and mouth of the people, probably very j, 
 soon after his accession, it being as it were a church-prayer on 
 behalf of the new, reio;nin£f kinsj. But the Psalm is also none 
 the less ^lessianic, and with perfect right the church has made 
 it the chief Psalm of the festival of Epiphany, which has 
 received its name of festnm triiim regum out of it. 
 
 Solomon was in truth a righteous, benign. God-fearing j^ 
 ruler ; he established and also extended the kingdom ; he ruled 
 over innumerable people, exalted in wisdom and riches above 
 all the kings of the earth ; his time was the most happy, the 
 richest in peace and joy that Israel has ever known. The 
 words of the Psalm were all fulfilled in him, even to the one 
 point of the universal dominion that is wished for him. But 
 the end of his reign was not like the beginning and the middle | 
 of it. That fair, that glorious, that pure image of the Messiah 
 which he had represented waxed pale; and with this fading 
 away its development in relation to the history of redemption «- 
 took a new turn. In the time of David and of Solomon the 
 hope of believers, which was attached to the kingship of David, 
 had not yet fully broken with the present. At that time, with 
 few exceptions, nothing was known of any other Messiah than 
 the Anointed One of God, who was David or Solomon himself. 
 When, however, the kingship in these its two most glorious im- 
 personations had proved itself unable to bring to full realization 
 the idea of the Messiah or of the Anointed One of God, and 
 when the line of kings that followed thoroughly disappointed 
 the hope which clung to the kingship of the present, — a hope 
 which here and there, as in the reign of Hezekiah, blazed up - 
 for a moment and then totally died out, and men were driven 
 from the present to look onward into the future, — then, and! 
 not until then, did any decided rupture take place between the' ~ 
 , Messianic hope and the present. The image of the Messiah is 
 ' now painted on the pure ethereal sky of the future (though of 
 Ithe immediate future) in colours which were furnished by older 
 
300 PSALM LXXII. 1-4. 
 
 .unfulfilled prophecies, and by the contradiction between the 
 ''^ 1 existing kingship and its idea ; it becomes more and more, so 
 
 I to speak, an image, super-earthly, super-human, belonging to ^ 
 
 1 the future, the invisible refuge and invisible goal of a faith 
 <J despairing of the present, and thereby rendered relatively more 
 
 I spiritual and heavenly (cf. the Messianic image painted in 
 colours borrowed from our Psalm in Isa. ch. xi., Mic. v. 3, 6, 
 Zech. ix. 9 sq.). In order rightly to estimate this, we must free 
 ^ I ourselves from the prejudice that the centre of the Old Testa- >| 
 ment proclamation of salvation [or gospel] lies in the prophecy 
 of the Messiah. Is the IMessiah, then, anywhere set forth as 
 the Redeemer of the world? The Redeemer of the world is 
 Jahve. The appearing (parusia) of Jahve is the centre of 
 the Old Testament proclamation of salvation, ^n allegorj^ 
 may serve to illustrate the way in which the Old Testament 
 proclamation of salvation unfolds itself. The Old Testament 
 -" I in relation to the Day of the New Testament is Night. In 
 this Night there rise in opposite directions two stars ofTPromise. 
 The one describes its path from above downwards : it is the 
 promise of Jahve who is about to come. The other describes 
 its path from below upwards : it is the hope which rests on the 
 seed of David, the prophecy of the Son of David, which at the 
 outset assumes a thoroughly human, and merely earthly charac- 
 ter. These two stars meet at last, they blend together Into 
 one star ; the Night vanishes and it is Day. This one Star is 
 
 j Jesus Christ, Jahve and the Son of David in one person, the 
 
 I King of Israel and at the same time the Redeemer of the 
 
 I world, — in one word, the God-man. 
 
 Vers. 1-4. The name of God, occurring only ^m5, is 
 
 Eloliim ; and this is sufficient to stamp UjiiHffl^aa^ an 
 
 •-^ Eloliimic Psalm. TI^O (cf. xxi. 2) and ?i!?S^ are only used i 
 
 without the article according to a poetio«fl'usage of the language. 
 
 / The petition itself, and even the petition of the words, show that 
 
 ^ I the king's son is present, and that he is king ; God is implored 
 
 to bestow upon him His D'^Eybj i.e. the rights or legal powers 
 
 belonging to Ilim, the God of Israel, and n^nVj i.e. the official 
 
 ! gift in order that he may exercise tho§e 'figlits in accordance 
 
 •^i with divine righteousness; After the supplicatory in the 
 
 ^ ' futures which now follow, without the Waw apodoseSs, are 
 
PSALM LXXII. 5-8. IvOl 
 
 manifestly optatives. Mountains and hills describe synecdochi-' 
 cally the whole land of which they are the high points visible 
 afar off. Nb'j is used in the sense of ''IP t'b'^ Ezek. xvii. 8 : 
 may DvB' be the fruit which ripens upon every mountain and 
 hill ; universal prosperity satisfied and contented within itself. 
 The predicate for ver. 3& is to be taken from ver. da, just as, 
 on the other hand, •^P'^V?, " in or by righteousness," the fruit 
 of which is indeed peace (Isa. xxxii. 17), belongs also to ver. 
 da ; so that consequently both members supplement one 
 another. The wish of the poet is this : By righteousness, 
 may there in due season be such peaceful fruit adorning all the 
 heights of the land. Ver. 3h, however, always makes one feel 
 as though a^ verb were wanting, like njnnDn suggested by 
 J3ottcher. Jn ver. 4 the wishes are continued in plain un- 
 feiiurative lan£!;ua2;e. yc'in in the sicrnification to save, to obtain 
 salvation for, has, as is frequently the case, a dative of the 
 object. |i''3S"''33 are those who are born to poverty, just like 
 ■^pp'i^j one who is born a king. Those who are born to poverty 
 are more or less regarded, by an unrighteous government, as 
 having no rights. 
 
 Vers. 5-8. The invocation of ver. 1 is continued in the 
 form 'of a wish : may they fear Thee, Elohim, Ci'pti'"DJ?, with 
 the sun, i.e. during its whole duratk)n (Dy in the sense of cotem- 
 porary existence, as in Dan. iii. 33). DX"^■!?r? in the moonlight 
 (cf. Job viii. 10, KW"'';d^, in the sunshine), i.e. so long as the 
 moon shines. Oi''~\\l in (accusative of the duration of time, 
 cf. cii. 25), into the uttermost generation which outlasts the 
 ^her generations (like DIP'^l" ''^'^ of the furthest heavens 
 \^ich surround the other heavens). The first two periphrastic 
 expressions for unlimited time recur in Ps. Ixxxix. 37 sq., a 
 Psalm composed after the time of Solomon ; cf. the unfigura- 
 tive expression in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the 
 Temple in 1 Kings viii. 40. The continuance of the kingship, 
 from the operation of which such continuance of the fear of 
 God is expected, is not asserted until ver. 17. It is capricious 
 to refer the language of address in ver. 5 to the king (as 
 Hupfeld and Hitzig do), who is not directly addressed either 
 in ver. 4, or in ver. 6, or anywhere in the Psalm. With respect 
 to God the desire is expressed that the righteous and benign 
 rule of the king may result in the extension of the fear of God 
 
302 PSALM LXXII. 5-8. 
 
 "Y^from generation to generation into endless ages. The poet in 
 ver. 6 delights in a heaping up of synonyms in order to give 
 intensity to the expression of the thoughts, just as in ver. 5 ; • 
 the last two expressions stand side by side one another without 
 
 any bond of connection as in ver. 5. 2"'?''?"| (from 3n"i, ^__, 
 
 densimi, spisstim esse, and then, starting from this signification, 
 sometimes multum and sometimes magnum esse) is the shower 
 of rain pouring down in drops that are close together ; n^i is 
 
 > *l''pT a synonym of T3, but (formed from ^"^T, (_J;<-S to flow, by 
 means of a rare reduplication of the first two letters of the 
 root, Ew. § 157, d) properly the water running from a roof [ 
 (cf. B. Joma 87a: "when the maid above poured out water, 
 ^"•01 ■'DTT came upon his head"). Ta, however, is not the 
 meadow-shearing, equivalent to a shorn, mown meadow, any 
 more than ^, nj3, Arabic g'izza, signifies a shorn hide, but, on 
 the contrary, a hide with the wool or feathers (e.g. ostrich 
 feathers) still upon it, rather a meadow, i.e. grassy plain, that 
 is intended to be mown. The closing word p.^ (accus. loci as ^ 
 ^ in cxlvii. 15) unites itself with the opening word l^.!*. ' descendat 
 in terrain. In his last words (2 Sam. ch. xxiii.) David had J 
 compared the effects of the dominion of his successor, whom 
 he beheld as by vision, to the fertilizing effects of the sun and of 
 the rain upon the earth. The idea of ver. 6 is that Solomon's 
 rule may prove itself thus beneficial for the country. The 
 figure of the rain in ver. 7 gives birth to another : under his 
 rule may the righteous blossom (expanding himself unhindered 
 and under the most favourable circumstances), and (may there 
 arise) salvation in all fulness nv v^'iy, until there is no more 
 moon (cf. the similar expression in Job xiv. 12). To this 
 desire for the uninterrupted prosperity and happiness of the 
 righteous under the reign of this king succeeds the desire for 
 an unlimited extension of his dominion, ver. 8. The sea (the 
 IModiterrancan) and the river (the Euphrates) are geographi- j 
 cally defined points of issue, whence the definition of boundary ' 
 is extended into the unbounded. Solomon even at his acces- 
 sion ruled over all kingdoms from the Euphrates as far as the 
 borders of Egypt ; the wishes expressed here are of wider 
 compass, and Zechariah repeats them predictively (ch. ix. 10) 
 with reference to the Kiuij Messiah. 
 
PSALM LXXII. 9-11. 303 
 
 Vers. 9-11. This third strophe contains prospects, the ) 
 ground of which is laid down in the fourth. The position of ' 
 the futures here becomes a different one. The contemplation 
 passes irom the home relations of the new government to its 
 foreifrn relations, and at the same time the wishes are chanced 
 into hopes. The awe-commanding dominion of the king shall ' ~'» 
 stretch even into the most distant corners of the desert. C^V is 
 used both for the animals and the men who inhabit the desert, 
 to be determined in each instance Tdj the context ; here they 
 are men beyond all dispute, but in Ixxiv. 14, Isa. xxiii. 13, it is 
 matter of controversy whether men or beasts are meant. Since 
 the LXX., Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome here, and the 
 LXX. and Jerome in Ixxiv. 14, render AWloTre'i, the nomadic 
 tribes right and left of the Arabian Gulf seem traditionally to 
 have been associated in the mind with this word, more particu- 
 larly the so-called Ichthyophagi. These shall bend the knee 
 reverentially before him, and those who contend against him 
 shall be compelled at last to veil their face before him in the ' 
 dust. The remotest west and south become subject and tribu- 
 tary to him, viz. the kings of Tart^ssus in the south of Spain, ^ 
 rich in silver, and of the islands of the Mediterranean and the '' 
 countries on its coasts, that is to say, the kings of the Poly- -♦ 
 nesian portion of Europe, and the kings of the Cushitish or of , 
 the Joktanitish N^ti' and of the Cushitish i^^p^ as, according to .-_ 
 Josephus, the chief city of Mei'oe'was called (yid. Genesis, S. 
 206). It was a queen of that Joktanitish, and therefore South 
 Arabian Sheba, — perhaps, however, more correctly (vid. Wetz- 
 stem in my Isaiah, ii. 529) of the Cushitish (Nubian) Sheha, — 
 whom the fame of Solomon's wisdom drew towards him, 1 
 Kings ch. x. The idea of their wealth in gold and in other ^ 
 precious things is associated with both peoples. In the expres- 
 sion nm?3 y^n (to pay tribute, 2 Kings xvii. 3, cf. iii. 4) the 
 tribute is not conceived of as rendered in return for protection 
 afforded (Maurer, Hengstenberg, and Olshausen), nor as an act 
 repeated periodically (Roih'ger, wlio refers to 2 Cliron. xxvii. 
 5), but as a bringing back, i.e. repayment of a debt, referre 
 s. reddere dehitum (llupfeld), after the same idea according 
 to which obligatory incomings are called reditus (revenues). 
 In the synonymous expression ""^w'S ^"IPO the presentation 
 appears as an act of sacrifice, "is*^'^ signifies in Ezek. xxvii. 15 
 
304 PSALM LXXII. 12-15. 
 
 a payment made in merchandise, here a rent or tribute due, 
 from "I3t^*, which in blending with the Aleph prostheticum has 
 passed over into "13^ by means of a shifting of the sound after 
 the Arabic manner, just as in ?3ti^i? the verb by^^ to interweave, 
 passes over into ^y^ (Rodiger in Gesenius' Thesaurus). In 
 ver. 11 hope breaks through every bound: everything shall 
 submit to his world-subduing sceptre. 
 
 Vers. 12-15. The confirmation of these prospects is now 
 
 / given. VoluntaHve forms are intermingled because the pros- 
 
 Ipect extending into the future is nevertheless more lyrical than 
 
 prophetic in its character. The elevation of the king to the 
 
 dominion of the world is the reward of his con^scension ; he 
 
 1 shows himself to be the helper and protecting lord of the poor 
 
 -^ I and the oppressed, w^ho are the especial object upon which 
 
 God's eye is set. He looks upon it as his task to deal most 
 
 sympathizingly and most considerately (Dn^) just with those of 
 
 reduced circumstances and with the poor, and their blood is 
 
 precious in his eyes. Ver. 12 is re-echoed in Job xxix. 12. 
 
 The meaning of ver. 146 is the same as cxvi. 15. Instead of 
 
 *ip."!, by a retention of the Jod of the stem it is written ii?''\ 
 
 Just as in xlix. 10, ip''^ here also is followed by ''H''"!. The 
 
 assertion is individualized : and he (who was threatened with 
 
 death) shall live (voluntative, having reference to the will of 
 
 the king). But who is now the subject to "Hp^l.? Not the 
 
 rescued one (Hitzig), for after the foregoing designations (vers. 
 
 11 sq.) we cannot expect to find "the gold_of Sheba" (gold 
 
 from Jeman or JEthiopia) in his possession. Therefore it is 
 
 the king, and in fact Solomon, of whom the disposal of the gold 
 
 of Sheba (Saba) is characteristic. The king's thought and 
 
 endeavour are directed to this, that the poor man who has 
 
 ^/ almost fallen a victim shall live or revive, and not only will he 
 
 \ maintain his cause, he will also bestow gifts upon him with a 
 
 ^ I liberal hand, and he (the poor one who has been rescued and 
 
 endowed from the riches of the king) shall pray unceasingly 
 
 for him (the king) and bless him at all times. The poor one 
 
 is he who is restored to life and endo\\'e^'with gifts, and who 
 
 intercedes and blesses; the king, however, is the beneficent 
 
 giver. It is left for the reader to supply the right subjects in 
 
 thought to the separate verbs. That clearly marked precision 
 
 which we require in rhetorical recital is alien to the Oriental 
 
PSALM LXXir. 16, 17. 305 
 
 style {vid. my GescMchte der jildischen Poesie, S. 189). ^laurer 
 and Hofmann also give the same interpretation as we have done. 
 Vers. 16, 17. Here, where the futures again stand at the 
 head of the clauses, they are also again to be understood as 
 optatives. As the blessing of such a dominion after God's 
 heart, not merely fertility but extraordinary fruitfulness may 
 be confidently desired for the land. nD3 (^a-yr. 'key.), rendered by 
 the Syriac version siigo, abundance, is correctly derived by the 
 Jewish lexicographers from DD3 = nb'S (in the law relating to 
 
 leprosy), Mishnic HDSj Aramaic i^DS, Arabic lAi, but also ^JLi 
 
 (vid. Job, ii. 275), to extend, expandere; so that it signifies 
 an abundance that occupies a broad space. ti'Ni3j unto the 
 summit, as in xxxvi. 6, xix. 5. The idea thus obtained is the 
 same as when Hofmann (Weissagung und Ei-fdllimg, i. 180 f.) 
 takes noa (from DD3 == DDS) in the signification of a boundaiy 
 line : " close upon the summit of the mountain shall the last 
 corn stand," with reference to the terrace-like structure of 
 the heights. VT3 does not refer back to pX3 (Hitzig, who 
 misleads one by referring to Joel ii. 3), but to "i? : may the 
 corn stand so high and thick that the fields, beincr moved 
 by the wind, shall sliake, i.e. wave up and down, like the 
 lofty thick forest of Lebanon. The LXX., which renders 
 ij7repapd)]cr6Tai, takes ^V'^'' for tJ'X"!"', as Evvald does : may its 
 fruit rise to a summit, i.e. rise high, like Lebanon. But a 
 verb ^i^l is unknown ; and how bombastic is this figure in 
 comparison with that grand, but beautiful figure, which we 
 would not willingly exchange even for the conjecture "i^V."! 
 (may it be rich) ! The other wish refers to a rapid, joyful in- 
 crease of the population : may men blossom out of this city and 
 out of that city as the herb of the earth (cf. Job v. 25, where 
 ^'^V?:^^! also accords in sound with ''^"'Vt)? ^'•^' fi'esh, beautiful, 
 and abundant as it. Israel actually became under Solomon's 
 sceptre as numerous " as the sand by the sea" (1 Kings iv. 
 20), but increase of population is also a settled feature in the 
 picture of the Messianic time (ex. 3, Isa. ix. 2, xlix. 20, Zech. 
 ii. 8 [4]; cf. Sir. xliv. 21). If, however, under the just and 
 benign rule of the king, both land and people are thus blessed, 
 eternal duration may be desired for his name. May this name, 
 is the wish of the poet, ever send forth new shoots (i^JJ Chetldb)^ 
 VOL. IL 20 
 
306 PSALM LXXII. 18-20. 
 
 or receive new shoots (113"; Keri, from Niph. f^^), as long as tlie 
 sun turns its face towards us, inasmuch as the happy and 
 blessed results of the dominion of the king ever afford new 
 occasion for glorifying his name. May they bless themselves 
 in him, may all nations call him blessed, and that, as 13 Wian^l* 
 implies, so blessed that his abundance of blessing appears to 
 them to be the highest that they can desire for themselves. 
 To ct henedicant sibi in eo we have to supply in thought the 
 most universal, as yet undefined subject, which is then more 
 exactly defined as omnes gentes with a second synonymous 
 predicate. The accentuation {Athnachj Mugrash^ Silluk) is 
 blameless. 
 
 Vers. 18, 19. Closing Beracha of the Second Book of the 
 Psalter. It is more full-toned than that of the First Book, 
 and God is intentionally here called J alive Eloliim the God of 
 Israel because the Second Book contains none but Elohim- 
 Psalms, and not, as there, Jahve the God of Israel. " Who 
 alone doeth wonders" is a customary praise of God, Ixxxvi. 10, 
 cxxxvi. 4, of. Job ix. 8. i"li33 U'^ is a favourite word in the 
 language of divine worship in the period after the Exile (Neh. 
 ix. 5) ; it is equivalent to the ini^pD 1133 Dti' in the liturgical 
 Beracha, God's glorious name, the name that bears the impress 
 of His glory. The closing words : and let the whole earth be 
 full, etc., are taken from Num. xiv. 21. Here, as there, the 
 construction of the active with a double accusative of that 
 which fills and that which is to be filled is retained in connec- 
 tion Avitli the passive ; for i*ii33 is also accusative : let be filled 
 with His glory the whole earth (let one make it full of it). The 
 l^x coupled by means of Waw is, in the Old Testament, exclu- 
 sively peculiar to these doxologies of the Psalter. 
 
 Ver. 20. Superscription of the primary collection. The 
 origin of this superscription cannot be the same as that of the 
 doxology, which is only inserted between it and the Psalm, 
 because it was intended to be read with the Psalm at the read- 
 ing in the course of the service {Sumbolce, p. 19). 1^3 = lb, 
 like ini in xxxvi. 13, 1E3, Ixxx. 11, all being Pual forms, as is 
 
 * rronoiincc urjitliharchu, because the tone rests on the first letter of 
 the root; whereas in ver. 15 it is jebur<'chenhii with Chatcpli. vid. the rule 
 in the Luther. Zeitschri/t, 1863, S. 412. 
 
PSALM LXXII. 20. 307 
 
 manifest in the accented ultima. A parallel with this verse is 
 the superscription " are ended the loords of Job " in Job xxxi. 
 40, which separates the controversial speeches and Job's mono- 
 logue from the speeches of God. No one taking a survey of 
 the whole Psalter, with the many Psalms of David that follow 
 beyond Ps. Ixxii., could possibly have placed this key-stone 
 here. If, however, it is more ancient than the doxological 
 division into five books, it is a significant indication in relation 
 to the history of the rise of the collection. It proves that 
 the collection of the whole as it now lies before us was at 
 least preceded by one smaller collection, of which we may say 
 that it extended to Ps. Ixxii., without thereby meaning to main- 
 tain that it contained all the Psalms up to that one, since several 
 of them may have been inserted into it when the redaction of 
 the whole took place. But it is possible for it to have contained 
 Ps. Ixxii., since at the earliest it was only compiled in the time 
 of Solomon. The fact that the superscription following directly 
 upon a Psalm of Solomon is thus worded, is based on the same 
 ground as the fact that the whole Psalter is quoted in the New 
 Testament as Davidic. David is the father of the 'n T'lJ', 2 
 Chron. xxix. 27, and hence all Psalms may be called Davidic, 
 just as all ^Y't^'O may be called Salomonic, without meaning 
 thereby that they are all composed by David himself. 
 
THIRD BOOK OF THE PSALTER. 
 Ps. LXXIII.-LXXXIX. 
 
 PSALM LXXIII. 
 
 \ TEMPTATION TO APOSTASY OVERCOME. ^ 
 
 1 VERILY good to Israel is Elohim, 
 To those who are of a clean heart. 
 
 2 But as for me — my feet had almost tottered, 
 My steps had well-nigh slipped. 
 
 3 For I was incensed at the boastful, 
 When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 
 
 4/ For they suffer no pangs, \ 
 V Healthy and fat is their belly. ] 
 5 In the trouble of men they are not, 
 
 And not as other men are they plagued. 
 G Therefore pride encircleth their neck, 
 
 Violence covereth them round about as a garment. 
 
 7 Their eyes stand out with fat. 
 
 The imaginations of the heart appear outwardly. 
 
 8 Tlicy mock and speak oppression in wickedness, 
 They speak from on high. 
 
 9 They set their mouth in the heavens, 
 
 And tlicir tongue stalketh along upon the earth. 
 10 Tiiercfore their people turn hither, 
 
 T And water in abundance is swallowed down by them. j 
 
 "H^ 308 
 
PSALM LXXIII. ' 309 
 
 11 And they say: "How should God know, 
 And knowledge dwell in the !Most High ? ! 
 
 12 Behold those are godless, 
 
 And always reckless have they attained to great power ! 
 
 13 Only in vain have I cleansed my heart, 
 And washed my hands in innocence, 
 
 14 And yet was plagued all the day long, 
 
 And my chastisement was present every morning." — 
 
 15 Had I thought : I will speak thus, 
 
 Behold, I should have dealt faithlessly with the generation 
 of Thy children. 
 
 16 Yet when I mused in order to solve the riddle, 
 It was too difficult in mine eyes — 
 
 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, 
 Until I gave good heed unto their end : 
 
 18 Surely in slippery places dost Thou set them, ^ 
 Thou castest them down to ruins. / 
 
 19 How are they become a desolation as in a moment^ 
 Brought to an end, gone by reason of terrors ! 
 
 20 As a dream, as soon as one awaketh, 
 
 O Lord, being aroused, Thou dost get rid of their image. 
 
 21 If my heart should grow bitter, 
 And I should be pricked in my reins : 
 
 22 Then I should be a stupid one and without understanding, 
 A behemoth should I be in comparison with Thee» 
 
 23 But I remain continually with Thee, 
 Thou hast taken hold of my right hand. 
 
 24 According to Thy counsel wilt Thou lead me, 
 And afterward receive me to honour. 
 
 25 Whom have I in the heavens? 
 
 And if Thou art mine, the earth doth not delight me ! 
 
 26 My flesh and my heart may fail — 
 
 The refuge of my heart and my portion is Elohim for 
 ever. 
 
 27 For, lo, those who are estranged from Thee shall perish. 
 Thou destroyest all those who wantonly forsake Thee. 
 
310 PSALJI LXXIII. 1, 2. 
 
 28 But as for me — to be united to Eloliim is my happiness, 
 I make in the Lord, Jahve, my refuge, 
 That I may declare all Thy works. 
 
 After the one A^ph Psalm of the Second Book, Ps. f^ -" < 
 follow ele\^n more of them from Ps. Ixxiii. to Ixxxiii. They 
 are all Eloliiinic, whereas the Kqrah Psalms divide into an 
 Elolnmic and a Jehovic group. Ps. Ixxxiv. forms the transi- 
 tion from the one to the other. The ETohim-Psalms extend 
 from Ps. xlii.-lxxxiv., and are fenced in on both sides by Jahve- 
 Psalms. 
 
 In contents Ps. Ixxiii. is the counterpart or pendant of Ps.,1. . 
 As in that Psalm the semblance of a sanctity based upon works 
 is traced baclc to its nothingness, so here the seeming good 
 fortune of the ungodly, by which the poet felt himself tempted 
 to fall away, not into heathenism (Hitzig), but into that free- 
 thinking which in the heathen world does not less cast off the 
 BeicnSainovia than it does the belief in Jahve within the pale 
 of Israel. Nowhere does there come to light in the national 
 ' history any background that should contradict the 19^6 and the 
 doubts respecting the moral order of the world are set at rest 
 in exactly the same way as in Ps. xxxvii., xlix., and in the Book 
 of Job. Theodicy, or the vindication of God's ways, does not 
 as yet rise from the indication of the retribution in this present 
 time which the ungodly do not escape, to a future solution of 
 all the contradictions of this present world ; and the transcen- 
 dent glory which infinitely outweighs the suffering of this 
 present time, still remains outside the range of vision. The 
 stedfast faith which, gladly renouncing everything, holds fast to 
 God, and the pure love to which this possession is more than 
 heaven and earth, is all the more worthy of admiration in con- 
 nection with such defective knowledge. 
 
 The strophe schema of the Psalm is predominantly octa- 
 stichic : 4. 8. 8. 8 ; 8. 8. 5. Its two halves are vers. 1-14, 
 15-28. 
 
 Vers. 1, 2. tlSj belonging to the favourite words of the 
 faith thatljids defiance to assault, signifies originally " thus — 
 not otherwise," and therefore combines an affirmative and re^ 
 strictive, or, according to circumstances, even an adversative 
 
PSALM LXXIII. 3-6. 31 1 
 
 signification (vid. on xxxix. 6). It may therefore be rendered : 
 yea good, assuredly good, or : only good, nothing but good ; 
 both renderings are an assertion of a sure, infallible relation of 
 things. God appears to be angry with the godly, but in reality 
 He is kindly disposed towards them, though He send affliction 
 after afliiction upon them (Lara. iii. 25). The words ' ^i^iiy*' 
 D^"^^N are not to be taken together, after Gal. vi. 16 {top 
 "lapayjX tov 0eov) ; not, " only good is it with the Israel of 
 Elohim," but "only good to Israel is Elohini," is the right 
 apprehension of the truth or reality that is opposed to what 
 seems to be the case. The Israel which in every relationship 
 has a good and loving God is limited in ver. 16 to the pure in 
 heart (xxiv. 4, Matt. v. 8). Israel in truth are not all those'^ 
 who are descended from Jacob, but those who have put away 
 all impurity of disposition and all uncleanness of sin out of 
 their heart, i.e. out of their innermost life, and by a constant 
 striving after sanctification (ver. 13) maintain themselves in 
 such purity. In relation to this, which is the real church of 
 God, God is pure love, nothing but love. This it is that has 
 been confirmed to the poet as he passed through the conflict of 
 temptation, but it was through conflict, for he almost fell by 
 reason of the semblance of the opposite. The Chethib ''^^1 ""it^J 
 (cf. Num. xxiv. 4) or ''^ISJ (cf. 2 Sam. xv. 32) is erroneous. 
 The narration of that which is past cannot begin with a par- 
 ticipial clause like this, and tiJ^^P?, in such a sense (^non multiim 
 ahfuit quin, like \)^^, nihil ahfuit quin), always has the perfect 
 after it, e.g. xeiv. 17, cxix. 87. It is therefore to be read VD3 
 (according to the fuller form for VOJ, which is used not merely 
 with great distinctives, as in xxxvi. 8, cxxii. 6, Num. xxiv. 6, 
 but also with conjunctives out of pause, e.g. Ivii. 2, cf. xxxvi. 9, 
 Deut. xxxii. 37, Job xii. 6) : my feet had almost inclined 
 towards, had almost slipped backwards and towards the side. 
 On the other hand the Chethib ^33*^ is unassailable ; the femi- 
 \nine singular is frequently found as predicate both of a plural 
 ^ subject that has preceded (xviii. 35, cf. Deut. xxi. 7, Job xvi. 
 
 i IG) and also more especially of one that is placed after it, e.g. 
 \ xxxvii. 31, Job xiv. 19. The footsteps are said to be poured 
 > out when one "flies out or slips" and falls to the ground. 
 
 Vers. 3-6. Now follows the occasion of the conflict of 
 temptation : the good fortune of those who are estranged from 
 
r,12 PSALM LXXIII. 3-6. 
 
 God. In accordance with the gloominess of the theme, the 
 style is also gloomy, and piles up the dull-toned suffixes amo 
 and emo {vid. Ixxviii. 66, Ixxx. 7, Ixxxiii. 12, 14) ; both are 
 after 'riie example set by David. N*3i? with Belli, of the object 
 on which the zeal or warmth of feeling is kindled (xxxvii. 1, 
 Prov. iii. 31) here refers to the warmth of envious ill-feeling. 
 Concerning T^Sn vid. v. 6. Ver. 2>b tells under what circum- 
 stances the envy was excited ; cf . so far as the syntax is con- 
 cerned, xlix. 6, Ixxvi. 11. In ver. 4 nuvnn (from n^'^n = n^'n 
 from 3vn, cognate 3VV) whence 3^*y, pain, Arabic 'asclbe, a snare, 
 cf. P^^, o)Si<;, and P^n, a'x^otvLov), in the same sense as the Latin 
 tormenta (from torquere), is intended of pains that produce 
 convulsive contractions. But in order to give the meaning 
 " they have no pangs (to suffer) till their death," Dn^ (io?) 
 could not be omitted (that is, assuming also that p, which is 
 sometimes used for iy, vid. lix. 14, could in such an exclusive 
 sense signify the terminus ad queni). Also " there are no pangs 
 for their death, i.e. that bring death to them," ought to be 
 expressed by r\)jp Dn?. The clause as it stands affirms that 
 their dying has no pangs, i.e. it is a painless death ; but not 
 merely does this assertion not harmonize with vers. 18 sq., but 
 it is also introduced too early here, since the poet cannot surely 
 begin the description of the good fortune of the ungodly with 
 the painlessness of their death, and then for the first time come 
 to speak of their healthy condition. We may therefore read, 
 with Ewald, Ilitzig, Buttcher, and Olshausen : 
 
 Sob ni3V"in )\s ^2 
 
 T 
 
 i.e. they have (suffer) no pangs, vigorous (DPI like DJi, Job xxi. 
 23, D^pn, Prov. i. 12) and ivell-nounshed is tJieir helbj ; by which 
 means the difficult onio^ is got rid of, and the gloomy picture 
 is enriched by another form ending with mo. ^1X, here in a 
 
 derisive sense, signifies the body, like the Arabic JU, JT (from 
 J I, coaluit, coha'sit, to condense inwardly, to gain consistency).* 
 
 • Hitzig calls to mind oJxo,-, " corporeal ;" but this word is Ionic and 
 equivalent to J?iof, solidus, the ground-word of which is the Sanscrit sarvas, 
 whole, complete. 
 
PSALM LXXIII. 7-10. 313 
 
 The observation of ver. 4a is pursued further in ver. 5 : whilst 
 one would have thought that the godly formed an exception to 
 the common wretchedness of mankind, it is just the wicked 
 who are exempt from all trouble and calamity. It is also here 
 to be written i'^.^''^?, as in lix. 14, not i^V/^- Therefore is 
 haughtiness their neck-chain, and brutisliness their mantle. p^V 
 is a denominative from pJ'y = av^tjv : to hang round the neck ; 
 the neck is the seat of pride (av^eiv) : haughtiness hangs around 
 their neck (like p^V, a neck-ornament). Accordingly in ver. 6b 
 DCn is the subject, although the interpunction construes it 
 differently, viz. " they wrap round as a garment the injustice 
 belonging to them," in order, that is, to avoid the construction 
 of PlDy^ {vid. Ixv. 14) with io^; but active verbs can take a 
 dative of the object (e.g. ? HDZij 7 nns^ p N3"i) in the sense : to 
 be or to grant to any one that which the primary notion of the 
 verb asserts. It may therefore be rendered : they put on the 
 garment of violence (Don n''K^ like Di^J nj^, Isa. lix. 17), or 
 even by avoiding every enallage numeri : violence covers them 
 as a garment; so that ri''Ji' is an apposition which is put forth 
 in advance. 
 
 Vers. 7-10. The reading i».3lJ^, 17 aZiKia avroov LXX. (cf. 
 in Zech. v. 6 the D:""!?, which is rendered by the LXX. in 
 exactly the same way), in favour of which Hitzig, Bottcher, 
 and Olshausen decide, "their iniquity presses forth out of a fat 
 heart, out of a fat inward part," is favoured by xvii. 10, where 
 3^n obtains just this signification by combination with "IJD) 
 which it would obtain here as being the place whence sin issues; 
 cf. e^ep-^eadai Ik tt}? KapBia^;, Matt. xv. 18 sq. ; and the parallel- 
 ism decides its superiority. Nevertheless the traditional read- 
 ing also gives a suitable sense ; not (since fat tends to make 
 the eyes appear to be deeper in) " their eyes come forward prce 
 fi(?i):'^,"Jjut "they stare forth ex adipe, out of the fat of their \ 
 bloated visage," 3.pno being equivalent to on'^JS n^TiD^ Job xv. 
 27. This is a feature of character faithfully drawn after 
 nature. Further, just as in general to irepla-aevixa t?}? KapSiai; 
 wells over in the gestures and language (Matt. xii. 34), so is 
 it also with their "views or images of the heart" (from nab'j 
 like ''p'^*, the cock with its gift of divination as speculator) : the 
 illusions of their unbounded self-confidence come forth out- 
 
314 rsAUi Lxxiii. 7-10. 
 
 wardly, tliey overflow after the manner of a river,* viz., as ver. 
 8 says, in words that are proud beyond measure (Jer. v. 28). 
 Luther : " they destroy everything " (synon. they make it as or 
 into rottenness, from Pi?^). But ?V[} is here equivalent to the 
 Aramaic P'?? {ixwKaadat) : tliey mock and openly speak y"]3 
 (with a in connection with Munach transformed from DecJd), 
 with evil disposition (cf. Ex. xxxii. 12), oppression ; i.e. they 
 [openly express their resolve which aims at oppression. Their 
 IfcUow-man is the sport of their caprice ; they speak or dictate 
 DiiKfp, down from an eminence, upon which they imagine them- 
 selves to be raised high above others. Even in the heavens 
 above do they set (inti' as in xlix. 15 instead of inc^, — there, in 
 accordance with tradition, M'del; here at the commencement of 
 the verse Milra) their mouth ; even these do not remain un- 
 touched by their scandalous language (cf. Jude ver. 16) ; the 
 Most High and Holy One, too, is blasphemed by them, and 
 their tongue runs officiously and imperiously through the earth 
 below, everywhere disparaging that ^^ Inch exists and giving new 
 laws. ^?n^, as in Ex. ix. 23, a Kal sounding much like Hilhpa.^ 
 in the signification grassari. In ver. 10 the Chetldb y"^"^ 
 (therefore he, tliis class of man, turns a people subject to him 
 hither, i.e. to himself) is to be rejected, because D?n is not 
 appropriate to it. iJSj? is the subject, and the suffix refers not 
 to God (Stier), whose name has not been previously mentioned, 
 but to the kind of men hitherto described : what is meant is 
 the people which, in order that it may turn itself hither (px^, 
 not : to turn back, but to turn one's self towards, as e.g. in Jer. 
 XV. 19f ), becomes his, i.e. this class's people (cf. for this sense of 
 
 * On the other band, Rcdslob (DcutscJi. Morgenldnd. Zdlschr. ISCO, S. 
 675) interprets it thus: they run over the fencings of the heart, from n^b* in 
 the signification to put or stick througli, to stick into (injir/erc), by comparing 
 *3p nil^p, Jer. iv. 19, and ipno; ooovtuv. He regards n''3b'D and mosaic as 
 one word, just as the Italian ricamare (to stitch) and DpT is one word. 
 Certainly the root ^r, cJj, cJ J, has the primary notion of piercing (cf. 
 ■)3T), and also the notion of purity, which it obtains, proceeds from the idea 
 of the brilliance which pierces into the eye ; but the primary notion of n3b> 
 
 is that of cutting through (whence pab, like P]^n?D, a knife, from P)^n, 
 Judg. V. 2G). 
 
 t In general 2^U' docs not necessarily signify to turn back, but, like the 
 Arabic 'uda, Persic gashtcn, to cuter into a new (active or passive) state. 
 
rSALM LXXIII. 11-14. 315 
 
 the suffix as describing the issue or event, xviii. 24, xlix. 6, 
 Ixv. 12). They gain adherents (xhx. 14) from those who leave I 
 the fear of God and turn to them; and NPD ''O, wa.ter of fuhiess, 
 i.e. of full measure (cf. Ixxiv. 15, streams of duration = that 
 do not dry up), which is here an emblem of their corrupt 
 principles (cf. Job xv. 16), is quaffed or sucked in ("^-f^j I'oot 
 
 }*0, whence first of all KV?, j^^,^^, to suck) by these befooled 
 
 ones (i^^, avTol<s =: i/tt' aiiTcov). This is what is meant to be 
 further said, and not that this band of servile followers is in 
 fulness absorbed by them (Sachs). Around the proud free- 
 thinkers there gathers a rabble submissive to them, which 
 eagerly drinks in everything that proceeds from them as though 
 it were the true water of life. Even in David's time (x. 4, 
 xiv. 1, xxxvi. 2) there were already such stout spirits (Isa. xlvi. 
 12) with a servicm imitatorum pecus. A still far more favour- 
 able soil for these D^>v was the worldly age of Solomon. 
 
 Vers. 11—14. The persons speaking are n^w those apos- ' 
 tates" who, deluded by the good fortune and free-thinking of 
 the ungodly, give themselves up to them as slaves. Concerning 
 the modal sense of VIJ, quomodo sciverit, vid. xi. 3, cf. Job xxii. 
 13. With ti'M the doubting question is continued. Bottcher 
 renders thus : nevertheless knowledge is in the Most High (a 
 circumstantial clause like Pro v. iii. 28, Mai. i. 14, Judg. vi. 13) ; 
 but first of all they deny God's actual knowledge, and then Plis 
 attributive omniscience. It is not to be interpreted : behold, 
 such are (according to their moral nature) the ungodly (nps, 
 tales, like Hf, xlviii. 15, Deut. v. 26, cf. njsn, Isa. Ivi. 11); nor, 
 as is more in accordance with the parallel member ver. 12b and 
 the drift of the Psalm : behold, thus it befall eth the ungodly 
 (such are they according to their lot, as in Job xviii. 21, cf. 
 Isa. XX. 6) ; but, what forms a better connection as a statement 
 of the ground of the scepticism in ver. 11, either, in harmony 
 with the accentuation : behold, the ungodly, etc., or, since it is 
 not D'';;'C'"in : behold, these are ungodly, and, ever reckless (Jer. 
 xii. 1), they have acquired great power. With the bitter >^P.>},\ 
 as Stier correctly observes, they bring forward the obvious , . 
 proof to the contrary. Plow can God be said to be the omni-' 
 scient Huler of tlTe world ? — the ungodly in their carnal security 
 become very powerful and mighty, but piety, very far from 
 
316 # PSALM LXXIII. 15-18. 
 
 being rewarded, is joined with nothing but misfortune. My 
 striving after sanctity (of. Prov. xx. 9), my abstinence from all 
 moral pollution (cf. Prov. xxvi. 6), says he who has been led 
 astray, has been absolutely (TjS as in 1 Sam. xxv. 21) in vain ; 
 I was notwithstanding (Ew. § 345, a) incessantly tormented 
 (cf. ver. 5), and with every morning's dawn (D"'"ip3p, as in ci. 8, 
 cf. CipsS in Job vii. 18) my chastitive suffering was renewed. 
 "We may now supply the conclusion in thought in accordance 
 with ver. 10 : Therefore have 1 joined myself to those who 
 never concern themselves about God and at the same time get 
 on better. 
 
 Vers. 15-18. To such, doubt is become the transition to 
 ' apostasy. The poet has resolved the riddle of such an unequal 
 distribution of the fortunes of men in a totally different way. 
 Instead of iJ23 in ver, 15, to read Dni03 (Bottcher), or better, 
 by takinrf up the following njn, which even Saadia allows him- 
 self to do, contrary to the accents (\ jji J^)> "?!? i^| (Ewald), 
 
 is unnecessary, since prepositions are sometimes used elliptically 
 (?V3, Isa. lix. 18), or even without anything further (Hos. vii. 
 16, xi. 7) as adverbs, which must therefore be regarded as 
 possible also in the case of i03 (Aramaic, Arabic N»3, Ethiopia 
 kem). The poet means to say, If I had made up my mind to 
 the same course of reasoning, I should have faithlessly forsaken 
 the fellowship of the children of God, and should consequently 
 also have forfeited their blessings. The subjunctive significa- 
 tion of the perfects in the hypothetical protasis and apodosis, 
 ver. 15 (cf. Jer. xxiii. 22), follows solely from the context; 
 futures instead of perfects would signify si dicerem . . . per- 
 fule ofjerem. T'.^S "liT is the totality of those, in whom the 
 filial relationship in which God has placed Israel in relation to 
 Himself is become an inward or spiritual reality, the true Israel, 
 ver. 1, the "righteous generation," xiv. 5. It is an appellative, 
 as in Deut. xiv. 1, Hos. ii. 1. For on the point of the vioOea-ia 
 the New Testament differs from the Old Testament in this 
 way, viz. that in the Old Testament it is always only as a 
 people that Israel is called )3, or as a whole D''J3, but that the 
 individual, and that in his direct relationship to God, dared not 
 as yet call himself " child of God." The individual character 
 is not as yet freed from its absorption in the species, it is not 
 
PSALM LXXIII. 15-18. 317 
 
 as yet inJependent ; it is the time of the minor's vqirioTT]^^ and 
 the adoption is as yet only effected nationally, salvation is as 
 yet within the limits of the nationality, its common human 
 form has not as yet appeared. The verb ^J^ with 3 signifies to 
 deal faithlessly with any one, and more especially (whether 
 God, a friend, or a spouse) faithlessly to forsake him ; here, in 
 this sense of malicious desertion, it contents itself with the simple 
 accusative. 
 
 On the one side, by joining in the speech of the free- 
 thinkers he would have placed himself outside the circle of the 
 children of God, of the truly pious; on the other side, how- 
 ever, when by meditation he sought to penetrate it (J^yif*), the 
 doubt-provoking phenomenon (nXT) still continued to be to him 
 i'^y, trouble, i.e. something that troubled him without any 
 result, an unsolvable riddle (cf. Eccles. viii. 17). Whether we 
 read Xin or i<''n, the sense remains the same ; the Keri Nin pre- 
 fers, as in Job xxxi. 11, the attractional gender. Neither here 
 nor in Job xxx. 26 and elsewhere is it to be supposed that nntJ'nxi 
 is equivalent to n3"ki'ni<1 (Ewald, Hupfeld). The cohortative form 
 of the future here, as frequently (Ges. § 128, 1), with or without 
 a conditional particle (cxxxix. 8, 2 Sam. xxii. 38, Job xvi. 6, 
 xi. 17, xix. 18, xxx. 26), forms a hypothetical protasis: and 
 (yet) when I meditated; Symmachus (according to Montfaucon), 
 el iXoyi^o/xrjv. As Vaihinger aptly observes, "thinking alone 
 will give neither the right light nor true happiness." Both are 
 found only in faith. The poet at last struck upon the way of 
 faith, and there he found light and peace. The future after 
 ^y frequently has the signification of the imperfect subjunctive, 
 Job xxxii. 11, Eccles. ii. 3, cf. Pi'ov. xii. 19 {donee nutem = only 
 a moment) ; also in an historical connection like Josh. x. 13, 
 2 Chron. xxix. 34, it is conceived of as subjunctive {donee 
 ulcisceretur, se sanctijicarent), sometimes, however, as indicative, 
 as in Ex. xv. 16 {donee transibat) and in our passage, where *iy 
 introduces the objective goal at which the riddle found its 
 solution : until I went into the sanctuary of God, (purposely) 
 attended to (? as in the primary passage Deut. xxxii. 29, cf. 
 Job xiv. 21) their life's end. The cohortative is used here 
 exactly as in '"'J''?^}, but with the collateral notion of that which 
 is intentional, which here fully accords with the connection. 
 He went into God's dread sanctuary (plural as in Ixviii. 36, cf. 
 
318 PSALM LXXIII. 19-22. 
 
 Bni50 in the Psalms of Asaph, Ixvii. 7, Ixxviii. 69) ; here he 
 prayed for h'ght in the darkness of his conflict, here were his 
 eyes opened to the holy plans and ways of God (Ixxvii. 14), 
 here the sio-ht of the sad end of the evil-doers was presented to 
 him. By " God's sanctuaries" Ewald and Hitzig understand 
 His secrets ; but this meaning is without support in the usage 
 of the lanrruage. And is it not a thought perfectly in harmony 
 with the context and with experience, that a light arose upon 
 him when he withdrew from the bustle of the world into the 
 quiet of God's dwelling-place, and there devoutly gave his mind 
 to the matter? 
 
 The strophe closes with a summary confession of the ex- 
 planation received there. n''K' is construed with Lamed inas- 
 much as collocare is equivalent to locum assignare {vid. ver. 6/>). 
 God makes the evil-doers to stand on smooth, slippery places, 
 where one may easily lose one's footing (cf. xxxv. 6, Jer. xxiii. 
 12). There, then, they also inevitably fall ; God casts them 
 down niSVu'DPj into ruins, fragores = rtcince, from iiV^ = >^^^, to 
 be confused, desolate, to rumble. The word only has the appear- 
 ance of being from ^'^'J : ensnarings, sudden attacks (Hitzig), 
 which is still more ill suited to Ixxiv. 3 than to this passage ; 
 desolation and ruin can be said even of persons, as D^n^ xxviii. 
 5, inffJi, Isa. viii. 15, }'???, Jer. li. 21-23. The poet knows no 
 other theodicy but this, nor was any other known generally in 
 the pre-exilic literature of Israel (vid. Ps. xxxvii., xxxix., Jer. 
 ch. xii., and the Book of Job). The later prophecy and the 
 Chokma were much in advance of this, inasmuch as they point 
 to a last universal judgment (vid. more particularly Mai. iii. 
 13 sqq.), but not one that breaks off this present state; fche 
 present state and the future state, time and eternity, are even 
 there not as yet thoroughly separated. 
 
 Vers. 10-22. The poet calms himself with the solution of 
 the riddle that has come to him ; and it would be beneath his 
 dignity as a man to allow himself any further to be tempted by 
 doubting thoughts. Placing himself upon the standpoint of 
 the end, he sees how the ungodly come to terrible destruction 
 in a moment : they come to an end (^2p from ^i^D, not nSD), it is 
 all over with them (V2ri) in consequence of (i?p as in Ixxvi. 7, 
 and unconnected as in xviii. 4, xxx. 4, 2 Sam. xxii. 14) fright- 
 ful occurrences (ninb, a favourite word, especially in the Book 
 
PSALM LXXIII. 19-22. 319 
 
 of Job), which clear them out of the way. It is with them as 
 with a dream, after (p as in 1 Chron. viii. 8) one is awoke. 
 One forgets the vision on account of its nothingness (Job xx. 
 8). So the evil-doers who boast themselves fiera ttoXXt}? 
 (f)avTaaia<; (Acts xxv. 23) are before God a D?y, phantom or 
 unsubstantial shadow. When He, the sovereign Lord, shall 
 avvahe, i.e. arouse Himself to judgment after He has looked on 
 with forbearance, then He will despise their shadowy image, 
 will cast it contemptuously from Him. Luther renders, So 
 machstu Herr jr Bilde in der Stad verschmecht (So dost Thou, 
 Lord, make their image despised in the city). But neither has 
 the Kal Hjli this double transitive signification, " to give over to 
 contempt," nor is the mention of the city in place here. In 
 Hos. xi. 9 also T'^? in the signification in tirhem gives no right 
 sense ; it signifies heat of anger or fury, as in Jer. xv. 8, heat of 
 anguish, and Schroder maintains the former signification (vid. on 
 Ps. cxxxix. 20), in fervore (irce), hei'e also ; but the pointing "fJ-'l 
 is against it. Therefore 'T'J?^ is to be regarded, with the Tar- 
 gum, as syncopated from 'T'V'^t^ (cf. ^^''i^, Jer. xxxix. 7, 2 Chron. 
 xxxi. 10; i-'V'^S, Prov. xxiv. 17, and the like); not, however, 
 to be explained, " when they awake," viz. from the sleep of 
 death (Targum*), or after Ixxviii. 38, " when Thou awakest 
 them," viz. out of their sleep of security (De Wette, Kurtz), 
 but after xxxv. 23, " when Thou awakest," viz. to sit in judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Thus far we have the divine answer, which is reproduced 
 by the poet after the manner of prayer. Hengstenberg now 
 goes on by rendering it, " for my heart was incensed ;" but we 
 cannot take T^^^''. according to the sequence of tenses as an 
 imperfect, nor understand ""S as a particle expressing the rea- 
 son. On the contrary, the poet, from the standpoint of the 
 explanation he has received, speaks of a possible return Q'2 seq. 
 flit. = idv) of his temptation, and condemns it beforehand: 
 si exacerbaretur animus mens atque in renibus meis pungerer. 
 
 * The Targum version is, "As tlie dream of a drmilceu man, "wlio 
 awakes out of his sleep, wilt Thou, Lord, on the day of the great judg- 
 ment, when they awake out of their graves, in wrath abandon their image 
 to contempt." The text of our editions is to be thus corrected according 
 to Bechai (on Dcut. xxxiii. 29) and Nachmani (in his treatise ^IDjn IVt^O' 
 
320 PSALM LXXIII. 23-26. 
 
 }*Gnnn, to become sour, bitter, passionate ; |3W*f >?, ^vith the more 
 exactly defining accusative "'O^yS, to be pricked, piqued, irri- 
 tated. With ''j^?'L begins the apodosis : then should I be . . . 
 I should have become (perfect as in ver. 15, according to Ges. 
 § 126, 5). Concerning Vy^ N/, no7i sapere, vid. xiv. 4. ni^nn can 
 be taken as compar. decurtata for ri"iDn33 ; nevertheless, as ap- 
 parently follows from Job xl. 15, the poet surely has i\\e p-ehe- 
 mou, the water-ox, i.e. the hippopotamus, in his mind, which 
 being Hebraized is niDna,* and, as a plump colossus of flesh, is 
 at once an emblem of colossal stupidity (Maurer, Hitzig). The 
 meaning of the poet is, that he would not be a man in relation 
 to God, over against God (DV? as in Ixxviii. 37, Job ix. 2, cf. 
 
 «_^, in comparison with), if he should again give way to the 
 
 same doubts, but would be like the most stupid animal, which 
 stands before God incapable of such knowledge as He willingly 
 imparts to earnestly inquiring man. 
 
 Vers. 23-26. But he does not thus deeply degrade him- 
 self: after God has once taken him by the right hand and 
 rescued him from the danger of falling (ver. 2), he clings all 
 the more firmly to Him, and will not suffer his perpetual fellow- 
 ship with Him to be again broken through by such seizures 
 which estrange him from God. Confidently does he yield up 
 himself to the divine guidance, though he may not see through 
 the mystery of the plan (i^^-^) of this guidance. He knows 
 that afterwards (">nx with Mugrash: adverb as in Ixviii. 26), 
 i.e. after this dark w^ay of faith, God will 1133 receive him, i.e. 
 take him to Himself and take him from all suffering (ni?7 as 
 in xlix. 16, and of Enoch, Gen. v. 24). The comparison of 
 Zech. ii. 12 [8] is misleading; there "ins is rightly accented as 
 a preposition : after glory hath He sent me forth {vid. Kohler), 
 and here as an adverb; for although the adverbial sense of "ins 
 would more readily lead one to look for the arrangement of the 
 words ni2D ':npn nnsi, still "to receive after glory" (cf. the 
 reverse Isa. Iviii. 8) is an awkward thought. 1133, which as an 
 
 * The Egyptian p frequently pnsscs over into the Hebrew b, ami 
 vice versa, as in the name Apcriu = Dn3y ; p, however, is retained iu 
 .-|jnS=/'/'"r-oa, grand-house (oJkq; fityu; in Horapollo), the name of the 
 Egyptian rulers, which begins with the sign of the plan of a house = p. 
 
rSALM LXXIir. 23-26. 321 
 
 adjective " glorious" (Hofmann) is alien to the language, is 
 either accusative of the goal (Ilupfeld), or, which yields a form 
 of expression that is more like the style of the Old Testament, 
 accusative of the manner (Luther, " with honour"). In inx the 
 poet comprehends in one summary view what he looks for at 
 the goal of the present divine guidance. The future is dark to 
 him, but lighted up by the one hope that the end of his earthly 
 existence will be a glorious solution of the riddle. Here, as 
 elsewhere, it is faith which breaks through not only the dark- 
 ness of this present life, but also the night of Hades. At that 
 time there was as yet no divine utterance concerning any 
 heavenly triumph of the church, militant in the present world, 
 but to faith the Jahve-Name had already a transparent depth 
 which penetrated beyond Hades into an eternal life. The 
 heaven of blessedness and glory also is nothing without God ; 
 but he who can in love call God his, possesses heaven upon 
 earth, and he who cannot in love call God his, would possess 
 not heaven, but hell, in the midst of heaven. In this sense the 
 poet says in ver. 25: whom have I in heaven? i.e. who there 
 without Thee would be the object of my desire, the stilling of 
 my longing? without Thee heaven with all its glory is a vast 
 waste and void, which makes me indifferent to everything, and 
 with Thee, i.e. possessing Thee, I have no delight in the earth, 
 because to call Thee mine infinitely surpasses every possession 
 and every desire of earth. If we take H^? still more exactly 
 as parallel to D^P^'?, without making it dependent upon ""JjiVPC' * 
 and possessing Thee I have no desire upon the earth, then the 
 sense remains essentially the same ; but if we allow pX3 to be 
 governed by TiVDn in accordance Avith the general usage of the 
 language, we arrive at this meaning by the most natural way. 
 Heaven and earth, together with angels and men, afford him no 
 satisfaction — his only friend, his sole desire and love, is God. 
 The love for God which David expresses in xvi. 2 in the brief 
 utterance, " Thou art my Lord, Thou art my highest good," is 
 here expanded with incomparable mystical profoundness and 
 beauty. Luther's version shows his master-hand. The church 
 follows itr in its " Herzlkh Ueh haV ich dich" when it sings — 
 
 *' The whole wide world delights mo not, 
 For heaven and earth, Lord, care I not, 
 If I may but have Thee ; " 
 VOL. II. 21 
 
322 PSALM LXXIII. 27, 28. 
 
 and following it, goes on in perfect harmony with the text of 
 our Psalm — 
 
 " Yea, though my heart be like to break, 
 Thou art my trust that nought can shake ; " * 
 
 or with Paul Gerhard, [in his Passion-hymn "^m Lcimmlein 
 geld und tragi die Schuld der Welt und Hirer Kinder"'] 
 
 " Light of my heart, that shalt Thou be ; 
 Aud when my heart in pieces breaks, 
 Thou shalt my heart remain." 
 
 For the hypothetical perfect n73 expresses something in spite of 
 which he upon whom it may come calls God his God : licet defe- 
 cerit. Though his outward and inward man perish, nevertheless 
 God remains ever the rock of his heart as the firm ground upon 
 which he, with his ego^ remains standing when everything else 
 totters ; He remains his portion, i.e. the possession that cannot 
 be taken from him, if he loses all, even his spirit-life pertaining 
 to the body, — and God remains to him this portion C3?iyp, he 
 survives with the life which he has in God the death of the old 
 life. The poet supposes an extreme case, — one, that is, it is true, 
 impossible, but yet conceivable, — that his outward and inward 
 being should sink away ; even then with the merus actus of his 
 ego he will continue to cling to God. In the midst of the 
 natural life of perishableness and of sin, a new, individual life 
 which is resigned to God has begun within him, and in this 
 he has the pledge that he cannot perish, so truly as God, with 
 whom it is closely united, cannot perish. It is just this that is 
 also the nerve of the proof of the resurrection of the dead which 
 Jesus advances in opposition to the Sadducees (Matt. xxii. 32). 
 Vers. 27, 28. The poet here once more gives expression 
 to the great opposites into which good fortune and misfortune 
 are seemingly, but only seemingly, divided in a manner so con- 
 tradictory to the divine justice. The central point of the con- 
 firmation that is introduced with ^3 lies in ver. 28. " Thy far 
 removing ones" was to be expressed with pn"], which is distinct 
 from pin-), n:] has \0 instead of nnnp or ^^nxn after it. Those 
 who remove themselves far from the primary fountain of life 
 fall a prey to ruin; those who faithlessly abandon God, aud 
 
 [Miss Wiukworth's translation.] 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 323 
 
 clioose the world with its idols rather than His love, fall a prey 
 to destruction. Not so the poet ; the nearness of God, i.e. a 
 state of union with God, is good to him, i.e. (cf. cxix. 71 sq.) 
 he regards as his good fortune, nnip is nom. act. after the 
 
 form ^'^P\ l^», obedience, and nnsfj^ a watch, cxli. 3, and of 
 
 essentially the same signification with kurba (nn"}i^), the Arabic 
 designation of the unio myatica; cf. Jas. iv. 8, iyyia-are tS 
 Qeu) Kol ijytel v/xlv. Just as D\n?X n3"ip stands in antithesis 
 to Tpni, so 2iD ''^ stands in antithesis to inas'' and ^nD^;n. To 
 the former their alienation from God brings destruction ; he 
 finds in fellowship with God that which is good to him for the 
 present time and for the future. Putting his confidence (''E"!"?, 
 not .''pno) in Him, he will declare, and will one day be able to 
 declare, all His riiax?^, i.e. the manifestations or achievements 
 of His righteous, gracious, and wise government. The lan- 
 guage of assertion is quickly changed into that of address. 
 The Psalm closes with an upward look of grateful adoration to 
 God beforehand, who leads His own people, ofttimes won- 
 drously indeed, but always happily, viz. through suffering to 
 glory. 
 
 PSALM LXXIV. 
 
 APPEAL TO GOD AGAINST RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, IN 
 
 WHICH THE TEMPLE IS VIOLATED. 
 
 1 WHY, Elohim, hast Thou cast off for ever. 
 
 Why doth Thine anger smoke against the flock of Thy 
 pasture ? 
 
 2 Remember Thy congregation which Thou hast purchased 
 
 of old. 
 Which Thou hast ransomed for the tribe of Thy possession — 
 Of Mount Zion whereon Thou dwellest. 
 
 3 Oh lift up Thy footsteps unto the perpetual ruins, 
 Everything hath the enemy destroyed in the sanctuary. 
 
 4 Thine adversaries roared in the midst of Thy place of 
 
 assembly, 
 They set up their signs as signs. 
 
324 PSALM LXXIV. 
 
 5 It looked as when one lifteth up on high 
 Axes in the thicket of the wood : 
 
 6 And now — at its carved work altogether 
 
 With hatchet and mattocks they hewed right and left ; 
 
 7 They have set on fire Thy Temple, 
 
 To the earth they have defiled the dwelling-place of Thy 
 name ; 
 
 8 Thev said in their hearts : we will crush them altoo-ether ; 
 They have burnt up all the houses of God in the land. 
 
 9 Our signs we see not. 
 
 There is no longer any prophet, 
 
 And among us there is no one who knoweth : until when ? — 
 
 10 How long, Elohim, shall the oppressor blaspheme? 
 Shall the enemy scoff at Thy name for ever? 
 
 11 "Why dost Thou draw back Thy hand and Thy right hand ? 
 Out of the midst of Thy bosom bring it forth, destroy ! — 
 
 12 And yet Elohim is my King from the days of old, 
 Working deliverances in the midst of the earth. 
 
 13 Thou hast divided the sea by Thy power, 
 
 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragons upon the waters. 
 
 14 Thou hast broken in pieces the heads of leviathan. 
 
 Thou gavest him as food to a people : to the creatures of 
 the desert. 
 
 15 Tnou hast cleft fountains and brooks, 
 Tiiou hast dried up never-failing rivers. 
 
 16 Thine is the day, also Thine the night, 
 
 Thou hast prepared the star of night and the sun. 
 
 17 Thou hast established all the borders of the earth, 
 Summer and winter hast Thou formed. 
 
 18 Remember this : the enemy revileth Jahve, 
 And a foolish people scoffeth at Thy name. 
 
 19 Give not over to the wild beast the soul of Thy turtle-dove, 
 Thy poor creatures forget not for ever. 
 
 20 Look upon the covenant, 
 
 For the corners of the land are full of the habitations of 
 violence. 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 325 
 
 21 Let not the disheartened turn back ashamed, 
 Let the afflicted and the needy praise Thy name. 
 
 22 Arise, Elohim, fight out Thy cause, 
 
 Remember Thy reproach from the foolish continually ! 
 
 23 Forget not tlie cry of Thine adversaries, 
 
 The tumult of those who rise up against Thee which ascend- 
 eth ever ! ! 
 
 The mOTD Ixxiii. is here followed by a Maskil (vid. xxxii. 1) 
 which, in common with the former, has the prominent, rare 
 word niSVu'a (Ixxiv. 3, Ixxiii. 18), but also the old Asaphic im- 
 press. We here meet with the favourite Asaphic contemplation 
 of Israel as a flock, and the predilection of the Asaphic Psalms 
 for retrospective references to Israel's early history (Ixxiv. 
 13-15). We also find the former of these two characteristic 
 features in Ps. Ixxix., which reflects the same circumstances of 
 the times. 
 
 Moreover Jeremiah stands in the same relationship to both 
 Psalms. In Jer. x. 25, Ps. Ixxix. 6 sq. is repeated almost word 
 for word. And one is reminded of Ps. Ixxiv. by Lam. ii. 2 
 (cf. Ixxiv. 7), ii. 7 (cf. Ixxiv. 4), and other passages. The 
 lament " there is no prophet any more " (Ixxiv. 9) sounds very 
 much like Lam. ii. 9. In connection with Jeremiah's repro- 
 ductive manner, and his habit of allowing himself to be 
 prompted to new thoughts by the original passages by means 
 of the association of ideas (cf. Tyio Di''3, Lam. ii. 7, with 
 TiyiD y\J^2 of the Psalm), it is natural to assign the priority 
 in age to the two Asaphic national lamentation Psalms. 
 
 But the substance of both Psalms, which apparently brino-s 
 us down not merely into the Chaldaean, but even into the 
 Maccaboean age, rises up in opposition to it. After his return 
 from the second Egyptian expedition (170 B.C.) Antiochus 
 Epiphanes chastised Jerusalem, which had been led into revolt 
 by Jason, in the most cruel manner, entered the Temple accom- 
 panied by the court high priest Menalaus, and carried away 
 the most costly vessels, and even the gold of the walls and 
 doors, with him. ISIyriads of the Jews were at that time mas- 
 sacred or sold as slaves. Then during the fourth Egyptian 
 expedition (1G8) of Antiochus, when a party favourably dis- 
 posed towards the Ptolemies again arose in Jerusalem, lie sent 
 
326 PSALM LXXIV. 
 
 Apollonius to punish the offenders (167), and his troops laid 
 the city waste with fire and sword, destroyed houses and walls, 
 burnt down several of the Temple-gates and razed many of its 
 apartments. Also on this occasion thousands were slain and 
 led away captive. Then began the attempt of Antiochus to 
 Hellenize the Jewish nation. An aged Athenian was entrusted 
 with the carrying out of this measure. Force was used to 
 compel the Jews to accept the heathen religion, and in fact to 
 serve Olympian Zeus (Jupiter) : on the 15t]i of Chislev a 
 smaller altar was erected upon the altar of burnt-offering in 
 the Temple, and on the 25th of Chislev the first sacrifice was 
 offered to Olympian Zeus in the Temple of Jahve, now dedi- 
 cated to him. Such was the position of affairs when a band of 
 faithful confessors rallied around the Asmontean (Hasmoutean) 
 priest Mattathias. 
 
 How strikingly does much in both Psalms, more particu- 
 lai'ly in Ps. Ixxiv., harmonize with this position of affairs ! At 
 that time it was felt more painfully than ever that prophecy 
 had become dumb, 1 Mace. iv. 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41. The con- 
 fessors and martyrs wdio bravely declared themselves were 
 called, as in Ps. Ixxix. 2, D^'T'Dii, ^AatSaioc. At that time " they 
 saw," as 1 Mace. iv. 38 says, " the sanctuary desolate, and the 
 altar profaned, and the gates burnt up, and shrubs growing in 
 the courts as in a forest, or as in one of the mountains, yea, and 
 the priests' chambers pulled down." The doors of the Temple- 
 gates were burned to ashes (cf. 2 Mace. viii. 33, i. 8). The 
 religious niniX (Ixxiv. 4) of the heathen filled the place where 
 Jahve was wont to reveal Himself. Upon the altar of the 
 court stood the ^Zekvyixa ipi]/xwaeQ3'i ; in the courts they had 
 planted trees, and likewise the "signs" of heathendom; and 
 the niS'J'p {praaroc^opLa) lay in ruins. When later on, under 
 Demetrius Soter (161), Alcimus (an apostate whom Antiochus 
 had appointed high priest) and Bacchides advanced with 
 promises of peace, but with an army at the same time, a band 
 of scribes, the foremost of the ^AaLhatoi of Israel, went forth 
 to meet them to intercede for their nation. Alcimus, however, 
 seized sixty of them, slaughtered them in one day, and that, as 
 it is added in 1 Mace. vii. 16 sq., "according to the word 
 ■which he wrote: The flesh of Thy saints and their blood 
 have they shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 327 
 
 bury them." The formula of citation Kara rov \6jov ov (tou? 
 X070U9 01)9) eypayjre, and more particularly the eypa-^jre, — which 
 as being the aorist cannot have the Scripture (77 7pa^?7), and, 
 since the citation is a prayer to God, not God, but only the 
 anonymous psalmist, as its subject {vid., however, the various 
 readings in Grimm on this passage), — sounds as though the 
 historian were himself conscious that he was quoting a portion 
 of Scripture that had taken its rise among the calamities of 
 that time. In fact, no age could be regarded as better war- 
 ranted in incorporating some of its songs in the Psalter than 
 the Maccabsean, the sixty-third week predicted by Daniel, the 
 week of suffering bearing in itself the character of the time of 
 the end, this strictly martyr age of the Old Covenant, to which 
 the Book of Daniel awards a high typical significance in rela- 
 tion to the history of redemption. 
 
 But unbiassed as we are in the presence of the question 
 whether there are Maccabaian Psalms, still there is, on the 
 other hand, much, too, that is against the referring of the two 
 Psalms to the Maccabsean age. In Ps. Ixxix. there is nothing 
 that militates against referring it to the Chaldcean age, and 
 Ixxix. 11 (cf. cii. 21, Ixix. 34) is even favourable to this. And 
 in Ps. Ixxiv., in which vers. 4&, 8^, 96 are the most satisfac- 
 torily explained from the Maccabsean age, there are, again, 
 other parts which are better explained from the Chaldosan. 
 For what is said in ver. 7a, " thei/ have set Thy Temple on fire^* 
 applies just as unconditionally as it runs to the Chaldseans, but 
 not to the Syrians. And the cry of prayer, Ixxiv. 3, " lift up 
 Thy footsteps to the eternal ruins,^^ appears to assume a laying 
 waste that has taken place within the last few years at least, 
 such as the Maccabasan age cannot exhibit, although at the 
 exaltation of the Maccabees Jerusalem was uolki^to^ co? epri^o<; 
 (1 Mace. iii. 45). Hitzig, it is true, renders: raise Thy foot- 
 steps for sudden attacks icithout end; but both the passages in 
 which niS'iti'p occurs mutually secure to this word the significa- 
 tion "desolations" (Targum, Symmachus, Jerome, and Saadia). 
 If, however, the Chaldsean catastrophe were meant, then the 
 author of both Psalms, on the ground of Ezra ii. 41, Neh. vii. 
 44 (cf. xi. 22), might be regarded as an Asaphite of the time 
 of the Exile, although they might also be composed by any one 
 in the Asaphic style. And as regards their relation to Jere- 
 
328 PSALM LXXIV. 1-3. 
 
 nilali, we ought to be contented whh the fact that Jeremiah, 
 whose pecuHarity as a writer is otherwise so thoroughly repro- 
 ductive, is, notwithstanding, also reproduced by later writers, 
 and in this instance by the psalmist. 
 
 Nothing is more certain than that the physiognomy of these 
 Psalms does not correspond to any national misfortune prior to 
 the Chaldcean catastrophe. Vaihinger's attempt to compre- 
 hend them from the time of Athaliah's reign of terror, is at 
 issue with itself. In the history of Israel instances of the sack- 
 ing of Jerusalem and of the Temple are not unknown even 
 prior to the time of Zedekiah, as in the reign of Jehoram, but 
 there is no instance of the city being reduced to ashes. Since 
 even the profanation of the Temple by the Persian general 
 Bagoses (Josephus, Ant. xi. 7), to which Ewald formerly re- 
 ferred this Psalm, was not accompanied by any injury of the 
 building itself, much less its reduction to ashes, there remains 
 only the choice between the laying waste of Jerusalem and of 
 the Temple in the year 588 and in the year 167. We have 
 reserved to ourselves the liberty of acknowledging some inser- 
 tions from the time of the Maccabees in the Psalter ; supra, 
 vol. i. pp. 11—14. Now since in both Psalms, apart from the 
 TOJ n1^sC'lO, everything accords with the Maccabaean age, whilst 
 when "we refer them to the Chaldsean period the scientific con- 
 science is oppressed by many difficulties (more especially in 
 connection with Ixxiv. 4, 8, 9, Ixxix. 2, 3), we yield to the force 
 of the impression and base both Psalms upon the situation of 
 the Jewish nation under Antiochus and Demetrius. Their 
 contents coincide with the prayer of Judas Maccabaeus in 2 
 Mace. viii. 1-4. 
 
 Vers. 1-3. The poet begins with the earnest prayer that 
 God would again have compassion upon Plis church, upon 
 whicli His judgment of anger has fallen, and would again set 
 up the ruins of Zion. Why for ever (vcr. 10, l.\xix. 5, Ixxxix. 
 47, cf. xiii. 2) ? is equivalent to, why so continually and, as it 
 seems, without end? Tiie preterite denotes the act of casting 
 off, the future, ver. lb, the lasting condition of this casting off. 
 HD^j when the initial of the following word is a guttural, and 
 particularly if it has a merely half-vowel (although in other 
 instances also, Gcu. xii. 19, xxvii. 45, Cant. i. 7), is deprived 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 4-8. 329 
 
 of its Dagesh and accented on the ultima^ in order (as Mose ha- 
 Nakdan expressly observes) to guard against the swallowing up 
 of the ah; cf. on x. 1. Concerning the smoking of anger, vid. 
 xviii. 9. The characteristically Asaphic expression in''i;"io jN^f 
 is not less Jeremianic, Jer. xxiii. 1. In ver. 2 God is reminded 
 of what He has once done for the congregation of His people. 
 D"ipj as in xliv. 2, points back into the Mosaic time of old, to the 
 redemption out of Egypt, which is represented in mp (Ex. xv. 
 17) as a purchasing, and in bxj (Ixxvii. 16, Ixxviii. 35, Ex. xv. 
 13) as a ransoming (^redemptio). ^Dpnj DTi^ is a factitive 
 object ; tiju' is the name given to the whole nation in its dis- 
 tinctness of race from other peoples, as in Jer. x. 16, li. 19, cf. 
 Isa. Ixiii. 17. HT (ver. 2b) is rightly separated from |Vi>""in 
 {Mugrash) ; it stands directly for "itf^^, as in civ. 8, 26, Pro v. 
 xxiii. 22, Job xv. 17 (Ges. § 122, 2). The congregation of the 
 people and its central abode are, as though forgotten of God, 
 in a condition which sadly contrasts with their election. nitxU'o 
 n^^ are ruins (yid. Ixxiii. 18) in a state of such total destruction, 
 that all hope of their restoration vanishes before it ; nVJ here 
 looks forward, just as u?Sv (nuin), Isa. Iviii. 12, Ixi. 4, looks 
 backwards. May God then lift His feet up high (2''PV3 poeti- 
 cal for Qv^l, cf. Iviii. 11 with Ixviii. 24), i.e. with long hurried 
 steps, without stopping, move towards His dwelling-place that 
 now lies in ruins, that by virtue of His interposition it may rise 
 again. Hath the enemy made merciless havoc — he hath ill- 
 treated (yin? as in xliv. 3) everything (^b, as in viii. 7, Zeph. i. 
 2, for ''sn or ''^"•nN) iu the sanctuary — how is it possible that 
 this sacrilegious vandalism should remain unpunished ! 
 
 Vers. 4-8. The poet now more minutely describes how 
 the enemy has gone on. Since ^'}'P in ver. 3 is the Temple, 
 ^'''^i;VD in ver. 4 ought likewise to mean the Temple with refer- 
 ence to the several courts ; but the plural would here (cf. ver. 
 8l>) be misleading, and is, too, only a various reading. Baer 
 has rightly decided in favour of T7.yi?0;* li'V^, as in Lam. ii. 
 6 sq., is the instituted (Num. xvii. 19 [4]) place of God's inter- 
 
 * The reading "TiTiy^o is received, e.g., by Elias Huttcr and Nisscl ; the 
 Targum translates it, Kimchi follows it in his interpretation, and Abraham 
 of Zante follows it in his paraphrase; it is tolerably widely known, but, 
 according to the LXX. and iSyriac versions and Mss., it is to be rejected. 
 
330 PSALM LXXIV. 4-8. 
 
 course with His congregation (cf. t^U-iv^-c, a rendezvous). What 
 Jeremiah says in Lam. ii. 7 (cf. 3X"^, Jer. ii. 15) is here more 
 briefly expressed. By Dnhis (ver. Ab) we must not understand 
 miUtary insignia ; the scene of the Temple and the supplanting 
 of the Israelitish national insignia to be found there, by the 
 substitution of other insignia, requires that the word should 
 have the religious reference in which it is used of circumcision 
 and of the Sabbath (Ex. xxxi. 13) ; such heathen ninx, which 
 were thrust upon the Temple and the congregation of Jahve 
 as henceforth the lawful ones, were those which are set forth 
 in 1 ^lacc. i. 45-49, and more particularly the so-called abomi- 
 nation of desolation mentioned in ver. 54 of the same chapter. 
 With yi'i^. (ver. 5) the terrible scene which was at that time 
 taking place before their eyes (Ixxix. 10) is introduced. ^^^^3 
 is the subject ; it became visible, tangible, noticeable, i.e. it 
 looked, and one experienced it, as if a man caused the axe to 
 enter into the thicket of the wood, i.e. struck into or at it right 
 and left. The plural riis^iip forces itself into the simile be- 
 cause it is the many heathen warriors who are, as in Jer. xlvi. 
 22 sq., likened to these hewers of wood. Norzi calls the 
 Kametz of }^y""19^3 Kametz chatupli ; the combining form would 
 then be a contraction of "^bp (Ewald, Olshausen), for the long 
 a of 'n^P does not admit of any contraction. According to 
 another view it is to be read bi-shdch-efz, as in Esth. iv. 8 
 IftliCih-haduth (with counter-tone Metheg beside the long vowel, 
 as e.g. IIDTJ?, Gen. ii. 16). The poet follows the work of de- 
 struction up to the destroying stroke, which is introduced by the 
 ni?1 (perhaps T\V\ Kert ^^^^1), which arrests one's attention. In 
 ver. 5 the usual, unbroken quiet is depicted, as is the heavy 
 Cyclopean labour in the Virgilian illi inter sese, etc. ; in jaJia- 
 tonnuij ver. Qb (now and then pointed jaldomun), we hear the 
 stroke of the uplifted axes, which break in pieces the costly 
 carved work of the Temple. The suffix of '^"'niJ^p (the carved 
 works thereof) refers, according to the sense, to lljJio. The 
 LXX., favouring the Maccaboean interpretation, renders : e^e- 
 Ko-^av xa? Ovpa'i avrrj'i ('7"''^^?). This shattering of the panel- 
 ling is followed in ver. 7 by the burning, first of all, as we may 
 suppose, of this panelling itself so far as it consists of wood. 
 The guaranteed reading here is Ip"^?^, not T?^'"'P*5. ^^^ n^v' 
 signifies to set on fire, immiltere igniy differing from 3 C'N nx''^ 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 9-11. 331 
 
 to set fire to, immittere ignem. On wH nX7j cf. Lam. ii. 2, 
 Jer. xix. 13. Hitzig, following the LXX., Targum, and 
 Jerome, derives the exclamation of the enemies DJ''? from T? : 
 their whole generation (viz. we will root out)! But p is pos- 
 terity, descendants ; why therefore only the young and not the 
 aged? And why is it an expression of the object and not 
 rather of the action, the object of which would be self-evident ? 
 D3''3 is fict. Kal of n^j, here = Hipli. HJin^ to force, oppress, 
 tyrannize over, and like D3X, to compel by violence, in later 
 Hebrew. 0^3 (from nr^, like ns'"") is changed in pause into 
 OJ''J ; cf. the future forms in Num. xxi. 30, Ex. xxxiv. 19, and 
 also in Ps. cxviii. 10-12. Now, after mention has been made 
 of the burning of the Temple framework, PS'^yio cannot 
 denote the place of the divine manifestation after its divisions 
 (Hengstenberg), still less the festive assemblies (Bottcher), 
 which the enemy could only have burnt up by setting fire to 
 the Temple over their heads, and ^3 does not at all suit this. 
 The expression apparently has reference to synagogues (and 
 this ought not to be disputed), as Aquila and Symmachus ren- 
 der the word. For there is no room for thinking of the separate 
 semces conducted by the prophets in the northern kingdom 
 (2 Kings iv. 23), because this kingdom no longer existed at the 
 time this Psalm was written ; nor of the ^i'^^, the burning 
 down of which no pious Israelite would have bewailed ; nor of 
 the sacred places memorable from the early history of Israel, 
 which are nowhere called nnj;iD, and after the founding of the 
 central sanctuary appear only as the seats of false religious 
 rites. The expression points (like ^Vl ri''ii, Sota ix. 15) to 
 places of assembly for religious purposes, to houses for prayer 
 and teaching, that is to say, to synagogues — a weighty instance 
 in favour of the Maccabsean oris^in of the Psalm. 
 
 Vers. 9-11. The worst thing the poet has to complain of 
 is that God has not acknowledged His people during this time 
 of suffering as at other times. "Our sio-ns" is the direct anti- 
 thesis to " their signs" (ver. 4), hence they are not to be under- 
 stood, after Ixxxvi. 17, as signs which God works. The suffix 
 demands, besides, something of a perpetual character ; they 
 are the instituted ordinances of divine worship by means of 
 which God is pleased to stand in fellowship with Ilis people, 
 and which are now no lonjier to be seen because the enemies 
 
332 PSALM LXXIV. 12-17. 
 
 have set them aside. The complaint " there is no prophet any 
 more" would seem strange in the period immediately after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, for Jeremiah's term of active service 
 lasted beyond this. Moreover, a year before (in the tenth 
 year of Zedekiah's reign) he had predicted that the Baby- 
 lonian domination, and relatively the Exile, would last seventy 
 years ; besides, six years before the destruction Ezekiel appeared, 
 who was in communication with those who remained behind in 
 the land. The reference to Lam. ii. 9 (cf. Ezek. vii. 26) does 
 not satisfy one ; for there it is assumed that there were prophets, 
 a fact which is here denied. Only perhaps as a voice coming 
 out of the Exile, the middle of which (cf. PIos. iii. 4, 2 Chron. 
 XV. 3, and besides Canticum trium j^wrorimi, ver. 14 : koI ovk 
 ecTiv ev ru> Kaipw tovtco ap')((t)v kol irpo^rjTi}<i koI rjyov/JL€vo<;) 
 was truly thus devoid of signs or miracles, and devoid of the 
 prophetic word of consolation, can ver. 9 be comprehended. 
 The seventy years of Jeremiah were then still a riddle without 
 any generally known solution (Dan. ch. ix.). If, however, 
 synagogues are meant in ver. 86, ver. 9 now too accords with 
 the like-sounding lament in the calamitous times of Antiochus 
 (1 Mace. iv. 4G, ix. 27, xiv. 41). In ver. 10 the poet turns to 
 God Himself witli the question " How long?" how long is this 
 (apparently) endless blaspheming of the enemy to last ? Why 
 dost Thou draw back (viz. 'isr^p, from us, not IJvy, Ixxxi. 15) 
 Thy hand and Thy right hand ? The conjunction of synonyms 
 " Thy hand and Thy right hand" is, as in xliv. 4, Sirach xxxiii. 
 7, a fuller expression for God's omnipotent energy. This is 
 now at rest; ver. 116 calls upon it to give help by an act of 
 judgment. "Out of the midst of Thy bosom, destroy," is a 
 pregnant expression for, " drawing forth out of Thy bosom the 
 hand that rests inactive there, do Thou destroy." The Chethib 
 
 Ipm has perhaps the same meaning; for pin, -i^, signifies, 
 
 like P''n, ^.^s-^, the act of encompassing, then that which en- 
 compasses. Instead of ^i?''no (Ex. iv. 7) the expression is 
 IPTi snpp, because there, within the realm of the bosom, the 
 punitive justice of God for a time as it were slumbers. On 
 the n?D, which outwardly is without any object, cf. lix. 14. 
 
 Vers. 12-17. With this prayer for the destruction of the 
 enemies by God's interposition closes the first half of the 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 12-17. 333 
 
 Psalm, wliicli has for its subject-matter the crying contradic- 
 tion between the present state of things and God's rehationsliip 
 to Israel. The poet now draws comfort by looking back into 
 the time when God as Israel's King unfolded the rich fulness 
 of His salvation everywhere upon the earth, whore Israel's 
 existence was imperilled. Yl.^'} ^li??? iiot only within the cir- 
 cumference of the Holy Land, but, e.g., also within that of 
 Egypt (Ex. viii. 18 [22]). The poet has Egypt directly in his 
 mind, for there now follows first of all a glance at the historical 
 (vers. 13-15), and then at the natural displays of God's power 
 (vers. 16, 17). Hengstenberg is of opinion that vers. 13-15 
 also are to be understood in the latter sense, and appeals to Job 
 xxvi. 11-13. But just as Isaiah (ch. li. 9, cf. xxvii. 1) transfers 
 these emblems of the omnipotence of God in the natural world 
 to His proofs of power in connection with the history of re- 
 demption which were exhibited in the case of a worldly power, 
 so does the poet here also in vers. 13-15. The T^n (the 
 extended saurian) is in Isaiah, as in Ezekiel (Q"'3nLi, ch. xxix. 3, 
 xxxii. 2), an emblem of Pharaoh and of his kingdom ; in like 
 manner here the leviathan is the proper natural wonder of 
 Egypt. As a water-snake or a crocodile, when it comes up 
 with its head above the water, is killed by a powerful stroke, 
 did God break the heads of the Egyptians, so that the sea cast 
 up their dead bodies (Ex. xiv. 30). The D''*Vj the dwellers in 
 the steppe, to whom these became food, are not tlie Ethiopians 
 (LXX., Jerome), or rather the Ichthyophagi (Bochart, Heng- 
 stenberg), who according to Agatharcides fed e/c tmv eKptirro- 
 fievwv eh rrjv ')(epaov kijtcjv, but were no cannibals, but the 
 wild beasts of the desert, which are called Dy, as in Prov. xxx. 
 25 sq. the ants and the rock-badgers. D''''i*i' is a permutative 
 of the notion U)f?, which was not completed : to a (singular) 
 people, viz. to the wild animals of the steppe. Ver. 15 also 
 still refers not to miracles of creation, but to miracles wroufrht 
 in the course of the history of redemption ; ver. 15a refers to 
 the giving of water out of the rock (Ixxviii. 15), and ver. 15^ 
 to the passage through the Jordan, which was miraculously dried 
 up (^'f ?in, as in Josh. ii. 10, iv. 23, v. 1). The object bm) t;^o 
 is intended as referring to the result : so that the water flowed 
 out of the cleft after the manner of a fountain and a brook, 
 niinj are the several streams of the one Jordan : the attributive 
 
334 PSALM LXXIV. lS-23. 
 
 genitive )f!l''N describes tliem as streams liaving an abundance 
 that does not dry up, streams of perennial fulness. The God 
 of Israel who has thus marvellously made Himself known in 
 history is, however, the Creator and Lord of all created things. 
 Day and night and the stars alike are His creatures. In close 
 connection with the night, which is mentioned second, the moon, 
 the "lii^!^ of the night, precedes the sun ; cf. viii. 4, where |ii3 is 
 the same as p^n in this passage. It is an error to render thus : 
 bodies of light, and more particularly the sun ; which would 
 have made one expect niiisp before the specializing Waw. 
 ni?i3a are not merely the bounds of the land towards the sea, 
 Jer. V. 22, but, according to Deut. xxxii. 8, Acts xvii. 26, even 
 the boundaries of the land in themselves, that is to say, the 
 natural boundaries of the inland country, ^"^ni J^^p are the two 
 halves of the year: summer including spring (^''r'^)? which 
 begins in Nisan, the spring-month, about the time of the vernal 
 equinox, and autumn including winter O^D), after the termina- 
 tion of which the strictly spring vegetation begins (Cant. ii. 11). 
 The seasons are personified, and are called God's formations or 
 works, as it were the angels of summer and of winter. 
 
 Vers. 18-23. The poet, after he has thus consoled himself 
 by the contemplation of the power of God which He has dis- 
 played for His people's good as their Redeemer, and for the 
 good of the whole of mankind as the Creator, rises anew to 
 prayer, but all the more cheerfully and boldly. Since ever 
 present facts of creation have been referred to just now, and 
 the historical mighty deeds of God only further back, mil refers 
 rather forwards to the blaspheming of the enemies which He 
 suffers now to go on unpunished, as though He took no cog- 
 nizance of it. ^"i.n has Fasek after it in order to separate the 
 word, which signifies reviling, from the most holy Name. The 
 epithet ''9?'^^ reminds one of Deut. xxxii. 21. In ver. 19a 
 according to the accents H^n is the absolute state (the primary 
 form of njrij vid. on Ixi. 1) : give not over, abandon not to the 
 wild beast (beasts), the soul of Thy turtle-dove. This is pro- 
 bably correct, since t."2: ri'np, " to the eager wild beast," this 
 inversion of the well-known expression n>n trspj which on the 
 contrary yields the sense of vita anwuv, is an improbable and 
 cxampleless expression. If t'D3 were intended to be thus 
 understood, the poet might have written T^in n>n d'dj? }nn"?X, 
 
PSALM LXXIV. 18-23. 335 
 
 " give not Thy turtle-dove over to the desire of the wild beast." 
 Hupfeld thinks that the "old, stupid reading" may be set 
 right at one stroke, inasmuch as he reads "jTin DTi ^Q^b trin bn, 
 and renders it "give not to rage the life Thy turtle-dove;" 
 but where is any support to be found for this i^2:h, " to rage," 
 or rather {Psychology, S. 202; tr. p. 239) "to eager desire?" 
 The word cannot signify this in such an isolated position. 
 Israel, which is also compared to a dove in Ixviii. 14, is called 
 a turtle-dove (lin). In ver. 19i n*n has the same signification 
 as in ver. 19a, and the same sense as Ixviii. 11 (cf. Ixix. 37) ; 
 the creatures of Thy miserable ones, i.e. Thy poor, miserable 
 creatures — a figurative designation of the ecclesia i^ressa. The 
 church, which it is the custom of the Asaphic Psq^s to desig- 
 nate with emblematical names taken from the animal world, 
 finds itself now like sheep among wolves, and seems to itself as 
 if it were forgotten by God. The cry of prayer n''"i3p D3n 
 comes forth out of circumstances such as were those of the 
 ISIaccabsean age. n''"i3 is the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 
 ch. xvii.) ; the persecution of the age of the Seleucidse put 
 faith to the severe test, that circumcision, this sign which was 
 the pledge to Israel of God's gracious protection, became just 
 the sign by which the Syrians knew their victims. In the 
 Book of Daniel, ch. xi. 28, 30, cf. Ps. xxii. 32, nnn is used 
 directly of the religion of Israel and its band of confessors. 
 The confirmatory clause ver. 20Z» also corresponds to the 
 Maccabsean age, when the persecuted confessors hid themselves 
 far away in the mountains (1 Mace. ii. 26 sqq., 2 Mace. vi. 11), 
 but were tracked by the enemy and slain, — at that time the 
 hiding-places (Kpvcfioi,, 1 Mace. i. 53) of the land were in reality 
 full of the habitations of violence. The combination DOn Dixp 
 is like nSb\fn nm, Jer. xxv. 37, cf. Gen. vi. 11. From this 
 point the Psalm draws to a close in more familiar Psalm-strains. 
 2^""''^) ver. 21, viz. from drawing near to Thee with their sup- 
 plications. " The reproach of the foolish all the day" is that 
 which incessantly goes forth from them. T'pn rv])^ "going up 
 (1 Sam. V. 12, not: increasing, 1 Kings xxii. 35) perpetually," 
 although without the article, is not a predicate, but attributive 
 {vul. on Ivii. 3). The tone of the prayer is throughout tem- 
 perate ; this the ground upon which it bases itself is therefore 
 all the more forcible. 
 
336 PSALM LXXV. 
 
 PSALM LXXV. 
 
 THE NEABNESS OF THE JUDGE WITH THE CUP OF WRATH. 
 
 2 WE give thanks unto Thee, Elohim, we give thanks, 
 And near is Thy Name : 
 
 Men declare Thy wondrous works. 
 
 3 For " I will seize the moment, 
 I, in uprightness will I judge. 
 
 4 If the earth and all its inhabitants are dissolvlnfj — • 
 I, even I set up its pillars." (^Sela.) 
 
 5 " I say to the boastful : Boast not ! 
 
 . And to the evil-doers : Lift not up the horn ! 
 
 6 Lift not up on high your horn, 
 
 Speak not impudence with a stiff neck 1' 
 
 7 For not from the rising and not from the setting. 
 And not from the desert of the mountain-heights — 
 
 8 Nay, Elohim judgeth the cause. 
 
 He putteth down one, and setteth up another. 
 
 9 For a cup is in the hand of Jahve, 
 
 And it foameth with wine, it is full of mixture ; 
 And He poureth out from it, yea the dregs thereof 
 !Must all the wicked of the earth sip, drink up. 
 
 10 And I, even I will proclaim for ever, 
 
 I will sing praises to the God of Jacob; 
 
 11 And all the horns of the wicked will I smite down, 
 The horns of the righteous shall be exalted. 
 
 Tiiat for which Ps. Ixxiv. prays: Arise, Jahve, plead Thine 
 own cause (vers. 22 sq.), Ps. Ixxv. beholds; the judgment of 
 God upon the proud sinners becomes a source of praise and of 
 a triumphant spirit to the psalmist. The prophetic picture 
 stands upon a lyrical groundwork of gold ; it emerges out of 
 the depth of feeling, and it is drawn back again into it. The 
 inscription : To the Precentor, (after the measure :) Destroy not 
 (yid. on Ivii. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a Song, is fully borne out. 
 
PSALM LXXV. 2-6. 337 
 
 The Sela shows that the Psalm, as T'tJ' "ilCTO says, is appohited 
 to be sung with musical accompaniment ; and to the ^Di(h cor- 
 responds its thoroughly Asaphic character, which calls Ps. 1. to 
 mind with especial force. But from this Psalm Ps. Ixxv. 
 differs, however, in this particular, viz. that a more clearly 
 defined situation of affairs manifests itself through the hope of 
 the judicial interposition of God which is expressed in it with 
 prophetic certainty. According to appearances it is the time 
 of the judgment of the nations in the person of Assyria ; not, 
 however, the time immediately following the great catastrophe, 
 but prior to this, when Isaiah's prophecy concerning the shatter- 
 ing of the Assyrian power against Jerusalem had gone forth, 
 just as Hengstenberg also regards this Psalm as the lyrical 
 companion of the prophecies which Isaiah uttered in the pre- 
 sence of the ruin wdiicli threatened from Assyria, and as a 
 testimony to the living faith with which the church at that 
 time received the word of God. Hitzig, however, assigns both 
 Ps. Ixxv. and Ixxvi. to Judas MaccabjBus, who celebrates the 
 victory over ApoUonius in the one, and the victory over Seron 
 in the other : " we may imagine that he utters the words of 
 Ixxv. 11 whilst he brandishes the captured sword of the fallen 
 ApoUonius." But the probability that it refers to the Assyrian 
 period is at least equally balanced with the probability that it 
 refers to the Maccabsean {vid. Ixxv. 7, Ixxvi. 5-7) ; and if the 
 time of Ilezekiah were to be given up, then we might sooner 
 go back to the time of Jehoshaphat, for both songs are too 
 original to appear as echoes and not much rather as models of 
 the later prophecy. The only influence that is noticeable in 
 Ps. Ixxv. is that of the SoniJ!; of Hannah. 
 
 Vers. 2-6. The cliureh in anticipation gives thanks for 
 the judicial revelation of its God, the near approach of wliich 
 lie Himself asserts to it. The connection with ) in ^'^"^ ^^""i?^: 
 presents a difficulty. Neither here nor anywhere else is it to 
 be supposed that ) is synonymous with ''3 ; but at any rate 
 even ^3 might stand instead of it. For Hupfeld's attempt 
 to explain it : and " near is Thy name" Thy wonders have 
 declared ; and Ilitzig's : and Thou wdiose Name is near, they 
 declare Thy wondrous works, — are past remedy. Such a per- 
 sonification of wonders does nut belong to tiie spirit of Hebrew 
 VOL. IL 22 
 
338 PSALM LXXV. 2-6. 
 
 poetiy, and such a relative clause lies altogether beyond the 
 bounds of syntax. If we would, however, take IOC' 3"np1, after 
 1. 23, as a result of the thanksgiving (Canipensis), then that 
 for which thanks ai'e rendered would remain undefined ; neither 
 will it do to take 3"np as referring to the being inwardly present 
 (Hengstenberg), since this, according to Jer. xii. 2 (cf. Dent. 
 XXX. 14), would require some addition, which should give to the 
 nearness this reference to the mouth or to the heart. Thus, 
 therefore, nothing remains for us but to connect the nearness 
 of the Name of God as an outward fact with the earnest giving 
 of thanks. The church has received the promise of an ap- 
 proaching judicial, redemptive revelation of God, and now 
 says, " We give Thee thanks, we give thanks and near is Thy 
 Name;" it welcomes the future act of God with heartfelt 
 thanksgiving, all those who belong to it declare beforehand the 
 wonders of God. Such was really the position of matters when 
 in Hezekiah's time the oppression of the Assyrians had reached 
 its highest point — Isaiah's promises of a miraculous divine de- 
 liverance were at that time before them, and the believing ones 
 saluted beforehand, with thanksgiving, the '' coming Name of 
 Jahve" (Isa. xxx. 27). The ""S which was to be expected after 
 ^:'''^'\n (cf ., e.g., c. 4 sq.) does not follow until ver. 3. God Him- 
 self undertakes the confirmation of the forthcoming thanks- 
 giving and praise by a direct announcement of the help that is 
 hailed and near at hand (Ixxxv. 10). It is not to be rendered, 
 " when I shall seize," etc., for ver. 3^ has not the structure of 
 an apodosis. ""S is confirmatory, and whatever interpretation 
 we may give to it, the words of the church suddenly change 
 into the words of God. IPD ia the language of prophecy, 
 more especially of the apocalyptic character, is a standing ex- 
 pression for the appointed time of the final judgment {vid. on 
 Hab. ii. 3). When this moment or juncture in the lapse of 
 time shall have arrived, then God will seize or take possession 
 of it (np? in the unweakened ori<final sense of takinir hold of 
 with energy, cf. xviii. 17, Gen. ii. 15) : lie Plimself will then 
 interpose and hold judgment according to the strictly observed 
 rule of right (CX'^p^ adverbial accusative, cf. Dn-j'^D3, ix. 9, 
 and frequently). If it even should come to pass that the earth 
 and all its inhabitants are melting away (cf. Isa. xiv. 31, Ex. 
 XV. 15, Josh. ii. y), i.e. under the pressure of injustice (as is to 
 
PSALM LXXV. 2-6. 339 
 
 be inferred from ver. oh), are cUslieartened, scattered asunder, 
 and are as it were in the act of dissolution, then He (the abso- 
 lute I, ''?J^) will restrain this melting away ; He setteth in their 
 places the pillars, i.e. the internal shafts (Job ix. 6), of the 
 earth, or without any figure : He again asserts the laws which 
 lie at the foundation of its stability. ''^3371 is a mood of cer- 
 tainty, and ver. 4a is a circumstantial clause placed first, after 
 the manner of the Latin ablative absolute. Hitzig appropri- 
 ately compares Prov. xxix. 9 ; Isa. xxiii. 15 may also be under- 
 stood according to this bearing of the case. 
 
 The utterance of God is also continued after the Sela. It 
 is not the people of God who turn to the enemies with the lan- 
 guage of warning on the ground of the divine promise (Heng- 
 stenberg) ; the poet would then have said ^^1?^^, or must at 
 least have said "iyv?^ i?"''^. God Himself speaks, and His 
 words are not yet peremptorily condemning, as in 1. 16 sqq., cf. 
 xlvi. 11, but admonitory and threatening, because it is not PIo 
 who has already appeared for the final judgment who speaks, 
 but He who announces His appearing. With ''^T^^ He tells 
 the braggarts who are captivated with the madness of supposed 
 greatness, and the evil-doers who lift up the horn or the head,* 
 what He will have once for all said to them, and what they are 
 to suffer to be said to them for the short space of time till the 
 judgment. The poet, if we have assigned the right date to 
 the Psalm, has Eabshakeh and his colleagues before his mind, 
 cf. Isa. xxxvii. 23. The p, as in that passage, and like 7t? in 
 Zech. ii. 4 (vid. Kohler), has the idea of a hostile tendency. 
 ?^ rules also over ver. Qb : " speak not insolence with a raised 
 neck." It is not to be construed priy "1N1V3 with a stiff neck. 
 
 T T T - : 7 
 
 Parallel passages like xxxi. 19, xciv. 4, and more especially the 
 primaiy passage 1 Sam. v. 3, show that pny is an object-notion, 
 and that ""^^V? by itself (with which, too, the accentuation har- 
 monizes, since Munacli here is the vicarius of a distinctive), 
 according to Job xv. 26, has the sense of Tpa^^jXicora or 
 v7repav^ovvT6<i. 
 
 * The head is called iu Sanscrit giras, in Zend garauJi, = Kxpcc ; the 
 hora iu Suuscrit, gruir/a, i.e. (according to Burnouf, Etadcx, p. ID) that 
 v.hicli proceeds from and projects out of the head {gb-as), Zeud grva = 
 xtpxs, pp {learn). 
 
340 PSALM LXXV. 7-9. 
 
 Vers. 7-9. The church here takes np the words of God, 
 again beginning with the ""S of ver. 3 (cf. the ""S in 1 Sam. ii. 
 3). A passage of the Midrash says nro pn Dnn NnprDnti' D^n ^3 
 (everywhere where Jiariin is found in Scripture it signifies 
 harim, mountains, with tlie exception of this passage), and 
 accordingly it is explained by liashi, Kirachi, Alshech, and 
 others, that man, whithersoever he may turn, cannot by strength 
 and skill attain great exaltation and prosperity.* Thus it is 
 according to the reading "i^nEDj although Kimchi maintains 
 that it can also be so explained with the reading 13'!'?^?, by 
 pointing to Dipnrp (Isa. x. 6) and the like. It is, however, 
 difficult to see why, in order to express the idea " from any- 
 where," three quarters of the heavens should be used and the 
 north left out. These three quarters of the heavens which are 
 said to represent the earthly sources of power (Hupfeld), are 
 a frame without the picture, and the thought, " from no side 
 (viz. of the earth) cometh promotion " — in itself whimsical in 
 expression — offers a wrong confirmation for the dissuasive that 
 has gone before. That, however, which the church longs for 
 is first of all not promotion, but redemption. On the other 
 liand, the LXX., Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate render: a 
 deserto montium (desertis montibus); and even Aben-Ezra 
 rightly takes it as a Palestinian designation of the south, when 
 lie supplements the aposiopesis by means of Dy'C'VJ:^ ''D (more 
 biblically =i37jy N^;, cf. cxxi. 1 sq.). The fact that the north is 
 not mentioned at all shows that it is a northern power which 
 arrogantly, even to blasphemy, threatens the small Israelitish 
 nation with destruction, and against which it looks for help 
 neither from the east and west, nor from the reed-staff of Egypt 
 (Isa. xxxvi. 6) beyond the desert of the mountains of Arabia 
 Petraea, but from Jahve alone, according to the watchword of 
 Isaiah: 13t3Db''n (Isa. xxxiii. 22). The negative thought is left 
 unfinished, the discourse hurrying on to the opposite affirmative 
 thouo-ht. The close connection of the two thouiihts is strik- 
 ingly expressed by the rhymes ^''^n and D^"l\ The ^3 of ver. 8 
 gives the confirmation of the negation from the opposite, that 
 which is denied; the ""S of ver. 9 confirms this confirmation. 
 
 * E.g. Bamidbar Bahha ch. xxii. ; -whereaa according to BeresliUli Rahha 
 cL lii. Dnn is equivalent to Di'n. 
 
PSALM LXXV. 10, 11. 341 
 
 If it were to be rendered, " and the wine foams," it would then 
 have been H'n ; "=1P^, which is undoubtedly accusative, also shows 
 that ]]\ is also not considered as anything else : and it (the cup) 
 
 foams (ion like _^v:>-1, to ferment, effervesce) with wine, is full 
 
 of mixture. Accordinfj to the ancient usao;e of the lanrruacre, 
 which is also followed by the Arabic, this is wine mixed with 
 water in distinction from merian, Arabic chamr memzug'e. Wine 
 was mixed with water not merely to dilute it, but also to make 
 it more pleasant ; hence ^DO signifies directly as much as to 
 pour out (yid. Hitzig on Isa. v. 22). It is therefore unnecessary 
 to understand spiced wine (Talmudic IID^ilp, conditxim), since 
 the collateral idea of weakening is also not necessarily associated 
 with the admixture of water. n^Q refers to Di3, which is used 
 as masculine, as in Jer. xxv. 15 ; the word is feminine elsewhere, 
 and changes its gender even here in y}'"']]^''^ (cf. Ezek. xxiii. 34). 
 In the fut. consec. 12'1 the historical signification of the con- 
 secutive is softened down, as is frequently the case, 'jjii^ affirms 
 the whole assertion that follows. The dregs of the cup — a dh'a 
 necessitas — all the wicked of the earth shall be compelled to sip 
 (Isa. li. 17), to drink out: they shall not be allowed to drink 
 and make a pause, but, compelled by Jahve, who has appeared 
 as Judge, they shall be obliged to drink it out with involuntary 
 eagerness even to the very last (Ezek. xxiii. 34). We have 
 here the primary passage of a figure, which has been already 
 hinted at in Ix. 5, and is filled in on a more and more magnifi- 
 cent and terrible scale in the prophets. Whilst Obadiah (ver. 
 16, cf. Job xxi. 20) contents himself with a mere outline sketch, 
 it is found again, in manifold applications, in Isaiah, Habakkuk, 
 and Ezekiel, and most frequently in Jeremiah (ch. xxv. 27 sq., 
 xlviii. 26, xHx. 12), where in ch. xxv. 15 sqq. it is embodied 
 into a symbolical act. Jahve's cup of intoxication (inasmuch 
 as non and "i^n, the burning of anger and intoxicating, fiery 
 wine, are put on an equality) is the judgment of wrath which 
 is meted out to sinners and given them to endure to the end. 
 
 Vers. 10, 11. The poet now turns back thankfully and 
 cheerfully from the prophetically presented future to his own 
 actual present. With "'3X1 he contrasts himself as a member of 
 the now still oppressed church with its proud oppressors : he will 
 be a perpetual herald of the ever memorable deed of redemp- 
 
342 PSALM LXXVI. 
 
 tion. ^^'^^?, says lie, for, when he gives himself up so entirely 
 to God the Redeemer, for him there is no dying. If he is a 
 member of the ecclesia pressa, then he will also be a member 
 of the ecclesia triumpkans ; for el vTro/jbepofxev, koX crvjJL^acnXev- 
 aofiev (2 Tim. ii. 12). In the certainty of this avjj,/3acn\eveiv, 
 and in the strength of God, which is even now mighty in the 
 weak one, he measures himself in ver. 11 by the standard of 
 what he expresses in ver. 8 as God's own work. On the figure 
 compare Deut. xxxiii. 17, Lam. ii. 3, and more especially the 
 four horns in the second vision of Zechariah, ch. ii. 1 sq. [i. 18 
 sq.]. The plural is both niJi.i^ and "•J")!', because horns that do 
 not consist of horn are meant. Horns are powers for offence 
 and defence. The spiritual horns maintain the sovereignty 
 over the natural. The Psalm closes as subjectively as it began. 
 The prophetic picture is set in a lyric frame. 
 
 PSALM LXXVL 
 
 PRAISE OF GOD AFTER HIS JUDGMENT HAS GONE FORTH. 
 
 2 IN Judah is Elohim become known, 
 In Israel is His name great. 
 
 3 He pitched His tabernacle in Salem, 
 And His dwelling-place in Zion. 
 
 4 There brake He the lightnings of the bow, 
 Shield and sword and weapons of war. (Sela.) 
 
 5 Brilliant art Thou, glorious before the mountains of prey ! 
 
 6 Spoiled were the stout-hearted ; 
 They fell asleep in their sleep. 
 
 And none of the valiant ones found their hands. 
 
 7 Before Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, 
 
 Both chariot and horse became deeply stupefied. 
 
 8 Thou, terrible art Thou, 
 
 And who can stand before Tliee when Thy wrath befrlnneth? 
 
 9 From heaven didst Thou cause judgment to sound forth — 
 The earth feared and became silent, 
 
 10 At the rising of Elohim to judgment, 
 
 To save all the afflicted of the land. (Sela.) 
 
PSALM LXXVI. 343 
 
 11 For tlie wrath of man is to Thee as praise, 
 
 Seeinii Thou with the remainder of the fuhiess of wrath 
 dost gird Thyself. 
 
 12 Vow and pay unto Jahve, your God, 
 
 Let all who are round about Him bring offerings to the 
 terrible One. 
 
 13 He cutteth down the snorting of despots, 
 He is terrible to the kings of the earth. 
 
 No Psalm has a greater right to follow Ps. Ixxv. than this, 
 which is inscribed To the Precentor^ with accompaniment of 
 stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. 
 Similar expressions {God of Jacob, Ixxv. 10, Ixxvi. 7; saints, 
 icLcked of the earth, Ixxv. 9, Ixxvi. 10) and the same impress 
 throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other 
 respects, too, they form a pair : Ps, Ixxv. prepares the way for 
 the divine deed of judgment as imminent, which Ps. Ixxvi. 
 celebrates as having taken place. For it is hardly possible for 
 there to be a Psalm the contents of which so exactly coincide 
 W'ith an historical situation of which more is known from other 
 sources, as the contents of this Psalm confessedly (LXX. tt/jo? 
 Tov 'Aaaupiov) does with the overthrow of the army of Assyria 
 before Jerusalem and its results. The Psalter contains very 
 similar Psalms which refer to a similar event in the reign of 
 Jehoshaphat, viz. to the defeat at that time of the allied neigh- 
 bouring peoples by a mutual massacre, which was predicted by 
 the Asaphite Jahaziel (vid. on Ps. xlvi. and Ixxxiii.). More- 
 over in Ps. Ixxvi. the " mountains of prey," understood of the 
 mountains of Seir with their mounted robbers, would point to 
 this incident. But just as in Ps. Ixxv. the reference to the 
 catastrophe of Assyria in the reign of Hezekiah was indicated 
 by the absence of any mention of the north, so in Ps. Ixxvi. 
 both the niSu' in ver. 4 and the description of the catastrophe 
 itself make this reference and no other natural. The points 
 of contact with Isaiah, and in part with Hosea (cf. ver. 4 with 
 Hos. ii. 20) and Nahum, are explicable from the fact that the 
 lyric went hand in hand with the prophecy of that period, as 
 Isaiah predicts for the time when Jahve shall discharge His 
 fury over Assyria, ch. xxx. 29, " Your song shall re-echo as in 
 the night, in which the feast is celebrated." 
 
344 PSALM Lxxvr. 2-4. 
 
 The Psalm is hexastichic, and a model of symmetrical 
 strophe-structure. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. In all Israel, and more especially in Judah, is 
 Elohim known (here, according to ver. 26, participle, whereas 
 in ix. 17 it is the finite verb), inasmuch as He has made Him- 
 self known (cf. ^V^, Isa. xxxiii. 13). His Name is great in 
 Israel, inasmuch as He has proved Himself to be a great One 
 and is praised as a great One. In Judah more especially, for in 
 Jerusalem, and that upon Zion, the citadel with the primeval 
 gates (xxiv. 7), He has His dwelling-place upon earth within 
 the borders of Israel. ^.-.'^ i^ the ancient name of Jerusalem ; 
 for the Salem of Melchizedek is one and the same city with 
 the Jerusalem of Adonizedek, Josh. x. 1. In this primeval 
 Salem God has i3^D, His tabernacle (= is"^. Lam. ii. 6, = in3p, 
 as in xxvii. 5), there iJ^J^i^^' -^^^^ dwelling-place, — a word else- 
 where used of the lair of the lion (civ. 22, Am. iii. 4) ; cf. on 
 the choice of words, Isa. xxxi. 9. The future of the result 
 "•"1)1 is an expression of the fact which is evident from God's 
 being known in Judah and His Name great in Israel. Ver. 4 
 tells what it is by which He has made Himself known and glori- 
 fied His Name. HE^, thitherwards, in that same place (as in 
 fact the accusative, in general, is used both in answer to the 
 question w here ? and whither 1), is only a fuller form for Di^', 
 
 as in Isa. xxii. 18, Ixv. 9, 2 Kings xxiii. 8, and frequently; ^ 
 
 (J) and l^SJ? (from nen) confirm the accusative value of the ah. 
 
 ^^'pr^rJy'"'. (with Phe raphatum, cf. on the other hand, Cant, 
 viii. 6*) arc the arrows swift as lightning that go forth (Job 
 xli. 20 [28]) from the bow ; side by side with these, two other 
 weapons are also mentioned, and finally everything that per- 
 tains to war is gathered up in the word '"'pHr'P (cf. IIos. ii. 20 
 [18]). God has broken in pieces the weapons of the worldly 
 power directed against Judah, and therewith this power itself 
 (Isa. xiv. 25), and consequently (in accordance with the pre- 
 diction IIos. i. 7, and Isa. ch. x., xiv. xvii., xxix., xxxi., xxxiii., 
 xxxvii,, and more particularly xxxi. 8) has rescued His people 
 
 * The pointing is here just as inconsistent as in n>n^\ and on the con- 
 trary n^Tio- 
 
PSALM LXXVI. 5-7. 845 
 
 by direct interposition, without their doing anj'thing in the 
 matter. 
 
 Vers. 5-7. Tlie " mountains of prey," for which the LXX. 
 has opecDv alwviasv (D"!^?), is an emblematical appellation for 
 the haughty possessors of power who also plunder every one 
 that comes near them,* or the proud and despoiling worldly 
 powers. Far aloft beyond these towers the glory of God. He 
 is "liN^, illustris, prop, illumined ; said of God : light-encircled, 
 fortified in light, in the sense of Dan. ii. 22, 1 Tim. vi. IG. 
 He is the "l"'"^^?, to whom the Lebanon of the hostile army of 
 the nations must succumb (Isa. x. 34). According to Solinus 
 (ed. Mommsen, p. 124) the Moors call Atlas Addirim. This 
 succumbing is described in vers. 6 sq. The strong of heart or 
 stout-hearted, the lion-hearted, have been despoiled, disarmed, 
 exuti ; V2)T\^^^_ \ is an Aramaizing prcet. Hithpo. (like "iSHn^j 2 
 Chron. XX. 35, cf. Dan. iv. 16, Isa. Ixiii. 3) with a passive sig- 
 nification. From ver. Qao we see that the becjinnincj of the 
 catastrophe is described, and therefore 103 (perhaps on that 
 account accented on the idt.^ is meant inchoatively : they have 
 fallen into their sleep, viz. the eternal sleep (Jer. li. 39, 57), 
 as Nahum says (ch. iii. 18) : thy shepherds sleep, hing of 
 Assyria, thy valiant ones rest. In ver. 6c we see them lying 
 in the last throes of death, and making a last effort to spring 
 up again. But they cannot find their hands, which they have 
 lifted up threateningly against Jerusalem : these are lamed, 
 motionless, rigid and dead ; cf. the phrases in Josh. viii. 20, 2 
 Sam. vii. 27, and the Talmudic phrase, "he did not find his 
 hands and feet in the school-house," i.e. he was entirely dis- 
 concerted and stupefied.;}: This field of corpses is the effect of 
 the omnipotent energy of the word of the God of Jacob ; cf. 
 in "lyjlj Isa. xvii. 13. Before Ilis threatening both war-chariot 
 and horse (1 — 1) are sunk into motionlessness and unco'nscious- 
 
 * One verse of a beautiful poem of the Mulmmmel which Ihn DucM, 
 the phylarch of the Beui Zumei?; an honoured poet of the steppe, dictated 
 to Consul Wetzstein runs thus : The noble are like a very lofty hill-side 
 upon which, when thou comest to it, thou fiudest an evening meal and 
 protection (t_?i<J^ li»jtl^). 
 
 t With orthophouic Gaja, vhl. Baer's ShtJieg-Sclzung, § 45. 
 
 X Dukes, Rahbinische Blumeiilese, S. 191. 
 
346 rsALM Lxxvi. s-is. 
 
 ness — an allusion to Ex. ch. xv., as in Isa. xliii. 17: wlio hringeth 
 out chariot and horse, army and heroes — together they faint 
 aicay, they shall never rise ; they have flickered out^ like a wick 
 they are extinguished. 
 
 Vers. 8-10. Nalmm also (cli. i. G) draws the same infer- 
 ence from the defeat of Sennacherib as the psalmist does in 
 ver. 8. T2»:5 K^':? (cf. Ruth ii. 7, Jer. xliv. 18), from the decisive 
 turning-point onwards, from the TS in ii, 5, when Thine anger 
 breaks forth. God sent forth His judiciary word from heaven 
 into the midst of the din of war of the hostile world : imme- 
 diately (cf. on the sequence of tlie tenses xlviii. 6, and on Hab. 
 iii. 10) it was silenced, the earth was seized with fear, and its 
 tumult was obliged to cease, when, namely, God arose on behalf 
 of His disquieted, suffering people, when He spoke as we read 
 in Isa. xxxiii. 10, and fulfilled the prayer offered in extreme 
 need in Isa. xxxiii. 2. 
 
 Vers. 11-13. The fact that has just been experienced is 
 substantiated in ver. 11 from a universal truth, which has 
 therein become outwardly manifest. The rao-e of men shall 
 praise Thee, i.e. must ultimately redound to Thy glory, inas- 
 much as to Thee, namely (ver. lib as to syntax like Ixxiii. 3^), 
 there always remains a ^'''iXtJ'j i.e. a still unexhausted remainder, 
 and that not merely of nDn^ but of nbn^ with which Thou canst 
 gird, i.e. arm, Thyself against such human rage, in order to 
 quench it. nbn nnxiJ' is the infinite store of wrath still avail- 
 able to God after human rage has done its utmost. Or perhaps 
 still better, and more fully answering to the notion of n''~iXL>' : 
 it is the store of the infinite fulness of wrath which still remains 
 on the side of God after human rage ('"i^H) has spent itself, 
 Avhen God calmly, and laughing (ii. 4), allows the Titans to do 
 as they please, and which is now being poured out. In con- 
 nection Vith the interpretation : with the remainder of the fury 
 (of liostile men) <\ilt Thou gird Thyself, i.e. it serves Thee only 
 as an ornament (Hupfeld), the alternation of HDn and ribn is 
 left unexplained, and liinri is alienated from its martial sense 
 (Isa. lix. 17, Ii. 9, ^yisd. v. 21 [20]), which is required by the 
 context. Ewald, like the LXX., reads ^^nrij eoprdaec aoi, in 
 connection with which, apart from the high-sounding expres- 
 sion, non JT'lXLi' {iyKaTaXei/x/jia evOvjilov) must denote the 
 remainder of malignity that is suddenly converted into its 
 
PSALM LXXVII. 347 
 
 opposite; and one does not see why what ver. 11a says con- 
 cerning rage is here limited to its remainder. Such an inex- 
 haustiveness in the divine wrath-power has been shown in what 
 lias just recently been experienced. Thus, then, are those who 
 belong to the people of God to vow and pay, i.e. (inasmuch as 
 the preponderance falls upon the second imperative) to pay 
 their vows; and all who are round about Him, i.e. all peoples 
 dwelling round about Him and His people (V2"'3p"P3j the sub- 
 ject to what follows, in accordance with which it is also 
 accented), are to bring offerings (Ixviii. 30) to God, who is 
 N'lio, i.e. the sum of all that is awe-inspiring. Thus is He 
 called in Isa. viii. 13; the summons accords with Isaiah's pre- 
 diction, according to which, in consequence of Jahve's deed of 
 judgment upon Assyria, Ethiopia presents himself to Him as 
 an offering (ch. xviii.), and with the fulfilment in 2 Chron. 
 xxxii. 23. Just so does ver. 13a resemble the language of 
 Isaiah; cf. Isa. xxv. 1-5, xxxiii. 11, xviii. 5: God treats the 
 snorting of the princes, i.e. despots, as the vine-dresser does the 
 wild shoots or branches of the vine-stock : He lops it, He cuts 
 it off, so that it is altogether ineffectual. It is the figure that 
 is sketched by Joel iv. [iii.] 13, then filled in by Isaiah, and 
 embodied as a vision in Apoc. xiv. 17-20, which is here indi- 
 cated. God puts an end to the defiant, arrogant bearing of 
 the tyrants of the earth, and becomes at last the feared of all 
 the kings of the earth — all kingdoms finally become God's and 
 His Christ's. 
 
 PSALM LXXVII. 
 
 COMFORT DERIVED FROM THE HISTORY OF THE PAST 
 DURING YEARS OF AFFLICTION. 
 
 2 I CALL unto Elohim, and will cry, 
 
 I call unto Elohim, that Pie may hearken unto me. 
 
 3 In the day of my distress do I seek the Lord ; 
 
 My hand is stretched out in the night without ceasing, 
 My soul refuseth to be comforted. 
 
 4 If I remember Elohim, I must groan ; 
 
 If I muse, my spirit languisheth. {Sela.) 
 
348 PSALM LXXVII. 
 
 5 Thou holdest mine eyelids open, 
 
 I am tossed to and fro, and I am speechless. 
 
 6 I consider the days of old, 
 The years of ancient times ; 
 
 7 I will remember my music in the night, 
 
 I will commune with my own heart, and my spirit maketh 
 diligent search. 
 
 8 Will the Lord cast off for ever, 
 And will He be favourable no more? 
 
 9 Is, then, His mercy passed away for ever. 
 
 Is it at an end with His promise to all generations? 
 
 10 Hath God forgotten to be gracious. 
 
 Or hath He drawn in in anger His tender mercies ? ! {Sela.) 
 
 11 Thereupon say I to myself: my decree of affliction is this, 
 The years of the right hand of the Most High. 
 
 12 With praise do I remember the deeds of Jab, 
 
 Yea, I will call to mind Tliy wondrous doing from olden 
 times, 
 
 13 And meditate on all Thy work, 
 And will muse over Thy doings. 
 
 14 Elohim, in holiness is Thy way: 
 Where is there a God, great as Elohim? 
 
 15 Thou art God alone, doing wonders, 
 
 Thou hast revealed Thy might among the peoples. 
 
 16 Thou hast with uplifted arm redeemed Thy people, 
 The sons of Jacob and Joseph. {Sela.) 
 
 17 The waters saw Thee, Elohim, 
 The waters saw Thee, they writhed, 
 The depths also trembled. 
 
 18 The clouds poured out waters, 
 Tiie skies rumbled. 
 
 Thine arrows also went to and fro. 
 
 19 Thy thunder resounded in the whirlwind, 
 The lightnings lightened the world, 
 The earth trembled and shook. 
 
 20 In the sea was Thy way. 
 And Thy path in great waters, 
 
 And Thy footsteps were not to be discerned. 
 
PSALM Lxxvir. 349 
 
 21 Thou hast led Tliy people like a flock 
 By the hand of Moses and Aaron. 
 
 " The earth feared and became still,'^ says Ps. Ixxvi. 9 ; the 
 earth trembled and shook, says Ps. Ixxvii. 19 : this common 
 thoufTht is the strinfj on which these two Psalms are strunir. 
 In a general way it may be said of Ps. Ixxvii., that the poet 
 flees from the sorrowful present away into the memory of the 
 years of olden times, and consoles himself more especially with 
 the deliverance out of Egypt, so rich in wonders. As to the 
 rest, however, it remains obscure what kind of national afllic- 
 tion it is which drives him to find his refuge from the God 
 who is now hidden in the God who was formerly manifest. 
 At any rate it is not a purely personal affliction, but, as is 
 shown by the consolation sought in the earlier revelations of 
 power and mercy in connection with the national history, an 
 affliction shared in company with the whole of his people. In 
 the midst of this hymnic retrospect the Psalm suddenly breaks 
 off, so tiiat Olshausen is of opinion that it is mutilated, and 
 Tholuck that the author never completed it. But as Ps. Ixxvii. 
 and Ixxxi. show, it is the Asaphic manner thus to close with an 
 historical picture without the line of thought recurring to its 
 commencement. Where our Psalm leaves off, Hab. ch. iii. 
 goes on, taking it up from that point like a continuation. For 
 the prophet begins with the prayer to revive that deed of 
 redemption of the Mosaic days of old, and in the midst of wratli 
 to remember mercy ; and in expression and figures which are 
 borrowed from our Psalm, he then beholds a fresh deed of 
 redemption by which that of old is eclipsed. Thus much, at 
 least, is therefore very clear, that Ps. Ixxvii. is older than 
 Habakkuk. Hitzig certainly calls the psalmist the reader and 
 imitator of Hab. ch. iii. ; and Philippson considers even the 
 mutual relationship to be accidental and confined to a general 
 similarity of certain expressions. We, however, believe that 
 we have proved in our Commentary on Habakkuk (1843), S. 
 118-125, that the mutual relationship is one that is deeply 
 grounded in the prophetic type of Habakkuk, and that the 
 Psalm is heard to re-echo in Habakkuk, not Habakkuk in the 
 language of the psalmist ; just as in general the Asaphic Psalms 
 are full of boldly sketched outlines to be filled in by later pro- 
 
350 PSALM LXXVir. 2-4 
 
 plietic writers. We also now further put this question : how 
 was it possible for the gloomy complaint of Ps. Ixxvii., which 
 is turned back to the history of the past, to mould itself after 
 Hab. ch. ill., that joyous looking forward into a bright and 
 blessed future ? Is not the prospect in Hab. ch. iii. rather the 
 result of that retrospect in Ps. l.xxvii., the confidence in being 
 heard which is kindled by this Psalm, the realizing as present, 
 in the certainty of being heard, of a new deed of God in which 
 the deliverances in the days of Moses are antitypically revived? 
 
 More than this, viz. that the Psalm is older than Habakkuk, 
 who entered upon public life in the reign of Josiah, or even as 
 early as in the reign of Manasseh, cannot be maintained. For 
 it cannot be inferred from ver. 16 and ver. 3, compared with 
 Gen. xxxvii. 35, that one chief matter of pain to the psalmist 
 was the fall of the kingdom of the ten tribes which took place 
 in his time. Nothing more, perhaps, than the division of the 
 kingdom which had already taken place seems to be indicated 
 in these passages. The bringing of the tribes of Joseph pro- 
 minently forward is, however, peculiar to the Asaphic circle of 
 songs. 
 
 The task of the precentor is assigned by the inscription to 
 Jeduthun (^Chet/ub: Jedithun), for P (xxxix. 1) alternates with 
 7V (Ixii. 1) ; and the idea that jinn'' denotes the whole of the 
 Jeduthunites ("overseer over . . .") might be possible, but 
 is without example. 
 
 The strophe schema of the Psalm is 7. 12. 12. 12. 2. The 
 first three strophes or groups of stichs close with Sela. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The poet is resolved to pray without intermis- 
 sion, and he prays ; for his soul is comfortless and sorely temptetl 
 by the vast distance between the former days and the present 
 times. According to the pointing, T]^.']] appears to be meant 
 to be imperative after the form ^'"^\?>], which occurs instead of 
 i^ppn and rh'i2J^r\, cf. xciv. 1, Isa. xliii. 8, Jer. xvii. 18, and the 
 mode of writing ?V.\^\}, cxlii. 5, 2 Kings viii. 6, and frequently ; 
 therefore et audi = ut aiulias (cf. 2 Sam. xxi. 3). But such 
 an isolated form of address is not to be tolerated; I''f^*^!1. has 
 been regarded as jyerf. consec. in the sense of ut audiat, although 
 this modification of \''^^J^. into pTxn in connection with the appear- 
 ing of the ^Yaw consec. cannot be supported in any other 
 
PSALM LXXVII. 5-10. 351 
 
 instance (E\v. § 234, e), and Kimclii on this account tries to 
 persuade himself to that which is impossible, viz. that Pt^'H in 
 respect of sound stands for Pt^,-"!. The preterites in ver. 3 
 express that which has commenced and which will go on. The 
 poet labours in his present time of affliction to press forward to 
 the Lord, who has withdrawn from him ; his hand is diffused, i.e. 
 stretched out (not: poured out, for the radical meaning of "1J:, 
 as the Syriac shows, is protrahere), in the night-time without 
 wearying and leaving off ; it is fixedly and stedfastly (nj^DXj 
 as it is expressed in Ex. xvii. 12) stretched out towards heaven. 
 His soul is comfortless, and all comfort up to the present re- 
 bounds as it were from it (cf. Gen. xxxvii. 35, Jer. xxxi. 15). 
 If he remembers God, who was once near to him, then he is com- 
 pelled to groan (cf. Iv. 18, 3; and on the cohortative form of 
 a Lamed He verb, cf. Ges. § 75, 6), because He has hidden 
 Himself from him ; if he muses, in order to find Him again, 
 then his spirit veils itself, i.e. it sinks into night and feebleness 
 (sjiiiyrin as in cvii. 5, cxlii. 4, cxliii. 4). Each of the two mem- 
 bers of ver. 4 are protasis and apodosis ; concerning this emo- 
 tional kind of structure of a sentence, vi^.'Ewald, § 357, b. 
 
 Vers. 5-10. He calls his eyelids the "guards of my eyes." 
 He who holds these so that they remain open when they want 
 to shut together for sleep, is God ; for his looking up to Him 
 kee])s the poet awake in spite of all overstraining of his powers. 
 Hupfeld and others render thus: "Thou hast held, i.e. caused 
 to last, the night-watches of mine eyes," — which is affected in 
 thought and expression. The preterites state what has been 
 hitherto and has not yet come to a close. He still endures, as 
 formerly, such thumps and blows within him, as though he lay 
 upon an anvil (0^?), and his voice fails him. Then silent 
 soliloquy takes the place of audible prayer; he throws himself 
 back in thought to the days of old (cxliii. 5), the years of past 
 periods (Isa. li. 9), which were so rich in the proofs of the 
 power and loving-kindness of the God who was then manifest, 
 but is now hidden. He remembers the happier past of his 
 people and his own, inasmuch as he now in the niglit purposely 
 calls back to himself in his mind the time when joyful thank- 
 fulness impelled him to the song of praise accompauictl by the 
 music of the harp (i^^"!?? belun'^-s according to the accents to 
 the verb, not to TiriJ, although that construction certainly is 
 
352 rsALM Lxxvii. ii-ie. 
 
 stronrrly commended by parallel passages like xvi. 7, xlli. 9, 
 xcii. 3, cf. Job XXXV. 10), in place of which, crying and sighing 
 and gloomy silence have now entered. He gives himself up to 
 musing " with his heart," i.e. in the retirement of his inmost 
 nature, inasmuch as he allows his thoughts incessantly to hover 
 to and fro between the present and the former days, and in 
 consequence of this {fut. consec. as in xlii. 6) his spirit betakes 
 itself to scrupulizing (what the LXX. reproduces with ckoX- 
 Xeiv, Aquila with (TKoXevetv) — his conflict of temptation grows 
 fiercer. Now follow the two doubting questions of the tempted 
 one : he asks in different applications, vers. 8-10 (cf. Ixxxv. 6), 
 whether it is then all at an end with God's loving-kindness and 
 promise, at the same time saying to himself, that this never- 
 theless is at variance with the unchangeableness of His nature 
 (Mai. iii. 6) and the inviolability of His covenant. DDX (only 
 occurring as a 3. prcet.) alternates with "1^3 (xii. 2). niin is an 
 infinitive construct formed after the manner of the Lamed He 
 verbs, which, however, does also occur as infinitive absolute 
 (niE'^j Ezek. xxxvi. 3, cf. on xvii. 3) ; Gesenius and Olshausen 
 (who doubts this infinitive form, § 245, /) explain it, as do 
 Aben-Ezra and Kimchi, as the plural of a substantive nsn^ but 
 in the passage cited from Ezekiel (yid. Hitzig) such a substan- 
 tival plural is syntactically impossible. D''pnn YP\^ is to draw 
 together or contract and draw back one's compassion, so that 
 it does not manifest itself outwardly, just as he who will not 
 give shuts (rSiPl) his hand (Deut. xv. 7 ; cf. supra, xvii. 10). 
 
 Vers. 11-16. With 1DX1 the poet introduces the self-en- 
 couragement with which he has hitherto calmed himself when 
 such questions of temptation were wont to intrude themselves 
 upon him, and with which he still soothes himself. In the 
 rendering of ^nipn (with the tone regularly drawn back before 
 the following monosyllable) even the Targum wavers between 
 ^liyitt (my afiiiction) and ""riU'S (my supplication) ; and just in 
 the same way, in the rendering of ver. Hi, between VJri'j'X 
 (have changed) and PJC' (years), rii:^' cannot possibly signify 
 "change" in an active sense, as Luther renders: "The right 
 hand of the Most High can change everything," but only a 
 liaving become different (LXX. and the Quinta aWoiQiai<;, 
 Symmachus emhevTepwai.'i), after which Maurer, Hupfeld, and 
 Hitzig render thus: my allliction is this, that the right hand of 
 
rSALM LXXVII. 11-16. 353 
 
 the Most Higli has changed. But after we liave read nuc' in 
 ver. 6 as a poetical plural of nri, a year, we have first of all to 
 see whether it may not have the same signification here. And 
 many possible interpretations present themselves. It can be 
 interpreted : " my supplication is this : years of the right hand 
 of the Most High" (viz. that years like to the former ones may 
 be renewed) ; but this thought is not suited to the introduction 
 with "IDNI. We must either interpret it : my sickness, viz. 
 from the side of God, i.e. the temptation which befalls me from 
 Him, the affliction ordained by Him for me (Aquila appcoarla 
 /j-ov), is this (cf. Jer. x. 19) ; or, since in this case the unam- 
 biguous ''Hi-'n would have been used instead of the Piel: my 
 being pierced, my wounding, my sorrow is this (Symmachus 
 T/3coo-t9 fiov, inf. Kal from P/H, cix. 22, after the form Hisn 
 from |Jn) — they are years of the right hand of the Most High, 
 i.e. those which God's mighty hand, under which I have to 
 humble myself (1 Pet. v. 6), has formed and measured out to 
 me. In connection with this way of taking ver. \lh, ver. 12a 
 is now suitably and easily attached to what has gone before. 
 The poet says to himself that the afSiction allotted to him 
 has its time, and will not last for ever. Therein lies a hope 
 which makes the retrospective glance into the happier past a 
 source of consolation to him. In ver. 12a the Chethib "i''3IS is 
 to be retained, for the ""D in ver. 12Z» is thus best explained : 
 " I bring to remembrance, i.e. make known with praise or cele- 
 brate (Isa. Ixiii. 7), the deeds of Jah, for I will remember Thy 
 wondrous doing from days of old." His sorrow over the 
 distance between the present and the past is now mitigated by 
 the hope that God's right hand, which now casts down, will 
 also again in His own time raise up. Therefore he will now, 
 as the advance from the indicative to the cohortative (cf. xvii. 
 15) imports, thoroughly console and refresh himself with God's 
 work of salvation in all its miraculous manifestations from the 
 earliest times. ^^ is the most concise and comprehensive 
 appellation for the God of the history of redemption, who, as 
 Ilabakkuk prays, will revive His work of redemption in the 
 midst of the years to come, and bring it to a glorious issue- 
 To Him who then was and who will yet come the poet now 
 brings praise and celebration. The way of God is His historical 
 rule, and more especially, as in Hab. iii. 6, ribvn, His redemp- 
 VOL. II. 23 
 
354 PSALM LXXVII. 17-20. 
 
 tive rule. The primary passage Ex. xv. 11 (cf. Ps. Ixvill. 25) 
 shows tliat 5:n'P5 is not to be rendered " in the sanctuary" 
 (LXX. €v TO) aryiw), but "in holiness" (Symmachus iv ar^i- 
 aajjLw). Holy and glorious in love and in anger, God goes 
 through history, and shows Plimself there as the incomparable 
 One, with whose greatness no being, and least of all any one of 
 the beingless gods, can be measured. He is PNn^ the God, 
 God absolutely and exclusively, a miracle-working (NPS ^'^V^ 
 not N73 nb'i;^ cf. Gen. i. 11*) God, and a God who by these 
 very means reveals Himself as the living and supra-mundane 
 God. He has made His omnipotence known among the 
 peoples, viz., as ver. 16 says, by the redemption of His people, 
 the tribes of Jacob and the double tribe of Joseph, out of 
 Kgypt, — a deed of His arm, i.e. the work of His own might, 
 by which He has proved Himself to all peoples and to the 
 whole earth to be the Lord of the world and the God of salva- 
 tion (Ex. ix. 16, XV. 14). y^"'?3, hrachio scil. extenso (Ex. vi. 6, 
 Deut. iv. 34, and frequently), just as in Ixxv. 6, ""^JV?, collo 
 scil. erecto. The music here strikes in ; the whole strophe is 
 an overture to the following hymn in celebration of God, the 
 Kedeemer out of Egypt. 
 
 Vers. 17-20. When He directed His glance towards the 
 Red Sea, which stood in the way of His redeemed, the waters 
 immediately fell as it were into pangs of travail (^''''0)> as in 
 Plab. iii. 10, not ^''^'l), also the billows of the deep trembled ; 
 for before the omnipotence of God the Redeemer, which creates 
 a new thing in the midst of the old creation, the rules of the 
 ordinary course of nature become unhinged. There now follow 
 in vers. 18, 19 lines taken from the picture of a thunder-storm. 
 The poet wishes to describe how all the powers of nature be- 
 came the servants of the majestic revelation of Jahve, when He 
 executed judgment on Egypt and delivered Israel. D"]t, Poel 
 of D'lt (cognate 3"]|, ^"]T, ^Ethiopic Dil, to rain), signifies inten- 
 
 * The joining of the second word, accented on the first syllable and 
 closely allied in sense, on to the first, which is accented on the ultima (the 
 tone of which, under certain circumstances, retreats to the penult., iiDD 
 *1inx) or monosyllabic, by means of the hardening Dagesh (the so-called 
 p^m), only takes place when that fii-^st word ends in n — or n — , not when 
 
 T 
 
 it euds in n — . 
 
PSALM LXXVII. 17-20. 355 
 
 sively : to stream forth in full torrents. Instead of this line, 
 Habakkuk, with a change of the letters of the primary passacre, 
 which is usual in Jeremiah more especially, has t3y D';^ D"]T. 
 The rumbling which the D^'PO^* cause to sound forth (i^n:^ cf. 
 Ixviii. 34) is the thunder. The arrows of God ('T'>"f^> ^'^ 
 Habakkuk T^.^) are the lightnings. The Hithpa. (instead of 
 which Habakkuk has ^2?n^) depicts their busy darting hither 
 and thither in the service of the omnipotence that sends them 
 forth. It is open to question whether ?5p| denotes the roll of 
 the thunder (Aben-Ezra, Maurer, Bottcher) : the sound of Thy 
 thunder went rolling forth (cf. xxix. 4), — or the whirlwind 
 accompanying the thunder-storm (Hitzig) ; the usage of the 
 language (Ixxxiii. 14, also Ezek. x. 13, Syriac golgolo) is in 
 favour of the latter. On ver. 196c cf. the echo in xcvii. 4. 
 Amidst such commotions in nature above and below Jahve 
 strode along through the sea, and made a passage for His re- 
 deemed. His person and His working were invisible, but the 
 result which attested His active presence was visible. He took 
 His way through the sea, and cut His path [Chethib plural, 
 T'P''3l^^j as in Jer. xviii. 15) through great waters (or, according 
 to Habakkuk, caused His horses to go through), without the 
 
 * We have indicated on xviii. 12, xxxvi. 6, that the D''pnw' are so called 
 from their thinness, but passages like xviii. 12 and the one before us do 
 not favoiu- this idea. One would think that we have more likely to go 
 back to ^^js^^-, to be distant (whence sithk, distance ; saldk, distant), and 
 that cpnc' signifies the distances, like D'^OtJ', the heights, from pnty =: 
 stihk, in distinction from pniy, an atom (Wetzstein). But the Hebrew 
 affords no trace of this verbal stem, whereas pntJ*, ^^^o contundere, 
 
 comminuere (Neshwan : to pound to dust, used e.g. of the apothecary's 
 drugs), is just as much Hebrew as Aiabic. And the word is actually asso- 
 ciated with this verb by the Arabic mind, inasmuch as v^^^j < jI^,^ 
 
 (nuhcs tenues, nuhila tenuia) is explained by /jJ^j i 'l:^^. Accordingly 
 
 D^pnii^, according to its primary notion, siguities that which spreads itself 
 out thin and fine over a wide surface, and, according to the usage of the 
 language, in contrast with the thick and heavy y'^i^^ ^JS> the uppermost 
 
 stratum of the atmosphere, and then the clouds, as also ^Uczl, and the 
 
 collective ,^*Ai and ^\J^ (vid. Isaiah, i. 156, note 1), is not first of all 
 the clouds, but the surface of the sky that is turned to us (Fleischer). 
 
356 PSALM LXXVIII. 
 
 footprints (nbpy witli Dag. dirimens) of IHm who passes and 
 passed through being left behind to show it. 
 
 Ver. 21. If we have divided the strophes correctly, then 
 this is the refrain-like close. Like a flock God led His 
 people by Moses and Aaron (Num. xxxiii. 1) to the promised 
 goal. At this favourite figure, which is as it were the mono- 
 gram of the Psalms of Asaph and of his school, the poet stops, 
 losing himself in the old history of redemption, which affords 
 him comfort in abundance, and is to him a prophecy of the 
 future lying behind the afflictive years of the present. 
 
 PSALM LXXVIII. 
 
 THE WAENING-MIRROR OF HISTORY FROM MOSES 
 TO DAVID. 
 
 1 GIVE ear, O my people, to my teaching. 
 Incline your ear to the utterances of my mouth. 
 
 2 I will open my mouth with a parable, 
 
 I will pour forth riddles out of the days of old. 
 
 3 What we have heard, and become conscious of, 
 And our fathers have told us, 
 
 4 We will not hide from their children ; 
 
 Telling to the generation to come the glorious deeds of 
 
 Jalive, 
 And His proof of power and His wonders, which He hath 
 
 done. 
 
 5 He hath established a testimony in Jacob 
 And laid down a law in Israel, 
 
 Which He hath commanded our fathers 
 To make it known unto their children ; 
 
 6 In order that the generation to come might know it, the 
 
 children born afterwards, 
 That they might arise and tell it again to their children, 
 
 7 And might place their confidence in Elohim, 
 And might not forget the deeds of God, 
 And might keep His commandments — 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 357 
 
 8 And might not become as their fathers a stubborn and re- 
 
 bellious generation, 
 A generation that set not its heart aright, 
 And whose spirit was not faithful towards God. 
 
 9 The sons of Ephraim, the bow-equipped archers, 
 Turned back in the day of battle. 
 
 10 They kept not the covenant of Elohim, 
 And in His law they refused to walk. 
 
 11 And they forgot His works 
 
 And His wonders, which He showed them. 
 
 12 In the sight of their fathers He proved Himself to be a 
 
 miracle-worker, 
 In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 
 
 13 Pie divided the sea, and led them through, 
 And piled the waters up as a heap ; 
 
 14 And led them in the cloud by day, 
 And the whole night in a fiery light. 
 
 15 He clave rocks in the desert, 
 
 And gave them as it were the floods of the sea to drink 
 abundantly, 
 
 16 And brought forth streams out of the rock, 
 And caused the waters to flow down like rivers. 
 
 17 They, however, continued further to sin against Him, 
 
 To act rebelliously towards the Most High in a parched land. 
 
 18 They tempted God in their heart 
 To desire food for their soul, 
 
 19 And spake against Elohira, they said : 
 
 " Will God be able to pre])are a table in the desert? 
 
 20 Behold He smote rock, and waters gushed out. 
 And streams dashed along — 
 
 Will He also be able to give bread. 
 Or to provide flesh for His people ? " 
 
 21 Therefore, hearing this, Jahve was wroth, 
 And fire kindled in Jacob, 
 
 And anfjer also ascended against Israel. 
 
 22 For they believed not in Elohim, 
 And trusted not in His salvation. 
 
358 PSALM LXXVIII. 
 
 23 Nevertheless He commanded the clouds above, 
 And the doors of heaven He opened; 
 
 24 He rained upon them manna to eat, 
 And corn of heaven gave He unto thera. 
 
 25 Bread of angels did man eat, 
 
 Meat He sent them in superabundance. 
 
 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heaven, 
 And by His power brought on the south wind, 
 
 27 And rained flesh upon them like the dust, 
 And winged fowls as the sand of the seas. 
 
 28 And it fell within the circuit of its camp, 
 Round about its tents. 
 
 29 Then they did eat and were well filled, 
 And their desire He fulfilled to them. 
 
 30 Still they were not estranged from their desire, 
 The food was still in their mouth, 
 
 31 Then the anger of Elohim went up against them, 
 And slew among their fat ones. 
 
 And smote down the young men of Israel. 
 
 32 For all this they sinned still more. 
 And believed not in His wonders. 
 
 33 Then He made their days vanish in a breath, 
 And their years in sudden haste. 
 
 34 When He slew them, they inquired after Him, 
 They turned back and sought God diligently, 
 
 35 And remembered that Elohiin was their rock, 
 And God the Most High their Redeemer. 
 
 36 They appeased Him with their mouth, 
 And with their tongue they lied unto Him ; 
 
 37 But their heart was not stedfast with Him, 
 
 And they did not prove faithful in His covenant. 
 
 38 Nevertheless He is full of compassion — 
 He forgiveth iniquity and doth not destroy, 
 And hath ofttimes restrained His anger. 
 And stirred not up all His fury. 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 359 
 
 39 He remembered that they were flesh, 
 
 A breath of wind that passeth by and returneth not. 
 
 40 How oft did they provoke Him in the desert, 
 Did they grieve Him in the wilderness I 
 
 41 And again and again they sought God, 
 And vexed the Holy One of Israel. 
 
 42 They remembered not His hand, 
 
 The day when He delivered them from the oppressor, 
 
 43 When He set His signs in Egypt 
 
 And His remarkable deeds in the field of Zoan. 
 
 44 He turned their Niles into blood. 
 
 And their running waters they could not drink. 
 
 45 He sent gad-flies against them, which devoured them, 
 And frogs, which brought destruction upon them. 
 
 46 He gave the fruit of their field to the cricket, 
 And their labour to the locust ; 
 
 47 He smote down their vine with hail. 
 And their sycamore-trees with hail-stones ; 
 
 48 And He gave over their cattle to the hail, 
 And their flocks to the lightnings. 
 
 49 He let loose upon them the burning of His anger, 
 Indignation and fury and distress, 
 
 An embassy of angels of misfortune; 
 
 50 He made plain a way for His anger, 
 He spared not their soul from death, 
 
 And their life He gave over to the pestilence. 
 
 51 He smote all the first-born in Egypt, 
 
 The firstlings of manly strength in the tents of Ham. 
 
 52 Then He made His own people to go forth like sheep, 
 And guided them like a flock in the desert ; 
 
 53 And He led them safely without fear, 
 But their enemies the sea covered. 
 
 54 He brought them to His holy border. 
 
 To the mountain, whicli His right hand had acquired; 
 
 55 He drove out nations before them. 
 
SCO PSALM LXXVIIL 
 
 And allotted them as a marked out inlierltance, 
 And settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 
 
 56 Nevertheless they tempted and provoked Elohim the Most 
 
 High, 
 
 And His testimonies they kept not. 
 
 57 They turned back and fell away like their fathers, 
 They turned aside like a deceitful bow. 
 
 58 They incensed Him by their high places, 
 And by their idols they excited His jealousy. 
 
 59 Elohim heard and was wroth, 
 
 And became greatly wearied with Israel. 
 
 60 Then He cast off the tabernacle of Shiloh, 
 The tent which He had pitched among men ; 
 
 61 He gave His might into captivity, 
 
 And His glory into the oppressor's hand. 
 
 62 He gave over His people to the sword, 
 And was wroth concerning His inheritance. 
 
 63 Their young men fire devoured, 
 
 And for their maidens they sang no bridal song, 
 
 64 Their priests, by the sword they fell, 
 And their widows could not mourn. 
 
 65 Then the Lord awaked as one sleeping, 
 As a hero, shouting from wine, 
 
 GQ And smote their oppressors behind. 
 
 Eternal reproach did He put upon them — 
 
 67 And He despised the tent of Joseph, 
 And the tribe of Ephraim He chose not. 
 
 68 He chose the tribe of Judah, 
 
 The mount Zion, which He hath loved. 
 
 69 And He built, as the heights of heaven. His sanctuary, 
 Like the earth which Pie hath founded for ever. 
 
 70 And He chose David His servant. 
 And took him from the sheep-folds ; 
 
 71 Following the ewes that gave suck He took him away 
 To pasture Jacob His people, 
 
 And Israel His inheritance. 
 
PSALM LXXVIir. 361 
 
 72 And he pastured them according to the integrity of his 
 heart, 
 And with judicious hands he led them. 
 
 In the last verse of Ps. Ixxvii. Israel appears as a flock 
 which is led by Moses and Aaron ; in the last verse of Ps. 
 Ixxviii. as a flock which is led by David, of a pure heart, with 
 judicious hands. Both Psalms also meet in thoughts and ex- 
 pressions, just as the ^?^? of both leads one to expect. Ps. 
 Ixxviii. is called MasMl, a meditation. The word would also be 
 appropriate here in the signification " a didactic poem." For 
 the history of Israel is recapitulated here from the leading 
 forth out of Egypt through the time of the Judges down to 
 David, and that with the practical application for the present 
 age that they should cleave faithfully to Jahve, more faith- 
 fully than the rebellious generation of the fathers. After the 
 manner of the Psalms of Asaph the Ephraimites are made 
 specially prominent out of the whole body of the people, their 
 disobedience as well as the rejection of Shiloh and the election 
 of David, by which it was for ever at an end with the supremacy 
 of Ephraim and also of his brother-tribe of Benjamin. 
 
 The old Asaphic origin of the Psalm has been contested : — 
 (1) Because ver. 9 may be referred to the apostasy of Ephraim 
 and of the other tribes, that is to say, to the division of the 
 kingdom. But this reference is capriciously imagined to be 
 read in ver. 9. (2) Because the Psalm betrays a malice, indeed 
 a national hatred against Ephraim, such as is only explicable 
 after the apostasy of the ten tribes. But the alienation and 
 jealousy between Ephraim and Judah is older than the rupture 
 of the kingdom. The northern tribes, in consequence of their 
 position, which was more exposed to contact with the heathen 
 world, had already assumed a different character from that of 
 Judah living in patriarchal seclusion. They could boast of a 
 more excited, more martial history, one richer in exploit ; in the 
 time of the Judges especially, there is scarcely any mention of 
 Judah. Hence Judah was little thought of by them, especially 
 by powerful Ephraim, which regarded itself as the foremost 
 tribe of all the tribes. From the beginning of Saul's persecu- 
 tion of David, however, when the stricter principle of the south 
 came first of all into decisive conflict for the mastery with the 
 
362 PSALM LXXVIII. 1-11. 
 
 more lax principle of the Ephraimites, until the rebellion of 
 Jeroboam against Solomon, there runs through the history of 
 Israel a series of facts which reveal a deep reft between Judah 
 and the other tribes, more especially Benjamin and Ephraim. 
 Though, therefore, it were true that a tone hostile to Ephraim 
 is expressed in the Psalm, this would not be any evidence 
 against its old Asaphic origin, since the psalmist rests upon 
 facts, and, without basing the preference of Judah upon merit, 
 he everywhere contemplates the sin of Ephraim, without any 
 Judeean boasting, in a connection with the sin of the whole 
 nation, which involves all in the responsibility. Nor is ver. 
 69 against Asaph the cotemporary of David ; for Asaph may 
 certainly have seen the building of the Temple of Solomon as 
 it towered upwards to the skies, and Caspari in his Essay on 
 the Holy One of Israel {Luther. Zeitschrift, 1844, 3) has 
 shown that even the divine name ^^'i'^] t^'Hi? does not militate 
 against him. We have seen in connection with Ps. Ixxvi, how 
 deeply imbued Isaiah's language is with that of the Psalms of 
 Asaph. It cannot surprise us if Asaph is Isaiah's predecessor 
 in the use of the name " the Holy One of Israel." The fact, 
 however, that the writer of the Psalm takes the words and 
 colours of his narration from all five books of the Pentateuch, 
 with the exception of Leviticus, is not opposed to our view of 
 the origin of the Pentateuch, but favourable to it. The author 
 of the Book of Job, with whom in ver. 64 he verbally coin- 
 cides, is regarded by us as younger ; and the points of contact 
 with other Psalms inscribed " by David," " by the sons of 
 Korah," and " by Asaph," do not admit of being employed for 
 ascertaining his time, since the poet is by no means an unin- 
 dependent imitator. 
 
 The manner of representation which characterizes the Psalm 
 becomes epical in its extension, but is at the same time concise 
 after the sententious style. The separate historical statements 
 have a gnome-like finish, and a gem-like elegance. Tlie whole 
 falls into two principal parts, vers. 1-37, 38-72 ; the second 
 part passes over from the God-tempting unthankfulness of the 
 Israel of the desert to thajt of the Israel of Canaan. Every 
 three strophes form one group. 
 
 Vers. 1-11. The poet begins very similarly to the poet of 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 1-11. 363 
 
 Ps. xHx. He comes forward among tlie people as a preacher, 
 and demands for his tova a willinc:^, attentive hearincr. min is 
 the word for every human doctrine or instruction, especially 
 for the prophetic discourse which sets forth and propagates the 
 substance of the divine teaching. Asaph is a prophet, hence 
 ver. 2 is quoted in Matt. xiii. 34 sq. as pr}6ev Sea rov irpoc^rjTov* 
 He here recounts to the people their history D'lil'-'iip^ from that 
 Egypteeo-Sinaitic age of yore to w'hich Israel's national inde- 
 pendence and specific position in relation to the rest of the 
 world goes back. It is not, however, with the external aspect 
 of the history that he has to do, but with its internal teachings. 
 7^)2 is an allegory or parable, irapa^oXri^ more particularly the 
 apoplithegm as the characteristic species of poetry belonging to 
 the Chohna, and then in general a discourse of an elevated 
 style, full of figures, thoughtful, pithy, and rounded. HTn is 
 that which is entangled, knotted, involved, perplexe dictum. 
 The poet, however, does not mean to say that he will literally 
 discourse gnomic sentences and propound riddles, but that he 
 will set forth the history of the fathers after the manner of a 
 parable and riddle, so that it may become as a parable, i.e. a 
 didactic history, and its events as marks of interrogation and 
 nota-bene's to the present age. The LXX. renders thus: 
 dvoi^Q) iv Trapa^oXal'i to (xrofia fxov, (pOey^o/xat 'irpo/3\7]/xaTa 
 air dp^ij<;. Instead of this the Gospel by Matthew has : avoi^oy 
 ev 7rapa^o\al<; to <TTo/J,a fioVj epev^ofiai KeKpufifieva utto kutu- 
 /3oA,r}9 {Koafiou), and recognises in this language of the Psalm 
 a prophecy of Clirist ; because it is moulded so appropriately 
 for the mouth of Him who is the Fulfiller not only of the Law 
 and of Prophecy, but also of the vocation of the prophet. It 
 is the object-clause to *in33, and not a relative clause belonging 
 to the " I'iddles out of the age of yore," that follows in ver. 3 
 with 1|^'^5, for that which has been heard only becomes riddles 
 by the appropriation and turn the poet gives to it. Ver. 3 
 begins a new period (cf. Ixix. 27, Jer. xiv. 1, and frequently) : 
 What we have heard, and in consequence thereof known, and 
 what our fathers have told us (word for word, like xliv. 2, 
 
 * The reading lix 'Uautov toD vpo^vitov is, although erroneous, never- 
 theless ancient ; since even the Clementiae Homilies introduce this passage 
 as the language of Isaiah. 
 
364 PSALM LXXVIII. 1-11. 
 
 Jiidg. vi. 13), that will we not hide from their children (cf. 
 Job XV. 18). The accentuation is perfectly correct. The 
 Bella by Dn''J20 has a greater distinctive force than the Relia 
 by jnnx (11*1?) ; it is therefore to be rendered : telling to the 
 later generation (which is just what is intended by the offspring 
 of the fathers) the glorious deeds of Jahve, etc. The fut. 
 consec. Dp'^i joins on to nir'y "I'J'X. Glorious deeds, proofs of 
 power, miracles hath He wrought, and in connection therewith 
 set up an admonition in Jacob, and laid down an order in 
 Israel, which He commanded our fathers, viz. to propagate by 
 tradition the remembrance of those mighty deeds (Ex. xiii. 8, 
 14, Deut. iv. 9, and other passages). Dy''*iinp has the same 
 object as Driyiini in Deut. iv. 9, Josh. iv. 22. The matter in 
 question is not the giving of the Law in general, as the purpose 
 of which, the keeping of the laws, ought then to have been 
 mentioned before anything else, but a precept, the purpose of 
 which was the further proclamation of the magnalia Dei, and 
 indirectly the promotion of trust in God and fidelity to the 
 Law ; cf. Ixxxi. 5 sq., where the special precept concerning the 
 celebration of the Feast of the Passover is described as a nny 
 laid down in Joseph. The following generation, the children, 
 which shall be born in the course of the ages, were to know 
 concerning His deeds, and also themselves to rise up (lOlp^, 
 not : come into being, like the 1N*3J of the older model-passage 
 xxii. 32) and to tell them further to their children, in order 
 that these might place their confidence in God (^?3 DV, like 
 '"'^Hr ^""^ ^^ Ixxiii. 28), and might not forget the mighty deeds 
 of God (Ixxvii. 12), and might keep His commandments, 
 being warned by the disobedience of the fathers. Tlie genera- 
 tion of the latter is called i^'}p\ "iiiDj just as the degenerate son 
 that is to be stoned is called in Deut. xxi. 18. 13^ |On, to direct 
 one's heart, i.e. to give it the right direction or tendency, to 
 put it into the right state, is to be understood after ver. o7, 2 
 Chron. XX. 33, Sir. ii. 17. 
 
 Ver. 9, which comes in now in the midst of this description, 
 is awkward and unintelligible. The supposition that " the sons 
 of Ej)hraim" is an appellation for the whole of Israel is refuted 
 by vers. G7 sq. The rejection of Ephraim and the election of 
 Judah is the point into which tlie historical retrospect runs 
 out; how then can "the sons of Ephraim" denote Israel as a 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 12-25. 365 
 
 wliole? And j-et what is here said of the Ephraimites also 
 liokis good of the Israehtes in general, as ver. 57 shows. The 
 fact, however, that the Ephraimites are made specially con- 
 spicuous out of the "generation" of all Israel, is intelligible 
 from the special interest which the Psalms of Asaph take in 
 the tribes of Joseph, and here particularly from the purpose of 
 practically preparing the way for the rejection of Shiloh and 
 Ephraim related further on. In vers. 10 and 11 the Ephraim- 
 ites are also still spoken of ; and it is not until ver. 12, with the 
 words " in sight of their fathers," that we come back again to 
 the nation at lar^e. The Ephraimites are called nt;'P""'Oh "•pu'ij 
 in tlie sense of n'j'p '•D'n nt^'p ''p'c'13 ; the two participial construct 
 forms do not stand in subordination but in co-ordination, as in 
 Jer. xlvi. 9, Deut. xxxiii. 19, 2 Sam. xx. 19, just as in other 
 instances also two substantives, of which one is the explanation 
 of the other, are combined by means of the construct. Job xx. 
 17, cf. 2 Kings xvii. 13 Kert. It is therefore: those who pre- 
 pare the bow, i.e. those arming themselves therewith (P"^*J as in 
 1 Chron. xii. 2, 2 Chron. xvii. 17), those who cast the bow, i.e. 
 those shooting arrows from the bow (Jer. iv. 29), cf. Bottcher, 
 § 728. What is predicated of them, viz. " they turned round" 
 (^sn as in Judg. xx. 39, 41), stands in contrast with this their 
 ability to bear arms and to defend themselves, as a disappointed 
 expectation. Is what is meant thereby, that the powerful war- 
 like tribe of Ephraim grew weary in the work of the conquest 
 of Canaan (Judg. ch. i.), and did not render the services which 
 might have been expected from it? Since the historical retro- 
 spect does not enter into details until ver. 12 onwards, this 
 special historical reference would come too early here ; the 
 statement consequently must be understood more generally 
 and, according to ver. 57, figuratively : Ephraim proved itself 
 unstable and faint-hearted in defendincr and in conducting the 
 cause of God, it gave it up, it abandoned it. They did not 
 act as the covenant of God required of them, they refused to 
 walk (n?^^, cf. nab^j Eccles. i. 7) within the limit and track of 
 His Tora, and forgat the deeds of God of which they had been 
 eye-witnesses under Moses and under Joshua, their comrades 
 of the same family. 
 
 Vers. 12-25. It is now related how wonderfully God led 
 the fathers of these Ephraimites, who behaved themselves so 
 
366 PSALM LXXVIII. 12-25. 
 
 badly as the leading tribe of Israel, in the desert ; how they 
 an;ain and again ever indulged sinful murmurinfr, and still lie 
 continued to give proofs of His power and of His loving-kind- 
 ness. The (according to Num. xiii. 22) very ancient Zoan 
 {Tanis), ancient Egyptian Zane, Coptic G'ane, on the east 
 bank of the Tanitic arm of the Nile, so called therefrom — 
 according to the researches to which the Turin Papyrus No. 
 112 has led, identical with Avaris (yid. on Isa. xix. 11) * — was 
 the seat of the Hyksos dynasties that ruled in the eastern 
 Delta, where after their overthrow Rameses ii., the Pharaoh of 
 the bondage, in order to propitiate the enraged mass of the 
 Semitic population of Lower Egypt, embraced the Avorship of 
 Baal instituted by King Apophis. The colossal sitting figure 
 of Rameses ii. in the pillared court of the Royal Museum in 
 Berlin, says Brugsch (Aus dem Orient ii. 45), is the figure 
 which Rameses himself dedicated to the temple of Baal in 
 Tanis and set up before its entrance. This mighty colossus is 
 a cotemporary of Moses, who certainly once looked upon this 
 monument when, as Ps. Ixxviii. says, he " wrought wonders in 
 the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan." The psalmist, more- 
 over, keeps very close to the Tora in his reproduction of the 
 history of the Exodus, and in fact so close that he must have 
 had it before him in the entirety of its several parts, the 
 Deuteronomic, Elohimistic, and Jehovlstic. Concerning the 
 rule by which it is pointed 'asa phcle, vid. on lii. 5. The pri- 
 mary passage to ver. loh (cf. QvJiJ ver. 16) is Ex. xv. 8. 
 *l^ is a pile, i.e. a piled up heap or mass, as in xxxiii. 7. And 
 ver. 14 is the abbreviation of Ex. xiii. 21. In vers. 15 sq. 
 the writer condenses into one the two instances of the giving of 
 water from the rock, in the first year of the Exodus (Ex. ch. 
 xvii.) and in the fortieth year (Num. ch. xx.). The Piel I^i^?' 
 and the plural D^*!^* correspond to this compression. nsT is not 
 an adjective (after the analogy of nan Dinn), but an adverb as 
 in Ixii. 3 ; for the giving to drink needs a qualificative, but nv^nn 
 does not need any enhancement. NVi'3 has t instead of e as in 
 cv. 43. 
 
 * The identity of Avaris and Tanis is in the meanwhile again become 
 doubtful. Taiiis was the Hyksos city, but Peluxiuvi = Avaris the Hyksos 
 fortress ; vid. Petermauu's MiUhedumjen^ 18Gti, S. 296-298. 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 12-25. 3fi7 
 
 Tlie fact that the subject is continued in ver. 17 with 13^pi>1 
 without mention having been made of any sinning on the part 
 of the generation of the desert, is exphcable from the considera- 
 tion that the remembrance of that murmuring is closely con- 
 nected with the giving of water from the rock to which the 
 names Massah u-Meribah and Mertbath-Kadesh (cf. Num. xx. 
 13 with xxvii. 14, Deut. xxxii. 51) point back: they went on 
 (niy) sinning against Plim, in spite of the miracles they experi- 
 enced, nnpp is syncopated from nhpnp as in Isa. iii. 8. The 
 poet in ver. 18 condenses the account of the manifestations of 
 discontent which preceded the giving of the quails and manna 
 (Ex. ch. xvi.), and the second giving of quails (Num. ch. xi.), 
 as he has done the two cases of the giving of water from 
 the rock in ver. 15. They tempted God by unbelievingly and 
 defiantly demanding (-'i^^?, postulando, Ew. § 280, d) instead 
 of trustfully hoping and praying. Q33p3 points to the evil 
 fountain of the heart, and !2l;'2J? describes their longing as a 
 sensual eagerness, a lusting after it. Instead of allowing the 
 miracles hitherto wrought to work faith in them, they made 
 the miracles themselves the starting-point of fresh doubts. 
 The poet here clothes what we read in Ex. xvi. 3, Num. xi. 4 
 sqq., xxi. 5, in a poetic dress. In isi?^ the unbelief reaches its 
 climax, it sounds like self-irony. On the co-ordinating con- 
 struction " therefore Jahve heard it and was wroth," cf. Isa. v. 
 4, xii. 1, 1. 2, Rom. vi. 17. The allusion is to the wrath-burn- 
 ing at Taberah (Tab'era), Num. xi. 1-3, which preceded the 
 giving of the quails in the second year of the Exodus. For it 
 is obvious that ver. 21 and Num. xi. 1 coincide, ^'H.) layrT'l 
 here being suggested by the K't< Dnny^ni of that passage, and 
 Jihv fjX being the opposite of C'Xn ypcni in ver. 2. A confla- 
 gration broke out at that time in the camp, at the same time, 
 however, with the breaking out of God's anger. The nexus 
 between the anger and the fire is here an outward one, whereas 
 in Num. xi. 1 it is an internal one. The ground upon which the 
 wrathful decree is based, which is only hinted at there, is here 
 more minutely given in ver. 22 : they believed not in Elohim 
 (tiW. Num. xiv. 11), i.e. did not rest with believing confidence 
 in Him, and trusted not in His salvation, viz. that which they 
 had experienced in the redemption out of Egypt (Ex. xiv. 13, 
 XV. 2), and which was thereby guaranteed for time to come. 
 
3G8 • PSALM LXXVIII. 26-37. 
 
 Now, however, when Taberah is here followed first by the 
 giving of the manna, vers. 23-25, then by the giving of the 
 quails, vers. 26-29, the course of the events is deranged, 
 since the giving of the manna had preceded that burning, and 
 it was only the giving of the quails that followed it. This 
 putting together of the two givings out of order was rendered 
 necessary by the preceding condensation (in vers. 18-20) 
 of the clamorous desire for a more abundant supply of food 
 before each of these events. Notwithstanding Israel's unbelief, 
 He still remained faithful: He caused manna to rain down 
 out of the opened gates of heaven (cf. " the windows of 
 heaven," Gen. vii. 1], 2 Kings vii. 2, Mai. iii. 10), that is to 
 say, in richest abundance. The manna is called corn (as in 
 cv. 40, after Ex. xvi. 4, it is called bread) of heaven, because 
 it descended in the form of gi'ains of corn, and supplied the 
 place of bread-corn during the forty years. D''T2X dW the 
 LXX. correctly renders aprov ayyeXcov (D^")"'3S = nb ^"123^ ciii. 
 20). The manna is called " bread of angels" (Wisd. xvi. 20) 
 as being bread from heaven (ver. 24, cv. 40), the dwelling- 
 place of angels, as being mann es-semd, heaven's gift, its 
 Arabic name, — a name which also belongs to the vegetable 
 manna which flows out of the Tamarix mannifera in conse- 
 quence of the puncture of the Coccus manniparus^ and is even 
 at the present day invaluable to the inhabitants of the desert 
 of Sinai, t^"'^5 is the antithesis to D''"i"'nx ; for if it signified 
 " every one," ^^'^x would have been said (Hitzig). HT^; as in 
 Ex. xii. 39 ; y?J^7 as in Ex. xvi. 3, cf. 8. 
 
 Vers. 26-37. Passing over to the giving of the quails, the 
 poet is thinking chiefly of the first occasion mentioned in Ex. 
 ch. xvi., which directly preceded the giving of the manna. But 
 the descri})tion follows the second : V^] (He caused to depart, 
 set out) after Num. xi. 31. "East" and "south" belong 
 together: it was a south-east wind from the ^hinitic Gulf. 
 " To rain down" is a figurative expression for a plentiful giving 
 or dispensing from above. " Its camp, its tents," are those of 
 Israel, Num. xi. 31, cf. Ex. xvi. 13. The niNn, occurring 
 twice, vers. 29, 30 (of the object of strong desire, as in xxi. 3), 
 points to Kibroth-hattaavahf the scene of this carnal lusting ; 
 N''3n is the transitive of the Xi3 in Prov. xiii. 12. In vers. 30, 
 31 even in the construction the poet closely follows Num. xi. 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 38-48. 369 
 
 33 (cf. also 1">T with t<")P, aversion, loathing, Num. xi. 20). 
 The Wcno unites what takes place simultaneously; a construc- 
 tion which presents the advantage of being able to give special 
 prominence to the subject. The wrath of God consisted in 
 the breaking out of a sickness which was the result of immode- 
 rate indulgence, and to which even the best-nourished and 
 most youthfully vigorous fell a prey. When the poet goes on 
 in ver. 32 to say that in spite of these visitations (rixr?33) they 
 went on sinning, he has chiefly before his mind the outbreak 
 of "fat" rebelliousness after the return of the spies, cf. ver. 
 32/; with Num. xiv. 11. And ver. 33 refers to the judgment 
 of death in the wilderness threatened at that time to all who 
 had come out of Egypt from twenty years old and upward 
 (Num. xiv. 28-34). Their life devoted to death vanished from 
 that time onwards •'^n?, in breath-like instability, and "^^i^?!, in 
 undurable precipitancy; the mode of expression in xxxi. 11, 
 Job xxxvi. 1 suggests to the poet an expressive play of words. 
 When now a special judgment suddenly and violently thinned 
 the generation that otherwise was dying off, as in Num. xxi. 
 6 sqq., then they inquired after Him, they again sought His 
 favour, those who were still preserved in the midst of this dying 
 again remembered the God who had proved Himself to be a 
 "^Kock" (Deut. xxxii. 15, 18, 37) and to be a "Redeemer" 
 (Gen. xlviii. 16) to them. And what next? Vers. 36,* 37 
 tell us what effect they gave to this disposition to return to 
 God. They appeased Him with their mouth, is meant to say : 
 they sought to win Him over to themselves by fair speeches, 
 inasmuch as they thus anthropopathically conceived of God, 
 and with their tongue they played the hypocrite to Him ; their 
 heart, however, was not sincere towards Him (DV like nx in 
 ver. 8), i.e. not directed straight towards Him, and they proved 
 themselves not stedfast (irta-rol, or properly ^e/Saioi) in their 
 covenant-relationship to Him. 
 
 Vers. 38-48. The second part of the Psalm now begins. 
 God, notwithstanding, in His compassion restrains His anger ; 
 but Israel's God-tem[)ting conduct was continued, even after the 
 
 * According to the reckoning of the ^[asora this ver. 3G is the middle 
 verse of the 2527 verses of the Psalter (Buxtorf, 2'iberias, 1620, p. 133). 
 VOL. IL 24 
 
370 PSAUI LXXVIII. 38-48. 
 
 journey through the desert, in Canaan, and the miracles of 
 judgment amidst which the deliverance out of Egypt had been 
 effected were fortrotten. With t^in^ in ver. 38* becins an ad- 
 versative clause, which is of universal import as far as ^T'^l, and 
 then becomes historical. Ver. 386 expands what lies in D^nn : 
 He expiates iniquity and, by letting mercy instead of right take 
 its course, arrests the destruction of the sinner. With n3"ini 
 (Ges. § 142, 2) this universal truth is supported out of the 
 history of Israel. As this history shows. He has many a time 
 called back His anger, i.e. checked it in its course, and not 
 stirred up all His glowing anger (cf. Isa. xlii. 13), i.e. His anger 
 in all its fulness and intensity. We see that ver. dScd is 
 intended historically, from the fact more particularly that if 
 the whole of ver. 38 were intended as abstract, ver. 39 
 would inadequately express the result which accrued to Israel 
 from this conduct of God. If, however, ver. SScd refers to 
 His conduct towards Israel, then ver. 39 follows with the 
 ground of the determination, and that in the form of an in- 
 ference drawn from such conduct towards Israel. He mode- 
 rated His anger against Israel, and consequently took human 
 frailty and perishableness into consideration. The fact that 
 man is flesh (which not merely affirms his physical fragility, 
 but also his moral weakness, Gen. vi. 3, cf. viii. 21), and that, 
 after a short life, he falls a prey to death, determines God to 
 be long-suffering and kind ; it was in fact sensuous desire and 
 loathing by which Israel was beguiled time after time. The 
 exclamation "how oft!" ver. 40, calls attention to the praise- 
 worthiness of this undeserved forbearance. 
 
 But with ver. 41 the record of sins begins anew. There is 
 nothing by which any reference of this ver. 41 to the last 
 example of insubordination recorded in the Pentateuch, Num. 
 XXV. 1-9 (Hitzig), is indicated. The poet comes back once 
 more to the provocations of God by the Israel of the wilderness 
 in order to expose the impious ingratitude which revealed itself 
 
 * According to B. KiddusMn 30a, this ver. 38 is the middle one of the 
 5896 ppiDD, arixoi, of the Psalter. According to B. j\faccoth 2'2b, Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 38, and previously Dent, xxviii. 58, 59, xxix. 8 [9], were recited 
 when the forty strokes of the lash save one, wliich according to 2 Cor. xi. 
 24 Paul received five times, were being counted out to the culprit. 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 38-48. 371 
 
 in this conduct. •^JJ?'? is the causative of nin = "joT,, Nnn, to 
 
 repent, to be grieved, LXX. Trapon^vvav. The miracles of tlie 
 time of redemption are now brought before the mind in detail, 
 ad exaggerandum crimen tentationis Dei cum summa ingratitudine 
 conjunctum (Venema). The time of redemption is called Di*, 
 as in Gen. ii. 4 the hexahemeron. riis CK' (synon. nb^y^ jn:) 
 is used as in Ex. x. 2. We have already met with "'^'"''^Jp in 
 xliv. 11. The first of the plagues of Egypt (Ex. vii. 14-25), 
 the turning of the waters into blood, forms the beginning in 
 ver. 44. From this the poet takes a leap over to the fourth 
 plague, the 3iy (LXX. KvvofjLvia), a grievous and destructive 
 species of fly (Ex, viii. 16-28 [20-32]), and combines with it 
 the frogs, the second plague (Ex. vii. 26 [viii. l]-viii. 11 [15]). 
 J-n'isy is the lesser Egyptian frog, Rana Mosaica, which is even 
 
 now called csLa, dofda. Next in ver. 46 he comes to the 
 eighth plague, the locusts, ''''pn (a more select name of the 
 migratory locusts than '"i^nx), Ex. x. 1-20 ; the third plague, the 
 gnats and midges, ^''33, is left unmentioned in addition to the 
 fourth, which is of a similar kind. For the chastisement by 
 means of destructive living things is now closed, and in ver. 47 
 follows the smiting with hail, the seventh plague, Ex. ix. 13-35. 
 b'Oin (with pausal a, not a, cf. in Ezek. viii. 2 the similarly 
 formed i^^^^'C'!?) in the signification hoar-frost [Trd^vrj^ LXX,, 
 Vulgate, Saadia, and Abulvvalid), or locusts (Targum t^^^PI = 
 3^n)j or ants (J. D.«Michaelis), does not harmonize with the 
 history ; also the hoar-frost is called 1^23, the ant n?D3 (collec- 
 tive in Arabic neml). Although only conjecturing from the 
 context, we understand it, with Parchon and Kimchi, of hail- 
 stones or hail. With thick lumpy pieces of ice He smote down 
 vines and sycamore-trees {Fayum was called in ancient Egyptian 
 " the district of the sycamore "). J'}n proceeds from the Biblical 
 conception that the plant has a life of its own. The descri])tion 
 of this plague is continued in ver, 48. Two MSS, present i^'np 
 instead of T)?? '> ^^^ ^ven supposing that Ci''pC'"i might signify 
 the fever-burnings of the pestilence {yid. on Hab. iii, 5), the 
 mention of the pestilence follows in ver. 50, and the devastation 
 which, according to Ex. ix. 19-22, the hail caused among the 
 cattle of the Egyptians is in its right place here. Moreover 
 it is expressly said in Ex. ix, 24 that there was conglomerate 
 
372 PSALM LXXVIII. 49-59. 
 
 fire among the hail ; D"'?*^"! are tlierefore flaming, blazing 
 lifrhtnings. 
 
 Vers. 49-59. When these plagues rose to the highest pitch, 
 Israel became free, and removed, being led by its God, into 
 the Land of Promise ; but it continued still to behave there 
 just as it had done in the desert. The poet in vers. 49-51 brings 
 the fifth Egyptian plague, the pestilence (Ex. ix. 1-7), and the 
 tenth and last, the smiting of the first-born (niibn ri3»), Ex. ch. 
 xi., xii., together. Ver. 49a sounds like Job xx. 23 (cf. below 
 ver. 64). D"'V"l ""^^r '? are not wicked angels, against which view 
 Hengstenberg refers to the scriptural thesis of Jacobus Ode in 
 his work De Angelis, Deum ad puniendos malos homines mittere 
 bonos aiujelos et ad casticjandos j^ios iisurpare malos, but angels 
 that bring misfortune. The mode of construction belongs to 
 the chapter of the genitivai subordination of the adjective to 
 the substantive, like V] nC'X^ Prov. vi. 24, cf. 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, 
 Num. V. 18, 24, 1 Kings x. 15, Jer. xxiv. 2, and the Arabic 
 
 w<liwl Jvsj'ju^j the mosque of the assembling one, i.e. the 
 
 assembling (congregational) mosque, therefore : angels (not of 
 the wicked ones = wicked angels, which it might signify else- 
 where, but) of the evil ones = evil, misfortune-bringing angels 
 (Ew. § 287, a). The poet thus paraphrases the n^nc'isri that is 
 collectively conceived in Ex. xii. 13, 23, Heb. xi. 28. In ver. 
 50a the anger is conceived of as a stream of fire, in ver. 506 
 death as an executioner, and in 50c the pestilence as a foe. 
 D^jis n^ti'ST (Gen. xlix. 3, Deut. xxi. 17) is that which had 
 sprung for the first time from manly vigour (plui\ intcnsivus). 
 Egypt is called on as in Ps. cv. and cxi. according to Gen. x. 6, 
 and is also called by themselves in ancient Egyptian Kemi, 
 Coptic Chcmi, Kerne {vid. Plutarch, De hide et Osiridey ch. 
 xxxiii.). When now these plagues which softened their 
 Pharaoh went forth upon the Egyptians, God procured for 
 His people a free departure, He guided flock-like ("''3^|i like 
 Tiyaj Jer. xxxi. 24, with Dag. implicitiim), i.e. as a shepherd, 
 the flock of His people (the favourite figure of the Psalms of 
 Asaph) through the desert, — He led them safely, removing all 
 terrors out of the way and drowning their enemies in the Red 
 Sea, to His holy territory, to the mountain which (HT) His right 
 hand had acquired, or according to the accents (cf. supruj vol. 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. 60-72. 373 
 
 i. 169) : to the mountain there (nf), which, etc. It is not Zion 
 that is meant, but, as in the primary passage Ex. xv. 16 sq., in 
 accordance with the paralleHsm (although this is not imperative) 
 and the usage of the language, which according to Isa. xi. 9, 
 Ivii. 13, is incontrovertible, the whole of the Holy Land with its 
 mountains and valleys (cf. Deut. xi. 11). npm pann is the poetical 
 equivalent to '"i^Llp.^, Num. xxxiv. 2, xxxvi. 2, and frequently. 
 The Beth is Beth essentke (here in the same syntactical position 
 as in Isa. xlviii. 10, Ezek. xx. 41, and also Job xxii. 24 surely): 
 He made them (the heathen, viz., as in Josh, xxiii. 4 their terri- 
 tories) fall to them (viz., as the expression implies, by lot, ^"im) 
 as a line of inheritance, i.e. (as in cv. 11) as a portion measured 
 out as an inheritance. It is only in ver. 56 (and not so early 
 as ver. 41) that the narration passes over to the apostate con- 
 duct of the children of the generation of the desert, that is to 
 say, of the Israel of Canaan. Instead of 1"'rlny from nny, the 
 word here is VJiny from '"iiy (a derivative of liy, not lyj). 
 Since the apostasy did not gain ground until after the death of 
 Joshua and Eleazar, it is the Israel of the period of the Judges 
 that w^e are to think of here. n^p"i n^^'j^^ ver. 57, is not : a bow 
 of slackness, but : a bow of deceit ; for the point of comparison, 
 according to Hos. vii. 16, is its missing the mark: a bow that 
 discharges its arrow in a wrong direction, that makes no sure 
 shot. The verb nm signifies not only to allow to hang down, 
 slack (cogn. >^^1), but also, according to a similar conception to 
 spe dejicere, to disappoint, deny. In the very act of turning 
 towards God, or at least being inclined towards Him by His 
 tokens of power and loving-kindness, they turned (Jer. ii. 21) 
 like a bow that misses the mark and disappoints both aim and 
 expectation. The expression in ver. 58 is like Deut. xxxii. 16, 
 21. yotJ* refers to their prayer to the Baalim (Judg. ii. 11). 
 The word isynrij which occurs three times in this Psalm, is a 
 word belonging to Deuteronomy (ch. iii. 26). Ver. 59 is pur- 
 posely worded exactly like ver. 21. The divine purpose of love 
 spurned by the children just as by the fathers, was obliged in 
 this case, as in the former, to pass over into angry provocation. 
 Vers. 60—72. The rejection of Shiloh and of the people 
 worshipping there, but later on, when the God of Israel is again 
 overwhelmed by compassion, the election of Judah, and of 
 Mount Zion, and of David, the king after His own heart. lu 
 
0<4 PSALM LXXVIII. GO-72. 
 
 the time of the Judges the Tabernacle was set up in Shiloh 
 (Josh, xviii. 1) ; there, consequently, was the central sanctuary 
 of the whole people, — in the time of Eli and Samuel, as follows 
 from 1 Sam. ch. i.-iii., it had become a fixed temple building. 
 When this building was destroyed is not known ; according to 
 Judg. xviii. 30 sq., cf. Jer. vii. 12-15, it was probably not until 
 the Assyrian period. The rejection of Shiloh, however, pre- 
 ceded the destruction, and practically took place simultaneously 
 with the removal of the central sanctuary to Zion ; and was, 
 moreover, even previously decided by the fact that the Ark of 
 the covenant, when given up again by the Philistines, was not 
 brought back to Shiloh, but set down in Kirjath Jearim (1 
 Sam. vii. 2). The attributive clause ^1^^ irp' uses |3^ as 
 p3t:'n is used in Josh, xviii. 1. The pointing is correct, for the 
 words do not suffice to signify "where He dwelleth among 
 men" (Hitzig) ; consequently \^,^ is the causative of the Kalj 
 Lev. xvi. 16, Josh. xxii. 19, In ver. 61 the Ark of the cove- 
 nant is called the might and glory of God (i^V plX, cxxxii. 8, 
 of. 1i33j 1 Sam. iv. 21 sq.), as being the place of their presence 
 in Israel and the medium of their revelation. Nevertheless, 
 in the battle with the Philistines between Eben-ezer and Aphek, 
 Jahve gave the Ark, which they had fetched out of Shiloh, 
 into the hands of the foe in order to visit on the high-priest- 
 hood of the sons of Ithamar the desecration of His ordinances, 
 and there fell in that battle 30,000 footmen, and among them 
 the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests (1 Sam. 
 ch. iv.). The fire in ver. 63 is the fire of war, as in Num. xxi. 
 28, and frequently. The incident mentioned in 1 Sam. vi. 19 
 is reasonably (rid. Keil) left out of consideration. By win N? 
 (LXX. erroneously, ovk i'iTev6i]aav = win = ^''y"'!!) are meant 
 the marriage-songs (cf. Talmud ic ^{^^^ the nuptial tent, and 
 D^pn n"'2 the marriage-house). "Its widows (of the people, in 
 fact, of the slain) weep not" (word for word as in Job xxvii. 
 15) is meant of the celebration of the customary ceremony of 
 mourning (Gen. xxiii. 2) : they survive their husbands (which, 
 with the exception of such a case as that recorded in 1 Sam. 
 xiv. 19-22, is presupposed), but without being able to show 
 them the last signs of honour, because the terrors of the war 
 (Jer. XV. 8) prevent them. 
 
 With ver. 65 the song takes a new turn. After the puni- 
 
PSALM LXXVIII. GO-72. 375 
 
 tive juclgment has sifted and purified Israel, God receives His 
 people to Himself afresh, but in such a manner that He trans- 
 fers the precedence of Ephraim to the tribe of Judah. He 
 awakes as it were from a long sleep (xliv. 24, cf. Ixxiii. 20) ; 
 for He seemed to sleep whilst Israel had become a servant to 
 the heathen; He aroused Himself, like a hero exulting by reason 
 of wine, i.e. like a hero whose courage is heightened by the 
 strengthening and exhilarating influence of wine (Hengsten- 
 berg). ]}P^^ is not the Ilithpal. of jn in the Arabic significa- 
 tion, which is alien to the Hebrew, to conquer, a meaning 
 which we do not need here, and which is also not adapted to 
 the reflexive form (Hitzig, without any precedent, renders thus : 
 who allows himself to be conquered by wine), but Hithpo. of \y)'. 
 to shout most heartily, after the analogy of the reflexives i?.i^nn, 
 *^"!!^^'?'?> V.VPV*'^. The most recent defeat of the enemy which 
 the poet has before his mind is that of the Philistines. The 
 form of expression in ver. 66 is moulded after 1 Sam. v. 6 sqq. 
 God smote the Philistines most literally in posterlora (LXX., 
 Vulgate, and Luther). Nevertheless ver. 66 embraces all the 
 victories under Samuel, Saul, and David, from 1 Sam. eh. v. 
 and onwards. Now, when they were able to bring the Ark, 
 which had been brouo;ht down to the battle aejainst the Philis- 
 tines, to a settled resting-place again, God no longer chose 
 Shiloh of Ephraim, but Judah and the mountain of Zion, which 
 He had loved (xlvii. 5), of Benjamitish-Judsean (Josh. xv. 63, 
 Judg. i. 8, 21) — but according to the promise (Deut. xxxiii. 
 12) and according to the distribution of the country (yid. on 
 Ixviii. 28) Benjamitish — Jerusalem.* There God built His 
 Temple D''pyiD3. Hitzig proposes instead of this to read 
 D'pnps ; but if Q''P''i'?, xvi. 6, signifies amoena, then COT may 
 signify excelsa (cf. Isa. xlv. 2 Q''"!^"''!!, Jer. xvii. 6 2''")7.n) and be 
 poetically equivalent to D''»"no : lasting as the heights of heaven, 
 firm as the earth, which He hath founded for ever. Since the 
 eternal duration of heaven and of the earth is quite consistent 
 with a radical change in the manner of its duration, and that 
 not less in the sense of the Old Testament than of the New 
 {vid. e.g. Isa. Ixv. 17), so the D^iVp applies not to the stone 
 
 * According to B. MenacTinth 53?>, Jedidiali (Solomon, 2 Sam. xii. 25) 
 built the Temple in the province of Jedidiah (of Benjamin, Deut. xxxiii. 12). 
 
37 G PSALM LXXIX. 
 
 building, but rather to the place where Jahve reveals Himself, 
 and to the promise that He will have such a dwelling-place in 
 Israel, and in fact in Judah. Kegarded spiritually, i.e. essen- 
 tially, apart from the accidental mode of appearing, the Temple 
 upon Zion is as eternal as the kingship upon Zion with wdiich 
 the Psalm closes. The election of David gives its impress to 
 the history of salvation even on into eternity. It is genuinely 
 Asaphic that it is so designedly portrayed how the shepherd of 
 the flock of Jesse (Isai) became the shepherd of the flock of 
 Jahve, who was now to pasture old and young in Israel with 
 the same care and tenderness as the ewe-lambs after which he 
 went (ni/'V as in Gen. xxxiii. 13, and 3 nyn, cf. 1 Sam. xvi. 11, 
 xvii. 34, like 3 ?^'^^ and the like). The poet is also able already 
 to glory that he has fulfilled this vocation with a pure heart 
 and with an intelligent mastery. And with this he closes. 
 From the decease of David lyric and prophecy are retrospec- 
 tively and prospectively turned towards David. 
 
 PSALM LXXIX. 
 
 SUPPLICATORY PRAYER IN A TIME OF DEVASTATION, OF 
 BLOODSHED, AND OF DERISION. 
 
 1 ELOHIM, the heathen have pressed into Thine inheritance, 
 They have defiled Thy holy Temple, 
 
 They have turned Jerusalem into a heap of stones. 
 
 2 They have given the dead bodies of Thy servants for food 
 
 to the birds of the heaven. 
 The flesh of Thy saints to the beasts of the land; 
 
 3 They have poured out their blood like water 
 Hound about Jerusalem, and no one burieth them. 
 
 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, 
 
 A mockery and derision to those who are round about us. 
 
 5 Plow long, Jahve, wilt Thou be angry for ever, 
 Shall Thy jealousy burn like fire ? ! 
 
 6 Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen who know Thee not. 
 And over the kingdoms, which call not upon Thy name ! 
 
PSALM LXXIX. 377 
 
 7 For they devour Jacob, 
 
 And have laid waste his dwelling-place. 
 
 8 Remember not against us the iniquities of the forefathers ; 
 Speedily let Thy tender mercies come to meet us, 
 
 For we are brought very low. 
 
 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy 
 
 Name, 
 And deliver us, and expiate our sins for Thy Name's sake ! 
 
 10 Wherefore shall the heathen say: where is now their God? — 
 Let there be made known among the heathen before our 
 
 eyes 
 The avenging of the blood of Thy servants, which is shed. 
 
 11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come before Thee, 
 According to the greatness of Thine arm spare the children 
 
 of death. 
 
 12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom 
 Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached Thee, O 
 
 Lord! 
 
 13 And we. Thy people and the flock of Thy pasture, 
 We will give Thee thanks for ever. 
 
 In all generations will we tell forth Thy praise. 
 
 This Psalm is in every respect the pendant of Ps. Ixxiv. The 
 points of contact are not merely matters of style (cf. Ixxix. 5, 
 liow long for ever? with Ixxiv. 1, 10; Ixxix. 10, V^f., with Ixxiv. 
 5 ; Ixxix. 2, the giving over to the wild beasts, with Ixxiv. 19, 
 14; Ixxix. 13, the conception of Israel as of a flock, in which 
 respect Ps. Ixxix. is judiciously appended to Ps. Ixxviii. 70-72, 
 with Ps. Ixxiv. 1, and also with Ixxiv. 19). But-the mutual rela- 
 tionships lie still deeper. Both Psalms have the same Asaphic 
 stamp, both stand in the same relation to Jeremiah, and both 
 send forth their complaint out of the same circumstances of the 
 time, concerning a destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, 
 such as only the age of the Seleucida3 (1 Mace. i. 31, iii. 45, 
 2 Mace. viii. 3) together with the Chaldajan period* can ex- 
 
 * According to So/rim xviii. § 3, Ps. Ixxix. and cxxxvii. are the Psalms 
 for the Kiuoth-day, i.e. the 9th day of Ab, the day comraemorative of the 
 Chaldsean and Roman destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
378 PSALM LXXIX. 1-4. 
 
 liibit, and in conjunction with a defiling of the Temple and a 
 massacre of the servants of God, of the Chasidim (1 Mace. vii. 
 13, 2 Mace. xiv. 6), such as the age of the Seleucidjs exclu- 
 sively can exhibit. The work of the destruction of the Temple 
 which was in progress in Ps. Ixxiv., appears in Ps. Ixxix. as 
 completed, and here, as in the former Psalm, one receives the 
 impression of the outrages, not of some war, but of some per- 
 secution : it is straightway the religion of Israel for the sake 
 of which the sanctuaries are destroyed and the faithful are 
 massaci'cd. 
 
 Apart from other striking accords, vers. 6, 7 are repeated 
 verbatim in Jer. x. 25. It is in itself far more probable that 
 Jeremiah here takes up the earlier language of the Psalm than 
 that the reverse is the true relation ; and, as Hengstenberg has 
 correctly observed, this is also favoured by the fact that the 
 words immediately before, viz. Jer. x. 24, originate out of Ps. 
 vi. 2, and that the connection in the Psalm is a far closer one. 
 But since there is no era of pre-Maccabasan history corre- 
 sponding to the complaints of the Psalm,* Jeremiah is to be 
 regarded in this instance as the example of the psalmist ; and 
 in point of fact the borrower is betrayed in vers. 6, 7 of the 
 Psalm by the fact that the correct ?y of Jeremiah is changed 
 into ''fr?, the more elegant Hins^'p into rii:)7rDPj and the plural 
 v3^{ into ^^Sij and the soaring exuberance of Jeremiah's expres- 
 sion is impaired by the omission of some of the words. 
 
 Vers. 1-4. The Psalm begins with a plaintive description, 
 and in fact one that makes complaint to God. Its opening 
 sounds like Lam. i. 10. The defiling does not exclude the 
 reducing to ashes, it is rather spontaneously suggested in 
 Ixxiv. 7 in company with wilful incendiarism. The complaint 
 in ver. Ic reminds one of the prophecy of Micah, ch. iii. 12, 
 which in its time excited so much vexation (Jer. xxvi. 18); 
 and ver. 2, Deut. xxviii. 26. T*!-?^ confers upon those who 
 were massacred the honour of martyrdom. The LXX. ren- 
 
 * Cassiodorus and Bruno observe: deplorat Antiochi persecutlonem (em- 
 pore Machabcurum Jhctain, tunc fiituram. And Notker adds : To those 
 who have read the First Book of the Maccabees it (viz. the destruction 
 bewailed in the rsalni) is familiar. 
 
PSALM LXXIX. 5-12. 379 
 
 dcrs D^^yb by et? 67ra)pocf}v\uKtov, a flourish taken from Isa. i. 8. 
 Concerning the quotation from memory in 1 Mace. vii. 16 sq., 
 vid. the introduction to Ps. Ixxiv. Tlie translator of the ori- 
 ginally Hebrew First Book of the Maccabees even in other 
 instances betrays an acquaintance with the Greek Psalter (cf. 
 1 j\Iacc. i. 37, Kol i^i^eav alfxa aOcbov kvk\(o rov dyLdcr/jLaro^), 
 " As water," i.e. (cf. Deut. xv. 23) without setting any value 
 upon it and without any scruple about it. Ps. xliv. 14 is 
 repeated in ver. 4. At the time of the Chaldgean catastrophe 
 this applied more particularly to the Edomites. 
 
 Vers. 5-8. Out of the plaintive question how long? and 
 whether endlessly God would be angry and cause His jealousy 
 to continue to burn like a fire (Deut. xxxii. 22), grows up the 
 prayer (ver. 6) that He would turn His anger against the 
 heathen who are estranged from and hostile towards Him, and 
 of whom He is now makinof use as a rod of anser acainst 
 His people. The taking over of vers. 6 and 7 from Jer. x. 25 
 is not betrayed by the looseness of the connection of thought ; 
 but in themselves these four lines sound much more original in 
 Jeremiah, and the style is exactly that of this prophet, cf. Jer. 
 vi. 11, ii. 3, and frequently, xlix. 20. The aS', instead of ^V, 
 which follows ^Sty is incorrect ; the singular P5^? gathers all up 
 as in one mass, as in Isa. v. 26, xvii. 13. The fact that such 
 power over Israel is given to the heathen world has its ground 
 in the sins of Israel. From ver. 8 it may be inferred that the 
 apostasy which raged earlier is now checked. ^''^t^'S'i is not an 
 adjective (Job xxxl. 28, Isa. lix. 2), which would have been 
 expressed by D'':t:'S"ini3"'niiiy, but a genitive: the iniquities of 
 the forefathers (Lev. xxvi. 14, cf. 39). On ver. 8c cf. Judg. 
 vi. 6. As is evident from ver. 9, the poet does not mean that 
 the present generation, itself guiltless, has to expiate the guilt 
 of the fathers (on the contrary, Deut. xxiv. 16, 2 Kings xiv. 6, 
 Ezek. xviii. 20) ; he prays as one of those who have turned 
 away from the sins of the fathers, and who can now no longer 
 consider themselves as placed under wrath, but under sin-par- 
 donino; and redeemincr orrace. 
 
 Vers. 9-12. The victory of the world is indeed not God's 
 aim ; therefore His own honour does not suffer that the world 
 of which He has made use in order to chasten His people 
 should for ever haughtily triumph, ^p^ is repeated with 
 
380 PSALM LXXX. 
 
 emphasis at tlie end of tlie petition in ver. 9, according to the 
 figure epanaphora. i^y^V = iV'P?, as in xlv. 5, cf. vii. 1, is a 
 usage even of the language of the Pentateuch. Also the 
 motive, "wherefore shall they say?" occurs even in the Tora 
 (Ex. xxxii. 12, cf. Num. xiv. 13-17, Deut. ix. 28). Here (cf. 
 cxv. 2) it originates out of Joel ii. 17. The wish expressed in 
 ver. lOhc is based upon Deut. xxxii. 43. The poet wishes in 
 company with his cotemporaries, as eye-witnesses, to experience 
 Avhat God has promised in the early times, viz. that He will 
 avenge the blood of His servants. The petition in ver. 11 
 runs hke cii. 21, cf. xviii. 7. "'''pX individualizingly is those 
 who are carried away captive and incarcerated ; ^T\V2ri ""ja are 
 those who, if God does not preserve them by virtue of the 
 greatness (/"}}, cf. ?"'J Ex. xv. 16) of His arm, i.e. of His far- 
 reaching omnipotence, succumb to the power of death as to a 
 patria potestas.* That the petition in ver. 12 recurs to the 
 neighbouring peoples is explained by the fact, that these, who 
 might most readily come to the knowledge of the God of 
 Israel as the one living and true God, have the greatest degree 
 of guilt on account of their reviling of God. The bosom is 
 mentioned as that in which one takes up and holds that which 
 is handed to him (Luke vi. 38) ; rn-(^y) h^ (tht^) a^c*n, as in 
 Isa. Ixv. 7, 6, Jer. xxxii. 18. A sevenfold requital (cf. Gen. 
 iv. 15, 24) is a requital that is fully carried out as a criminal 
 sentence, for seven is the number of a completed process. 
 
 Ver. 13. If we have thus far correctly hit upon the parts 
 of which the Psalm is composed (9. 9. 9), then the lamentation 
 closes with this tristichic vow of thankso;ivinfr. 
 
 PSALM LXXX. 
 
 PRAYER FOR JAIIVE's VINE. 
 
 2 SHEPHERD of Israel, Oh give ear, 
 Thou who leadest Joseph like a flock. 
 Who sittest enthroned above the cherubim, Oh appear! 
 
 * The Arabic has just this notion in an active ajiplication, viz. heni el- 
 mot := the heroes (destroyers) in the battle. 
 
PSALM LXXX. 381 
 
 3 Before Epliraim and Benjamin and ^lanasseh 
 Stir up Thy warrior-strength, 
 
 And come to our help ! 
 
 4 Elohim, restore us^ 
 
 And cause Thy face to shines then shall loe he helped! 
 
 5 Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth, 
 
 How long wilt Thou be angry when Thy people pray ? ! 
 
 6 Thou gavest them to eat bread of tears, 
 
 And gavest them to drink tears in great measure. 
 
 7 Thou madest us a strife to our neighbours, 
 And our enemies carry on their mockery. 
 
 8 Elohim Tsebaoth, restore us, 
 
 And cause Tliy face to shine, then shall loe he helped ! 
 
 9 Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt, 
 Thou didst drive out nations and plant it; 
 
 10 Thou hast made a space before it, 
 And it struck roots and filled the earth. 
 
 11 Mountains were covered by its shadow, 
 And by its boughs, the cedars of God. 
 
 12 It spread its branches unto the sea, 
 And towards the river its young shoots. 
 
 13 Why hast Thou broken down its hedges, 
 That all who pass by the way do pluck it ? 
 
 14 The boar out of the forest doth devour it, 
 
 And that which roameth the field doth feed upon it. 
 
 15 Elohim Tsebaoth, Oh look again from heaven and behold, 
 And accept this vine ! 
 
 16 And be the protection of that which Thy right hand hath 
 
 planted. 
 And over the son, whom Thou hast firmly chosen for 
 Thyself. 
 
 17 Burnt with fire, swept away. 
 
 Before the threatening of Thy countenance they perish. 
 
 18 Oh hold Thy hand over the man of Thy right hand. 
 Over the son of man whom Thou hast chosen for 
 
 Thyself; 
 
382 PSALM LXXX. 
 
 19 And we will not go back from Thee — 
 Quicken us, and we will celebrate Thy Name. 
 
 20 Jahve EloJiim Tsehaotli, restore us, 
 
 Cause Tliy face to sldne, then shall we be helped ! 
 
 With tlie words We are Thy people and the flock of Thy 
 pasture, Ps. Ixxix. closes; and Ps. Ixxx. begins with a cry to the 
 Shepherd of Israel. Concerning the inscription of the Psalm : 
 To be practised after the '■^Lilies, the testimony . . .," by Asaph, 
 a Psalm, vid. on xlv. 1, supi^a, p. 76 sq. The LXX. renders, 
 €t<? TO reXa (unto the end), uvrep rcov aXKoicodrjao/jbevcov (which 
 is unintelligible and ungrammatical = D"'Jb'ti'"?S)j fiaprvpLov tm 
 ^Aadcf) (as the accentuation also unites these words closely by 
 Tarcha), ■yJra\fio<i v-jrep tov 'Aaavpiov (cf. Ixxvi. 1), perhaps 
 a translation of "iVJ'X'^X, an inscribed note which took the 
 "boar out of the forest" as an emblem of Assyria. This hint 
 is important. It solves the riddle why Joseph represents all 
 Israel in ver. 2, and why the tribes of Joseph in particular are 
 mentioned in ver. 3, and why in the midst of these Benjamin, 
 whom like descent from Eachel and chagrin, never entirely 
 overcome, on account of the loss of the kingship drew towards 
 the brother-tribes of Joseph. Moreover the tribe of Benjamin 
 had only partially remained to the house of David since the 
 division of the kingdom,* so that this triad is to be regarded 
 as an expansion of the "Joseph" (ver. 2). After the northern 
 kingdom had exhausted its resources in endless feuds with 
 Damascene Syria, it succumbed to the world-wide dominion of 
 Assyria in the sixth year of Ilezekiah, in consequence of the 
 heavy visitations which are closely associated with the names 
 
 * It is true we road that Benjamin stood on the side of TJehoboam with 
 Judah after the division of the kingdom (1 Kings xii. 21), Judah and Ben- 
 jamin appear as parts of the kingdom of Judah (2 Chron. xi. 3, 23, xv. 
 8 sq., and frequently) ; but if, according to 1 Kings xi. 13, 32, 3C, only L}2t^ 
 nnx remains to the house of David, this is Judah, inasmuch as Benjamin 
 did not remain entirely under the Davidic sceptre, and Simeon is to be left 
 out of account (cf. Genesis, S. 603) ; the Bcnjamitish cities of Bethel, Gilgal, 
 and Jericho belonged to the northern kingdom, but, as in the case of Rama 
 (1 Kings XV. 21 sq.), not without being contested (cf. e.<j. 2 Chron. xiii. 
 19) ; the boundaries were therefore fluctuating, vid. Ewald, Gcschichle des 
 Vvlkes Israel (3d ed,), S. 439-441. 
 
PSALM LXXX. 2-4. «383 
 
 of the Assyrian kings Pul, Tiglatli-pileser, and Shalmaneser. 
 The psalmist, as it seems, prays in a time in which the oppres- 
 sion of Assyria rested heavily upon the kingdom of Ephraim, 
 and Judali saw itself threatened with ruin when this bulwark 
 should have fallen. We must not, however, let it pass without 
 notice that our Psalm has this designation of the nation accord- 
 ing to the tribes of Joseph in common with other pre-exllic 
 Psalms of Asaph (Ixxvii. 16, Ixxviii. 9, Ixxxi. 6). It is a 
 characteristic belonging in common to this whole group of 
 Psalms. Was Asaph, the founder of this circle of songs, a 
 native, perhaps, of one of the Levite cities of the province of 
 the tribe of Ephraim or Manasseh ? 
 
 The Psalm consists of five eight-line strophes, of which the 
 first, second, and fifth close with the refrain, " Elohim, restore 
 us, let Thy countenance shine forth, then shall we be helped!" 
 This prayer grows in earnestness. The refrain begins the first 
 time with Elohim, the second time with Elohim Tsehaoth, and 
 the third time with a threefold Jahve Elohim Tsehaoth, with 
 which the second strophe (ver. 5) also opens. 
 
 Vers. 2-4. The first strophe contains nothing but petition. 
 First of all the nation is called Israel as springing from Jacob ; 
 then, as in Ixxxi. 6, Joseph, which, where it is distinct from 
 Jacob or Judah, is the name of the kingdom of the ten tribes 
 {vid. Caspari on Obad. ver. 18), or at least of the northern 
 tribes (ixxvii. 16, Ixxviii. 67 sq.). Ver. 3 shows that it is also 
 these that are pre-eminently intended here. The fact that in 
 the blessing of Joseph, Jacob calls God a Shepherd ipVP), Gen. 
 xlviii. 15, xlix. 24, perhaps has somewhat to do with the choice of 
 the first two names. In the third, the sitting enthroned in the 
 sanctuary here below and in the heaven above blend together ; 
 for the Old Testament is conscious of a mutual relationship 
 between the earthly and the heavenly temple (?3\"i) until the 
 one merges entirely in the other. The cherubim, which God 
 enthrones, i.e. upon which He sits enthroned, are the bearers 
 of the chariot (n2D-i?D) of the Ruler of the world {vid. xviii. 
 
 11). With T\^''i^\r^ (from V^\ ^-;, eminere, emicore, as in the 
 
 Asaph Psalm 1. 2) the poet prays that He would aj)pcar in His 
 splendour of light, i.e. in His fiery bright, judging, and rescuing 
 
384 PSALM LXXX. 5-8. 
 
 cloxa, -wlietlicr as directly visible, or even as only recognisable 
 by its operation. Both the comparison " after the manner 
 of a flock" and the verb Jnb are Asaphic, Ixxviii. 52, cf. 26. 
 Just so also the names given to the nation. The designation 
 of Israel after the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh attaches 
 itself to the name Josej>h ; and the two take the brother after 
 the flesh into their midst, of whom the beloved Rachel was the 
 mother as well as of Joseph, the father of Ephraim and 
 ^lanasseh. In Num. ch. ii. also, these three are not separated, 
 but have their camp on the west side of tlie Tabernacle. May 
 God again put into activity — which is the meaning of "i^iV 
 (excitare) in distinction from 'T'^n (expergefacere) — His mnj, 
 the need for the energetic intervention of which now makes 
 itself felt, before these three tribes, i.e. by becoming their vic- 
 torious leader. HD? Is a summoning imperative.* Concerning 
 nnytr^ vid. on Hi. 3 ; the construction with Lamed says as little 
 against the accusative adverbial rendering of the ah set forth 
 there as does the Beth of n^nha (In the wood) in 1 Sam. xxlii. 
 15, vid. Bottcher's Neue Aehrenlese, Nos. 221, 384, 449. It 
 is not a bringing back out of the Exile that is prayed for by 
 132"'OTj for, according to the whole impression conveyed by the 
 Psalm, the people are still on the soil of their fatherland ; but 
 in their present feebleness they are no longer like themselves, 
 they stand in need of divine intervention in order again to 
 attain a condition that is in harmony with the promises, in 
 order to become themselves again. May God then cause His 
 long hidden countenance to brighten and shine upon them, then 
 shall they be helped as they desire (nyc'j:"!). 
 
 Vers. 5-8. In the second strophe there issues forth bitter 
 complaint concerning the form of wrath which the present 
 assumes, and, thus confirmed, the petition rises anew. The 
 transferring of the smoking {\^V) of God's nostrils = the hard 
 breathing of anger (Ixxiv. 1, Deut. xxlx. 19 [20]), to God 
 Himself is bold, but in keeping with the spirit of the Biblical 
 
 * Not a pronoun : to Thee it belongs to be for salvation for us, as the 
 Talmud, Midrash, and Masora (i'/</. Norzi) take it ; wherefore in J. Succa 
 54c it is straightway written '^^. Such a ,-13^='?]^ is called in the language 
 of the Masora, and even in the Midrash (Exod. Huhla, fol. 121), ^''^<^1 na^ 
 (tit/. Buxtorf, Tiberias^ p. 245). 
 
PSALM LXXX. 9-20. 385 
 
 view of tlie wratli of God (yid. on xviii. 9), so that there is no need 
 to avoid the expression by calling in the aid of the Syriac word 
 ]'^% to be strong, powerful (why art Thou hard, why dost Thou 
 harden Thyself . . . ). The. perfect after ''^'^""ly has the sense of 
 a present with a retrospective glance, as in Ex. x. 3, cf. n^S'iy^ 
 Ex. xvi. 28, Hab. i. 2. The construction of Th'V with 3 is not 
 to be understood after the analogy of 3 nin (to kindle = to be 
 angry against any one), for the prayer of the people is not an 
 object of wrath, but only not a means of turning it aside. 
 While the prayer is being presented, God veils Himself in the 
 smoke of wrath, through which it is not able to penetrate. The 
 LXX. translators have read yilV npsna, for they render iirl 
 Ti]v frpoa-ev^rjv rcov BovXav aov (for which the common reading 
 is Tov BovXov aov). Bread of tears is, according to xlii. 4, bread 
 consisting of tears ; tears, running down in streams upon the 
 lips of the praying and fasting one, are his meat and his drink. 
 riiXM with an accusative signifies to give somethincr to drink, 
 and followed by Beth, to give to drink by means of something ; 
 but it is not to be translated : potitandum das eis cum lacrymis 
 trientem (De Dieu, von Ortenberg, and Hitzig). ^y'^ (Tal- 
 mudic, a third part) is the accusative of more precise definition 
 (Vatablus, Gesenius, 01shausen,and Hupfeld): by thirds (LXX. 
 iv fierpq), Symmachus jxeTpw) ; for a third of an ephah is cer- 
 tainly a very small measure for the dust of the earth (Isa. xl. 
 12), but a large one for tears. The neighbours are the neigh- 
 bouring nations, to whom Israel is become piOj an object, a 
 butt of contention. In Su? is expressed the pleasure which the 
 mocking gives them. 
 
 Vers. 9-20. The complaint now assumes a detailing cha- 
 racter in this strophe, inasmuch as it contrasts the former days 
 with the present; and the ever more and more importunate 
 prayer moulds itself in accordance therewith. The retrospec- 
 tive description begins, as is rarely the case, with the second 
 modus, inasmuch as " the speaker thinks more of the bare nature 
 of the act than of the time" (Ew. § 136, h). As in the blessing 
 of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 22) Joseph is compared to the layer 
 (|3) of a fruitful growth (O'j's), whose shoots (^133) climb over 
 the wall : so here Israel is compared to a vine (Gen. xlix. 22 ; 
 nj"!2 |S3, cxxviii. 3), which has become great in Egypt and been 
 transplanted thence into the Land of Promise. V'?'^, LXX. 
 VOL. II. 25 
 
38(5 FSALM LXXX. 9-20. 
 
 fjiCTaipeiv, as in Job xix. 10, perhaps with an allusion to the 
 D'i'DD of the people journeying to Canaan (Ixxviii. 52)* Here 
 God made His vine a way and a place ("^SQ, to clear, from n^S), 
 to turn, turn aside, Arahic faiiija, to disappear, pass away; root 
 ja, to urge forward), and after He had secured to it a free soil 
 and unchecked possibility of extension, it (the vine) rooted its 
 roots, i.e. struck them ever deeper and wider, and filled the 
 earth round about (cf. the antitype in the final days, Isa. 
 xxvii. G). The Israelitish kingdom of God extended itself on 
 every side in accordance with the promise. rbz'Pi (of. Ezek. 
 xvii. 6, and vegetable rvp^ a shoot) also has the vine as its 
 subject, like t^"?.l^'ri. Vers. 11 and 12 state this in a continued 
 allegory, by the "mountains" pointing to the southern boun- 
 dary, by the "cedars" to the northern, by the "sea" to the 
 western, and by the "river" (Euphrates) to the eastern boun- 
 dary of the country (ruZ. Deut. xi. 24 and other passages). rO^ 
 and v^r^i^ are accusatives of the so-called more remote object 
 (Ges. § 143, 1). 1"'^'i^ is a cutting = a branch; ^P^T, a (vege- 
 table) sucker = a young, tender shoot ; ?X"''pX, the cedars of 
 Lebanon as belno; livinij monuments of the creative mioht of 
 God. The allegory exceeds the measure of the reality of 
 nature, inasmuch as this is obliged to be extended according to 
 the reality of that which is typified and historical. But how 
 unlike to the former times is the present! The poet asks 
 " wherefore?" for the present state of things is a riddle to him. 
 The surroundings of the vine are torn down ; all who come in 
 contact with it pluck it ('">")?> ^^ P^^^ ^^) pluck off, Talmudic 
 of the gathering of figs) ; the boar out of the wood ("i^'^O with 
 iT'l^n py, suspended Aji)i\) cuts it off (Dpl^, formed out of DD3 
 
 * Exod. liahba, ch. xliv., with reference to this passage, says: ""When 
 husbandmen seek to improve a vine, what do they do? They root (p"iplj;) 
 it out of its place and plant (pi^nitJ*) it in another." And Levit. liahha, 
 ch. xxxvi., says : " As one does not plant a vine in a place where there 
 are great, rough stones, but examines the ground and then plants it, so 
 didst Thou drive out peoples and didst plant it," etc. 
 
 t According to Kiddushiu, oOo, because this Ajin is the middle letter 
 of the Psalter as the 11 'cn^; of pnj, Lev. xi. 42, is the middle letter of the 
 Tora. One would hardly like to be at the pains of jDroviug the correctness 
 of this statement ; nevertheless in the seventeenth century there lived one 
 Laymarius, a clergyman, who was not' afraid of this trouble, and found 
 
PSALM LXXX. 9-20. 387 
 
 = STa*), viz. with its tusks; and that which moves about the 
 fields (vicl. concerning ff, I. 11), i.e. the untractable, lively wild 
 beast, devours it. Without doubt the poet associates a distinct 
 nation with the wild boar in his mind ; for animals are also in 
 other instances the emblems of nations, as e.g. the leviathan, 
 the water-serpent, the behemoth (Isa. xxx. 6), and flies (Isa. 
 vii. 18) are emblems of Egypt. The Midrash interprets it of 
 Seir-Edom, and nb* IT, according to Gen. xvi. 12, of the nomadic 
 Arabs. 
 
 In ver. 15 the prayer begins for the third time with three- 
 fold urgency, supplicating for the vine renewed divine provi- 
 dence, and a renewal of the care of divine grace. We have 
 divided the verse differently from the accentuation, since N3"2VJ' 
 £23n is to be understood according to Ges. § 142. The junc- 
 tion by means of 1 is at once opposed to the supposition that 
 nazil in ver. 16 signifies a slip or plant, plantain (Targum, Syriac, 
 Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, and others), and that consequently the 
 whole of ver. 16 is governed by ^psi. Nor can it mean its (the 
 vine's) stand or base, 15 (Bottcher), since one does not plant a 
 " stand." The LXX. renders n331 : /col KaTapnaaL, which is 
 wiper, aor. 1. med.f therefore in the sense of "^^^.i^.f But the 
 alternation of ?y (cf. Prov. ii. 11, and ^Ai ^^^, to cover over) 
 with the accusative of the object makes it more natural to 
 derive nj3, not from |33 = p3, but from 133 ^ = |:3, to cover, 
 conceal, protect (whence ^^ a covering, shelter, hiding-place) : 
 
 the calculations of the Masora {e.g. that 'n ""iTX occurs 222 times) in part 
 inaccurate ; vid. MonatUche U ulerreduiujen, 1G91, S. 467, and besides, Geiger, 
 Urschrift und Uehersetzungen der Bihel, S. 268 f. 
 
 * Saadia appropriately renders it l^ Jb, by referring, as does Dunash 
 also, to the Tahnudic DDlp, "which occurs of ants, like ip^ of rodents. 
 So Peah ii. § 7, Menachoth lib, on which Eashi observes, "the locust 
 (Sjn) is accustomed to eat from above, the ant tears off the corn-stalk 
 from below." Elsewhere DDT'p denotes the breaking off of dry branches 
 from the tree, as T) T the removal of green branches. 
 
 t Perhaps the Caph majusculum is the result of an erasure that re- 
 quired to be made, vid. Geiger, Urschrift, S. 295. Accordingly the AJiii 
 suspensiim might also be the result of a later inserted correction, for there 
 is a rhoenician inscription that has T" (wood, forest) ; vid. Levy, PliOni- 
 zisdies WiJrtcrbuch, S. 22. 
 
388 PSALM LXXX. 9-20. 
 
 and protect him whom ... or : protect what Tliy right hand 
 has planted. The pointing certainly seems to take nj3 as the 
 feminine of I? (LXX., Dan. xi. 7, (pvrov) ; for an imperat. 
 paragog. Kal of the form n33 does not occur elsewhere, although 
 it might have been regarded by the puuctuists as possible from 
 the form ?a, volve^ cxix. 22. If it is regarded as impossible, 
 then one might read nsb. At any rate the word is imperative, 
 as tlie following "i?r"^^, eum quern, also shows, instead of which, 
 if njD were a substantive, one would expect to find a relative 
 clause without "iC'X, as in ver. 166. Moreover ver. 16i requires 
 this, since PV "^i^S can only be used of visiting with punishment. 
 And who then would the slip (branch) and the son of man be 
 in distinction from the vine? If we take nja as imperative, 
 then, as one might expect, the vine and the son of man are 
 both the people of God. The Targum renders ver. 166 thus: 
 " and upon the King Messiah, whom Thou hast established for 
 Thyself," after Ps. ii. and Dan. vii. 13 ; but, as in the latter 
 passage, it is not the Christ Himself, but the nation out of 
 which He is to proceed, that is meant. |*K)X has the sense of 
 firm appropriation, as in Isa. xliv. 14, inasmuch as the notion 
 of making fast passes over into that of laying firm hold of, of 
 seizure. Rosenmiiller well renders it : quern adoptatum tot 
 nexihus tihi adstrinxisli. The figure of the vine, which rules 
 all the language here, is also still continued in ver. 17 ; for the 
 2')artt. fern, refer to (23, — the verb, however, may take the plural 
 form, because those of Israel are this " vine," which comhusta 
 igne, succisa (as in Isa. xxxiii. 12 ; Aramaic, to cut off, tear off, 
 
 in ver. 13 the Targum word for nnx ; Arabic, ^-u*^, to clear 
 
 away, peel off), is just perishing, or hangs in danger of destruc- 
 tion (^'1?'^^) before the threatening of the wrathful countenance 
 of God. The absence of anything to denote the subject, and 
 the form of expression, which still keeps within the circle of 
 the figure of the vine, forbid us to understand this ver. 17 of 
 the extirpation of the foes. According to the sense ?V Tl^''''}^* 
 
 * The \nn has Gaja, like mtonsb* (Ixxxi. 8), ■|3r"'33 (cxliv. 7), and 
 the like. This Goja beside the Shehd (instead of beside the following vowel) 
 belongs to the peculiarities of the metrical books, which in general, on 
 account of their more melodious mode of delivery, have many such a Gaja 
 
PSALM LXXX. 9-20. 389 
 
 coincides with the supplicatory hv nis. It is Israel that is called 
 13 in ver. 16, as being the son whom Jahve has called into being 
 in Egypt, and then called out of Egypt to Himself and solemnly 
 declared to be His son on Sinai (Ex. iv. 22, Hos. xi. 1), and 
 who is now, with a play upon the name of Benjamin in ver. 3 
 (cf. ver. 16), called "^i^o^ C'^N, as being the people which Jahve 
 has preferred before others, and has placed at His right hand* 
 for the carrying out of His work of salvation ; who is called, 
 however, at the same time D"iX"|3j because belonging to a 
 humanity that is feeble in itself, and thoroughly conditioned 
 and dependent. It is not the more precise designation of the 
 "son of man" that is carried forward by JiDrNpi^ "and who 
 has not drawn back from Thee" (Hupfeld, Hitzig, and others), 
 but it is, as the same relation which is repeated in ver. 196 
 shows, the apodosis of the preceding petition : then shall we 
 never depart from Thee; iiDJ being not a participle, as in xliv. 
 19, but a plene written voluntative: recedamus, vowing new 
 obedience as thanksgiving for the divine preservation. To the 
 prayer in ver. 18 corresponds, then, the prayer 'iJ'nri, which is 
 expressed as future (which can rarely be avoided, Ew. § 229), 
 with a vow of thanksgiving likewise following : then will we 
 call with Thy name, i.e. make it the medium and matter of 
 solemn proclamation. In ver. 20 the refrain of this Psalm, 
 which is laid out as a trilogy, is repeated for the third time. 
 The name of God is here threefold. 
 
 beside Shebd, which docs not occur in the prose books. Thus, e.g., mn'' 
 and Cn^X always have Gaja beside the Shehd when they have Rehia 
 viarjniim without a conjunctive, probably because Rehia and Dccld had 
 such a fulness of tone that a first stroke fell even upon the Shehd-lQiievs. 
 
 * Pinsker punctuates thus : Let Thy hand be upon the man, Thy right 
 hand upon the son of man, whom, etc. ; but the impression that *]3"'D"' and 
 "h nn^*OX coincide is so strong, that no one of the old interpreters (from 
 tlie LXX. and Targum onwards) has been able to free himself from it. 
 
390 PSALM LXXXI. 
 
 PSALM LXXXI. 
 
 EASTER FESTIVAL SALUTATION AND DISCOURSE. 
 
 2 CAUSE shouts of joy to resound unto Eloliim, our safe 
 
 retreat, 
 Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 
 
 3 Eaise a song and sound the timbrel, 
 
 The pleasant cithern together with the harp. 
 
 4 Blow the horn at the new moon, 
 
 At the full moon, in honour of the day of our feast. 
 
 5 For a statute for Israel is it. 
 
 An ordinance of the God of Jacob. 
 
 6 A testimony hath He laid it down in Joseph, 
 When He went forth over the land of Egypt— 
 A language of one uot known did I hear. 
 
 7 I have removed his back from the burden. 
 His hands were freed from the task-basket. 
 
 8 In distress didst thou cry, and I delivered thee, 
 I answered thee in a covering of thunder, 
 
 I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. (^Sela.) 
 
 9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee ; 
 Israel, Oh that thou wouldst hearken unto Me ! — 
 
 10 Let there be among thee no strange god, 
 
 And do not thou worship a god of a foreign country. 
 
 11 I, I am Jahve thy God, 
 
 AVho led thee up out of the land of Egypt — 
 Open wide thy mouth, and I will fdl it. 
 
 12 But My people hearkened not unto My voice, 
 And Israel did not obey Me. 
 
 13 Tiien I cast them forth to the hardness of their heart, 
 They went on in their own counsels. 
 
 14 Oh that My people would be obc'dient unto Me, 
 That Israel would walk in My ways ! 
 
 15 Suddenly would I humble their enemies. 
 And against their oppressors turn ^ly hand. 
 
 16 The haters of Jahve should submit themselves to Him, 
 
PSALM Lxxxr. 391 
 
 And their time should endure for ever. 
 17 He fed them with the fat of wheat, 
 
 And with honey out of the rock did I satisfy thee. 
 
 Ps. Ixxx., which looks back into the time of the leading 
 forth out of Egypt, is followed by another with the very same 
 Asaphic thoroughly characteristic feature of a retrospective 
 glance at Israel's early history (cf. more particularly Ixxxi. 11 
 with Ixxx. 9). In Ps. Ixxxi. the lyric element of Ps. Ixxvii. is 
 combined with the didactic element of Ps. Ixxviii. The unity 
 of these Psalms is indubitable. All three have towards the 
 close the appearance of being fragmentary. For the author 
 delights to ascend to the height of his subject and to go down 
 into the depth of it, without returning to the point from which 
 he started. In Ps. Ixxvii. Israel as a whole was called "the 
 sons of Jacob and Joseph;" in Ps. Ixxviii, we read "the sons 
 of Ephraim " instead of the whole nation ; here it is briefly 
 called "Joseph." This also indicates the one author. Then 
 Ps. Ixxxi., exactly like Ixxix., is based upon the Pentateuchal 
 history in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Jahve Himself speaks 
 through the mouth of the poet, as He did once through the 
 mouth of Moses — Asaph is Kar i^o-^/p the prophet {^}p) 
 among the psalmists. The transition from one form of speech 
 to another which accompanies the rapid alternation of feelings, 
 what the Arabs call talwtn el-chitub, " a colouring of a speech 
 by a change of the persons," is also characteristic of him, as 
 later on of Micah {e.g. vi. 15 sq.). 
 
 This Ps. Ixxxi. is according to ancient custom the Jewish 
 New Year's Psalm, the Psalm of the Feast of Trumpets (Num. 
 xxix. 1), therefore the Psalm of the first (and second) of 
 Tishri; it is,"however, a question whether the blowing of the 
 horn (shopJiar) at the new moon, wliich it calls upon them to 
 do, does not rather apply to the first of Nisan, to the ecclesias- 
 tical New Year. In the weekly liturgy of the Temple it was 
 the Psalm for the Thursday. 
 
 The poet calls upon them to give a jubilant welcome to the 
 approaching festive season, and in vers. 7 sqq. Jahve Himself 
 makes Himself heard as the Preacher of the festival. He 
 reminds those now living of His loving-kindness towards ancient 
 Israel, and admonishes them not to incur the guilt of like 
 
392 PSALM Lxxxr. 
 
 unfaithfulness, in order tliat they may not lose the like tokens 
 of His loving-kindness. What festive season is it? Either 
 the Feast of the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles ; for it 
 must be one of these two feasts which begin on the day of the 
 full moon. Because it is one having reference to the redemp- 
 tion of Israel out of Egypt, the Targum, Talmud (more par- 
 ticularly Rosh ha-Shana, where this Psalm is much discussed), 
 Midrash, and Sohar understand the Feast of Tabernacles ; 
 because vers. 2— 4a seem to refer to the new moon of the 
 seventh month, which is celebrated before other new moons 
 (Num. X. 10) as nynnn DV (Num. xxix. 1, cf. Lev. xxiii. 24), i.e. 
 to the first of Tishri, the civil New Year; and the blowing of 
 horns at the New Year is, certainly not according to Scrip- 
 ture, but yet according to tradition (vid. Maimonides, Hilchoth 
 ShopJiar i. 2), a very ancient arrangement. Nevertheless we 
 must give up this reference of the Psalm to the first of Tishri 
 and to the Feast of Tabernacles, which begins with the fifteenth 
 of Tishri : — (1) Because between the high feast-day of the 
 first of Tishri and the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth to 
 the twenty-first (twenty-second) of Tishri lies the great day of 
 Atonement on the tenth of Tishri, which would be ignored, by 
 greeting the festive season with a joyful noise from the first of 
 Tishri forthwith to the fifteenth. (2) Because the remem- 
 brance of the redemption of Israel clings far more charac- 
 teristically to the Feast of the Passover than to the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. This latter appears in the oldest law-giving (Ex. 
 xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22) as ^''■?^5^ jn^ {,e, as a feast of the ingathering 
 of the autumn fruits, and therefore as the closing festival of the 
 whole harvest ; it does not receive the historical reference to 
 the journey through the desert, and therewith its character of 
 a feast of booths or arbours, until the addition in Lev. xxiii. 
 39-44, having reference to the carrying out of the celebration 
 of the feasts in Canaan ; whereas the feast which begins with 
 the full moon of Nisan has, it is true, not been entirely free of 
 all reference to agriculture, but from the very beginning bears 
 the historical names nD3 and ni-'iCGn jn. (3) Because in the 
 Psalm itself, viz. in ver. 6b, allusion is made to the fact which 
 the Passover commemorates. 
 
 Concerning JT'rijn-pj; viJ. on viii. 1. The symmetrical, sticliic 
 plan of the Psalm is clear: the schema is 11. 12. 12. 
 
PSALM LXXXI. 2-6. 393 
 
 Vers. 2-6. The summons in ver. 2 is addressed to the 
 whole congregation, inasmuch as ^y^in is not intended of the 
 clanging of the trumpets, but as in Ezra iii. 11, and frequently. 
 The summons in ver. 3 is addressed to the Levites, the ap- 
 pointed singers and musicians in connection with the divine 
 services, 2 Chron. v. 12, and frequently. The summons in 
 ver. 4 is addressed to the priests, to whom was committed not 
 only the blowing of the two (later on a hundred and twenty, 
 vid. 2 Chron. v. 12) silver trumpets, but who appear also in 
 Josh. vi. 4 and elsewhere (cf. xlvii. 6 with 2 Chron. xx. 28) as 
 the blowers of the shophar. The Talmud observes that since 
 the destruction of the Temple the names of instruments X'JDV.i' 
 and srii^'ivn are wont to be confounded one for the other {B. 
 Sabbath 36a, Succa 34a), and, itself confounding them, infers 
 from Num. x. 10 the duty and significance of the blowing of 
 the shophar (B. Evachin oh). The LXX. also renders both 
 by aaXircy^', but the Biblical language mentions iSiiC' and 
 iTiyVn, a horn (more especially a ram's horn) and a (metal) 
 trumpet, side by side in xcviii. 6, 1 Chron. xv. 28, and is there- 
 fore conscious of a difference between them. The Tora says 
 nothing of the employment of the shophar in connection with 
 divine service, except that the commencement of every fiftieth 
 year, which on this very account is called ??'n nJB'j annus 
 biicciuo', is to be made known by the horn signal throughout 
 all the land (Lev. xxv. 9). But just as tradition by means of 
 an inference from analogy derives the blowing of the shophar 
 on the first of Tishri, the beginning of the common year, from 
 this precept, so on the ground of the passage of the Psalm 
 before us, assuming that ^ip^, LXX. iv veofn^vtaj refers not 
 to the first of Tishri but to the first of Nisan, we may suppose 
 that the beginning of every month, but, in particular, the 
 beginning of the month which was at the same time the be- 
 ginning of the ecclesiastical year, was celebrated by a blowing 
 of the shophar, as, according to Josephus, Bell. iv. 9, 12, the 
 beginning and close of the Sabbath was announced from the 
 top of the Temple by a priest with the salpinx. The poet 
 means to say that the Feast of the Passover is to be saluted by 
 the congregation with shouts of joy, by the Levites with music, 
 and even beginning from the new moon (neotnenia) of the 
 Passover month with blowing of shophars, and that this is to 
 
394 PSALM LXXXI. 2-6. 
 
 he continued at the Feast of the Passover itself. The Feast 
 of the Passover, for which Hupfekl devises a gloomy physi- 
 ognomy,* was a joyous festival, the Old Testament Christmas. 
 2 Chron. xxx. 21 testifies to the exultation of the people and 
 the boisterous music of the Levite priests, with which it was 
 celebrated. According to Num. x. 10, the trumpeting of the 
 priests was connected with the sacrifices ; and that the slaying 
 of the paschal lambs took place amidst the Tantaratan of the 
 priests (long-drawn notes interspersed with sharp shrill ones, 
 nypni nyiin nypn), is expressly related of the post-exilic ser- 
 vice at Icast.f 
 
 The phrase ^n jriJ proceeds from the phrase ^ip jn3, according 
 to which 1^3 directly means : to attune, strike up, cause to be 
 heard. Concerning np2 (Prov. vii. 20 5<D3) tradition is un- 
 certain. The Talmudic interpretation {B. Bosh ha-Shana 85, 
 Betza 16a, and the Targum which is taken from it), according 
 to which it is the day of the new moon (the first of the month), 
 on which the moon hides itself, i.e. is not to be seen at all in 
 the morning, and in the evening only for a short time immedi- 
 ately after sunset, and the interpretation that is adopted by a 
 still more imposing array of authorities (LXX., Vulgate, 
 Menahem, Rashi, Jacob Tam, Aben-Ezra, Parchon, and others), 
 according to which a time fixed by computation (from HDS =: 
 DD3, computare) is so named in general, are outweighed by the 
 usage of the Syriac, in which heso denotes the full moon as the 
 moon with covered, i.e. filled-up orb, and therefore the fifteenth 
 of the month, but also the time from that point onwards, per- 
 haps because then the moon covers itself, inasmuch as its 
 shining surface appears each day less large (cf. the Peshito, 
 
 1 Kings xii. 32 of the fifteenth day of the eighth month, 
 
 2 Chron. vii. 10 of the twenty-third day of the seventh month, 
 in both instances of the Feast of Tabernacles), after which, too, 
 in the passage before us it is rendered ica-b-kese, which a Syro- 
 Arabic glossary (in Rosenmiiller) explains fesia quce sunt in 
 medio mensis. The Peshito here, like the Targum, proceeds 
 
 * In the first of his Commentationes de jn-imitiva et vera festorum apud 
 Hehraeos ratione, 1851, 4to. 
 
 t Vid. my essay on the Passover rites during the time of the second 
 Temple in the Luther. Zeitschr, 1855 ; and cf. Armknecht, Die lieiUge 
 Psalmodie (1855), S. 5. 
 
PSALJI LXXXI. 2-6. 395 
 
 from the reaclinfr sirpn^ which, followhig the LXX. and the 
 best texts, is to be rejected ia comparison with tlie singular 
 ^J5n. If, however, it is to be read 133n, and np3 (according to 
 Kimchi with Segol not merely in the second syllal)]e, but with 
 double Segol nD3, after the form N3t3 = wp) signifies not inter- 
 lunium, but plenilunium (instead of which also Jerome has in 
 medio mense, and in Prov. vii. 20, in die plencB lunce, Aquila 
 jj/aepa TravaeXyvov), then what is meant is either the Feast of 
 Tabernacles, which is called absolutely Jnn in 1 Kings viii. 2 
 (2 Chron. v. 3) and elsewhere, or the Passover, which is also 
 so called in Isa. xxx. 29 and elsewhere. Here, as ver. 5 will 
 convince us, the latter is intended, the Feast of unleavened 
 bread, the porch of which, so to speak, is nD3 niy together with 
 the n'^yyy h'b (Ex. xii. 42), the night from the fourteenth to 
 the fifteenth of Nisan. In vers. 2, 3 they are called upon to 
 give a welcome to this feast. The blowing of the shophar is to 
 announce the commencement of the Passover month, and at 
 the commencement of the Passover day which opens the Feast 
 of unleavened bread it is to be renewed. The ? of Di y is not 
 meant temporally, as perhaps in Job xxi. 30 : at the day = on 
 the day ; for why was it not DVa 1 It is rather : towards the 
 day, but nD32 assumes that the day has already arrived ; it is 
 the same Lamed as in ver. 2, the blowing of the shophar is to 
 concern this feast-day, it is to sound in honour of it. 
 
 Vers. 5 and 6 now tell whence the feast which is to be met 
 w^ith singing and music has acquired such a high significance : 
 it is a divine institution coming from the time of the I'edemp- 
 tion by the hand of ISIoses. It is called ph as being a legally 
 sanctioned decree, t^SL^'Q as being a lawfully binding appoint- 
 ment, and nny as being a positive declaration of the divine will. 
 The p in ''^^y^lp characterizes Israel as the receiver, in "'i^''^'.^ the 
 God of Israel as the Owner, i.e. Author and Lawgiver. By 
 insvii the establishing of the statute is dated back to the time 
 of the Exodus ; but the statement of the time of its being estab- 
 lished, "when He went out over the land of Egypt," cannot be 
 understood of the exodus of the people out of Egypt, natural 
 as this may be here, where Israel has just been called n?i'T 
 (pathetic for *ipi''), by a comparison with Gen. xli. 45, where 
 Joseph is spoken of in the same words. For this expression 
 does not describe the going forth out of a country, perhaps in the 
 
396 PSALM LXXXI. 2-C. 
 
 sight of its inhabitants, Num. xxxiii. 3, cf. Ex. xiv. 8 (ITeng- 
 stenberg), but the going out over a country. Eloliim is the 
 subject, and nsv is to be understood according to Ex. xi. 4 
 (Kimchi, De Dieu, Dathe, Rosenmiiller, and others) : when 
 He went out for judgment over the land of Egypt (cf. Mic. 
 i. 3). This statement of the time of itself at once decides the 
 reference of the Psalm to the Passover, which commemorates 
 the sparing of Israel at that time (Ex. xii. 27), and which was 
 instituted on that very night of judgment. The accentuation 
 divides the verse correctly. According to this, ^9"^'? ''^Vir'^'' '"'-'^ 
 is not a relative clause to D''"i^*D : where I heard a language that 
 
 I understood not (cxiv. 1). Certainly nab yT*, " to understand 
 a language," is an expression that is in itself not inadmissible 
 (cf. 1SD VT*, to understand writmg, to be able to read, Isa. xxix. 
 
 II sq.), the selection of which instead of the more customary 
 phrase \Y\yb V^^^ (Deut. xxviii. 49, Isa. xxxiii. 19, Jer. v. 15) 
 might be easily intelligible here beside J?Ot^'^< ; but the omission 
 of the D^ ("it^'N) is harsh, the thought is here purposeless, and 
 excluded with our way of taking inxi*3. From the speech of 
 God that follows it is evident that the clause is intended to 
 serve as an introduction of this divine speech, whether it now 
 be rendered sermonem quern non novi (cf. x\dii. 44, populus 
 giiem non novi), or alicKJus, quern non novi (Ges. § 123, rem. 1), 
 both of which are admissible. Is it now in some way an intro- 
 duction to the following speech of God as one which it has 
 been suddenly given to the psalmist to hear: "An unknown 
 language, or the language of one unknown, do I hear" ? Thus 
 Doderlein explains it : Snhitanea et dignajyoetico impetu digressio, 
 cum vates sese divine adjiatu suhito perculsum sentit et oraculum 
 audire sihi persuadet; and in the same way De Wette, 01s- 
 hausen, Hupfeld, and others. But the oracle of God cannot 
 appear so strange to the Israelitish poet and seer as the spirit- 
 voice to Eliphaz (Job iv. IG); and moreover V^2Ui< after the 
 foregoing historical predicates has tiie presumption of the im- 
 perfect signification in its favour. Thus, then, it will have to be 
 interpreted according to Ex. vi. 2 sq. It was the language of 
 a known, but still also unknown God, which Israel heard in 
 the redemption of that period. It was the God who had been 
 made manifest as T]'\r\'^ o»ly, so to speak, by way of prelude 
 hithertOj who now appeared at this juncture of the patriarchal 
 
PSALM LXXXI. 7-U. 397 
 
 history, which had been all along kept in view, in the marvel- 
 lous and new light of the judgment which was executed upon 
 Egypt, and of the protection, redemption, and election of Israel, 
 as being One hitherto unknown, as the history of salvation 
 actually then, having arrived at Sinai, receives an entirely new 
 form, inasmuch as from this time onwards the congregation or 
 church is a nation, and Jahve the King of a nation, and the 
 bond of union between them a national law educating it for 
 the real, vital salvation that is to come. The words of Jahve 
 that follow are now not the words heard then in the time of 
 the Exodus. The remembrance of the words heard forms only 
 a transition to those that now make themselves heard. For 
 when the poet remembers the language which He who reveals 
 Himself in a manner never before seen and heard of spoke to 
 His people at that time, the Ever-living One Himself, who is 
 yesterday and to-day the same One, speaks in order to remind 
 His people of what He was to them then, and of what He spake 
 to them then. 
 
 Vers. 7-11. It is a gentle but profoundly earnest festival 
 discourse which God the Redeemer addresses to His redeemed 
 people. It begins, as one would expect in a Passover speech, 
 with a reference to the ni??? of Egypt (Ex. i. 11-14, v. 4, 
 vi. 6 sq.), and to the IV^, the task-basket for the transport of 
 the clay and of the bricks (Ex. i. 14, v. 7 sq.).* Out of such 
 distress did He free the poor people who cried for deliverance 
 (Ex. ii. 23-25) ; He answered them Dj;"i "iriD3j i.e. not (accord- 
 ing to xxii. 22, Isa. xxxii. 2) : affording them protection against 
 the storm, but (according to xviii. 12, Ixxvii. 17 sqq.) : out of 
 the thunder-clouds in which He at the same time revealed and 
 veiled Himself, casting down the enemies of Israel with His 
 lightnings, which is intended to refer pre-eminently to the 
 passage through the Red Sea (vid. Ixxvii. 19) ; and He proved 
 them (^^n-?? ^^'it^^ ^ contracted from o, cf. on Job xxxv. 6) at 
 the Avaters of Meribah, viz. whether they would trust Him 
 further on after such glorious tokens of His power and loving- 
 
 * In the Papyrus Leydemia i. 346 the Israelites are called the '■'■ Aper'ni 
 (Cmay), who dragged along the stones for the great watch-tower of the 
 city of Rameses," and in the Pap. Leyd. i. 349, according to Lauth, the 
 '■'■ Aperiu, who dragged along the stones for the storehouse of the city of 
 Eameses." 
 
398 PSALM LXXXI. 12-17. 
 
 kindness. The name " Watei's of Menhalij^ wliich properly i? 
 borne only by Merihath Kadesh, the place of the giving of water 
 in the fortieth year (Num. xx. 13, xxvii. 14, Deut. xxxii. 5], 
 xxxiii. 8), is here transferred to the place of the giving of water 
 in the first year, which was named Massah u-Menhalt (Ex. xvii. 
 7), as the remembrances of these two miracles, which took place 
 under similar circumstances, in general blend together {vid. on 
 xcv. 8 sq.). It is not now said that Israel did not act in re- 
 sponse to the expectation of God, who had so wondrously verified 
 Himself ; the music, as Sela imports, here rises, and makes a 
 long and forcible pause in what is being said. What now 
 follows further, are, as the further progress of ver. 12 shows, 
 the words of God addressed to the Israel of the desert, which 
 at the same time with its faithlessness are brought to the re- 
 membrance of the Israel of the present. 3 "^^V'!!, as in 1. 7, 
 Deut. viii. 19, to bear testimony that concerns him against any 
 one. DX (according to the sense, o si, as in Ps. xcv. ver. 7, 
 which is in many ways akin to this Psalm) properly opens a 
 searching question which wishes that the thing asked may come 
 about (whether thou wilt indeed give me a willing hearing?!). 
 In ver. 10 the key-note of the revelation of the Law from 
 Sinai is struck : the fundamental command which opens the 
 decalogue demanded fidelity to Jahve and forbade idol-worship 
 as the sin of sins, "if ?^ is an idol in opposition to the God of 
 Israel as the true God ; and 13?. ?i^, a strange god in opposition 
 to the true God as the God of Israel. To this one God Israel 
 ought to yield itself all the more undividedly and heartily as it 
 was more manifestly indebted entirely to Him, who in His con- 
 descension had chosen it, and in His wonder-working might 
 had redeemed it (J\bv^[}, part. Hiph. with the eh elided, like 
 ^Ibn, Deut. xiii. 6, and "1^9^, from n|3j Ex. xxxiii. 3) ; and how 
 easy this submission ought to have been to it, since He desired 
 nothing in return for the rich abundance of His cood cifts, 
 which satisfy and quicken bod}' and soul, but only a wide- 
 opened mouth, i.e. a believing longing, hungering for mercy 
 and eager for salvation (cxix. 131) ! 
 
 Vers. 12-17. The Passover discourse now takes a sorrow- 
 ful and awful turn : Israel's disobedience and self-will frustrated 
 the gracious purpose of the commandments and promises of its 
 God. "My people" and "Israel" alternate as in the complaint 
 
PSALM LXXXI. 12-17. 399 
 
 in Isa. i. 3. n3X"X"p followed by the dative, as in Deut. xiii. 9 
 ([8], ov crvvOekrjaei^ avTw). Then God made their sin their 
 punishment, by giving them over judicially (npS' as in Job 
 viii. 4) into the obduracy of their heart, whicli rudely shuts 
 itself up against His mercy (from "i"}^, Aramaic "i"!'^, Arabic 
 
 -J, to make firm = to cheer, make glad), so that they went on 
 
 (cf. on the sequence of tense, Ixi. 8) in their, i.e. their own, 
 egotistical, God-estranged determinations ; the suffix is thus 
 accented, as e.g. in Isa. Ixv. 2, cf. the borrowed passage Jer. 
 vii. 24, and the same phrase in Mic. vi. 16. And now, because 
 this state of unfaithfulness in comparison with God's faithful- 
 ness has remained essentially the same even to to-day, the 
 exalted Orator of the festival passes over forthwith to the 
 generation of the present, and that, as is in accordance with 
 the cheerful character of the feast, in a charmingly alluring 
 manner. Whether we take ^^ in the signification of si (fol- 
 lowed by the participle, as in 2 Sam. xviii. 12), or like DX above 
 in ver. 9 as expressing a wish, o si (if but!), vers. 15 sqq. at 
 any rate have the relation of the apodosis to it. From t^yp? 
 (for a little, easily) it may be conjectured that the relation of 
 Israel at that time to the nations did not correspond to the 
 dignity of the nation of God whicli is called to subdue and 
 rule the world in the strength of God. 3^'J'ri signifies in this 
 passage only to turn, not : to again lay upon. The meaning 
 is, that He would turn the hand which is now chastening 
 His people against those by whom He is chastening them (cf. 
 on the usual meaning of the phrase, Isa. i. 25, Amos i. 8, Jer. 
 vi. 9, Ezek. xxxviii. 12). The promise in ver. 16 relates to 
 Israel and all the members of the nation. The haters of Jahve 
 would be compelled reluctantly to submit themselves to Him, 
 and their time would endure for ever. "Time" is equivalent 
 to duration, and in this instance with the collateral notion of 
 prosperity, as elsewhere (Isa. xiii. 22) of the term of punishment. 
 One now expects that it should continue with =in^'^X5<1, in the 
 tone of a promise. The Psalm, however, closes with an his- 
 torical statement. For in^jss'l cannot signify ei cibaret eiim; 
 it ought to be pronounced inb'3X''1. The pointing, like the 
 LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate, takes ver. 17a (cf. Deut. xxxii. 
 13 sq.) as a retrospect, and aj)pareutly rightly so. For even 
 
400 PSALM LXXXII. 
 
 the Asapliic Psalms Ixxvli. and Ixxviii. break off with historical 
 pictures. Ver. lib is, accordingly, also to be taken as retro- 
 spective. The words of the poet in conclusion once more 
 change into the words of God. The closing word runs ^^''IiK'Kj 
 as in 1. 8, Deut. iv. 31, and (with the exception of the fait. 
 Hiph. of Lamed He verbs ending with ekka) usually. The 
 Babylonian system of pointing nowhere recognises the suffix- 
 form ekka. If the Israel of the present would hearken to the 
 Lawgiver of Sinai, says ver. 17, then would He renew to it the 
 miraculous gifts of the time of the redemption under Moses. 
 
 PSALM LXXXIL 
 
 god's judgment upon the gods of the earth. 
 
 1 ELOHIM standeth in the congregation of God, 
 Among the elohim doth He judge. 
 
 2 " How long will ye judge unjustly, 
 
 And take the side of the wicked ? (^Sela.) 
 
 3 Do justice to the destitute and fatherless, 
 Acquit the afflicted and the poor ! 
 
 4 Deliver the destitute and needy. 
 Rescue out of the hand of the wicked !" — 
 
 5 "They know not, and understand not, 
 In darkness they walk to and fro ; 
 All the foundations of the land totter. 
 
 6 /have said: Ye are elohim. 
 
 And sons of the Most High are ye all. 
 
 7 Yet as men shall ye die, 
 
 And as one of the princes shall ye fall." 
 
 8 Arise, Elohim, oh judge the earth, 
 
 For Thou hast a claim upou all nations. 
 
 As in Ps. Ixxxi., so also in this Psalm (according to the 
 Talmud the Tuesday Psalm of the Temple liturgy) God is in- 
 
PSALM LXXXII. 401 
 
 troduced as speaking after the manner of the prophets. Ps. 
 Iviii. and xciv. are ,similar, but more especially Isa. iii. 13-15. 
 Asaph the seer beholds how God, reproving, correctino-, and 
 threatening, appears against the chiefs of the confreo-ation of 
 His people, who have perverted the splendour of majesty which 
 He has put upon them into tyranny. It is perfectly charac- 
 teristic of Asaph (Ps. I., Ixxv., Ixxxi.) to plunge himself into 
 the contemplation of the divine judgment, and to introduce 
 God as speaking. There is nothing to militate against the 
 Psalm being written by Asaph, David's cotemporary, except the 
 determination not to allow to the f\Di6 of the inscription its 
 most natural sense. Hupfeld, understanding " angels" by the 
 elohim, as Bleek has done before him, inscribes the Psalm : 
 " God's judgment upon unjust judges in heaven and upon 
 earth." But the angels as such are nowhere called elohim 
 in the Old Testament, although they might be so called ; and 
 their being judged here on account of unjust judging, Hupfeld 
 himself says, is " an obscure point that is still to be cleared up." 
 An interpretation which, like this, abandons the usage of the 
 language in order to bring into existence a riddle that it cannot 
 solve, condemns itself. At the same time the assertion of 
 Hupfeld (of Knobel, Graf, and others), that in Ex. xxi. 6, 
 xxii. 7 sq., 27,* DNl^X denotes God Himself, and not directly 
 the authorities of the nation as being His earthly representa- 
 tives, finds its most forcible refutation in the so-called and 
 mortal elohim of this Psalm (cf. also xlv. 7, Iviii. 2). 
 
 By reference to this Psalm Jesus proves to the Jews (John 
 x. 34-36) that when He calls Himself the Son of God, He 
 does not blaspheme God', by an argamentatio a minori ad majus. 
 If the Law, so He argues, calls even those gods who are offi- 
 cially invested with this name by a declaration of the divine 
 will promulgated in time (and the Scripture cannot surely, as 
 in general, so also in this instance, be made invalid), then it 
 cannot surely be blasphemy if He calls Himself the Son of 
 God, whom not merely a divine utterance in this present time 
 has called to this or to that worldly office after the image of 
 God, but who with His whole life is ministering to the accom- 
 
 * In the English authorized version, Ex. xxi. 6, xxii. 8 sq. ("judges"), 
 28 ("gods," margin "judges"). — Tii. 
 
 VOL. U. 26 
 
402 PSALM LXXXII. 1-4. 
 
 plishment of a work to which the Father had already sanctified 
 Him when He came into the world. In connection with -qfyiaae 
 one is reminded of the fact that those who are called elohim in 
 the Psalm are censured on account of the unholiness of their 
 conduct. The name does not originally belong to them, nor do 
 they show themselves to be morally worthy of it. With rj^Laae 
 Kol aireareCkev Jesus contrasts His divine sonship, prior to time, 
 with theirs, which began only in this present time. 
 
 Vers. 1-4. God comes forward and makes Himself heard 
 first of all as censuring and admonishing. The " congregation 
 of God" is, as in Num. xxvii. 17, xxxi. 16, Josh. xxii. 16 sq., 
 " the congregation of (the sons of) Israel," which God has pur- 
 chased from among the nations (Ixxiv. 2), and upon which as 
 its Lawgiver He has set His divine impress. The psalmist and 
 seer sees Elohim standing in this congregation of God. The 
 jmrt. Niph. (as in Isa. iii. 13) denotes not so much the sudden- 
 ness and unpreparedness, as, rather, the statue-like immobility 
 and terrifying designfulness of His appearance. Within the 
 range of the congregation of God this holds good of the elohim. 
 The right over life and death, with which the administration of 
 justice cannot dispense, is a prerogative of God. From the 
 time of Gen. ix. 6, however, He has transferred the execution 
 of this prerogative to mankind, and instituted in mankind an 
 office wielding the sword of justice, which also exists in His 
 theocratic congregation, but here has His positive law as the 
 basis of its continuance and as the rule of its action. Every- 
 where among men, but here pre-eminently, those in authority 
 are God's delegates and the bearers of His image, and therefore 
 as His representatives are also themselves called elohim^ "gods" 
 (which the LXX. in Ex. xxi. 6 renders to Kpni)piov rov ©eou, 
 and the Targums here, as in Ex. xxii. 7, 8, 27 uniformly, ^J^'"l). 
 The God who has conferred this exercise of power upon these 
 subordinate elohim, without their resigning it of themselves, 
 now sits in judgment in their midst. t^S!^'^. of that which takes 
 place before the mind's eye of the psalmist. How long, He 
 asks, will ye judge unjustly ? p)V tiSi^ is equivalent to ?)V nb'^ 
 UB'cm, Lev. xix. 15, 35 (the opposite is Q^"lt^'^p tJDC', hiii. 2). 
 How long will ye accept the countenance of the wicked, i.e. 
 incline to accept, regard, favour the person of the wicked ? The 
 
PSALM LXXXII. 5-7. 403 
 
 music, which here becomes forte, gives intensity to tlie terrible 
 sternness {das Niederdonnernde) of the divine question, which 
 seeks to bring the "gods" of the earth to their right mind. 
 Then follow admonitions to do that which they have hitherto 
 left undone. They are to cause the benefit of the administra- 
 tion of justice to tend to the advantage of the defenceless, of 
 the destitute, and of the helpless, upon whom God the Law- 
 giver especially keeps His eye. The word ^1 i^^^), of which 
 there is no evidence until within the time of David and Solo- 
 mon, is synonymous with P^3X. ^i with nin""! is pointed bi, and 
 with JV^SI, on account of the closer notional union, ?1 (as in 
 Ixxii. 13). They are words which are frequently repeated in 
 the prophets, foremost in Isaiah (ch. i. 17), with which is 
 enjoined upon those invested with the dignity of the law, and 
 with jurisdiction, justice towards those who cannot and will not 
 themselves obtain their rights by violence. 
 
 Vers. 5-7. What now follows in ver. 5 is not a paren- 
 thetical assertion of the inefficiency with which the divine 
 correction rebounds from the judges and rulers. In connec- 
 tion with this way of taking ver. 5, the manner in which the 
 divine language is continued in ver. 6 is harsh and unadjusted. 
 God Himself speaks in ver. 5 of the judges, but reluctantly 
 alienated from them ; and confident of the futility of all 
 attempts to make them better. He tells them their sentence in 
 vers. 6 sq. The verbs in ver. 5a are designedly without any 
 object : complaint of the widest compass is made over their 
 want of reason and understanding ; and lyT" takes the perfect 
 form in like manner to iyvcoKaai, noverunt, cf. xiv. 1, Isa. xliv. 
 18. Thus, then, no result is to be expected from the divine 
 admonition : they still go their ways in this state of mental 
 darkness, and that, as the Hithpa. implies, stalking on in carnal 
 security and self-complacency. The commands, however, 
 which they transgress are the foundations (cf. xi. 3), as it were 
 the shafts and pillars (Ixxv. 4, cf. Prov. xxix. 4), upon which 
 rests the permanence of all earthly relationships which are 
 appointed by creation and regulated by the Tura. Their 
 transgression makes the land, the earth, to totter physically and 
 morally, and is the prelude of its overthrow. When the celes- 
 tial Lord of the domain thinks upon this destruction which 
 injustice and tyranny are bringing upon the earth, His wrath 
 
404 PSALM LXXXII. 8. 
 
 kindles, and He reminds the judges and rulers that it is His 
 own free declaratory act which has clothed them with the god- 
 like dignity which they bear. They are actually elohim, but 
 not possessed of the right of self-government ; there is a Most 
 High (Pyy) to whom they as sons are responsible. The idea 
 that the appellation elohim, which they have given to them- 
 selves, is only sarcastically given back to them in ver. 1 (Ewald, 
 Olshausen), is refuted by ver. 6, according to which they are 
 really elohim by the grace of God. But if their practice is not 
 an Amen to this name, then they shall be divested of the 
 majesty which they have forfeited ; they shall be divested of 
 the prerogative of Israel, whose vocation and destiny they 
 have belied. They shall die off Q']^r', like common men not 
 rising in any degree above the mass (cf. D^^5 \J3, opp. ^""^ \J3, 
 iv. 3, xlix. 3) ; they shall fall like any one (Judg. xvi. 7, 
 Obad. ver. 11) of the princes who in the course of history 
 have been cast down by the judgment of God (Hos. vii. 7). 
 Their divine office w^ill not protect them. For although justltia 
 civilis is far from being the righteousness that avails before 
 God, yet injustitia civilis is in His sight the vilest abomination. 
 Ver. 8. The poet closes with the prayer for the realiza- 
 tion of that which he has beheld in spirit. He implores God 
 Himself to sit in judgment {^^^^ as in Lam. iii. 59), since 
 judgment is so badly exercised upon the earth. All peoples 
 are indeed His ^^J^^_y He has an hereditary and proprietary 
 right among (LXX. and Vulgate according to Num. xviii. 20, 
 and frequently), or rather in (3 as in 3 7C'0, instead of the 
 accusative of the object, Zech. ii. 16), all nations {Wvrj) — may 
 He then be pleased to maintain it judicially. The inference 
 drawn from this point backwards, that the Psalm is directed 
 against the possessors of power among the Gentiles, is errone- 
 ous. Israel itself, in so far as it acts inconsistently with its 
 theocratic character, belies its sanctified nationality, is a ""13 
 like the D"'1J, and is put into the same category with these. 
 The judgment over the world is also a judgment over the 
 Israel that is become conformed to the world, and its God- 
 estranced chiefs. 
 
PSALM LXXXIIL 405 
 
 PSALM LXXXIIL 
 
 BATTLE-CRY TO GOD AGAINST ALLIED PEOPLES. 
 
 2 ELOHIM, let there be no repose to Thee, 
 Be not silent and rest not, O God ! 
 
 3 For lo Thine enemies make a tumult, 
 And Thy haters carry the head high. 
 
 4 Against Thy people they meditate a crafty design, 
 And take counsel together against Thy proteges. 
 
 5 They say : " Up ! we will destroy them from among the 
 
 peoples, 
 And the name of Israel shall not be remembered any 
 more ! " 
 
 6 For they take counsel together with one mind, 
 Against Thee they make a covenant : 
 
 7 The tents of Edom and of the Ishmaelites, 
 Moab and the Hagarenes ; 
 
 8 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, 
 Philistia, Avith the inhabitants of Tyre ; 
 
 9 Also Asshur hath joined itself to them, 
 
 They lend their arm to the sons of Lot. {Sela.) 
 
 10 Do unto them as unto Midian, 
 
 As unto Sisera, as unto Jabin at the brook Kishon ! 
 
 11 They were destroyed at Endor, 
 They became as dung for the land ; 
 
 12 Make them, their nobles, like Oi'eb and Zecb, 
 And like Zebach and Zalmunna all their princes, 
 
 13 Who said: 
 
 " Let us take possession of the habitations of Elohim ! " 
 
 14 My God, make them like the whirlwind, 
 As stubble before the wind ! 
 
 15 As fire, burning a forest. 
 
 And as flame, sinrjeinc mountains : 
 
 16 Thus do Thou pursue them with Thy tempest, 
 
406 PSALM LXXXIII. 
 
 And with Thy hurricane overthrow them I 
 17 Fill their face with shame, 
 
 That they may seek Thy name, Jahve I 
 
 18 Let them be ashamed and overthrown for ever, 
 And let them be confounded and perish ; 
 
 19 And let them know that Thou, Thy Name, Jahve, Thou 
 
 alone. 
 Art the Most High over all the earth. 
 
 The close of this Psalm is in accord with the close of the 
 preceding Psalm. It is the last of the twelve Psalms of Asaph 
 of the Psalter. The poet supplicates help against the many 
 nations which have allied themselves with the descendants of 
 Lot, i.e. Moab and Amnion, to entirely root out Israel as a 
 nation. Those who are fond of Maccabsean Psalms (Hitzig 
 and Olshausen), after the precedent of van Til and von 
 Bencel, find the circumstances of the time of the Psalm in 1 
 Mace. ch. v., and Grimm is also inclined to regard this as cor- 
 rect ; and in point of fact the deadly hostility of the edvr] 
 KVKkodev which we there see breaking forth on all sides,* as it 
 were at a given signal, against the Jewish people, who have 
 become again independent, and after the dedication of the 
 Temple doubly self-conscious, is far better suited to explain the 
 Psalm than the hostile efforts of Sanballat, Tobiah, and others 
 to hinder the rebuilding of Jerusalem, in the time of Nehemiah 
 (Vaihinger, Ewald, and Dillmann). There is, however, still 
 another incident beside that recorded in 1 Mace. ch. v. to 
 which the Psalm may be referred, viz. the confederation of the 
 nations for the extinction of Judah in the time of Jehoshaphat 
 (2 Chron. ch. xx.), and, as it seems to us, with comparatively 
 speaking less constraint. For the Psalm speaks of a real league, 
 whilst in 1 Mace. ch. v. the several nations made the attack 
 without being allied and not jointly; then, as the Psalm 
 assumes in ver. 9, the sons of Lot, i.e. the Moabites and 
 Ammonites, actually were at the head at that time, whilst in 
 
 • Concerning the viol Betiiv (^Beni Baijan), 1 Mace. v. 4, the difficulty 
 respecting which is to the present time unsolved, vid. Wetzstein's Excursus 
 II., at the end of this volume. 
 
PSALM LXXXIII. 407 
 
 1 Mace. ch. V. the sons of Esau occupy the most prominent 
 place ; and thirdly, at that time, in the time of Jehoshaphat, 
 as is recorded, an Asaphite, viz. Jahazicl, did actually interpose 
 in the course of events, a circumstance which coincides remark- 
 ably with the Pins'?. The league of that period consisted, accord- 
 ing to 2 Chron. xx. 1, of Moabites, Ammonites, and a part of 
 the D'^^yo (as it is to be read after the LXX.). But ver. 2 
 (where without any doubt Dnso is to be read instead of Disd) 
 adds the Edomites to their number, for it is expressly stated 
 further on (vers. 10, 22, 23) that the inhabitants of Mount 
 Seir were with them. Also, supposing of course that the 
 " Ishmaelites " and "Plagarenes" of the Psalm may be re- 
 garded as an unfolding of the n''J1J?D, which is confirmed by 
 Josephus, Antiq. ix. 1. 2 ; and that Gebal is to be understood 
 by the Mount Seir of the chronicler, which is confirmed by 
 
 the J^Jcs- still in use at the present day, there always remains 
 
 a difficulty in the fact that the Psalm also names Amalek, 
 Philistia, Tyre, and Asshur, of which we find no mention there 
 in the reign of Jehoshaphat. But these difficulties are counter- 
 balanced by others that beset the reference to 1 Mace. ch. v., 
 viz. that in the time of the Seleucidee the Amalekites no longer 
 existed, and consequently, as might be expected, are not men- 
 tioned at all in 1 Mace. ch. v. ; further, that there the Moabites, 
 too, are no longer spoken of, although some formerly Moabitish 
 cities of Gileaditis are mentioned; and thirdly, that "il^'N = 
 Syria (a certainly possible usage of the word) appears in a 
 subordinate position, whereas it was, however, the dominant 
 power. On the other hand, the mention of Amalek is intelligi- 
 ble in connection with the reference to 2 Chron. ch. xx., and 
 the absence of its express mention in the chronicler does not 
 make itself particularly felt in consideration of Gen. xxxvi. 12. 
 Philistia, Tyre, and Asshur, however, stand at the end in the 
 Psalm, and might also even be mentioned with the others if 
 they rendered aid to the confederates of the south-east without 
 taking part with them in the campaign, as being a succour to 
 the actual leaders of the enterprise, the sons of Lot. We 
 therefore agree with the reference of Ps. Ixxxiii. (as also of 
 Ps. xlviii.) to the alliance of the neighbouring nations against 
 Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat, which has been aheady 
 
408 PSALM LXXXIII. 2-9. 
 
 recognised by Kimchi and allowed by Keil, Hengstenberg, and 
 Movers. 
 
 Vers. 2-5. The poet prays, may God not remain an in- 
 active looker-on in connection with the danger of destruction 
 that threatens His people. "'^^. (with which ^7^. is to be sup- 
 plied) is the opposite of alertness ; K^^.n the opposite of speak- 
 ing (in connection with which it is assumed that God's word 
 is at the same time deed) ; t^jp"^ the opposite of being agitated 
 and activity. The energetic future jehernajun gives outward 
 emphasis to the confirmation of the petition, and the fact that 
 Israel's foes are the foes of God gives inward emphasis to it. 
 On B'Ni xb'i, cf. ex. 7. liD is here a secret agreement ; and 
 ICiJ?'',, elsewhere to deal craftily, here signifies to craftily plot, 
 devise, bring a thing about. T'^l^V is to be understood accord- 
 ing to xxvii. 5, xxxi. 21. The Hithpa. XT^'^ alternates here 
 with the more ancient Niph. (ver. 6). The design of the 
 enemies in this instance has reference to the total extirpation 
 of Israel, of the separatist-people who exclude themselves from 
 the life of the world and condemn it. ''120^ from being a people 
 = so that it may no longer be a people or nation, as in Isa. 
 vii. 8, xvii. 1, xxv. 2, Jer. xlviii. 42. In the borrowed passage, 
 Jer. xlviii. 2, by an interchange of a letter it is n3n''"i3:. This 
 Asaph Psalm is to be discerned in not a few passages of the 
 prophets ; cf. Isa. Ixii. 6 sq. with ver. 2, Isa. xvii. 12 with 
 ver. 3. 
 
 Vers. 6-9. Instead of inx 27, 1 Chron. xii. 38, it is deli- 
 herant corde una, inasmuch as 1"^n^ on the one hand gives 
 intensity to the reciprocal signification of the verb, and on the 
 other lends the adjectival notion to 3>. Of the confederate 
 peoples the chronicler (2 Chron. ch. xx.) mentions the Moab- 
 ites, the Ammonites, the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and the 
 Me'unim, instead of which Josephus, Antiq. ix. 1. 2, says : a 
 great body of Arabians. This crowd of peoples comes from 
 the other side of the Dead Sea, ^"^^.^ (as it is to be read in 
 ver. 2 in the chronicler instead of O")^^, cf. on Ix. 2) ; the 
 territory of Edom, which is mentioned first by the poet, was 
 therefore the rendezvous. The tents of Edom and of the 
 
 Ishmaelites are (cf. \^\, people) the people themselves who 
 
PSALM LXXXIII. 10-13. 409 
 
 live in tents. Moreover, too, the poet ranges the hostile 
 nations according to their geographical position. The seven 
 first-named from Edom to Amalek, which still existed at the 
 time of the psalmist (for the final destruction of the Amalek- 
 ites by the Simeonites, 1 Chron. iv. 42 sq., falls at an indeter- 
 minate period prior to the Exile), are those out of the regions 
 east and south-east of the Dead Sea. According to Gen. xxv. 
 18, the Ishmaelites had spread from Hig^z through the penin- 
 sula of Sinai beyond the eastern and southern deserts as far 
 up as the countries under the dominion of Assyria. The 
 Hagarenes dwelt in tents from the Persian Gulf as far as the 
 east of Gilead (1 Chron. v. 10) towards the Euphrates. ^33, 
 
 JIjcs-, is the name of the people inhabiting the mountains 
 
 situated in the south of the Dead Sea, that is to say, the 
 northern Seiritish mountains. Both Gebal and also, as it ap- 
 pears, the Amalek intended here according to Gen. xxxvi. 12 
 (cf. Josephus, Antiq. ii. 1. 2 : ^AfxaXrjKCTfi, a part of Idumcea), 
 belong to the wide circuit of Edom. Then follow the Philis- 
 tines and Phoenicians, the two nations of the coast of the 
 Mediterranean, which also appear in Amos ch. i. (cf. Joel ch. 
 iv. [iii.]) as making common cause with the Edomites against 
 Israel. Finally Asshur, the nation of the distant north-east, 
 liere not as yet appearing as a principal power, but strengthen- 
 ing (yid. concerning i?iiT, an arm = assistance, succour, Gese- 
 nius, Thesaurusj p. 4336) the sons of Lot, i.e. the Moabites and 
 Ammonites, with whom the enterprise started, and forming a 
 powerful reserve for them. The music bursts forth angrily at 
 the close of this enumeration, and imprecations discharge them- 
 selves in the following strophe. 
 
 Vers. 10-13. With I)ip3 reference is made to Gideon's 
 victory over the Midianites, which belongs to the most glorious 
 recollections of Israel, and to which in other instances, too, 
 national hopes are attached, Isa. ix. 3 [4], x. 26, cf. Hab. iii. 
 7 ; and with the asyndeton r?^3 N")P''D3 (snp''p3, as Norzi states, 
 who does not rightly understand the placing of the Metheg) to the 
 victory of Barak and Deborah over Sisera and the Canaanitish 
 king Jabin, whose general he was. The Beth of ^'n^a is like 
 the Belh of T}^.^ in ex. 7 : according to Judg. v. 21 the Kishon 
 carried away the corpses of the slain army. 'Endor^ near 
 
410 PSALM LXXXIII. 14-17. 
 
 Tabor, and therefore situated not far distant from Taanach and 
 Megiddo (Judg. v. 19), belonged to the battle-field. no^i<, 
 starting from the radical notion of that which flatly covers 
 anything, which lies in m, signifying the covering of earth 
 lying flat over the globe, therefore humus (like T}^-, term, and 
 ?3Pi, tellus), is here (cf. 2 Kings ix. 37) in accord with I^M 
 (from lOl), which is in substance akin to it. In ver. 12 we 
 have a retrospective glance at Gideon's victory. 'Oreb and 
 Zeeb were D''"it?' of the Midianites, Judg. vii. 25 ; Zebach and 
 Tsalmumia J their kings, Judg. viii. 5 sqq.* The pronoun pre- 
 cedes the word itself in i^D''^} as in Ex. ii. 6 ; the heaped-up 
 suffixes emo (emo) give to the imprecation a rhythm and sound 
 as of rolling thunder. Concerning '^''PJ, vid. on ii. 6. So far 
 as the matter is concerned, 2 Chron. xx. 11 harmonizes with 
 ver. 13. Canaan, the land which is God's and which He has 
 given to His people, is called DM^x niX3 (cf. Ixxiv. 20). 
 
 . Vers. 14-17. With the w>^, which constrains God in 
 faith, the "thunderinsj down" befiins afresh. Pi^bi simiifies a 
 wheel and a whirling motion, such as usually arises when the 
 wind changes suddenly, then also whatever is driven about in 
 
 the whirling, Isa. xvii. 13.f ^\l (from t^^'j?, jji.«j aridum esse) 
 
 is the dry corn-stalks, whether as left standing or, as in this 
 instance, as straw upon the threshing-floor or upon the field. 
 Like a fire that spreads rapidly, laying hold of everything, 
 which burns up the forest and singes off the wooded mountain 
 so that only a bare cone is left standing, so is God to drive 
 them before Him in the raging tempest of His wrath and take 
 them unawares. The figure in ver. 15 is fully worked up by 
 
 * The Syriac Hexapla has (Hos. x. 14) yicf'V instead of p^CN a sub- 
 stitution which is accepted by Geiger, Deutsch. Morgeiddiid. Zeilschr. 1862, 
 S. 729 f. Concerning the signification of the above names of Midianitish 
 princes, vid. Ncildeke, Ueher die Amalekitcr, S. 9. 
 
 t Saadia, who renders the ^53^3 in Ixxvii. 19 as an astronomical expres- 
 sion with CJ^J^^, the sphere of the heavens, here has professedly ilj^ j«!l^, 
 which would be a plural form expanded out of Jjol _c, "sieves" or "tam- 
 bourines;" it is, however, to be read, as in Isa. xvii. 13, Codex Oxon., i3b, Jtll^. 
 
 The verb Jjj-c, "to sift," is transferred to the wind, e.g. in Mutanabhi 
 (edited with Wahidi's commentary by Dieterici), p. 29, 1. 6 and 6 : "it is 
 
PSALM LXXXIII. 18, 19. 411 
 
 Isaiah, ch. x. 16-19 ; t^np as in Deut. xxxii, 22. In the apodosis, 
 ver. 16, the figure is changed into a kindred one : wrath is a 
 glowing heat (pin) and a breath (ho'lJO, Isa. xxx. 33) at the 
 same time. In ver. 176 it becomes clear what is the final pur- 
 pose towards which this language of cursing tends : to the end 
 that all, whether willingly or reluctantly, may give the glory 
 to the God of revelation. Directed towards this end the 
 earnest prayer is repeated once more in the tetrastichic closing 
 strain. 
 
 Vers. 18, 19. The aim of the wish is that they in the 
 midst of their downfall may lay hold upon the mercy of Jahve 
 as their only deliverance : first they must come to nought, and 
 only by giving Jahve the glory will they not be utterly de- 
 stroyed. Side by side with nnx, ver. 19a, is placed '^^^ as a 
 second subject (cf. xliv. 3, Ixix. 11). In view of ver. 176 
 ^^11] (as in lix. 14) has not merely the sense of perceiving so 
 far as the justice of the punishment is concerned ; the know- 
 ledge which is unto salvation is not excluded. The end of the 
 matter which the poet wishes to see brought about is this, that 
 Jahve, that the God of revelation (iDC), may become the All- 
 exalted One in the consciousness of the nations. 
 
 as though the dust of this region, -when the winds chase one another 
 
 therein, were sifted," JiJ yt« (i-e. caught up and whirled round) ; and with 
 other notional and constructional applications in Makkari, i. p. 102, 1. 18 : 
 
 O ^ O J 
 
 " it is as though its soil had been cleansed from dust by sifting," c:.^ -c 
 
 (i.e. the dust thereof swept away by a whirlwind). Accordingly <ybyj 
 
 signifies first, as a nom. vicis., a whirling about (of dust by the wind), then 
 in a concrete sense a whirlwind, as Saadia uses it, inasmuch as he makes 
 use of it twice for ^3^33. So Fleischer in opposition to Ewald, who renders 
 "like the sweepings or rubbish." 
 
EXCUESUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. 
 
 I.— THE SYMBOLICAL MEANING OF THE WASH-POT AND 
 
 OF THE SHOE. 
 
 On Ps. Ix. 10 (pp. 199 sq.). 
 
 The most natural interpretation of the words Moah is my 
 wash-pot, and upon Edom I cast my shoe, seems to me, accord- 
 ing to the conception in Syria at the present day, to be : Moab 
 is the vessel in which I wash my face and hands clean, i.e. the 
 country and people in which I acquire to myself (by its con- 
 quest) splendour and renown, and Edom I degrade to the place 
 whither I throw my cast-off shoes,* i.e. I cause Edom to endure 
 the most humiliating treatment, that of a helot. The idea is 
 still the same, if the poet conceived of Edom as a person at 
 whom he casts his shoe as an insult. It is surely not to be 
 doubted that these first two members of the verse — according 
 to the apprehension of the whole Psalm — refer to a conquest 
 of the two nations either as already completed or as near at 
 hand, since the third member of the verse, having reference to 
 the Philistines, speaks with certainty of such a conquest ; ^yynnn 
 
 * lu the old Arabic ^yj is both singular and collective ; and so, too, 
 it will be in Hebrew, and the occurrence of the dual is not opposed to this. 
 The modern language still has the norncn ujiitatin npyj, but the Beduius are 
 very glad to avoid both words on account of their accord with HJy^, " a 
 curse," a terrible word to them ; still they use the former when they intend 
 the latter, and say 'aZe^ en-na'°la, "the shoe upon him!" (or the horse- 
 shoe, for na'l also has this meaning) in the sense of "the curse upon 
 him!" Upon this, too, is based the proverb : el-icekd el-chara jegih li-ah'luh 
 en-nd'la, "the dirty child brings to his [family] the shoe," i.e. a bad child 
 brings a curse upon his [family] (cf. Tantawi's 7'raite, p. 119). The word 
 nd'l is still found now-a-days, but almost exclusively among the nomads 
 and the kardiciiia (the inhabitants of the villages of the desert). The shoe 
 together with the latchets or thongs is cut out of the raw hide of a slaugh- 
 
 412 
 
EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — I. 413 
 
 may be understood of a battle-cry (when the fight is at hand) 
 or a cry for vengeance (after the conquest). 
 
 The pregnant language of poetry is satisfied with the men- 
 tion of the wash-pot in order to bring before the mind the 
 figure so familiar to the Semite of ^' washing one's self white," 
 i.e. to acquire a reputation. In the Arabian poets the meta- 
 phor not unfrequently is " to wash one's self white in the blood 
 
 ■^ O -^ vJ / 
 
 of the enemies" (\jj^\ ^Si s.^^ u4^:)' ^^ the language of 
 
 common life <^-Jl ^^^ {candor faciei) is a broad notion, for 
 everything good and beautiful that a man does or receives 
 
 makes his face white {i^^^ ^_^^iJoo). Now, since the one or the 
 
 other is often taking place, one also very frequently hears the 
 expression made use of. We see from Isa. i. 16-18, Job ix. 
 30, and Prov. xxx. 12, that among the Hebrews too the figura- 
 tive phrase of washing one's self white had a far more extended 
 application than it might seem according to Ps. li. 9 ; and a 
 conquest of the !Moabites must have furnished an Israelitish 
 
 king with the i^^\ i^^^i before his people. The opposite is 
 
 the A^s-jll (jL^ (nigror faciei), which is brought about by every- 
 thing bad and ugly that one does or suffers. Since the denying 
 of a request, unsuccessful mediation between disputants, the 
 non-acceptance of a present, and the not returning of a greet- 
 ing blackens the face {^^^j ^^-^l) ^^ ^^^^ petitioner, of the 
 
 tcred or fallen camel, and while moist fitted on to the foot, in order that in 
 drying it may receive the shape of the foot. The Syrian peasantry in the 
 present day wear the red or yellow gezma a handbreadth high, a kind of 
 boot ; and the poorer inhabitants of the towns the red surmeia reaching to 
 the ankle, a real shoe ; whilst the more prosperous wear a yellow under- 
 shoe (kalsJiin) and a red over-shoe {buhiKja, collective hubwj and baivuLuj). 
 These four foreign words lead one to infer that the thing itself is of foreign 
 origin ; yet the simple surmeia, which is also called merkub (3l3"io), is very 
 old in the cities of Syria and of Palestine. According to Amos ii. C, viii. 
 6, it is scarcely to be doubted that the real leathern shoe was also under- 
 stood among the Hebrews by the word ijyj. 
 
414 EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — L 
 
 mediator, of the giver, and of him who greets, it comes to pass 
 that in a Syrian town one almost daily meets with the expres- 
 sion, as with the "blackened" individual himself; cf. Burck- 
 hardt, Arabic Proverbs^ pp. 48 sq. ; Freytag, Prov. Arab. iii. p. 
 239 (No. 1435 and No. 143G),* and p. 534. 
 
 As to the second member of the verse, the shoe, as being 
 the commonest part of one's clothing, is the figure of vileness 
 and despicableness ; and one would no more think of mention- 
 ing the shoe than the indecent word chardj " dung," without 
 saving one's self in the presence of the hearer by the addition 
 of the words agellak Allah, " may God glorify thee ! " The 
 proverb adhall min en-ndH, " more common than the shoe," is 
 found in Freytag, Prov. Arab. i. 514 ; the same in meaning 
 with this is adhall min el-hidhd, ibid. p. 516. On the first 
 Meidani quotes two verses of poetry. The one runs thus: 
 " The cheek of the Kulebites more easily undergoes the dis- 
 gracing touch than the shoe" (which the feet tread in the 
 dirt) ; the other is : " Accustomed to many years' disgrace, they 
 accommodate themselves more easily to the footsteps than does 
 the shoe." Here belongs, too, jd habbadhd el-munta' limuna 
 kidmd (in Fi'eytag, iii. 513) — " Oh what a nice thing it is to 
 draw on one's shoes standing!" i.e. to associate with the common 
 people without making one's self common.f If it is a dis- 
 grace to be compared to the shoe, it is a still greater disgrace 
 to be struck with one. Being warned of the presence of a foe, 
 the Arab, in order to express the greatest possible contempt 
 of this foe, cries : hdbugi 'aid ra^suh^X " my shoe upon his 
 head," i.e. it only requires a few blows with my shoe to be rid 
 of him. A discharged bad servant sends to ask his master to 
 take him on again, and the master answers the intermediary : 
 jegi wa-jd chodJt surmeiaii 'aid kafdh, " he may come if he 
 
 * Freytag has here erroneously translated the word sau-ad by opes. 
 The proverb is: misfortune upon misfortune makes the heart blind, i.e. 
 
 breaks the spirit and energy. In Damascus they say t^^ii-l ^ ^f-^ A!-;!^, 
 " poverty makes the heart blind." 
 
 t The anecdote given on this proverb by Meidani is one of those bad 
 jokes such as the Arabs have on a great many of their proverbs. 
 
 i Instead of hulmjl they also say surmciatt, and in the country always 
 gezmati. This swaggering phrase is very frequent among the common 
 people j I have, however, never seen it put into practice. 
 
EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — L 415 
 
 wishes to have my shoe upon his head," i.e. I would drive him 
 away again in the most disgraceful manner. The Khaliph 
 Mutewekkil sent to the Imam Ahmed (Ibn Hanbal) to ask 
 him to pray for one of the maidens of his palace who had 
 epilepsy : the imam took off his shoe {na"l), gave it to the mes- 
 senger, and said : Go, place it at the bed-head of the maiden 
 and say, ''' Ahmed sends to ask whether thou wilt depart from 
 the maiden or have seventy counted out with this shoe?" The 
 messenger did as he was told, and the evil spirit (el-mdrid) 
 answered through the mouth of the maiden : " I obey ! If 
 Ahmed had commanded me to leave the 'Irak, I would do it." 
 And he came out of her and fled, and the maiden was made 
 whole, etc. (mss. in the Royal Library in Berlin, Section 
 Wetzstein, ii. No. 355, folio 113a). In Damascus they say of 
 a cunning, wicked man, proverbially : darab esh-Shetdti alf 
 hdhuga, " he struck Satan a thousand times with his shoe," i.e. 
 Satan was his disciple, but was such a bungler in comparison 
 with his master that he treated him in the most contemptible 
 manner, and sought to discipline him by means of the vilest 
 kind of punishment. Another Damascene proverb runs : el- 
 gehennam hen el-bawdMg, " Hell is among the shoes." The 
 reception-room of houses in the city is divided into two 
 parts ; the very much larger part is furnished with carpets and 
 divans, and here the guests sit ; the lesser part, called 'ataba, is 
 from one to three steps lower, and here the attendants, slaves, 
 and all contemptible people who do not dare to go up higher, 
 stand. Here, too, stand the over-shoes of those who sit in the 
 upper part. The proverb therefore signifies, that the feeling of 
 being unhonoured and condemned, of being obliged to stand in 
 the place where the others set their shoes, resembles the pains 
 of hell.* This proverb seems to me to illustrate the first of the 
 two interpretations of Ps. Ix. 10b indicated above as possible ; 
 whilst in support of the second we may call to mind that enact- 
 ment of EL-IIdkim biamr- Allah, according to which in Syria 
 and Egypt the Christians were compelled to hang wooden 
 crosses and the Jews wooden shoes about their necks, which 
 
 * As is well known, the Arabs are not so sensitive to anytliiug as tbey 
 are to outward distinctions ; and the words of the poet Abu Farras : land 
 es-sadr au el-kahr, " we desire the seat of honour or the grave," are uttered 
 by every Arab from the very soul. 
 
41(i EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — I. 
 
 they were not allowed to take off even in the bath. That this 
 was designed solely as a mark of disgrace, is clear from the 
 further points of that enactment, viz. that both parties were 
 allowed to wear only black turbans : not to ride upon horses, 
 but only upon donkeys without saddle-cloths ; not to have any 
 Moslem servants, etc. (mss. in the Royal Library in Berlin, 
 Section Wetzstein, ii. No. 351, fol. IQlr). 
 
 The supposition of many expositors, that the taking pos- 
 session of Edom is to be understood by the casting of the shoe 
 upon it, I hold to be incorrect. In his work on the Psahns 
 (ii. 33) Ilitzig observes in its favour : " The shoe may be re- 
 garded as the symbol of a thing that has a master, for one says 
 of a divorced woman, 'she was my slipper, and I have cast her 
 off' (Burckhardt, Azotes on the Bedouins, 1831, p. 113); to 
 take it off may therefore mean to give up a property, accord- 
 ing to Deut. XXV. 9, Ruth iv. 7 sq., and to cast it upon or at 
 something may mean to take possession of it." Here I must 
 first show that the quotation from Burckhardt is a phrase of 
 which variations are to be met with. The figure of the shoe 
 as symbolizing rejection is used only by the common people, 
 and only by these when any one is aroused by offensive re- 
 proaches, or when filled with hatred against the divorced or her 
 family. The dweller in Hauran in this case says in opposition 
 to the reproach : thobi wa-shalahtuh, '' it was my shirt, and I 
 have taken it off." A father or a brother who (and this is a 
 custom of the country) has slain his daughter or sister that 
 has, as a virgin, been seduced, turns aside the reproaches of 
 strangers with the standing phrase : isbai tva-katatuh, ^' it 
 was my own finger, and I have cut it off," or : isbai ica-db, 
 kata'tuh, " it was my own finger, and it became unsound, so I 
 cut it off," i.e. it was my own flesh and blood, not that of a 
 stranger, what right have you therefore to call me to account ? 
 But the two Scripture passages only favour that interpretation 
 in a very slight degree. In Deut. xxv. 9, where the despised 
 widow takes off the shoe of her brother-in-law and spits into 
 his face, she means simply to disgrace him. If the right of 
 determining]: for one's self were transferred to her toirether with 
 the shoe, then the act of taking off the shoe ought not to have 
 been performed by her, but by him, since she cannot herself 
 take this right upon herself. And when the man was called 
 
EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — II. 417 
 
 '' barefoot " from this time forth, this epithet would no lonfrer 
 be a stigma upon him, which it is evidently intended to be, 
 but would signify nothing more than " the possessionless one," 
 which would have no meaning. The taking off of the shoe is, 
 however, here designed to say : As thou despisest thy deceased 
 brother and his widow, so shalt thou be like those despised and 
 destitute ones who have not the meanest article of clothing, the 
 shoe, and who are obliged to walk barefooted upon the sharp 
 and hot stones, and in snow, in rain, and in dirt. 
 
 Ruth iv. 7, 8 is very different from this passage. Here 
 one man delivers his shoe to another man certainly as the sign 
 of the transfer of a right, yet without the unclean shoe as such 
 being in general the symbol of ownership or property. For 
 this no authenticated evidence is to be found. It is rather 
 that his handing over the shoe is only the visible sign of the 
 act of delivering up and taking possession (of the teslim and 
 tesellum), by means of which a sale, exchange, renunciation, or 
 presentation becomes an established fact ("i^ypa Q.'i?^). If an 
 article of clothing be chosen for this purpose, because thereby 
 one would seemingly part with an actual possession, then it 
 might also be some other article. If, however, we may argue 
 from the simple clothing of the inhabitants of Hauran at the 
 present day, and of the whole of the country east of the 
 Jordan, concerning the clothing of the ancient Scripture times, 
 then there would frequently, especially in the country, only be 
 the mantle besides the shoe at one's disposal ; and even this a 
 person would not always have with liim in the hot season. 
 This is apart from the consideration that the choice of the 
 shoe was favoured by its meanness, which would say that one 
 lightly parted with the object given up, and gave it heartily to 
 the other. 
 
 II. — CONCERNING THE viol Baidv IN 1 MACC. V. 4. 
 
 On Ps. Ixxxiii. (p. 40G, note). 
 
 The viol Baidv were a small tribe, by name I'? ''^.3. In the 
 
 Arabian genealogies the word ^.Lu not un frequently occurs, as 
 VOL. II. 27 
 
418 EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — II. 
 
 a name of men ; even the Kdmus under -jo has an \z lA 
 ij^. c?^ -^^^ appellative signification is that of the proper 
 names Jjjli and J~2JJ, viz. discernens seu ratione seu gladio. 
 
 With respect to the abode of the Beiii Baijdn, from the 
 fact that Judas found it to be the best opportunity of inflict- 
 ing upon them the appointed chastisement for highway rob- 
 beries when he had surprised and smitten the Edomites in the 
 valley of the 'Araba, it may be inferred that they took up 
 their abode in the neighbourhood of much-frequented high- 
 roads in the valley of the 'Araba. An important junction of 
 
 the roads of that district is the 6^/mmr-well ( -^jtll),* which has 
 an abundant supply of water, and is frequently mentioned in 
 the annals of Islam. It is situated on the western side of 
 the 'Araba, distant two caravan marches north of Aila, and 
 the same distance fi'om the ruins of Soyhar in the «;(;uth-west 
 of the Dead Sea. For here the main road leading from Aila 
 to Hebron and Jerusalem intersects the road which led from 
 Egypt to Petra and farther east. The caravans going from 
 Aila to Ghazza certainly did not touch at Ghamr, since, as at 
 the present day, they used to take the more westerly direction 
 farther south, but they were always obliged to halt at the drink- 
 ing-places of the Wddi el-Lahjdna, which lie scarcely ten hours 
 south-west of Ghamr. They therefore likewise remained 
 within the range of the robbers, if these inhabited the moun- 
 tains which lie between Ghamr and that wadi. This nioun- 
 
 tain range is, however, called Gehel el-Baijdna (<.tjUjJl Jjc^), 
 which is synonymous with Gehel Bent Baijdn; for ever since 
 the Arabic language has given up the use of the plural in un 
 
 and in for gentile nouns, JUjsI^, ''the Baijanite," takes the 
 
 form ijljoJ^, " the Baijanites."t Burckhardt {Travels in Syria 
 and the Holy Land, London 1822, 4to, p. 444), setting out 
 
 * Usually called Ghamr el- Arahdt in distinction from another watering- 
 place and highroad-station of the same name between Mdan and Temd. 
 t For the most part, as one will be aware, the gentile noun is fond of 
 
 the broken plural, e.g. ijjl.-£^ll (from the singular ^jI:>-), "the Bent 
 
EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN. — 11. 419 
 
 from 'Aln es-Sadika at the northern end of Gebel Sherah 
 towards Egypt, crossed the 'Araba south of Ghamr. His 
 lanfTuatie in reference to the matter in hand is as follows : 
 " We were one hour and a half in crossing the Araba, direc- 
 tion W. by N. In some places the sand is very deep, but it is 
 firm, and the camels walk over it without sinking. . . . There 
 is not the slightest appearance of a road or of any other work 
 of human art in this part of the valley. On the other side we 
 ascended the western chain of mountains. The mountain 
 opposite to us appeared to be the highest point of the whole 
 
 Gdbir" (Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 405) ; iLs^!^»*all (from the singu- 
 lar -j^Ltf), "the Bern Sdlih (ibid. p. 489); compare besides, iLjjU^]^, 
 
 ^jjljjj^ iS^\J^\ the inhabitants of Jerusalem, of Beirut, of Antioch. 
 
 ,' , IS. I I - _ 
 
 By analogy one would expect to meet with a plural ^Ijjjl from ^LuJ^ ; 
 but such a plural is not possible on phonetic grounds, and therefore, too, 
 the Jljwj -A..' (a tribe in the Trachonitis) is called only ilLuJl, and not 
 <lL)Lx*J^. Also from a plural <)jl'Lvj one could not with certainty infer a 
 singular jLu, since the ^ of the final syllable in the pluralis fractus of 
 gentilia is very frequently a servile letter, e.g. in ^uUl (from the singular 
 
 JUdll), the Beni Leith (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 420), ^ ,1^1 (from the 
 singular (jTj^xl^), "the dwellers in the Ghor^'' (Burckhardt, ibid. p. 391) ; 
 
 / f f III »o 
 
 cf. besides, <U^U.^!1 and ij ^yA\ (from the singular ^^aA^\ and 
 
 ,c,j*a!l), "the inhabitants of Emesa and Tyre.'''' Since the form i^XxJ is 
 
 become a very favourite collective of A\xi (cf. Jiassdda, the mowers; 
 regfj<Ma, the reapers ; derrdsa, the threshers ; keijdla, the measurers of the 
 corn ; tarrdba, the tillers of the ground ; lebbdna, the brickmakers, etc.), 
 it is natural simply to foist the name of ancestor of the tribe Baijun on the 
 collective Baijdna as the singular. This supposition is, however, unneces- 
 sary, since in connection with other word-formations too the ^ of the 
 
 nisba disappears in the collective; cf. ij-*.*]^ tLuu.s^!t, tUjuJl, d^Jl\, 
 all of which are names of nomadic tribes, the singulars of which are 
 
 _0/^ wO/.« _''/.> _ C/^ 
 
 ^;AJj:, i^Jyuu^, ,^_j*J^-> i^^rSlJ^. 
 
420 EXCURSUS BY J. G. WETZSTEIN.— 11. 
 
 chain, as far as I could see N. and S. ; it is called Djebel 
 
 Beyane (^Aj\jj Jjc^) ; the height of this chain, however, is not 
 half that of the eastern mountains. It is intersected by 
 numerous broad Wadys in which the Talh tree grows ; the rock 
 is entirely silicious, of the same species as that of the desert 
 which extends from hence to Suez, . . . After an hour and a 
 half of gentle ascent we arrived at the summit of the hills. . . ." 
 The article is wanting before Beyane in Burckhardt ; perhaps 
 the name given to the mountain to him by some of his attend- 
 ants was G. Beydn, "mountain of the {Bent) Baijdn" and 
 by others G. el-Beydne, " mountain of the Baljanites," so that 
 he regarded the absence of the article in the one and the form 
 of the other as the more correct. One of those " broad wadys," 
 — perhaps the one on which was situated the fortress destroyed 
 by Judas, — is called, according to Kobinson (^Biblical ResearcJies 
 in Palestine., 2d edition, i. 182, 1st ed. i. 269, etc.), the " Wadi 
 
 of the Baijdnites" \^^ el-Bey dneli"~\ (aliUjJl ^cjlj). Here also 
 belongs a statement in the Geographical Lexicon of Abd'Obeid 
 el-Bekri (died 4.87 of the Higra), which Juynboll unfortunately 
 gives incompletely in his edition of J>^1.^1 t__>lJ'^ (vol. iv. p. 
 
 416), as follows: ;^!^ j^AU j^lrs^ 7-^y J^jXia!|^ ^jJ^[j ^^U-s 
 ^^ Baijdn with double a and a doubled Jod is a locality in the 
 neighbourhood of Ghamr, etc." Probably in the original text 
 
 used by Bekri it stood ^^Ly ^"p- or ^[jj Jjcj- (the ruins of 
 Baijan, or the mountain of Baijan). Bekri, however, imagin- 
 ing that in ^\jo he had the proper name not of a people but 
 of a locality, substituted for the Lp> or Ja:>- standing before it 
 
 the word f-«* v<) which had at one time become stereotyped, and 
 by which those compilers described everything when possible. 
 
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