76:7. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.
76:8. Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?
76:9. Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation?
76:10. Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies?
76:11. And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High.
76:12. I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.
76:13. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.
76:14. Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God?
76:15. Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations:
76:16. With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph.
76:17. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.
76:18. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass:
76:19. The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled.
76:20. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known.
76:21. Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalms Chapter 77
Attendite.
God's great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstanding their ingratitude.
77:1. Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
77:2. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.
Propositions… Deep and mysterious sayings. By this it appears that the historical facts of ancient times, commemorated in this psalm, were deep and mysterious: as being figures of great truths appertaining to the time of the New Testament.
77:3. How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
77:4. They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.
77:5. And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:
77:6. That another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.
77:7. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.
77:8. That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
77:9. The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.
77:10. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.
77:11. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.
77:12. Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.
77:13. He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.
77:14. And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.
77:15. He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.
77:16. He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.
77:17. And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.
77:18. And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.
77:19. And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
77:20. Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?
77:21. Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.
77:22. Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.
77:23. And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.
77:24. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.
77:25. Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.
77:26. He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.
77:27. And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.
77:28. And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.
77:29. So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:
77:30. they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:
77:31. And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.
77:32. In all these things they sinned still: and they behaved not for his wondrous works.
77:33. And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.
77:34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.
77:35. And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.
77:36. And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:
77:37. But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.
77:38. But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath.
77:39. And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.
77:40. How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?
77:41. And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel.
77:42. They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:
77:43. How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.
77:44. And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might not drink.
77:45. He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.
77:46. And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.
77:47. And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.
77:48. And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.
77:49. And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.
77:50. He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.
77:51. And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.
77:52. And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
77:53. And he brought them out in hope and they feared not: and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
77:54. And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.
77:55. And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.
77:56. Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies.
77:57. And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.
77:58. They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.
77:59. God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.
77:60. And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.
77:61. And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.
77:62. And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.
77:63. Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.
77:64. Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.
77:65. And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.
77:66. And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.
77:67. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
77:68. But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.
77:69. And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.
As of unicorns… That is, firm and strong like the horn of the unicorn. This is one of the chiefest of the propositions of this psalm, foreshewing the firm establishment of the one, true, and everlasting sanctuary of God, in his church.
77:70. And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,
77:71. To feed Jacob his servant and Israel his inheritance.
77:72. And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.
Psalms Chapter 78
Deus, venerunt gentes.
The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to belong to the time of the Machabees.
78:1. A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.
78:2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.
78:3. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them.
78:4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
78:5. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be kindled like a fire?
78:6. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
78:7. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.
78:8. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.
78:9. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:
78:10. Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:
78:11. Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.
78:12. And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
78:13. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.
Psalms Chapter 79
Qui regis Israel.
A prayer for the church in tribulation, commemorating God's former favours.
79:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm.
79:2. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth
79:3. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us.
79:4. Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.
79:5. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy servant?
79:6. How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?
79:7. Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our enemies have scoffed at us.
79:8. O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.
79:9. Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
79:10. Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land.
79:11. The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the cedars of God.
79:12. It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river.
79:13. Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it?
79:14. The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it.
79:15. Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:
79:16. And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
79:17. Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Things set on fire, etc… So this vineyard of thine, almost consumed already, must perish, if thou continue thy rebukes.
79:18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
The man of thy right hand… Christ.
79:19. And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.
79:20. O Lord God of hosts, convert us and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.
Psalms Chapter 80
Exultate Deo.
An invitation to a solemn praising of God.
80:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.
For the winepresses, etc… Torcularibus. It either signifies a musical instrument, or that this psalm was to be sung at the feast of the tabernacles after the gathering in of the vintage.
80:2. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.
80:3. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery with the harp.
80:4. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity.
80:5. For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob.
80:6. He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.
80:7. He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets.
80:8. Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.
In the secret place of tempest… Heb., Of thunder. When thou soughtest to hide thyself from the tempest: or, when I came down to mount Sina, hidden from thy eyes in a storm of thunder.
80:9. Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me, 10 there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.
80:11. For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
80:12. But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me.
80:13. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions.
80:14. If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:
80:15. I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them.
80:16. The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever.
Their time shall be forever… Impenitent sinners shall suffer for ever.
80:17. And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.
Psalms Chapter 81
Deus stetit.
An exhortation to judges and men in power.
81:1. A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods: and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.
81:2. How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the wicked?
81:3. Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and the poor.
81:4. Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner.
81:5. They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be moved.
81:6. I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most High.
81:7. But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the princes.
81:8. Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among all the nations.
Psalms Chapter 82
Deus, quis similis.
A prayer against the enemies of God's church.
82:1. A canticle of a psalm for Asaph.
82:2. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God.
82:3. For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
82:4. They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have consulted against thy saints.
82:5. They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.
82:6. For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a covenant together against thee,
82:7. The tabernacle of the Edomites, and the Ishmahelites: Moab, and the Agarens,
82:8. Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
82:9. Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: they are come to the aid of the sons of Lot.
82:10. Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: as to Jabin at the brook of Cisson.
82:11. Who perished at Endor: and became as dung for the earth.
82:12. Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana. All their princes,
82:13. Who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an inheritance.
82:14. O my God, make them like a wheel; and as stubble before the wind.
82:15. As fire which burneth the wood: and as a flame burning mountains:
82:16. So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: and shalt trouble them in thy wrath.
82:17. Fill their faces with shame; and they shall seek thy name, O Lord.
82:18. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: and let them be confounded and perish.
82:19. And let them know that the Lord is thy name: thou alone art the most High over all the earth.
Psalms Chapter 83
Quam dilecta.
The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in the communion of God's church upon earth.
83:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.
83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.
83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.
83:5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever.
83:6. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps,
In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, etc… Ascensiones in corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart: and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to: being cast out of paradise for his sin.
83:7. In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.
83:8. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
83:9. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.
83:10. Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.
83:11. For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.
83:12. For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory.
83:13. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Psalms Chapter 84
Benedixisti, Domine.
The coming of Christ, to bring peace and salvation to man.
84:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm.
84:2. Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
84:3. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins.
84:4. Thou hast mitigated all thy anger: thou hast turned away from the wrath of thy indignation.
84:5. Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us.
84:6. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation?
84:7. Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life: and thy people shall rejoice in thee.
84:8. Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation.
84:9. I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted to the heart.
84:10. Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him: that glory may dwell in our land.
84:11. Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.
84:12. Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from heaven.
84:13. For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.
84:14. Justice shall walk before him: and shall set his steps in the way.
Psalms Chapter 85
Inclina, Domine.
A prayer for God's grace to assist us to the end.
85:1. A prayer for David himself. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor.
85:2. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee.
I am holy… I am by my office and profession dedicated to thy service.
85:3. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day.
85:4. Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.
85:5. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
85:6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition.
85:7. I have called upon thee in the day of my trouble: because thou hast heard me.
85:8. There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord: and there is none according to thy works.
85:9. All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name.
85:10. For thou art great and dost wonderful things: thou art God alone.
85:11. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name.
85:12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever:
85:13. For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell.
85:14. O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their eyes.
85:15. And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and true.
85:16. O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid.
85:17. Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.
Psalms Chapter 86
Fundamenta ejus.
The glory of the church of Christ.
86:1. For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are the holy mountains:
The holy mountains… The apostles and prophets. Eph. 2.20.
86:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.
86:3. Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.
86:4. I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.
Rahab… Egypt, etc. To this Sion, which is the church of God, many shall resort from all nations.
86:5. Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her.
Shall not Sion say, etc… The meaning is, that Sion, viz., the church, shall not only be able to commemorate this or that particular person of renown born in her, but also to glory in great multitudes of people and princes of her communion; who have been foretold in the writings of the prophets, and registered in the writings of the apostles.
86:6. The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her.
86:7. The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.
Psalms Chapter 87
Domine, Deus salutis.
A prayer of one under grievous affliction: it agrees to Christ in his passion, and alludes to his death and burial.
87:1. A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite.
Maheleth… A musical instrument, or chorus of musicians, to answer one another.-Ibid. Understanding… Or a psalm of instruction, composed by Eman the Ezrahite, or by David, in his name.
87:2. O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.
87:3. Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition.
87:4. For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell.
87:5. I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help,
87:6. Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
87:7. They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in the shadow of death.
87:8. Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me.
87:9. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:
87:10. My eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.
87:11. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?
87:12. Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction?
87:13. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness?
87:14. But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.
87:15. Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me?
87:16. I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled.
87:17. Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.
87:18. They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together.
87:19. Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.
Psalms Chapter 88
Misericordias Domini.
The perpetuity of the church of Christ, in consequence of the promise of God: which, notwithstanding, God permits her to suffer sometimes most grievous afflictions.
88:1. Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.
88:2. The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
88:3. For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.
88:4. I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:
88:5. Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.
88:6. The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints.
88:7. For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?
88:8. God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.
88:9. O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.
88:10. Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.
88:11. Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.
88:12. Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:
88:13. The north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name:
88:14. Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:
88:15. Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:
88:16. Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:
88:17. And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.
88:18. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
88:19. For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.
88:20. Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.
88:21. I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him.
88:22. For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.
88:23. The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.
88:24. And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.
88:25. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
88:26. And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers.
88:27. He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.
88:28. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
88:29. I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.
88:30. And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.
88:31. And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments:
88:32. If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
88:33. I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with stripes.
88:34. But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.
88:35. Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.
88:36. Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:
88:37. His seed shall endure for ever.
88:38. And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.
88:39. But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with my anointed.
88:40. Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth.
Overthrown the covenant, etc… All this seems to relate to the time of the captivity of Babylon, in which, for the sins of the people and their princes, God seemed to have set aside for a while the covenant he made with David.
88:41. Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear.
88:42. All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
88:43. Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
88:44. Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle.
88:45. Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.
88:46. Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion.
88:47. How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire?
88:48. Remember what my substance is: for hast thou made all the children of men in vain?
88:49. Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
88:50. Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth?
88:51. Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:
88:52. Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.
88:53. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.
Psalms Chapter 89
Domine, refugium.
A prayer for the mercy of God: recounting the shortness and miseries of the days of man.
89:1. A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.
89:2. Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God.
89:3. Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be converted, O ye sons of men.
Turn not man away, etc… Suffer him not quite to perish from thee, since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee.
89:4. For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night,
89:5. Things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
89:6. In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
89:7. For in thy wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in thy indignation.
89:8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes: our life in the light of thy countenance.
89:9. For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered as a spider:
As a spider… As frail and weak as a spider's web; and miserable withal, whilst like a spider we spend our bowels in weaving webs to catch flies.
89:10. The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
Mildness is come upon us, etc… God's mildness corrects us; inasmuch as he deals kindly with us, in shortening the days of this miserable life; and so weaning our affections from all its transitory enjoyments, and teaching us true wisdom.
89:11. Who knoweth the power of thy anger, and for thy fear
89:12. Can number thy wrath? So make thy right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom.
89:13. Return, O Lord, how long? and be entreated in favour of thy servants.
89:14. We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
89:15. We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.
89:16. Look upon thy servants and upon their works: and direct their children.
89:17. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do thou direct.
Psalms Chapter 90
Qui habitat.
The just is secure under the protection of God.
90:1. The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
90:2. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
90:3. For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
90:4. He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.
90:5. His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.
90:6. Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
90:7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.
90:8. But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked.
90:9. Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge.
90:10. There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.
90:11. For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways.
90:12. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
90:13. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
90:14. Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name.
90:15. He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
90:16. I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my salvation.
Psalms Chapter 91
Bonum est confiteri.
God is to be praised for his wondrous works.
91:1. A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day.
91:2. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.
91:3. To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the night: 91:4. Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
91:5. For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.
91:6. O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep.
91:7. The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
91:8. When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever:
91:9. But thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore.
91:10. For behold thy enemies, O lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
91:11. But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
91:12. My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
91:13. The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
91:14. They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
91:15. They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated,
91:16. That they may shew, That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.
Psalms Chapter 92
Dominus regnavit.
The glory and stability of the kingdom; that is, of the church ofChrist.
Praise in the way of a canticle, for David himself, on the day before the sabbath, when the earth was founded.
92:1. The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world which shall not be moved.
92:2. My throne is prepared from of old: thou art from everlasting.
92:3. The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves,
92:4. With the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.
92:5. Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.
Psalms Chapter 93
Deus ultionum.
God shall judge and punish the oppressors of his people.
A psalm for David himself on the fourth day of the week.
93:1. The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth: the God of revenge hath acted freely.
93:2. Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth: render a reward to the proud.
93:3. How long shall sinners, O Lord: how long shall sinners glory?
93:4. Shall they utter, and speak iniquity: shall all speak who work injustice?
93:5. Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low: and they have afflicted thy inheritance.
93:6. They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have murdered the fatherless.
93:7. And they have said: The Lord shall not see: neither shall the God of Jacob understand.
93:8. Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last.
93:9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider?
93:10. He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that teacheth man knowledge?
93:11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.
93:12. Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law.
93:13. That thou mayst give him rest from the evil days: till a pit be dug for the wicked.
Rest from the evil days… That thou mayst mitigate the sorrows, to which he is exposed, during the short and evil days of his mortality.
93:14. For the Lord will not cast off his people: neither will he forsake his own inheritance.
93:15. Until justice be turned into judgment: and they that are near it are all the upright in heart.
Until justice be turned into judgment, etc… By being put in execution; which will be agreeable to all the upright in heart.
93:16. Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity?
93:17. Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell.
93:18. If I said: My foot is moved: thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me.
93:19. According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have given joy to my soul.
93:20. Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, who framest labour in commandment?
Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, etc… That is, wilt thou, O God, who art always just, admit of the seat of iniquity: that is, of injustice, or unjust judges, to have any partnership with thee? Thou who framest, or makest, labour in commandment, that is, thou who obligest us to labour with all diligence to keep thy commandments.
93:21. They will hunt after the soul of the just, and will condemn innocent blood.
93:22. But the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope.
93:23. And he will render them their iniquity: and in their malice he will destroy them: the Lord our God will destroy them.
Psalms Chapter 94
Venite exultemus.
An invitation to adore and serve God, and to hear his voice.
Praise of a canticle for David himself.
94:1. Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
94:2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
94:3. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
94:4. For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his.
94:5. For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
94:6. Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.
94:7. For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
94:8. To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
94:9. As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
94:10. Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart.
94:11. And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Psalms Chapter 95
Cantate Domino.
An exhortation to praise God for the coming of Christ and his kingdom.
95:1. A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.
When the house was built, etc… Alluding to that time, and then ordered to be sung: but principally relating to the building of the church of Christ, after our redemption from the captivity of Satan.
95:2. Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day.
95:3. Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.
95:4. For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
95:5. For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.
95:6. Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.
95:7. Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to the Lord glory and honour:
95:8. Bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts:
95:9. Adore ye the Lord in his holy court. Let all the earth be moved at his presence.
95:10. Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice.
95:11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
95:12. The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
95:13. before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.
Psalms Chapter 96
Dominus regnavit.
All are invited to rejoice at the glorious coming and reign of Christ.
96:1. For the same David, when his land was restored again to him. The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad.
96:2. Clouds and darkness are round about him: justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne.
Clouds and darkness… The coming of Christ in the clouds with great terror and majesty to judge the world, is here prophesied.
96:3. A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about.
96:4. His lightnings have shone forth to the world: the earth saw and trembled.
96:5. The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
96:6. The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory.
96:7. Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels:
96:8. Sion heard, and was glad. And the daughters of Juda rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Lord.
96:9. For thou art the most high Lord over all the earth: thou art exalted exceedingly above all gods.
96:10. You that love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord preserveth the souls of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner.
96:11. Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart.
96:12. Rejoice, ye just, in the Lord: and give praise to the remembrance of his holiness.
Psalms Chapter 97
Cantate Domino.
All are again invited to praise the Lord, for the victories of Christ.
97:1. A psalm for David himself. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm is holy.
97:2. The Lord hath made known his salvation: he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
97:3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
97:4. Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and sing.
97:5. Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:
97:6. With long trumpets, and sound of cornet. Make a joyful noise before the Lord our king:
97:7. Let the sea be moved and the fullness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein.
97:8. The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together
97:9. At the presence of the Lord: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.
Psalms Chapter 98
Dominus regnavit.
The reign of the Lord in Sion: that is, of Christ in his church.
98:1. A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.
Let the people be angry… Though many enemies rage, and the whole earth be stirred up to oppose the reign of Christ, he shall still prevail.
98:2. The lord is great in Sion, and high above all people.
98:3. Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy:
98:4. And the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.
Loveth judgment… Requireth discretion.-Ibid. Directions… Most right and just laws to direct men.
98:5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy.
Adore his footstool… The ark of the covenant was called, in the Old Testament, God's footstool: over which he was understood to sit, on his propitiatory, or mercy seat, as on a throne, between the wings of the cherubims, in the sanctuary: to which the children of Israel paid a great veneration. But as this psalm evidently relates to Christ, and the New Testament, where the ark has no place, the holy fathers understand this text, of the worship paid by the church to the body and blood of Christ in the sacred mysteries: inasmuch as the humanity of Christ is, as it were, the footstool of the divinity. So St. Ambrose, L. 3. De Spiritu Sancto, c. 12. And St. Augustine upon this psalm.
98:6. Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them:
Moses and Aaron among his priests… By this it is evident, that Moses also was a priest, and indeed the chief priest, inasmuch as he consecrated Aaron, and offered sacrifice for him. Lev. 8. So that his pre-eminence over Aaron makes nothing for lay church headship.
98:7. He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.
98:8. Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.
All their inventions… that is, all the enterprises of their enemies against them, as in the case of Core, Dathan, and Abiron.
98:9. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.
Psalms Chapter 99
Jubilate Deo.
All are invited to rejoice in God the creator of all.
99:1. A psalm of praise.
99:2. Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.
99:3. Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
99:4. Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name:
99:5. For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.
Psalms Chapter 100
Misericordiam et judicium.
The prophet exhorteth all by his example, to follow mercy and justice.
100:1. A psalm for David himself. Mercy and judgment I will sing to thee, O Lord: I will sing,
100:2. And I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.
I will understand, etc… That is, I will apply my mind, I will do my endeavour, to know and to follow the perfect way of thy commandments: not trusting to my own strength, but relying on thy coming to me by thy grace.
100:3. I will not set before my eyes any unjust thing: I hated the workers of iniquities.
100:4. The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that turned aside from me, I would not know.
100:5. The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I would not eat.
100:6. My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked in the perfect way, he served me.
100:7. He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house: he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes.
100:8. In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
Psalms Chapter 101
Domine, exaudi.
A prayer for one in affliction: the fifth penitential psalm.
101:1. The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord.
101:2. Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee.