Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

* The Apostolic Constitutions (vi. 30) commend the singing of these and other words of the Psalms at the funerals of those who have departed iu the faith (cf. Augusti, Denkwurdigkeiten, ix. 563). In the reign of the Emperor Decius, Babylas Bishop of Antioch, full of blessed hope, met death singing these words.

fies a maid, who is not, as such, also $ jar, a slave. The dative of the object, *JDtob (from DnDte for the more usual riViDto), is used with nnriQ instead of the accusative after the Aramaic manner, but it does also occur in the older Hebrew (e.g. Job xix. 3, Isa. liii. 11). The purpose of publicly giving thanks to the Gracious One is now more full-toned here at the close. Since such emphasis is laid on the Temple and the congregation, what is meant is literal thank-offerings in payment of vows. In ^Diro (as in cxxxv. 9) we have in the suffix the ancient and Aramaic i (cf. ver. 7) for the third time. With H35J the poet clings to Jahve, with N?"»TJH to the congregation, and with ^^na to the holy city. The one thought that fills his whole soul, and in which the song which breathes forth his soul dies away, is Hallelujah.

1 PRAISE Jahve, all peoples, Praise Him, all ye nations!

2 For mighty over us is His loving-kindness, And the truth of Jahve endureth for ever,

The thanksgiving Psalm ending in Hallelujah is followed by this shortest of all the Psalms, a Hallelujah addressed to the heathen world. In its very brevity it is one of the grandest witnesses of the might with which, in the midst of the Old Testament, the world-wide mission of the religion of revelation struck against or undermined the national limitation. It is stamped by the apostle in Rom. xv. 11 as a locus classicus for the fore-ordained (gnadenrathschlussmdssig) participation of the heathen in the promised salvation of Israel.

to Old Testament Hebrew. The Old Testament Hebrew is acquainted only with ni?3S as an appellation of Ismaelitish or Midianitish tribes. D)ir73 are, as in Ixxii. 11, 17, all peoples without distinction, and D'lpsrr?!) all nations without exception. The call is confirmed from the might of the mercy or lovingkindness of Jahve, which proves itself mighty over Israel, i.e. by its intensity and fulness superabundantly covering (123 as in ciii. 11; cf. virepeTrepiaaevaey Rom. v. 20, virepeTfkeovaae, 1 Tim. i. 14) human sin and infirmity; and from His truth, by virtue of which history on into eternity ends in a verifying of His promises. Mercy and truth are the two divine powers which shall one day be perfectly developed and displayed in Israel, and going forth from Israel, shall conquer the world.

1 GIVE thanks unto Jahve, for He is good, Yea, His mercy endureth for ever.

9 It is better to take refuge in Jahve Than to put confidence in princes.

12 Let them compass me about like bees — They are extinguished like a fire of thorns,

14 My pride and my song is Jah, And He became my salvation.

16 The right hand of Jahve is highly exalted, The right hand of Jahve getteth the victory.

21 I give thanks unto Thee, for Thou hast answered me, And art become my salvation.

26 Blessed be he who cometh in the name of Jahve, We bless you from the house of Jahve.

27 God is Jahve and hath given us light — Bind the festive sacrifice with cords Even up to the horns of the altar!

28 My God art Thou, therefore will I give Thee thanks, My Deity, I will exalt Thee.

What the close of Ps. cxvii. says of God's truth, viz. that it endureth for ever, the beginning of Ps. cxviii. says of its sister, His mercy or loving-kindness. It is the closing Psalm of the Hallely which begins with Ps. cxiii., and the third Hodu (yid. on Ps. cv.). It was Luther's favourite Psalm: his beauteous Confiteminiy which " had helped him out of troubles out of which neither emperor nor king, nor any other man on earth, could have helped him." With the exposition of this his noblest jewel, his defence and his treasure, he occupied himself in the solitude of his Patmos.

It is without any doubt a post-exilic song. Here too Hupfeld sweeps away everything into vague generality; but the history of the period after the Exile, without any necessity for our coming down to the Maccabsean period, as do De Wette and Hitzig, presents three occasions which might have given birth to it; viz. (1) The first celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month of the first year of the Return, when there was only a plain altar as yet erected on the holy place, Ezra iii. 1-4 (to be distinguished from a later celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles on a large scale and in exact accordance with the directions of the Law, Neh. ch. viii.). So Ewald. (2) The laying of the foundation-stone of the Temple in the second month of the second year, Ezra iii. 8 sqq. So Hengstenberg. (3) The dedication of the completed Temple in the twelfth month of the sixth year of Darius, Ezra vi. 15 sqq. So Stier. These references to cotemporary history have all three more or less in their favour. The first is favoured more especially by the fact, that at the time of the second Temple ver. 25 was the festal cry amidst which the altar of burnt-offering was solemnly compassed on the first six days of the Feast of Tabernacles once, and on the seventh day seven times. This seventh day was called the great Hosanna {Hosauna rabba), and not only the prayers for the Feast of Tabernacles, but even the branches of willow trees (including the myrtles) which are bound to the palm-branch (lulab), were called Hosannas (mw'in, Aramaic ^VBhn).* The second historical reference is favoured by the fact, that the narrative appears to point directly to our Psalm when it says: And the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of Jahve, and the priests were drawn up there in official robes with trumpets, and the Levites the descendants of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jahve after the direction of David king of Israel, and they sang hvnfr'hy non chw^s ato *3 rrtrt rnimi ^nn • and all the people raised a great shout ^Jlv '2H3, because the house of Jahve was founded. But both of these derivations of the Psalm are opposed by the fact that vers. 19 and 20 assume that the Temple-building is already finished; whereas the unmistakeable allusions to the events that transpired during the building of the Temple, viz. the intrigues of the Samaritans, the hostility of the neighbouring peoples, and the capriciousness of the Persian kings, favour the third. In connection with this reference of the Psalm to the post-exilic dedication of the Temple, vers. 19, 20, too, now present no difficulty. Ver. 22 is better understood as spoken in the presence of the now upreared Temple-building, than as spoken in the presence of the foundation-stone; and the words " unto the horns of the altar" in ver. 27, interpreted in many different ways, come into the light of Ezra vi. 17.

The Psalm falls into two divisions. The first division (vers. 1-19) is sung by the festive procession brought up by the priests and Levites, which is ascending to the Temple with the animals for sacrifice. With ver. 19 the procession stands at the entrance. The second part (vers. 20-27) is sung by the body of Levites who receive the festive procession. Then ver. 28 is the answer of those who have arrived, and ver. 29 the concluding song of all of them. This antiphonal arrangement is recognised even by the Talmud (B. Pesachim 119a) and Midrash. The whole Psalm, too, has moreover a peculiar formation. It resembles the Mashal Psalms, for each verse has of itself its completed sense, its own scent and hue; one thought is joined to another as branch to branch and flower to flower.

Vers. 1-18. The Hodu-cry is addressed first to all and every one; then the whole body of the laity of Israel and the priests, and at last (as it appears) the proselytes (vid. on cxv. 9-11) who fear the God of revelation, are urgently admonished to echo it back; for " yea, His mercy endureth for ever," is the required hypophon. In ver. 5, Israel too then begins as one man to praise the ever-gracious goodness of God. nj, the Jod of which might easily become inaudible after VIN^IJ, has an emphatic Dagesh as in ver. 18a, and "WDH has the orthophonic stroke beside "W (the so-called?i?j?)7 which points to the correct tone-syllable of the word that has Dechi* Instead of ^W it is here pointed ^JV, which also occurs in other instances not only with distinctive, but also (though not uniformly) with conjunctive accents.f The construction is a pregnant one (as in xxii. 22, xxviii. 1, lxxiv. 7, 2 Sam. xviii. 19, Ezra ii. 62, 2 Chron. xxxii. 1): He answered me by removing me to a free space f Hitzig on Prov. viii. 22 considers the pointing m^ to be occasioned by Dechi, and in fact "»^y in the passage before us has Tarcha, and in

1 Sam. xxviii. 15 Munach; but in the passage before us, if we read rP3PnjD3

Mugrash; and in 1 Sam. xxviii. 15 the reading t^y is found side by side with ijjjj (e.g. in Bill. Bomlerg. 1521). Nevertheless ^nETlV xvii. 3, and

*nrt Job xxx. 19 (according to Kimchi's Michlol, 30a), beside Merclia, show that the pointing beside conjunctive as beside disjunctive accents wavers between a and a, although a is properly only justified beside disjunctive accents, and i^ also really only occurs in pause.

rP3rjntD3 is attested by the Masora (vid. Baer's Psalterium, pp. 132 sq.), instead of n* 3rn?33. It has its advocates even in the Talmud (B. PesacJiim 117a), and signifies a boundless extent,

■T expressing the highest degree of comparison, like '"ivSKD in Jer. ii. 31, the deepest darkness. Even the LXX. appears to have read numD thus as one word (et? ifKaTvafiov^ Symmachus efe evpv%a)plav). The Targum and Jerome, however, render it as we do; it is highly improbable that in one and the same verse the divine name should not be intended to be used in the same force of meaning. Ps. lvi. (vers. 10; 5, 12) echoes in ver. 6; and in ver. 7 Ps. liv. (ver. 6) is in the mind of the later poet. In that passage it is still more clear than in the passage before us that by the Beth of ^:fe| Jahve is not meant to be designated as units e multis, but as a helper who outweighs the greatest multitude of helpers. The Jewish people had experienced this helpful succour of Jahve in opposition to the persecutions of the Samaritans and the satraps during the building of the Temple; and had at the same time learned what is expressed in vers. 7, 8 (cf. cxlvi. 3), that trust in Jahve (for which 3 non is the proper word) proves true, and trust in men, on the contrary, and especially in princes, is deceptive; for under Pseudo-Smerdis the work, begun under Cyrus, and represented as open to suspicion even in the reign of Cambyses, was interdicted. But in the reign of Darius it again became free: Jahve showed that He disposes events and the hearts of men in favour of His people, so that out of this has grown up in the minds of His people the confident expectation of a worldsubduing supremacy expressed in ver. 10.

The clauses vers. 10a, 11a, and 12a, expressed in the perfect form, are intended more hypothetically than as describing facts. The perfect is here set out in relief as a hypothetical tense by the following future. Erfl'TB signifies, as in cxvii. 1, the heathen of every kind. D^bT (in the Aramaic and Arabic with r) are both bees and wasps, which make themselves especially troublesome in harvest time. The suffix of D^B« (from bm = fe, to hew down, cut in pieces) is the same as in Ex. xxix. 30, ii. 17, and also beside a conjunctive accent in lxxiv. 8. Yet the reading &^»K, like PVIV Hab. ii. 17, is here the better supported

(vid. Gesenius, Lehrgebdude, S. 177), and it has been adopted by Norzi, Heidenheim, and Baer. The *3 is that which states the ground or reason, and then becomes directly confirmatory and assuring (cxxviii. 2, 4), which here, after the " in the name of Jahve" that precedes it, is applied and placed just as in the oath in 1 Sam. xiv. 44. And in general, as Redslob has demonstrated, *3 has not originally a relative, but a positive (determining) signification, D being just as much a demonstrative sound as % t, $, and n (cf. eVet, e/cetyo?, tcelvos, ecce1 hie, illic, with the Doric Trjvei, rrjvos). The notion of compassing round about is heightened in ver. 11a by the juxtaposition of two forms of the same verb (Ges. § 67, rem. 10), as in Hos. iv. 18, Hab. i. 5, Zeph. ii. 1, and frequently. The figure of the bees is taken from Deut. i. 44. The perfect HVfo (cf. Isa. xliii. 17) describes their destruction, which takes place instantly and unexpectedly. The Paal points to the punishing power that comes upon them: they are extinguished (exstinguuntur) like a fire of thorns, the crackling flame of which expires as quickly as it has blazed up (lviii. 10). In ver. 13 the language of Israel is addressed to the hostile worldly power, as the antithesis shows. It thrust, yea thrust (inf. intens.) Israel, that it might fall (?S3p; with reference to the pointing, vid. on xl. 15); but Jahve' s help would not suffer it to come to that pass. Therefore the song at the Red Sea is revived in the heart and mouth of Israel. Ver. 14 (like Isa. xii. 2) is taken from Ex. xv. 2. y\V (in MSS. also written W) is a collateral form of SW (Ew. § 255, a), and here signifies the lofty selfconsciousness which is united with the possession of power: pride and its expression an exclamation of joy. Concerning JVJET vid. on xvi. 6. As at that time, the cry of exultation and of salvation (i.e. of deliverance and of victory) is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of Jahve — they sing — Tn T\wy (Num. xxiv. 18), practises valour, proves itself energetic, gains (maintains) the victory. n»»ii is Milra, and therefore an adjective: victoriosa (Ew. § 120, a7), from &£"} = Dn like DDit? from DW, It is not the part. Pil. (cf. Hos. xi. 7), since the rejection of the participial Mem occurs in connection with Pool and Pual, but not elsewhere with Pilel (D^"1 = DDhD from DVi). The word yields a simpler sense, too, as adject, participiale Kal; romemah is only the fuller form for ramah,

Ex. xiv. 8 (cf. ramah, Isa. xxvi. 11). It is not its own strength that avails for Israel's exultation of victory, but the energy of the right hand of Jahve. Being come to the brink of the abyss, Israel is become anew sure of its immortality through Him. God has, it is true, most severely chastened it (VW with the suffix anni as in Gen. xxx. 6, and PiJ with the emphatic Dayesh, which neither reduplicates nor connects, cf. ver. 5, xciv. 12), but still with moderation (Isa. xxvii. 7 sq.). He has not suffered Israel to fall a prey to death, but reserved it for its high vocation, that it may see the mighty deeds of God and proclaim them to all the world. Amidst such celebration of Jahve the festive procession of the dedication of the Temple has arrived at the enclosure wall of the Temple.

Vers. 19-29. The gates of the Temple are called gates of righteousness because they are the entrance to the place of the mutual intercourse between God and His church in accordance with the order of salvation. First the "gates" are spoken of, and then the one " gate," the principal entrance. Those entering in must be "righteous ones;'' only conformity with the divine loving will gives the right to enter. With reference to the formation of the conclusion ver. 195, vid. Ew. § 347, b. In the Temple-building Israel has before it a reflection of that which, being freed from the punishment it had had to endure, it is become through the mercy of its God. With the exultation of the multitude over the happy beginning of the rebuilding there was mingled, at the laying of the foundation-stone, the loud weeping of many of the grey-headed priests, Levites, and heads of the tribes who had also seen the first Temple (Ezra iii. 12 sq.). It was the troublous character of the present which made them thus sad in spirit; the consideration of the depressing circumstances of the time, the incongruity of which weighed so heavily upon their soul in connection with the remembrance of the former Temple, that memorably glorious monument of the royal power of David and Solomon.* And even further on there towered aloft before Zerubbabel, the leader of the building, a great mountain; gigantic difficulties and hindrances arose between the powerlessness of the present

* Kurtz, in combating our interpretation, reduces the number of tha weeping ones to " some few," but the narrative says the very opposite.

position of Zerubbabel and the completion of the building of the Temple, which had it is true been begun, but was impeded. This mountain God has made into a plain, and qualified Zerubbabel to bring forth the top and key-stone (n0$"IPj l?Nn) out of its past concealment, and thus to complete the building, which is now consecrated amidst a loud outburst of incessant shouts of joy (Zech. iv. 7). Ver. 22 points back to that disheartened disdain of the small troublous beginning, which was at work among the builders (Ezra iii. 10) at the laying of the foundation-stone, and then further at the interruption of the building. That rejected (disdained) corner-stone is nevertheless become n33 K'fcO, i.e. the head-stone of the corner (Job xxxviii. 6), which being laid upon the corner, supports and protects the stately edifice — an emblem of the power and dignity to which Israel has attained in the midst of the peoples out of deep humiliation. In connection with this only indirect reference of the assertion to Israel we avoid the question, — perplexing in connection with the direct reference to the people despised by the heathen, — how can the heathen be called " the builders % " Kurtz answers: u For the building which the heathen world considers it to be its life's mission and its mission in history to rear, viz. the Babel-tower of worldly power and worldly glory, they have neither been able nor willing to make use of Israel..." But this conjunction of ideas is devoid of scriptural support and without historical reality; for the empire of the world has set just as much value, according to political relations, upon the incorporation of Israel as upon that of every other people. Further, if what is meant is Israel's own despising of the small beginning of a new era that is dawning, it is then better explained as in connection with the reference of the declaration to Jesus the Christ in Matt. xxi. 42-44, Mark xii. 10 sq., Acts iv. 11 (£</>' v/awv to)v oIkoSojjlovvtcdv), 1 Pet. ii. 7, the builders are the chiefs and members of Israel itself, and not the heathen. From 1 Pet. ii. 6, Rom. ix. 33, we see how this reference to Christ is brought about, viz. by means of Isa. xxviii. 16, where Jahve says: Behold I am He who hath laid in Zion a stone^ a stone of trial, a precious corner-stone of well-founded founding — whoever believeth shall not totter. In the light of this Messianic prophecy of Isaiah ver. 22 of our Psalm also comes to have a Messianic meaning, which is warranted by the fact, that the history of Israel is recapitulated and culminates in the history of Christ; or, according to John ii. 19-21 (cf. Zech. vi. 12 sq.), still more accurately by the fact, that He who in His state of humiliation is the despised and rejected One is become in His state of glorification the eternal glorious Temple in which dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and is united with humanity which has been once for all atoned for. In the joy of the church at the Temple of the body of Christ which arose after the three days of burial, the joy which is here typically expressed in the words: " From with Jahve, i.e. by the might which dwells with Him, is this come to pass, wonderful is it become (has it been carried out) in our eyes," therefore received its fulfilment. It is not nS7B3 but n*6sD, like nann in Gen. xxxiii. 11, n*njj from *OPT == rnj? in Deut. xxxi. 29, Jer. xliv. 23, ri&nj? from &njj, to call, Isa. vii. 14. We can hear Isa. xxv. 9 sounding through this passage, as above in vers. 19 sq., Isa. xxvi. 1 sq. The God of Israel has" given this turn, so full of glory for His people, to the history.* He is able now to plead for more distant salvation and prosperity with all the more fervent confidence. WN (six times H3S) is, as in every other instance (yid. on cxvi. 4), Milra. njrt^in is accented regularly on the penult., and draws the following KJ towards itself by means of Dag. forte conj.; nn^psn on the other hand is Milra according to the Masora and other ancient testimonies, and W is not dageshed, without Norzi being able to state any reason for this different accentuation. After this watchword of prayer of the thanksgiving feast, in ver. 26 those who receive them bless those who are coming (Nan with Dechi) in the name of Jahve, i.e. bid them welcome in His name. The expression " from the house of Jahve,'' like " from the fountain of Israel" in lxviii. 27, is equivalent to, ye who belong to His house and to the church congregated around it. In the mouth of the people welcoming Jesus as the Messiah, 'flaavvd was a u God save the king" (yid. on xx. 10); they scattered palm branches at the same time, like the lulabs at the joyous cry of the Feast of Tabernacles, and saluted Him

* The verse, " This is the day which the Lord hath made," etc., was, according to Chrysostom, an ancient hypophon of the church. It has a glorious history.

with the cry, " Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord," as being the longed-for guest of the Feast (Matt. xxi. 9). According to the Midrash, in ver. 26 it is the people of Jerusalem who thus greet the pilgrims. In the original sense of the Psalm, however, it is the body of Levites and priests above on the Temple-hill who thus receive the congregation that has come up. The many animals for sacrifice which they brought with them are enumerated in Ezra vi. 17. On the ground of the fact that Jahve has proved Himself to be?K,the absolutely mighty One, by having granted light to His people, viz. lovingkindness, liberty, and joy, there then issues forth the ejaculation, " Bind the sacrifice," etc. The LXX. renders avarijcraaOe eopTrjv ev Tot? Trvfcdfyvaiv, which is reproduced by the Psalterium Romanum: constituite diem solemnem in confrequentationibus, as Eusebius, Theodoret, and Chrysostom (although the last waveringly) also interpret it; on the other hand, it is rendered by the Psalterium Gallic um: in condensis, as Apollinaris and Jerome (in f rondo sis) also understand it. But much as Luther's version, which follows the latter interpretation, " Adorn the feast with green branches even to the horns of the altar," accords with our German taste, it is still untenable; for "iDK cannot signify to encircle with garlands and the like, nor would it be altogether suited to Jn in this signification.* Thus then in this instance A. Lobwasser renders it comparatively more correctly, although devoid of taste: u The Lord is great and mighty of strength who lighteneth us all; fasten your bullocks to the horns beside the altar? To the horns?! So even Hitzig and others render it. But such a " binding to" is unheard of. And can *W "iDN possibly signify to bind on to anything % And what would be the object of binding them to the horns of the altar % In order that they might not run away?! Hengstenberg and von Lengerke at least disconnect the words " unto the horns of the altar " from any relation to this precautionary measure, by interpreting: until it (the animal for the festal

* Symmachus has felt this, for instead of <jvarrtaccah sopr^u h rol; ttvxoifyvoiv (in condensis) of the LXX., he renders it, transposing the notions, avvbviaccTS h irccuYiyvpst 'xvKoc.afA.ctrct. Chrysostom interprets this: orstpuuaftctTct Kui Khuhovg duoi\j/ocTs t$ vcta, for Montfaucon, who regards this as the version of the Sexta^ is in error.

sacrifice) is raised upon the horns of the altar and sacrificed. But how much is then imputed to these words! No indeed, jn denotes the animals for the feast-offering, and there was so vast a number of these (according to Ezra loc. cit. seven hundred and twelve) that the whole space of the court of the priests was full of them, and the binding of them consequently had to go on as far as to the horns of the altar. Ainsworth (1627) correctly renders: u unto the homes, that is, all the Court over, untill you come even to the homes of the altar, intending hereby many sacrifices or boughs." The meaning of the call is therefore: Bring your hecatombs and make them ready for sacrifice.* The words " unto (as far as) the horns of the altar" have the principal accent. In ver. 28 (cf. Ex. xv. 2) the festal procession replies in accordance with the character of the feast, and then the Psalm closes, in correspondence with its beginning, with a Hodu in which all voices join.

A TWENTY-TWO-FOLD STRING OF APHORISMS BY ONE WHO IS PERSECUTED FOR THE SAKE OF HIS FAITH.

1 BLESSED are those whose ways are blameless, Who walk in the law of Jahve!

2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart,

5 Oh that my ways were directed To keep Thy statutes!

When I have respect unto all Thy commandments.

* In the language of the Jewish ritual Isru-chag is become the name of the after-feast day which follows the last day of the feast, Ps. cxviii. is the customary Psalm for the Isru-chag of all DHyiD.

7 I will give thanks to Thee with an upright heart, When I learn the judgments of Thy righteousness.

9 Wherewithal shall a young man keep his way pure? If he taketh heed according to Thy word.

10 With the whole heart have I sought Thee: Let me not wander from Thy commandments.

15 I will meditate in Thy precepts, And have respect unto Thy paths.

17 Deal bountifully with Thy servant, that I may live, So will I keep Thy word.

18 Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold Wondrous things out of Thy law.

20 My soul is crushed with longing After Thy judgments at all times.

22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; For I keep Thy testimonies.

23 Though princes sit and deliberate against me, Thy servant doth meditate in Thy statutes.

25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust: Quicken Thou me according to Thy word.

26 I declared my ways, and Thou heardest me: Teach me Thy statutes.

27 Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts: So will I meditate on Thy wondrous works.

28 My soul melteth for heaviness: Strengthen Thou me according to Thy word.

29 Remove from me the way of lying, And with Thy law be gracious unto me.

30 The way of truth I have chosen: Thy judgments have I set before me.

32 I run the way of Thy commandments, For Thou dost enlarge my heart.

33 Teach me, Jahve, the way of Thy statutes, That I may keep it unto the end.

34 Give me understanding, that I may keep Thy instruction, And observe it with the whole heart.

35 Make me to walk in the path of Thy commandments; For therein do I delight.

36 Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, And not to covetousness.

37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; In Thy way quicken Thou me.

39 Take away my reproach which I fear; For Thy judgments are good.

40 Behold, I long after Thy precepts: Quicken me in Thy righteousness.

41 And let Thy mercies come unto me, Jahv3, Thy salvation, according to Thy word,

42 And I will answer him who reproacheth me; For I trust in Thy word.

43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; For I hope in Thy judgments.

44 And I will keep Thy law continually, For ever and ever,

45 And I will walk at liberty; For I seek Thy precepts.

47 And I will delight myself in Thy commandments, Which I love.

49 Remember the word unto Thy servant, Because Thou hast caused me to hope.

51 The proud have had me greatly in derision — I have not declined, from Thy law.

52 I remembered Thy judgments of old, Jahve, And comforted myself.

53 Indignation hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked, Who forsake Thy law.

55 I have remembered Thy name, Jahve, in the night, And I have kept Thy law.

I have said that I would keep Thy words.

Be merciful unto me according to Thy word.

And turned my feet unto Thy testimonies. GO I make haste, and delay not

61 The cords of the wicked are round about me — I do not forget Thy law.

62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee Because of the judgments of Thy righteousness.

63 I am a companion of all those who fear Thee, And of those who keep Thy precepts.

64 The earth, Jahve, is full of Thy mercy: Teach me Thy statutes.

65 Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, Jahve, according unto Thy word.

6Q Teach me good judgment and knowledge, For I believe in Thy commandments.

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, And now I keep Thy word.

68 Thou art good, and doest good; Teach me Thy statutes.

69 The proud have forged a lie against me —

70 Their heart is as fat as grease — I delight in Thy law.

72 The law of Thy mouth is better unto me Than thousands of gold and silver.

73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: [ments. Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy command-

74 Let those who fear Thee be glad when they see me; For I hope in Thy word.

75 I know, Jahve, that righteousness are Thy judgments, And that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

76 Let Thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, According to Thy promise unto Thy servant.

77 Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live; For Thy law is my delight.

78 Let the proud be ashamed that they dealt falsely with me — But I meditate on Thy precepts.

80 Let my heart be sound in Thy statutes, That I be not ashamed.

81 My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: I hope in Thy word.

82 Mine eyes fail with longing for Thy word, Saying, When wilt Thou comfort me? —

83 Verily, though I am become like a bottle in the smoke, Do I not forget Thy statutes.

90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.

91 They continue this day according to Thy judgments; For all beings are Thy servants.

I should then have perished in mine affliction.

96 To all perfection, as I have seen, there is an end, Yet Thy commandment is without any limits,

98 Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies; For they are ever my portion.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers; For Thy testimonies are my meditation.

100 I understand more than aged men; For I keep Thy precepts.

101 I refrain my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Thy word.

102 I have not departed from Thy judgments; For Thou hast taught me.

103 How sweet are Thy words unto my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104 From Thy precepts I get understanding: Therefore I hate every false way.

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.

108 Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, Jahve, And teach me Thy judgments.

109 My soul is continually in my hand: Yet do I not forget Thy law.

110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: Yet do I not err from Thy precepts.

111 Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever; For they are the rejoicing of my heart.

112 I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes For ever, even unto the end.

113 I hate the double-minded, And Thy law do I love.

114 My hiding-place and my shield art Thou: I hope in Thy word.

I will keep the commandments of my God.

116 Uphold me according unto Thy word, and I shall live, And let me not be ashamed of my hope.

117 Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,

And I will have respect unto Thy statutes continually.

118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from Thy For their intrigue is falsehood. [statutes;

119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: Therefore I love Thy testimonies.

120 My flesh is rigid for terror of Thee, And I am afraid of Thy judgments.

121 I have done judgment and righteousness: Thou wilt not leave me to mine oppressors.

122 Be surety for Thy servant for good: Let not the proud oppress me.

124 Deal with Thy servant according unto Thy mercy, And teach me Thy statutes.

125 Thy servant am I, give me understanding, That I may know Thy testimonies.

126 It is time to interpose for Jahve: They have made void Thy law.

128 Therefore I esteem all precepts concerning all things to I hate every false way. [be right;

130 The unfolding of Thy words giveth light; Giving understanding unto the simple.

131 I opened my mouth, and panted; For I long for Thy commandments.

132 Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, As is right towards those who love Thy name.

And let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

134 Deliver me from the oppression of man. And I will keep Thy precepts.

135 Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant, And teach me Thy statutes.

138 Thou hast commanded Thy testimonies in righteousness, And in very faithfulness.

142 Thy righteousness is that which is right for ever, And Thy law truth.

143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: Yet thy commandments are my delight.

144 Thy testimonies are that which is right for ever 2 Give me understanding that I may live.

147 Early, even before the dawning of the morning, did I I hoped in Thy word. [make supplication:

148 Mine eves anticipate the night-watches, To meditate on Thy word.

149 Hear my voice according unto Thy loving-kindness; Jahve, quicken me according to Thy judgments.

150 They draw nigh who follow after mischief, Who are far from Thy law:

152 From Thy testimonies I have known for a long time That Thou hast founded them for ever.

153 Look upon mine affliction, and deliver me; For I do not forget Thy law.

154 Plead my cause and deliver me, Quicken me according to Thy word.

155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they seek not Thy statutes.

1-56 Abundant are Thy tender mercies, Jahve; Quicken me according to Thy judgments.

157 Many are my persecutors and mine oppressors; I decline not from Thy testimonies.

158 I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, Because they kept not Thy word.

160 The sum of Thy word is truth, [for ever. And every one of the judgments of Thy righteousness is

161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause, But my heart standeth in awe of Thy words.

164 Seven times a day do I praise Thee

165 Great peace have they who love Thy law, And nothing causeth them to stumble.

168 I keep Thy precepts and Thy testimonies, For all my ways are before-Thee.

169 Let my cry come up before Thee, Jahve; Give me understanding according to Thy word.

170 Let my supplication come up before Thee, Deliver me according to Thy promise.

174 I have longed for Thy salvation, Jahve, And Thy law is my delight.

175 Let my soul live and praise Thee, And let Thy judgments help me.

176 If I should go astray — as a lost sheep seek Thy servant, For I do not forget Thy commandments.

To the Hodu Ps. cxviii., written in gnome-like, wreathed style, is appended the throughout gnomico-didactic Ps. cxix., consisting of one hundred and seventy-six Masoretic verses, or regarded in relation to the strophe, distichs, which according to the twentytwo letters of the alphabet fall into twenty-two groups (called by the old expositors the 6<ySod$6$ or octonarii of this Psalmus literatus s, alphabetites); for each group contains eight verses (distichs), each of which begins with the same consecutive letter (8 x 22 = 176). The Latin Psalters (as the Psalteriurn Veronense, and originally perhaps all the old Greek Psalters) have the name of the letter before each group; the Syriac has the signs of the letters; and in the Complutensian Bible, as also elsewhere, a new line begins with each group. The Talmud, B. Berachoth, says of this Psalm: " it consists of eight A leplis" etc.; the Masora styles it fcan NJvn nd5?n; the Midrash on it is called wvn KE&K unify and the Pesikta tnom «npsDD *2X. In our German version it has the appropriate inscription, " The Christian's golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and use of the word of God;" for here we have set forth in inexhaustible fulness what the word of God is to a man, and how a man is to behave himself in relation to it. The Masora observes that the Psalm contains only the one verse 122, in which some reference or other to the word of revelation is not found as in all the 175 others* — a many-linked chain of synonyms which runs through the whole Psalm. In connection with this ingenious arrangement, so artfully devised and carried out, it may also not be merely accidental that the address Jahve occurs twenty-two times, as Bengel has observed: bis et vicesies pro numero octonariorum.

All kinds of erroneous views have, however, been put forth concerning this Psalm. Koster, von Gerlach, Hengstenberg, and Hupfeld renounce all attempts to show that there is any accordance whatever with a set plan, and find here a series of maxims without any internal progression and connection. Ewald begins at once with the error, that we have before us the long prayer of an old experienced teacher. But from vers. 9 sq. it is clear that the poet himself is a " young man," a fact that is also corroborated by vers. 99 and 100. The poet is a young man, who finds himself in a situation which is clearly described: he is derided, oppressed, persecuted, and that by those who despise the divine word (for apostasy encompasses him round about), and more particularly by a government hostile to the true religion, vers. 23, 46, 161. He is lying in bonds (ver. 61, cf. 83), expecting death (ver. 109), and recognises in his affliction, it is true, God's salutary humbling, and in the midst of it God's word is his comfort and his wisdom, but he also yearns for help, and earnestly prays for it. — The whole Psalm is a prayer for stedfastness in the midst of an ungodly, degenerate race, and in the midst of great trouble, which is heightened by the

* 4i In every verse," this is the observation of the Masora on ver. 122, " ver. 122 only excepted, we find one of the ten (pointing to the ten fundamental words or decalogue of the Sinaitic Law) expressions: word, saying, testimonies, way, judgment, precept, commandment (^Vl¥)> law, statute, truth" (according to another reading, righteousness).

pain he feels at the prevailing apostasy, and a prayer for ultimate deliverance which rises in group Kaph to an urgent how long! If this sharply-defined physiognomy of the Psalm is recognised, then the internal progression will not fail to be discerned.

After the poet has praised fidelity to the word of God (Aleph), and described it as the virtue of all virtues which is of service to the young man and to which he devotes himself (Beth), he prays, in the midst of the scoffing and persecuting persons that surround him, for the grace of enlightenment (Gimel), of strengthening (Daleth), of preservation (He), of suitable and joyful confession ( Vav); God's word is all his thought and pursuit (Zajin), he cleaves to those who fear God (Heth), and recognises the salutary element of His humbling (Teth), but is in need of comfort (Jod) and sighs: how long! (Kaph.) Without the eternal, sure, mighty word of God he would despair (Lamed); this is his wisdom in difficult circumstances (Mem); he has sworn fidelity to it, and maintains his fidelity as being one who is persecuted (Nun), and abhors and despises the apostates (Samech). He is oppressed, but God will not suffer him to be crushed (Ajin); He will not suffer the doings of the ungodly, which wring from him floods of tears, to prevail over him (Phe) — over him, the small (still youthful) and despised one whom zeal concerning the prevailing godlessness is consuming away (Tsade). Oh that God would hear his crying by day and by night (Koph), would revive him speedily with His helpful pity (Eesh) — him, viz., who being persecuted by princes clings fast to Him (Shin), and would seek him the isolated and so sorely imperilled sheep! (Tav.) This outline does not exhaust the fundamental thoughts of the separate ogdoades, and they might surely be still more aptly reproduced, but this is sufficient to show that the Psalm is not wanting in coherence and progressive movement, and that it is not an ideal situation and mood, but a situation and mood based upon public relationships, from which this manifold celebration of the divine word, as a fruit of its teaching, has sprung.

It is natural to suppose that the composition of the Psalm falls in those times of the Greek domination in which the government was hostile, and a large party from among the Jews themselves, that was friendly towards the government.

persecuted all decided confessors of the Tora. Hitzig says, " It can be safely maintained that the Psalm was written in the Maccabaean age by a renowned Israelite who was in imprisonment under Gentile authorities." It is at least probable that the plaited work of so long a Psalm, which, in connection with all that is artificial about it, from beginning to end gives us a glimpse of the subdued afflicted mien of a confessor, is the work of one in prison, who whiled away his time with this plaiting together of his complaints and his consolatory thoughts.

Vers. 1-8. The eightfold Aleph. Blessed are those who act according to the word of God; the poet wishes to be one of these. The alphabetical Psalm on the largest scale begins appropriately, not merely with a simple (cxii. 1), but with a twofold ashre. It refers principally to those integri vice (vitce). In ver. 3 the description of those who are accounted blessed is carried further. Perfects, as denoting that which is habitual, alternate with futures used as presents. In ver. 4 ^®f> expresses the purpose of the enjoining, as in ver. 5 the goal of the directing, yntf (whence ynK? 2 Kings v. 3) is compounded of nx (yid. supra, i. 428) and y (^>), and consequently signifies o si. On ^3* cf. Prov. iv. 26 (LXX. Karev6vv6ei7]crav). The retrospective TK is expanded anew in ver. 66: then, when I namely. u Judgments of Thy righteousness" are the decisions concerning right and wrong which give expression to and put in execution the righteousness of God.* "HP^ refers to Scripture in comparison with history.

Vers. 9—16. The eightfold Beth. Acting in accordance with the word of God, a young man walks blamelessly; the poet desires this, and supplicates God's gracious assistance in order to it. To purify or cleanse one's way or walk (H3T, cf. lxxiii. 13, Prov. xx. 9) signifies to maintain it pure (% root -jr,

* The word " judgments" of our English authorized version is retained in the text as being the most convenient word; it must, however, be borne in mind that in this Psalm it belongs to the " chain of synonyms," and does not mean God's acts of judgment, its more usual meaning in the Old Testament Scriptures, but is used as defined above, and is the equivalent here of the German Rechte. not Gerichte. — Ta.

cJ;, to prick, to strike the eye, niter e;* vid. Fleischer in Levy's Chalddisches Worterbuch, i. 424) from the spotting of sin, or to free it from it. Ver. 9b is the answer to the question in ver. 9a; ^V? signifies custodiendo semetipsum, for W can also signify " to be on one's guard" without i^33 (Josh. vi. 18). The old classic {e.g. xviii. 31) 1*™$ alternates throughout with TOT; hoth are intended collectively. One is said to hide (i&V) the word in one's heart when one has it continually present with him, not merely as an outward precept, but as an inward motive power in opposition to selfish action (Job xxiii. 12). In ver. 12 the poet makes his way through adoration to petition. WSD in ver. 13 does not mean enumeration, but recounting, as in Deut. vi. 7. T\Siy is the plural to Jvny; nny? on the contrary, in ver. 138 is the plural to *T7V: both are used of God's attestation of Himself and of His will in the word of revelation.?y3 signifies, according to ver. 162, u as over" (short for?V "^3), not: as it were more than (Olshausen); the 3 would only be troublesome in connection with this interpretation. With reference to Jin, which has occurred already in xliv. 13, cxii. 3 (from pn, ^, to be light, leverri), aisance, ease, opulence, and concrete, goods, property, vid. Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Worterb. i. 423 sq. ^nrTUJj ver. 15, are the paths traced out in the word of God; these he will studiously keep in his eye.

Vers. 17-24. The eightfold Gimel. This is his life's aim: he will do it under fear of the curse of apostasy; he will do it also though he suffer persecution on account of it. In ver. 1 7 the expression is only nyiK as cxviii. 19, not n.^^1 as in vers. 77, 116, 144: the apodo sis imper. only begins with ITUDBW, whereas ■TriK is the good itself for the bestowment of which the poet prays. P3 in ver. 18a is imper. apoc. Piel for np|3 like W in Dan. i. 12. rriN^EJ is the expression for everything supernatural and mysterious which is incomprehensible to the ordinary understanding and is left to the perception of faith. The Tora beneath the surface of its letter contains an abundance of such " wondrous things," into which only eyes from which

* The word receives the meaning of vikxv (vid. supra, ii. 136), like ^ *nd^>, from the signification of outshining = overpowering.

God has removed the covering of natural short-sightedness penetrate; hence the prayer in ver. 18. Upon earth we have no abiding resting-place, we sojourn here as in a strange land (ver. 19, xxxix. 13, 1 Chron. xxix. 15). Hence the poet prays in ver. 19 that God would keep His commandments, these rules of conduct for the journey of life, in living consciousness for him. Towards this, according to ver. 20, his longing tends. D?a (Hiph. in Lam. iii. 16) signifies to crush in pieces, LLp~-> and here, like the Aramaic D"]2, Dia, to be crushed, broken in pieces. »"i3tfr6 (from 3WJ, vers. 40, 174, a secondary form of H3N) states the bias of mind in or at which the soul feels itself thus overpowered even to being crushed: it is crushing from longing after God's judgments, viz. after a more and more thorough knowledge of them. In ver. 21 the LXX. has probably caught the meaning of the poet better than the pointing has done, inasmuch as it draws eTuicaTapaTOL to ver. 215, so that ver. 21a consists of two words, just like vers. 59a, 89a; and Kamphausen also follows this in his rendering. For D*"W*1K as an attribute is unpoetical, and as an accusative of the predicate far-fetched; whereas it comes in naturally as a predicate

Vers. 25-32. The eightfold Daletli. He is in deep trouble, and prays for consolation and strengthening by means of God's word, to wThich he resigns himself. His soul is fixed to the dust (xliv. 26) in connection with such non-recognition and proscription, and is incapable of raising itself. In ver. 256 he implores new strength and spirits (Hjn as in lxxi. 20, lxxxv. 7) from God, in conformity with and by reason of His word. He has rehearsed his walk in every detail to God, and has not been left without an answer, which has assured him of His good pleasure: may He then be pleased to advance him ever further and further in the understanding of His word, in order that, though men are against him, he may nevertheless have God on his side, vers. 26, 27. The complaint and request expressed in ver. 25 are renewed in ver. 28. *)?J refers to the soul, which is as it were melting away in the trickling down of tears; D'.i? is a Piel of Aramaic formation belonging to the later language. In vers. 29, 30 the way of lies or of treachery, and the way of faithfulness or of perseverance in the truth, stand in opposition to one another. I^n is construed with a double accusative, inasmuch as rnifl has not the rigid notion of a fixed teaching, but of living empirical instruction. »W (short for ftp 7W9 xvi. 8) signifies to put or set, viz. as a norma normans that stands before one's eyes. He cleaves to the testimonies of God; may Jahve not disappoint the hope which to him springs up out of them, according to the promise, ver. 31. He runs, i.e. wTalks vigorously and cheerfully, in the way of God's commandments, for He has widened his heart, by granting and preserving to the persecuted one the joyfulness of confession and the confidence of hope.

Vers. 33-40. The eightfold He. He further prays for instruction and guidance that he may escape the by-paths of selfishness and of disavowal. The noun ^?V, used also elsewhere as an accus. adverb., in the signification ad extremum (vers. 33 and 112) is peculiar to our poet. njH.JK (with a Shebd which takes a colouring in accordance with the principal form) refers back to T)/J. In the petition " give me understanding" (which occurs six times in this Psalm) pan is causative, as in Job xxxii. 8, and frequently in the post-exilic writings. JJV3 (from W?, abscindere, as /cepSo? accords in sound with Kelpuv) signifies gain and acquisition by means of the damage which one does to his neighbour by depreciating his property, by robbery, deceit, and extortion (1 Sam. viii. 3), and as a name of a vice, covetousness, and in general selfishness. MB* is that which is without real, i.e. without divine, contents or intrinsic worth, — God-opposed teaching and life. ^"p3*

Heidenheim and Baer erroneously have S|Wia with Jod. plural, contrary to the Masora.

is a defective plural; cf. T!)?1!!, ver. 41, ^tDSBTp*, ver. 43, and frequently. Establishing, in ver. 38, is equivalent to a realizing of the divine word or promise. The relative clause *in&r)y 10$ is not to be referred to T^yb according to ver. 85 (where the expression is different), but to ^"lpx: fulfil to Thy servant Thy word or promise, as that which (quippe quce) aims at men attaining the fear of Thee and increasing therein (cf. cxxx. 4, xl. 4). The reproach which the poet fears in ver. 39 is not the reproach of confessing, but of denying God. Accordingly spgStPD are not God's judgments [i.e. acts of judgment], but revealed decisions or judgments: these are good, inasmuch as it is well with him who keeps them. Pie can appeal before God to the fact that he is set upon the knowledge and experience of these with longing of heart; and he bases his request upon the fact that God by virtue of His righteousness, i.e. the stringency with which He maintains His order of grace, both as to its promises and its duties, would quicken him, who is at present as it were dead with sorrow and weariness.

Vers. 41-48. The eightfold Vav. He prays for the grace of true and fearlessly joyous confession. The LXX. renders ver. 41a: koI e\6oL eV i/xe to eAeo? <rov; but the Targum and Jerome rightly (cf. ver. 77, Isa. lxiii. 7) have the plural: God's proofs of loving-kindness in accordance with His promises will put him in the position that he will not be obliged to be dumb in the presence of him who reproaches him (^pn, grass), but will be able to answer him on the ground of his own experience. The verb W? which in itself has many meanings, acquires the signification "to give an answer" through the word, TJJj that is added (synon. T^H 3H$J). Ver. 43 also refers to the duty of confessing God. The meaning of the prayer is, that God may not suffer him to come to such a pass that he will be utterly unable to witness for the truth; for language dies away in the mouth of him who is unworthy of it before God. The writer has no fear of this for himself, for his hope is set towards God's judgments (^ps^'pp, defective plural, as also in ver. 149; in proof of which, compare vers. 156 and 175), his confidence takes its stand upon them. The futures which follow from vers. 44 to 48 declare that what lie would willingly do by the grace of God, and strives to do, is to walk n59")3, in a broad space (elsewhere arnfta), therefore unstraitened, which in this instance is not equivalent to happily, but courageously and unconstrainedly, without allowing myself to be intimidated, and said of inward freedom which makes itself known outwardly. In ver. 46 the Vulgate renders: Et loquebar de (i?t) testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum et non confundebar — the motto of the Augsburg Confession, to which it was adapted especially in connection with this historical interpretation of the two verbs, which does not correspond to the original text. The lifting up of the hands in ver. 48 is an expression of fervent longing desire, as in connection with prayer, xxviii. 2, lxiii. 5, cxxxiv. 2, cxli. 2, and frequently. The second VQnx TUfat is open to the suspicion of being an inadvertent repetition. 3 rvfe> (synon. 3 ^\^) signifies a still or audible meditating that is absorbed in the object.

Vers. 49-56. The eightfold Zajin. God's word is his hope and his trust amidst all derision; and when he burns with indignation at the apostates, God's word is his solace. Since in ver. 49 the expression is not Tl^l but "t^J, ^ *s not to be interpreted according to xcviii. 3, cvi. 45, but: remember the word addressed to Thy servant, because Thou hast made me hope (Piel causat. as e.g. «TO, to cause to forget, Gen. xli. 51), i.e. hast comforted me by promising me a blessed issue, and hast directed my expectation thereunto. This is his comfort in his dejected condition, that God's promissory declaration has quickened him and proved its reviving power in his case. In *J«rf>n (W$n), ludificantur, it is implied that the D^iT are just D^/j frivolous persons, libertines, free-thinkers (Prov. xxi. 24). TDB8PD, ver. 52, are the valid, verified decisions (judgments) of God revealed from the veriest olden times. In the remembrance of these, which determine the lot of a man according to the relation he holds towards them, the poet found comfort. It can be rendered: then I comforted myself; or according to a later usage of the Hithpa.: I was comforted. Concerning nsyir, cestus, vid. xi. 6, and on the subject-matter, vers. 21, 104. The poet calls his earthly life "the house of his pilgrimage;" for it is true the earth is man's (cxv. 16), but he lias no abiding resting-place there (1 Chron. xxix. 15), his D,iy n*2 (Eccles. xii. 5) is elsewhere (yid, supra, ver. 19, xxxix.

13). God's statutes are here his "songs," which give him spiritual refreshing, sweeten the hardships of the pilgrimage, and measure and hasten his steps. The Name of God has been in his mind hitherto, not merely by day, but also by night; and in consequence of this he has kept God's law (mo^Ni^ as fi ve times besides in this Psalm, cf. iii. 6, and to be distinguished from mDt?fcO, ver. 44). Just this, that he keeps (observai) God's precepts, has fallen to his lot. To others something else is allotted (iv. 8), to him this one most needful thing.

Vers. 57-64. The eightfold Heth. To understand and to keep God's word is his portion, the object of his incessant praying and thanksgiving, the highest grace or favour that can come to him. According to xvi. 5, lxxiii. 26, the words 'n *p?n belong together. Ver. 576 is an inference drawn from it P ">&N as in Ex. ii. 14, and frequently), and the existing division of the verse is verified. \J? n?n? as in xlv. 13, is an expression of caressing, flattering entreaty; in Latin, caput mulcere (demulcere). His turning to the word of God the poet describes in ver. 59 as a result of a careful trying of his actions. After that he quickly and cheerfully, ver. 60, determined to keep it without any long deliberation with flesh and blood, although the snares of wicked men surround him. The meaning of vin is determined according to ver. 110: the pointing does not distinguish so sharply as one might have expected between y^n, ft>o7ya?, and y?n, snares, bonds (yid. xviii. 5 sq.); but the plural nowhere, according to the usage of the language as we now have it, signifies bands (companies), from the singular in 1 Sam. x. 5 (Bottcher, § 800). Thankfulness urges him to get up at midnight (ace. temp, as in Job xxxiv. 20) to prostrate himself before God and to pray. Accordingly he is on friendly terms with, he is closely connected with (Prov. xxviii. 24), all who fear God. Out of the fulness of the loving-kindness of God, which is nowhere unattested upon earth (ver. 64a = xxxiii. 5), he implores for himself the inward teaching concerning His word as the highest and most cherished of mercies.

Vers. 65-72. The eightfold Teth. The good word of the gracious God is the fountain of all good; and it is learned in the way of lowliness. He reviews his life, and sees in everything that has befallen him the good and well-meaning appointment of the God of salvation in accordance with the plan and order of salvation of His word. The form T£2, which is the form out of pause, is retained in ver. 65a beside AthnacJi, although not preceded by Olewejored (cf. xxxv. 19, xlviii. 11, Prov. xxx. 21). Clinging believingly to the commandments of God, he is able confidently to pray that He would teach him "good discernment', and "knowledge." Dytp is ethically the capacity of distinguishing between good and evil, and of discovering the latter as it were by touch; DJJD MD, good discernment, is a coupling of words like 3? 3&B, a happy disposition, cheerfulness. God has brought him into this relationship to His word by humbling him, and thus setting him right out of his having gone astray. JT3??^ in ver. 676, as in ver. 11, is not God's utterance conveying a promise, but imposing a duty. God is called SitD as He who is graciously disposed towards man, and ^tp» as He who acts out this disposition; this loving and gracious God he implores to become his Teacher. In his fidelity to God's word he does not allow himself to be led astray by any of the lies wrhich the proud tiy to impose upon him (Bottcher), or better absolutely (cf. Job xiii. 4): to patch together over him, making the true nature unrecognisable as it were by means of false plaster or whitewash (???, to smear over, bedaub, as the Targumic, Talmudic, and Syriac show). If the heart of these men, who by slander make him into a caricature of himself, is covered as it were with thick fat (a figure of insensibility and obduracy, xvii. 10, lxxiii. 7, Isa. vi. 10, LXX. iTvpcodrj, Aquila iXLTrdvOrj, Symmachus i/jLvaXcoOr)) against all the impressions of the word of God, he, on the other hand, has his delight in the law of God (VWVV with an accusative of the object, not of that which is delighted, xciv. 19, but of that which delights). How beneficial has the school of affliction through which he has attained to this, been to him! The word proceeding from the mouth of God is now more precious to him than the greatest earthly riches.

Vers. 73-80. The eightfold Jod. God humbles, but He also exalts again according to His word; for this the poet prays in order that he may be a consolatory example to the Godfearing, to the confusion of his enemies. It is impossible that God should forsake man, who is His creature, and deny to him that which makes him truly happy, viz. the understanding and knowledge of His word. For this spiritual gift the poet prays iu ver. 73 (cf. on 73a, Dent, xxxii. 6, Job x. 8, xxxi. 15); and he wishes in ver. 74 that all who fear God may see in him with joy an example of the way in which trust in the word of God is rewarded (cf. xxxi v. 3, xxxv. 27, lxix. 33, cvii. 42, and other passages). He knows that God's acts of judgment are pure righteousness, i.e. are regulated by God's holiness, out of which they spring, and by the salvation of men, at which they aim; and he knows that God has humbled him nji»K (accus. adverb. for i"IJ*DK3)j being faithful in His intentions towards him; for it is just in the school of affliction that one first learns rightly to estimate the worth of His word, and comes to feel its power. But trouble, though sweetened by an insight into God's salutary design, is nevertheless always bitter; hence the well-justified prayer of ver. 76, that God's mercy may notwithstanding be bestowed upon him for his consolation, in accordance with the promise which is become his (? as in ver. 49a), His servant's. ITjy, ver. 78, instead of being construed with the accusative of the right, or of the cause, that is perverted, is construed with the accusative of the person upon whom such perversion of right, such oppression by means of misrepresentation, is inflicted, as in Job xix. 6, Lam. iii. 36. Chajug' reads "OVfty as in ver. 61. The wish expressed in ver. 79 is to be understood according to lxxiii. 10, Jer. xv. 19, cf. Pro v. ix. 4, 16. If instead of *jn*1 (which is favoured by ver. 63), we read according to the Chethib VF\^\ (cf. ver. 125), then what is meant by "v \2W^ is a turning towards him for the purpose of learning: may their knowledge be enriched from his experience. For himself, however, in ver. 80 he desires unreserved, faultless, unwavering adherence to God's word, for only thus is he secure against being ignominiously undeceived.

Vers. 81-88. The eightfold Kaph. This strengthening according to God's promise is his earnest desire (""V?) now, when within a very little his enemies have compassed his ruin ^f?). His soul and eyes languish (i"6a as in lxix. 4, Ixxxiv. 3, cf. Job xix. 27) for God's salvation, that it may be unto him according to God's word or promise, that this word may be fulfilled. In ver. 83 ^ is hypothetical, as in xxi. 12 and frequently; here, as perhaps also in xxvii. 10, in the sense of "although" (Ew. § 362, b). He does not suffer anything to drive God's word out of his mind, although he is already become like a leathern bottle blackened and shrivelled up in the smoke. The custom of the ancients of placing jars with wine over the smoke in order to make the wine prematurely old, i.e. to mellow it (vid. Kosenmiiller), does not yield anything towards the understanding of this passage: the skin-bottle that is not intended for present use is hung up on high; and the fact that it had to withstand the upward ascending smoke is intelligible, notwithstanding the absence of any mention of the chimney. The point of comparison, in which we agree for the most part with Hitzig, is the removal of him who in his dungeon is continually exposed to the drudgery of his persecutors. HB3 in ver. 84 is equivalent to " how few." Our life here below is short, so also is the period within which the divine righteousness can reveal itself. rrilW (instead of which the LXX. erroneously reads miTb>), pits, is an old word, lvii. 7. The relative clause, ver. 855, describes the "proud" as being a contradiction to the revealed law; for there was no necessity for saying that to dig a pit for others is not in accordance with this law. All God's commandments are an emanation of His faithfulness, and therefore too demand faithfulness; but it is just this faithfulness that makes the poet an object of deadly hatred. They have already almost destroyed him "in the land." It is generally rendered " on earth;" but " in heaven " at the beginning of the following octonary is too far removed to be an antithesis to it, nor does it sound like one (cf. on the other hand eV roc? ovpavois, Matt. v. 12). It is therefore: in the land (cf. lviii. 3, Ixxiii. 9), where they think they are the only ones who have any right there, they have almost destroyed him, without shaking the constancy of his faith. But he stands in need of fresh grace in order that he may not, however, at last succumb.

Vers. 89-96. The eightfold Lamed. Eternal and imperishable in the constant verifying of itself is the vigorous and consolatory word of God, to which the poet will ever cling. It has heaven as its standing-place, and therefore it also has the qualities of heaven, and before all others, heavenlike stability. Ps. lxxxix. (ver. 3) uses similar language in reference to God's faithfulness, of which here ver. 90 says that it endureth into all generations. The earth hath He creatively set up, and it standeth, viz. as a practical proof and as a scene of His infinite, unchangeable faithfulness. Heaven and earth are not the subjects of ver. 91 (Hupfeld), for only the earth is previously mentioned; the reference to the heavens in ver. 89 is of a very different character. Hitzig and others see the subject in TB?^?r ■ with respect to Thy judgments, they stand fast unto this day; but the VJ?J| which follows requires another meaning to be assigned to Vipjj: either of taking up one's place ready for service, or, since DQB>'ri> "loy is a current phrase in Num. xxxv. 12, Josh. xx. 6, Ezek. xliv. 24, of placing one's self ready to obey (Bottcher). The subject of V1B5J, as the following?sn shows, is meant to be thought of in the most general sense (cf. Job xxxviii. 14): all beings are God's servants (subjects), and have accordingly to be obedient and humble before His judicial decisions — Dfal, " even to this day," the poet adds, for these judicial decisions are those which are formulated beforehand in the Tora. Joy in this ever sure, all-conditioning word has upheld the poet in his affliction, ver. 92. He who has been persecuted and cast down as it were to death, owes his reviving to it, ver. 93. From Him whose possession or property he is in faith and love he also further looks for his salvation, ver. 94. Let evildoers lie in wait for him (ft? in a hostile sense, as in lvi. 7, nji?, cf. n:pn? going back to njfj? ^J, with the broad primary signification, to be tight, firm, strong) to destroy him, he meditates on God's testimonies. He knows from experience that all (earthly) perfection (i"V?J?) has an end (inasmuch as, having reached its height, it changes into its opposite); God's commandment (singular as in Deut. xi. 22), on the contrary, is exceeding broad (cf. Job xi. 9), unlimited in its duration and verification.

Vers. 97-104. The eightfold Mem, The poet praises the practical wisdom which the word of God, on this very account so sweet to him, teaches. God's precious law, with which he unceasingly occupies himself, makes him superior in wisdom (Deut. iv. 6), intelligence, and judgment to his enemies, his teachers, and the aged (Job xii. 20). There were therefore at that time teachers and elders (TrpeafivTepoi), who (like the Hellenizing Sadducees) were not far from apostasy in their laxness, and hostilely persecuted the young and strenuous zealot for God's law. The construction of ver. 98a is like Joel i. 20,

Isa. lix. 12, and frequently. «? refers to the commandments in their unity: he has taken possession of them for ever (cf. ver. Ilia). The Mishna (Aboth iv. 1) erroneously interprets: from all my teachers do I acquire understanding. All three J» in vers. 98-100 signify prce (LXX. virep). In W>3, ver. 101a, from the mode of writing we see the verb Lamed Aleph passing over into the verb Lamed He. Wjta is, as in Prov. iv. 11 (cf. Ex. iv. 15), a defective mode of writing for Wiin. WD3, ver. 103a, is not equivalent to «n»J, Job vi. 25 (vid. Job, i. 118, 279), but signifies, in consequence of the dative of the object *3r6, that which easily enters, or that which tastes good (LXX. a>? <y\vfcea); therefore surely from Fr5*? = ^?, to be smooth: how smooth, Altering easily (Prov. xxiii. 31), are Thy words (promises) to my palate or taste! The collective singular ^"JDK is construed with a plural of the predicate (cf. Ex. i. 10). He has no taste for the God-estranged present, but all the stronger taste for God's promised future. From God's laws he acquires the capacity for proving the spirits, therefore he hates every path of falsehood ( = ver. 1286), i.e. all the heterodox tendencies which agree with the spirit of the age.

Vers. 105-112. The eightfold Nun. The word of God is his constant guide, to which he has entrusted himself for ever. The way here below is a way through darkness, and leads close past abysses: in this danger of falling and of going astray the word of God is a lamp to his feet, i.e. to his course, and a light to his path (Prov. vi. 23); his lamp or torch and his sun That which he has sworn, viz. to keep God's righteous requirements, he has also set up, i.e. brought to fulfilment, but not without being bowed down under heavy afflictions in confessing God; wherefore he prays (as in ver. 25) that God would revive him in accordance with His word, which promises life to those who keep it. The confessions of prayer coming from the inmost impulse of his whole heart, in which he owns his indebtedness and gives himself up entirely to God's mercy, he calls the free-will offerings of his mouth in ver. 108 (cf. 1. 14, xix. 15). He bases the prayer for a gracious acceptance of these upon the fact of his being reduced to extremity. "To have one's soul in one's hand " is the same as to be in conscious peril of one's life, just as "to take one's soul into one's hand" (Judg. xii. 3, 1 Sam. xix. 5, xxviii. 21, Job xiii. 14) is the same as to be ready to give one's life for it, to risk one's life.* Although his life is threatened (ver. 87), yet he does not waver and depart from God's word; he has taken and obtained possession of God's testimonies for ever (cf. ver. 98); they are his "heritage," for which he willingly gives up everything else, for they (nan inexactly for nan) it is which bless and entrance him in his inmost soul. In ver. 112 it is not to be interpreted after xix. 12: eternal is the reward (of the carrying out of Thy precepts), but in ver. 33 3?V is equivalent to "w, and ver. 44 proves that ver. 1125 need not be a thought that is complete in itself.

Vers. 113-120. The eightfold Samech. His hope rests on God's word, without allowing itself to be led astray by doubters and apostates. ^DVD (the form of nouns which indicate defects or failings) are those inwardly divided, halting between two opinions (D*SVp)y 1 Kings xviii. 21, who do homage partly to the worship of Jahve, partly to heathenism, and therefore are trying to combine faith and naturalism. In contrast to such, the poet's love, faith, and hope are devoted entirely to the God of revelation; and to all those who are desirous of drawing him away he addresses in ver. 115 (cf. vi. 9) an indignant " depart." He, however, stands in need of grace in order to persevere and to conquer. For this he prays in vers. 116, 117. The IP in ^p is the same as in p ^13. The ah of nyvm is the intentional ah (Ew. § 228, c), as in Isa. xli. 23. The statement of the ground of the ^r1?, vilipendis, does not mean: unsuccessful is their deceit (Hengstenberg, Olshausen), but falsehood without the consistency of truth is their self-deceptive and seductive tendency. The LXX. and Syriac read Dn^nn} " their sentiment;" but this is an Aramaic word that is unintelligible in Hebrew, which the old translators have conjured into the text only on account of an apparent tautology. The reading fi?$n or JJ^J (Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome; LXX. iXoyicrdfirjV) therefore VQBTi) instead of fi3B>n might more readily be justified in ver. 119a; but the former gives too narrow a meaning, and the reading rests on a mistaking of the construction of nu^'n with an accusative of

* Cf. B. Taanith 8a: "The prayer of a man is not answered p DX fcbx 1D33 1t?S3 D^D, «-e. if he is not ready to sacrifice his life."

the object and of the effect: all the wicked, as many of them as are on the earth, dost Thou put away as dross (D'Jp). Accordingly TBBBto in ver. 120 are God's punitive judgments, or rather (cf. ver. 91) God's laws (judgments) according to which He judges. What is meant are sentences of punishment, as in Lev. ch. xxvi., Deut. ch. xxviii. Of these the poet is afraid, for omnipotence can change words into deeds forthwith. In fear of the God who has attested Himself in Ex. xxxiv. 7 and elsewhere, his skin shudders and his hair stands on end.

Vers. 121-128. The eightfold Ajin. In the present time of apostasy and persecution he keeps all the more strictly to the direction of the divine word, and commends himself to the protection and teaching of God. In the consciousness of his godly behaviour (elsewhere always BQra P^¥, here in one instance p"TC} ttD^D) the poet hopes that God will surely not (^3) leave him to the arbitrary disposal of his oppressors. This hope does not, however, raise him above the necessity and duty of constant prayer that Jahve would place Himself between him and his enemies, yty seq. ace, signifies to stand in any one's place as furnishing a guarantee, and in general as a mediator, Job xvii. 3, Isa. xxxviii. 14; 21D7 similar to nzri up, Ixxxvi. 17, Neh. v. 19: in my behalf, for my real advantage. The expression of longing after redemption in ver. 123 sounds like vers. 81 sq. " The word of Thy righteousness" is the promise which proceeds from God's " righteousness," and as surely as He is " righteous" cannot remain unfulfilled. The one chief petition of the poet, however, to which he comes back in vers. 124 sq., has reference to the ever deeper knowledge of the word of God; for this knowledge is in itself at once life and blessedness, and the present calls most urgently for it. For the great multitude (which is the subject to *l?i?) practically and fundamentally break God's law; it is therefore time to act for Jahve (p *^V as in Gen. xxx. 30, Isa. lxiv. 3, Ezek. xxix. 20), and just in order to this there is need of well-grounded, reliable knowledge. Therefore the poet attaches himself with all his love to God's commandments; to him they are above gold and fine gold (xix. 11), which he might perhaps gain by a disavowal of them. Therefore he is as strict as he possibly can be with God's word, inasmuch as he acknowledges and observes all precepts of all things (p n^p3"^3), i.e. all divine precepts, let them have reference to whatsoever they will, as D^pj, right (*tt£, to declare both in avowal and deed to be right); and every false (lying) tendency, all pseudo-Judaism, he hates. It is true ver. 126a may be also explained: it is time that Jahve should act, i.e. interpose judicially; but this thought is foreign to the context, and affords no equally close union for p"!?y; moreover it ought then to have been accented TWtfy rwyb ny. On fa TW^a, « all commands of every purport," cf. Isa. xxix. 11, and more as to form, Num. viii. 16, Ezek. xliv. 30. The expression is purposely thus heightened; and the correction "plpD-^ (Ewald, Olshausen, and Hupfeld) is also superfluous, because the reference of what is said to the God of revelation is self-evident in this connection.

Vers. 129-136. The eightfold Phe. The deeper his depression of spirit concerning those who despise the word of God, the more ardently does he yearn after the light and food of that word. The testimonies of God are rri&OS, wonderful and strange (paradoxical) things, exalted above every-day life and the common understanding. In this connection of the thoughts Dnnyj is not intended of careful observance, but of attentive contemplation that is prolonged until a clear penetrating understanding of the matter is attained. The opening, disclosure (H^a, apertio, with Tsere in distinction from nria? porta) of God's word giveth light, inasmuch as it makes the simple (B\*A3 as in Prov. xxii. 3) wise or sagacious; in connection with which it is assumed that it is God Himself who unfolds the mysteries of His word to those who are anxious to learn. Such an one, anxious to learn, is the poet: he pants with open mouth, viz. for the heavenly fare of such disclosures ("W3 like na lya in Job xxix. 23, cf. Ps. lxxxi. 11). 3KJ is a hapaxlegomenon, just as 3KPI is also exclusively peculiar to the Psalm before us; both are secondary forms of H3K, Love to God cannot indeed remain unresponded to. The experience of helping grace is a right belonging to those who love the God of revelation; love in return for love, salvation in return for the longing for salvation, is their prerogative. On the ground of this reciprocal relation the petitions in vers. 133-135 are then put up, coming back at last to the one chief prayer " teach me.",T}^? ver. 133, is not merely a " promise" in this instance, but the declared will of God in general. n*T^? refers preeminently to all sin of disavowal (denying God), into which he might fall under outward and inward pressure (P$y). For he has round about him those who do not keep God's law. On account of these apostates (*6 by as in Isa. liii. 9, equivalent to &6 "i£;&ri?y) his eyes run down rivers of water (TV as in Lam. iii. 48, with an accusative of the object). His mood is not that of unfeeling self-glorying, but of sorrow like that of Jeremiah, because of the contempt of Jahve, and the self-destruction of those who contemn Him.

Vers. 137-144. The eightfold Tsade. God rules righteously and faithfully according to His word, for which the poet is accordingly zealous, although young and despised. The predicate "Hf* in ver. 1376 precedes its subject T®%WV (God's decisions in word and in deed) in the primary form (after the model of the verbal clause cxxiv. 5), just as in German [and English] the predicative adjective remains undeclined. The accusatives PTC and n:iDK in ver. 138 are not predicative (Hitzig), to which the former (" as righteousness") — not the latter however — is not suited, but adverbial accusatives (in righteousness, in faithfulness)., and 1KO according to its position is subordinate to n:iDS1 as a virtual adjective (cf. Isa. xlvii. 9): the requirements of the revealed law proceed from a disposition towards and mode of dealing with men which is strictly determined by His holiness (P"l¥), and beyond measure faithfully and honestly designs the well-being of men (ind nnDN). To see this good law of God despised by his persecutors stirs the poet up with a zeal, which brings him, from their side, to the brink of extreme destruction (lxix. 10, cf. fln»¥j lxxxviii. 17). God's own utterance is indeed without spot, and therefore not to be carped at; it is pure, fire-proved, noblest metal (xviii. 31, xii. 7), therefore he loves it, and does not, though young (LXX. veooTepos, Vulgate adolescentulus) and lightly esteemed, care for the remonstrances of his proud opponents who are old and more learned than himself (the organization of ver. 141 is like ver. 95, and frequently). The righteousness (HjJJV) of the God of revelation becomes eternal righteousness (P*™), and His law remains eternal truth (DDN). npnv is here the name of the attribute and of the action that is conditioned in accordance with it; pre the name of the state that thoroughly accords with the idea of that which is right. So too in ver. 144: pn are Jahve's testimonies for ever, so that all creatures must give glory to their harmony with that which is absolutely right. To look ever deeper and deeper into this their perfection is the growincr life of the spirit. The poet prays for this vivifying insight.

Vers. 145-152. The eightfold Ifopk. Fidelity to God's word, and deliverance according to His promise, is the purport of his unceasing prayer. Even in the morning twilight (^BO) he was awake praying. It is not ^C, I anticipated the twilight; nor is ^P^IP, according to Ixxxiv. 14, equivalent to TDDIp, but V^'^}T - • • Vf^i? is the resolution of the otherwise customary construction V^p "TiEHp, Jonah iv. 2, inasmuch as &?j? may signify "to go before" (lxviii. 26), and also "to make haste (with anything): " even early before the morning's dawn I cried. Instead of "piT? the Keri (Targum, Syriac, Jerome) more appropriately reads TJJ*]? after vers. 74, 81, 114. But his eyes also anticipated the night-watches, inasmuch as they did not allow themselves to be caught not sleeping by any of them at their beginning (cf. BW y, Lam. ii. 19). •"inpK is here, as in vers. 140, 158, and frequently, the whole word of God, whether in its requirements or its promises. In ver. 149 ^Ips^D3 is a defective plural as in ver. 43 (vid. on ver. 37), according to ver. 156, although according to ver. 132 the singular (LXX., Targum, Jerome) would also be admissible: what is meant is God's order of salvation, or His appointments that relate thereto. The correlative relation of vers. 150 and 151 is rendered natural by the position of the words. With ^"ip (cf. 2"jp) is associated the idea of rushing upon him with hostile purpose, and with 3HjJ, as in lxix. 19, Isa. lviii. 2, of hastening to his succour. nsr is infamy that is branded by the law: they go forth purposing this, but God's law is altogether self-verifying truth. And the poet has long gained the knowledge from it that it does not aim at merely temporary recompense. The sophisms of the apostates cannot therefore lead him astray. Brno* for!!?*!?!> like nsn in ver. 111.

Vers. 153-160. The eightfold Resh. Because God cannot suffer those who are faithful to His word to succumb, he supplicates His help against his persecutors. nyi is Milra before the initial (half-guttural) lies/i, as in xliii. 1, lxxiv. 22. The Lamed of *jrnD so is the Lamed of reference (with respect to Thine utterance), whether the reference be normative (=imDK3, ver. 58), as in Isa. xi. 3, or causal, xxv. 2, Isa. lv. 5, Job xlii. 5. The predicate pin~j? like Vf J in ver. 137, stands first in the primary, as yet indefinite form. Concerning ver. 1566 vid. on ver. 149. At the sight of the faithless he felt a profound disgust; nDDipnsj, pausal aorist, supply Dna, cxxxix. 21. It is all the same in the end whether we render "l£*N quippe qui or siquidem. wvh in ver. 160 signifies the head-number or sum. If he reckons up the word of God in its separate parts and as a whole, truth is the denominator of the whole, truth is the sum-total. This supplicatory Wi is repeated three times in this group. The nearer it draws towards its end the more importunate does the Psalm become.

Vers. 161-168. The eightfold & (both Shin and Sin*). In the midst of persecution God's word was still his fear, his joy, and his love, the object of his thanksgiving, and the ground of his hope. Princes persecute him without adequate cause, but his heart does not fear before them, but before God's words (the Keri likes the singular, as in ver. 147), to deny which would be to him the greatest possible evil. It is, however, a fear that is associated with heartfelt joy (ver. 111). It is the joy of a conflict that is rewarded by rich spoil (Judg. v. 30, Isa. ix. 2). Not merely morning and evening, not merely three times a day (lv. 18), but seven times (V?K* as in Lev. xxvi. 18, Prov. xxiv. 16), i.e. ever again and again, availing himself of every prayerful impulse, he gives thanks to God for His word, which so righteously decides and so correctly guides, is a source of transcendent peace to all who love it, and beside which one is not exposed to any danger of stumbling (W3D, LXX. a/cdv- Bdkov, cf. 1 John ii. 10) without some effectual counter-working. In ver. 166a he speaks like Jacob in Gen. xlix. 18, and can sp^ak thus, inasmuch as he has followed earnestly and untiringly after sanctification. He endeavours to keep God's law most conscientiously, in proof of which he is able to appeal to God, the Omniscient One. rnptj is here the 2>d prat., where-

* Whilst even in the oldest alphabetical Pijutim the Sin perhaps represents the Samech as well, but never the Shirty it is the reverse in the Biblical alphabetical pieces. Here Sin and Shin coincide, and Samech is specially represented.

in lwxvi. 2 it is impend. The future of 3HS is both anfc and 3HK, just as of IHH both THN* and rh«K.

Vers. 169-176. The eightfold Fa*. May God answer this his supplication as lie has heard his praise, and interest Himself on behalf of His servant, the sheep that is exposed to great danger. The petitions " give me understanding " and " deliver me " go hand-in-hand, because the poet is one who is persecuted for the sake of his faith, and is just as much in need of the fortifying of his faith as of deliverance from the outward restraint that is put upon him. H31 is a shrill audible prayer; njrOTj a fervent and urgent prayer. HJP, prop, to answer, signifies in ver. 172 to begin, strike up, attune (as does aTroKpiveo-Qai also sometimes). According to the rule in 1. 23 the poet bases his petition for help upon the purpose of thankful praise of God and of His word. Knowing how to value rightly what he possesses, he is warranted in further supplicating and hoping for the good that he does not as yet possess. The u salvation " for which he longs (^xn as in vers. 40, 20) is redemption from the evil world, in which the life of his own soul is imperilled. May then God's judgments (defective plural, as in vers. 43, 149, which the Syriac only takes as singular) succour him (*fW> not ^"W). God's hand, ver. 173, and God's word afford him succour; the two are involved in one another, the word is the medium of His hand. After this relationship of the poet to God's word, which is attested a hundredfold in the Psalm, it may seem strange that he can say of himself "12K nb>3 \Tj;n; and perhaps the accentuation is correct when it does not allow itself to be determined by Isa. liii. 6, but interprets: If I have gone astray — seek Thou like a lost sheep Thy servant. *l?K nb is a sheep that is lost (cf. B^pk as an appellation of the dispersion, Isa. xxvii. 13) and in imminent danger of total destruction (cf. xxxi. 13 with Lev. xxvi. 38). In connection with that interpretation which is followed by the interpunction, ver. 1766 is also more easily connected with what precedes: his going astray is no apostasy; his home, to which he longs to return when he has been betrayed into by-wTays, is beside the Lord.

cording to the most natural signification of the word, renders: wS?; twv avaflaOfjbcov; the Italic and Vulgate, canticum graduum (whence the liturgical term " gradual Psalms"). The meaning at the same time remains obscure. When, however, Theodotion renders aa/ia T(bv avaftdaecoVj Aquila and Symrnachus wSr) et'9 Ta? avaftdaeLs (as though it were absolutely ni?JJD?, as in cxxi. 1), it looks even like an explanation. The fathers, more particularly Theodoret, and in general the Syrian church, associate with it the idea of rj airb Bafivkojvos eiravohos. Ewald has long advocated this view. In his Introduction to Die poetischen Backer des Alten Bundes (1839), and elsewhere, he translated it " Songs of the Pilgrim caravans" or " of the homeward marches," and explained these fifteen Psalms as old and new travelling songs of those returning from the Exile. The verb npy certainly is the usual word for journeying to Palestine out of the Babylonian low country, as out of the country of the Egyptian Nile Valley. And the fact that the Keturn from the Exile is called TOD r6yDn in Ezra vii. 9 is enticing. Some of these Psalms, as cxxi., cxxiii.-cxxv., cxxix., cxxx., cxxxii., cxxxiii., are also suited to this situation, or can at least be adapted to it. But Ps. cxx., if it is to be referred to the Exile, is a song that comes out of the midst of it; Ps. cxxvi. might, so far as its first half is concerned, be a travelling song of those returning, but according to its second half it is a prayer of those who have returned for the restoration of the whole of Israel, based upon thanksgiving; and Ps. cxxii. assumes the existence and frequenting of the Temple and of the holy city, and Ps. cxxxiv. the full exercise of the Temple-service. It is also inconvenient that H?^ which in itself only expresses a journey up, not a journey homewards, is without any closer definition; and more particularly since, in connection with this form of the word, the signification of a something (a step, a sun-dial, rising thoughts, Ezek. xi. 5) is at least just as natural as that of an action. D^yn y$ would have been at once palpable. And what is meant by the plural? The interpretation of the plural of the different caravans or companies in which the exiles returned, assumes a usus loquendi with which we are altogether unacquainted.

Relatively more probable is the reference to the pilgrimagejourneyings at the three great feasts, — according to a later Hebrew expression, the DvJp BW. This going up to Jerusalem required by the Law is also usually called r6y. So Agellius (1606), Herder, Eichhorn, Maurer, Hengstenberg, Keil, and others, and so now even Ewald in the second edition (1866) of the Introduction to Die Dichter des Alien Bundes, so Kamphausen, and Reuss in his treatise Chants de Pelerinage on petit Psautier des Pelerins du second temple (in the Nouvelle Revue de Theologie, i. 273-311), and Liebusch in the Quedlinburg Easter Programm, 1866: u The pilgrim songs in the Fifth Book of the Psalter." But n7i'p in this signification is without precedent; and when Hupfeld says in opposition to this, " the fact that a noun accidentally does not occur in the Old Testament does not matter, since here at any rate it is a question of the interpretation of a later usage of the language," we may reply that neither does the whole range of the post-biblical Hebrew exhibit any trace of this usage. Thenius accordingly tries another way of doing justice to the word. He understands rivJJD of the different stations, i.e. stages of the journey up, that are to be found in connection with the festive journeys to high-lying Jerusalem. But the right name for u stations" would be TODD or nnDVft; and besides, the notion borrowed from the processions to Mount Calvary is without historical support in the religious observances of Israel. Thus, then, the needful ground in language and custom for referring this title of the Psalms to the journeyings up to the feasts is taken from under us; and the consideration that the first three and the last three songs are suited to the hymn-book of a festal pilgrimage, and that they all bear in them, as Liebusch has demonstrated, the characteristic features of the spiritual national song, is not able to decide the doubtful meaning of ni^D.

We will now put the later Jewish interpretation to the proof. According to Middoth ii. 5, Succa 15&, a semi-circular staircase with fifteen steps led out of the court of the Israelitish men (}>*nfe* my) clown into the court of the women (pfth mty), and upon these fifteen steps, which correspond to the fifteen gradual Psalms, the Levites played musical instruments on the evening of the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in connection with the joyful celebration of the water-drawing,* and above them in the portal (upon the threshold of the Nicanorgate or Agrippa-gatef) stood two priests with trumpets. It has been said that this is a Talmudic fable invented on behalf of the inscription n^yon W, and that the fifteen steps are got out of Ezek. xl. 26, 31 by reading the two verses together. This aspersion is founded on ignorance. For the Talmud does not say in that passage that the fifteen Psalms have taken their name from the fifteen steps; it does not once say that these Psalms in particular were read aloud upon the fifteen steps, but it only places the fifteen steps on a parallel with the fifteen Psalms; and, moreover, interprets the name mbyon W quite differently, viz. from a legend concerning David and Ahithophel, Succa 53a, Maccoth 11a (differently rendered in the section Chelek of the tractate Sanhedrin in the Jerusalem Talmud). This legend to which the Targum inscription relates (yid. Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud, s.v. N£p) is absurd enough, but it has nothing to do with the fifteen steps. It is not until a later period that Jewish expositors say that the fifteen Psalms had their name from the fifteen steps.J Even Hippolytus must have heard something similar when he says (p. 190, ed. Lagarde): iraXtv re avrov eiai rive? tcov avafiaOficov gj6W, tov api6fiov irevTeKaicerca, oaoc teal ol avaftaO fiol tov vaov, Taya BeXovcraL Ta? ava- (SdaeLs TrepLeyeaOai iv tw e/38o/xco koX oySocp aptd/ia), upon which Hilary relies: esse autem in templo gradus quindecim historia t It was called the Nicanor-gate in the Temple of Zerubbabel, and the Agrippa-gate in the Temple of Herod: in both of them they ascended to its threshold by fifteen steps; vid. Unruh, Das alte Jerusalem und seine Bauwerke (1861), S. 137, cf. 194.

^ % Lyra in his Postillse, and Jacob Leonitius in his Hebrew Libellus effigiei templi Salomonis (Amsterdam 1650, 4to), even say that the Levites sang one of the fifteen songs of degrees on each step. Luther has again generalized this view; for his rendering "a song in the higher choir" is intended to say, cantores harum odarum stetisse in loco eminentiori (Bakius).

twins lociita est; viz. 15 (7 + 8) steps leading out of the court of the priests into the Holy of holies. In this, then, the allegory in which the interpretation of the church delighted for a long time seemed naturally at hand, viz., as Otmar Nachtgal explains, il Song of the steps or ascents, which indicate the spirit of those who ascend from earthly things to God." The Furtmaier Codex in Maihingen accordingly inscribes them "Psalm of the first step" {Psalm der ersten staffeln), and so on. If we leave this sensus anagogicus to itself, then the title, referred to the fifteen steps, would indeed not be inappropriate in itself (cf. Graduate or Gradate in the service of the Romish Church), but is of an external character such as we find nowhere else.*

Gesenius has the merit of having first discerned the true meaning of the questioned inscription, inasmuch as first in 1812 {Hallische Lit. Zeitschrift, 1812, Nr. 205), and frequently since that time, he has taught that the fifteen sonars have their name from their step-like progressive rhythm of the thoughts, and that consequently the name, like the triolet (roundelay) in Western poetry, does not refer to the liturgical usage, but to the technical structure. The correctness of this view has been duly appraised more particularly by De Wette, who adduces this rhythm of steps or degrees, too, among the more artificial rhythms. The songs are called Songs of degrees or Gradual Psalms as being songs that move onward towards a climax, and that by means of irXoKr) (eVtTrXo/oj), i.e. a taking up again of the immediately preceding word by way of giving intensity to the expression; and they are placed together on account of this common characteristic, just like the Michtammim, which bear that name from a similar characteristic. The fact, as Liebusch objects, that there is no trace of tojjd in this figurative signification elsewhere, is of no consequence, since in the inscriptions of the Psalms in general wre become acquainted with a technical language which (apart from a few echoes in the Chronicles) is without example elsewhere, in relation to poetical and musical technology. Neither are we refuted by the fact that this as it were climbing movement of the thoughts which plants upon a

* Hitzig, in his Commentary (1865), has attempted a new combination of these Psalms, in regard to the number of verses of cxx. and cxii. (7 + 8) and their total number, with the steps of the Temple.

preceding word, and thus carries itself forward, is not without example even outside the range of these fifteen songs in the Psalter itself {e.g. xciii., xcvi.), as also elsewhere (Isa. xvii. 12 sq., xxvi. 5 sq., and more particularly in the song of Deborah, Judg. v. 3, 5, 6, etc.), and that it is not always carried out in the same manner in the fifteen Psalms. It is quite sufficient that the parallelism retires into the background here as nowhere else in fifteen songs that are linked together (even in cxxv., cxxvii., cxxviii., cxxxii.); and the onward course is represented with decided preference as a gradation or advance step by step, that which follows being based upon what goes before, and from that point advancing and ascending still higher.

2 O Jahve, deliver my soul from a lying lip, From a crafty tongue!

3 What shall He give to thee, and wThat shall He further give Thou crafty tongue? [to thee,

5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, That I dwell beside the tents of Kedar!

This first song of degrees attaches itself to Ps. cxix. 176. The writer of Ps. cxix., surrounded on all sides by apostasy and persecution, compares himself to a sheep that is easily lost, which the shepherd has to seek and bring home if it is not to perish; and the writer of Ps. cxx. is also "as a sheep in the midst of wolves." The period at which he lived is uncertain, and it is consequently also uncertain whether he had to endure such endless malignant attacks from foreign barbarians or from his own worldly-minded fellow-countrymen. E. Tilling has sought to establish a third possible occasion in his Disquisitio de ratione inscript. XV Pss. grad. (1765). He derives this and the following songs of degrees from the time immediately succeeding the Return from the Exile, when the secret and open hostility of the Samaritans and other neighbouring peoples (Xeh. ii. 10, 19, iv. 1, vi. 1) sought to keep down the rise of the young colony.

Vers. 1-4. According to the pointing *33JW, the poet appears to base his present petition, which from ver. 2 onwards is the substance of the whole Psalm, upon the fact of a previous answering of his prayers. For the petition in ver. 2 manifestly arises out of his deplorable situation, which is described in vers. 5 sqq. Nevertheless there are also other instances in which *J3JH might have been expected, where the pointing is ^Vl] (iii. 5, Jonah ii. 3), so that consequently W»l may, without any prejudice to the pointing, be taken as a believing expression of the result (cf. the future of the consequence in Job ix. 16) of the present cry for help. nrTTtf^ according to the original signification, is a form of the definition of a state or condition, as in iii. 3, xliv. 27, lxiii. 8, Jonah ii. 10, Hos. viii. 7, and ^ nn~\X2 = y~T¥3, xviii. 7, is based upon the customary expression v IV. In ver. 2 follows the petition which the poet sends up to Jahve in the certainty of being answered. n>p"| beside tft59j although there is no masc. W (cf. however the Aramaic ♦en, *W3rt), is taken as an adjective after the form nnp? nj3V, which it is also perhaps in Mic. vi. 12. The parallelism would make jiBy natural, like HD")0 ])&? in Iii. 6; the pointing, which nevertheless disregarded this, will therefore rest upon tradition. The apostrophe in ver. 3 is addressed to the crafty tongue. p£v is certainly feminine as a rule; but whilst the tongue as such is feminine, the JTD"i \\vfy of the address, as in Iii. 6, refers to him who has such a kind of tongue (cf. Hitzig on Prov. xii. 27), and thereby the 1? is justified; whereas the rendering.

" what does it bring to thee, and what does it profit thee? " or, "of what use to thee and what advancement to thee is the crafty tongue?" is indeed possible so far as concerns the syntax (Ges. § 147, e), but is unlikely as being ambiguous and confusing in expression. It is also to be inferred from the correspondence between 'if? PpDs"nD* *Q irPTiD and the formula of an oath Wft "31 HST&ijj <jp*fl£ nb, 1 Sam. iii. 17, xx. 13, xxv. 22, 2 Sam. iii. 35, Ruth i. 17, that God is to be thought of as the subject of \TP and ^D*1: " what will," or rather, in accordance with the otherwise precative use of the formula and with the petition that here precedes: " what shall He (is He to) give to thee (\T\\ as in Hos. ix. 14), and what shall He add to thee, thou crafty tongue? " The reciprocal relation of ver. 4a to |rp~no, and of ver. 46 with the superadding Dy to PpD^riD, shows that ver. 4 is not now a characterizing of the tongue that continues the apostrophe to it, as Ewald supposes. Consequently ver. 4 gives the answer to ver. 3 with the twofold punishment which Jahve will cause the false tongue to feel. The question which the poet, sure of the answering of his cry for help, puts to the false tongue is designed to let the person addressed hear by a flight of sarcasm what he has to expect. The evil tongue is a sharp sword (lvii. 5), a pointed arrow (Jer. ix. 7), and it is like a fire kindled of hell (Jas. iii. 6). The punishment, too, corresponds to this its nature and conduct (lxiv. 4). The "mighty one" (LXX. Swaros) is God Himself, as it is observed in B. Erachin 156 with a reference to Isa. xlii. 13: " There is none mighty but the Holy One, blessed is He." He requites the evil tongue like with like. Arrows and coals (cxl. 11) appear also in other instances among His means of punishment. It, which shot piercing arrows, is pierced by the sharpened arrows of an irresistibly mighty One; it, which set its neighbour in a fever of anguish, must endure the lasting, sure, and torturingly consuming heat of broomcoals. The LXX. renders it in a general sense, <rvv tols avOpa^t to?? iprjfjLiKol?; Aquila, following Jewish tradition,

Vers. 5-7. Since arrows and broom-fire, with which the evil tongue is requited, even now proceed from the tongue