Praise ye him, sun and moon;

Praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,

And ye waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For he commanded and they were created; He maintaineth them for ever and ever,

He gave them a law which they cannot transgress.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
Ye monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and smoke;
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
Mountains and all hills,

Fruit-trees and all cedars;
Wild beasts and all cattle,

Creeping things and winged birds;
Kings of the earth, and all peoples,
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and maidens,
Old men and children;

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For his name alone is exalted,

His majesty is above the earth and the heaven.

And he hath lifted up a horn to his people,

A theme of praise for all his loving ones,

Even for the children of Israel, the people near unto him Praise ye the Lord.

:

§14. The one hundred and forty-ninth Psalm: Cantate Domino. Of the next Psalm (cxlix) the Maccabean origin and nature are clearly apparent. It shows us the religious strength and the religious weakness of the entire movement.

Praise ye the Lord.

Sing unto the Lord a new song,

And his praise in the congregation of his loving ones.

Let Israel rejoice in his Maker,

Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise his name with the dance,

Let them make melody unto him with the timbrel

and lyre.

PSALM AND SWORD

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people,
He adorneth the humble with victory.
Let the loving ones exult and give glory,
Let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throat,
And a two-edged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the nations,
And punishments upon the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute upon them the judgement written :
An honour this to all his loving ones :
Praise ye the Lord.

653

'Loving ones' or 'the pious' is an inadequate translation of the Hebrew Chasidim: 'saints' or 'holy ones would be no better.

The word chesed means kindness or lovingkindness, and this virtue is the special characteristic of God in his covenant relation to Israel, and of Israelites in their relation to each other and to God. In the Maccabean period, however, the Chasidim became the name of a party, as we shall hear in the next section. Professor Cheyne's note to the use of Chasidim in this Psalm runs thus: The word means, of course, those who display "lovingkindness to their fellows as well as to Jehovah; but "who is my neighbour?" At the period of the Psalmist, love to God was more than ever preponderant over love to man.' It would perhaps be more just to say that war and persecution had inevitably dimmed the mind to the recognition of the bond which links man to man. Within the ranks of the Chasidim themselves there was no lack of brotherly affection.

The humble' or the 'afflicted' (cognate and interchangeable adjectives) has become a fixed term for Israel.

6

The judgement written.' This probably refers to certain passages in the prophetical literature regarding the doom of the nations at the Messianic age. The danger of these lower and merely national vaticinations was now revealed. And this very Psalm was used to stimulate and justify appalling cruelties and massacres in the religious wars of the Reformation. Rightly do the Four Friends say that the 'use which has been made in later times of this and similar Psalms shows how easily devotion to the most sacred associations and zeal for the most spiritual religion may become the ministers of human prejudice and passion.'

§15. The final Hallelujah: Psalm one hundred and fifty.And now we have arrived at the last Psalm of our group and

the last Psalm of the Psalter (cl). In it we breathe a purer air; All flesh shall join

we leave national limitations far below us.

in a common praise of the one Divine Father.

Praise ye the Lord,

Praise God in his sanctuary,

Praise him in the firmament of his power;
Praise him for his mighty acts,

Praise him according to his manifold greatness;
Praise him with the peal of the trumpet,
Praise him with the harp and the lyre;
Praise him with the timbrel and dance,
Praise him with strings and with pipe;
Praise him upon the loud cymbals,

Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals;
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord:
Praise ye the Lord.

What nobler end for a Psalter than this; what nobler expression of adoring faith: 'Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord' !