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O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste for my help.

Let them be confounded and put to shame that are adversaries to my soul;

Let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

But I will hope continually,

And will yet praise thee more and more.

My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day;

I will shew forth the mighty deeds of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth,

And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not;

Until I have told thine arm unto the generation to come, Even thy power and thy righteousness.

Thy mighty deeds, O God, reach unto the heights,

O God, who is like unto thee!

Thou, who hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again,

And shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

So will I praise thee among the nations, O Lord,

Even thy faithfulness upon the harp, O my God:

Unto thee will I sing with the lyre, O thou Holy One of Israel.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee;

And my soul, which thou hast redeemed.

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long:

For they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

In thy righteousness.' The Midrash is always dwelling upon God's mercy. So here: 'Israel says unto God, If thou wouldest help us, help us not through our own righteousness and good works, but redeem us through thy righteousness.' Or again, commenting on the last words of Psalm xi (p. 438), it says: 'If

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we have any good works to show, he gives us their recompense; but if not, he gives us righteousness and grace from his own goodness.' With their fervent belief in a future life, the Rabbinic teachers had far less difficulty than the Psalmists in reconciling the long agony of persecution and sore distress with the infinite tenderness of God.

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§20. The seventy-seventh Psalm: Voce mea ad DominumThe gist of the following Psalm (lxxvii) is apparently to point out to despondent believers in days of trouble and darkness how comfort may be won by considering God's mercies to Israel in the historic past. What has been may be again. As he saved then, so may he, nay, so will he, save again. If his arm seems stayed and its strength diminished, this is because of Israel's sin. But the tenses are difficult, and the text and meaning in one important and crucial verse are very uncertain. I have followed the rendering of Professor Driver, which coincides with Ewald's. The end is perhaps defective. Professor Cheyne thinks that the last stanza is part of another Psalm. It seems to deal in poetic elaboration with the departure from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea.

(I said,) I will cry unto God with my voice,

Even unto God with my voice, that he may give ear

unto me.'

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;

My hand was stretched out in the night, and wearied not; My soul refused to be comforted.

(I said,) I will remember God, and make my moan, I will muse;' but my spirit was overwhelmed.

Thou heldest mine eyelids open:

I was so troubled that I could not speak.

I considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

(I said,) I will call to remembrance my song in the night:

I will commune with my heart; '

And my spirit made search, (saying):

"Will the Lord cast off for ever,

And will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever,

Doth his faithfulness fail for evermore?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious,

Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?

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Then I said, 'This is my infirmity:

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. (?)

I will make mention of the works of the Lord

I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also on all thy work,
And muse on thy doings.'

Thy way, O God, is in holiness:

Who is so great a God as the Lord?

Thou art the God that doest wonders;

'Thou hast declared thy strength among the peoples. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw thee, O God,

The waters saw thee; they were afraid;
The depths also were troubled.

The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound;

Thine arrows also went abroad.

The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lightened the world;
The earth trembled and shook.

Thy way was in the sea,

And thy path in the great waters, And thy footsteps were not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

§ 21. The eighty-fifth Psalm.-The following Psalm (lxxxv) may belong to the early period of the restoration from Babylon, when to the high-pitched expectations, to which the prophecies of the Second Isaiah had given rise, there succeeded disillusionment and adversity. The petty settlement in Judaea under the doubtful favour of the Persian kings was a feeble substitute for the independence and glory which had been expected and foretold. But the Psalmist clings to the same indomitable hope as the prophets. Let but the heart of his people be truly turned towards God, and the promised salvation shall soon be realized. The value of the Psalm to us lies in its fine description of what that salvation shall consist in. There is a mingling of material and spiritual blessings, but the spiritual predominate. Such salvation does not come all at once or on a sudden but it comes gradually and little by little. Is

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it not in giving fuller and more concrete meaning, a wider and more discerning application, to these vacant forms of light'— loving-kindness and truth, righteousness and peace-that the true progress of man consists ?

Lord, thou hadst been favourable to thy land,
Thou hadst turned the fortunes of Jacob.
Thou hadst forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
Thou hadst covered all their sin.

Thou hadst taken away all thy wrath:

Thou hadst turned thyself from the fierceness of thine

anger.

Restore us, O God of our salvation,

And cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?

Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

Wilt thou not revive us again :

That thy people may rejoice in thee?

Shew us thy lovingkindness, O Lord,

And grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what God the Lord will speak:

For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his loving

ones,

To them who turn their hearts unto him.

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;
That glory may dwell in our land.
Lovingkindness and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth;

And righteousness shall look down from heaven. The Lord shall also give that which is good;

And our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him;

And peace in the way of his steps.

§ 22. The eighty-sixth Psalm: Inclina, Domine.'-The next Psalm (lxxxvi) is an exquisite 'cento of reminiscences' from older Psalms and other religious writings. Though the Psalm is therefore not original, the discrimination and tact of selection are most delightful. The speaker is a 'representative pious Israelite' who speaks in the name of his people. For Israel in its historic past was the handmaid' of God, while the

son of that handmaid is the generation of the Psalmist, himself included. Pious Israel knows that its heart is set Godwards, but it is far from claiming to itself moral or religious perfection. It still asks God for guidance and inspiration. Note that prayers for vengeance are pleasingly absent from this Psalm, while, on the other hand, the larger Messianic hope is emphasized. The salvation of Israel is the enlightenment of the nations.

Incline thine ear, O Lord, and answer me;

For I am afflicted and needy.

Preserve my soul; for I am loving:

O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord:

For I cry unto thee daily.

Rejoice the soul of thy servant:

For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;

And plenteous in lovingkindness unto all them that call upon thee.

Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer:

And attend to the voice of my supplications.

In the day of my trouble I call upon thee:

For thou wilt answer me.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord;

Neither are there any works like unto thy works.

All nations whom thou hast made

Shall come and worship before thee, O Lord;
And shall glorify thy name.

For thou art great, and doest wondrous things;
Thou art God alone.

Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth:
So shall my heart rejoice to fear thy name.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
And I will glorify thy name for evermore.

For great is thy mercy toward me;

And thou hast delivered my soul from Sheol beneath. O God, the proud are risen against me,

And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul;

And have not set thee before them.

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,

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