17 His name shall endure for ever;

18

His name shall be continued as long as the sun.
Men shall bless by making mention of his name ;
All nations shall call him blessed.

*

Praised be God Jehovah, the God of Israel,
Who alone doth wonderful things!

19 Praised be his glorious name for ever;

20

May his glory fill the whole earth! Amen! Amen !

Here end the psalms of David, the son of Jesse.

V. 17. Men shall bless by making mention of his name, i. e. they shall say, May God bless you, as he did that great king. See Gen. xlviii. 20.

BOOK III.

PSALM LXXIII.

A meditation on the ways of Providence in the distribution of happiness and misery, or in appointing the condition of the wicked and of the righteous. The subject is similar to that of Ps. xxxvii. xxxix. and xlix. and of the book of Job.

4

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pains to the day of their death; Their bodies are in full health.

5 They have not the woes of other men,

Neither are they smitten like other men.

6 Therefore pride encircleth their neck, as a collar; Violence covereth them, as a garment.

7 From their bosom issueth their iniquity;

The designs of their hearts burst forth.

8 They mock, and speak of malicious oppression ; Their words are haughty;

9 They stretch forth their mouth to the heavens,

And their tongue goeth through the earth; 10 Therefore his people walk in their ways, And there drink from full fountains.

11 And they say, "How doth God know?

"How can there be knowledge with the Most High?” 12 Behold these ungodly men !

13

They are ever prosperous; they heap up riches.

Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain;

In vain have I washed my hands in innocence. 14 For every day have I been smitten;

Every morn have I been chastened.

15 If I should resolve to speak like them,

Surely I should be treacherous to thy children.

16 So when I studied to know this,

It was painful to my eyes;

17 Until I went into the sanctuaries of God, And considered what was their end.

18 Behold! thou hast set them on slippery places; Thou castest them down into unseen pits.

19 How are they brought to desolation in a moment, And utterly consumed with sudden destruction! 20 As a dream vanishes, when one awaketh,

21

So thou, O Lord, when thou awakest them, wilt cause their imaginary greatness to vanish!

When my heart was embittered with envy,
And my bosom vexed with indignation;

22 Then I was stupid, and without understanding;
I was like one of the brutes before thee.

23 Yet am I ever under thy care;

By my right hand thou dost hold me up.

24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,

And at last receive me with glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but thee,

And whom on earth do I love in comparison with thee?

26 Though my flesh and my heart fail,

God is the strength of heart, and my portion for ever. 27 For, lo! they, who are far from thee, perish;

Thou destroyest all, who estrange themselves from thee.

28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I put my trust in the Lord God,

That I may declare all thy works.

V. 9. To the heavens: A hyperbolical description of their haughty language. -V. 20. When thou awakest them, i. e. from uninterrupted prosperity. · V. 21. Indignation: At the thought of the prosperity of the wicked.

PSALM LXXIV.

Prayer on account of the desolation of the temple, and other grievous afflictions of the Hebrew nation. This psalm could not have been composed before the Babylonish captivity, and of course could not have had for its author Asaph, the contemporary of David. The occasion of the psalm is commonly supposed to be the desolation of the city and temple by the Chaldeans. Some, however, refer it to the invasion of Judea by Antiochus Epiphanes, as recorded in 1 Mac. ch. i. But the canon of Scripture is commonly supposed to have been completed long before that time.

1

A psalm of Asaph.

O GOD, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture?

2 Remember the people, which thou didst purchase of

old;

Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem ;

That mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell!

3 Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations;

Every thing in the sanctuary the foe hath abused! 4 Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up for signs.

5 They appeared like those, who raise the axe against a thicket;

6 They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers;

7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary ;

They have profanely levelled thy dwelling-place with the ground.

8 They said in their hearts, "Let us destroy them all together!"

They have burned all the synagogues of God in the land.

9 We no longer see our sacred symbols;

10

There is no prophet amongst us;

Nor any one that knoweth, how long this desolation shall endure.

How long, O God, shall the foe revile?

Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy!

12 Yet God was our king of old,

Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy power;

Thou didst crush the heads of the sea-monsters in the

waters.

14 Thou didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the

desert.

15 Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers.