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PSALM XXXI.

A prayer for deliverance, in the confident hope of being heard.

For the leader of the music. A psalm of David.

IN thee, O Jehovah, do I trust; let me never be put to shame ;

According to thy goodness deliver me!

2 Bow down thine ear to me; help me speedily; Be to me a strong rock, a high fortress, for my deliverance!

3 For thou art my rock and my high fortress;

Be thou also my guide, and lead me, for thy name's sake!

4 Draw me out of the net, which they have secretly

laid for me,

For thou art my strength!

5 Into thy hand I commit my life;

Thou wilt deliver me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth! 6 I hate those, who regard lying vanities,

And put my trust in Jehovah.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, That thou hast looked upon my trouble,

And hast had regard to my distress;

8 That thou hast not given me up to the hands of my enemies,

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But hast set my feet in a wide place.

Have pity upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble! My face is consumed with grief;

Yea, my spirit, and my body.

10 For my life is wasted with sorrow,

And my years with sighing;

My strength faileth by reason of my affliction,

And my bones are consumed, on account of all my enemies.

11 I have become the scorn of my neighbours,

And the terror of my acquaintance;

They who see me abroad flee from me.

12 I am forgotten, like a dead man ;

I am like a broken vessel.

13 I hear the slander of many; fear is on every side; For they take counsel together against me;

I say,

"Thou art my God!"

15 My destiny is in thy hand;

Deliver me from the power of my enemies and perse

cutors !

16 Let thy face shine upon thy servant,

And save me through thy mercy!

17 Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah! for I have called upon thee;

Let the wicked be put to shame ;

Let them be silenced in the grave!

18 Let lying lips be put to silence,

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Which speak proud things against the righteous,
With insolence and contempt !

O how great is thy goodness, which thou treasurest up for them that fear thee;

Which thou showest to them that trust in thee, before the sons of men!

20 Thou hidest them in the secret place of thy presence

from the machinations of men ;

Thou shelterest them in thy pavilion from the violence

of tongues.

21 Praised be Jehovah, for he hath shown me his wonderful kindness,

As in a fortified city.

22 I said in my distress, "I am cut off from before thine

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eyes; "

But thou didst hear the voice of my supplication,
When I cried unto thee.

O love the Lord, all ye his servants,

For the Lord preserveth the faithful,

And requiteth the proud in full measure!

24 Be of good courage; let your hearts be strong,

All ye, who trust in Jehovah !

PSALM XXXII.

The happiness of him, whose sins are forgiven. This psalm is commonly supposed to express the feelings of David after his reproof by Nathan the prophet. See 2 Sam. ch. xii.

A psalm of David.

1 HAPPY is he, whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is pardoned;

2 Happy the man, to whom Jehovah imputeth not in

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iquity,

And in whose spirit there is no guile.

While I kept silence, my bones were wasted,
By reason of my groaning all the day.

4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me;
My moisture dried up, as in summer's drought.
5 At length I acknowledged to thee my sin,
And did not hide my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord;
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin !

6 Therefore shall every pious man pray to thee, while thou mayest be found;

Surely the floods of great waters shall not come near him.

7 Thou art my hiding-place; thou preservest me from trouble;

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Thou compassest me about with songs of deliverance.

I will instruct thee, and show thee the way thou shouldst go;

I will give thee counsel and keep mine eye upon thee. 9 Be ye not like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding,

Whose mouths must be pressed with the bridle and

curb,

Because they will not come near thee!

10 The wicked hath many sorrows;

But he that trusteth in the Lord is encompassed with mercies.

11 Rejoice in the Lord, and be glad, ye righteous;

Shout for joy, ye that are upright in heart!

V. 3. While I kept silence, i, e. did not confess my sins.

PSALM XXXIII.

A hymn to Jehovah as the creator and governor of the world, and the special protector of the Jewish nation.

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REJOICE, O ye righteous, in the Lord,

For praise becometh the upright.

2 Praise the Lord with the harp ;

Sing to him with the ten-stringed psaltery!

3 Sing to him a new song;

Play skilfully amid the sound of trumpets!

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For the word of the Lord is right,

And all his acts are faithful.

5 He loveth justice and equity;

The earth is full of the goodness of Jehovah.

6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, And all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea, as a heap;

He layeth up the deep in store-houses.

8 Let all the earth revere Jehovah ;

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

9 For he spake, and it was done;

He commanded, and it stood fast.

10 Jehovah bringeth the devices of the nations to nothing;

He frustrateth the designs of kingdoms. 11 The purposes of Jehovah stand for ever; The designs of his heart to all generations.

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Happy the nation, whose God is Jehovah ; The people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance. 13 Jehovah looketh down from heaven;

He beholdeth all the children of men ;