7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great

goodness,

And shall sing of thy righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; Slow to anger, and of great mercy.

9 The Lord is good to all;

And his tender mercies are over all his works.

10 All thy works praise thee, O Lord!

And thy saints bless thee.

11 They speak of the glory of thy kingdom,

And talk of thy power;

12 To make known to the sons of men thy mighty

acts,

And the glorious majesty of thy kingdom.

13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And thy dominion endureth throughout all genera

tions.

14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall,

And raiseth up all those that be bowed down. 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee,

And thou givest them their food in due season.

16 Thou openest thine hand,

And satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways,

And holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, To all that call upon him in truth.

19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; He also will hear their cry, and will help them. 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him, But all the wicked will he destroy.

21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and

ever.

PSALM XCII.

A PSALM FOR THE SABBATH DAY.

THE psalmist exhorts the pious to celebrate the wisdom of Divine Providence, in governing the lives and fortunes of men; which does not permit the happiness of the wicked to be lasting; and, after their destruction, bestows durable and constant felicity on those who trust in God, and live uprightly; so that their old age retains the vigor of youth. He presents a contrast of the fate of the righteous and the wicked, promising to himself and to the virtuous a flourishing state, while the wicked shall wither and decay.

PSALM XCII.

1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High! 2 To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, And thy faithfulness every night,

3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psal

tery;

Upon the harp with a solemn sound.

4 For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

5 O Lord, how great are thy works!
And thy thoughts are very deep.
6 A brutish man knoweth not,

Neither doth a fool understand this.

7 When the wicked spring up as the grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish,
It is but to be destroyed for ever.

8 But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.

9 For lo, thine enemies, O Lord!

For lo, thine enemies shall perish;

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a uni

corn;

I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies; And mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

12

The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; He shall grow up like a cedar of Lebanon.

Ver. 10. "I shall be anointed with fresh oil." A metaphor alluding to the general use of unguents and perfumes among the Orientals, and denoting great comfort and refreshment. H.

Ver. 11. "My desire." As these words are not in the text, but supplied by the translators, it would be better, perhaps, to read "the fate of mine enemies," &c. H.

Ver. 12. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree," &c. The prosperity of the wicked is compared, in ver. 7, to the germination of grass, an emblem of all that is short-lived and transient; but the righteous are said to flourish like the palm and the cedar, the one the emblem of productiveness and plenty, the other, of durableness and majesty.

16

242

PSALMS DIDACTIC AND DESCRIPTIVE.

13 Planted in the house of the Lord,

They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap, and flourishing ; 15 To show that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

THE END.