PSALM CIV.* * I. BLESS the Lord, O my soul ! Splendour and majesty For Thy lucent vesture of wear, Thick-encompassing, dense, For the battle-car of His march. "This beautiful Psalm is at once felt to be a poetical imitation of the first chapter of Genesis. But the writer does not propose to give a bare recital of facts. He wishes to found upon them the praise of the Creator. As Moses divides the work of God into six days, the poet traces six pictures. The first corresponds to the First Day's work. God made the Light. But the poet speaks, not of the physical creation of the light, but of light considered as a symbol of the Divine Majesty." (Reuss, in loc.) ty-from a verb which signifies "to wave and flutter." -Who walketh on wings of the wind, As swift as the sweep of the storm-winds, II. Thou hast built up the marvellous building Thou didst mantle it once with the deep, Sheer up o'er the hills stood the waters, -They recoil'd because Thou didst chide them. From the crashing voice of Thy thunder They trembled and hasted away; Ascended the mountains, Descended the valleys, To the place Thou hadst founded for them: To mantle the wide earth again. III. Thou sendest in freedom away The bright springs into the river; In the glens, the mountains between, They walk for ever and aye. They give drink to each beast of the field; The wild asses quench the fierce fire Of the thirst that is on them therein. Abide; and out from among * The Apriling green of the branches* Of Thy works, the earth shall be filled. Green herb for the service of man, To bring forth bread from the earth, Stand satisfied, even the cedars There the chirping birds build their nests; The mountains, earth's high ones, uplifted IV. He made the wan yellow moon To mark the vespers for aye y, leafage, from a root, to be luxuriantly covered with leaves and flowers. (Aram. Nay, Arab. y. Cf. April. See Fuerst, "Concord. Hebr.," p. 852.) "This delightful picture of nature, just twice the length of the previous strophe, is more deeply interesting, because it is almost unique in the Old Testament. Oriental poetry in general, and even classical poetry is not in the habit of drinking deeply from this inexhaustible source of beauty." (Reuss, in loc.) Of the times as they come in their order; * His unfailing succession of sunsets. Thou settest the darkness. And in it will creep Comes night, All the teeming life of the thicket. To his service until the evening. ས. How many Thy works-O Jehovah ! There the stately ships walk on, And there the whale Thou hast fashioned To take his pastime therein. VI. Hush'd in expectance all these Look forth and wait upon Thee, * To a religious Hebrew it was rather the moon than the sun which marked the seasons, as the calendar of the Church was regulated by it. To give them their food in its season; They are troubled, and restlessly shudder. They breathe out the breath of their life, -Thou wilt send forth In solemn procession Thy Spirit, And the work of creation will grow, And Thou wilt make young and renew The sorrow-worn face of the earth. VII.† His glory shall be through the ages, It trembles exceedingly sore. * If He touch the mountains, they smoke. I will lift up psalms to my God While my soul can call itself I.‡ My thought shall be sweet in His sight.§ * Literally, of the abiding continuance, the immortality of species; spiritually, of the resurrection of dead souls, and of the great renovation ever in progress. "As the author did not wish to stop with the idea of the Sabbathrest, the seventh strophe is consecrated to a poetic peroration. It is linked to the last verse of the first chapter of Genesis, which says that God saw that everything He had made was very good." (Reuss.) § ἡδυνθείη αὐτῷ, LXX. Ver. 33. Literally, during me. |