heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

20 'Thou leddest thy people like a flock 18 The voice of thy thunder was in the by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

PSALM LXXVII.—This Psalm is very generally allowed to have been written by the Asaph who lived in the time of David and Solomon, and addressed by him to Jeduthun; as it is not likely that two persons of such names should be associated at a later time, in such a manner as were two others of the same names who lived at the time indicated. Calmet, however, overcomes this difficulty by concluding that the bands of musicians descended from Asaph, Jeduthun, and other founders, took the names of those founders, and bore them even during the Captivity, to which he ascribes the present psalm. Bishop Patrick and others conceive that the author was another Asaph, individually; and that it was composed either during the invasion of Sennacherib, or in the Babylonish captivity.

2 Psal 49. 4 Matt 13. 35.

3 Dent 4.9, and 6. 7. 4 Heb. that prepared not their heart.

5 Heb. throwing forth. 6 Exod. 14 21. 7 Exod. 13. 21, and 14. 24.
9 Num. 11. 4. 10 Heb. order. 11 Exod 17. 6. Num. 20. 11. 12 Exod. 16. 14. John 6, 31.

8 Exod. 17. 6. Num. 20. 11. Psal. 105 41. 1 Cor. 10. 4.

13 Or, every one did eat the bread of the mighty.

26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and 'feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

29 So they did eat, and were well filled for he gave them their own desire;

30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

14 Heb. to go.

31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and "smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

15 Heb. fowl of wing. 16 Num. 11. 33. 17 Heb. made to bou. is Or, young men.

36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his cove

nant.

38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 How oft did they "provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the

enemy.

20

43 How he had "wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

44 "And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink

45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and "frogs, which destroyed them.

46 "He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47 "He "destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with 28frost.

30

48 "He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

31

50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

34 35

53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea 35overwhelmed their enemies.

ance.

63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not "given to marriage.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath "established for ever.

70 "He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds :

71 "From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the

54 And he brought them to the border skilfulness of his hands."
19 Or, rebel against him. 20 Or, from affliction. 21 Heb. set.
26 Exod. 9. 23. 27 Heb. killed.

24 Exod. 8. 6. 25 Exod. 10. 13.
29 Heb. he shut up. 30 Or, lightnings 31 Heb. he weighed a path.
35 Heb covered. 36 Josh. 13. 7.
4 Heb from after.

2 Exod. 7. 20. 23 Exod. 8. 24.
Or, great hail-stones.
33 Exod. 12. 29. 34 Exod. 14. 27, and 15. 10.
43 2 Sam. 5. 2. I Chron. 11. 2.

38 Or, their bras's to the murrain. Exod. 9. 3.
3: Deut. 32 21.
38 1 Sam. 4. 11.

39 Heb praised. 40 Heh, founded. 411 Sam. 16. 11. 2 Sam. 7. 8.

PSALM LXXVIII.-Although Calmet concludes (from verse 9 and 67-69) that this psalm commemorates the victory which king Asa gained over the ten tribes, we see no reason to question that it was written by the celebrated

Levite of David's time, if not by David himself. It contains a short account of the history of the Jews from the deliverance from Egypt till the time of David, all the particulars of which have already engaged our attention.

Verse 12. "Zvan."-See the note on Num. xiii. 22.

66

25. “ Angels' food.”—The marginal reading, "the bread of the mighty," is preferable; for nowhere does the word DYIN, abbirim, mean “angels,” but great, powerful, or chief persons. The meaning therefore is "princely food”— food so good, delicious, and nourishing, that the rich and great would have been glad to obtain it.

47. "Vines."-With respect to the presence of vines in Egypt, see the note on Gen. xl. 9.

66

Sycomore trees."-See an observation on this text in the note on 1 Kings x. 27.

63. "Their maidens were not given to marriage."-This clause has been very variously rendered even in the ancient versions. The Septuagint, the Arabic, and the Vulgate, nearly agree in rendering the verse, "The fire destroyed the young men, and the virgins did not lament them ;" and we should think this preferable, for it is that which spontaneously occurred to us, on reading the Hebrew, before consulting the versions. The Targum, however, followed by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, has, "were not praised, or, celebrated in songs;" which sense our translators give as a marginal reading. This would perhaps refer to the praise of their accomplishments and beauty; but more probably to the nuptial songs, chanted by the maidens at the marriage of their friends. This interpretation therefore comes to the ultimate sense conveyed in our version; and then the antithesis in this and the following verse would be certainly brought out better than in any other view: the songs for the brides and the lamentations of the widows being equally unheard in times of great calamity.

64. "Their widows made no lamentation.”—This implies the extent of the destruction, and is full of meaning to one who has been in an Oriental city, during a plague or other devastating calamity. At first the cry of wailing, which always follows a death in ordinary circumstances, is loud and frequent: but such cries do not increase, but subside, with the increase of the calamity and desolation. Death becomes a familiar object in every house: and every one, absorbed in his own losses, has little sympathy to spare for others. Hence, the loudest lamentations cease to be noticed, or to draw condoling friends to the house of mourning: and therefore, as well as from the stupefaction of feeling which scenes of continued horror never fail to produce, a new death is received in silence, or only with sighs and tears. In fact all the usual observances are suspended. The dead are carried out and buried without mourning ceremonies, and without the presence of surviving friends, by men who make it an employment to take away the dead, on the backs of mules or asses, from the homes they leave desolate. We have seen this.

PSALM LXXIX.

1 The psalmist complaineth of the desolation of Je

7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

8 0 remember not against us "former

rusalem. 8 He prayeth for deliverance, 13 and iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily

promiseth thankfulness.

A Psalm 'of Asaph.

O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

5 'How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy

name.

1 Or, for Asaph.

prevent us for we are brought very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.

10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the 'revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of "thy power 'preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O LORD.

13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all genera

tions.

Psal. 44. 14. Psal. 89. 46. 4 Jer. 10 25. 5 Isa. 64. 9.
8 Heb. thine arm. 9 Heb. reserve the children of death.

7 Heb. vengeance.

Or, the iniquities of them that were before us. 10 Heb. to generation and generation.

PSALM LXXIX.-It is not doubted that this psalm was written after the ruin of the city and temple, and the destruction and captivity of the nation by Nebuchadnezzar. It appears to have been composed while the scenes of death and desolation were actually present or fresh in recollection: and some have supposed that it was written by Jeremiah, not only because he was the person then living who seems most likely to have been its author, but because it is very much in the style of his writings; and more than a whole verse of it (verses 6, 7) is found in Jer, x. 25.