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29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit,

they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

31 The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.

gather together, but gather up, pick up, from the earth or sea. Hengst. insists that there "lies at bottom a reference to the manna, in connection with which this is the word of constant occurrence, Exod. xvi. 4, 5, 16." Whether this be so or not the provision made for these creatures is certainly conceived in hemistich b to be sent down from on high, as was the manna, the "corn of heaven."

29. a.

"Troubled," lit. "terrified," "confounded."

b. Rend. "Thou gatherest in their breath, then they expire, and return to their dust."

Thou gatherest in their breath. The breath of life which God breathed into man's nostrils is, according to the poetical conception, recalled to God when man dies. Thus in Job xxxiv. 14, 15, we have "If......He gather to Him his spirit and breath, All flesh would die at once and man would return unto dust," a passage singularly resembling the one before us. Then they expire, ¡y", yigvâoon. The verb y, gâva, exspiravit, vitam efflavit, is here used, as more in harmony with this conception of death than the ordinary П, mori. On the whole hemist. cf. cxlvi. 4, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth," and Eccles. xii. 7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

30. a. Rend. "Thou sendest forth Thy breath, [then] they are created: and [thus] Thou dost renew the face of the ground." The H., rooach, means both breath and "spirit:" here the connection with v. 29 necessitates the former rendg. As God's creatures die when He "gathers in their breath to Himself,” so other creatures take their place when God gives forth His breath of life: and thus by the continual introduction of new living creatures the aspect of the earth is constantly renewed.

31-35. The Poet prays that the God who thus has in His hands the issues of life and death, who is able to put the earth in a tremble by a look and set the mountains on fire by a touch, may for ever be glorified by His creatures, and may thus find pleasure in them. For his part he will continually and gladly offer to God the fitting sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Del. finds in this section a sabbatic meditation corresponding to the preceding meditation on the Hexaemeron, inasmuch as the Psalmist here "wishes that the glory of God,

32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD. 35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

which He has put upon His creatures, and which is reflected and echoed back by them to Him, may continue for ever, and that His works may ever be so constituted, that He who was satisfied at the completion of His six days' work may be able to rejoice in them.”

31, 32. Rend. (31) “May the glory of Jehovah endure for ever: may Jehovah rejoice in His works. (32) He who looks on the earth, and it trembles: He touches the mountains, and they smoke.”

34. a. Probably "Sweet to Him shall be my words:" sîchî meaning here apparently not inner meditation, but meditation expressed in speech. Cf. lxxvii. 3, note. For this use of al the prepos. cf. xxxii. 5.

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35. By an abrupt transition the Psalmist expresses his wish that sin, which "is the discord of the world, and has changed the order (xóoμos) into disorder" (Perowne), may be removed; and then reverts to that call upon himself with which he began his poem, "Bless thou the LORD, O my soul." To this is appended the Hallelujah (Hallooyah), or Praise ye the Lord," which calls upon others to join in the doxology. This term is found only in the Psalter, and within the Psalter first in this passage, where the Talmud and Midrash observe that it is connected significantly with the hope of the destruction of the wicked. The LXX. has erroneously attached the 'Aλλŋλovia of this verse to the succeeding Psalm.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM CV.

JEHOVAH ISRAEL'S ANCIENT PROTECTOR.

TITLE. LXX. Αλληλούια.

IN this Psalm the mighty acts of Jehovah on behalf of Israel from the time of Abraham to the beginning of the forty years' pilgrimage are recorded, with the object of stirring up the present generation to thankful worship. In the last two verses the casting out of the nations of Canaan and the planting in of Israel are merely glanced at, all the period intervening between the Exodus

and the entering into the promised land being purposely omitted. For to introduce the history of Israel's repeated murmurings and acts of ingratitude would be utterly foreign to the aim of this Psalm, which is quite distinct from that of Ps. cvi. (with which Psalm, however, this must be considered as closely connected, see cvi. Introd.). Here the Psalmist sees nothing in the nation's history but a continual intervention of Jehovah in behalf of Israel, there to this intervention is set in opposition Israel's continual ingratitude. The present is one of the most cheerful compositions in the Psalter; Psalm cvi. might be called the national Viddooy or Penitential Psalm. Both compositions may fairly be assigned to the concluding period of the seventy years' captivity. In its description of the miracles which preceded the Exodus the Psalm before us recalls the earlier Psalm lxxviii., and this latter may have been taken as its basis. But in their final purpose these two poems are as dissimilar as are Psalms cv. and cvi.

The LXX. and Vulgate wrongly prefix the Title Hallelujah to Psalms cv. and cvii., dissevering this word in both cases from the conclusion of the Psalm preceding.

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1-15. These verses form part of the Psalm which is introduced in 1 Chron. xvi. 8-36, as appropriate to the occasion of the removal of the ark to Mount Zion (see xcvi. Introd.).

1. Four Psalms (cv., cvii., cxviii., cxxxvi.) begin with the word hôdoo, "give ye thanks," and ten with the words hal'loo yah, "praise ye Jah." (See Hallelujah in General Introd.) Del. supposes that there is reference to these two kinds of Pss. in the expression l'hallêl ool'hôdôth, "to praise and to give thanks," which occurs frequently in Chron., Ezra and Nehem. (see under “To bring to remembrance" in the General Introd.). Ver. I occurs word for word in Is. xii. 4.

2. b. "Talk ye of." This and not "meditate ye on" is here the meaning of the H., sichoo b. Targ. rightly mallêloo, "speak ye❞ (cf. cvi. 2, "who can utter," H. mi y'mallel), LXX. dinyσaobe; cf. also the subst. form sîchî in civ. 34.

4. "And His strength," H. v'uzzô. LXX. by its misrendering kaì KрaтaιOnтe (as if v'ôzzoo were the reading) really gives the deepest meaning of the words. "It is only His 'strength' that breaks through all dangers, and His 'face' that lightens up all darkness,” cf. xxxiv. 5.

that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.

7 He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

9 Which covenant he made with

Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac ;
Io And confirmed the same unto
Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant:

II Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

12 When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.

13 When they went from one nation

Aben Ezra considers that here and in lxxviii. 61, "His strength" refers to the "Ark of His strength," cxxxii. 8, 2 Chron. vi. 41.

5. "The judgments of His mouth"-especially those against Pharaoh and the Egyptians, which are enumerated afterwards.

6. 66 His servant," ," prob. refers to the "seed of Abraham," not to Abraham, since the word "His-chosen" in second hemist. is in the plur.: LXX. recte ad sensum, doûλoɩ avтoû.

I

8. a. "He hath remembered." In 1 Chron. xvi. 15, the Hebr. Text gives "remember ye,” and LXX. μvypoveúwpev. But the Psalmist is now beginning to enumerate God's mercies; no longer directly exhorting Israel to remember them.

b. Rend. "The word [of promise] which He established for a thousand generations." Established, H. tsivvâh. The same radical meaning appears in the verbs yâtsab, nâtsab. With hemist. cf.

cxi. 9. 9. a. Rend. "Which [word of promise] He concluded with Abraham." The relative cannot refer back to the word "covenant" in 8 a, as in A. V. The verb П, cârath, generally used of the concluding of a covenant, is here applied to dâbâr, "word," as in Hagg. ii. 5, the promise being regarded as a kind of compact between God and man. In hemist. "His oath" is governed by the verb "remembered" in 8 a. The reference in this verse is to Gen. xxii. 16-18, the oath on Moriah including Abraham's seed as well as himself.

IO. "For a law:" lit. "for a statute," i.e. an inviolable promise, cf. ii. 7.

II. Cf. Gen. xxviii. 13, 14, XXXV. 12. "Lot:" lit. "line" (or "cord," marg.) of measurement and thence the portion assigned by measurement, cf. xvi. 6, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places: yea, I have a goodly heritage," A. V. and lxxviii. 55.

12.

"When they were:" the parallel passage in 1 Chron. xvi. 19 is addressed directly to the present generation-"When ye were but a few, etc." "A few men in number," lit. "men of number," i. e. accord

to another, from one kingdom to another people;

14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;

15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.

17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant : 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

Cf.

ing to the Hebr. idiom so few that they could easily be counted. Gen. xxxiv. 30, Deut. xxvi. 5. "Yea, very few," H. Dypɔ cim'at, as in Is.i.9. The c' is what Kimchi calls " Caph hak-kiyyoom," or "Caph hâetsem," i.e. the "caph of confirmation, or intensity;" perhaps we may explain in this manner the Syr. ayc dab'tooshyoo (Barhebr. p. 72 apud Gesen.). For other meanings of cim'at see Ps. ii. 12, note. LXX. here rends. ὀλιγοστούς.

14. Thus Pharaoh and Abimelech were warned in dreams of the relationship between Abraham and Sarah, and prevented from doing Abraham wrong. (Gen. xii. and xx.)

a. "Man:" H. âdâm, but in 1 Chron. xvi. 21, we have l'îsh; and the construction of the verb hinnîach with ' is the more ordinary one; cf. Eccles. v. II, 2 Sam. xvi. II.

μου.

15. "Mine anointed" is in the plur. LXX. rightly Tŵv xpiσTŵv In Gen. xx. 7, Abraham is expressly called "a prophet." The word is here used to denote one to whom God speaks, and who in turn bears witness for God. "Anointed" is here almost equiv. to "chosen," v. 6. In this verse the verb hârêa, "to harm," is rightly constructed with the prepos. l, in 1 Chron. xvi. 22 it is followed (as nowhere else) by b'.

16. With hemist. a cf. 2 Kings viii. 1, and with 6 Lev. xxvi. 26, Is. iii. I, and Ezek. iv. 16.

17. Lit. "He sent before them a man: Joseph was sold as a servant." In Gen. xlv. 5, Joseph himself says, "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye have sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life." It is possible, as Neale observes, that "the reference to Joseph in the Psalm may glance at the analogous position of Nehemiah under Artaxerxes."

18. b. "He was laid in iron,” H. barzel bââh naphshô, “Into iron his soul entered;" so Syr., Jer., Ab. Ez. and Kimchi. The last observes that "his soul" is mentioned because the soul is afflicted with the body. Ab. Ez. explains "his soul" as a periphrasis for "himself," "he." LXX. oídŋpov diñλlev † †vxý avтoû. Naphsho is the subject, which, according to rule, follows the verb: barzel is that into which the soul entered, and is without b' "into," as is usual after the verb bổ, to

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