This is also a Psalm of thanksgiving. This Psalm, “O give thanks unto the Lord,” which I so much love and admire, is the one which I, in particular, call the golden Psalm; and is the Psalm which has often revived and comforted me in my temptations.
The Psalmist gives thanks, and at the same time utters forth a prophecy concerning Christ, who by his suffering entered into glory; who is that stone rejected of the builders, which became the head of the corner; as Christ himself also saith, Matt. xxi. citing this Psalm. The Psalmist also describes with blessed feelings of heart the joyful day of the gospel, the day of salvation and peace, the day of joy and consolation, and the true and glorious feast-day.
Among other things the Psalmist speaks of the church and the children of God, who are to be conformed to the image of his Son; shewing, that they must be surrounded with afflictions on every side, and by the cross and through death enter into glory.
A brief summary, however, like this, cannot set forth the great and glorious contents of this Psalm: but my particular and more full Commentary on it will supply, in some measure, what is here wanting.
PSALM CXIX.
This psalm containeth sundry prayers, praises, and professions of obedience.
א ALEPH.
Blessed are the undefined in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.
Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
ב BETH.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
ג GIMEL.
Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
ד DALETH.
My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
ה HE.
Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes: and I shall keep it unto the end.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
ו VAU.
Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
ז ZAIN.
Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.
This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
ח CHETH.
Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
I entreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
ט TETH.
Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.
Thou art good, and doest good: teach me thy statutes.
The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
Their heart is as fat as grease: but I delight in thy law.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
י JOD.
Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
They that fear thee will be glad when they see me: because I have hoped in thy word.
I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
Let the proud be ashamed: for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.
Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.
כ CAPH.
My soul fainteth for thy salvation; but I hope in thy word.
Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.
How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
They had almost consumed me upon earth: but I forsook not thy precepts.
Quicken me after thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
ל LAMED.
For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.
Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.
I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
מ MEM.
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
I have not departed from thy judgments; for thou hast taught me.
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
נ NUN.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.
ס SAMECH.
I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.
Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.
Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.
Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.
My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
ע AIN.
I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.
Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.
Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.
Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.
I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.
It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
פ PE.
Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
צ TSADDI.
Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.
Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
My zeal hath consumed me: because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.
I am small and despised; yet do not I forget thy precepts.
Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; yet thy commandments are my delights.
The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
ק KOPH.
I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.
I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.
I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.
Mine eyes prevent the night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word.
Hear my voice, according unto thy loving-kindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.
They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.
Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.
ר RESH.
Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; for I do not forget thy law.
Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.
Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.
Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD; quicken me according to thy judgments.
Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.
Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy loving-kindness.
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
ש SCHIN.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.
I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
Seven times a-day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.
I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
ת TAU.
Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD; give me understanding according to thy word.
Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy word.
My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.
My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.
Let thine hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts.
I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.
Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
This Psalm is the most extended in the whole Psalter. It contains prayers, consolations, doctrines, thanksgivings, and repeats all these with a varied fulness. It is however given forth with a deep and blessed intent: namely, that by this repetition and fulness, it may invite and exhort us to hear and diligently to treasure up the word of God. For throughout the whole Psalm the Psalmist exalts unto the heavens, with the highest praises, the pure doctrine of God’s holy word. He sets it forth as to be preferred before all gold and precious stones, and before all the riches of the world; as Solomon also beautifully speaks of it in his Proverbs.
On the other hand, the Psalmist earnestly warns against all false doctrine and against all security and contempt of the word. For no pestilence is more destroying than false doctrine, or human doctrines without or contrary to the word of God. And knowing that Satan without cessation assaults the church of God with all kinds of heresies and false doctrine; the Psalmist takes up a great part of this Psalm in consolations.
The principal, and indeed whole foundation and truth of godliness lies in the pure teaching and hearing of the word of God. For where that word is purely taught and heard, there, to a certainty, will be begotten pure and prevailing prayer, calling upon God, diligence in reading, teaching, and exhortation, consolation for the weak that are afflicted and tried, strengthening of heart and spirit, joy, peace of conscience, thanksgivings, prophecyings, an abundant understanding of the scriptures; and, in a word, true religion, and the true worship of God; and also, confidence in God under the cross and afflictions, and perseverance unto the end; and, finally, all the blessed operations and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and all those things which please God and displease the Devil.
On the contrary, where the pure word is not taught, or where there is a weariness and loathing of the word, there the true religion becomes extinguished, and all true worship of God perishes. For where the true word of God is not taught, there is not any truth of God; there is found a great noise of external holiness, and the form of godliness, and hypocrisy;1 there, indeed, is psalm-singing, prayer, doctrines, consolation, thanksgiving, and all the varieties of the worship of God, with all interpretations of the scriptures. I will add, also, that there you may find sufferings and martyrdoms. But all is outside show; all is the form of godliness only; all is false; all is feigned, and nothing but lies; all is full of the poison of the devil. Nor without true faith in the heart, nor without the divine word, nor without the worship of the First Commandment, is there, or can there be, any true and real worship of God.
1 Luther is here deeply opening up the extent to which the “form of godliness” may be carried, yet without the truth and “power” of it.
How many thousands of priests and monks have sung this Psalm at their first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, in their temples.
But what did they do during all their singings? They did nothing else but call down God’s judgment and indignation on their own heads! For the design of this Psalm, in every word of it, is to glorify the word of God, and to confound, put to shame, destroy, and blot out all hypocrisy upon the face of the earth.
PSALM CXX.
David prayeth against Doeg, reproveth his tongue, complaineth of his necessary conversation with the wicked.
A Song of degrees.
In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
I am for peace: but, when I speak, they are for war.
This Psalm is an earnest prayer; and it complains, with deep feelings of sorrow, of those horrible evils which Satan causes in the church by a false and crafty tongue: that is, by that virulent and truly serpentine tongue which boasts of God and the worship of God, and never instructs any one in the truth, nor leads them to God.
For false teachers cause infinite and terrible evils in the church; and like giants with immense weapons in their hands, they never strike without inflicting some mighty wound: or, like fire-brands cast into a grove of juniper trees, they consume in all directions, with a sudden and devouring flame. And just so, the common people often burst out into one general flame, even by the throwing in among them of one single spark of false and wicked doctrine; and not only do they blaze forth with a sudden flame of their minds and spirits, but even greatly admire the error and the hypocrisy. For all doctrines of this kind, as being more congenial to human reason than the truth of God, quickly please men; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. iv. “They will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”
Mesech are the nations nigh unto Jerusalem itself, towards the north; where the Tartars now are. And Kedar are the Arabs, to the east of Jerusalem. These nations are types of all enemies and heretics who oppose themselves as adversaries to the true church. The Mesech of Christians, at this time are the Turks, who derive their origin from the Tartars. And the Kedar are Mahomet and the Saracens; for they are from Arabia. These with their Alcoran have oppressed and laid waste the Gospel in many places: and that fire of wicked doctrine, broke out into a mighty blaze, just like a brand cast into a thicket of juniper trees.
PSALM CXXI.
The great safety of the godly, who put their trust in God’s protection.
A Song of degrees.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore.
This is a Psalm of consolation, wherein the Psalmist, from his own experience, exhorts the godly to a constancy of faith, and to an expectation of help and defence from God. For although in the hour of temptation God puts off his help, and all things appear as if he were asleep, or had forgotten us altogether, and had left us to be scorched by the heat of the sun by day, and by the beams of the moon by night; that is, as though he had given us up to be afflicted and destroyed by all manner of temptations, by Satan, by the world, and by sin, day and night: yet it is not so;—he has not given us up, as we, according to the weakness of our flesh, imagine and feel. He sees and regards us, and watches over us; nor does he suffer us to be so burnt as to be destroyed, nor so tempted or distressed, as to be swallowed up of over-much sorrow: and this all blessedly experience, who call upon him for his help and patiently wait for it.
PSALM CXXII.
David professeth his joy for the church, and prayeth for the peace thereof.
A Song of degrees of David.
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, it contains the feelings of a glad, a rejoicing, and a thankful heart, for that unspeakable gift of God,—the ministry of his word. This Psalm in the person of the Jews, rejoices that God had appointed a certain place, namely Jerusalem, in the midst of that people, where the name and the word of God had a certain dwelling-place and could there be found: and where it was administered by certain persons, the Levites and the priests, to certain disciples; namely, to the tribes of Israel.
For what calamity or misery can be greater than to seek the word of God anxiously, and not be able to find it? This calamity and misery the children of Israel experienced in the times of God’s anger, when, being forsaken by him, and left to their own inventions, they sought and worshipped idols. And in these our times of monkery also, the masses and the travellings about to so many Marys have given abundant proofs of what it is to seek the word of God and not to find it.
Our Jerusalem, our certain place, is the church, and our temple is Christ. Wheresoever Christ is preached and the sacraments are duly administered, there we are sure God dwells; and there is our temple, our tabernacle, our cherubim, and our mercy-seat; for there God is present with us by his word.
PSALM CXXIII.
The godly profess their confidence in God, and pray to be delivered from contempt.
A Song of degrees.
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
This Psalm is a fervent prayer against all those secure and proud despisers of the word of God and its true ministers. And the Gentile nations were not the only despisers who contemned the whole religion of the Israelites and the true worship of God, and condemned it as sedition altogether: but the idolaters and false teachers which were in the midst of that very people themselves proudly despised and derided the godly, that little flock of God, and the true prophets; as Psalms xii. and xiv. complain. And in the same way also our papists and fanatics now, who seem in their own eyes to be more holy than the gospel itself, more proudly and contemptuously than any others despise, trample underfoot, and spit upon all true and good ministers of the word of God. Not to say anything now about that security and pride wherein, at this day, even our bishops and priests themselves, who are more profane than all heathen nations put together, despise the true word of God. So that we, as the Psalmist saith in its conclusion, are indeed filled with the derision of the rich and the contempt of the proud. But may God, (and he will!) regard us, and glorify his word. Amen.
PSALM CXXIV.
The church blesseth God for a miraculous deliverance.
A Song of degrees of David.