This is a fervent prayer to God, in which David complains with wonderful groanings, that he is stricken and bruised with the sense of his sin; that he is distressed and straitened in spirit under the deepest sorrow; and that he can see nothing and feel nothing but wrath from heaven, and the terrible lightnings, arrows, and threatenings of God; and in a word, death, and hell itself; and that this great distress exhausts not only all the moisture, all the strength, all the blood, and all the marrow of his frame, but fills him with an unspeakable alarm and perturbation, and makes him pant and sweat with agony; so that the intenseness of his feelings, destroys the natural colour and appearance of his face, and affects his whole body. For to feel in reality the burthen of the conscience under a sense of sin, is a distress and terror exceeding all other distresses and terrors. And these deep temptations of the godly are greatly increased by those wicked ones without, who cease not to call them heretics, seditious persons, and murderers. For these hypocrites, while they boast in the teeth of the godly that they are the true saints, and the true church, and the real people of God, (and God in the meantime, which is often the case, not bringing in help and consolation) the godly are deeply grieved and afflicted, as if God was their enemy because of their sins.
But this Psalm teaches us constantly to hope for, and expect the help and consolation of God, and still to fight against all such hypocrites by prayer. And the prophet, in the midst of the agonizing conflict of this temptation, sustains and lifts up himself by taking courage from the divine promise. And here he maintains his cause, (which is not the cause of men but of God,) as a strong fortress against Satan and his cause, and here again flows in the consolation of faith, &c. And so also we ought to pray always, and in no temptation yield to sorrow of mind, even though we are sinners, and though Satan shakes us with the horrible terrors of sin: for grace is stronger than sin!
PSALM XXXIX.
David’s care of his thoughts.—The consideration of the brevity and vanity of life, the reverence of God’s judgments, and prayer, are his bridles of impatience.
To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
I was dumb with silence: I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew; surely they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
And now, LORD, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
This is a consolatory Psalm, containing also a prayer of the prophet, in which he prays that his mouth may be bridled, that he might not break out into blasphemy and murmuring when he sees the wicked to prosper in the world, and most proudly to despise God and his word, and to think of nothing but amassing riches, &c.; and when he sees, on the contrary, that the godly are afflicted with various temptations without and within, and conflicting both with the world and with the devil.
Rather (says he) teach me, O Lord, to know mine end; that is, that there will be an end to my life at length; that is, teach me to magnify the future, which does not yet appear. Guard me from that perilous security of the wicked in which they give themselves up wholly to this world, and devote themselves to coveting the things thereof, and to pride and ambition, as if they should live here for ever. For it is often a great vexation to the godly, and indeed the prophets themselves complain of it,—that the wicked and the evil abound in every kind of luxury, wallow in all the pleasures of wine and feasting, and live their whole lives in security, strangers to trouble and affliction, while the godly are afflicted, and tempted, and distressed both from without and from within.
But the end shows that the godly are happy; and the wicked, with all their perishable happiness, truly miserable. Hence the prophet saith, “And now, Lord, what is my expectation, (or what wait I for?)” As if he had said, shall I be always thus afflicted! Shall I be utterly overwhelmed? Will these temptations continue to return upon us for ever? No! (says he) the Lord is my expectation: that is, I shall find in the end, after all these temptations and death, an eternal life, a reconciled God, the pardon of all my sins, and even in this world, I shall not be forsaken. But the wicked, after their short life, will find nothing but death,—death eternal!
PSALM XL.
The benefit of confidence in God.—Obedience is the best sacrifice.—The sense of David’s evils inflameth his prayer.
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me;
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
For innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha, aha!
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified.
But I am poor and needy: yet the LORD thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
This Psalm is a prophecy, and the voice of Christ himself; where Christ himself says, that he was heard in the midst of his sufferings, when crying and groaning in the midst of the agony of death. And it is also a beautiful example and consolation for the whole church, and for all the members of Christ,—that God will never forsake any of those that believe in him, when agonizing in the same manner, if they cry unto him, and call upon him in the midst of the horrible pit and terrors of death.
The great prophet David, and others like him, published forth Psalms of this kind, concerning the greatest and most important things of Christ’s kingdom and people: for the expectation of the Messiah and of Christ, was a very important matter among the people of God, and therefore David makes the person of Christ himself speaking.
Christ here plainly says, that he is the one and only person who fulfils the law, and does the will of God. Here he excludes all others and their works. “In the volume of the book (says he) it is written of me.” That is, the promise of blessing and grace, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed, were concerning me, &c. Thus he rejects and abrogates the whole law, with all works, sacrifices, and forms of worship; because, by them, the will of God is not fulfilled.
All our works and sacrifices, therefore, are rejected. Christ here saith, that he is the sole and only one who pleases God, and fulfils his will. By these words, therefore, he promises the New Testament; where there is no righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of faith, preached in the great congregation: that is, in the whole world, in all nations. There is no preaching of the righteousness of the law, which only makes men proud pharisees and hypocrites, who have not their hope fixed in God, or in the promise of grace, but in their own righteousness, false holiness, and legal hypocrisy.
PSALM XLI.
God’s care of the poor.—David complaineth of his enemies’ treachery.—He fleeth to God for succour.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
Mine enemies speak evil of me; when shall he die, and his name perish?
And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.
Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me.
But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
This Psalm is a prophecy; where, after the manner of the Psalms, Christ himself speaks, and with a wonderful feeling, complains of his domestic traitor Judas, and of those cruel dogs which vented their fury on the poor; by which dogs, he means those that crucified him. He prays that God would judge his cause, and set him before his face: that is, that God his father would comfort him in his suffering, and raise him from the dead; that, being exalted, through the cross and death, to the right hand of God, he might be glorified with eternal life and victory.
This is a great and unspeakable consolation to all the godly; where, in the fourth verse, the Son saith, “heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.” He confesses himself to be a sinner before God his Father, whereas he was without sin, and no guile was found in his mouth. Here, therefore, he stands as our priest, as a victim and sacrifice for sin, bearing and suffering for our sins, as if they were his; and he bore the guilt of them.
In the beginning of the Psalm he comprehends the sum of the whole matter, in a very powerful expression. “Blessed (saith he) are they who consider the poor and needy:” that is, blessed, yea, eternally blessed are they, who are not offended at the once weak, crucified, and condemned Christ, but who believe the Gospel. For the preaching of the cross is to the Gentiles foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling-block. And it is the greatest of all offences to the world to preach, teach, or confess, that the once poor, crucified, and condemned Christ, now sits at the right hand of the divine Majesty, and that he is on high, the Lord of all, both in this world, and that which is to come. For with this Christ, that people of the Jews were so offended, and they so ran upon and stumbled on this rock of offence, that, to this day, they remain cast out and scattered, and wander about over all the face of the earth, without a priesthood, and without a kingdom!
PSALM XLII.
David’s zeal to serve God in the temple.—He encourageth his soul to trust in God.
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.
As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Yet the LORD will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me; hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.
This is an ardent prayer to God; evincing an exceeding greatness of spiritual feeling, and an unutterable groaning of the Spirit. Under this similitude of a hart, at the beginning of the Psalm, the Psalmist describes his feelings in the hour of temptation, when he was wholly immersed in the extreme of distress, and absorbed in tears. For in that hour of darkness, the God of life, and peace, and light, and consolation, is not seen; but the sun of all comfort is hidden as it were behind a cloud. Then the hearts of the thus tempted feel nothing but an angry God, and a cruel avenger; and Satan increases these dismal views of misery to a wonderful extent. To these things, moreover, are often added the blasphemies of those who make derision of the afflicted, and assail them with the taunt, “Where is now thy God!”—For the world and the ungodly cannot contain themselves, when they see the saints in calamities; they cannot refrain from taunting and deriding them; from aggravating the distresses of these godly ones, and from exclaiming, in their bitterly-cutting triumph, ‘They hoped in God that he would deliver them. Where is now their delivering God? Where is now their Christ they talk so much about? This is just how such heretics ought to be served.’ For these wicked creatures judge according to the flesh and blind reason; and imagine, that affliction is a certain sign of divine anger against the saints. On the other hand, they boast of their own afflictions, or any slight adversities which they may meet with, as sufferings for the Lord’s name sake, and as martyrdoms and sorrows endured for their apostolic innocence. For those perverse and virulent wretches, those blind leaders of the blind, though they know, yet will not know, that God thus chastens his saints, that he may afterwards comfort them; but not that he may forsake, destroy, or condemn them.
The Psalmist desires, with the greatest fervency of heart, to come unto the house of the Lord, and into the congregation of those that sing and rejoice; to keep holy the sabbath, to celebrate the name of the Lord, and to see the face of the Lord; that is, he has an ardent desire to hear the word of the Lord, that he might thereby be lifted up and refreshed; being well nigh consumed in such a fiery heat of temptation and distress. The house of the Lord is where the word of God, and the promise of grace are preached. And by “the face of God,” he means the presence of God; where God, by his word, reveals himself, and his will, and grace, and gives the knowledge of them unto men. This he calls in another place ‘God’s turning, (not his back but) his face towards us.’
PSALM XLIII.
David praying to be restored to the temple, promiseth to serve God joyfully.—He encourageth his soul to trust in God.
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
This Psalm is of the same purport as the preceding; and David uses almost the same expressions. He desires to go into the house of God in the light and truth of God: that is, he desires to be comforted, under his distress and temptation, by the word of God.
PSALM XLIV.
The church, in memory of former favours, complaineth of their present evils.—Professing her integrity, she fervently prayeth for succour.
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands, to a strange God;
Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, why sleepest thou, O LORD? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.
This is a prayer of the whole people of God; and it is offered up in the person of all the saints; especially of those under the New Testament, whom you here find to be complaining that they are cruelly slaughtered and slain by the wicked nations, by the ungodly men, and by tyrants. For God delivers his saints into the hands of men, as if he had rejected them, or utterly forgotten them. Whereas, he glorified the patriarchs of old, and all those his people from the beginning, by mighty works and miracles in the sight of the nations that opposed them. And indeed all the saints maintain, not their own cause, but God’s; and seek, not their own glory, but his: and yet for this very just and holy cause, and for no other reason, nor any other crime, they are thus torn and slaughtered by exile, by the spoiling of their goods, and, in a word, by death; and are as cruelly treated in the world, as if they were the most wicked of all men, and a mere set of vagabonds and murderers.
In a word, this Psalm is a sighing and groaning of spirit against the weakness of the flesh; which flesh, even in the saints, murmurs against God, because he governs the world with such an appearance of injustice; and is in appearance, an unjust judge, permitting the saints to be afflicted whom he ought to support and comfort, and promoting and exalting the wicked whom he ought to overthrow.
PSALM XLV.
The majesty and grace of Christ’s kingdom.—The duty of the church, and the benefits thereof.
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. A Song of Loves.
My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
Thy throne, O God, is for and ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house;
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
This is a prophecy concerning the gospel and kingdom of Christ; and it describes, in many rich and sweet figures and expressions, the spouse of Christ, the church. It describes also Christ, going forth in all his regal pomp; having all royal gifts, a manly and regal form, suavity and grace of speech, a warrior’s armour, the splendour of regal dress, and success in war against his enemies, &c.; and also as possessing all kingly virtues,—righteousness, clemency, &c.
And moreover that he may set the kingdom of Christ before our eyes in its sweetest appearance, the Psalmist describes him as having palaces and houses of ivory; a queen, and her attendant virgins; and sons and daughters. All these things are to be understood of the spiritual kingdom of Christ and the church, where Christ is a King, powerful, wise, just, gracious, and victorious; and moreover, a conqueror triumphant; and also rejoicing, preserving, comforting and enriching his own, against sin, the law, and death, &c.
And David here clearly foretels that the law of the Old Testament should be abrogated. “Hearken (says he) O daughter, and incline thine ear, forget also thy father’s house: (here he seems to glance at the synagogue): so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty, and thou shalt worship him;” showing, that there is no true God out of Christ; and ascribing unto Christ truly divine honour; namely, that of the first and great precept,—that is, adoration. And in the sixth and seventh verses, he plainly calls him God: thus making him an eternal king, the foundation of whose throne is in righteousness: who justifies all that believe in him, and takes away sin, and destroys death and hell. And no one can be an eternal king that dies not, but he that is truly and naturally God!—of which we have spoken at large elsewhere, in our more full commentary on the 45th Psalm.
PSALM XLVI.
The confidence which the church hath in God.—An exhortation to behold it.
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar, and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
This is a thanksgiving which the people of Israel sang, at that time, for their divine blessings, and miraculous deliverances, because God had powerfully defended Jerusalem, situated in the midst of hostile nations and enemies, and guarded it against all opposing kings, and against all the snares and hostile attempts of the surrounding nations; and had preserved it in peace against all the furious counsels of war and bloodshed. Hence, after the manner of the scriptures, David calls all that present flourishing state of his kingdom’s affairs, the river of God, whose streams should never be dry; which was but a small rivulet, in comparison of the great streams and torrents of the sea by which he was surrounded, (that is, by those immense kingdoms and islands of the nations, and Gentile kings,) which although they were great, would yet, one day, dry up and disappear, while the river of God should endure for ever.
We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin. So that our little river remains a living fountain; whilst so many heresies, so many tyrants and their doctrines, as so many stinking sewers and sinks, are dispersed, like broken cisterns, and disappear, and are lost for ever.
PSALM XLVII.
The nations are exhorted cheerfully to entertain the kingdom of Christ.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
O clap your hands all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah.
God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
This is a prophecy concerning Christ; describing the manner of his ascension on high, and showing that he should be King over all. “Sing praises, sing praises unto our King,” (saith he); thereby shewing, that this kingdom of Christ should not be one of that kind that stands in the power of arms, but in the word of praise, and in the singing of thanksgivings. As if he had said, This king, by the word of the gospel only, which is the word of praise and thanksgiving, shall destroy all the power of the adversaries,—the world, and Satan; as the walls of Jericho fell down by the sound of trumpets only, without sword or arms!
PSALM XLVIII.
The ornaments and privileges of the church.
A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion; on the sides of the north the city of the great king.
God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.
According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.