PSALM XXI.

In which David expresses his firm reliance on God for victory over his enemies, in confequence of the blessings already conferred on him.

1. THE king fhall rejoice in thy ftrength, O Lord; exceeding glad fhall he be in thy falvation.

2. Thou haft given him his hearts defire; and hast not withholden the request of his lips.

3. For thou preventeft him with the bleffings of goodness, then fettest a crown of pure gold upon his head.

4. He asked life of thee, and thou granteft it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

5. His glory fhall be great through thy falvation; honour and majesty wilt thou lay upon him.

6. For thou will make him most blessed for ever; thou wilt make him glad with the joy of thy coun

tenance.

7. For the king trusteth in the Lord; and through the mercy of the most high, he shall not be moved.

8. Thine hand fhall find out all thine enemies ; thy right hand shall find out them that hate thee.

9. Thou fhalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thy anger; the Lord fhall fwallow them up in his displeasure, and the fire fhall devour them.

10. Their offspring fhalt thou destroy from the earth; and their feed from among the children of

men.

11. For they have intended evil against thee they have imagined a mischievous device; but shall perform nothing.

12. For thou shalt fet them up for a mark; on thy bow ftrings fhalt thou make ready thy arrows against them.

13. Exalt thyself, O Lord, in thy ftrength; fo will we fing and praise thy power.

FOURTH EVENING.

Evening Prayer,

PSALM XXII,

There are feveral arguments advanced by interpreters, which feem to fhew with fufficient evidence that David was not the Author of this Pfalm; 1. The Speaker was in the power of his enemies," dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked has enclofed me," but David was never, at any period, abfolutely in the power of his enemies, and expofed

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to their infults on account of his adherence to God. 2. The Speaker had been peculiarly devoted to God from his birth, v. 10. "I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother's belly ;" but David was not fanctified unto God until he was anointed by Samuel. 3. It does not appear, that David ever preached righteoufnefs to the people in the great congregation. 4. David's hands and feet were never difgraced or shamefully treated by his enemies. On the other hand, we find that all the circumftances of this Pfalm accurately correspond with thofe of Jeremiah; and therefore fince we have good reafon for fuppofing that he was the Author of fome other Pfalms, we may fairly conclude that he was the Author of this; and that he composed it while in prifon, with chains on his hands and feet, and afraid left he should be put to death as a false Prophet.

1. MY God! my God! why haft thou forfaken me, why art thou fo far from helping me, and from the words of my complaint?

2. O my God! I cry in the day time, but thou heareft not; and in the night season, and am not filent.

3. Yet thou art the Holy One, who dwelleft amidst the praises of Ifrael.

4. In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

5. They cried unto thee and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and were not put to fhame.

6. But I am a worm, and not a man; a reproach of men, and defpifed of the people.

7. All they that fee me laugh me to fcorn; they fhoot out the lip, they fhake the head, faying,

8. "He trufted in the Lord, that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, feeing he delighted in him".

9. But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my mother's breafts.

10. I was caft upon thee even from my birth; thou art my God even from my mother's womb. II. Oh be not far from me, for trouble is hard at hand; for there is none to help.

12. Many bulls have compaffed me, ftrong bulls of Bashan have befet me round.

13. They gape upon me with their mouths; as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15. My ftrength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my gums; and wilt thou bring me unto the duft of death?

16. For many dogs have compaffed me, a company of the wicked has enclosed me; they have put to fhame my hands and my feet.

17. Shall they count all my bones? fhall they look and stare upon me?

18. Shall they part my garments among them, and caft lots upon my vesture ?—

19. But thou, O Lord, wilt not be far from me ; O my ftrength, hafte thee to help me.

20. Deliver my foul from the fword; my life from the power of the dog.

21. Save me from the lion's mouth, and deliver me from the horns of the unicorns.

22. So will I declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. faying,

23. "Ye that fear the Lord praise him; all ye of the feed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him of the feed of Ifrael.

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24. For he hath not defpifed nor abhorred the low estate of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard."

25. My praise fhall be of thee in the great congregation, I will pay my vows before them that fear thee.

26. The poor fhall eat and be fatisfied; they fhall praise the Lord, that seek him; their heart shall live for ever.

27. All the ends of the land fhall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.