CXLII. This is one of the eight psalms assigned by their inscriptions to the time of David’s persecution by Saul. There is nothing in the contents either to support or controvert the title, unless the recurrence of expressions found in Psalms 42, 61, 77, marks dependence on them. But such dependenc... [ Continue Reading ]
I CRIED... — See Psalms 3:4, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
I POURED OUT. — See the same verb used in similar sense, Psalms 42:4; Psalms 62:8; and with the second clause comp. Psalms 107:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN MY SPIRIT. — Literally, _in the muffling upon me of my spirit._ When my spirit was so wrapped in trouble and gloom, so “muffled round with woe” that I could not see the path before me, was distracted and unable to chose a. line of conduct, _Thou_ (emphatic) knewest my path. (Comp. for the same... [ Continue Reading ]
I LOOKED. — The Authorised Version follows the ancient versions in turning the Hebrew imperatives into historic tenses. But they are easily intelligible if taken rhetorically, and indeed the psalm loses in liveliness by missing them: “On the path by which I must walk they have laid a trap for me;... [ Continue Reading ]
With this verse comp. Psalms 31:3; Psalms 22:8; Psalms 16:5, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF PRISON. — This expression, which must certainly be figurative of distress (comp. Psalms 143:11), probably led to the inscription. COMPASS ME ABOUT. — The Hebrew word here employed is used in a hostile sense in Psalms 22:12; Judges 20:43; Habakkuk 1:4. It is better, therefore, to follow the L... [ Continue Reading ]