Everything that hath breath. — LXX. “every breath;” Vulg., “every spirit;” literally, all breath. We naturally wish to give these words their largest intent, and to hear the psalter close with an invocation to “the earth with her thousand voices” to praise God. But the psalm so distinctly and positively brings us into the Temple, and places us among the covenant people engaged at their devotions, that we are compelled to see here a hymn specially suited to close the collection of hymns of the covenant, as the first and second were to begin it. It is, therefore, not all breathing beings, but only all assembled in the sanctuary, that are here addressed; and the loud hallelujah with which the collection of psalms actually closes rises from Hebrew voices alone.

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