_David praiseth God for executing of judgment.—He inciteth others to
praise him.—He prayeth that he may have cause to praise him._
To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben. A Psalm of David.
I will praise _thee_, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth
all thy marvellous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O
thou Most High.
When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy
presence.
For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the
throne judging right.
Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou
hast put out their name for ever and ever.
O thou enemy! destructions are come to a perpetual end; and thou hast
destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for
judgment;
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister
judgment to the people in uprightness.
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of
trouble.
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou,
LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the
people his doings.
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he
forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble _which I suffer_ of
them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of
Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
The heathen are sunk down in the pit _that_ they made: in the net
which they hid is their own foot taken.
The LORD is known _by_ the judgment _which_ he executeth: the wicked
is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
The wicked shall be turned into hell, _and_ all the nations that
forget God.
For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the
poor shall _not_ perish for ever.
Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy
sight.
Put them in fear, O LORD; _that_ the nations may know themselves _to
be but_ men. Selah.
This Psalm is a prophecy: its title is “concerning the beautiful
youth:” that is, concerning the children that are born anew in Christ,
the people of God and the church of God. For the people and sons of
God, and his new-born children by faith in Christ, must be conformed
to the image of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ.
Christians and the true sons of God are variously afflicted in the
world; and the blood of the innocents is daily shed by the fury and
cruelty of Satan, raging against the word and the works of God. These
are the flourishing and undefiled youth, the sons and children of God,
of whom the title of the Psalm speaks; who are blameless, without
rebuke, and babes in the midst of wolves, and among a perverse
generation.
This Psalm has its striking descriptions of persons: and the prophecy
which it contains is written in the manner of a thanksgiving: and
therefore it may be numbered among the consolatory Psalms. For, (as is
generally the case with these spiritual canticles and songs,) the
Prophet here speaks in his own person, and in that of all the saints
also who are afflicted for the word of God’s sake: all of whom give
thanks with wonderful sensations of heart, that God does not forsake
his own. But God requires, at times, the tears and the blood of the
saints: though he preserves and saves his Church, and renders her
invincible against sword or fire, and against all the power of enemies
temporal or spiritual, nay, in the midst of blood and death; and he
raises her up, as it were, from the blood, slaughter, and ashes of the
saints, and makes her flourish again and increase the more, in a
wonderful manner, in this and that part of the world: so that many,
even of the most bitter enemies, have been converted to the faith, and
even a Saul has been made a Paul; and sometimes also the judgments of
God have fallen on the wicked, and they have perished before the eyes
of the godly.
This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue,
and to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as we have observed
concerning the preceding Psalm.