They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
But be not thou far from me, O LORD; O my strength, haste thee to help
me.
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns
of the unicorns.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the
congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,
neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he
heard.
My praise _shall be_ of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my
vows before them that fear him.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the LORD that
seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the LORD; and
all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
For the kingdom _is_ the LORD’S; and he _is_ the governor among the
nations.
All _they that be_ fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that
go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his
own soul.
A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the LORD for a
generation.
They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born, that he hath done _this_.
This Psalm is a kind of gem among the Psalms that contain prophecies
concerning Christ and his kingdom, and it is peculiarly excellent and
remarkable. For here, if anywhere, it may be said that David does not
seem to be delivering a prophecy of the future, but a history of the
past; a history of circumstances that took place within his own sight
and knowledge; for his expressions concerning Christ are not at all
more obscure than those of Peter or Paul, or any other of the
Apostles: and he speaks of Christ being nailed to the tree, and of the
piercing of his hands and his feet, as if the whole had taken place
before his own natural sight.
This Psalm contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of
Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine
wrath and death, which surpass all human thought and comprehension.
And I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole Book contains
matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so
truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which
their Lord and head Jesus Christ uttered when conflicting for us in
the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell.
Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have
any acquaintance with these temptations of faith, and these spiritual
conflicts.
Let Epicureans despise these things: examples of this kind will be
more precious to the truly godly and spiritual, whether they be found
in Christ himself, or (as St. Peter saith,) in our brethren that are
in the world, than all the treasures and riches of which the world can
boast.
David as I said, describes most clearly and expressively the
sufferings of Christ, so much so, that you seem to see the
circumstances to take place before your eyes. And as he so clearly
pourtrays the forerunning sufferings of Christ, so does he with equal
plainness set forth the glories which followed them; for in the end of
the Psalm he shows that Christ should be delivered from the mouth of
the lion and of the dog, and from the midst of death and sufferings,
and should, through his resurrection wrought by divine power, be
glorified; that his Gospel should be preached, not only among that
people and in that kingdom, such narrow limits, but throughout all the
nations and kingdoms of the world; that the fat ones of the earth,
that is the rich and powerful of this world, and the poor also, should
be converted unto Christ; that his Church should be eternal, and his
posterity infinite; and that as King he should be adored throughout
the whole world, that his name should be praised and celebrated
throughout all ages, and his kingdom endure for ever, and remain
invincible against all the kingdoms of the world, and against all
creatures.
The Psalm belongs to the first commandment of the Decalogue, for it
foretels a new worship of God; and it has reference to the first
petition of the Lord’s Prayer.