Salvum me fac, Deus.
Christ in his passion declareth the greatness of his sufferings, and
the malice of his persecutors the Jews; and foretelleth their
reprobation.
68:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David.
For them that shall be changed.... A psalm for Christian converts, to
remember the passion of Christ.
68:2. Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.
The waters.... Of afflictions and sorrows. My soul is sorrowful even
unto death. Matt. 26.38.
68:3. I stick fast in the mire of the deep and there is no sure
standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath
overwhelmed me.
68:4. I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse, my eyes
have failed, whilst I hope in my God.
68:5. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me
without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully
persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.
I pay that which I took not away.... Christ in his passion made
restitution of what he had not taken away, by suffering the punishment
due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to God.
68:6. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not
hidden from thee:
My foolishness and my offences.... which my enemies impute to me: or
the follies and sins of men, which I have taken upon myself.
68:7. Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the
Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee,
O God of Israel.
68:8. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my
face.
68:9. I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons
of my mother.
68:10. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches
of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
68:11. And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to
me.
68:12. And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.
68:13. They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank
wine made me their song.
68:14. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy
good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the
truth of thy salvation.
68:15. Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me
from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
68:16. Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep water
swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
68:17. Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
68:18. And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in
trouble, hear me speedily.
68:19. Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my
enemies.
68:20. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.
68:21. In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath
expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve
together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort
me, and I found none.
68:22. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.
68:23. Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense,
and a stumblingblock.
Let their table, etc.... What here follows in the style of an
imprecation, is a prophecy of the wretched state to which the Jews
should be reduced in punishment of their wilful obstinacy.
68:24. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back
bend thou down always.
68:25. Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger
take hold of them.
68:26. Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to
dwell in their tabernacles.
68:27. Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and
they have added to the grief of my wounds.
68:28. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come
into thy justice.
68:29. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the
just let them not be written.
68:30. But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me
up.
68:31. I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will
magnify him with praise.
68:32. And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth
forth horns and hoofs.
68:33. Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall
live.
68:34. For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his
prisoners.
68:35. Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every
thing that creepeth therein.
68:36. For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built
up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.
Sion.... The catholic church. The cities of Juda, etc., her places of
worship, which shall be established throughout the world. And there,
viz., in this church of Christ, shall his servants dwell, etc.
68:37. And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that
love his name shall dwell therein.