13. The boar of the wood doth wafte it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

14. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hofts; look down from heaven, behold and visit this vine:

15. Even the plant which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch which thou madeft strong for thyself!

16. Let thofe that have burnt it with fire and spoiled it, perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the fon of man whom thou madeft ftrong for thyself.

18. So will we not go back from thee; quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

19. Reftore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause thy face to fhine, and we fhall be whole!

PSALM LXXXI.

The Pfalmift, who is fuppofed to have been Afaph, exhorts the Ifraelites to celebrate the praises of God at the new moon, according to divine appointment; and then introduces God himfelf explaining the occafion of this folemnity.

1. SING aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2. Lift up the fong and ftrike the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the pfaltery.

3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our folemn feast day.

4. For this was made a ftatute for Ifrael, and a law of the God of Jacob.

5. This he ordained in Jofeph for a teftimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt; where he heard a language that he understood not..

6. "I eafed his fhoulder from the burden, his hands were delivered from the pannier.

7. Thou calledft upon me in trouble, and I delivered thee, I answered from the hidden place of the thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.

8. Hear, O my people, and I will make a teftimony with thee, O Ifrael, if thou wilt hearken

unto me.

9. There fhall no ftrange God be in thee, neither fhalt thou worship any other God.

10. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Ifrael would not obey me.

12. So I

gave them up to their own heart's luft, and let them follow their own imaginations. 13. O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Ifrael had walked in my ways.

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14.

I would foon have fubdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

15. The haters of the Lord fhould have fubmitted themselves unto them; but their time should have endured for ever.

16. They should have fed themselves alfo with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I have fatisfied them.”

SIXTEENTH EVENING.

Evening Prayer.

PSALM LXXXII.

The Pfalmift reprehends the judges for negligence of their duty; and reminds them that God is the witnefs of their actions, and they themselves fubject to his judgment. He is fuppofed to have been Afaph the feer, who lived in the reign of Hezekiah; when the courts of judicature were fo corrupt, that Isaiah called the judges rulers of Sodom, Is. i. 10. 23.

1. GOD standeth in the congregation; God giveth fentence in the midst of the judges.

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2. "How long will ye judge unjustly, and lift the face of the wicked?

3. Defend the poor and fatherlefs; fee that fuch as are in need and neceffity have right.

4. Deliver the outcast and poor, rid them out of the hand of the wicked."

4. They do not know, neither will they underftand; they walk on in darknefs; all the founda tions of the land are fhaken.

6. I have faid, ye were Gods, and all of you fons of the Most High;

7. But ye fhall die like other men, and fall like one of the poor.

8. Arife, O God, judge the earth, for thou fhalt take all nations to thine inheritance.

PSALM LXXXIII.

It is generally fuppofed, that the combination of powerful enemies, against which the Pfalmift here implores affiftance, was that mentioned in 2 Chron. xx. in the days of Jehoshaphat. From verfe feven it appears, that it cannot be referred to the time of David, for the Tyrians were then in friendship and alliance with the Ifraelites.

1. KEEP not thou filence, O God; O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still.

2. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lift up the head.

3. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy favoured ones.

4. They have faid, come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Ifrael may be no more in remembrance.

5. For they have taken counsel together with one heart; they are confederate against thee.

6. The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; the Moabites and Hagarenes.

7. Gebah and Ammon and Amalek; the Philiftines with the inhabitants of Tyre.

8. Affur alfo is joined with them; they have holpen the children of Lot.

9. Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sifera, as to Jabin ;

10. That perifhed at the brook of Kifon, that became as dung for the earth at Endor.

11. Make them and their nobles like Oreb and like Zeb, and all their princes as Zebah and Zal

munna.

12. Who have faid, "let us poffefs ourselves of the habitation of God."

13. O my God, make them like chaff, as the ftubble before the wind.