them they will not be put to fhame when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

PSALM CXXVIII.

This Pfalm contains a defcription and promife of conjugal and domeftic happiness; a subject well adapted, as Dathius obferves, to the times immediately after the return from the captivity; for the increafe of the Jews at that period was among the particular blessings promised them by God. Jerem. xxx. 19, 20. Zach. viii. 4, 5.

1. BLESSED are all they that fear the Lord, and that walk in his ways.

2. Verily thou fhalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy fhalt thou be, and it fhall be well with thee.

3. Thy wife fhall be as a fruitful vine, by the fides of thy house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

4. Behold! thus fhall the man be bleffed that feareth the Lord.

5. The Lord fhall blefs thee out of Sion, and thou fhalt fee the profperity of Jerufalem all the days of thy life.

6. Yea, thou shalt fee thy children's children, and

peace upon

Ifrael.

PSALM CXXIX.

This is a thanksgiving for deliverance from long continued perfecution. Dathius refers it to the time when the Jews, after many obftructions, again obtained permiffion from Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild the temple.

1. GREATLY have they afflicted me from my youth up, may Ifrael now fay :

2. Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

3. The plowers plowed upon my back, they made long furrows.

4. But the Lord is righteous, he hath cut afunder the cords of the wicked.

5. They fhall all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

6. They shall be as the grafs upon the house tops, which withereth afore it be plucked up;

7. Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor the binder his grafp.

8. Neither fhall they which pafs by fay, "the

bleffing of the Lord be upon you, we blefs you in the name of the Lord."

PSALM CXXX.

The Ifraelites deprecate the anger of God on account of their tranfgreffion; which probably was their intermarriages with the idolatrous nations. See Ezra ch. ix. and x.

1. OUT of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord; Lord hear my voice.

2% Oh let thine ears confider well the voice of my fupplications.

3. If thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amifs, Lord, who shall stand?

4. For with thee there is mercy, therefore shalt thou be feared.

5. I wait for the Lord; my foul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

6. My foul watcheth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning, even than they that watch for the morning.

7. Let Ifrael hope in the Lord; for with the Lord is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 8. And he shall redeem Ifrael from all his fins.

PSALM CXXXI.

This Pfalm was written by David before he came into poffeffion of the kingdom. He defends himself against the accufation of Saul and his courtiers, that he afpired to the crown by unjust means. 1 Sam. xxiv. 10. xxvi. 19. Dathius transfers it to the cafe of the Jews after the return, when they were accufed, particularly by Sanballat, of having rebelled against the king of Perfia. Nehem. vi. 5, 6, 7.

1. LORD, my heart is not afpiring, nor mine eyes lifted up; I do not exercise myself in great matters, nor in things which are too high for me.

2. Surely I have no defire, and I have quieted my foul as a weaned child is by its mother; yea, my foul within me is even as a weaned child.

3. Let Ifrael hope in the Lord, from this time forth for evermore.

TWENTY-EIGHTH MORNING.

Morning Prayer.

PSALM CXXXII.

This Pfalm appears to have been compofed for the dedication of Solomon's temple. 1 Kings viii. 2 Chron. v. vi. and therefore might well be used with the dedication of the fecond temple, after the return from Babylon. It was fung by a chorus which speaks of Solomon in the third perfon.

1. LORD remember David and all his cares: 2. Who fware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty one of Jacob.

3. "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up unto the couch of my bed; 4. I will not give fleep to mine eyes, nor flumber to mine eye-lids;

5. Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty one of Jacob."

6. Behold, it was fworn at Ephrata: we have found it in the fields of Jair.