this paffage fhews that the flaughter of the Ephrai mites was very confiderable.

15. Gave them drink.-xas TOTICEY AUTHG WC sy abuσow #oλλ lxx. et potavit illos ut ex abysso magna. Syr. And all the verfions feem to have read w

.Street כבתהומת

19. And faid.-1 in the beginning influences 172N in the fecond claufe. Kennicott.

25. Angels food.—NTONÍA 7172D DO i. e. the food that defcends from the dwelling of angels; or bread prepared from heaven. Wisdom xvi. 20. It is called the bread of heaven in Pf. 105.

31. The chief of them.-Mr. Mudge thinks it fhould be flew them in their fatnesses, or indulgences, which Dr. Lowth approves.

38. Their mifdeeds.-Chald. peccatum eorum, Mudge

and Kennicott.

41. Set bounds.-To his power, that is, doubted of its extent. See verse 20.

47. Their vines.-There feems to be fome difficulty attending this paffage, for Herodotus expressly fays, that there were no vines in Egypt, & opiiioi εν τη χώρη άμπελοι. Lib. 2. Strabo however says, that the Mareotic wine is abundant and excellent, lib. 17. But again it is afferted, that these vines were planted in modern times by the Greeks.

49. Minifters of evil.--The Jews gave the appellation of angels to all means which God makes use

K

of to accomplish any purpose. See Pf. xxxiv. 7.

civ. 4.

50. An even way.-The Syriac fenfe of o is femitam fecit, aperuit.

51. Their ftrength.-So the ancient versions.

55. He divided them.-That is, the nations, and make the tribes of Ifrael to dwell in the tents of those nations, whom, that is, whose lands he thus divided among the Ifraelites. Hammond.

61. His ftrength.-The ark of the law, which is fo called, Pf. cv. 4. 2 Chron. vi. 41. See 1 Sam. iv. 1, &c.

I,

63. With fongs.-Aquila, Sym. and Theod. Tar

gum.

64. Made no lamentation.--Did not survive to make lamentation for their husbands.

71. Sucklings.-See Kennicott and the ancient verfions.

Shiloh.-A city in the tribe of Ephraim, one of Jofeph's fons.

PSALM LXXX.

2. Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manaffes.-Because these three tribes followed immediately next after the Ark. See Numb. ii. 17--22. Hammond. The Pfalmist prays, that God would go out with them to war as in former times before the battle of Ebenezer, in which the Ark was taken.

6. Aftrife. Thou permitteft our neighbours that hate us, to affault and invade us, and that fuccefsfully. Hammond. This verfe ftrongly indicates that the Pfalm was not written during the captivity; for at that time, they could not be faid to be a ftrife to their neighbours.

8. A vine.--The people of Ifrael.

10. The goodly cedars with the boughs thereof.-The author of the History of the Piratical States of Barbary informs us, that fome of the vines near Algiers, climb to the tops of the loftiest trees, and extending themselves to others, form natural bowers, page 163. And Beverley in his History of Virginia, p. 116. fays that he has feen great trees covered with fingle vines, and thofe vines almost hid with grapes. See Merrick.

Covered.-For 103 Kennicott, lxx. Vulg. and Arab. read 85.

11. The river.-173 the river Euphrates: colonies were sent out even fo far as the Euphrates, in the reigns of David and Solomon.

16. Let thofe Kennicott with the Arab. verfion

qui eam combufferunt igne שרפוה באש וכסחוה reads

et fpoliarunt eam, taking the fenfe of the latter from the Arab. fpoliavit opibus.

Burnt with fire.--This does not relate to the burning of Jerufalem by fire, for the vine denotes the Ifraelitish people at large; but to the many evils they fuffered from the incurfions of their enemies.

17. Of thy right hand-Sufpicor, fays Michaelis,

* pro fœdere poni vel jurejurando ex more Arabum, with whom the Chaldee agrees, fit manus tua fuper viro cui jurasti manu tuâ dextrâ. The man therefore of the right hand must be Hezekiah, to whom God may be confidered as having sworn, inafmuch as he adhered to the covenant made between him and David; that his feed fhould profper, if they worshipped no ftrange Gods.

Whom thou madeft ftrong.-God had made all things profper under Hezekiah.·

PSALM LXXXI.

5. He heard.-lxx. and the other verfions. The Egyptians are mentioned as people of a strange language, Pf. cxiv. 1. See alfo Gen. xlii. 23.

6. Pannier.-17 was a large veffel or basket, in which the earth was mixed and worked up for the bricks.

11. Obey me-n, Arab. recordatus fuit, attentus: 16. Out of the rock.-Flowing copiously even out of the rocks.

PSALM LXXXII.

1. Judges.-See Ex. xxii. 28. the word rendered congregation fignifies a court of justice, Numb. xv. 33. 5. Foundations.-The laws, compare Pf. xi. 3.

7. One of the poor.—I could not forbear inserting the admirable emendation of Bp. Hare, who by the tranfpofition of a fingle letter, has restored the text to its undoubtedly true meaning. The latter clause of this verse, like that of the preceding, is an echo or repetition of the firft: to Gods and the children of the Supreme are opposed ordinary men and the poor. Wake, Abp. Secker alfo gueffed that it fhould be which occurs in verfe 3.

PSALM LXXXIII.

3. Favoured ones.--Clients: a form of expreffion derived from the eastern right of hospitality, compare Pf. xxvii. 5. and Ezech. vii. 22. Dathius.

11. And their nobles.-Archb. Secker from the Targum conjectured the true reading was n`w 1057791; and Dr. Kennicott was of the fame opinion, Pone eos et principes eorum, Targum. Street.

PSALM LXXXIV.
XXIV

5. Thy journies.-non, Syr. and Kennicott. Here the word means the journey to Jerufalem thrice every year. This paffage is thus explained by Geierus: In quorum animo femper hæret via ad templum, illud unum meditantur, exoptant, &c.

6. Moift valley.-So Hammond, the valley of weeping literally. Vallies fupplied with fprings or