tion (v.); with the concluding vow of public praise, which the author conceived to be more acceptable to God than sacrifices of animals (v.31-32). Glosses intensify the suffering (v.1), represent it as due to the folly and fault of the people (v.), and that the prayer is offered in a time of acceptance (v.14a). (B) The lamentation of a sufferer who has been persecuted for his fidelity to God and zeal for the temple (v.8-10). His fasting made him the derision of the idle and the drunkards (v.11-18). His heart was broken because of the pitiless conduct of his adversaries, who gave him gall and vinegar instead of food and drink (v.206-22). He imprecates that their table may become a snare, their eyes and loins enfeebled, and that they may be overtaken by the divine anger (v.23-25); that their dwellings may be without inhabitants, their guilt so great that they may have no salvation, and that their names may not be recorded with the righteous in the book of life (v.26 28-29). This sufferer is doubtless the ideal community of Ps. 22, Is. 53. Glosses attribute the suffering to the divine visitation (v.2); represent that God knows the reproach borne (v.2); that his salvation will give joy to all the afflicted (v.), and honour Yahweh as the deliverer of poor prisoners (v.). All nature is summoned to praise the Saviour of Zion and rebuilder of the cities of Judah for the abode of His servants and their seed (v.35-37).

SAVE me, Yahweh; for waters are come unto my life.

I am plunged into the mire of the abyss, where there is no standing.
I am come into depths of water, and a flood doth overwhelm me.
Those hating me without cause are more than the hairs of my head.
My false enemies are stronger in number (than my bones).
What I have not spoiled, that I must repay.

LET not those that wait on Thee be ashamed through me, Yahweh Sabaoth.
Let not those that seek Thee be upbraided through me, God of Israel.

In the abundance of Thy kindness answer me, in the faithfulness of Thy salvation.

Deliver me, and let me not be overwhelmed in the depths of water.

Let not the flood overwhelm me, and let me not be swallowed up;

And let not the Pit keep guard over me with its mouth.

ANSWER me according to the goodness of Thy kindness, according to the

abundance of Thy compassion.

And hide not Thy face; in my straits O make haste!

Draw near unto me; O ransom, on account of mine enemies.

Afflicted and sorrowful, let Thy salvation, Yahweh, lift me on high.

I will praise Thy name with a song, and I will magnify it with thanksgiving:
And it will please better than an ox, a bullock horned and hoofed.

FOR Thy sake I have borne reproach;
Upbraiding hath covered my face.
I am become a stranger to my brethren,
A foreigner to the sons of my mother.
Zeal for Thine house consumed me;
And Thy reproaches have fallen on me.
WHEN I afflicted my soul with fasting,
It became a reproach unto me.

When I made my garments sackcloth,

I became a taunt song to them.

Those sitting in the gate composed (a song) against me.
Winebibbers made me a theme for their lyres.

BEFORE Thee are all mine adversaries.

Reproach hath broken my heart.

When I hoped for some one to pity, there was none;

For some to have compassion: I found them not.

And they gave me gall in my eating,

And in my thirst vinegar they gave me to drink.

LET their table become a snare,

Their peace-offerings before them a trap.

Let their eyes be darkened that they cannot see,
And their loins be continually tottering.

Pour upon them Thine indignation,

And let the heat of Thine anger overtake them.

LET their habitation become desolate,

And in their tents let there be no inhabitant.

Add iniquity to their iniquity,

And let them not come into Thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
And with the righteous let them not be inscribed.

Ps. 69 was originally in

(v. Intr. § 27); that is, its earliest part which we shall designate as A. This Ps. had three pentameter hexastichs, v.2-3. 5. 7. 15–19. 30-32 It resembles other Pss. of: Dyy v.5, as 3820 406.18;

v. 18, as צר לי ;5524 v.16 for Pit of Sheol, as באר ;3519 = 5.v איבי שקר שנאי חנם

187, cf. 6614; ' ¡pp v.19, cf. 59 2711. The conception of inward worship as more acceptable to Yahweh than animal sacrifices v.82 is as Pss. 40, 51; the figurative representation of trouble as peril of drowning, is as Ps. 1817, cf. 428.

,7.v אלהי ישראל,7.v יהוה צבאות :Several other words and phrases are to be noted

nha v.3. 16, as Ju. 123 Is. 2712; pyp α.λ. v.3 and any a.λ. v.30. The peril is the overwhelming trouble of the Exile, and the situation is that of Pss. 40, 51. This Ps. was taken up into E, and then subsequently into R, where it received the direction (v. Intr. §§ 32, 33, 34). It is however quite

possible that

=

had not A, but only B; and that the combination of A and B came later; for the ow Ps. 80 is a trimeter. B is a trimeter poem of five hexastichs: v.5-13. 206-26. 28-29. This Ps. has its special features: v.8, cf. Ps. 4416.23 Je. 1515 Zp. 318; v.3, cf. Jb. 1915; v.10 zeal for the temple, cf. Nu. 2511 (P) for God; v. 11 □ as Ps. 3518; v. 12 pw as 3513; e as 4415; v.18ɔnw a.λ.; v.21 naw as 3419 5119, н as Je. 1518 Mi. 19; v.22 a.λ., but cf. ni La. 410; v.23 pin cf. Ps. 186 646; no 913 1419; ohw as Mi. 73 Ho. 97 Is. 348; v.24 ¬yon as Ez. 297; v.25 ~ ^n phr. of J, cf. Ps. 7849 854; v.267 as Gn. 2516 (P) Nu. 311o (P) Ez. 251; v.29 dûn 760, a.λ. cf. Ex. 3282. 33 (E), o»n(7) pax Pss. 2718 527 1426. The terms are not later than Nehemiah. The imprecations imply a severe strain from unscrupulous foes of the time when Nehemiah began his reforms. The zeal for the temple is characteristic of the same situation. C. There are several glosses to this Ps.: (1) v.14a pix¬ ny Is. 498, cf. also Is. 585 612. This 1. is a seam uniting A and B. It seems to have an original and is therefore later than E. If DR combined the two, it was composed by him; if later, whoever combined them is responsible for it. (2) V. as La. 211 417, y as Ps. 67. This tetrameter couplet is not late in style, but it introduces a different conception of suffering in the midst of a simile. It was prob. originally a marginal note which subsequently crept into the text. (3) V.27 n as Je. 5152 La. 212 Ez. 2615 3024. This v. is not late in style; but it breaks up a str. of the trimeter poem, which would not do. It must be later than DR. (4) V. nie as 386, elsw. Pr. 23 t. П usage of P, Chr. acc. late Aramaism. This v. disturbs the pentameter poem. D is prob. original. This gl. belongs to the Greek period. (5) V.20 the use of y', as in v.6 indicates prob. the same hand. (6) V.33-34. 36-37 are based on Ps. 2224. 25. 27 a gl. from the Maccabean period. (7) V.35 is a later insertion in the above gl.

PSALM LXIX. A.

Str. I. has a syn. tristich, a syn. couplet, and a concluding line. 2. Save me, Yahweh], as the context indicates from deadly peril; an individual servant of Yahweh, a prophet like Jeremiah. -for waters are come unto my life]. He is drowning in waters which have so risen up about him, that he is in peril of death. 3. I am come into depths of water]. He is beyond his depth in the stream. -and a flood doth overwhelm me]. He is in the rapids of the Jordan; and the waters, swiftly descending, come upon him like a flood. This is doubtless figurative, as 1817 428, and not real. A glossator inserts another description of the sufferings: 4. I am weary with my calling: my throat is hot: Mine eyes do fail in waiting for my God]. He has so long called for divine help that his throat has become heated and feverish. His eyes fail because

of weeping hot tears. This is not altogether suited to the context, and it makes the Str. too long even if the measure of this v. were the same as that of this Ps. -5. Those hating me without cause my false enemies]. The figure of drowning in the rapids of a river passes over into its explanation as perils from enemies.

more

Their causeless hatred is explained in the last clause what I have not spoiled]. He is falsely accused of having taken spoil from his enemies or their friends by violence or injustice, and this they insist upon. - I must repay] make retribution for it; not simply make restoration, for their purpose is a deadly one: they would destroy my life]. These enemies are not only false, without justification and deadly; but they are very numerous : than the hairs of my head || strong in number]. A glossator explains the suffering as due to the folly and fault of the sufferer, in a line of different measure from the context: 6. Thou knowest from Thee are not hid] positively and negatively all is known to God. my folly || my faults], both terms of late usage in the time when the legal type of righteousness was mingled with the more ethical type of Hebrew Wisdom.

--

Str. II. has a syn. couplet, and a tetrastich whose second and third lines are syn., the first and fourth introductory and concluding.-7. Let not those that wait on Thee || that seek Thee], the real worshippers. - Yahweh Sabaoth || God of Israel], divine names which in themselves are pleas for help in the mouth of an Israelite. be ashamed || be upbraided], suffer disgrace and humiliation. through me], as an example of a worshipper of Yahweh delivered over into the hands of enemies. - A later editor now inserts a portion of another Ps., v.8-13, which in trimeter measure describes the sufferings of a persecuted prophet. Then 14 a was inserted as a seam. But as for me], antith. enemies. my prayer is to Thee, Yahweh, at the time of acceptance, O God]. This expresses an assurance and certainty of redemption, which is not in harmony with the context. "The time of acceptance," phr. elsw. Is. 498, is the time when the prayer will be favoured by God with an answer of salvation. 14 b-16. In the abundance of Thy kindness, intensified by in the faithfulness of Thy salvation]. The attributes of kindness and faithfulness are those upon which salvation is usually based. When these are intensified by abun

dance, superabounding every need, they constitute an invincible plea. On them are heaped up a number of verbal pleas, at first more general: answer me || deliver me, then more specifically, referring to the figure of v.3: Let me not be overwhelmed in the depths of water || Let not the flood overwhelm me, and let me not be swallowed up], concluding with deliverance from the Pit of Sheol : Let not the Pit keep guard over me with its mouth]. Let me not go down into the Pit of Sheol, and be shut up there, kept in ward by a safely fastened door at its mouth. Those who think of the dungeon in which Jeremiah was confined, Je. 386, fail to see the incongruity between the figure of the rapids of a river and that of a damp, miry dungeon.

66

Str. III. has two synth. tristichs. -17. Answer me], a renewal of the petition, v.1, with slightly varying terms: according to the goodness of Thy kindness, according to the abundance of Thy compassion]. This was enlarged by an ancient copyist, making the v. into two tetrameters: answer me, Yahweh; for Thy kindness is good; according to the abundance of Thy compassion turn unto me." This reading, although sustained by and other Vrss. and followed by EV., cannot be justified save at the expense of the measure and strophical organisation of the Ps. and at the cost of the correspondence of the v. with v.14.-18. And hide not Thy face], so as not to see, cf. 101. A glossator adds from Thy servant in my straits], as elsw. ; but a glossator enlarges it with" for I am in straits.". O make haste]. The need is imperative, and unless speedy help is given it will be too late. This also was enlarged by a glossator's appending "answer me." All these additions were probably made to assimilate these pentameter lines to the trimeters of the poem, whose second part begins, v.2%, and continues through v.2.-19. Draw near unto me, O ransom, on account of mine enemies], referring back to v.5. The glossator appends "redeem me" to make this line also into two trimeters, as v.20-29.-30. Afflicted and sorrowful], emphatic description of the condition of the pleading sufferer. — let Thy salvation], cf. v.1-lift me on high] in safety from the enemies, where they cannot reach me. -31. I will praise Thy name || magnify it], a vow of public praise in the temple.with a song || thanksgiving], a song of thanksgiving with vocal music. 32. And it will