Late at night, and early in the morning, did I give myself to meditation in thy word.

CXIX. 164 Seven times a day do I praise thee.

Many a time, in the day, do I lift up my soul unto thee, and praise thy name in my continual ejaculations.

CXX, 4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Surely, the plagues of God shall be sent, as so many arrows, singing into thy bosom; and his wrath shall wax hot, and endure eternally upon thee.

CXX. 5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

Woe is me, that I am forced to live amongst savage and barbarous men, that have neither fear of God, nor regard of humanity!

CXXI. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

None of all the creatures shall be hurtful unto thee: the sun shall not offend thee with his scorching heat, nor the moon with her cold and raw nightly vapours.

CXXII. 3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together. Jerusalem is stately built, for the outward fabric, in type of the glorious frame of God's Church: and is strongly and unanimously compacted together; not divided into several towns and religions, as it was; but, once perfectly united, both for structure, and for concord of heart and affections.

CXXII. 5 There are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

There do yet remain the thrones of judgment of the kings of Judah and Israel; the royal seat of the posterity of king David, where he and his sat to judge and govern their people,

CXXIV. 5 The proud waters had gone over our soul,

Our swelling and raging enemies had utterly overthrown us, and brought us to nothing.

CXXV. 3 The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. The cruel oppression and tyranny of wicked men, shall not be suffered to prevail long against the righteous; lest they should be too much discouraged, and drawn into a weak distrust.

CXXVI. 1 We were like them that dream.

We were so overjoyed with the blessing, that we could scarce assure ourselves, whether we might believe that we were indeed so happy, or whether it were a pleasing dream.

CXXVI. 4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.

O Lord, do thou so refresh us with a full accomplishment of our return from this captivity, as if thou shouldst cause some comfortable stream to flow through a dry southern desert, for the pleasure of the passengers.

CXXVI. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

As yet the return from the captivity is not perfect; and we, that are returned, are subject to much oppression and danger, from our heathen persecutors: but take comfort to yourselves, O ye people of God; for, howsoever ye are now distressed, and have a wet seed-time, yet doubtless ye shall be at last abundantly comforted, and reap the fruit of your patient expectation.

CXXVII. 2 For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Whereas worldly minded men spend themselves in carking and toiling, and yet prosper not in their designs; God will so bless his faithful ones, that they shall, without these turmoils and perplexities, enjoy themselves and the comforts bestowed on

them.

CXXVII. 5 They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

They have those, who shall stand by them; and be ready to maintain their cause, in all quarrels, whether of law or violence.

CXXIX. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.

They have oppressed me with many and intolerable injuries, and exercised their utmost spight upon me.

CXXX. 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.

My soul waiteth for the Lord, and longs for his comfortable presence, more than the watchman, that is forced to wake the whole night, waiteth for the break of day, that he may be discharged.

CXXXII. 6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.

Lo, we heard of thine ark, O Lord, that it was for many years pitched in Shiloh, within the tribe of Ephraim; and we found it, after the return from the Philistines, long fixed in the woody coun. try of Kirjath-jearim.

CXXXII. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation.

I will spread my protection and defence over her priests, which are consecrated to me.

CXXXII. 17 I will make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.

I will enlarge the power and glory of the royal issue of king

David; and will cause a glorious successor to arise out of the loins of mine anointed.

CXXXIII. 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

It is as the comfortable dew, that falls upon and from the fruitful mountain of Hermon into the fields of Bashan; or the dew, that falls upon the mountain of Zion: for where there is peace and concord, there God gives abundance of blessings, both for the present, and for the future life which is eternal.

CXXXVII. 7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

Remember, O Lord, the unkind and cruel posterity of Esau; how spitefully they behaved themselves in the day, when Jerusalem was taken and sacked; how they insulted; how they encouraged our enemies, to rase and demolish it even to the very ground.

CXXXVII. 8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

O thou Babylon, who, as thou hast destroyed this our goodly city, so thyself also art ordained to destruction; it shall be a happy work in those, that shall have a hand in thy ruin, to return thine own cruel measure back unto thee.

CXXXVIII. 1 Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. Even publicly in the holy place, in thy presence, and the presence of thy blessed angels, who are there represented, and before the great peers of Israel, will I sing praise unto thee.

CXXXVIII. 5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD. They shall celebrate and set forth all the wondrous works, that thou hast wrought; and all the courses, that thou hast taken with them and tell what thou hast done, and what thou hast enjoined

them to do.

CXXXVIII. 6 But the proud he knoweth afar off.

He so knows the proud, that he will come near them no way, but in judgment; and to that he hath long since designed them.

CXXXIX. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

O Lord, thy presence, and almighty power, encompasseth me, on all sides; and thou hast laid hold on me by thy hand, so as there is no starting from thee.

CXXXIX. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

The knowledge of thy great and glorious majesty and infiniteness, O Lord, is utterly past all human comprehension.

CXXXIX. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.

If I could fly, as swift as the day, and remove myself into the utmost coasts of the world.

CXXXIX. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

If there were no other workmanship of thine, but that which thou hast shewed in framing the body, and inspiring the soul of man; O God, I can never praise and admire thee enough for this only work of thine.

CXXXIX. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eye, and thy hand, was upon that original matter, whereof I was framed secretly, in the womb of my mother; thou sawest all the marvellous proceedings of my conception and formation here below.

CXXXIX. 16 And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Thou takest notice and keepest record of all the members of this body of mine, which thou hast made; which, by several degrees, were to be fashioned, in the womb: thou knewest, and in thy eternal decree hadst ordained them, when as yet they had no being.

CXXXIX. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

How wonderfully and inconceivably gracious are thy purposes towards me, O Lord; and how impossible is it for me, to express the specialties of thy bounty unto me!

CXL. 9 Let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

Let that mischief, which the lips of wicked men have plotted and uttered and wished against me, befall unto themselves; and so inwrap them, that they may not be able to extricate themselves.

CXL. 10 Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire.

Let all manner of judgments light upon them: let it not be enough, that fire falls down upon them, but let them be cast down into the fire.

CXLI. 2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Let my prayer ascend up unto thee, with so sweet acceptation, as that fragrant incense of the sanctuary, which is every morning offered up unto thee; and let my supplication be as pleasing to thee, as that prescribed meat-offering, which is every evening made unto thee.

CXLI. 5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their

calamities.

O God, let good men reprove me; this shall be a special favour and blessing to me, which, instead of hurt, shall be sovereign and profitable unto me: this shall not be as a stone to break my head, but as sweet oil to refresh and supple it; which I shall be ready to repay unto them, in the day of their calamity.

CXLI. 6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.

These men, when they shall see the judgments of God executed upon their rulers and commanders, who set them on work, shall then find favour, in the day of affliction, in my words, and shall acknowledge the fidelity and good purpose thereof.

CXLI. 7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

Our bones lie scattered upon the mouth of the grave, through their cruelty, as chips are wont to lie scattered about, when a man heweth wood.

CXLII. 7 The righteous shall compass me about.

The godly men shall come about me, to see and applaud thy gracious deliverances of me, and to help me to praise thy mercy.

CXLIII. 5 I remember the days of old.

I call to remembrance thy ancient mercies to me, and from thence fetch assurance of thy present goodness.

CXLIII. 7 Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Lest I be utterly comfortless, as those that are forsaken of all hopes and possibilities of life, and have yielded themselves over to the grave.

CXLIV. 6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

O God, do thou take this revenge, into thine own immediate hand: do thou smite them with thy thunderbolt, or lightning from heaven let those fiery darts of thine strike them through.

CXLIV. 12 That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.

That our daughters may be both goodly and fruitful, like unto the corner stones of a royal building, upon which the structure of a fair and lasting pile may be raised.

CXLIV. 14 That there be no breaking in, nor going out; no complaining in our streets.

That there be no sacking of our cities, no carrying away into captivity, no shrieking and outcries at the violence of an enemy raging in our streets.

CXLV. 14 He raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

Those, that stoop under their afflictions, and are depressed to the earth, he raiseth up with seasonable comfort.

CXLVII. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.