To the chief Musician, upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.
Here, (1.) The man according to God's heart, in the assured faith of God's hearing his prayers, and hating his sins, fixeth a daily, an early, an earnest, a steady, a grace- founded correspondence with God, in his ordinances of meditation, prayer, praise, etc., ver. 1-7. (2.) Behold him humbly requesting God's special direction in duties which his enemies had rendered difficult to perform; supplicating and predicting the ruin of his implacable foes; and, in the assured faith of obtaining it, imploring comfort and prosperity to his fellow saints, ver. 8-12.
While I sing, let my heart and flesh cry out, and my soul pant and wait for the Lord. In the firm faith of infinite mercy to forgive all my crimes, and wash out all my sinful stains, let me blush at, and detest my own abominations. Let me cultivate the closest familiarity with the Lord my God. Let my prayers correspond with his promises, and with the particular condition of myself or others.
1 Give ear unto my words, O Lord,
my meditation weigh.
2 Hear my loud cry, my King, my God;
for I to thee will pray.
3 Lord, thou shalt early hear my voice:
I early will direct
My pray'r to thee; and, looking up,
an answer will expect.
4 For thou art not a God that doth
in wickedness delight;
Neither shall evil dwell with thee,
5 Nor fools stand in thy sight.
All that ill-doers are thou hat'st;
6 Cutt'st off that liars be:
The bloody and deceitful man
abhorred is by thee.
7 But I into thy house will come
in thine abundant grace;
And I will worship in thy fear
toward thy holy place.
8 Because of those mine enemies,
Lord, in thy righteousness
Do thou me lead; do thou thy way
make straight before my face.
9 For in their mouth there is no truth,
their inward part is ill;
Their throat's an open sepulchre,
their tongue doth flatter still.
10 O God, destroy them; let them be
by their own counsel quell'd:
Them for their many sins cast out,
for they 'gainst thee rebell'd.
11 But let all joy that trust in thee,
and still make shouting noise;
For them thou sav'st; let all that love
thy name in thee rejoice.
12 For, Lord, unto the righteous man
thou wilt thy blessing yield:
With favour thou wilt compass him
about, as with a shield.
