tic for a Vine may with more Propriety be faid to cover a Cedar with it's Boughs, than to be like that Tree. V. 15. And the Vineyard which thy Right Hand hath planted: -the Signification of Vine כנה Lexicographers give [ אשר נטעה ימינך yard, merely because they think the Senfe requires it in this Place. [ אמצתה לך : 75 SON] Qu. may not a be here rendered A BUILDING, as well as na, na, or a, all which are derived from, ædificavit ? for a, Gen. XLIX. 22. does not fignify there a Branch. See Par. Proph. V. 16. they perish at the Rebuke of thy Countenance. MhVID are I apprehend the Foundation יאבדו The Antecedents to [ יאבדו : and the Building juft before mentioned. V. 5. where I heard a Language that I understood not. YOUN YT] Our old Verfion obferves in the Margin that this is spoken by God in the Perfon of the People, becaufe He was their Leader. But this Senfe feems very forced; I would rather read, with most of the old Verfions, ya y, viz. HE (i. e. Joseph) HEARD A LANGUAGE that HE UNDERSTOOD NOT; or, with less Variation from the Text, read yes ny-I MADE thee HEAR A LANGUAGE which THOU UNDERSTOODEST NOT. The two following Verfes would juftify this Change of Perfons. V.7.I answered thee in the fecret Place of Thunder. 078 Dy] Rather I ANSWERED THEE BY (HIDING, or) STOPPING [רעם THE THE THUNDER. D is here I apprehend the Gerund; and this is a manifeft Allufion to that Thunder which accompanied the Delivery of the Law of the two Tables, which we are told greatly alarmed the People. Exod. XX. 18, 19. V. 8. Hear, O my People, and I will testify unto thee: 0 Ifrael, if [שמע עמי ואעידה בך- ישראל אם תשמע לי : .thou wilt bearken unto me The Syriac adds after, Hear, O my People, 1781, and I will Speak: but there is no Occafion for any Addition, if we render- HEAR, O MY PEOPLE, FOR I WILL BEAR WITNESS AGAINST THEE. ISRAEL, IF THOU HADST HEARKENED UNTO ME; לא יהיה בך אל זר V. 9. There shall no ftrange God be in thee; —m ab] THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO &c. and fo in the next Hemiftic. The 11th Verfe confirms this Sense. V.10. —open thy Mouth wide, and I will fill it. : 729 2070] an is here I imagine to be conftrued as the Preter Hiphil, as Ifai. XXX. 33. Pf. IV. 1. &c. thus - WHO OPENED THY MOUTH AND FILLED IT. This seems clearly to refer to the miraculous Manner, in which the Ifraelites were fed with Manna in the Wilderness. - ואכילהו If we read ויאכילהו - V. 16. He Jhould have fed them AND I SHOULD HAVE FED THEM the whole Context would be clearer. The [בקרב באלהים ישפט : V. 1. he judgeth among the Gods. Word is not, like the incommunicable Name, Jehovah, (Pf. LXXXIII. 18.) confined to the Supreme Being, but is fometimes extended to MAGISTRATES, as in this Place and V. 6. and at other Times to Angels, as Pf. CIII. 20. The Reason feems to be, that by their Office they are God's Reprefentatives, commiffioned to execute his Commands. This Name is alfo given to Idols, Pf. XCVII. 7.9. &c. ימוטו V. 5. all the Foundations of the Earth are out of Course. TOTTER, or ARE SHAKEN. When X 2 Justice Rather [כל מוסדי ארץ: Juftice is perverted, and Partiality fhewn, when the poor, the afflicted, and the fatherless are oppreffed by the Magistrates, the Foundations of the moral World may very justly be faid to be shaken. V.6. I have faid, Ye are Gods; and all of you are Children of the most This Verfe [אני אמרתי אלהים אתם - ובני עליון כלכם: .mini High ought I think to be connected with the next, and rendered ―Though I HAVE CALLED YOU GODS, YEA, ALL OF YOU THE CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH; Rather [ אכן כאדם תמותון - וכאחד השרים תפלו : V.7. But ye fall die like Men, and fall like one of the Princes. NEVERTHELESS YE SHALL DIE LIKE A COMMON MAN; AND YE SHALL FALL, O PRINCES, LIKE A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL; in Oppofition to Magiftrates, who reprefent the Body of the People. PSALM LXXXIII. ויתיעצו על צפוניך : V. 3. -and confulted against thy hidden ones. Rather AGAINST THOSE WHOM THOU ESTEEMEST; or literally, AGAINST THINE ESTEEMED, OF TREASURED, ONES, (fee the Verby thus ufed, Job XXXIII. 12.) in the fame Senfe as God's People are frequently tiled his hao, His peculiar Treafure; Pf. CXXXV. 4. Exod. XIX. 5. Read [שיתמו נדיבמו כערב V. 11. Make their Nobles like Oreb here MAKE THEM AND THEIR NOBLES That this is the true Lection, fee the Chaldee and Syriac Verfions. שיתם ונדיבמו V. 13. O my God, make them like a Wheel; embx] In Ifaiah, where the fame Comparison occurs, is rendered a rolling Thing (which is doubtless the general Idea of the Word) and in the Margin, Thistle Down: (Ch. XVII. 13.) either of which Senfes feems preferable to that of Wheel. V. 14. As the Fire burneth the Wood, and as the Flame fetteth the Mountains on Fire:] So Homer, Iliad II. v. 455. Ηυτε πυρ αίδηλον επιφλεγει ασπετον υλην Ούρεος εν κορυφης. And Virgil, Georg. II. V. 305. PSALM PSALM LXXXIV. V. 2.,my Heart and my Flesh crieth out for the living God. 25 Rather, with the old Verfion [ובשרי ירננו אל אל חי : THE LIVING GOD. V. 3. Yea, the Sparrow bath found an Houfe, and the Swallow a Neft for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine Altars &c. גם צפור מצאה בית - ודרור קן לה - אשר שתה אפרחיה - את מזבחותיך "121] As n feems rather redundant here, might not we read or ns, and render - AS THE SPARROW FINDETH AN HOUSE, AND THE SWALLOW A NEST, WHERE SHE MAY LAY HER YOUNG, for LET ME APPROACH (or LET ME BE PLACED at) THINE ALTARS, is used as a Particle of Comparison, Jer. LI. 49. &c V. 5. in whofe Heart are the Ways of them. Daba bos]: Rather, I think IN WHOSE HEART are PRAISES: for the Verb fignifies to extol, or praise, Pf. LXVIII. 4. V.6. Who paffing through the Valley of Baca, make it a Well : עברי בעמק הבכא - מעין ישיתוהו גם .the Rain alfo filleth the Pools - יעטה מורה: ך ברכות. Thus I think ought the Hemiftics to be distinguished, which will give this Sense --- PASSING THROUGH THE VALE OF WEEPING, THEY WILL MAKE IT A SOURCE EVEN OF BLESSINGS: IT WILL PUT ON A NEW FACE; or IT WILL BE CLOTHED WITH A CHANGE. Noun, from 12, which fignifies to make a Change in the Circumftances, or to alter to the reverfe. See Hof. IV. 7. Mic. II. 4. and I read, with the ancient Verfions, is here confidered as a מורה every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. [ אלהים בציון : Rather - THE GOD OF GODS WILL LOOK UPON ZION; i. e. his Church. V. 10. For a Day in thy Courts is better than a thousand:] So Tully, Tufc. V. O vitæ Philofophia dux, unus dies bene et ex præceptis tuis aclus peccanti Immortalitati eft anteponendus. PSALM LXXXV. V.13. —and shall fet us in the Way of his Steps. : 775 Dv"). Rather AND SHALL DIRECT HIS STEPS IN THE WAY: i. e. Righteousness. Righteousness shall direct God. A poetical Image, to intimate that He will act agreeably to Juftice. V. 8. neither are there any Works like unto thy Works. 81 Ty] Rather - AND there is NOTHING LIKE THY WORKS. [כמעשיך : יחד לבבי ליראה שמך : .Heart to fear toy Name MY HEART WILL REJOICE IN FEARING THY NAME. חדה See the Verb PSALM LXXXVII. - יסוד תו I read V. 1. His Foundation is in the holy Mountains. : W7P 1777 17TID'] A DESIRE (A MARK, or SIGN) SHALL BE SET UP IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. Though the Temple upon Mount Moriah might be confidered as a Beacon, to be seen by all Nations, yet it does not seem to be the Idea intended to be here specified. What this is will appear at V. 5. V. 3. Glorious Things are spoken of thee If [נכבדות מדבר בך this Verfion be right, the Text ought to be 12, the Participle Pybal: but the Words may I think be divided better, thus דבר בך 7277 Dr, and rendered — A GLORIOUS AND PERFECT SUBJECT is IN THEE, O CITY OF GOD. V. 4. I will make mention of Rabab and Babylon to them that know me; behold Philiftia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this Man was born there. [אזכיר רהב ובבל לידעי - הנה פלשת וצור עם כוש - זה ילד שם : Rather--- I WILL SPEAK TO THOSE THAT KNOW ME OF EGYPT AND BABYLON; BEHOLD OF PHILISTIA, AND TYRE, WITH ETHIOPIA, faying, SUCH A ONE WAS BORN THERE. The fame as o deva: is ufed contemptuously, viz. as for THIS MOSES, the Man that brought up us out of the Land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. Exod. XXXII. 1. The Meaning of this Verse I conceive to be no other than this; viz. "that in fpeaking to my Acquaintance concerning Egypt, Babylon, and all the other neighbouring Countries, I fhall make mention of the greatest Perfons "born in them as mere ordinary Characters, from whofe Births their 66 "respective |