Who can understand his errors?

Cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me :

Then shall I be upright,

And I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth,

And the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight,
O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

XX. A monarch going out to battle.

It might be David, or Hezekiah. even say that it refers to the Maccabean leader, Simon.

20 THE LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;

Psalm XX.

Send thee help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen thee out of Zion;

Remember all thy offerings,

And accept thy burnt sacrifice;

Grant thee according to thine own heart,

And fulfil all thy counsel.

We will rejoice in thy salvation,

And in the name oi our God we will set up our banners:

The LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed;

He will hear him from his holy heaven

With the saving strength of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses :

But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

They are brought down and fallen:

But we are risen, and stand upright.

Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

Some

XXIII.-Probably too mature in thought, expression and experience to be really David's. It is a beautiful specimen of the personal psalm.

23 THE LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Psalm XXIII. He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies :

Thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

XXIV.-After David had captured from the Jebusites the stronghold of Zion, he brought into it "the Ark of the Covenant," which had been kept in the house of Obed-edom (1 Chron. xv.). This psalm may refer to the occasion.

24 THE earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive the blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him,
That seek thy face, O Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;

And the King of glory shall come in.

Psalm

XXIV.

Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty,

The LORD mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;

And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.

XXVII.—A composite psalm. The first portion is a more or less joyful lyric; the second portion was added later; the reference to "the Temple" points to a period later than David.

27 THE LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,

Psalm XXVII.

Came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not

fear:

Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion :
In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;

He shall set me up upon a rock.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:

Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice :

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Hide not thy face far from me;

Put not thy servant away in anger :

Thou hast been my help; leave me not,

Neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the LORD will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O LORD,

And lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies :

For false witnesses are risen up against me,

And such as breathe out cruelty.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD

In the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD:

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart :
Wait, I say, on the LORD.

XXIX. -"The Psalm of the Seven Thunders" (Delitzsch).

29 GIVE unto the LORD, O ye mighty,

Give unto the LORD glory and strength,

Psalm XXIX.

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name;
Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters :

The God of glory thundereth :

The LORD is upon many waters.

The voice of the LORD is powerful;

The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars;

Yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness;
The LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve,
And discovereth the forests:

And in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
The LORD sitteth upon the flood;

Yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

The LORD will give strength unto his people;
The LORD will bless his people with peace.

XXXI. This psalm is full of parallels with Jeremiah.

"Fear on every

side," in the original Magor-Missabib, found in Jeremiah vi. 25, and

xx. 3.

31 IN thee, O LORD, do I put my trust;

Let me never be ashamed:

Deliver me in thy righteousness.

Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily:

Be thou my strong rock,

For an house of defence to save me.

For thou art my rock and my fortress;

Psalm XXXI.

Therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me:
For thou art my strength.

Into thine hand I commit my spirit:

Thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

I have hated them that regard lying vanities:

But I trust in the LORD.

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy :

For thou hast considered my trouble;
Thou hast known my soul in adversities;

And hast not shut me up into the hand of the

Thou hast set my foot in a large room.

enemy:

Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble :

Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing :

My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

I was a reproach among all mine enemies,

But especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine

acquaintance:

They that did see me without fled from me.

Y

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:

I am like a broken vessel.

For I have heard the slander of many :

Fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me,

They devised to take away my life.

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
My times are in thy hand:

Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant :

Save me for thy mercies' sake.

Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence;

Which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee;

Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men !

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the

pride of man:

Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Blessed be the LORD:

For he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste,

I am cut off from before thine eyes :

Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications
When I cried unto thee.

For the LORD preserveth the faithful,

And plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,
All ye that hope in the LORD.

33 REJOICE in the LORD, O ye righteous:

For praise is comely for the upright.

Praise the LORD with harp:

Psalm XXXIII. Sing unto him with the psaltery and an instru

ment of ten strings.

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
For the word of the LORD is right;

And all his works are done in truth.

He loveth righteousness and judgment:

The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.