6. To what does the fourth verse allude?

7. What is meant by God's jealousy, in the fifth verse? 8. What is meant by the clause, that have not known thee, in the sixth verse?

9. What is meant by the clause, that have not called on thy name, in the same verse?

10. What does Jacob, in the seventh verse, mean? 11. What is meant by thy tender mercies preventing us, in the eighth verse?

12. Who is the prisoner in the eleventh verse?

13. Who were those appointed to die, in the same verse? 14. Who were the neighbors, in the twelfth verse? 15. What is the inference from the whole psalm?

PSALM LXXXI. 8-16.

God's expostulation with his ancient people.

8. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9. There shall no strange god be in thee; Neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

10. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:

Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11. But my people would not hearken to my voice;
And Israel would none of me.

12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust:
And they walked in their own counsels.
13. O that my people had hearkened unto me,
And Israel had walked in my ways!

14. I should soon have subdued their enemies,

And turned my hand against their adversaries.

15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him:

But their time should have endured forever.

16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat :

And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

NOTES ON PSALM LXXXI. 8-16.

Verse 8. The people here addressed are the Israelites. Verse 9. A strange god means a god of other or hea

then nations.

Verse 10. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it, i. e. prepare to receive great blessings.

Verse 15. Their time means here their time of prosperity.

Verse 16. This verse alludes to Deut. 32: 13, 14.He should have fed them, is equivalent to, I should have fed thee.

General remark on the whole passage. This passage exhibits the tender concern of God for his people in a most interesting light.

QUESTIONS ON PSALM LXXXI. 8-16.

1. What is the subject of this passage?

2. Will you please to repeat the passage?

3. Who are the people addressed in the eighth verse? 4. What is meant by a strange god, in the ninth verse?

5. What is the meaning of the latter clause in the tenth verse?

6. What is meant by their time, in the fifteenth verse?

7. What passage does the sixteenth verse allude to?

8. There is a remarkable change of persons in this verse, will you explain what it is?

9. What is the general remark on the whole passage?

PSALM LXXXIV.

Longing after the temple.

1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O. LORD of hosts! 2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD:

My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young,

Even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my
God.

4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house :

They will be still praising thee.

5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; In whose heart are the ways of them:

6. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; The rain also filleth the pools.

7. They go from strength to strength,

Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 8. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer:

Give ear, O God of Jacob.

9. Behold, O God our shield,

And look upon the face of thine anointed.

10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11. For the LORD God is a sun and shield:

The LORD will give grace and glory :

No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

12. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

NOTES ON PSALM LXXXIV.

Verse 1. Amiable, i. e. pleasant or agreeable. Verse 2. The courts of Jehovah were enclosed spaces, which made a part of the tabernacle or temple.-My heart and my flesh, i. e. my soul and my body.

Verse 3. The psalmist envies, as it were, the little birds which nested near the altars of God.

Verse 4. The psalmist pronounces those happy that have free access to God's temple.

Verse 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, i. e. blessed is every one whose defense is in God.-In whose heart are the ways of them, more correctly, in whose heart (or affections) are the ways to Zion, i. e. who love the ways to Zion.

Verse 6. The valley of Baca stands here for any arid unfruitful valley.-Sentiment of the verse: those whose safety is in God, can render an arid vale a fruitful field, i. e. they are happy, even in adversity.

Verse 9. Behold, namely, in kindness.-God is here called our shield or protector.-God's anointed is the king of Israel.

Verse 11. A sun is used here metaphorically for a source of prosperity and happiness.

QUESTIONS ON PSALM LXXXIV.

1. What is the subject of this psalm?

2. Will you please to repeat the psalm?

3. What is meant by amiable, in the first verse?

4. What are the courts of Jehovah mentioned in the second verse?

5. What is meant by my heart and my flesh, in the same verse?

6. What do you say of the third verse?

7. What do you say of the fourth verse?

8. What is the meaning of the first clause of the fifth

verse?

9. What is the meaning of the second clause of the fifth

10. What does the valley of Baca, in the sixth verse,

for?

11. What is the sentiment of the sixth verse?

12. What is meant by behold, in the ninth verse?

13. What is God called in this verse?

14. Who is God's anointed?

15. How is the word sun used in the eleventh verse?

stand

PSALM LXXXV.

The psalmist, in view of former mercies, prays for a continuance of them.

1. LORD, thou hast been favorable unto thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, Thou hast covered all their sin.

3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath:

Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

4. Turn us, O God of our salvation,

And cause thine anger toward us to cease.

5. Wilt thou be angry with us forever?

Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

6. Wilt thou not revive us again :

That thy people may rejoice in thee?

7. Shew us thy mercy, O LORD,

And grant us thy salvation.

8. I will hear what God the LORD will speak:

For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his

saints :

But let them not turn again to folly.