Part 10

Exaudi, Domine, justitiam.

A just man's prayer in tribulation against the malice of his enemy.

16:1. The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.

16:2. Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.

16:3. Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.

16:4. That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.

16:5. Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.

16:6. I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.

16:7. Shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.

16:8. From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.

16:9. From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul:

16:10. They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.

Their fat. . .That is, their bowels of compassion: for they have none for me.

16:11. They have cast me forth, and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.

16:12. They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.

16:13. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one; thy sword

16:14. From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

Divide them from the few, etc. . .That is, cut them off from the earth, and the few trifling things thereof; which they are so proud of, or divide them from the few; that is, from thy elect, who are but few; that they may no longer have it in their power to oppress them. It is not meant by way of a curse or imprecation; but, as many other the like passages in the psalms, by way of a prediction, or prophecy of what should come upon them, in punishment of their wickedness. Ibid. Thy hidden stores. . .Thy secret treasures, out of which thou furnishest those earthly goods, which, with a bountiful hand thou hast distributed both to the good and the bad.

16:15. But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.

Psalms Chapter 17

Diligam te, Domine.

David's thanks to God for his delivery from all his enemies.

17:1. Unto the end, for David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said:

17:2. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:

17:3. The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support.

17:4. Praising, I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies.

17:5. The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.

17:6. The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me.