Verse 1

"To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David." I will praise [thee], O LORD, with my a whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

(a) God is not praised unless the whole glory is given to him alone.

Verse 4

For b thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.

(b) However the enemy seems for a time to prevail yet God preserves the just.

Verse 6

c O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

(c) A derision of the enemy that minds nothing but destruction: but the Lord will deliver his, and bring him into judgment.

Verse 9

The LORD also will be a refuge for the d oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

(d) Our miseries are meant to cause us to feel God's present care over us.

Verse 12

e When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

(e) Though God does not suddenly avenge the wrong done to his, yet he does not permit the wicked to go unpunished.

Verse 14

That I may shew forth all thy praise in the f gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

(f) In the open assembly of the Church.

Verse 15

The heathen are g sunk down in the pit [that] they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

(g) For God overthrows the wicked in their enterprises.

Verse 16

h The LORD is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

(h) The mercy of God toward his saints must be declared and the fall of the wicked must always be considered.

Verse 18

For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation i of the poor shall [not] perish for ever.

(i) God does not promise to help us before we have felt the cross.

Verse 20

Put them in fear, O LORD: [that] the nations may know themselves [to be but] k men. Selah.

(k) Which they cannot learn without the fear of your judgment.