1 Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title, when he fled from Saul into the cave.
v.1
VERS. 1.-- *Unto the end.* A psalm of the resurrection and the passion, in brief. This the psalm does, *lest* thou, Pilate, or thou whosoever thou art, *shouldst corrupt David,* etc., by denying him king, because, being covered with flesh, he escaped the knowledge of the Jews No title was inscribed to David, etc., *as far as* where Christ lay hid, unknown to the Jews.
2 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.
v.2
VERS. 2.-- *Have mercy on me.* The prophet in the person of the Lord, because in him the Lord, as it were amid evils, cries out and foretells deliverance. Christ prays according to that which is man, so humble concerning the passion that he might be thought to be one of the faithful crying out. *And in the shadow.* The voice of the body is joined to the head: and speaking in the person of the members and in his own, he will say how he can be delivered, *he sent his Word.*
3 I will cry to God the most high; to God who hath done good to me.
4 He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,
v.4
VERS. 4.-- *He sent his Word from heaven.* Out of his own hidden essence, etc., *as far as* whom they thought they had put out. *He sent from heaven.* Diapsalmus. Now he declares what he sent and from what he rescued them, and he speaks in the person of the members. *He hath delivered.* Because *He hath sent his Word* is now certain, it is as though he already were who *hath delivered,* that is, hath delivered: and *he hath given,* that is, will give *for a reproach them that trod upon me. God hath sent.* His Word, in whom he dealt mercifully, in whom also he fulfilled the promises. *Mercy,* because out of mercy he died for us. *Truth,* because, as he had foretold, he rose again, to justify us. *His mercy,* etc. For both are contained in him. For if there had been mercy alone, there would have been licence for us to sin; if truth alone, man could not have borne it.
5 And he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions. I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
v.5
VERS. 5.-- *I slept.* Easy to be roused out of a deep rest: *Troubled* by the passion, *I slept.* David did not sleep in the cave, but Christ in death. Troubled, according to the flesh, by the memory and the anguish of the passion, whence; *My soul is sorrowful,* etc. *And Jesus began to be weary and to fear. The sons of men.* The right order is this: the sons of men prepared snares; but he inserts in what manner they troubled him. *The tongue.* Those cries Crucify, crucify, and the like, wrought death also, as a sharp sword.
6 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth.
v.6
VERS. 6.-- *Be thou exalted.* In the person of the prophet, the injuries being seen, and it being seen that in the resurrection the Jews were made empty, the man on the cross cries out rejoicing: *Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,* that he may judge the Jews on the earth. *Be thou exalted.* The Lord [speaks] the things above; the prophet indeed, but in the person of the Lord, because the Lord speaks in the prophet. Even when the prophet speaks out of his own person, the Lord speaks through him, who dictates to him. *Be thou exalted.* The words of Christ. But, O Father, etc., *as far as* because the whole world is made subject to him.
7 They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it.
v.7
VERS. 7.-- *They prepared a snare.* The exaltation being interposed, he pursues the narration he had begun. *For the feet* of the Lord are the rebukes of the wicked and the promises to the faithful, for which *they prepared deceits,* as in the matter of the adulteress. *They bowed down,* while he, having compassion on them, was made barren by them. *A pit before my face,* etc. When they said to his face: He is guilty of death.
8 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and rehearse a psalm.
v.8
VERS. 8.-- *Prepared.* Diapsalmus. After the resurrection he promises praises. Or, prepared to give thanks (which he there shows) *I will sing.*
9 Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.
v.9
VERS. 9.-- *Arise, my glory.* And therefore, O flesh, that art the cause of my glory, *Arise,* mightily, as it were a rejoicing together at a miracle to be wrought, being certain: whence, affirming the same thing, he repeats it. *Arise,* I say, because I am certain also of the hour, because *I will arise early. Arise, psaltery and harp.* The one flesh of Christ rose again, etc., *as far as* the *psaltery and harp,* therefore, rose again, and give praise to the Lord.
10 I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations.
11 For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth unto the clouds.
v.11
VERS. 11.-- *To the heavens.* Which are above the clouds, where is the seat of the angels, etc., *as far as* mercy ascends to the heavens.
12 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth.