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                         THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE




                           EDITED BY THE REV.
                    W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.
                      _Editor of "The Expositor"_





                               THE PSALMS


                                   BY
                        ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.




                             _VOLUME III._
                             PSALM XC.-CL.




                                NEW YORK
                        A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
                          51 EAST TENTH STREET
                                  1894




                         THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.

             _Crown_ 8_vo, cloth, price_ $1.50 _each vol._


                         FIRST SERIES, 1887-8.

  Colossians.
    By A. MACLAREN, D.D.

  St. Mark.
    By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.

  Genesis.
    By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.

  1 Samuel.
    By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D.

  2 Samuel.
    By the same Author.

  Hebrews.
    By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D.


                         SECOND SERIES, 1888-9.

  Galatians.
    By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.

  The Pastoral Epistles.
    By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.

  Isaiah I.-XXXIX.
    By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. I.

  The Book of Revelation.
    By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D.

  1 Corinthians.
    By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.

  The Epistles of St. John.
    By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D.


                         THIRD SERIES, 1889-90.

  Judges and Ruth.
    By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D.

  Jeremiah.
    By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A.

  Isaiah XL.-LXVI.
    By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. II.

  St. Matthew.
    By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.

  Exodus.
    By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.

  St. Luke.
    By Rev. H. BURTON, M.A.


                         FOURTH SERIES, 1890-1.

  Ecclesiastes.
    By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D.

  St. James and St. Jude.
    By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.

  Proverbs.
    By Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D.

  Leviticus.
    By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D.

  The Gospel of St. John.
    By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I.

  The Acts of the Apostles.
    By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I.


                         FIFTH SERIES, 1891-2.

  The Psalms.
    By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I.

  1 and 2 Thessalonians.
    By JAMES DENNEY, D.D.

  The Book of Job.
    By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D.

  Ephesians.
    By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.

  The Gospel of St. John.
    By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II.

  The Acts of the Apostles.
    By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II.


                         SIXTH SERIES, 1892-3.

  1 Kings.
    By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR.

  Philippians.
    By Principal RAINY, D.D.

  Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.
    By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A.

  Joshua.
    By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D.

  The Psalms.
    By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. II.

  The Epistles of St. Peter.
    By Prof. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D.


                        SEVENTH SERIES, 1893-4.

  2 Kings.
    By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR.

  Romans.
    By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A.

  The Books of Chronicles.
    By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A.

  2 Corinthians.
    By JAMES DENNEY, D.D.

  Numbers.
    By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D.

  The Psalms.
    By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. III.


                         EIGHTH SERIES, 1895-6.

  Daniel.
    By the Ven. Archdeacon F. W. FARRAR.

  The Book of Jeremiah.
    By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A.

  Deuteronomy.
    By Prof. ANDREW HARPER, B.D.

  The Song of Solomon and Lamentations.
    By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A.

  Ezekiel.
    By Prof. JOHN SKINNER, M.A.

  The Minor Prophets.
    By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Two Vols.




                               THE PSALMS





                                   BY
                        ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.





                              _VOLUME III_
                             PSALMS XC.-CL.





                                NEW YORK
                        A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
                          51 EAST TENTH STREET
                                  1894




                                CONTENTS


                                            PAGE

  PSALM XC.                                    3

    "   XCI.                                  14

    "   XCII.                                 26

    "   XCIII.                                33

    "   XCIV.                                 38

    "   XCV.                                  48

    "   XCVI.                                 55

    "   XCVII.                                60

    "   XCVIII.                               68

    "   XCIX.                                 71

    "   C.                                    78

    "   CI.                                   81

    "   CII.                                  87

    "   CIII.                                101

    "   CIV.                                 111

    "   CV.                                  124

    "   CVI.                                 137

    "   CVII.                                155

    "   CVIII.                               169

    "   CIX.                                 172

    "   CX.                                  183

    "   CXI.                                 193

    "   CXII.                                198

    "   CXIII.                               205

    "   CXIV.                                210

    "   CXV.                                 214

    "   CXVI.                                221

    "   CXVII.                               229

    "   CXVIII.                              231

    "   CXIX.                                244

    "   CXX.                                 292

    "   CXXI.                                297

    "   CXXII.                               303

    "   CXXIII.                              307

    "   CXXIV.                               310

    "   CXXV.                                313

    "   CXXVI.                               318

    "   CXXVII.                              323

    "   CXXVIII.                             327

    "   CXXIX.                               331

    "   CXXX.                                335

    "   CXXXI.                               341

    "   CXXXII.                              344

    "   CXXXIII.                             355

    "   CXXXIV.                              359

    "   CXXXV.                               361

    "   CXXXVI.                              366

    "   CXXXVII.                             370

    "   CXXXVIII.                            376

    "   CXXXIX.                              382

    "   CXL.                                 393

    "   CXLI.                                398

    "   CXLII.                               405

    "   CXLIII.                              410

    "   CXLIV.                               418

    "   CXLV.                                424

    "   CXLVI.                               434

    "   CXLVII.                              440

    "   CXLVIII.                             448

    "   CXLIX.                               454

    "   CL.                                  458




                                BOOK IV.

                           _PSALMS XC.-CVI._




                               PSALM XC.

     1 Lord, a dwelling-place hast Thou been for us
       In generation after generation.
     2 Before the mountains were born,
       Or Thou gavest birth to the earth and the world,
       Even from everlasting, Thou art God.
     3 Thou turnest frail man back to dust,
       And sayest, "Return, ye sons of man."
     4 For a thousand years in Thine eyes are as yesterday when it was
           passing,
       And a watch in the night.
     5 Thou dost flood them away, a sleep do they become,
       In the morning they are like grass [which] springs afresh.
     6 In the morning it blooms and springs afresh,
       By evening it is cut down and withers.

     7 For we are wasted away in Thine anger,
       And by Thy wrath have we been panic-struck.
     8 Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee,
       Our secret [sins] in the radiance of Thy face.
     9 For all our days have vanished in Thy wrath,
       We have spent our years as a murmur.
    10 The days of our years--in them are seventy years,
       Or if [we are] in strength, eighty years,
       And their pride is [but] trouble and vanity,
       For it is passed swiftly, and we fly away.
    11 Who knows the power of Thine anger,
       And of Thy wrath according to the [due] fear of Thee?
    12 To number our days--thus teach us,
       That we may win ourselves a heart of wisdom.

    13 Return, Jehovah; how long?
       And have compassion upon Thy servants.
    14 Satisfy us in the morning [with] Thy loving-kindness,
       And we shall ring out joyful cries and be glad all our days.
    15 Gladden us according to the days [when] Thou hast afflicted us,
       The years [when] we have seen adversity.
    16 To Thy servants let Thy working be manifested,
       And Thy majesty upon their children.
    17 And let the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us,
       And the work of our hands establish upon us,
       Yea, the work of our hands establish it.


The sad and stately music of this great psalm befits the dirge of a
world. How artificial and poor, beside its restrained emotion and
majestic simplicity, do even the most deeply felt strains of other
poets on the same themes sound! It preaches man's mortality in immortal
words. In its awestruck yet trustful gaze on God's eternal being, in
its lofty sadness, in its archaic directness, in its grand images so
clearly cut and so briefly expressed, in its emphatic recognition of
sin as the occasion of death, and in its clinging to the eternal God
who can fill fleeting days with ringing gladness, the psalm utters once
for all the deepest thoughts of devout men. Like the God whom it hymns,
it has been "for generation after generation" an asylum.

The question of its authorship has a literary interest, but little
more. The arguments against the Mosaic authorship, apart from
those derived from the as yet unsettled questions in regard to the
Pentateuch, are weak. The favourite one, adduced by Cheyne after
Hupfeld and