The desolation of Jerusalem and of the Temple , as well as the rest of the Country , made by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon , was the sad occasion of this Psalm . For it is altogether improbable , that it hath respect to the days of Antiochus Epiphanes , as some fancy ; because , as Theodoret perrinently notes ( to omit all other reasons ) we reade nothing in any History of his burning the Temple , or so much as of his laying the City waste ; which are both here most sorrowfully bewailed by Asaph . Who was not therefore that Asaph in David's time ( unless we should grant him to have written by the spirit of Prophecy , and predicted what should be in after-times , as a great many think ) because there was no such Temple in those days , nor had been , as is here described : Nor was it Asaph the Seer in Hezekiah's days ( of whom see Argument of the foregoing Psalm ) who saw no such desolation made by Senacherib ( for he did not take Jerusalem , nor shoot so much as an arrow into it ) nor , in all likelihood , prophesied of the destruction here spoken of ; because the description of it in this Psalm is so plain , that we may most reasonably think the Authour of it had it before his eyes , and did not merely see it by the spirit of Prophecy ; which is not wont to foretell things in so clear a manner , but more obscurely and darkly .

I conclude therefore it was some other Asaph who composed this Psalm , in the time of the Captivity , and in the middle , or rather toward the conclusion of it ; because he complains , Ver. 9. that they had no Prophet ( as there was in the beginning of the Captivity , particularly Jeremiah ) to tell them how long it should last . And considering that in the second Verse he speaks of himself as one that dwelt still in the Land of Israel , pointing to Mount Sion as a place near to him ; I take him to have been some pious man of the posterity of Asaph , who was suffered to remain there with the Chaldaeans .

And if it were fit to suppose him to have written this Psalm very young , and to have lived to a great age , when I have no proof of either ; I should guess him to be Asaph the Keeper of the King's Forrest , in the days of Nehemiah : who desired Artaxerxes to write to him , to furnish him with Timber out of Lebanon , for the rebuilding some of those places , which the Psalmist here complains were destroyed . Among which , the Porch of the Court of the Sanctuary remained unbuilt even unto those times .

Howsoever from the mention of Mount Sion in the second Verse , it is manifest Grotius forgot himself , when , in his Notes upon Ver. 6. he applies this Psalm to the destruction of Shiloh ; which he supposes Asaph to have here bewailed . For Mount Sion had then never been in their possession , as it was afterward , and had lain so long waste ( Ver. 3. ) when Asaph wrote this Psalm , that it look'd like a perpetual desolation . Besides the Tabernacle was not burnt when Shiloh was destroyed , but remained , though without the Ark , till the days of Solomon , 2 Chron. I. 3. see Psalm LXVIII . And of the meaning of Maschil , see Psalm XXXII .

1. O God , the Sovereign Judge of the world , who hast justly expelled us out of our Land , and continued our banishment so long , that little hope appears of our being restored to it again ; behold the anguish of our Souls , wherein we cry unto Thee for mercy : For we are confounded to see Thee so highly incensed against those , who were once under thy most indulgent care ; as if Thou wert resolved never to be reconciled to us any more .

2. Thou hast not forgotten , we know , though it be very long ago , with the expence of how many Miracles Thou didst make our Ancestours thy peculiar people : For which reason , though we be exceedingly underserving , we beseech Thee to let all the world see , Thou wilt not utterly abandon the poor remainders of that Nation , which Thou didst acquire at so great a price ; that Kingdom which Thou didst rescue out of the most miserable slavery , to be thy own possession ; and this Mount Sion , wherein ( after Thou hadst by many wonders brought us into Canaan , and routed out the old Inhabitants ) Thou wast pleased at last , to settle thy abode among us .

4. They are thy Enemies therefore as well as ours , whose fury and rage so transports them that they roar rather then shout ; whilst they triumph in those places where thy people were wont to meet to praise thy Name : There they have set up their Banners in token of their Victory ; and bragg , as if their Gods were superiour unto Thee .

5. Every one of them laid about him , and bestirred himself with all his might ; as if he hoped to get renown by the mischief he did : which was committed with no more remorse , then if they had been lopping off boughs in the thickets of a Forrest , where they may be spared .

6. Just so methinks I see ( as if it were now a doing ) how they hacked and hewed with Axes , and knocked down with Hammers , the curious carved Work of the Temple : whose elegance would have moved any but Barbarians , to have preserved it with as great a zeal , as they imployed to beat it in pieces .

7. But , so mad was their rage , it was not satisfied with this ; but set fire unto thy holy place : And what that did not consume , they pull'd down ; till they had utterly profaned the habitation consecrated to thy Majesty , by laying it level with the ground .

8. Nor did all this give a stop unto their fury ; but they rather grew the more outragious : For designing quite to destroy our Religion , both in this and in future Generations , they left not so much as one place , wherein we might meet to say our Prayers , or hear the Law , throughout the Land .

9. And , which is the saddest thing of all , Thou seemest to have left us too ; and we see no token of thy Divine presence with us : So far we are from beholding any miraculous works , as our Fathers did , for our deliverance ; that there is not so much as a Prophet to be found , to give us any advice , or speak a word of comfort to us : not a man among us , that can tell when these calamities will have an end .

10. What a reproach is this , O God ? which hath quite tired our patience ; and makes us cry unto Thee to make haste , to avenge thy self of these insulting Enemies : Stop their blasphemous mouths , O God ; and let them not say any more , as they have done too long , that Thou art not able to deliver us .

11. For we are confounded and know not what to say , while Thou thus withdrawest thy powerfull presence from us ; that mighty power which was wont to do such wonders for us : exert it again we beseech Thee , and stretch it out for the destruction of those , who have spoken of it so contemptuously .

12. Why should I despair of it ? since the great God , whom they deride , hath many Ages ago undertaken the Government and Protection of us : working for us such deliverances in this Land which now lyes waste , as astonished all the world .

13. Thou art that God , to whose power the raging Sea is subject ; which at thy command retired , and opened a way for us to pass thorough ; but came back again , with its wonted violence , and overwhelmed the Egyptians ; who , like so many Sea-monsters , thought to have devoured us .

14. Pharaoh , that fierce Tyrant , as terrible as the vastest Whales , Thou didst utterly destroy there ; with all his stern Captains and Commanders : whom the Sea spewed up ( XIX . Exod. 30. ) to find their Tombs in the bellies of the wild Beasts , and Birds ; which people the neighbouring Wilderness .

15. Where , when our Fathers wanted drink , Thou madest water to gush out of a Rock ; ( XVII . Exod. 6. XX. Numb. 9. ) which followed them in a full stream , till they came to the borders of Canaan : And then Thou driedst up the waters of Jordan , at a time when they ran violently , and ( as if many Rivers had been joined in one ) it overflowed all its Banks , III. Josh. 15 , 17.

17. By thy Almighty wisedom also it is , that the motion of the Sun not onely makes the days and nights ; but the different climates of the Earth , and the seasons of the year : which are sometimes hot , and sometimes cold ; sometimes flourishing , as we see in the Summer , with all manner of fruit ; and sometimes stript , as we see in the Winter , of all its ornaments , that afterward it may be the more fruitfull .

19. Deliver , we beseech Thee , thy Church , which like a Turtle-dove can do nothing but meekly mourn , and make her silent complaints unto Thee , from those violent men , who , like Birds of prey , seek utterly to destroy her : Let them not take away its life and being ; but , though we be at present deserted by Thee yet , hear our crys , and at last relieve a poor helpless company , who flee unto Thee , and depend upon Thee alone for safety .

20. Though we are unworthy to be regarded by Thee , yet have regard unto thy own promises ; wherein Thou hast engaged thy self unto our Fathers , to give to them and their posterity the Land of Canaan : which is so far from being now inhabited by thy people , that every blind corner of it is a den of thieves and murtherers ; who have filled it with rapine and cruelty .

21. O let not thy poor afflicted servant , who implores thy aid against these barbarous oppressours , be denied his suit ; and go away ashamed to see himself disappointed of his hope : but let him , and all the rest of thy miserable people , who were never in greater need of thy help , be restored to praise thy goodness in their ancient possessions ; from whence they have been thus long banished .

22. Appear , O God , in our behalf ; and thereby vindicate thy self from reproach : let me again beseech Thee , to shew that Thou art not unmindfull of all the scoffs , which prosperous fools belch out against Thee , every day .

23. It is time to punish all the insulting language of thy Enemies : for the insolent braggs , and furious threats of those that oppose Thee , increase still more and more ; and rise up to a greater height of audacious impiety .

I take this Psalm to have been made by Asaph the Seer , mentioned 2 Chron. XXIX . 30. ( see Psal. LXXIII . ) after the great deliverance , which , by the strange destruction of Senacherib's Army , God gave the good King Hezekiah . For whose use Asaph composed this Psalm , and delivered it to the chief Master of the Musick in the Tabernacle ; that he might therein make his publick profession of his obligations to Almighty God , and his resolution to serve Him and to depend upon Him : as he advises all men else to do ; if they would not be undone ; or if they hoped for any good , of which He is the sole and absolute Dispenser .

If Al-taschith be more then a note that this Psalm was to be sung like to the LVII . and those that follow ; it may signifie as much , as thou shalt not , or wilt not destroy . And be applied either to Senacherib , who , the Prophet told them , should not accomplish his design of destroying them , as he had done other Nations ( 2 King . XIX . 17. 2 Chron. XXVII . 14. ) or to God , who had not given him Commission , as he pretended , to destroy Jerusalem ( 2 King . XVIII . 25. ) but would defend it ( 2 King . XIX . 34. ) and not suffer it to be laid desolate .

Symmachus gives a more spiritual sense of the word , and calls this a triumphal Song concerning Immortality . Because it contains , as Theodoret explains it , a prediction of the righteous judgment of God in the destruction of the wicked , and rewarding the lovers of vertue : which should admonish us , not to suffer any godly thoughts , we have in our mind , to perish ; but to preserve them whole and intire , that we may inherit immortality .

What is to be understood by a Psalm-Song , see in the Argument of Psalm LXVII .

1. UNTO Thee , O God , the righteous Judge , who art the sole Authour of this great deliverance , do I and all my people give most solemn thanks : Nor can we ever thank Thee enough , but we must again and again renew our acknowledgments unto Thee ; whose Almighty Power is still ready at hand , we clearly see by the wonders Thou hast done , to succour all those , who gratefully commemorate thy benefits .

2. And I will not content my self with these verbal praises alone ; but as soon as I shall meet with a fit opportunity , and we can have our solemn Assemblies again ( which by this invasion have been interrupted , 2 Chron. XXXII . 1. ) I will perfect the Reformation which I have begun : and see that equal Justice be done to all my people ; as well as that they be preserved in thy true Religion .

3. The whole Country hath been in a miserable confusion ; while their hearts melted with fear of an utter desolation : But as then I supported their spirits , and incouraged the Great men and the Officers to doe their duty ( 2 Chron. XXXII . 6 , 7 , 8. ) So I will hereafter establish such Magistrates and Judges , as shall bring all into better order .

4. I have told them my mind already , and do still solemnly proclaim and declare , that I will proceed with the utmost severity against the contemners of thy Laws ; and therefore I advise them not to be so madly rude and insolent : For the proudest of them all shall know , that it is safest for them to be more modest , then to glory , as they do , in their impiety ; or to boast of the power they have to be injurious to their neighbours .

5. Do not vaunt of this , I once more advise you , nor bear your selves high , as if you would out-brave Heaven it self : be not refractory and stubborn , nor arrogantly say , that you will have your way , and that none shall curb you .

6. For which way soever you turn your selves , whether to the East , or to the West , or to the mountainous Desarts that lie on the North and South of us ; in vain do you think to escape the righteous judgment of God .

7. Who being the Sovereign Lord and Governour of the world , easily lays those low that proudly exalt themselves against his Authority ; and lifts up those that humbly submit themselves unto Him .

8. For he never wants power to inflict the most dreadfull punishments ; which ( like an intoxicating Wine full of stupifying ingredients , that loosens the very joints , and takes away all a man's strength to resist ) never fail to have their effect : And the godly may taste of them , nay suffer sorely for a time ; but the heaviest and most grievous punishments ( like the dregs at the bottom of such Wine ) shall fall to the share of all the wicked of the Land ; who shall be forced to indure the utmost expressions of the Divine vengeance upon their sins .

9. And this I , who am His Minister to execute his judgments , will not cease to declare as long as I live ; that none may pretend ignorance for their excuse : And I will sing praises unto God ( who delivered Jacob from all evil ) not onely for his late miraculous preservation of us , by his vengeance on Senacherib ( whom he hath made an Example of his wrath to all proud contemners of Him ) but for making me the Instrument of so happy a Reformation .