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PSALM 62

To him that presides, to Jeduthun; a Psalm of David.

1. Truly, my soul reposes in god; from him is my salvation.
2. He only is my rock and my salvation, my high tower; I shall not be greatly moved.
3. How long will you all assault a man? How long will you all attack him as though he were a bowing wall, or a tottering fence.
4. They only consult to cast him down from his eminence, they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they inwardly curse. Selah.
5. O my soul, wait upon god, for my hope is from him.
6. He only is my rock and my salvation, my high tower; I shall not be moved.
7. In god is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in god.
8. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before him; god is a refuge for us. Selah.
9. Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; if laid in the balance they are altogether lighter than vanity.
10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
11. Once has God spoken, these two things have I heard; that power belongs to God,
12. And that to you, O Lord, belongs mercy; for you renderest to every man according to his work.

Verse 4. They bless with their mouth, but in the midst of them they curse. This is said of the church vastated as to good and as to truth, in which there is nothing but what is evil and false; the midst of man [vir] is the intellectual principle, where truth ought to be. AE 313.

Verse 10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. The Divine Providence has for an end the eternal salvation of man, thus, not his satisfaction in the world, namely, opulence and eminence, wherein the generality, during the life of the body, place essential happiness; when yet the case is not so, inasmuch as generally eminence begets self-love, and opulence the love of the world, thus, what is contrary to love to God, and to charity towards the neighbour. AC 6481.

The Translator's Notes and Observations

Verse 6. He only is my rock and my salvation, my high tower, etc. In the received English version of the Psalms, what is here rendered high tower, is expressed by the term defence, but it deserves consideration that, in the original Hebrew, a high place or tower is the idea intended to be expressed, as implying that all man's true security is an effect of his being raised above himself into communication and conjunction with that heavenly principle of love and of wisdom which is above himself.

Verse 9. Surely the sons of man [homo] are vanity, and the sons of man [vir] are a lie. By the sons of man [homo] are here evidently meant the thoughts of man's natural will, and by the sons of man [vir], the thoughts of man's natural understanding, which are opposed to the Divine will and Divine understanding. See Exposition of Ps. xlix. verses 1, 2, 3.