PSALMS 5      Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  meaning  -  Psalms  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

PSALM 5

1. Give ear to my words, O jehovah; consider my moaning.
2. Hearken to the voice of my cry, my king and my god: for to you will I pray.
3. O jehovah, in the morning you shall hear my voice; in the morning I will set myself in order for you, and will watch.
4. For you are not a god that delight in wickedness; the evil man shall not dwell with you.
5. The proud shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all the workers of iniquity
6. You will destroy them that speak a lie: a man of bloods and of deceit jehovah abominates.
7. But as for me, in the multitude of your mercy will I come to your house; I will bow myself towards the temple of your holiness in your fear.
8. O jehovah, lead me in your justice, because of my foes: make your way straight before my face.
9. For there is nothing right in their mouth: their inward part is perdition: their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongue they speak smoothly.
10. Make them guilty, O god: let them fall from their counsels; by reason of the multitude of their transgressions cast them out: for they have rebelled against you.
11. And let them that put their trust in you rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because you will protect them: and let them exult in you that love your name.
12. For you, O jehovah, will bless the just one; with favour, as with a shield, will you encompass him.

Verse 3. O jehovah, in the morning you shall hear my voice, in the morning I will set myself in order for you. - As the morning signifies the lord, his coming, also his kingdom and church, and likewise the good of love which is from him, it may hence be manifest what is meant by the morning in the following passages:-" Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning;" (Psalm 143:8) again, "I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning;" (Psalm 59:16) again, "Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days;" (Psalm 90:14) again, "O jehovah, in the morning you shall hear my voice; in the morning I will set myself in order for you;" (Psalm 5:3.) Frequent mention is made of morning in the Word, and it has various significations according to the series in the internal sense. In the supreme sense it signifies the lord, and likewise his coming: in the internal sense it signifies his kingdom and church, and its state of peace. It also signifies the first state of a new church, and likewise a state of love; also a state of illustration, consequently a state of intelligence and wisdom; and likewise a state of the conjunction of good and of truth, which has place when the internal man is conjoined to the external. The reason why morning has such various significations is because in the supreme sense it signifies the Divine Humanity of the lord; hence, also, all things which proceed from him; for the lord is in those things which proceed from him, so that he himself is there. AE 179.

Verse 6. You will destroy them that speak a lie, etc. The man of bloods and of deceit, in this verse, denotes those who are in falsities from evils, wherefore it is said, you will destroy them that speak a lie; a lie in the Word signifies falsities. AE 329.

Verse 9. There is nothing right in their mouth; their inward part is perdition: their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongue they speak smoothly. In their mouth, signifies what is exterior; their inward part, signifies what is interior: that their interior is hell, is signified by their throat being an open sepulchre; and that their exterior is hypocritical, and apparently sane, is signified by their speaking smoothly with their tongue. From this and other passages in the Word may be manifest what is signified by a sepulchre. When, therefore, the subject treated of is those who are in false principles grounded in evil, then by their sepulchre is meant hell, from which comes, and in which resides, that false principle; but when the subject treated of is those who are in truths grounded in good, then by the sepulchre is meant the removal and rejection of what is false grounded in evil, and by burial is meant resuscitation and resurrection into life, also regeneration: for with the man who is in truths grounded in good, what is false grounded in evil is removed, and is rejected into hell, and himself, as to his interiors, which are of his spirit, rises again, and enters into the life of truth grounded in good, which is spiritual life. AE 659.

Verse 10. By reason of the multitude of their transgressions cast them out. In the Word, evils are sometimes called sins, sometimes iniquities, and sometimes transgressions; but what is specifically meant by these terms, is not discoverable except from the internal sense. Such things as are done contrary to the truths of faith are said to be transgressions: such as are done contrary to the goods of faith are said to be iniquities: such as are done contrary to the goods of charity and love are said to be sins. The two former proceed from a perverse understanding, but the latter from a depraved will. Thus in David: "Wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me:" (Psalm 51:4, 5) where iniquity denotes the evil which is contrary to the goods of faith; sin the evil which is contrary to the goods of charity and love; and transgression the evil which is contrary to the truths of faith. As this latter is an evil proceeding from a perverse understanding, and is thus known by the truths of faith, therefore it is said, I acknowledge my transgressions. As transgressions are things contrary to the truths of faith, they are also revolts; as is evident in David: "By reason of the multitude of their transgressions, cast them out: for they have rebelled against you;" (Psalm 5:10) they are said to rebel, when there is revolt and transgression. AC 9156. Verse 12. For you, O jehovah, will bless the just one: with favour, as with a shield, will you encompass him. Favour here manifestly denotes the Divine Love, from which the Lord defends all: his protection grounded in love is signified by encompassing them as with a shield. AE 295.

The Translator's Notes and Observations

Verses 1, 2. Give ear to my words, O jehovah, consider my moaning. Hearken to the voice of my cry, my king and my god. In these words two distinct acts are ascribed to jehovah, the one expressed in the supplication, Give ear to my words, the other in the supplication, consider my moaning. Two distinct names are also given to jehovah, namely my king and my god. But what shall we say is the ground of these distinctions? or why should jehovah be called upon both to give ear and to consider, and also be invoked under the two distinct appellations, my king and my god? In vain shall we attempt to account for this mode of speaking, until it be clearly seen, and carefully attended to, that to hearken, when applied to the great jehovah, has reference to his Divine Love, and thus to the divine good of that love; whilst to consider, as applied to the same divine father, has more immediate reference to the divine wisdom of that love, thus to the divine truth of that wisdom. Hence may be discovered the reason, why this same divine father is called both king and god; the former name having more relation to the truth of his divine wisdom, whilst the latter has more relation to the good of his divine love, and whilst both united are expressive of the eternal marriage or union of those two divine principles.

Verse 6. A man of bloods and of deceit jehovah abominates. In this, and in many other passages of the Word, the term bloods is used in the plural number, and this by reason of the internal or spiritual sense of the term, in which sense it is applied to the mind of man as well as to his body. For to shed blood, when spoken of the mind, means to do violence to man's spiritual life. But man's spiritual life consists of two principles, the will and the understanding, and to do violence to either principle is to shed blood. Hence a man of bloods means one who does violence to both principles, by destroying in one the love of what is good, and in the other the love of what is true.

Verse 8. O jehovah, lead me in your justice, because of my foes: make your way straight before my face. Lead me in your justice, has relation to the will, that it may be kept always under the influence and government of the Good of the divine love. Make your way straight before my face, has relation to the understanding, that it may be guided by the truth of the divine wisdom.