1. Give ear to my words, Jehovah,
Consider my meditation.
2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my
God;
For unto thee do I pray.
3. O Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice;
In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and
will keep watch.

 1-4, 8, 9, 12, 13. Prayer of the Lord to the Father for
help. P. P.
The signification of the morning as standing for the
Lord in regard to His Divine Human. We often read of
the morning in the Word, and the signification of the term
differs according to the series of things treated of in the
internal sense. In the supreme sense it signifies the Lord
and also His coming. In the internal sense it signifies
His kingdom and church, and their state of peace.
E. 179.

 4. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness:
Evil shall not sojourn with thee.
5. The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight:
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

 5-7, 10, 11. Against the evil, falsifiers and hypocrites.
P. P.

He who is in guile meditates evil, and feeds his understanding
by it, and enjoys it, and thus destroys everything
in his mind characteristic of man, that is of life from
the good of faith and of charity. . . . Guile is called
hypocrisy when piety is carried in the mouth and impiety
in the heart, or when charity is carried in the mouth but
hatred in the heart, or when innocence is carried in the
face and gesture but cruelty in the soul and breast.
A. 9013.

 6. Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies:
Jehovah abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

 That blood signifies the Divine truth may be clearly
manifest from its opposite sense, in which it signifies the
Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned. R. 379.
The deceitful are signified in the Word by poisonous
serpents, and by crocodiles and vipers, and deceit is signified
by their poison. By a lie in the Word falsity and
false speaking are signified, and by deceit each of these by
design. R. 624.

In the spiritual sense to bear false witness means to
persuade that falsity of faith is truth of faith, and that evil
of life is good of life, and the reverse. . . . This falsity is
meant in the Word by a lie, and the design by deceit.
T. 322.

Blood in the genuine sense signifies the Divine truth,
and with the recipients thereof truth from good, hence in
the opposite sense it signifies violence offered to the Divine
truth, and with those who offer what is false from evil.
Here by the bloody and deceitful those are meant who are
in falsities from evil. E. 329.
By violence and by blood is signified the perversion of
truth and falsification of the Word, and by guile is signified
from a deliberate purpose. E. 866.

 7. But as for me, in the abundance of thy loving kindness
will I come into thy house:
In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
8. Lead me, O Jehovah, in thy righteousness because of
mine enemies;
Make thy way straight before my face.

 8. The temple is called the temple of holiness, for the temple
in the abstract sense signifies heaven and the church
as to Divine truth. R. 586.

9. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is very wickedness;
Their throat is an open sepulchre;
They flatter with their tongue.

 10. The throat an open sepulchre is predicated of evil, the
tongue speaking smooth things, of falsity. A. 3527.
The midst also signifies the inmost and thence all, in
many places in the Word, even where the evil are treated
of. R. 44.

" The right is not in their mouth, wretchedness is in the
midst of them." By wretchedness is signified incoherency,
and thus by wretched one who thinks about the
things of the church without coherence. The reason is
because they of whom these things are said (Revelation
iii. 17) at one time deny God, heaven, eternal life and the
holiness of the Word, and at another time acknowledge
them, on which account what they build up with one hand
they destroy with the other. These things are meant by
wretchedness in Isaiah xlvii. 10, 11 : Psalm v. 10: Hosea ii.
 (a wall of loose stones) etc. R. 208.

Wretchedness signifies falsities not cohering with any
truth. E. 237.

In the midst signifies the whole, because in the inmost,
for such as the inmost is, such is the whole. From the
inmost all other things are produced and derived, as the
body is from its soul. E. 313.

The belly (inward part) signifies the interiors. Here
also wickedness or perditions, that is evil thoughts, are
attributed to the belly. E. 622.

The mouth signifies outwardly or without, and the
midst inwardly or within. That within is hell is signified
by their throat is an open sepulchre; and that without
what is hypocritical and as it were sane is signified by they
flatter with their tongue. E. 659.

 10. Hold them guilty, O God;
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions;
For they have rebelled against thee.

 11. As transgressions are what is contrary to the truths of
faith, they are also deviations and defections which likewise
in the original tongue are signified by the same expression,
as is evident here. The expression to rebel is
used when there is defection and deviation. A. 9156.

 11. But let all those that take refuge in thee rejoice,
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest
them:
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

 12. In all these passages exultation signifies the delight
originating in love and affection for good. Gladness signifies
the pleasantness originating in the love and affection
for truth. E. 660.

 12. For thou wilt bless the righteous;
O Jehovah, thou wilt compass him with favor as with
a shield.

 13. The breastplates being as of iron (Revelation ix. 9)
signify that the reasonings appeared to them so strong,
that they could not be refuted, for iron from its hardness
signifies strength. By breastplates (shield, buckler) are
signified protections, because they protect the breast.
R.436.

Here good pleasure (favour) evidently means the Divine
love from which the Lord defends every one. His defence
from love is signified by " thou wilt compass him as
with a shield." E. 295.

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)