<<  PSALM LXV.  >>

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm. A Song of David.

1. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2. O thou that hearest prayer,
Unto thee shall all flesh come.
3. Iniquities prevail against me:
As for our transgressions, thou wilt forgive them.
4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
Thy holy temple.
5. By terrible things thou wilt answer us in righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
Thou that art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And of them that are afar off upon the sea:
6. Who by his strength setteth fast the mountains,
Being girded about with might;
7. Who stilleth the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
8. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid
at thy tokens:
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening
to rejoice.
9. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,
Thou greatly enrichest it;
The river of God is full of water:
Thou providest them grain, when thou hast so prepared
the earth.
10. Thou waterest its furrows abundantly;
Thou settlest the ridges thereof:
Thou makest it soft with showers;
Thou blessest the springing thereof.
11. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
And thy paths drop fatness.
12. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness;
And the hills are girded with joy.
13. The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered over with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.

 

1. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2. O thou that hearest prayer,
Unto thee shall all flesh come.
3. Iniquities prevail against me:
As for our transgressions, thou wilt forgive them.

1. See Psalm xviii. 1. R. 279.

1-14. From the uniting of the Divine and the Human in the Lord will be a church that will be in all truth from the Lord, and safe from infestation from falsities. P. P.

3. All flesh stands for every man. A. 574.

5. To make to approach stands for to be conjoined. A. 9378.

4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
Thy holy temple.

The ultimate heaven is signified by a court and by courts. To inhabit courts is to inhabit heaven. A. 9741.

As the external of the church is signified by the court, therefore also the church on earth and also heaven in the ultimates are signified by it, because the church on earth is the entrance into heaven, and in like manner heaven
in ultimates. R. 487.

By virtue of truths from the Lord the temple is called the temple of holiness. R. 586.

Here they are said to be satisfied with the goodness of the house of Jehovah, even of His holy temple, because the house of God in the supreme sense signifies the Lord as to Divine good and the temple as to Divine truth. E. 204.

By these words is signified that they who are in charity or in spiritual affection shall live in heaven, and be there in intelligence and wisdom from Divine truth and Divine good. By the elect or him whom thou choosest are signified those who are principled in love toward their neighbor or in charity. By causing to approach is signified spiritual love or affection, for so far as man is in that love or in that affection so far he is with the Lord, for every one approaches Him according to that love. By inhabiting the courts is signified to live in heaven, to inhabit meaning to live, and the courts heaven. By being saturated with the good of the house is signified to be in wisdom from Divine good. By being saturated with the holiness of the temple is signified to be in intelligence from Divine truth, and from both to be in the fruition of heavenly joy. The house of God signifies heaven and the church as to Divine good, and the temple heaven and the church as to Divine truth. Holiness is predicated of spiritual good which is truth. E. 630.

6. By extremities are signified all things and every where. The extremity is predicated of good, and afar off of truth. A. 9666.

5. By terrible things thou wilt answer us in righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
Thou that art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And of them that are afar off upon the sea:

The ends of the earth, and the sea of those who are afar off signify the ultimates of the church. E. 1133.

6-8. By signs are signified testifications that a thing is true. R. 598.

6. Who by his strength setteth fast the mountains,
Being girded about with might;
7. Who stilleth the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
8. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid
at thy tokens:
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening
to rejoice.

7. See Psalm xxxvi. 7. R. 336.

By mountains here also are signified the goods of love, these the Lord establishes in heaven and in the church by His Divine truth which is omnipotent. By the power of God in the Word is signified Divine truth, and by power when predicated of the Lord, all power or omnipotence. E. 405.

7-9. Thus is described the Divine power of the Lord by things testifying that they may believe, but the things testifying which are signs are not that He strengthened the mountains, maketh the tumult of the seas and of the waves to cease, and the noise of the people, for these are not such signs as can persuade those who ascribe all things to nature, but those things are the signs testifying the Divine power of the Lord which are understood in the spiritual sense. The mountains the superior heavens, the tumult of the seas and waves disputations and  ratiocinations of those who are beneath the heavens and are natural and sensual, the noise of the people contradictions by falses. . . . From these considerations it may appear that signs signify testifications concerning the Divine power of the Lord. E. 706.

9. See Psalm xxx. 6. C. J. 13.

9. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,
Thou greatly enrichest it;
The river of God is full of water:
Thou providest them grain, when thou hast so prepared
the earth.
10. Thou waterest its furrows abundantly;
Thou settlest the ridges thereof:
Thou makest it soft with showers;
Thou blessest the springing thereof.
11. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
And thy paths drop fatness.
12. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness;
And the hills are girded with joy.

10, See Psalm xxix. 3. A. 2702.

10, 11. Rain signifies the Divine truth from heaven. R. 496.

By the earth is here signified the church, by the river full of water doctrine full of truths. By watering the furrows, laying down the ridges, and making it liquid with drops is signified to fill with the knowledges of good and truth. By preparing the corn is signified all that nourishes the soul, wherefore it is added, so thou establishest the earth — that is the church — by blessing the budding thereof is signified to produce continually anew, and to cause truths to spring forth. E. 644.

10, 14. Corn and new wine stand for good and the truth therefrom. See Jeremiah xxxi. 11, 12. A. 3580.

12. See Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9. A. 5943.

13. The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered over with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.

13, 14. Here the regeneration of those who are in ignorance of truth, or the gentiles, and the enlightenment and instruction of those who are in desolation is treated of. The wilderness is predicated of these. A. 2708.

By a wilderness is signified a church in which there are no truths, because there is not the Word, as with the upright gentiles at the time of the Lord. R. 546.

Treating of the church with the gentiles. By the dwellings of the wilderness dropping is signified that their minds which before were in ignorance of truth, acknowledge and receive truths, to drop being predicated of influx, acknowledgment and reception of truth, dwellings of the interiors of man which are of his mind, and wilderness the state of ignorance of truth. The hills girding themselves with exultation signifies that goods with them receive truths with joy of heart. The meadows being clothed with flocks, and the valleys covered with corn signifies that both minds, the spiritual and the natural, receive truths suitable to themselves. Meadows stand for those things which are of the spiritual mind, and thence of the rational, valleys those which are of the natural mind, flocks spiritual truth and corn natural truth. E. 730-

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)