(Heb.: 18:47-49) The hymn now draws towards the end with praise and thanksgiving for the multitude of God's mighty deeds, which have just been displayed. Like the (צוּרי) בּרוּך which is always doxological, חי ה (vivus Jahve) is meant as a predicate clause, but is read with the accent of an exclamation just as in the formula of an oath, which is the same expression; and in the present instance it has a doxological meaning. Accordingly וירוּם also signifies "exalted be," in which sense it is written וירם (וירם equals וירם) in the other text. There are three doxological utterances drawn from the events which have just been celebrated in song. That which follows, from האל onwards, describes Jahve once more as the living, blessed (εὐλογητόν), and exalted One, which He has shown Himself to be. From ויּדבּר we see that הנּותן is to be resolved as an imperfect. The proofs of vengeance, נקמות, are called God's gift, insofar as He has rendered it possible to him to punish the attacks upon his own dignity and the dignity of his people, or to witness the punishment of such insults (e.g., in the case of Nabal); for divine vengeance is a securing by punishment (vindicatio) of the inviolability of the right. It is questionable whether הדבּיר (synonym רדד, Psalm 144:2) here and in Psalm 47:4 means "to bring to reason" as an intensive of דּבר, to drive (Ges.); the more natural meaning is "to turn the back" according to the Arabic adbara (Hitzig), cf. dabar, dabre, flight, retreat; debira to be wounded behind; medbûr, wounded in the back. The idea from which הדביר gains the meaning "to subdue" is that of flight, in which hostile nations, overtaken from behind, sank down under him (Psalm 45:6); but the idea that is fully worked out in Psalm 129:3, Isaiah 51:23, is by no means remote. With מפלטי the assertion takes the form of an address. מן רומם does not differ from Psalm 9:14 : Thou liftest me up away from mine enemies, so that I hover above them and triumph over them. The climactic אף, of which poetry is fond, here unites two thoughts of a like import to give intensity of expression to the one idea. The participle is followed by futures: his manifold experience is concentrated in one general ideal expression.

Psalm 19:2 Parallel Commentaries

Day unto

Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be you lift up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in...

Psalm 78:3-6 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us...

Psalm 134:1-3 Behold, bless you the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD...

Psalm 148:12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

Exodus 15:20,21 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand...

Isaiah 38:19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known your truth.

nigh unto

Psalm 74:16 The day is yours, the night also is yours: you have prepared the light and the sun.

Psalm 136:8,9 The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endures for ever...

Genesis 1:17,18 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth...

Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.