Chapter IX
Text | Commentary |
Of Solomon. For rebuke.
1
When Israel was led away in captivity to a foreign land, When they fell away from the Lord who redeemed them, (2) 1They were cast out from the inheritance which the Lord had given them. 2 The dispersion of Israel was among every nation, according to the word of God, (3) That thou mightest be justified, O God, in thy righteousness by reason of our transgressions; (4) For thou art a just judge over all the peoples of the earth. (5) 3For no one who does evil shall be hidden from thy knowledge, (6) And the righteous deeds of thy holy ones are before thee, O Lord; And where shall man hide himself from thy knowledge, O God?. (7) 4Our actions 1 Lit. ‘works’. are subject to our own choice and freedom of will, To do right or wrong in the works of our hands; (8) And in thy righteousness dost thou visit the sons of men. (9) 5And he who does right lays up life for himself with the Lord, And he who does wrong is responsible for his own destruction; (10) For the judgements of the Lord are given in righteousness for each man and his house. (11) 6Unto whom wilt thou show kindness, O God, if it be not to them that call upon the Lord? (12) He will purify a soul in sin when confession and acknowledgement is made; (13) For shame is upon us and upon our faces on account of all these things. (14) 7And to whom will he forgive sins, if it be not to those who have sinned? (15) Thou shalt bless the righteous and not call them to account 2 The sense of the verb is uncertain – possibly ‘and wilt thou not guide them (in cases where they have sinned)?’ for the sins they have committed; And thy goodness is upon sinners when they repent. (16) 8And now, thou art our God, and we are the people whom thou hast loved: Look and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are thine; And remove not thy mercy from us, lest they assail us. (17) 9For thou didst choose the seed of Abraham above all the nations, And didst set thy name upon us, O Lord; (18) And thou wilt never cast us off. 3 Lit. ‘And thou wilt not rest (or ‘cease’) for ever’: von Gebhardt, by conjecture, ‘and thou wilt not reject us for ever’. 10 Thou didst make a covenant with our fathers concerning us; (19) And we shall hope in thee, as our souls turn to thee. The mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel for ever and ever.