Charles Spurgeon

All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.

“They came round about me daily like water. My troubles, and thy chastisement poured in upon me, penetrating everywhere, and drowning all.”

You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

“Lover and friend: hast thou put far from me. Even when they are near me bodily, they are so unable to swim with me in such deep waters, that they stand like men far away on the shore while I am buffeted with the billows…”

I will sing of the loving devotion of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.

“THIS Psalm is one of the very choicest songs in the night. Midst a stream of troubled thoughts there stands a fair island of rescue and redemption which supplies standing room for wonder and worship while the music of the words, like the murmuring of…”

For I have said, “Loving devotion is built up forever; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”

“For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever. His heart was persuaded of it, and he had affirmed it as an indisputable truth.”

You said, “I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant:

“I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. This was the ground of the Psalmist's confidence in God's mercy and truth, for he knew that the Lord had made a covenant of grace with David and his seed…”

‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah

“Thy seed will I establish for ever. David must always have a seed, and truly in Jesus this is fulfilled beyond his hopes. What a seed David has in the multitude which have sprung from him who was both his Son and his Lord.”

The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.

“And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord. Looking down upon what God had done, and was about to do, in connection with his covenant of grace, all heaven would be filled with adoring wonder.”

In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him.

“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. The holiest tremble in the presence of the thrice Holy One: their familiarity is seasoned with the profoundest awe.”

O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.

“O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? Or Jehovah, God of Hosts, who is like thee, Mighty Jah.”

You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.

“Thou rulest the raging of the sea. Always, even in the hour of ocean's maddest fury, the Lord controls it. At the Red Sea the foaming billows saw their God and stood upright in awe. When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.”

You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

“Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Egypt was crushed like a corpse beneath the chariot wheels of the destroyer: its pomp and glory were broken like the limbs of the dead in battle.”

The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.

“The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. All things are alike God's—rebellious earth as well as adoring heaven.”

North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

“The north and the south thou hast created them. North and south, opposite poles, agree in this—that Jehovah fashioned them. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name, that is to say, east and west are equally formed by thee, and therefore give thee praise.”

Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted.

“Thou hast a mighty arm, omnipotence is thine in smiting or uplifting; strong is thy hand, thy power to create and grasp is beyond conception great; and high is thy right hand—thy skill is incomparable, thy favour ennobling, thy working glorious.”

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You.

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. They are the basis of the divine government, the sphere within which his sovereignty moves. God as a sovereign is never unjust or unwise.”

For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted.

“For thou art the glory of their strength. Surely in the Lord Jehovah have we both righteousness and strength.”

For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted.

“THE Psalmist Ethan is here speaking of the Covenant people—the people of God, the people who know the joyful sound of the Covenant of Grace and who, therefore, walk in the Light of God's Countenance.”

Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

“For the Lord is our defence. Whoever else may defend us, he is our ultimate Defender and Shield. And the Holy one of Israel is our king. He who protects should govern, our defender should be acknowledged as our king.”

You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

“ORIGINALLY, I have no doubt, these words referred to David. He was chosen out of the people. His lineage was respectable, but not illustrious; his family were holy, but not exalted: the names of Jesse, Obed, Boaz, and Ruth, awoke no royal recollections, and stirred…”

You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

“Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one. The Psalmist returns to a consideration of the covenant made with David.”

I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

“I have found David my servant. David was discovered by the Lord among the sheepfolds and recognised as a man of gracious spirit, full of faith and courage, and therefore fit to be leader in Israel. With my holy oil have I anointed him.”

No enemy will exact tribute; no wicked man will oppress him.

“The enemy shall not exact upon him; he shall not be vexed and persecuted as a helpless debtor by an extortionate creditor. Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. Graceless men shall no longer make his life a burden.”

I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

“And I will beat down his foes before his face —crushing them and their plans. God himself thus fights the battles of his Son, and effectually overturns his foes. And plague them that hate him, or smite his haters.”

I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers.

“I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall reach far beyond the little rivers which stand for boundaries in Palestine; he shall by his power embrace all lands from sea to sea.”

I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

“Also I will make him my firstborn. Among the kings the seed of David were to be most favoured and indulged with most love and paternal regard from God: but in Jesus we see this in the highest degree verified, for he has preeminence in…”