Charles Spurgeon

But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.

“But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake. How eagerly he turns from his enemies to his God! He sets the great thou in opposition to all his adversaries, and you see at once that his heart is at rest.”

For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.

“For I am poor and needy. When he does plead anything about himself he urges not his riches or his merits, but his poverty and his necessities: this is gospel supplication, such as only the Spirit of God can indite upon the heart.”

I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

“I am gone like the shadow when it declineth. I am a mere shadow, a shadow at the vanishing point, when it stretches far, but is almost lost in the universal gloom of evening which settles over all, and so obliterates the shadows cast by…”

My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.

“My knees are weak through fasting; either religious fasting, to which he resorted in the dire extremity of his grief, or else through loss of appetite occasioned by distress of mind. Who can eat when every morsel is soured by envy?”

Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your loving devotion.

“Help me, O Lord my God. Laying hold of Jehovah by the appropriating word my, he implores his aid both to help him to bear his heavy load and to enable him to rise superior to it.”

For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

“For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor. God will not be absent when his people are on their trial; he will hold a brief for them and stand in court as their advocate, prepared to plead on their behalf.”

The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. It is in and through the church that for the present the power of the Messiah is known.”

Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.”

The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

“We have now reached the heart of the psalm, which is also the very centre and soul of our faith.”

The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

“The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. Now that he has come into the field of action, the infinite Jehovah comes with him as the strength of his right hand.”

He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.

“He shall judge among the heathen, or, among the nations. All nations shall feel his power, and either yield to it joyfully or be crushed before it. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies.”

He will drink from the brook by the road; therefore He will lift up His head.

“He shall drink of the brook in the way. So swiftly shall he march to conquest that he shall not stay for refreshment, but drink as he hastens on.”

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

“Praise ye the Lord, or, Hallelujah! All ye his saints unite in adoring Jehovah, who worketh so gloriously. Do it now, do it always: do it heartily, do it unanimously, do it eternally.”

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

“The works of the Lord are great. In design, in size, in number, in excellence, all the works of the Lord are great. Even the little things of God are great.”

Splendid and majestic is His work; His righteousness endures forever.

“His work is honourable and glorious. His one special work, the salvation of his people, is here mentioned as distinguished from his many other works. This reflects honour and glory upon him.”

He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.

“He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. He meant them to remain in the recollection of his people, and they do so: partly because they are in themselves memorable, and because also he has taken care to record them by the pen of…”

He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the inheritance of the nations.

“He hath shewed his people the power of his works. They have seen what he is able to do and what force he is prepared to put forth on their behalf.”

The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are trustworthy.

“The works of his hands are verity and judgment. Truth and justice are conspicuous in all that Jehovah does. Nothing like artifice or crooked policy can ever be seen in his proceedings; he acts faithfully and righteously towards his people, and with justice and impartiality…”

They are upheld forever and ever, enacted in truth and uprightness.

“They stand fast for ever and ever. That is to say, his purposes, commands, and courses of action. The Lord is not swayed by transient motives, or moved by the circumstances of the hour; immutable principles rule in the courts of Jehovah, and he pursues…”

He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name.

“He sent redemption unto his people. When they were in Egypt he sent not only a deliverer, but an actual deliverance; not only a redeemer, but complete redemption.”

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is its first principle, but it is also its head and chief attainment.”

Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.

“Praise ye the Lord. This exhortation is never given too often; the Lord always deserves praise, we ought always to render it, we are frequently forgetful of it, and it is always well to be stirred up to it.”

His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

“His seed shall be mighty upon earth, that is to say, successive generations of God fearing men shall be strong and influential in society, and in the latter days they shall have dominion.”

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

“Wealth and riches shall be in his house. Understood literally this is rather a promise of the old covenant than of the new, for many of the best of the people of God are very poor; yet it has been found true that uprightness is…”

It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.

“A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth. Having passed beyond stern integrity into open handed benevolence he looks kindly upon all around him, and finding himself in circumstances which enable him to spare a little of his wealth he lends judiciously where a loan will…”