PSALMS 118      Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  meaning  -  Psalms  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

PSALM 118

1. O give thanks to jehovah, for be is good; because his mercy is for ever.
2. Let Israel now say: that his mercy is for ever.
3. Let the house of Aaron now say: that his mercy is for ever.
4. Let them now who fear jehovah say: that his mercy is for ever.
5. I called upon jah in distress; jah answered me, and set me in a broad place.
6. jehovah is on my side, I will not fear what man can do to me.
7. jehovah is my helper, therefore shall I behold the downfall of them that hate me.
8. It is better to take refuge with jehovah, than to place confidence in man.
9. It is better to take refuge with jehovah, than to place confidence in princes.
10. All nations encompassed me, but in the name of jehovah did I destroy them.
11. They encompassed me, yea, they encompassed me; but in the name of jehovah did I destroy them.
12. They encompassed me like bees; they are extinguished as the fire of thorns; in the name of jehovah did I destroy them.
13. You did thrust violently at me that I might fall; but jehovah helped me.
14. jah is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.
15. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the just; the right hand of jehovah does valiantly.
16. The right hand of jehovah is exalted; the right hand of jehovah does valiantly.
17. I shall not die but live, and declare the works of jah.
18. jah chastised me severely, but he did not give me over to death,
19. Open to me the gates of justice; I will enter them; I will praise jah.
20. This is the gate of jehovah, into which the just shall enter.
21. I will praise you, for you have answered me, and are become my salvation.
22. The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.
23. This is the doing of jehovah, it is marvelous in our eyes.
24. This is the day which jehovah has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25. Save, I beseech you, O jehovah; O jehovah, I beseech you, send prosperity!
26. Blessed is he that comes in the name of jehovah; we have blessed you out of the house of jehovah.
27. god is jehovah, he has showed us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28. You are my god, and I will praise you; you are my god, and I will exalt you.
29. O give thanks to jehovah, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever.

Verse 5. I called upon jah in distress; jah answered me, and set me in a broad place. By breadth, or broad place, in this passage, nothing else is signified but the truth of the church; the reason why breadth has this signification is because in the spiritual world, or in heaven, the lord is the centre of all things, for he is the sun therein. They who are in a state of good are more inward according to the quantity and quality of the good in which they are; hence altitude is predicated of good; they who are in a like degree of good are also in a like degree of truth, and thereby as it were in a like distance; hence breadth is predicated of truth; wherefore nothing else is understood by breadth, by the attendant angels, whilst man reads the Word. AC 4482.

Verse 12. They encompassed me like bees; they are extinguished as the fire of thorns. The fire of thorns denotes the craving of evil; the falses of craving, which are signified by thorns, are the falses confirming those things which are of the world and its pleasures, for these falses above others catch fire and burn, because they are from cravings in the body which are filth, therefore also they inclose the internal man, so that nothing is relished that relates to the salvation of the soul and eternal life. AC 9144.

By bees are signified false reasonings, because the rational principle collects what belongs to it from scientifics falsely applied; the reason why these things are likened to flies and bees, is grounded in correspondence, for in the spiritual world there appear flying insects of various kinds, but they are appearances from the ideas of the thoughts of spirits. AE 410.

Verse 16. The right hand of jehovah is exalted; the right hand of jehovah does valiantly. In this passage the right hand of jehovah denotes omnipotence, and, in the supreme sense, the lord as to Divine truth. AC 8281.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. Inasmuch as by stone in old time was signified truths, and afterwards, when worship began to be celebrated on statues, on altars, and in the temple, by statues, altars, and the temple, were signified holy truths, therefore the lord was also called the stone, as in Isaiah, "Behold I lay in Zion a stone, a stone of probation of the corner, of a price, of a sure foundation." AC 1298.

Corner-stone signifies all Divine truth on which is founded heaven and the church, thus every foundation; and since a foundation, is the ultimate, on which a house or temple is built, therefore it signifies all things; inasmuch as by a cornerstone is signified all things on which the church is founded, therefore it is said, "He will found in Zion a stone, a cornerstone of price, and it is called a stone for a corner, and a stone of foundations;" and since by a corner-stone is signified all Divine truth on which the church is founded, therefore also is signified the lord as to his Divine Human principle, because all Divine truth proceeds from that principle: the builders who rejected that stone, as we read in the Evangelists, are they who were of the church, which rejected the lord, and with him all Divine truth; for they were governed by vain traditions taken from the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the truths of the Word were falsified, and the goods adulterated. AE 417.