"He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters; he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. "I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. "Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight. "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. "With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the forward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. "And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down." Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying: "I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, whithersoever thou turnest thyself: that the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, 'If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee a man on the throne of Israel.'" So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established. * * * * * David was, as you have learned from the account of him you have just been reading, a poet and a singer and one of his beautiful songs is to be found near the close of this story of his life. We may imagine him singing this, and accompanying himself on the harp; touching the strings softly as he told that, "The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me"; but striking out loud sounding chords as he exultantly cried. "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook." Does it seem at all strange to you that we should call this poetry? It has no rhyme, and it is not broken up, as are most poems, into lines of nearly equal length; but a poem it is, nevertheless. Hebrew poetry was quite different in some ways from modern poetry. It did not have rhymes, though it did have about it a certain musical quality which made it very suitable for chanting. Then, too, the words and the manner of treating subjects were different from those employed in prose, just as they are in our own poetry.