wind [Zornhauch, Hupfeld] be the portion of their cup," again an incongruity making the representation more dreadful. What a draught--flaming brimstone and a hot blast as of the simoom! The tremendous metaphor suggests awful reality. But the double judgment of ver. 5 has a gentler side, and the reason for the tempest of wrath is likewise that for the blessed hope of the upright, as the "for" of ver. 7 teaches. "Jehovah is righteous." That is the rock foundation for the indomitable faith of the Psalter in the certain ultimate triumph of patient, afflicted righteousness. Because God in His own character is so, He must love righteous acts--His own and men's. The latter seems to be the meaning here, where the fate of men is the subject in hand. The Divine "love" is here contrasted with both the wicked man's "love" of "violence" and God's "hate" (ver. 5), and is the foundation of the final confidence, "The upright shall behold His face." The converse rendering, "His countenance doth behold the upright" (A.V.), is grammatically permissible, but would be flat, tautological--since ver. 4 has already said so--and inappropriate to the close, where a statement as to the upright, antithetical to that as to the wicked, is needed. God looks on the upright, as has been said; and the upright shall gaze on Him, here and now in the communion of that faith which is a better kind of sight and hereafter in the vision of heaven, which the psalmist was on the verge of anticipating. That mutual gaze is blessedness. They who, looking up, behold Jehovah are brave to front all foes and to keep calm hearts in the midst of alarms. Hope burns like a pillar of fire in them when it is gone out in others; and to all the suggestions of their own timidity or of others they have the answer, "In the Lord have I put my trust; how say ye to my soul, Flee?" "Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen." PSALM XII. 1 Save, Jehovah, for the godly ceases, For the trusty have vanished from the sons of men. 2 They speak vanity every man with his neighbour; [With] smooth lip and a heart and a heart do they speak. 3 May Jehovah cut off all smooth lips, The tongue that speaks proud things, 4 That says, To our tongues we give strength: our lips are our own (lit. with us); Who is lord to us? 5 For the oppression of the afflicted, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise, saith Jehovah; I will set him in the safety he pants for. 6 The words of Jehovah are pure words, Silver tried in a furnace [and flowing down] to the ground, purified seven times. 7 Thou, Jehovah, shalt guard them; Thou shalt preserve him from this generation for ever. 8 All around the wicked swagger, When vileness is set on high among the sons of men.