Psalms 13:6

I will sing unto the Lord,.... In prayer faith is encouraged, through believing the heart is filled with joy; and this joy is expressed by the lips, in songs of praise to the Lord, ascribing the

But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. But I have trusted in thy mercy [ checed (H2617)]; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

Either, 1. In giving me that support and assurance of his favour which for the present I enjoy. Or, 2. In giving me that mercy which he hath freely promised me; it being a common thing for David and other prophets to speak of future deliverances as if they were already come, that so they may signify both the infallible certainty of the thing, and their firm assurance thereof. But the words may be rendered, when he shall have dealt bountifully with me. This verb properly signifies to requite, or reward, but here it signifies a free and bountiful giving, as it doth also 142:7.

Psalms 13:6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.Ver. 6. I will sing unto the Lord] How far different is the end of this psalm from the beginning! See the like Psalms 6:1, Because he hath dealt bountifully with me] Qui retribuit mihi, so Popish merit-mongers read it, and would therehence collect something in favour of their absurd tenet. But their own Vulgate translation hath it bona tribuit, hath given me good things. And it is well observed (Ainsworth), that though the Hebrew word be sometimes taken for rewarding evil for good, Psalms 7:5, or evil for evil, Psalms 137:8, yet from God to his people it commonly signifieth a bountiful rewarding of good things instead of evil, which we rather do deserve. So Psalms 116:7; Psalms 119:17; Psalms 142:7.

Verse 6. I will sing unto the Lord] That heart is turned to God's praise which has a clear sense of God's favour. Because he hath dealt bountifully with me.] כי גמל עלי ki gamel alai, because he hath recompensed me. My sorrows were deep, long continued, and oppressive, but in thy favour is life. A moment of this spiritual joy is worth a year of sorrow! O, to what blessedness has this godly sorrow led! He has given me the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness, and the garments of praise for mourning. The old MS. Psalter, which I have so frequently mentioned and quoted, was written at least four hundred years ago, and written probably in Scotland, as it is in the Scottish dialect. That the writer was not merely a commentator, but a truly religious man, who was well acquainted with the travail of the soul, and that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which brings peace to the troubled heart, is manifested from various portions of his comment. To prove this I shall, I think I may say, favour the reader with another extract from this Psalm on the words, "How long wilt thou forget me," c., Psalms 13:1. I have only to observe that with this commentator a true penitent, one who is deeply in earnest for his salvation, is called a perfyte man i.e., one wholly given up to God. How lang lord for getes thu me in the endyng? How lang o way turnes thou thi face fro me? The voice of haly men that covaytes and yernes the comyng of Iehu Crist, that thai might lyf with hym in ioy; and pleynaund tham of delaying. And sais, Lord how lang for getes thu me in the endyng? That I covayte to haf and hald. That es how lang delayes thu me fra the syght of Iehu Crist, that es ryght endyng of myn entent. And how lang turnes thu thi face fra me? that es, qwen wil thu gif me perfyte Knawing of the? This wordes may nane say sothly, bot a perfyte man or woman, that has gedyrd to gydir al the desyres of thair Saule, and with the nayle of luf fested tham in Iehu Crist. Sa tham thynk one hour of the day war our lang to dwel fra hym; for tham langes ay til hym; bot tha that lufs noght so, has no langyng that he come: for thair conscience sais thaim, that thai haf noght lufed hym als that suld have done. The language of true Christian experience has been the same in all times and nations. "But he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love;" and to such this is strange language. ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTEENTH PSALM "This Psalm," says Bishop Nicolson, "is a fit prayer for a soul that is sensible of God's desertion." It has three parts: - I. A heavy and bitter complaint of God's absence, Psalms 13:1-2. II. An earnest petition for God's return, Psalms 13:3.

5, 6. The joy of deliverance.

I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me - The word which is here rendered “dealt bountifully” - גמל gâmal - means properly “to deal” with anyone; to “treat” anyone well

6. I will sing—Faith rises to the point of victory, and joy ends the bitter outcry of Psa 13:1-2. Luther: “While Satan rages and roars about him, he meanwhile sings quietly his little psalm.”