Psalms 27:8

[When thou saidst], seek ye my face,.... To seek the face of the Lord is to attend his house and ordinances, where he grants his presence; and with this view to enjoy his gracious presence, and the

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

When thou saidst; either by thy word, commanding and inviting me so to do; or by thy Spirit, directing and inclining me to it. Seek ye my face, i.e. seek my presence, and favour, and help, by fervent and faithful prayer. My heart said unto thee; my heart readily and thankfully complied with the motion; and upon the encouragement of this command, or invitation and promise couched in it, I resolved I would do so, and do so at this time. But this verse is a little otherwise rendered by divers learned men. And the words lie in another order in the Hebrew text, which runs thus: To thee my heart said, Thou hast said, (which verb may well be understood here, as it is also , and as divers other verbs are understood in the sacred text, as 23:17, compared with , and in many other places; which is not strange in so concise and short a language as the Hebrew is,) Seek ye my face (this is thy great command, so oft and so vehemently urged, as containing the very substance and foundation of all true piety). Thy face, Lord, I will seek; I cheerfully do and will obey thy command therein. Or the verse may be thus translated without any supplement, which, where it can be done, is confessedly the best way of translation: Concerning thee (as the particle lamed is oft used; or, for or instead of thee, as it is unquestionably used, , i.e. in thy name and words, and according to thy mind) my heart said, ( to wit, to or within myself, as the word said is frequently taken, i.e. I seriously consider within myself this following command of thine oft inculcated in thy word, and press it upon my own conscience,) Seek ye my face. Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Thou commandest it, and I will obey thee therein.

Psalms 27:8 [When thou saidst], Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.Ver. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, &c.] Or, "My heart said unto thee" (or, for thee, and in thy stead), Let my face seek thy face, &c. Or concerning thee, said my heart; that is, I have constantly considered of those words of thine "Seek ye my face," and, therefore I come confidently unto thee. See Deuteronomy 4:19. Upon which commandment (involving a promise) David seems to ground this speech of his. R. Solomon hath it thus, Thou hast said to my heart, Seek ye my face; that is, Thou hast told me by thy Spirit that all Israel should seek thy face, and as for me, I will surely seek thy face. My heart said unto thee, &c.] My heart, moved and inspirited by thy Spirit working in me a gracious compliance, echoed out as it were, "Thy face," &c. See the like Jeremiah 3:22, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." Every godly person hath the duplicate of God’ s law in his heart; and is willingly cast into the mould of his word, Romans 6:17.

(8) When thou saidst.—The margin rightly rejects these words, and restores the order of the Hebrew; but the text of the Authorised Version really gives its meaning. The thought seems borrowed from seeking admission to a royal personage to ask a favour.

Verse 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face] How much labour and skill have been employed to make sense of this verse as it stands in our translation! The original words are the following, from which our Version has been forcibly extracted: - לך אמר לבי בקשו פני את פניך יהוה אבקש lecha amar libbi bakkeshu panai; eth paneycha, Yehovah, abakkesh; of which I believe the true rendering to be as follows: "Unto thee, my heart, he hath said, Seek ye my face. Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. O my heart, God hath commanded thee to seek his face." Then, his face I will seek. Which may be paraphrased thus: Unto thee, his Church, God hath said, Seek ye, all who compose it, my face. To which I, his Church, have answered, Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. On referring to Archbishop Secker, I find that he, and indeed Bishop Horsley, are of the same mind. I had formerly proposed another method of reading this difficult verse. Suspecting that some error had got into the text, for בקשו פני bakkeshu panay, "seek ye my face," I had substituted אבקש פניך abakkesh paneycha, "I will seek thy face;" or with the Vulgate and Septuagint, בקשתי פניך bakkesti paneycha, "I have sought thy face," exquisivit te facies mea, Εξεζητησατοπροσωπονσου. And this small alteration seemed to make a good sense: "My heart said unto thee, I have sought thy face, (or, I will seek thy face,) and thy face, O Lord, I will seek." I have not only done what it was my duty and interest to do, but I will continue to do it. Some have proposed to mend the text thus: לך לך אמר לבי lech lecha, amar libbi, "Go to, saith my heart," נבקש פני יהוה nebakkesh peney Jehovah, "Let us seek the face of Jehovah." This is rather a violent emendation, and is supported by neither MSS. nor Versions. The whole verse is wanting in one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. On the whole I prefer what is first proposed, and which requires no alteration in the text; next, that of the Vulgate and Septuagint. The old Psalter paraphrases thus: Til the saide my hert, the my face soght: thy face, lord, I sal seke. "The gernyng of my hert that spekes til god, and he anely heres: saide til the my face, that es my presence soght the and na nother thyng. And fra now I sal seke thy face lastandly, til my dede; and that I fynd my sekyng:" i.e., To thee, said my heart; thee my face sought: thy face, O Lord, I shall seek.

8. The A.V. gives the general sense fairly. But the text as it stands must be rendered: Unto thee my heart hath said: ‘Seek ye my face’; ‘Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.’ In prayer from his innermost heart the Psalmist pleads the invitation which Jehovah addresses to His people, Seek ye my face; and responds to it on his own behalf, Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek. The construction is bold, but finds a parallel in Job 42:3-5, where in Psalms 27:3 a, Psalms 27:4 Job quotes the Lord’s words, and in Psalms 27:3 b, 5 answers them. We need not assume a reference to any particular passage (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:29). The invitation is the sum of all revelation. Cp. Matthew 7:7 ff.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ... - Margin, “My heart said unto thee, Let my face seek thy face.” The literal translation would be: “To Thee hath said my heart, Seek ye my face; thy face, O Lord,

8. The psalm here suddenly turns to a prayer for mercy. See the introduction. Seek ye my face—The voice of God inviting David to freely seek the divine favour and help. The first act of grace to every man is a call to seek God.