PSALM XVII. (DILIGAM TE DOMINE.) David's thanks to God for his delivery from all his enemies. Arrows. Thunderbolts. Tela reponuntur manibus fabricata Cyclopum. (Metam. Hesiod Theog. 708.) Discovered. The earthquakes were so great, that such dreadful effects might have been expected. These phenomena sometimes make the sea retire, and new islands appear. (Pliny, [Natural History?] i. 84., and xxxi. 5., &c.) --- The Jews supposed that the sea was the common source of all fountains, and that the earth was founded on it, Psalm xxiii. 2., and Ecclesiastes i. 7. (Calmet) Sent his angel, &c. --- Waters, which often represent multitudes, (Apocalypse xvii. 15.; Calmet) and afflictions. (Worthington) --- David seemed in danger of perishing. (Calmet) For me. He may allude to the giant Jesbibenob, or to Saul, who surrounded him on all sides; (1 Kings xxiii. 26., and 2 Kings xxi. 15.; Calmet) and, in general, to all his temporal or spiritual adversaries. (Worthington) Affliction, when my friends joined Absalom. (Theodoret) --- In the rest of this psalm, the prophet chiefly uses words in the obvious sense, yet mystically speaks of Christ, and of the faithful. (Worthington) Place, where I was not hemmed in by my enemies. (Haydock) --- Saved me, by repentance, out of his infinite mercy, (Eusebius; St. Athanasius) without any deserts. (Worthington)