PSALM . (DOMINE .)
God's special providence over his servants.
Descend. Hebrew, "make my bed the grave or hell," Job xvii. 13. The living and the dead are equally in God's power. (Calmet)
In the morning. Shachar is so rendered by St. Jerome. (Haydock) --- Some would understand "the black eagle," (Lyranus) or the east, (Origen) or aurora. The poets assign wings to the sun, &c., Malachias iv. 2. (Calmet)
Cover. Literally, tread me under foot," conculcabunt. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "shall cover or be my aurora." (Calmet) --- Pleasures of the most secret kind. All is naked before God. (Haydock) --- The prophet speaks in the name of all who are curious, that darkness itself cannot hide any thing from him. (Worthington) --- He seems also to represent one who seeks to avoid being seen in his pleasures. (Berthier) --- Hebrew, "around me." But it also has the former meaning, and shews that if we seek to indulge ourselves in darkness, it will be all in vain. (Menochius)
Thereof. Alluding to day and night. (Berthier)
Reins, and interior. (Theodoret) --- Nothing seems more hidden than a man's entrails, or a child in his mother's womb, who is formed by God, ver. 16., and 2 Machabees vii. 22. (Worthington) --- Protected. Hebrew, "covered," which may also mean formed. (Berthier)
Magnified. Chaldean and St. Jerome, "hast magnified me." Hebrew seems less correct, "I have been terribly magnified," though the sense is much the same. (Berthier) --- I have been stricken with awe and astonishment at thy works. (Calmet)
Bone. Hebrew, "substance." --- And my. Hebrew, "and curiously wrought." (Protestants) (Haydock) --- Septuagint have read rather differently, and give a very good sense; "and is my substance in?" &c. Most explain this also of the embryo. But it seems rather to refer to the corpse in the grave, Psalm lxii. 10. (Calmet) (Berthier)