Praise ye the Lord
Or "hallelujah"; this is the title of the psalm, and is
expressive of the subject matter of it; and so it stands in the
Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions;
as it should, as appears from the psalm being alphabetical; for
the first letter of this word is the fifth and not the first of
the alphabet; it is wanting in the Syriac version, which gives
the title in this manner, without a name, concerning the glorious
virtues of
``the works of God; but it exhorts us to give thanks to Christ; and it is said in the person of the apostles.''I will praise the Lord with my whole heart;
in the assembly of the upright, and in the
congregation:
which may signify one and the same; even the place where upright
persons assemble and gather together for divine worship, the
tabernacle in David's time, and the temple afterwards; and may
point at any place of worship in Gospel times, and the people
that meet there; who being for the most part upright persons, or
in a judgment of charity so accounted, though every individual
among them may not be such, are thus called; and that because
they have the uprightness, righteousness, and holiness of Christ
imputed to them; and have right spirits renewed in them, and so
are upright in heart; and, in consequence of this, walk uprightly
according to the rules of the Gospel. It may be rendered, as it
is by the Targum,
``in the secret F5 of the upright, and the congregation;''because here the secret of the Lord is made known to his people; the mysteries of his grace are revealed; and his ordinances, which are his counsel, are administered: or it may design some particular friends and acquaintance of the psalmist's, who privately met and took sweet counsel together, and communicated their secrets to one another, as the other word "congregation" may intend the public assembly of the people; and then the sense is, that he would sincerely praise the Lord both in private and public, and that because of his works; as follows.