Book 1.5: The Wise and the Foolish

Complement   Part 1: The Wise

Unique   Chapter 1.1: The wise saint desires to dwell in the House of Jehovah (Psalm 27)

§Complement   Introduction: Jehovah is my light and my salvation

¹Jehovah is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

²When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

³Though an army should camp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

§Complement   Body: Teach me your way, O Jehovah

⁴One thing have I desired of Jehovah, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the House of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in his Temple: ⁵for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me: he shall set me up upon a Rock.

⁶And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in his Tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing; yea, I will sing praises to Jehovah.

⁷Hear, O Jehovah, when I cry with my voice; have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁸When you said, “Seek my face”, my heart said to you, “Your face, O Jehovah, will I seek.”

⁹Hide not your face from me; put not your servant away in anger; you have been my help. Leave me not; neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

¹⁰When my father and my mother forsake me, then Jehovah will take me up.

§Unique   Conclusion: Wait on Jehovah

¹¹Teach me your way, O Jehovah, and lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies. ¹²Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies: for false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

¹³I would have fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait on Jehovah; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on Jehovah.

Complement    Chapter 1.2: The wise saint longs for God in the Sanctuary (Psalm 63)

§Unique   Introduction: My soul thirsts for you, O God

¹O God, you are my God; early will I seek you.

My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where there is no water;

²to see your power and your glory, so as I have seen you in the Sanctuary.

§Complement   Body: My lips will praise you while I live

³Because your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.

⁴Thus will I bless you while I live:

I will lift up my hands in your Name.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips, ⁶when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the night watches.

⁷Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings will I rejoice. ⁸My soul follows hard after you; your right hand upholds me.

§Complement   Conclusion: The king shall rejoice in God

⁹But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth;

¹⁰they shall fall by the sword; they shall be a portion for foxes.

¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by him shall glory. But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

Complement    Chapter 1.3: The wise saint longs for Jehovah at his altars (Psalm 84)

§Unique   Introduction: My soul longs for the courts of Jehovah

¹How pleasant are your tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts!

²My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of Jehovah;

my heart and my flesh cries out for the Living God.

§Complement   Body: The House of Jehovah is the source of all blessing

³Moreover, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even as we at your altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God.

⁴Blessed are they that dwell in your House;

they will be continually praising you. Selah.

⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the ways of God; ⁶who passing through the valley of weeping makes it a spring; the rain also fills the pools. ⁷They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appears before God.

⁸O Jehovah God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

§Complement   Conclusion: Jehovah God is a sun and shield for those that walk uprightly

⁹Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed.

¹⁰For a day in your courts is better than a thousand in the world. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹For Jehovah God is a sun and shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. ¹²O Jehovah of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in you!

 

 

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Opposite   Chapter 1.4: The wise saint praises Jehovah in spite of those who mock him (Psalm 42)

¹As the deer longs after the waterbrooks, so longs my soul after you, O God. ²My soul thirsts for God, for the Living God. When shall I come and appear before God? ³My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

⁴When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept the feast day.

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted in me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

⁶O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. ⁷Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterspouts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. ⁸Jehovah will command his loving-kindness in the daytime; and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? ¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say daily to me, ‘Where is your God?’” ¹¹Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Opposite   Chapter 1.5: The wise saint is cast down, but hopes in God (Psalm 43)

¹Judge me, O God; and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man: ²for you are the God of my strength.

Why do you cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³O send out your Light and your Truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacles.

⁴Then will I go to the altar of God, to God my overwhelming joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise you, O God my God.

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

 

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Complement   Part 2: The Foolish

Unique   Chapter 2.1: The foolish shall not stand the sight of Jehovah (Psalm 5)

§Complement   Introduction: Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God

¹Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation.

²Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God: for unto you will I pray.

³You shall hear my voice in the morning, O Jehovah; in the morning will I direct my prayer to you, and will look up.

§Complement   Body: Lead me, O Jehovah, because of my enemies, for their inward part is destruction

⁴For you are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with you. ⁵The foolish shall not stand in your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity. ⁶You will destroy them that speak lies; Jehovah will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

⁷But as for me, I will come into your House in the multitude of your mercy, and in your fear will I worship toward your holy Temple.

⁸Lead me, O Jehovah, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before my face.

⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open tomb; they flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰Destroy them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions: for they have rebelled against you.

§Unique   Conclusion: Let all those who put their trust in you rejoice and be joyful in you

¹¹But let all those that put their trust in you rejoice; let them always shout for joy, because you defend them.

Let them also that love your Name be joyful in you.

¹²For you, Jehovah, will bless the righteous; with favor will you surround him as a shield.

Complement    Chapter 2.2: The fool has rejected God (Psalm 53)

§Unique   Introduction: The fools are corrupt and have done abominable works

¹The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity.

There is no one that does good.

§Complement   Body: God can see that no one does any good; no, not even one

²God looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that understood, that sought God.

³Every one of them has gone back; they have altogether become filthy;

There is no one that does good; no, not even one.

⁴Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?

Who eat up my people as they eat bread; they have not called upon God.

§Complement   Conclusion: God will return the captivity of his people

⁵There they were in great fear, where no fear was: for God has scattered the bones of him that camps against you.

You have put them to shame, because God has despised them.

⁶Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Complement    Chapter 2.3: The fool has rejected Jehovah (Psalm 14)

§Unique   Introduction: The fools are corrupt and have done abominable works

¹The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt; they have done abominable works.

There is no one that does good.

§Complement   Body: Jehovah can see that no one does any good; no, not even one

²Jehovah looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that understood, and sought God.

³They have all gone aside; they have all together become filthy;

There is no one that does good; no, not even one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?

Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon Jehovah.

§Complement   Conclusion: Jehovah will return the captivity of his people

⁵There they were in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

⁶You have shamed the counsel of the poor, because Jehovah is his refuge.

⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When Jehovah brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

 

 

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Opposite   Chapter 2.4: The ungodly shall be cast into Hell (Psalm 73)

¹Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had almost slipped: ³for I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked: ⁴for there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶Therefore pride surrounds them like a chain, and violence covers them as a garment. ⁷Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. ⁸They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. ⁹They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth; ¹⁰therefore his people return here; and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. ¹¹And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the most High?” ¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

¹³Truly I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence: ¹⁴for I have been plagued by temptation all day long, and disciplined every morning. ¹⁵If I say, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would offend against the generation of your children.

¹⁶When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; ¹⁷until I went into the Sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. ¹⁸Surely you set them in slippery places; you cast them down into destruction. ¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. ²⁰As a dream when one awakes, so, O Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image. ²¹Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. ²²So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was like a beast before you.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with you; you have held me by my right hand. ²⁴You shall guide me with your Counsel, and afterward receive me into glory. ²⁵Whom do I have in Heaven but you? And there is no one upon earth that I desire beside you. ²⁶My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever: ²⁷for, lo, they that are far from you shall perish; you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you. ²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, that I may declare all your works.

Opposite   Chapter 2.5: The proud are like the beasts that perish (Psalm 49)

¹Hear this, all you people; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world: ²both low and high, rich and poor, together. ³My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. ⁴I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall surround me? ⁶They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches: ⁷none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ⁸(for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever), ⁹so that he would still live forever, and not see corruption. ¹⁰For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the stupid person perish, and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they even call their lands after their own names.

¹²Nevertheless man being in honor does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. ¹³This their way is their foolishness, yet their posterity approves their sayings. Selah. ¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the Morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. ¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

¹⁶Be not afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased: ¹⁷for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. ¹⁸Though while he lived he blessed his soul; and men will praise you, when you do well for yourself. ¹⁹But he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

²⁰Man that is in honor, but does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.

 

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