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9 By day Jahve will command His loving-kindness,

And at night a song concerning Him is with me, prayer to the God of my life.

10 Therefore say I to God, my rock: Why dost Thou forget

me? Why must I go mourning under the oppression of the enemy ?

11 Like a crushing in my bones my oppressors scoff at me, While they say to me continually : Where is thy God ?

12 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why groanest

thou within me ? Hope in Elohim, for I shall yet give thanks to Him, That He is the health of my countenance and my God.

1 JUDGE me, Elohim, and plead my cause against an un-

merciful people, From the man of deceit and roguery be Thou pleased to rescue me ;

2 For Thou art God, my fortress, why dost Thou spurn me ? Why must I go about mourning under the oppression of

the enemy ?

3 Send Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me,

Let them bring me to Thy holy mountain and to Thy tabernacles —

4 Then will I go in unto the altar of Elohim, To the God of my exultant joy,

And give thanks to Thee with the cithern, Elohim my God.

5 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why groanest

thou within me? Hope in Elohim, for I shall yet give thanks to Him, That He is the health of my countenance and my God. The Second Book of Psalms consists entirely of Elohimic Psalms (vid., Introduction, p. 12); for whilst in the First Book יהוה occurred 272 times and אלהים only 15 times, the relation is here reversed: אלהים occurs 164 times, and יהוה only 30 times, and in almost every instance by a departure from the customary mode of expression for reasons that lie close at hand. At the head of these Psalms written in the Elohimic style there stand seven inscribed לבני־קרח. That here a