1 The wicked has an Oracle of Transgression within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For it speaks smooth things to him in his imagination (eyes) As to finding out his iniquity, as to hating [it].
3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; He has ceased being wise, doing good. 4 He plots mischief upon his bed; He sets himself firmly in a way [that is] not good; Evil he loathes not.
5 Jehovah, Thy loving-kindness is in the heavens, Thy faithfulness is unto the clouds. 6 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, Thy judgments a mighty deep; Man and beast preservest Thou, Jehovah.
7 How precious is Thy loving-kindness, Jehovah, O God! And the sons of men in the shadow of Thy wings take refuge. 8 They are satisfied from the fatness of Thy house, And [of] the river of Thy delights Thou givest them to drink. 9 For with Thee is the fountain of life; In Thy light do we see light.
10 Continue Thy loving-kindness to those who know Thee, And Thy righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, And the hand of the wicked--let it not drive me forth.
12 There the workers of iniquity are fallen; They are struck down, and are not able to rise.
The supposition that the sombre picture of "the wicked" in vv. 1-4 was originally unconnected with the glorious hymn in vv. 5-9 fails to give weight to the difference between the sober pace of pedestrian prose and the swift flight of winged poetry. It fails also in apprehending the instinctive turning of a devout meditative spectator from the darkness of earth and its sins to the light above. The one refuge from the sad vision of evil here is in the faith that God is above it all, and that His name is Mercy. Nor can the blackness of the one picture be anywhere so plainly seen as when it is set in front of the brightness of the other. A religious man, who has laid to heart the miserable sights of which earth is full, will scarcely think that the psalmist's quick averting of his eyes from these to steep them in the light of God is unnatural, or that the original connection of the two parts of this psalm is an artificial supposition. Besides this, the closing section of prayer is tinged with references to the first part, and derives its _raison d'être_ from it. The three parts form an organic whole.