Strophe 1

As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night,

While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me,
How I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?

And why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God:

For I shall yet praise him,

Who is the health of my countenance

And my God!

Strophe 2

My soul is cast down within me!

Therefore do I remember thee from the land of Jordan,

And the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts :

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me!

Yet the LORD will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, And in the night his song shall be with me,

Even a prayer unto the God of my life.

I will say unto God my rock, "Why hast thou forgotten me?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
As with a sword in my bones, mine adversaries reproach me;
While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?"
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?

And why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God:

For I shall yet praise him,

Who is the health of my countenance

And my God!

Strophe 3

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off?

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Then will I go unto the altar of God,

Unto God my exceeding joy:

And upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.
WHY ART THOU CAST DOWN, O MY SOUL?

AND WHY ART THOU DISQUIETED WITHIN ME?

HOPE THOU IN GOD:

FOR I SHALL YET PRAISE HIM,

WHO IS THE HEALTH OF MY COUNTENANCE

AND MY GOD!

refrain is found in a portion of
Here there is a
stanza a cry for

Psalm cvii. 4-32

But the maximum of lyric effect drawn from this combination of the strophic structure and the the hundred and seventh psalm. double refrain: one puts in each help, the other the outburst of praise after the help has come; each refrain has a sequel verse which appropriately changes with the subject of each stanza. Thus the form of the strophes is that which the eye catches in the subjoined mode of printing it; the body of each stanza consists of short lines putting various forms of distress; then the stanza lengthens its lines into the first refrain with its sequel verse, and enlarges again into the second refrain with its sequel.

Strophe 1

They wandered in the wilderness

In a desert way;

They found no city of habitation.

Hungry and thirsty,

Their soul fainted in them.

Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,

And he delivered them out of their distresses.
He led them also by a straight way,

That they might go to a city of habitation.

OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS,

AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN!

For he satisfieth the longing soul,

And the hungry soul he filleth with good.

Strophe 2

Such as sat in darkness

And in the shadow of death,

Being bound in affliction and iron;

Because they rebelled against the words of God,

And contemned the counsel of the Most High:

Therefore he brought down their heart with labour,

They fell down, and there was none to help.

Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,

And he saved them out of their distresses.

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,

And brake their bands in sunder.

OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS, AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN! For he hath broken the gates of brass,

And cut the bars of iron in sunder.

Strophe 3

Fools because of their transgression,

And because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat;

And they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
And he saveth them out of their distresses.

He sendeth his word, and healeth them,

And delivereth them from their destructions.

OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS,

AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN!

And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,

And declare his works with singing.

Strophe 4

They that go down to the sea in ships,

That do business in great waters,

These see the works of the LORD,

And his wonders in the deep.

For he commandeth,

And raiseth the stormy wind,

Which lifteth up the waves thereof:

They mount up to the heaven,

They go down again to the depths;

Their soul melteth away because of trouble:
They reel to and fro,

And stagger like a drunken man;

And are at their wits' end.

Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,

And he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm,

So that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet:

So he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.
OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS,
AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN!
Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people,

And praise him in the seat of the elders.

Musical expression of structure

It is just such structural variations as these that it is the special mission of a musical rendering to express. In the psalm just cited the melancholy monotony of men's voices in unison might be used to bring out the various phases of distress which make the subjects of successive strophes. Children's voices in harmony and unaccompanied would fitly express the cry for help (refrain and sequel verse), while full choir and organ would give out the thanksgiving. In the more extended final stanza a monotone of men's voices in unison would leave more scope for organ accompaniment to bring out the changes of the sea. Then as before the whole would resolve into the silvery harmony of children's voices heard alone; while all that full choir and instrument could do would be needed for the final climax.

1 Bishop Westcott's Paragraph Psalter (Macmillan) is a step in the direction of such structural chanting. A musical setting of Psalms lxxviii and civ in illustration of it has been published by Dr. Naylor, Organist of York Minster (Novello).

CHAPTER II

THE HIGHER PARALLELISM, OR PARALLELISM OF INTERPRETATION

Parallelism in general

THE preceding chapter has sufficiently exhibited Biblical Versification in its leading forms and devices of structure. In the present chapter I consider further the general spirit of parallelism which underlies it. I wish to show that the study of such parallelism is not a mere matter of technicalities, but that it connects itself directly with the higher interests of literature.

Parallelism a factor in inter

In interpreting the meaning of Scripture parallelism plays no unimportant part. I will commence with a very simple example. The Song of the Sword,' which gives expression to the excitement attending the first invention of deadly weapons, contains the following couplet :

pretation

I have slain a man to my wounding,

And a young man to my hurt.

Does this passage imply the slaying of one person or two persons? This question cannot be called a mere matter of technicalities. Commentators of the period when the secret of parallelism was lost understood the words to mean that two men were slain; and connecting the passage with the succeeding couplet —

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,

Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold

they found an interpretation for the whole by supposing that when 1 Otherwise called Song of Lamech (Gen. iv. 23-24).