Relent, LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 13. Asp. Which kills in eight hours time at farthest, making the blood congeal.—Basilisk. “The little king” of serpents. What is related of it seems fabulous. Pliny viii. 21. Solin xxx. Calmet.—Yet there might be some species known by this name, possessing fascinating qualities like the rattle-snake. Bert.—The sight of it alone could not destroy a man; otherwise how could any account o it have been given? Hebrew ssel means a lion in Job, (Bert.) and phethen, “an asp,” ( Calmet.) or basilisk. Bochart—Dragon. Crocodile. Calmet.—The most noxious animals, both of sea and land, shall prove quite harmless to the true servants of God, when he intends to prove the truth of his religion, as he did in the cases of Daniel, and of the disciples of Christ. Mar. 16. If they be suffered to kill the saints here, it is in order that they may be glorified in heaven, ver. 15. Bible.—The devil is styled an asp, and so forth Bert.—He sometimes attacks the Church, by craft, and at other times by open violence. But she remains secure, (Saint Augustine) and her children can only be preserved by continuing in her bosom. To know which is the true Church; “see, says Saint Gregory (Mor. xx. 29.) which are the most recent sects.” Bert.—Methodists may now wrest this honour from the rest of Protestants. Bible.
When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).