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81.My soul hath fainted for thy salvation. The Psalmist intimates that, although worn out with continual grief, and perceiving no issue to his calamities, yet trouble and weariness had not produced such a discouraging effect upon his mind, as to prevent him from always reposing with confidence in God. To bring out the meaning the more distinctly, we must begin at the second clause, which is obviously added by way of exposition. There he affirms that he trusts in God; and this is the foundation of all. But, intending to express the invincible constancy of his trust, he tells us that he patiently endured all the distresses, under which others succumb. We see some embracing with great eagerness the promises of God; but their ardor, within a short time, vanishes; or, at least, is quenched by adversity. It was far otherwise with David. The verb כלה, kalah, which signifies to faint, or to be consumed, seems, indeed, at first sight, to convey a different meaning. But the prophet, in this passage, as in other places, by fainting means that patience, which those who are deprived of all strength, and who seem to be already dead, continue to cherish, and which inspires their hearts with secret groanings, and such as cannot be uttered. This fainting, then, is opposed to the delicacy of those who cannot suffer a long delay.