I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
Ver. 8. I will keep thy statutes] Yea, and that very much, or with vehemence, as some read it, usque valde; this he had said before was God's command, Psalms 119:4, and he would do it. Iussa sequi tam velle mihi quam posse necesse est (Lucan).
O forsake me not] Or if at all (as thou mayest without breach of promise), yet not very much; not usque valde; not utterly. Christ, saith Greenham, was forsaken for a few hours, David for a few months, and Job for a few years; seven years, saith Suidas, for the trial and exercise of his faith and patience. This might seem to them usque valde but it was not usquequaque sive semper aut perpetuo. Leave them God did to their thinking, but forsake them he did not; forsake them he did in regard of vision, but not in regard of union; non deserit etiamsi deserat, saith Austin.