Psalm 86 | |||
1
|
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, • | ||
for I am poor and in misery. | |||
2
|
Preserve my soul, for I am faithful; • | ||
save your servant, for I put my trust in you. | |||
3
|
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; • | ||
I call upon you all the day long. | |||
4
|
Gladden the soul of your servant, • | ||
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. | |||
5
|
For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, • | ||
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. | |||
6
|
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer • | ||
and listen to the voice of my supplication. | |||
7
|
In the day of my distress I will call upon you, • | ||
for you will answer me. | |||
8
|
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, • | ||
nor any works like yours. | |||
9
|
All nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, • | ||
and shall glorify your name. | |||
10
|
For you are great and do wonderful things; • | ||
you alone are God. | |||
11
|
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; • | ||
knit my heart to you, that I may fear your name. | |||
12
|
I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, • | ||
and glorify your name for evermore; | |||
13
|
For great is your steadfast love towards me, • | ||
for you have delivered my soul from the depths of the grave. | |||
14
|
O God, the proud rise up against me | ||
and a ruthless horde seek after my life; • | |||
they have not set you before their eyes. | |||
15
|
But you, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, • | ||
slow to anger and full of kindness and truth. | |||
16
|
Turn to me and have mercy upon me; • | ||
give your strength to your servant | |||
and save the child of your handmaid. | |||
17
|
Show me a token of your favour, | ||
that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; • | |||
because you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me. | |||
Psalm 87 | |||
1
|
His foundation is on the holy mountains. • | ||
The Lord loves the gates of Zion | |||
more than all the dwellings of Jacob. | |||
2
|
Glorious things are spoken of you, • | ||
Zion, city of our God. | |||
3
|
I record Egypt and Babylon as those who know me; • | ||
behold Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia: | |||
in Zion were they born. | |||
4
|
And of Zion it shall be said, 'Each one was born in her, • | ||
and the Most High himself has established her.' | |||
5
|
The Lord will record as he writes up the peoples, • | ||
'This one also was born there.' | |||
6
|
And as they dance they shall sing, • | ||
'All my fresh springs are in you.' | |||
Psalm 88 | |||
1
|
O Lord, God of my salvation, • | ||
I have cried day and night before you. | |||
2
|
Let my prayer come into your presence; • | ||
incline your ear to my cry. | |||
3
|
For my soul is full of troubles; • | ||
my life draws near to the land of death. | |||
4
|
I am counted as one gone down to the Pit; • | ||
I am like one that has no strength, | |||
5
|
Lost among the dead, • | ||
like the slain who lie in the grave, | |||
6
|
Whom you remember no more, • | ||
for they are cut off from your hand. | |||
7
|
You have laid me in the lowest pit, • | ||
in a place of darkness in the abyss. | |||
8
|
Your anger lies heavy upon me, • | ||
and you have afflicted me with all your waves. | |||
9
|
You have put my friends far from me • | ||
and made me to be abhorred by them. | |||
10
|
I am so fast in prison that I cannot get free; • | ||
my eyes fail from all my trouble. | |||
11
|
Lord, I have called daily upon you; • | ||
I have stretched out my hands to you. | |||
12
|
Do you work wonders for the dead? • | ||
Will the shades stand up and praise you? | |||
13
|
Shall your loving-kindness be declared in the grave, • | ||
your faithfulness in the land of destruction? | |||
14
|
Shall your wonders be known in the dark • | ||
or your righteous deeds in the land where all is forgotten? | |||
15
|
But as for me, O Lord, I will cry to you; • | ||
early in the morning my prayer shall come before you. | |||
16
|
Lord, why have you rejected my soul? • | ||
Why have you hidden your face from me? | |||
17
|
I have been wretched and at the point of death from my youth; • | ||
I suffer your terrors and am no more seen. | |||
18
|
Your wrath sweeps over me; • | ||
your horrors are come to destroy me; | |||
19
|
All day long they come about me like water; • | ||
they close me in on every side. | |||
20
|
Lover and friend have you put far from me • | ||
and hid my companions out of my sight. | |||
Psalm 89 | |||
1
|
My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the Lord: • | ||
with my mouth will I proclaim your faithfulness | |||
throughout all generations. | |||
2
|
I will declare that your love is established for ever; • | ||
you have set your faithfulness as firm as the heavens. | |||
3
|
For you said: 'I have made a covenant with my chosen one; • | ||
I have sworn an oath to David my servant: | |||
4
|
' "Your seed will I establish for ever • | ||
and build up your throne for all generations." ' | |||
5
|
The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, • | ||
and your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones; | |||
6
|
For who among the clouds can be compared to the Lord? • | ||
Who is like the Lord among the host of heaven? | |||
7
|
A God feared in the council of the holy ones, • | ||
great and terrible above all those round about him. | |||
8
|
Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? • | ||
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you. | |||
9
|
You rule the raging of the sea; • | ||
you still its waves when they arise. | |||
10
|
You crushed Rahab with a deadly wound • | ||
and scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. | |||
11
|
Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; • | ||
you established the world and all that fills it. | |||
12
|
You created the north and the south; • | ||
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name. | |||
13
|
You have a mighty arm; • | ||
strong is your hand and high is your right hand. | |||
14
|
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; • | ||
steadfast love and faithfulness go before your face. | |||
15
|
Happy are the people who know the shout of triumph: • | ||
they walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance. | |||
16
|
In your name they rejoice all the day long • | ||
and are exalted in your righteousness. | |||
17
|
For you are the glory of their strength, • | ||
and in your favour you lift up our heads. | |||
18
|
Truly the Lord is our shield; • | ||
the Holy One of Israel is our king. | |||
19
|
You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: • | ||
'I have set a youth above the mighty; | |||
I have raised a young man over the people. | |||
20
|
'I have found David my servant; • | ||
with my holy oil have I anointed him. | |||
21
|
'My hand shall hold him fast • | ||
and my arm shall strengthen him. | |||
22
|
'No enemy shall deceive him, • | ||
nor any wicked person afflict him. | |||
23
|
'I will strike down his foes before his face • | ||
and beat down those that hate him. | |||
24
|
'My truth also and my steadfast love shall be with him, • | ||
and in my name shall his head be exalted. | |||
25
|
'I will set his dominion upon the sea • | ||
and his right hand upon the rivers. | |||
26
|
'He shall call to me, "You are my Father, • | ||
my God, and the rock of my salvation;" | |||
27
|
'And I will make him my firstborn, • | ||
the most high above the kings of the earth. | |||
28
|
'The love I have pledged to him will I keep for ever, • | ||
and my covenant will stand fast with him. | |||
29
|
'His seed also will I make to endure for ever • | ||
and his throne as the days of heaven. | |||
30
|
'But if his children forsake my law • | ||
and cease to walk in my judgements, | |||
31
|
'If they break my statutes • | ||
and do not keep my commandments, | |||
32
|
'I will punish their offences with a rod • | ||
and their sin with scourges. | |||
33
|
'But I will not take from him my steadfast love • | ||
nor suffer my truth to fail. | |||
34
|
'My covenant will I not break • | ||
nor alter what has gone out of my lips. | |||
35
|
'Once for all have I sworn by my holiness • | ||
that I will not prove false to David. | |||
36
|
'His seed shall endure for ever • | ||
and his throne as the sun before me; | |||
37
|
'It shall stand fast for ever as the moon, • | ||
the enduring witness in the heavens.' | |||
38
|
But you have cast off and rejected your anointed; • | ||
you have shown fierce anger against him. | |||
39
|
You have broken the covenant with your servant, • | ||
and have cast his crown to the dust. | |||
40
|
You have broken down all his walls • | ||
and laid his strongholds in ruins. | |||
41
|
All who pass by despoil him, • | ||
and he has become the scorn of his neighbours. | |||
42
|
You have exalted the right hand of his foes • | ||
and made all his enemies rejoice. | |||
43
|
You have turned back the edge of his sword • | ||
and have not upheld him in battle. | |||
44
|
You have made an end of his radiance • | ||
and cast his throne to the ground. | |||
45
|
You have cut short the days of his youth • | ||
and have covered him with shame. | |||
46
|
How long will you hide yourself so utterly, O Lord? • | ||
How long shall your anger burn like fire? | |||
47
|
Remember how short my time is, • | ||
how frail you have made all mortal flesh. | |||
48
|
Which of the living shall not see death, • | ||
and shall deliver their soul from the power of darkness? | |||
49
|
Where, O Lord, is your steadfast love of old, • | ||
which you swore to David in your faithfulness? | |||
50
|
Remember, O Lord, how your servant is scorned, • | ||
how I bear in my bosom the taunts of many peoples, | |||
51
|
While your enemies mock, O Lord, • | ||
while they mock the footsteps of your anointed. | |||
52
|
Blessed be the Lord for evermore. • | ||
Amen and Amen. | |||
Psalm 90 | |||
1
|
Lord, you have been our refuge • | ||
from one generation to another. | |||
2
|
Before the mountains were brought forth, | ||
or the earth and the world were formed, • | |||
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. | |||
3
|
You turn us back to dust and say: • | ||
'Turn back, O children of earth.' | |||
4
|
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, • | ||
which passes like a watch in the night. | |||
5
|
You sweep them away like a dream; • | ||
they fade away suddenly like the grass. | |||
6
|
In the morning it is green and flourishes; • | ||
in the evening it is dried up and withered. | |||
7
|
For we consume away in your displeasure; • | ||
we are afraid at your wrathful indignation. | |||
8
|
You have set our misdeeds before you • | ||
and our secret sins in the light of your countenance. | |||
9
|
When you are angry, all our days are gone; • | ||
our years come to an end like a sigh. | |||
10
|
The days of our life are three score years and ten, | ||
or if our strength endures, even four score; • | |||
yet the sum of them is but labour and sorrow, | |||
for they soon pass away and we are gone. | |||
11
|
Who regards the power of your wrath • | ||
and your indignation like those who fear you? | |||
12
|
So teach us to number our days • | ||
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. | |||
13
|
Turn again, O Lord; how long will you delay? • | ||
Have compassion on your servants. | |||
14
|
Satisfy us with your loving-kindness in the morning, • | ||
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. | |||
15
|
Give us gladness for the days you have afflicted us, • | ||
and for the years in which we have seen adversity. | |||
16
|
Show your servants your works, • | ||
and let your glory be over their children. | |||
17
|
May the gracious favour of the Lord our God be upon us; • | ||
prosper our handiwork; O prosper the work of our hands. | |||