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    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.
     
© The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2000-2004
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