Fourteenth Day: Morning Prayer
   
  71  In te, Domine, speravi
   
1 In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; *
    let me never be ashamed.
   
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
    incline your ear to me and save me.
   
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
    you are my crag and my stronghold.
   
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
    from of the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
   
5 For you are my hope, O LORD God, *
    my confidence since I was young.
   
6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb you have been my strength; *
    my praise shall be always of you.
   
7 I have become a portent to many; *
    but you are my refuge and my strength.
   
8 Let my mouth be full of your praise *
    and your glory all the day long.
   
9 Do not cast me off in my old age; *
    forsake me not when my strength fails.
   
10 For my enemies are talking against me, *
    and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.
   
11 They say, "God has forsaken him;
go after him and seize him; *
    because there is none who will save."

 

 

Psalm 71     683


 

12 O God, be not far from me; *
    come quickly to help me, O my God.
   
13 Let those who set themselves against me be put to shame and
                              be disgraced; *
    let those who seek to do me evil be covered with scorn
                              and reproach.
   
14 But I shall always wait in patience, *
    and shall praise you more and more.
   
15 My mouth shall recount your mighty acts
and saving deeds all day long; *
    though I cannot know the number of them.
   
16 I will begin with the mighty works of the Lord GOD; *
    I will recall your righteousness, yours alone.
   
17 O God, you have taught me since I was young, *
    and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.
   
   
18 And now that I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not
                              forsake me, *
    till I make known your strength to this generation
    and your power to all who are to come.
   
19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; *
    you have done great things;
    who is like you, O God?
   
20 You have showed me great troubles and adversities, *
    but you will restore my life
 and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth.
   
21 You strengthen me more and more; *
    you enfold and comfort me,

 

 

684    Psalm 71

 
22 Therefore I will praise you upon the lyre for your
                              faithfulness, O my God; *
    I will sing to you with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.
   
23 My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, *
    and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
   
24 My tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long, *
    for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought
                              to do me harm.
   
  72  Deus, judicium
   
1 Give the King your justice, O God, *
    and your righteousness to the King's son;
   
2 That he may rule your people righteously *
    and the poor with justice.
   
3 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, *
    and the little hills bring righteousness.
   
4 He shall defend the needy among the people; *
    he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.
   
5 He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure, *
    from one generation to another.
   
6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown field, *
    like showers that water the earth.
   
7 In his time shall the righteous flourish; *
    there shall be abundance of peace till the moon shall
                              be no more.
   
8 He shall rule from sea to sea, *
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

 

 

Psalm 72     685



 

9 His foes shall bow down before him, *
    and his enemies lick the dust.
   
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute, *
    and the kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts.
   
11 All kings shall bow down before him, *
    and all the nations do him service.
   
12 For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, *
    and the oppressed who has no helper.
   
13 He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; *
    he shall preserve the lives of the needy.
   
14 He shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence, *
    and dear shall their blood be in his sight.
   
15 Long may he live!
and may there be given to him gold from Arabia; *
    may prayer be made for him always,
    and may they bless him all the day long.
   
16 May there be abundance of grain on the earth,
growing thick even on the hilltops; *
    may its fruit flourish like Lebanon,
    and its grain like grass upon the earth.
   
17 May his Name remain for ever
and be established as long as the sun endures; *
    may all the nations bless themselves in him and
                              call him blessed.
   
   
18 Blessed be the Lord GOD, the God of Israel, *
    who alone does wondrous deeds!
   
19 And blessed be his glorious Name for ever! *
    and may all the earth be filled with his glory.
    Amen. Amen.

 

 

686    Psalm 72

 
  Book Three
   
  Fourteenth Day: Evening Prayer
   
  73  Quam bonus Israel!
   
1 Truly, God is good to Israel, *
    to those who are pure in heart.
   
2 But as for me, my feet had nearly slipped; *
    I had almost tripped and fallen;
   
3 Because I envied the proud *
    and saw the prosperity of the wicked:
   
4 For they suffer no pain, *
    and their bodies are sleek and sound;
   
5 In the misfortunes of others they have no share; *
    they are not afflicted as others are;
   
6 Therefore they wear their pride like a necklace *
    and wrap their violence about them like a cloak.
   
7 Their iniquity comes from gross minds, *
    and their hearts overflow with wicked thoughts.
   
8 They scoff and speak maliciously; *
    out of their haughtiness they plan oppression.
   
9 They set their mouths against the heavens, *
    and their evil speech runs through the world.
   
10 And so the people turn to them *
    and find in them no fault.
   
11 They say, "How should God know? *
    is there knowledge in the Most High?"

 

 

Psalm 73     687

 

12 So then, these are the wicked; *
    always at ease, they increase their wealth.
   
13 In vain have I kept my heart clean, *
    and washed my hands in innocence.
   
14 I have been afflicted all day long, *
    and punished every morning.
   
15 Had I gone on speaking this way, *
    I should have betrayed the generation of your children.
   
16 When I tried to understand these things, *
    it was too hard for me;
   
17 Until I entered the sanctuary of God *
    and discerned the end of the wicked.
   
18 Surely, you set them in slippery places; *
    you cast them down in ruin.
   
19 Oh, how suddenly do they come to destruction, *
    come to an end, and perish from terror!
   
20 Like a dream when one awakens, O Lord, *
    when you arise you will make their image vanish.
   
21 When my mind became embittered, *
    I was sorely wounded in my heart.
   
22 I was stupid and had no understanding; *
    I was like a brute beast in your presence.
   
23 Yet I am always with you; *
    you hold me by my right hand.
   
24 You will guide me by your counsel, *
    and afterwards receive me with glory.
   
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? *
    and having you I desire nothing upon earth.

 

 

688    Psalm 73

 

26 Though my flesh and my heart should waste away, *
    God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
   
27 Truly, those who forsake you will perish; *
    you destroy all who are unfaithful.
   
28 But it is good for me to be near God; *
    I have made the Lord GOD my refuge.
   
29 I will speak of all your works *
    in the gates of the city of Zion.
   
  74  Ut quid, Deus?
   
1 O God, why have you utterly cast us off? *
    why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?
   
2 Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, *
    the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance,
    and Mount Zion where you dwell.
   
3 Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; *
    the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
   
4 Your adversaries roared in your holy place; *
    they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
   
5 They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; *
    they broke down all your carved work with hatchets
                              and hammers.
   
6 They set fire to your holy place; *
    they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name
    and razed it to the ground.
   
7 They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether." *
    They burned down all the meeting-places of God
                              in the land.

 

 

Psalm 74     689

 

8 There are no signs for us to see;
there is no prophet left; *
    there is not one among us who knows how long.
   
9 How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? *
    will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?
   
10 Why do you draw back your hand? *
    why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?
   
11 Yet God is my King from ancient times, *
    victorious in the midst of the earth.
   
12 You divided the sea by your might *
    and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;
   
13 You crushed the heads of Leviathan *
    and gave him to the people of the desert for food.
   
14 You split open spring and torrent; *
    you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
   
15 Yours is the day, yours also the night; *
    you established the moon and the sun.
   
16 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *
    you made both summer and winter.
   
17 Remember, O LORD, how the enemy scoffed, *
    how a foolish people despised your Name.
   
18 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *
    never forget the lives of your poor.
   
19 Look upon your covenant; *
    the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.
   
20 Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; *
    let the poor and needy praise your Name.
   
21 Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *
    remember how fools revile you all day long.

 

 

690    Psalm 74

 
22 Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, *
    the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.
   
  Fifteenth Day: Morning Prayer
   
  75  Confitebimur tibi
   
1 We give you thanks, O God, we give you thanks, *
    calling upon your Name and declaring all your
                              wonderful deeds.
   
2 "I will appoint a time," says God; *
    "I will judge with equity.
   
3 Though the earth and all its inhabitants are quaking, *
    I will make its pillars fast.
   
4 I will say to the boasters, 'Boast no more,' *
    and to the wicked, 'Do not toss your horns;
   
5 Do not toss your horns so high, *
    nor speak with a proud neck.'"
   
6 For judgment is neither from the east nor from the west, *
    nor yet from the wilderness or the mountains.
   
7 It is God who judges; *
    he puts down one and lifts up another.
   
8 For in the LORD'S hand there is a cup,
full of spiced and foaming wine, which he pours out, *
    and all the wicked of the earth shall drink and
                              drain the dregs.
   
9 But I will rejoice for ever; *
    I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
   
10 He shall break off all the horns of the wicked; *
    but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

 

 

Psalm 75     691

 

  76  Notus in Judœa
   
1 In Judah is God known; *
    his Name is great in Israel.
   
2 At Salem is his tabernacle, *
    and his dwelling is in Zion.
   
3 There he broke the flashing arrows, *
    the shield, the sword, and the weapons of battle.
   
4 How glorious you are! *
    more splendid than the everlasting mountains!
   
5 The strong of heart have been despoiled;
they sink into sleep; *
    none of the warriors can lift a hand.
   
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, *
    both horse and rider lie stunned.
   
7 What terror you inspire! *
    who can stand before you when you are angry?
   
8 From heaven you pronounced judgment; *
    the earth was afraid and was still;
   
9 When God rose up to judgment *
    and to save all the oppressed of the earth.
   
10 Truly, wrathful Edom will give you thanks, *
    and the remnant of Hamath will keep your feasts.
   
11 Make a vow to the LORD your God and keep it; *
    let all around him bring gifts to him who is worthy
                              to be feared.
   
12 He breaks the spirit of princes, *
    and strikes terror in the kings of the earth.

 

 

692    Psalm 76

 

  77  Voce mea ad Dominum
   
1 I will cry aloud to God; *
    I will cry aloud, and he will hear me.
   
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; *
    my hands were stretched out by night and did not tire;
    I refused to be comforted.
   
3 I think of God, I am restless, *
    I ponder, and my spirit faints.
   
4 You will not let my eyelids close; *
    I am troubled and I cannot speak.
   
5 I consider the days of old; *
    I remember the years long past;
   
6 I commune with my heart in the night; *
    I ponder and search my mind.
   
7 Will the Lord cast me off for ever? *
    will he no more show his favor?
   
8 Has his loving-kindness come to an end for ever? *
    has his promise failed for evermore?
   
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? *
    has he, in his anger, withheld his compassion?
   
10 And I said, "My grief is this: *
    the right hand of the Most High has lost its power."
   
11 I will remember the works of the LORD, *
    and call to mind your wonders of old time.
   
12 I will meditate on all your acts *
    and ponder your mighty deeds.
   
13 Your way, O God, is holy; *
    who is so great a god as our God?

 

 

Psalm 77     693

 

14 You are the God who works wonders *
    and have declared your power among the peoples.
   
15 By your strength you have redeemed your people, *
    the children of Jacob and Joseph.
   
16 The waters saw you, O God;
the waters saw you and trembled; *
    the very depths were shaken.
   
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered; *
    your arrows flashed to and fro;
   
18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world; *
    the earth trembled and shook.
   
19 Your way was in the sea,
and your paths in the great waters, *
    yet your footsteps were not seen.
   
20 You led your people like a flock *
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
   
  Fifteenth Day: Evening Prayer
   
  78 
   
  Part I    Attendite, popule
   
1 Hear my teaching, O my people; *
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
   
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; *
    I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.

 

 

694    Psalm 78

 

3 That which we have heard and known,
and what our forefathers have told us, *
    we will not hide from their children.
   
4 We will recount to generations to come
the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, *
    and the wonderful works he has done.
   
5 He gave his decrees to Jacob
and established a law for Israel, *
    which he commanded them to teach their children;
   
6 That the generations to come might know,
and the children yet unborn; *
    that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
   
7 So that they might put their trust in God, *
 and not forget the deeds of God,
    but keep his commandments;
   
8 And not be like their forefathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation, *
    a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
   
   
9 The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, *
    turned back in the day of battle;
   
10 They did not keep the covenant of God, *
    and refused to walk in his law;
   
11 They forgot what he had done, *
    and the wonders he had shown them.
   
12 He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, *
    in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
   
13 He split open the sea and let them pass through; *
    he made the waters stand up like walls.

 

 

Psalm 78     695

 

14 He led them with a cloud by day, *
    and all the night through with a glow of fire.
   
15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness *
    and gave them drink as from the great deep.
   
16 He brought streams out of the cliff, *
    and the waters gushed out like rivers.
   
17 But they went on sinning against him, *
    rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
   
   
18 They tested God in their hearts, *
    demanding food for their craving.
   
19 They railed against God and said, *
    "Can God set a table in the wilderness?
   
20 True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the
                              gullies overflowed; *
    but is he able to give bread
    or to provide meat for his people?"
   
21 When the LORD heard this, he was full of wrath; *
    a fire was kindled against Jacob,
    and his anger mounted against Israel;
   
22 For they had no faith in God, *
    nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
   
23 So he commanded the clouds above *
    and opened the doors of heaven.
   
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat *
    and gave them grain from heaven.
   
25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; *
    he provided for them food enough.

 

 

696    Psalm 78

 

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *
    and led out the south wind by his might.
   
27 He rained down flesh upon them like dust *
    and wingèd birds like the sand of the sea.
   
28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp *
    and round about their dwellings.
   
29 So they ate and were well filled, *
    for he gave them what they craved.
   
   
30 But they did not stop their craving, *
    though the food was still in their mouths.
   
31 So God's anger mounted against them; *
    he slew their strongest men
    and laid low the youth of Israel.
   
32 In spite of all this, they went on sinning *
    and had no faith in his wonderful works.
   
33 So he brought their days to an end like a breath *
    and their years in sudden terror.
   
34 Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, *
    and repent, and diligently search for God.
   
35 They would remember that God was their rock, *
    and the Most High God their redeemer.
   
36 But they flattered him with their mouths *
    and lied to him with their tongues.
   
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, *
    and they were not faithful to his covenant.

 

 

Psalm 78     697

 

38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins
and did not destroy them; *
    many times he held back his anger
    and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
   
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, *
    a breath that goes forth and does not return.
   
  Psalm 78: Part II    Quoties exacerbaverunt
   
40 How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness *
    and offended him in the desert!
   
41 Again and again they tempted God *
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
   
42 They did not remember his power *
    in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;
   
43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt *
    and his omens in the field of Zoan.
   
44 He turned their rivers into blood, *
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
   
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up, *
    and frogs, which destroyed them.
   
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, *
    the fruit of their toil to the locust.
   
47 He killed their vines with hail *
    and their sycamores with frost.
   
48 He delivered their cattle to hailstones *
    and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.

 

 

698    Psalm 78

 

49 He poured out upon them his blazing anger: *
    fury, indignation, and distress,
    a troop of destroying angels.
   
50 He gave full rein to his anger;
he did not spare their souls from death; *
    but delivered their lives to the plague.
   
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, *
    the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.
   
52 He led out his people like sheep *
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
   
53 He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; *
    but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
   
54 He brought them to his holy land, *
    the mountain his right hand had won.
   
55 He drove out the Canaanites before them
and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; *
    he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
   
   
56 But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, *
    and did not keep his commandments.
   
57 They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; *
    they were undependable like a warped bow.
   
58 The grieved him with their hill-altars *
    they provoked his displeasure with their idols.
   
59 When God heard this, he was angry *
    and utterly rejected Israel.
   
60 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, *
    the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.

 

 

Psalm 78     699

 
61 He delivered the ark into captivity, *
    his glory into the adversary's hand.
   
62 He gave his people to the sword *
    and was angered against his inheritance.
   
63 The fire consumed their young men; *
    there were no wedding songs for their maidens.
   
64 Their priests fell by the sword, *
    and their widows made no lamentation.
   
   
65 Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, *
    like a warrior refreshed with wine.
   
66 He struck his enemies on the backside *
    and put them to perpetual shame.
   
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph *
    and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
   
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah *
    and Mount Zion, which he loved.
   
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, *
    like the earth which he founded for ever.
   
70 He chose David his servant, *
    and took him away from the sheepfolds.
   
71 He brought him from following the ewes, *
    to be a shepherd over Jacob his people
    and over Israel his inheritance.
   
72 So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart *
    and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.

 

 

700    Psalm 78

 

 

  Sixteenth Day: Morning Prayer
   
  79  Deus, venerunt
   
1 O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
they have profaned your holy temple; *
    they have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.
   
2 They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the
                              birds of the air, *
    and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts
                              of the field.
   
3 They have shed their blood like water on every side
                              of Jerusalem, *
    and there was no one to bury them.
   
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, *
    an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
   
5 How long will you be angry, O LORD? *
    will your fury blaze like fire for ever?
   
6 Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not
                              known you *
    and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon
                              your Name.
   
7 For they have devoured Jacob *
    and made his dwelling a ruin.
   
8 Remember not our past sins;
let your compassion be swift to meet us; *
    for we have been brought very low.
   
9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your Name; *
    deliver us and forgive us our sins, for your Name's sake.

 

 

Psalm 79     701

 
10 Why should the heathen say, "Where is their God?" *
    Let it be known among the heathen and in our sight
    that you avenge the shedding of your servants' blood.
   
11 Let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before you, *
    and by your great might spare those who are
                              condemned to die.
   
12 May the revilings with which they reviled you, O Lord, *
    return seven-fold into their bosoms.
   
13 For we are your people and the sheep of your pasture; *
    we will give you thanks for ever
    and show forth your praise from age to age.
   
  80  Qui regis Israel
   
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
    shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
   
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
    stir up your strength and come to help us.
   
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
    show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
   
   
4 O LORD God of hosts, *
    how long will you be angered
    despite the prayers of your people?
   
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
    you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
   
6 You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *
    and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

 

 

702    Psalm 80


 

7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
    show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
   
   
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; *
    you cast out the nations and planted it.
   
9 You prepared the ground for it; *
    it took root and filled the land.
   
10 The mountains were covered by its shadow *
    and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.
   
11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea *
    and its branches to the River.
   
12 Why have you broken down its wall, *
    so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?
   
13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, *
    and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.
   
14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;
behold and tend this vine; *
    preserve what your right hand has planted.
   
15 They burn it with fire like rubbish; *
    at the rebuke of your countenance let them perish.
   
16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, *
    and son of man you have made so strong for yourself.
   
17 And so will we never turn away from you; *
    give us life, that we may call upon your Name.
   
18 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; *
    show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

 

 

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