81  Exultate Deo
   
1 Sing with joy to God our strength *
    and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
   
2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel, *
    the merry harp, and the lyre.
   
3 Blow the ram's-horn at the new moon, *
    and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
   
4 For this is a statute for Israel, *
    a law of the God of Jacob.
   
5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, *
    when he came out of the land of Egypt.
   
6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying, *
   "I eased his shoulder from the burden;
    his hands were set free from bearing the load."
   
7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; *
    I answered you from the secret place of thunder
    and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
   
8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: *
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
   
9 There shall be no strange god among you; *
    you shall not worship a foreign god.
   
10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *
   "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
   
11 And yet my people did not hear my voice, *
    and Israel would not obey me.
   
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *
    to follow their own devices.

 

 

704    Psalm 81

 
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! *
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
   
14 I should soon subdue their enemies *
    and turn my hand against their foes.
   
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, *
    and their punishment would last for ever.
   
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *
    and satisfy him with honey from the rock.
   
  Sixteenth Day: Evening Prayer
   
  82  Deus stetit
   
1 God takes his stand in the council of heaven; *
    he gives judgment in the midst of the gods:
   
2 "How long will you judge unjustly, *
    and show favor to the wicked?
   
3 Save the weak and the orphan; *
    defend the humble and needy;
   
4 Rescue the weak and the poor; *
    deliver them from the power of the wicked.
   
5 They do not know, neither do they understand;
they go about in darkness; *
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
   
6 Now I say to you, 'You are gods, *
    and all of you children of the Most High;
   
7 Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, *
    and fall like any prince.'"

 

 

Psalm 82     705

 

8 Arise, O God, and rule the earth, *
    for you shall take all nations for your own.
   
  83  Deus, quis similis?
   
1 O God, do not be silent; *
    do not keep still nor hold your peace, O God;
   
2 For your enemies are in tumult, *
    and those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
   
3 They take secret counsel against your people *
    and plot against those whom you protect.
   
4 They have said, "Come, let us wipe them out from among
                              the nations; *
    let the name of Israel be remembered no more."
   
5 They have conspired together; *
    they have made an alliance against you:
   
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; *
    the Moabites and the Hagarenes;
   
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; *
    the Philistines and those who dwell in Tyre.
   
8 The Assyrians also have joined them, *
    and have come to help the people of Lot.
   
9 Do to them as you did to Midian, *
    to Sisera, and to Jabin at the river of Kishon:
   
10 They were destroyed at Endor; *
    they became like dung upon the ground.
   
11 Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeëb, *
    and all their commanders like Zebah and Zalmunna,

 

 

706    Psalm 83

 

12 Who said, "Let us take for ourselves *
    the fields of God as our possession."
   
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust *
    and like chaff before the wind;
   
14 Like fire that burns down a forest, *
    like the flame that sets mountains ablaze.
   
15 Drive them with your tempest *
    and terrify them with your storm;
   
16 Cover their faces with shame, O LORD, *
    that they may seek your Name.
   
17 Let them be disgraced and terrified for ever; *
    let them be put to confusion and perish.
   
18 Let them know that you, whose Name is YAHWEH, *
    you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
   
  84  Quam dilecta!
   
1 How dear to me is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts! *
    My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of
                              the LORD;
    my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
   
2 The sparrow has found her a house
and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; *
    by the side of your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
   
3 Happy are they who dwell in your house! *
    they will always be praising you.
   
4 Happy are the people whose strength is in you! *
    whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way.

 

 

Psalm 84     707

 

5 Those who go through the desolate valley will find
                              it a place of springs, *
    for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
   
6 They will climb from height to height, *
    and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion.
   
7 LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; *
    hearken, O God of Jacob.
   
8 Behold our defender, O God; *
    and look upon the face of your Anointed.
   
9 For one day in your courts is better than
                              a thousand in my own room, *
    and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God
    than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
   
10 For the LORD God is both sun and shield; *
    he will give grace and glory;
   
11 No good thing will the LORD withhold *
    from those who walk with integrity.
   
12 O LORD of hosts, *
    happy are they who put their trust in you!
   
  85  Benedixisti, Domine
   
1 You have been gracious to your land, O LORD, *
    you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
   
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
    and blotted out all their sins.
   
3 You have withdrawn all your fury *
    and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

 

 

708    Psalm 85

 
4 Restore us then, O God our Savior; *
    let your anger depart from us.
   
5 Will you be displeased with us for ever? *
    will you prolong your anger from age to age?
   
6 Will you not give us life again, *
    that your people may rejoice in you?
   
   
7 Show us your mercy, O LORD, *
    and grant us your salvation.
   
8 I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, *
    for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
    and to those who turn their hearts to him.
   
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
    that his glory may dwell in our land.
   
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
    righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
   
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
    and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
   
12 The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, *
    and our land will yield its increase.
   
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
    and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
   
  Seventeenth Day: Morning Prayer
   
  86  Inclina, Domine
   
1 Bow down your ear, O LORD, and answer me, *
    for I am poor and in misery.

 

 

Psalm 86     709

 

2 Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; *
    save your servant who puts his 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, O LORD, are good and forgiving, *
    and great is your love toward all who call upon you.
   
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer, *
    and attend to the voice of my supplications.
   
7 In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, *
    for you will answer me.
   
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O LORD, *
    nor anything like your works.
   
9 All the nations you have made will come and
                              worship you, O LORD, *
    and glorify your Name.
   
10 For you are great;
you do wondrous things; *
    and 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 love toward me; *
    you have delivered me from the nethermost Pit.

 

 

710    Psalm 86

 

14 The arrogant rise up against me, O God,
and a band of violent men seeks my life; *
    they have not set you before their eyes.
   
15 But you, O 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 sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
    because you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
   
  87  Fundamenta ejus
   
1 On the holy mountain stands the city he has founded; *
    the LORD loves the gates of Zion
    more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
   
2 Glorious things are spoken of you, *
    O city of our God.
   
3 I count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me; *
    behold Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia:
    in Zion were they born.
   
4 Of Zion it shall be said, "Everyone was born in her, *
    and the Most High himself shall sustain her."
   
5 The LORD will record as he enrolls the peoples, *
    "These also were born there."
   
6 The singers and the dancers will say, *
    "All my fresh springs are in you."

 

 

Psalm 87     711

 

  88  Domine, Deus
   
1 O LORD, my God, my Savior, *
    by day and night I cry to you.
   
2 Let my prayer enter into your presence; *
    incline your ear to my lamentation.
   
3 For I am full of trouble; *
    my life is at the brink of the grave.
   
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; *
    I have become like one who 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 depths of the Pit, *
    in dark places, and in the abyss.
   
8 Your anger weighs upon me heavily, *
    and all your great waves overwhelm me.
   
9 You have put my friends far from me;
you have made me to be abhorred by them; *
    I am in prison and cannot get free.
   
10 My sight has failed me because of trouble; *
    LORD, I have called upon you daily;
    I have stretched out my hands to you.
   
11 Do you work wonders for the dead? *
    will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?
   
12 Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? *
    your faithfulness in the land of destruction?

 

 

712    Psalm 88

 

13 Will your wonders be known in the dark? *
    or your righteousness in the country where all
                              is forgotten?
   
14 But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help; *
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
   
15 LORD, why have you rejected me? *
    why have you hidden your face from me?
   
16 Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the
                              point of death; *
    I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
   
17 Your blazing anger has swept over me; *
    your terrors have destroyed me;
   
18 They surround me all day long like a flood; *
    they encompass me on every side.
   
19 My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, *
    and darkness is my only companion.
   
  Seventeenth Day: Evening Prayer
   
  89 
   
  Part I    Misericordias Domini
   
1 Your love, O LORD, for ever will I sing; *
    from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
   
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
    you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
   
3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
    I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

 

 

Psalm 89     713

 

4 'I will establish your line for ever, *
    and preserve your throne for all generations.'"
   
5 The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O LORD, *
    and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;
   
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? *
    who is like the LORD among the gods?
   
7 God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *
    great and terrible to all those round about him.
   
8 Who is like you, LORD God of hosts? *
    O mighty LORD, your faithfulness is all around you.
   
9 You rule the raging of the sea *
    and still the surging of its waves.
   
10 You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *
    you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
   
11 Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *
    you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.
   
12 You have made 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 foundations of your throne; *
    love and truth go before your face.
   
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *
    they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.
   
16 They rejoice daily in your Name; *
    they are jubilant in your righteousness.
   
17 For you are the glory of their strength, *
    and by your favor our might is exalted.

 

 

714    Psalm 89

 

18 Truly, the LORD is our ruler; *
    The Holy One of Israel is our King.
   
  Psalm 89: Part II    Tunc locutus es
   
19 You spoke once in vision and said to your faithful people: *
   "I have set the crown upon a warrior
    and have exalted one chosen out of the people.
   
20 I have found David my servant; *
    with my holy oil have I anointed him.
   
21 My hand will hold him fast *
    and my arm will make him strong.
   
22 No enemy shall deceive him, *
    nor any wicked man bring him down.
   
23 I will crush his foes before him *
    and strike down those who hate him.
   
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
    and he shall be victorious through my Name.
   
25 I shall make his dominion extend *
    from the Great Sea to the River.
   
26 He will say to me, 'You are my Father, *
    my God, and the rock of my salvation.'
   
27 I will make him my firstborn *
    and higher than the kings of the earth.
   
28 I will keep my love for him for ever, *
    and my covenant will stand firm for him.
   
29 I will establish his line for ever *
    and his throne as the days of heaven."

 

 

Psalm 89     715

 

30 "If his children forsake my law *
    and do not walk according to my judgments;
   
31 If they break my statutes *
    and do not keep my commandments;
   
32 I will punish their transgressions with a rod *
    and their iniquities with the lash;
   
33 But I will not take my love from him, *
    nor let my faithfulness prove false.
   
34 I will not break my covenant, *
    nor change what has gone out of my lips.
   
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness: *
    'I will not lie to David.
   
36 His line shall endure for ever *
    and his throne as the sun before me;
   
37 It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon, *
    the abiding witness in the sky.'"
   
38 But you have cast off and rejected your anointed; *
    you have become enraged at him.
   
39 You have broken your covenant with your servant, *
    defiled his crown, and hurled it to the ground.
   
40 You have breached all his walls *
    and laid his strongholds in ruins.
   
41 All who pass by despoil him; *
    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
   
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 sustained him in battle.

 

 

716    Psalm 89

 

44 You have put an end to his splendor *
    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, O LORD?
will you hide yourself for ever? *
    how long will your anger burn like fire?
   
47 Remember, LORD, how short life is, *
    how frail you have made all flesh.
   
48 Who can live and not see death? *
    who can save himself from the power of the grave?
   
49 Where, Lord, are your loving-kindnesses of old, *
    which you promised David in your faithfulness?
   
50 Remember, Lord, how your servant is mocked, *
    how I carry in my bosom the taunts of many peoples,
   
51 The taunts your enemies have hurled, O LORD, *
    which they hurled at the heels of your anointed.
   
   
52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore! *
    Amen, I say, Amen.
   
  Book Four
   
  Eighteenth Day: Morning Prayer
   
  90  Domine, refugium
   
1 Lord, you have been our refuge *
    from one generation to another.

 

 

Psalm 90     717

 
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born, *
    from age to age you are God.
   
3 You turn us back to the dust and say, *
    "Go back, O child of earth."
   
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday
                              when it is past *
    and like a watch in the night.
   
5 You sweep us away like a dream; *
    we 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 because of your wrathful indignation.
   
8 Our iniquities you have set before you, *
    and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
   
9 When you are angry, all our days are gone; *
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
   
10 The span of our life is seventy years,
perhaps in strength even eighty; *
    yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow,
    for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
   
11 Who regards the power of your wrath? *
    who rightly fears your indignation?
   
12 So teach us to number our days *
    that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
   
   
13 Return, O LORD; how long will you tarry? *
    be gracious to your servants.

 

 

718    Psalm 90

 

14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
    so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
   
15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
    and the years in which we suffered adversity.
   
16 Show your servants your works *
    and your splendor to their children.
   
17 May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; *
    prosper the work of our hands;
    prosper our handiwork.

 

 

Psalm 91     719