Page images
PDF
EPUB

Jacob, both the chariot and horse are fallen.

7 Thou, even thou art to be feared; and who may stand in thy sight, when thou art angry? 8 Thou didst cause thy judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth trembled, and was still,

9 When God arose to judgment, and to help all the meek upon earth.

10 The fierceness of man shall turn to thy praise, and the fierceness of them shalt thou refrain.

11 Promise unto the Lord your God, and keep it, all ye that are round about him; bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.

12 He shall refrain the spirit of princes, and is wonderful among the kings of the earth. Psalm lxxvii. Voce mea ad

Dominum.

I Will ery unto God with my voice; even unto God will I cry with my voice, and he shall hearken unto me.

2 In the time of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran, and ceased not in the nightseason; my soul refused comfort.

3 When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God; when my heart is vexed, I will complain.

4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so feeble that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, and the years that are past.

6 I call to remembrance my song, and in the night I commune with mine own heart, and search out my spirits.

7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever; and will he be no more intreated?

8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever; and is his promise come utterly to an end for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious; and will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure?

10 And I said, It is mine own infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most Highest.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord, and call to mind the wonders of old time.

12 I will think also of all thy works, and my talking shall be of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is holy: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that

doeth wonders, and hast declared thy power among the people.

15 Thou hast mightily delivered thy people, even the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and were afraid; the depths also were troubled.

17 The clouds poured out water, the air thundered, and thine arrows went abroad."

18 The voice of thy thunder was heard round about: the lightnings shone upon the ground; the earth was moved, and shook withal.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters, and thy foot-steps are not known.

20 Thou leddest thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

EVENING PRAYER. Psalm lxxviii. Attendite, popule.

CAR my law, O my people; incline your ears unto the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare hard sentences of old.

3 Which we have heard and known, and such as our fathers have told us;

4 That we should not hide them from the children of the generations to come; but to show the honour of the Lord, his mighty and wonderful works that he hath done.

5 He made a covenant with Jacob, and gave Israel a law, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children.

6 That their posterity might know it, and the children which were yet unborn;

7 To the intent that when they came up, they might show their children the same;

8 That they might put their trust in God; and not to forget the works of God, but to keep his commandments;

9 And not to be as their forefathers, a faithless and stubborn generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God;

10 Like as the children of Ephraim; who being harnassed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle.

11 They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law;

12 But forgat what he had done, and the wonderful works that he had showed for them.

13 Marvellous things did he in the sight of our forefathers, in the land of Egypt, even in the field of Zoan.

14 He divided the sea, and let them go through; he made the waters to stand on an heap.

15 In the day time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night through with a light of fire.

16 He clave the hard rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth.

17 He brought waters out of the stony rock, so that it gushed out like the rivers.

18 Yet for all this, they sinned more against him, and provoked the most Highest in the wilderness.

19 They tempted God in their hearts, and required meat for their lust.

20 They spake against God also, saying, Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness?

21 He smote the stony rock indeed, that the water gushed out, and the streams flowed withal; but can he give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?

22 When the Lord heard this, he was wroth; so the fire was kindled in Jacob, and there came up heavy displeasure against Israel;

23 Because they believed not in God, and put not their trust in his help.

24 So he commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven.

25 He rained down Manna also upon them for to eat, and gave them food from heaven.

26 So man did eat angels'

food; for he sent them meat enough.

27 He caused the east wind to blow under heaven; and through his power he brought in the south-west wind.

28 He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea. 29 He let it fall among their tents, even round about their habitation.

30 So they did eat and were filled; for he gave them their own desire: they were not disappointed of their lust.

31 But while the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy wrath of God came upon them, and slew the wealthiest of them; yea, and smote down the chosen men that were in Israel.

32 But for all this, they sin ned yet more, and believed not his wondrous works.

33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34 When he slew them, they sought him, and turned them early, and inquired after God.

35 And they remembered that God was their strength, and that the high God was their Redeemer.

36 Nevertheless, they did but flatter him with their mouth, and dissembled with him in their tongue.

37 For their heart was not whole with him, neither continued they steadfast in his co

venant.

38 But he was so merciful, that he forgave their misdeeds, and destroyed them not.

39 Yea, many a time turned he his wrath away, and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise.

40 For he considered that they were but flesh, and that they were even a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

41 Many a time did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert.

42 They turned back, and tempted God; and moved the Holy One in Israel.

43 They thought not of his hand, and of the day when he delivered them from the hand of the enemy.

44 How he had wrought his miracles in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

45 He turned their waters into blood, so that they might not drink of the rivers.

46 He sent lice among them, and devoured them up, and frogs to destroy them.

47 He gave their fruit unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the grashopper.

48 He destroyed their vines with hail-stones, and their mulberry-trees with the frost.

49 He smote their cattle also with hail-stones, and their flocks with hot thunder-bolts.

50 He cast upon them the furiousness of his wrath, anger, displeasure, and trouble; and sent evil angels among them.

51 He made a way to his indignation, and spared not their soul from death; but gave their life over to the pestilence;

52 And smote all the first born in Egypt, the most principal and mightiest in the dwellings of Ham.

53 But as for his own people, he led them forth like sheep, and carried them in the wilderness like a flock.

54 He brought them out

safely, that they should not fear, and overwhelmed their enemies with the sea.

55 And brought them within the borders of his sanctuary, even to his mountain, which he purchased with his right hand. 56 He cast out the heathen also before them, caused their land to be divided among them for an heritage, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their

tents.

57 So they tempted and displeased the most high God, and kept not his testimonies;

58 But turned their backs, and fell away like their forefathers; starting aside like a broken bow.

59 For they grieved him with their hill-altars, and provoked him to displeasure with their images.

60 When God heard this, he was wroth; and took sore displeasure at Israel;

61 So that he forsook the tabernacle in Silo, even the tent that he had pitched among men.

62 He delivered their power into captivity, and their beauty into the enemies hand.

63 He gave his people over also unto the sword, and was wroth with his inheritance.

64 The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage.

65 Their priests were slain with the sword, and there were no widows to make lamentation.

[blocks in formation]

of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

69 But chose the tribe of Judah, even the hill of Sion, which he loved.

70 And there he built his temple on high, and laid the foundation of it like the ground which he hath made continually.

71 He chose David also his servant, and took him away from the sheep-folds:

72 As he was following the ewes great with young ones, he took him, that he might feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

73 So he fed them with a faithful and true heart, and ruled them prudently with all his power.

[merged small][ocr errors]

God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones.

2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the air, and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the land.

3 Their blood have they shed like water on every side of Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them.

[ocr errors]

4 We are become an open shame to our enemies, a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us.

5 Lord, how long wilt thou be angry? shall thy jealousy burn like fire for ever?

6 Pour out thine indignation upon the heathen that have not known thee; and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name:

7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place.

8 O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon; for we are come to great misery.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins, for thy name's sake.

10 Wherefore do the heathen say, Where is now their God?

11 O let the vengeance of thy servant's blood that is shed, be openly showed upon the heathen, in our sight.

12 O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die.

13 And for the blasphemy wherewith our neighbours have blasphemed thee, reward thou them, O Lord, seven-fold into their bosom.

14 So we that are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever, and will alway be showing forth thy praise from generation to generation.

Psalm lxxx. Qui regis Israel.

[blocks in formation]

thy strength, and come and help us.

3 Turn us again, O God; show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.

4 O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth?

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink.

6 Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

7 Turn us again, thou God of hosts; show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.

8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

9 Thou madest room for it; and when it had taken root, it filled the land.

10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar trees.

11 She stretched out her branches unto the sea, and her boughs unto the river.

12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedge, that all they that go by pluck off her grapes?

13 The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up, and the wild beasts of the field devour it.

14 Turn thee again, thou God of hosts, look down from

heaven, behold and visit this vine,

15 And the place of the vineyard that thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself.

16 It is burnt with fire, and

« PreviousContinue »