Kathisma 2

Kathisma 3

The Second Kathisma

Antiphon One

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will declare all your wonderful deeds. 2) I will rejoice and jump for joy because of you, singing praise to your name, O most high. 3) When my enemies withdraw, it is the very sight of you that makes them stumble to their doom.

4) O, that you would uphold the justice of my cause, seated on your throne, O righteous judge! 5) Rebuke the nations and destroy the wicked! Blot out their names forever and ever! 6) Put an end to the enemy; ruin them forever! Turn their cities upside down, and make the very memory of them disappear!

7) But see, the Lord is enthroned from eternity; he has set up his throne for judgment. 8) He governs the world with justice; he judges the peoples fairly. 9) The Lord is a tower of strength for the oppressed, a tower of strength in times of trouble. 10) Those who cherish your name trust in you, for you never desert those who love you, O Lord.

11) Sing to the Lord who dwells in Sion! Make known his deeds among the peoples! 12) For he never ignores the cry of the afflicted; he who avenges bloodshed keeps them in mind.

13) Pity me, Lord! See what my foes have done to me! Raise me up from the gates of death 14) that I may repeat your praises at the gates of the city of Sion, that I may rejoice at this deliverance.

15) Let the nations fall into a pit of their own making; let their own feet get caught in the net they have laid. 16) May the Lord be known for his justice, and let the wicked man be ensnared by his own devices.

17) Let the wicked return to the depths of the earth; perish the nations that ignore God! 18) The needy shall not be forgotten forever; the hope of the poor shall not be in vain. 19) Rise up, Lord, lest men boast! Let the nations be judged before you! 20) Strike them with terror, O Lord! Muzzle them! Make the nations know they are only men!

Why, Lord, do you stand aloof? Why do you hide when times are hard? 2) In the wicked man's pride the lowly man is consumed; he is trapped by the schemes of the other.

3) For the wicked man crows about his unbridled lusts; the covetous man reviles and scorns the Lord. 4) In his arrogant scheming he thinks to himself: He will never demand an accounting; God does not care! 5) His plans evolve successfully, step by step; your decrees are far from him, and for all his foes he has nothing but contempt. 6) He assures himself: I will make out well; harm shall never touch me! 7) Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth; under his tongue lurk mischief and evil. 8) He lies in wait in the bushes; in secret he murders the innocent; his eyes are on the watch for the helpless. 9) He lurks in hiding, like a lion in his lair, ready to pounce on the hapless; he seizes the afflicted to drag him away in his net. 10) He is ever on the watch, crouching, ready to jump, and some luckless wretch falls prey to his might. 11) He says to himself: God pays no attention; he turns the other way; he never looks.

12) Arise, then, Lord! Lift up your hand! O God, do not forget the poor! 13) Why should the evildoer mock God, thinking you will not call him to account! 14) See for yourself the misery and sorrow; see it and take it in hand! The helpless entrusts himself to you, and the fatherless--you be his helper! 15) Break the arm of the wicked, of the evildoer! Surely you can see his malice! Do away with it forever!

16) The Lord is eternal, everlasting king, so let the heathen disappear from this land! 17) O Lord, hear the plea of the lowly; strengthen their hearts and grant them a hearing! 18) Judge in favor of the orphan and the downtrodden, so that man born of earth shall spread terror no more!

In the Lord I take refuge! How can you say to me: Take to the hills like a bird! 2) For look: The wicked are bracing their bow; they are fitting their arrows to the string, to shoot at the upright from ambush. 3) While foundations are being destroyed, what is the just one doing?

4) The Lord is in his temple, the Lord whose throne is in heaven; his eyes watch; his piercing eyes examine the children of men. 5) The Lord is the just one who examines the wicked; so the one who loves evil imperils his own soul. 6) He rains down coals of fire and burning sulphur on the wicked; a scorching wind shall be their lot. 7) For the Lord is the just one who loves justice, and the just shall behold his face.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.

Antiphon Two

Help us, Lord! The good have vanished! Loyalty has disappeared from mankind! 2) They do nothing but lie, one to another, deceit on their lips, duplicity in their hearts!

3) May the Lord slice off all lying lips, the tongue that speaks high-sounding words; 4) may he cut down those who say: Our tongue is our might; with lips like ours, who can master us?

5) Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery, I will rise, says the Lord; I will grant salvation to those who long for it.

6) The Lord's words are without alloy, natural silver, from the very earth, seven times refined. 7) You, O Lord, keep watchful care over us; you keep us safe from this generation onward. 8) On all sides the wicked prowl about; treachery is highly prized among the sons of men!

Lord, how long? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? 2) How long must I bear this doubt in my heart, with my soul grieving day and night? How long will my enemies have the upper hand? 3) Look at me! Answer me, my God!

Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death, 4) lest my enemy think: I have the best of him now; lest my enemy gloat at my ruin. 5) But I trust in your loving kindness; my heart rejoices in your saving help; I will sing to you for your goodness, Lord, to your great name, O most high!

The fool says to himself: There is no God! The deeds of men are corrupt, abominable; there is not one who does good. 2) From the heavens the Lord looks down on the children of men, to find one man of understanding, even one who seeks God. 3) But they are a stubborn lot, all of them depraved; not even one good man remains, no, not even one!

4) Are they so ignorant, these evildoers, who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and who never turn to the Lord! 5) They seek to prevail by plotting together, but God is on the side of the just; 6) you may mock the poor man's hope, but the Lord is his refuge.

7) O, that Israel's salvation might come from Sion! When the Lord restores his people's fortune, it will be gladness for Jacob, joy for Israel!

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

Lord, who has the right to make his home in your tent, to dwell on your holy mountain?

2) He whose way of life is blameless, who always does what is right, who speaks the truth from his heart, 3) who keeps his tongue from slander, who does no wrong to his brother and casts no slurs on his neighbor. 4) Such a one holds the godless in disdain, but honors those who revere the Lord. He keeps his word, come what may; 5) he asks no interest on money he lends the poor, nor accepts a return from the hungry.

Such a man stands firm forever!

Take care of me, O God; my safety lies with you. 2) I say to the Lord: You are my Lord! Nothing can compare with you! 3) As for those idols, those products of the earth, those mighty ones whom I used to cherish: 4) May they perish with all who worship them! Never again will I make them offerings of blood! Never again will their names cross my lips! 5) O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; it is you who are my prize; 6) the lot marked out for me is my delight, and welcome indeed is my inheritance.

7) I praise the Lord who gives me understanding, who directs my heart even in the dead of night. 8) I keep the Lord before me always; with him at my right, nothing can shake me. 9) And so my heart exults, my very soul rejoices, and my body rests secure. 10) For you will never abandon my soul to the depths of the earth; you will never allow your friend to see the pit. 11) You will teach me the way to life eternal, filling me with joy by your presence, with pleasure at your right forever.

Listen, Lord, to what is just! Give ear to my cries! Lend an ear to my prayer, for my lips are free of deceit. 2) Judge my cause, for your eyes discern truth. 3) Sound out my heart and visit me at night; try me, and you will find no wrong in me. 4) For my mouth has not sinned as evil men are used to doing. The words of your lips I have kept. 5) I have clung to the ways of your law, in your footsteps, lest my feet stumble.

6) Here I am, entreating you: Answer me, O God! Turn your ear to me and listen to my words. 7) Show me your love, O saviour of outcasts; from those who rebel against you, 8) keep me safe, as the apple of your eye. In the shadow of your wings, hide me 9) from these godless ones who hound me.

10) My foes breathe heavily as they close in on me; self-satisfied in their abundance, their mouths speak proudly. 11) They advance against me stealthily, hemming me in on all sides; they watch, ready to strike me to the ground; 12) like lions are they, ready to claw, like the young lion, crouching in ambush.

13) Rise up, Lord! Confront them and strike them down! With your sword, rescue my soul from the wicked. 14) Let your hand snatch me away from these men, from these men who receive their reward in this life. As for your treasured ones, fill their bellies with your great wealth; gladden them with sons; allow them to leave their wealth to their children. 15) My reward will be to see your face, on rising, to enjoy the sight of your glory.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

The Third Kathisma

Antiphon One

I love you, O Lord, my strength! 2) The Lord is my rock, my rampart, and my saviour! This is my God! I seek refuge in him, my rock, my shield, and my mighty saving strength; my fortress, my stronghold worthy of praise! 3) I invoked the Lord, and I was saved from all my foes.

4) The breakers of death rushed in on me; the torrents of destruction assailed me, 5) the bonds of the grave entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 6) In my distress I called on the Lord; to my God I cried out for help. He heard my voice from his temple; my cries reached his ears.

7) The world below reeled and rocked. The very foundations of the mountains trembled; at his anger they were shaken. 8) Smoke came forth from his nostrils, and from his mouth a scorching fire; live coals blazed forth from him. 9) He parted the heavens and came down, a dark cloud beneath his feet. 10) Enthroned on the cherubim, he flew, gliding on outstretched wings. 11) He wrapped the darkness around him: dark thunderheads, dense clouds of the sky his tent round about him. 12) Brilliance burst forth before him; hailstones and flashes of fire broke through the clouds. 13) The Lord thundered from the heavens; the most high let his voice be heard. 14) He let fly his arrows and put them to flight; he flashed his lightning and scattered them. 15) The ocean bed lay uncovered; the foundations of the earth were laid bare at your thundering threat, O Lord, at the blast from your nostrils. 16) From on high he reached down and seized me; he pulled me out of the deep. 17) He rescued me from powerful foes, from my enemies, whose strength I could not match. 18) The day of my misfortune they assailed me, but the Lord stood by me. 19) He cut me loose, set me free from the world beneath; he saved me because he loves me.

20) The Lord has treated me as I deserve, and since my hands are clean he rewarded me, 21) for I have kept to the paths of the Lord; I have never strayed from my God. 22) His judgments are always before me; his decrees I have never disdained. 23) I have tried wholeheartedly to please him; I have taken care not to offend him. 24) So the Lord has treated me as I deserve; my purity is obvious to him. 25) With the loyal you deal loyally, with the blameless man, blamelessly. 26) With the pure you act purely; with the cunning you are crafty. 27) It is you who deliver lowly folk, but haughty eyes you humble. 28) It is you who light my lamp, O Lord; my God lights up my darkness. 29) Because of you I run well-sinewed; with my God I can scale any wall. 30) God's rule is perfect and complete; the word of the Lord is well-tested; he is the protector of all who take refuge in him.

31) For who is God but the Lord? Who is a rock if not our God? 32) It is God who girds me with power, who makes my path safe, 33) who makes my feet like the doe's, surefooted on the heights, 34) teaching my hands to fight, my arms to bend the heavy bow.

35) You gave me the shield of your protection; you upheld me, training me with care. 36) You lengthened my stride beneath me; my ankles did not give way. 37) I pursued my foes and overtook them; I did not turn back till I destroyed them. 38) I struck them down and they could rise no more; they lay fallen at my feet.

39) You girded me with strength for combat; you made my adversaries kneel before me. 40) You gave me the neck of my enemies; I wiped out all my foes. 41) They cried out, but there was none to help them; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 42) I ground them fine as dust in the wind; I trampled them like mud in the streets.

43) You delivered me from people in revolt; you set me at the head of nations. Strangers were made to serve me; 44) at mere word of me they became submissive; alien people cringed before me. 45) Foreigners lost all their courage and came trembling from their strongholds.

46) Long live the Lord, my rock! A blessing for him! For God, my saving help, unending praise! 47) For the God who gave me vengeance, who made all peoples subject to me, 48) who rescued me from my adversaries, who raised me high above my assailants, saving me from lawless men. 49) For this, I shall sing your praises among the nations, I shall celebrate your name in song, O Lord! 50) Many are the victories he gives his king, the signs of love he shows his anointed, to David and all his descendants, forever!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.

Antiphon Two

The heavens declare God's glory, and the work of his hands, the firmament proclaims! 2) Day unto day heralds the message, and night unto night makes it known. 3) Neither speech nor language nor voice can one hear; 4) yet, throughout the earth goes their cry, and their words to the farthest extremes of the world.

5) There, he pitches a tent for the sun that comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber, bursting with joy, like a champion in running his course. 6) At one end of the heavens is its rising, and its course extends to the other extreme, nor can anything escape its heat.

7) The Lord's law is perfect: refreshment for the soul. The Lord's words can be trusted: wisdom for the mind. 8) The Lord's precepts are right: joy for the heart. The Lord's command is clear: light for the eyes. 9) The Lord's decree is pure: abiding forever. The Lord's judgments are exact: ever just. 10) They are more alluring than gold, even the finest gold, and sweeter are they than honey, than dripping honeycomb.

12) So, in them your servant finds instruction, for to keep them is well worth his while. 12) Yet, who can see his own mistakes? From the faults I cannot see, acquit me. 13) Above all, free your servant from presumption; do not let it sway me! Then shall I be blameless, free of grave sin. 14) Let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart ever please you, O Lord, my rock, my saviour!

The Lord answer you in time of trouble! The name of Jacob's God protect you! 2) From his sanctuary may he send you help; may he sustain you from Sion. 3) May he be mindful of all your gifts, and your burnt offerings, may they please him! 4) May he grant you whatever your heart desires, and all your hopes, may he fulfill them, 5) that we may rejoice in your saving help, and in the name of our God hold high our banners. May the Lord grant all your requests.

6) Now I am sure that the Lord will save his anointed; from his holy heavens he answers him by the saving works of his right hand. 7) Some rely on chariots, others on horses; as for us, we count on the name of the Lord our God. 8) They collapse and lie fallen, but we rally, sure of ourselves. 9) O Lord, save the king! Answer when we call.

O Lord, your triumph makes the king rejoice, and your saving help --O, how it makes him beam with pride! 2) You have given him his heart's desire; you have not denied him the request of his lips. 3) For you have met him with the choicest blessings; you have placed on his head a crown of fine gold. 4) He asked for life, and you gave it to him: length of days, eternal and everlasting. 5) Great is the glory your saving help has won for him; you bestow on him splendor and majesty. 6) You make him blessed forever, gladdening him with the sight of your face. 7) Yes, the king trusts in the Lord; the grace of the most high keeps him from stumbling.

8) Your hand is equal to all your adversaries; your right hand overpowers those who hate you. 9) You set them ablaze like a furnace the day you appear; the Lord swallows them up in his anger; fire devours them. 10) Their race you wipe from the face of the earth, their seed, from among the children of men. 11) Though they scheme against you making their plans, they cannot succeed. 12) Instead, you will make them bend their necks, aiming your bows straight in their faces. 13) Rejoice, Lord, in your triumph! We shall sing forth the praise of your ready might!

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? You are far from my plea, deaf to my cries of agony. 2) I call by day, my God, but you answer not; by night, but I find no rest. 3) Still you are the holy one, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4) Our fathers believed in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. 5) To you they cried out, and they were saved; in you they trusted, and they were not disappointed. 6) As for me, I am a worm, less than human: the scorn of all, despised by everyone. 7) All who see me laugh me to scorn; they sneer and toss their heads: 8) He trusted in the Lord; let him rescue him! Let him save him if this is his friend! 9) Yes, it was you who brought me forth from the womb, who entrusted me to my mother's breasts. 10) I was thrown upon you from the day I was born; from my mother's womb you are my God.

11) Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else will help me. 12) Many bulls surround me; mighty bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13) Against me they open wide their mouths like lions, rending and roaring. 14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, dripping out of my bosom. 15) My strength is spent, dried up like burnt clay, and my tongue cleaves to my palate. 16) Dogs surround me; a pack of evil ones closes in on me; they tear holes in my hands and feet and lay me out in the dust of death. 17) I can count all my bones, while they stand there, staring and gloating. 18) They divide my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my robe.

19) But you, O Lord! Do not leave me! Hurry, O my strength, and help me! 20) Save my neck from the sword, my precious life from the grip of these dogs. 21) Save me from the jaws of these lions, my poor soul from the horns of these bulls.

22) Hear my prayer, that I may proclaim your name to my brethren, where they assemble, praise you openly. 23) You who revere the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, give him glory! Stand in awe of him, you sons of Israel! 24) For he has never despised or scorned the poor man's plight, nor has he hidden his face from him; but when he called on him, he heard him. 25) One hundred times shall I repeat to you my songs of praise in the great gathering; I shall fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you. 26) May the poor eat and be filled and may they who seek the Lord exult in him, and may their hearts live forever.

27) All the earth will remember and return to the Lord; all the families of the nations will fall in worship before him. 28) For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he is the master of the nations. 29) All those in full vigor shall eat and prostrate themselves; before him shall bow those at death's door. 30) But my soul shall live for him and my children shall serve him. Men shall tell of the Lord forever; to those yet unborn they shall proclaim his generosity, recounting the things the Lord has done.

The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I need. 2) Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me rest; near quiet waters he leads me-- 3) there, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path, true to his name. 4) Even if I walk through the valley of darkness, I fear nothing: you are there with your rod and staff, and with these you console me.

5) You spread out a table for me in the sight of my foes: with precious oil you bathe my head; my cup overflows. 6) Yes, your loving mercy, your kindness are with me all the days of my life. In the house of the Lord shall I dwell for the rest of my days.

The earth is the Lord's, and all that it holds, the world, and all who live in it. 2) For he founded it upon the waters; he set it firmly on the waters of the deep.

3) Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord and stand in his holy place? 4) The clean of hands and pure of heart, whose minds are not obsessed by idols, who do not swear deceitfully. 5) They shall carry away a blessing from the Lord, a just reward from God, their saviour. 6) Such are they who turn to the eternal one, who seek out the presence of the God of Jacob.

7) You princes! Lift high your gates! Be lifted high, you eternal doors! Let the king of glory enter in! 8) And who is the king of glory? The Lord, mighty and valiant, the Lord, valiant in battle! 9) You princes! Lift high your gates! Be lifted high, you eternal doors! Let the king of glory enter in! 10) Who is the king of glory? The Lord of power and might, he is the king of glory!

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

The Psalter
Copyright © 1984 by the Monks of New Skete