Kathisma 10

Kathisma 11

Kathisma 12

The Tenth Kathisma

Antiphon One

I place my trust in you, O Lord; do not disappoint me, O eternal one! 2) In your justice rescue me and set me free. Turn your ear to me and deliver me; 3) be a rock of refuge for me to which I can always turn. You promised to come and save me at any time, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4) Save me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grip of the criminal and the thief. 5) For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O my God, from my youth. 6) I have leaned on you from the womb; from my mother's breast you have sustained me: I shall praise you forever! 7) I am an example for many, for you are my strong refuge. 8) My mouth is filled with your praise; I tell out your glory and your majesty throughout the day!

9) Do not cast me off in my old age; as my strength fails, do not forsake me. 10) My foes have their eye on me; with others they conspire for my life, saying: 11) God has deserted him; chase him and catch him, for no one will save him. 12) O God, be not far from me! My God, come quick to help me! 13) Let my accusers perish in frustration; let those who seek my ruin be covered with shame and disgrace. 14) As for me, I will continue to hope, and I will add to your praises day after day. 15) My mouth recounts your faithful deeds all day long, your saving acts, though I could never tell them all! 16) I shall approach your sanctuary, O Lord; I shall proclaim your faithfulness, O Lord, yours alone!

17) You have taught me from my youth, O God, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18) Now that I am old and gray, O God, do not desert me until I tell the next generation about your power, 19) all those yet to come, about your might.

Your faithfulness reaches to the sky, O God; you have done great things, O God; who is your equal? 20) Though you make me see misery after misery and wrong upon wrong, you will restore me to life and raise me, once more, from the depths of the earth. 21) Make my offerings acceptable, and reward me with your comfort. 22) I promise I will praise you on the harp for your faithfulness, O God; I will play to you on the lyre, O holy one of Israel. 23) My lips shall rejoice when I sing to you, my whole being, for you have redeemed me. 24) Throughout the day, my tongue shall recite your faithful acts -- O, that they who seek my ruin be shamed and disgraced!

Grant the king your own skill in judgment, O God, and the king's son your own sense of justice, 2) that he may rule your people rightly and your poor with justice. 3) May the mountains and the hills bring peace to your people! May he award the oppressed fair judgment 4) and protect the children of the needy, crushing those who do them wrong.

5) May he live as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon gives light, age after age. 6) May he be welcomed like rain on a newly cut field, as showers on thirsty soil. 7) May his days flourish with justice, with prosperity and peace until the moon shines no more.

8) May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. 9) May desert-dwellers kneel before him, and his enemies bite the dust. 10) May the kings of Tarshish and the islands pay him tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Arabia offer gifts. 11) May all kings prostrate before him, and all nations serve him.

12) If he rescues the oppressed when they cry for help, and the needy who have no one to help them; 13) if he takes pity on the poor and the afflicted and saves the lives of the lowly; 14) if he ransoms their lives from oppression and violence, and precious is their blood in his sight: 15) Then, long may he live! May he receive gold from Sheba, and may prayers be said for him always, and may blessings be invoked on him throughout the day. 16) May a surplus of grain rustle even on the tops of the mountains; may his fruit trees blossom like Lebanon, flourishing like the grass of the earth. 17) May his name be blessed forever! While the sun lasts, may his name also endure! May all the tries of the earth find their happiness in him, and may all nations call him blessed!

18) Praised be the Lord God, the God of Israel, for he has worked wonders! 19) Praised be his name and his glory forever, and unto ages of ages! May all the earth be filled with his glory! Amen, amen. 20) The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, end here.

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

In spite of everything, God is goodness itself for the pure of heart, O Israel! 2) Yet, my feet came close to stumbling; my steps were nearly led off course, 3) envying the arrogant as I did, watching the wicked get rich.

4) There is no pain for them; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5) Human sorrow never touches them, nor are they afflicted like others. 6) So, pride is their necklace, violence, the robe that clothes them. 7) Perversity oozes from their hearts, and their minds overflow with fantasy. 8) They scoff as they whisper their malice; their arrogance plans oppression. 9) Their mouths defy heaven, and their tongues challenge even the world below. 10) So people turn and follow them, lapping up their every word. 11) Then they say: How could God know? Does the most high know everything? 12) That is what the wicked are like: they ignore the eternal one, and yet they continue to grow in wealth.

13) So it was for nothing that I kept my heart pure, that I washed my hands in innocence! 14) For nothing was I afflicted all day long and punished anew every morning! 15) Had I said: That talk appeals to me! I would be a traitor to your people. 16) I tried to fathom all this, but it seemed a hopeless task. 17) Then I pierced the mystery; I perceived what their fate would be.

18) How slippery the paths you set them on; you make them slide to their destruction. 19) Sudden will their devastation be; their end will come, and they will disappear into the land of terrors. 20) Like a dream one disregards on waking, O Lord, so will you dismiss them as mere phantoms. 21) So it was that my mind had soured, that my feelings hardened. 22) In my stupidity, I failed to understand; I was like a brainless beast before you.

23) Yet, I shall always remain with you, so take hold of my hand; 24) guide me with your counsel and, in the end, receive me with glory. 25) For what else does heaven hold for me but you; and what do I want on earth but you? 26) My flesh and my heart waste away in longing, for God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! 27) Those who abandon you are doomed; you destroy those who betray you. 28) As for me, my joy lies in holding fast to my God, in placing my trust in the Lord God, forever proclaiming what he has done.

Why, O God, are you always angry? Why does your wrath smoulder against the sheep you tend? 2) Remember the flock you made your own so long ago: with your staff, rescue the tribe you chose for your own domain, and this Mount Sion, where you reside. 3) Pick your way through all these ruins, through this lasting destruction the enemy has wrought in your sanctuary. 4) The shouts and screams of their malice echo through the place where your people used to gather; 5) they set up their standards as trophies of victory high above the entrance. 6) With axes they hacked at the paneling, battering down the doors with hammer and hatchet. 7) They torched your holy place, utterly destroying the dwelling place of your name. 8) In their hearts, they conspired with one another: Once and for all let us finish them off! Let us destroy every shrine of their God in the land! 9) Our own standards are nowhere to be seen! Gone are prophets and counselors! 10) How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff at you, the foe, to revile your name, O conqueror? 11) Why do you hold back your left hand; and your right hand, why do you keep it hidden?

12) Destroy the kings from the east, O God! Work your victory in our very midst. 13) It was you who shattered the sea with your might, who smashed the heads of the monstrous Tannin; 14) it was you who crushed Leviathan's heads and gave him as food for the desert tribes; 15) it was you who released the springs and torrents, who made swollen waters run dry; 16) it was you who made day and night, who caused the moon and sun to be; 17) it was you who determined all the climates of the earth, who made summer and winter. 18) So now, remember, O Lord, the insults of the foes who blaspheme you, and the foolish people who revile your name. 19) Do not give the hawks your turtle-dove, nor forget the souls of the afflicted, O conqueror. 20) Look down on your temple; the city is smothered in darkness and the countryside rife with violence. 21) Let not he oppressed sit in shame, but let the poor and the needy praise your name. 22) Rise up, Lord, and champion your cause! Remember how the fool blasphemes you day after day. 23) Do not overlook the uproar of your adversaries nor the ever-rising din of those who hate you.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

We praise you, O God, we praise you! Your wondrous works tell us that your name is near.

2) You say: First I choose the time; then I judge fairly. 3) The earth and all its inhabitants may tremble, but I make its pillars stand firm. 4) I say to the arrogant: Enough of your bragging! -- to the wicked: Do not flaunt your strength! 5) Do not flaunt your strength against the most high nor hurl defiance against the rock! 6) For what exalts a man comes not from the east, or the west, or the wilderness; but it is God who judges: One man he puts down; he exalts another. 7) In the hand of the Lord is a cup of foaming wine which is heavily drugged; 8) he pours from it, and all the wicked of the earth drink, draining it to the very last drop!

9) As for me, I proclaim the eternal one; I sing to the God of Jacob. 10) He says: It is mine to break the pride of the wicked, but the honor of the righteous I exalt!

In Judah God makes himself known; in Israel his name is great. 2) Salem became his den, and Sion, his lair. 3) There he broke the attack of the archers, the shields and swords and weapons of war.

4) O what awe you inspired, O God of brilliant light! 5) They tried to plunder the mountain of the lion, those stout-hearted men, but they slept their last sleep; they died, those soldiers of prowess; they perished. 6) At your roar, O God of Jacob, horse and chariot collapsed and lay stunned.

7) How awesome you are! Who can stand up to your fury, to your ancient wrath? 8) From heaven you shall thunder the sentence; the earth shall shudder with fright and lie still, 9) when God rises for judgement, to deliver the lowly of the earth.

10) They will rejoice and praise you; those who survive will be overjoyed; they will feast in your honor. 11) Make vows and fulfill them to the Lord, our God; let all those around him bring gifts to him who sees, 12) who fathoms the minds of princes, who strikes terror in the hearts of kings.

In despair I cry out to you, O God of gods! Listen at once to my cry, O God of gods! 2) By day I look for the Lord; by night I stretch out my hands tirelessly, but my soul refuses to be consoled. 3) I think of God, and I groan; I reflect, and my soul grows faint. 4) My eyes are used to wakefulness; I am so troubled, I cannot speak. 5) My thoughts turn to days gone by, to years long passed. 6) At night, I strum my lyre, but my soul keeps questioning. 7) Will the sovereign Lord be angry forever; will he show us his favor no more? 8) His unfailing love, has this vanished forever, has his promise failed? 9) Has the source of God's mercy dried up; has anger stifled his loving kindness? 10) I thought to myself: This is what troubles me: It has changed; the right hand of the Lord has changed! 11) I remember your wondrous works, the marvels you worked of old. 12) I ponder all your actions, reflecting on your mighty deeds.

13) O God, how holy are your ways! What God is great as our God? 14) You are a God who works wonders! You made the nations taste your might! 15) Now, with your arm, redeem your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph! 16) The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and they began to churn; the depth shuddered in terror. 17) The clouds burst forth in floods; storm clouds thundered; your arrows flashed to and fro. 18) The sound of your thunder rolled through the heavens; your lightning flashes lit up the world; the depths of the earth quaked and shook. 19) Your path led through the sea, your way through mighty waters; but no one could trace your footsteps! 20) Lead your people like a flock, by the hand of a Moses and an Aaron!

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

The Eleventh Kathisma

Antiphon One

Listen, my people, to this teaching of mine; turn your ear to what I have to say. 2) I want to give a discourse in wisdom, to disclose the mysteries of our past, 3) things we have heard and come to know, things our fathers have told us. 4) We are not about to hide from their grandchildren, nor keep from the next generation 5) the magnificent works of the Lord and his conquests, the wonders he performed, 6) wonders he had done before their fathers' very eyes in the land of Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.

7) He had split the sea to let them through, water like a dike to left and to right, 8) guiding them by day with a cloud, with a pillar of fire throughout the night. 9) He struck hard the rock of the desert, watering even that vast and sandy waste, 10) making streams jet from the rock, causing fountains to gush forth as abundant as rivers. 11) He issued a decree in Jacob; in Israel he established a law, that what he commanded our fathers, they should make known to their sons; 12) that the next generation -- those yet unborn -- would know and, in turn, tell their own, 13) that they might trust in God, mindful of his divine works, ever loyal to his precepts, 14) rather than be like their ancestors, rebellious and unruly breed that they were; a generation of fickle hearts, unfaithful to God. 15) They broke their covenant with God and refused to walk in his ways. 16) They forgot what he did and the miracles he allowed them to see.

17) They went on sinning against him, in that desert, rebelling against the most high. 18) In their hearts they put God on trial, demanding food that they craved. 19) With bitter complaints they challenged God, demanding of God a feast then and there! 20) He struck at the rock so that waters gushed out, making gullies overflow; but what about bread -- can he give us that, too, and provide meat for his people? 21) Though they had no trust in God, no trust in his power to save, 22) yet, he ordered the clouds to part, the portals of heaven to open: 23) He rained down manna on them for food, filling them with grain from the heavens. 24) Everyone ate the bread of the angels that he provided for them in abundance. 25) He set the east wind moving in the heavens, and brought up the south wind by his power. 26) He rained down meat on them like dust, and birds as thick as the sands of the seashore, 27) making all of this fall right into their camp, on all sides, round about their tents. 28) So they ate their fill, and all they asked he granted them. 29) But still they failed to control their greed, and while yet this food was in their mouths, 30) God's anger flared at them again: he slew the sturdiest of them, striking down the flower of Israel.

31) And still they went on sinning, forgetting all his wondrous deeds. 32) So he made their days disappear like the mist, their years more quickly than a fleeting phantom. 33) When he struck them down they ran to him; then they would repent and long for God. 34) Then they would remember that God was their rock, that God the most high was their redeemer. 35) So, outwardly they flattered him, and with their tongues they lied to him, 36) but their hearts were far from loyal to him, and they betrayed their covenant with him. 37) Yet he is compassionate, so he forgave their guilt instead of killing them. He kept on turning back his anger, always holding back his rage, 38) for he remembered they were only flesh, nothing more than a breeze that flows by, never to return.

39) How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how often they grieved him in that wasteland! 40) Again and again they put God to the test; they provoked the holy one of Israel, 41) always failing to recall his power and the day he saved them from their foe, 42) when he worked his wonders in Egypt and his marvels on the plain of Zoan. 43) He turned the rivers into blood, to stop them from drinking their waters. 44) He sent swarms of insects to devour them, frogs to destroy them. 45) He consigned their crops to grubs, their hard-won fruit to locusts. 46) He killed their vines with hail and their berries with frost. 47) He condemned their cattle to the plague and their flocks to feverish pests. 48) He loosed his raging anger on them, all his wrath and indignation in the form of hardships! He sent them angels of destruction, 49) to level a path before him. Nor did he stop short of slaying them, but loosed on them a raging pestilence. 50) He struck down all the first-born of Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigor, born in the tents of Ham. 51) Then he led his people out like sheep, guiding them through the desert like a flock, 52) safe and unafraid, while the sea engulfed their enemies. 53) So he brought them into that holy land of his, the highlands his own right hand had won. 54) Expelling the nations before them, he let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents, allowing their inheritance to fall to them by lot.

55) Even so, they went on testing the most high; they rebelled against God and ignored his decrees. 56) They turned away and played him false like their fathers, treacherous as a bow with a warp. 57) They provoked him with their high-places; they aroused his jealousy with their graven images. 58) Now the Lord heard all this and he fumed; his anger raged against Jacob; his wrath blazed up against Israel, and he rejected Israel with bitter scorn. He rejected the clan of Joseph; the tribe of Ephraim he disowned. 60) He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh, that tent where once he lived with men. 61) He deserted the glorious ark of his might and let it fall into the hands of his enemies. 62) He condemned his own people to fall by the sword, in his fuming rage against his chosen. 63) Ephraim's sons were his archers -- treacherous bowmen -- on the day of battle they turned tail and ran! 64) So it was that their young men were fed to the flames, and their maidens went unwed. 65) Their priests fell by the sword, and there were no widows left to do the mourning.

66) Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior shaking off his wine. 67) He struck his enemies as they turned to flee, branding them with an everlasting shame. 68) In the end it was Judah's tribe he chose, and Mount Sion, which he loved, 69) where he built his sanctuary like the heights of the heavens themselves, as firm as the earth he had established from forever. 70) And he chose his servant, David, taking him from a sheepfold, 71) and from tending ewes; he brought him to shepherd his people Jacob, and Israel, his very own. 72) With a blameless heart did David tend them, leading them with his skillful hand.

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

O God, unbelievers have invaded your land! They have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins! 2) The bodies of your servants they have left as food for the birds of heaven, and the flesh of your devoted followers for the beasts of the earth. 3) Their blood has been spilled like water; and there is not a soul left in the city to bury them! 4) We have become the butt of scorn for our neighbors, something to make fun of, to laugh at.

5) How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy smoulder like fire? 6) Pour out your rage on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not invoke your name. 7) They have devoured Jacob; they have laid waste his homeland. 8) Do not hold the sins of our fathers against us; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need!

9) Help us, O God of our salvation! For the glory of your name, rescue us! Forgive us our sins, for your name's sake, lest unbelievers say: 10) Where is their God? Before our very eyes, let the nations see that you avenge the shedding of your servants' blood!

11) Let the groans of prisoners reach you; with your mighty hand, reprieve those condemned to death! 12) Strike at their hearts and pay back our neighbors sevenfold, for the insults they have flung at you, O Lord! 13) For we are your people, the flock you tend, and we will give thanks to you forever, recounting your praise from one generation to the next!

O Shepherd of Israel, give ear! Lead Joseph like a flock! O you who sit enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2) on Ephraim, on Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up your might, and come to our aid! 3) O God, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!

4) How long, O God of power and might, how long will you frown on your people's plea? 5) You have fed us the bread of tears; you have given us tears to drink beyond measure. 6) You made us the laughing-stock of our neighbors, and our enemies laugh us to scorn. 7) O God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!

8) You brought forth a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9) You cleared a place for it; it took root and spread through the land. 10) Mountains were covered by its shade, and its shoots climbed the towering cedars.

11) So why did you tear down its hedges? Now, every one who passes plucks at its fruit. 12) The boar of the forest ravages it, and the beasts of the field feed on it. 13) Men have burned it with full, blazing fire; at your angry rebuke may they perish!

14) O God of power and might, return to us, we beseech you! Look down from heaven and see! Visit this vine 15) and care for what your right hand has planted! 16) Make its branches stretch forth to the sea, and as far as the Euphrates, its shoots. 17) Rest your hand on the man you have chosen, on the man you have given your strength. 18) Give us life that we may call on your name; never again will we turn from you. 19) Lord God of power and might, return to us! Let your face shine on us, that we may be saved!

Cry out with joy to God, our fortress; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob! 2) Strike up a song and sound the timbrel, the pleasing melody of harp and lyre! 3) Blow the ram's horn for the new moon, and for the full moon, the solemn day of our festival! 4) Duty insists you do it, O Israel; it was decreed by Jacob's God, 5) a law imposed on Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt.

6) Things long forgotten were brought back to me: It was I who eased their burdens from your shoulders, freeing your hands of their load, and delivering you when you called out in distress. 7) From the hiding place of thunder I answered you, though you provoked me at Meribah's waters. 8) Listen, my people, as I speak: O Israel, as I testify against you! O, if you would only listen! 9) You shall have no foreign gods in your midst; nor shall you bow before an alien god, 10) for I am the Lord, your God who brought you here from the land of Egypt, who filled your mouths.

11) But my people would not hear my voice; Israel would not obey me. 12) So I rejected them for the hardness of their hearts; I let them follow their own bent. 13) If only my people would hear me, if Israel would walk in my ways, 14) at once would I subdue their foes, and turn my hand against their adversaries! 15) Those who hate the Lord would fawn upon them, but their punishment would one day come. 16) I would feed Israel with the finest wheat, and satisfy them with the choicest honey.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

God stands in the divine assembly; in the midst of the gods he gives judgment:

2) How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked? 3) Be just for the weak and the orphan; for the unfortunate and for the needy, do justice! 4) Rescue the weak and the poor; from the hand of the wicked set them free!

5) Without knowledge, without understanding, they grope in the darkness; the order in the world is disturbed. 6) As for me, I have told you: You are gods, all of you; you are all sons of the most high. 7) And yet, like men shall you die, like any price shall you fall. 8) Rise up, O God! Judge the earth, for you are ruler over all the nations!

Who is like you, my God? O God, do not be silent and unmoved! 2) See how your enemies rage, how they assert themselves. 3) Against your people they make crafty plans; they plot against your treasured ones. 4) Come, they whisper, let us wipe them out as a nation; let Israel's name be mentioned no more! 5) Yes, they are all in agreement; your assailants form an alliance against you. 6) There Edom lies encamped, there Ishmael; Moab, too, and the Hagarites; 7) Byblos as well as Amalek, Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 8) Even Assyria has joined forces with them, lending her might to the children of Lot.

9) Deal with them as you did with Midian, as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrents of Kishon. 10) Let them perish like those at Endor! Let them rot like dung on the ground! 11) Make their leaders like Oreb and Ze'eb, all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna 12) who said: Let us take the finest meadows for ourselves! 13) Make them whirl like tumbleweed, my God, this way and that, like straw in the wind! 14) As a fire rages through the forest, as flames blaze across the hills, 15) so chase them with your whirlwind; torment them with your windstorm. 16) Cover their faces with chagrin! Avenge your name, O Lord! 17) Confusion and dismay be theirs forever! Let them be forever disgraced; then destroy them! 18) Let them know that your name is Lord, and that you alone are the most high over all the earth.

How lovely are your dwellings, Lord God of power and might! 2) My soul yearns and pines with longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh ring out their joy to the living God! 3) Even the sparrow finds a house, and the swallow, a nest for her young: near your altars, O Lord of power and might, O my king and my God! 4) Happy are they who live in your house; they sing your praises all day long.

5) Happy the pilgrims who find their strength in you, who set their hearts on reaching you. 6) Passing through the valley of the balsam trees they make it a place of blessing, as if the autumn rains had showered it; 7) from there they go from place to place, soon to stand before the God of gods on Sion.

8) O Lord God of power and might! Hear my prayer! Lend an ear to me, God of Jacob! 9) Turn your eyes, O God, our sovereign! Look on the face of the one you have anointed! 10) One day in your courts have I preferred to a thousand somewhere else, the threshold of the house of my God to the tent of the wicked. 11) For the Lord God will sustain us and help us! He will show us his favor, his glory. The Lord will never refuse anything to those who walk in innocence. 12) O Lord of power and might! Happy the man who trusts in you!

With your favor, Lord, grace your own land, turn the tide of Jacob's fortune. 2) Forgive your people their guilt; do away with all trace of their sins. 3) Turn away your wrath; master the heat of your anger.

4) Revive us, O God of our salvation; put an end to your resentment against us. 5) Must your anger with us last forever? Will it never end? 6) Will you not restore us to life, that your people may rejoice in you? 7) Let us see your loving kindness, Lord; give us your saving help.

8) Let me reveal what the Lord himself has to say: His voice is one that speaks peace: peace for his people, for his friends, for those who turn to him in their hearts. 9) His help is close at hand for those who revere him, and his glory shall dwell in our land. 10) Mercy and truth will meet; justice and peace will embrace. 11) Faithfulness shall spring forth from the earth, and justice shall look down from the heavens. 12) The Lord will give us prosperity, and the earth will yield its fruit. 13) Justice shall go forth before him, and peace shall follow in his footsteps.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

The Twelfth Kathisma

Antiphon One

Lend an ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and miserable! 2) Look after my soul, for I am your friend; save your servant, O my God, for I trust in you. 3) Pity me, O sovereign Lord, for I cry to you all day long! 4) Give joy to your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift my soul! 5) Lord, you are forgiving and good, full of love for all who call on you. 6) Hear my prayer, O Lord; attend to the sound of my voice. 7) The day of my distress I call on you; if only you would answer me, O Lord!

8) Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor can their works compare with yours. 9) If you act, all nations will come to adore you, O Lord, to glorify your name, 10) for you are great and you work wonders, O you who alone are God!

11) Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; teach my heart to revere your name. 12) With all my heart will I praise you, Lord my God! I will glorify your name, O eternal one! 13) For great is your mercy toward me, O most high! You have rescued my soul from the depths of the grave! 14) O God the proud rise up to attack me; ruthless men hunt down my soul! Never do they give any thought to you! 15) But you, O Lord, God of tenderness and mercy, slow to anger, full of love and faithfulness, 16) turn to me and pity me: Give triumph to your servant, to your faithful son, victory. 17) Show me proof of your favor, O good one, that my foes may see and be shamed. O, that you yourself would help and console me, O Lord!

The city he founded stands on the holy mountain, and the Lord cherishes her. 2) He prefers the gates of Sion to all Jacob's dwellings, 3) and he speaks of you in glowing terms, O city of God:

4) I count Babylon and Egypt among those who know me; Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia -- they are all her children. 5) Sion will be called mother, for all are her children.

6) And it is he, the Lord most high, who assures each one a place; 7) in listing the peoples, he writes: These are her children, and all rejoice in having their home there.

O Lord, my God, my saviour! I call for help by day; by night I groan before you! 2) Let my prayer reach you; attend to my plea. 3) For I have had my fill of trouble, and my life is on the brink of the grave. 4) I count for no more than one of those who fall into the pit: helpless, finished, numbered with the dead, 5) with those who lie asleep in the grave, whom you no longer remember for they are of no concern to you anymore. 6) You have laid me in the depths of the tomb, in the darkest, deep abyss. 7) Your anger weighs heavily on me, and you bear down on me with the full weight of it. 8) You make my friends withdraw from me; because of you they find me loathesome.

9) I have been imprisoned; there is no escaping, and anguish dims my eyesight. 10) Still, all day long I call on you, Lord; I stretch out my hands to you in prayer. 11) Is it for the dead that you wait to work your miracles; those mere shadows, will they rise and praise you? 12) Are they about to boast of your love in the grave, of your saving help where life is no more? 13) How can they speak of your wonders in that world of darkness, of your justice where all is forgotten?

14) But I keep crying to you; at dawn my prayer comes before you. 15) Why do you push me aside; why do you turn your face away from me? 16) Misery and mortal suffering have been my lot since my youth; I have endured your terrors; I cower beneath your blows. 17) Your scorching wrath has swept over me, and your onslaughts have reduced me to silence. 18) All day long they overwhelm me like floodwaters; they engulf me completely. 19) Lover and friend you have taken from me; I am left with the company of darkness.

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

I will sing of your unfailing love forever, O Lord; age after age I will tell out your faithfulness. 2) With my mouth I declare it openly: Your love created the heavens, O eternal one, but your faithfulness outlasts even these. 3) I made a covenant with my chosen one; I gave my word to David, my servant: 4) I will set up your line to last forever; I will confirm your throne to last longer than time itself.

5) In the heavens they praise this promise of yours, O Lord, this faithfulness of yours, where your holy ones gather. 6) Who can compare with you in the skies above, O Lord; who resembles the Lord among the sons of God; -- 7) a God too dreadful for the council of holy ones, too awesome and great for all those around him? 8) Lord God of power and might, who is like you? Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you like a cloak. 9) You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves surge, you calm them. 10) It was you who reduced Rahab to a corpse; with your mighty arm you routed your enemies. 11) Yours are the heavens and yours is the earth; you established the earth and all it holds. 12) You it was who created Zaphan and Amana; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your presence. 13) Yours is a mighty arm, O warrior; your left hand triumphs and your right hand exults. 14) Justice and right are the foundation of your throne; love and truth herald your coming. 15) Happy the people who know your radiance; they walk in the light of your face, O Lord. 16) Day after day they rejoice in your presence; your generosity makes them wild with joy. 17) You are indeed our glorious triumph, and your good pleasure gave us victory. 18) Truly, God is our sovereign, the holy one of Israel, our king.

19) Once, long ago, you spoke in a vision; to one devoted to you, you said this: Rather than a warrior, I made a youth king; I exalted a young man above a hero. 20) I found my servant, David, and with my holy oil I anointed him. 21) My hand shall make him strong; my arm shall give him courage. 22) No enemy shall have his way with him, no vicious rival, overcome him. 23) I will hammer the enemies that confront him; I will strike down those who hate him. 24) My faithfulness and steadfast love shall stay with him, and in my name shall he find victory. 25) I will extend the might of his hand as far as the sea; the strength of his right hand to the Euphrates. 26) He shall cry out to me: You are my father, my God, my rock of deliverance! 27) For my part, I will make him my firstborn, the overlord of earthly kings. 28) I will maintain my favor toward him forever; and my covenant with him I shall never break. 29) I will put his sons on his throne; his throne shall last like heaven's days. 30) If his sons forsake my love, and refuse to walk as I decree, 31) if they violate my statutes and fail to do what I command them, 32) I will punish their rebellion with the rod, and scourge them for their sin. 33) But never will I withdraw my love from him or let my faithfulness prove false. 34) I will not break my covenant nor take back my word. 35) Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36) His dynasty shall last forever; his throne shall last like the sun before me, 37) eternal like the moon, an enduring witness in the heavens.

38) But now you are angry; you have rejected your anointed, and your rage at him knows no bounds. 39) You have canceled the covenant you made with your servant; his crown you have completely dishonored. 40) You have broken down his defenses, reducing his fortifications to ruins. 41) Everyone who passes plunders him, and his neighbors have taken to scoffing at him. 42) You let his enemies get the upper hand over him; they rejoice at his fate. 43) In your wrath you turned his sword back on him instead of supporting it. 44) You have ruined his reputation among his troops and toppled his throne to the ground. 45) You cut short the days of his youth, cursing his young manhood with sterility.

46) How long, O Lord, will you hide your face? How long, O conqueror, will your rage blaze like fire? 47) Remember my sorrow and the shortness of life; did you make men for nothing? 48) Is there anyone alive who will not see death, who can save himself from the grasp of the world beneath? 49) Where are your earlier acts of love, O Lord, which you promised David in your faithfulness? 50) Remember, O sovereign Lord, the insults to your servant, 51) how I take to heart all the jeers of the nations; for your enemies abuse me, O Lord, insulting your anointed at every step!

Praise the Lord forever! Amen, amen!

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

Lord, you have been our refuge throughout the ages! 2) Before the mountains were born, before the earth or the world were brought forth, you are God, without beginning or end. 3) Do not turn men back into dust, saying: Go back, sons of Adam! 4) For a thousand years are but a day in your sight, like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. 5) You sweep them away like a dream in the night; they are like grass: 6) In the morning it springs up and flowers; by evening it withers and fades.

7) So your anger consumes us; your wrath terrifies us. 8) You lay bare our guilt in plain sight before you, our secrets, in the light of your face. 9) In view of your anger our days pass away; our years are no more than a sigh. 10) Our lives span seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong. 11) And most of these are emptiness and pain, for they go by quickly and we are gone. 12) Who can understand the power of your anger; who can understand your just and rightful indignation?

Make us know the shortness of our days, that we may reach some wisdom of heart. 13) Lord, relent! Must your anger last forever? Take pity on your servants. 14) Each morning fill us with your love, that we may jump for joy and gladness all our lives. 15) Give us joy; balance our affliction for the years we knew misfortune! 16) Show forth your work to your servants; let your glory shine on their children! 17) Let your favor rest on us, Lord, and give success to the work of our hands; yes, give success to the work of our hands!

He who lives in the shelter of the most high, who dwells in the shadow of the almighty 2) says to the Lord: My fortress and my refuge, my God, whom I trust! 3) He rescues you from the snare of the hunter who seeks to destroy you; 4) he covers you with the feathers of his wings, and under his wings you find refuge. 5) You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6) nor the pestilence that stalks about in darkness, nor the plague that devastates at high noon. 7) Let a thousand drop at your side and ten thousand at your right, but you, it will never touch you! 8) Your eyes have only to look; you will see what the wicked will get in return. 9) If you call the Lord your refuge and make the most high your stronghold, 10) evil can never touch you, nor can a plague approach your tent; 11) for he will command his angels to care for you, to care for you wherever you go. 12) They will carry you about in their hands, lest you knock your foot against a stone. 13) On the lion and the viper will you tread; you will trample the lion cub and the serpent.

14) If he loves me, I will rescue him; I will exalt him if he acknowledges my name. 15) When he calls, I will answer him. I will stay with him in time of trouble; I will rescue him and spread a feast for him. 16) With long life will I content him, and I will make him enjoy my saving power.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

The Psalter
Copyright © 1984 by the Monks of New Skete