THE PSALMS OF DAVID

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM I

The happiness of the just and the evil state of the wicked.

Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXIX

A prayer in persecution.

O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul: Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blushing for shame that say to me: Tis well, tis well. Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

But I am needy and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper and my deliverer: O Lord, make no delay.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXVIII

Christ in his passion declareth the greatness of his sufferings, and the malice of his persecutors the Jews; and foretelleth their reprobation.

SAVE me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul. I stick fast in the mire of the deep: and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea: and a tempest hath overwhelmed me. I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse: my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.

O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee: Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O God of Israel.  Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.  I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to me.  And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.  They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank wine made me their song. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.  And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in trouble, hear me speedily. Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my enemies. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.

In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.  Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumblingblock.  Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back bend thou down always. Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles.  Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come into thy justice.  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written.  But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me up.

I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise. And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth forth horns and hoofs. Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall live. For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his prisoners. Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein.

For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance. And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXVII

 

The glorious establishment of the church of the New Testament, prefigured by the benefits bestowed on the people of Israel.

 

Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face.As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. And let the just feast, and rejoice before God: and be delighted with gladness. Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before him: but the wicked shall be troubled at his presence,

 

Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his holy place: God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who bringeth out them that were bound in strength; in like manner them that provoke, that dwell in sepulchres. O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou didst pass through the desert: The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel. Thou shalt set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect.

 

In it shall thy animals dwell; in thy sweetness, O God, thou hast provided for the poor. The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power. The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils. If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold. When he that is in heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall be whited with snow in Selmon.

 

The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat mountain. Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end. The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not believe, the dwelling of the Lord God. Blessed be the Lord day by day: the God of our salvation will make our journey prosperous to us.

 

Our God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord, of the Lord are the issues from death. But God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of them that walk on in their sins.  The Lord said: I will turn them from Basan, I will turn them into the depth of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies; the tongue of thy dogs be red with the same. They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God: of my king who is in his sanctuary.

 

Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young damsels playing on timbrels. In the churches bless ye God the Lord, from the fountains of Israel. There is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of Juda are their leaders: the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali.  Command thy strength, O God: confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us.  From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to thee.

 

Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried with silver. Scatter thou the nations that delight in wars: Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God. Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: Sing ye to God,  Who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he will give to his voice the voice of power: Give ye glory to God for Israel, his magnificence, and his power is in the clouds.

 

God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.

 

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXVI

A prayer for the propagation of the church.

May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us. That we may know thy way upon earth: thy salvation in all nations.  Let people confess to thee, O God: let all people give praise to thee. Let the nations be glad and rejoice: for thou judgest the people with justice, and directest the nations upon earth.

Let the people, O God, confess to thee: let all the people give praise to thee:  The earth hath yielded her fruit. May God, our God bless us, May God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear him.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXV

An invitation to praise God.

Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise. Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee.  Let all the earth adore thee, and sing to thee: let it sing a psalm to thy name.Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men.

Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot: there shall we rejoice in him.  Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations; let not them that provoke him he exalted in themselves. O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to be heard. Who hath set my soul to live: and hath not suffered my feet to be moved:  For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried.

  Thou hast brought us into a net, thou hast laid afflictions on our back:  Thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.  I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, Which my lips have uttered, And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.  I will offer up to thee holocausts full of marrow, with burnt offerings of rams: I will offer to thee bullocks with goats.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth: and I extolled him with my tongue.  If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Therefore hath God heard me, and hath attended to the voice of my supplication. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXIV

God is to be praised in his church, to which all nations shall be called.

A Hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem. O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee. The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: and thou wilt pardon our transgressions. Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy house; holy is thy temple,

Wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our saviour, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.  Thou who preparest the mountains by thy strength, being girded with power:  Who troublest the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves. The Gentiles shall be troubled, And they that dwell in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at thy signs:

thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful. Thou hast visited the earth, and hast plentifully watered it; thou hast many ways enriched it. The river of God is filled with water, thou hast prepared their food: for so is its preparation.

Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy fields shall be filled with plenty. The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy,  The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall sing a hymn.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXIII

A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God that he will bring to nought the machinations of persecutors.

Hear, O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy. Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.  For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing,  To shoot in secret the undefiled.

They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?  They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart:  And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds: And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled;  And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God: and understood his doings.

The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXII

The prophet aspireth after God.

O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day. For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways! In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: so in the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory.  For thy mercy is better than lives: thee my lips shall praise.  Thus will I bless thee all my life long: and in thy name I will lift up my hands.

Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness: and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. If I have remembered thee upon my bed, I will meditate on thee in the morning:  Because thou hast been my helper. And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings: My soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me.  But they have sought my soul in vain, they shall go into the lower parts of the earth:

They shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be the portions of foxes.  But the king shall rejoice in God, all they shall be praised that swear by him: because the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXI

The prophet encourageth himself and all others to trust in God, and serve him.

Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my protector, I shall be moved no more. How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence. But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst: they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart.

But be thou, O my soul, subject to God: for from him is my patience. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be moved.  In God is my salvation and my glory: he is the God of my help, and my hope is in God. Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts before him. God is our helper for ever. But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the balances: that by vanity they may together deceive.

 Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches abound, set not your heart upon them. God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God, And mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man according to his works.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LX

(60)

A prayer for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, which shall have no end.

Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer, To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth: when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me; For thou hast been my hope; a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.

In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: I shall be protected under the covert of thy wings.

For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name. Thou wilt add days to the days of the king: his years even to generation and generation.  He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who shall search?  So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may pay my vows from day to day.