ÿþKATHISMA 1

Stasis I



Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man who does not go by the advice of the godless and does not stop in the way of sinners and does not sit in the company of pests [or "pestilent people" (gen. plural). Gk. loimos = plague, pest of people or disease; as adjective, pestilent. Cp. Ac. 24:5, "We have found this man a pest."].

2 But his delight [Gk. thelma = will, delight, pleasure (Eccles. 12:1 LXX; Rev. 4:11).] is in the law of the Lord, and he will reflect [or "meditate"] on His law day and night.

3 And he will be like a tree that is planted alongside streams of water, which will give its fruit in its season and will not shed its leaves.

4 And everything, whatever he does, will prosper. Not so are the godless, not so. But they are like the dust which the wind hurls from the face of the earth.

5 So the godless will not rise in time of judgment [i.e., corrective judgments here on earth. Heb. has "the judgment". Another case of the superiority of the LXX, "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:10) and "all will come out to a resurrection of judgment" (Jn. 5:29). Cp. "The unbeliever has been judged already" (Jn. 3:18).] nor sinners in a council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. but the way of the godless will be destroyed.



Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine futile [Gk. kena and futile from Lat. both come from roots meaning "to pour out (junk)".] things.

2 The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.

3 "Let us break their chains [Kings, rulers, peoples see God & Christ as 2 enemies: "Let us throw off their..."] and let us throw off their yoke from us."

4 He who lives in the heavens will laugh at them and the Lord will deride them.

5 Then He will talk to them in His anger and in His rage He will trouble them.

6 .But I am appointed King by Him on Zion His holy mountain,

7 proclaiming the Lord's commandment. The Lord said to Me, "You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.

8 "Ask from Me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

9 "You will rule them with a rod of iron11 and crush them like a potter's vessel."

10 And now you kings, understand! Be corrected, all you judges of the earth.

11Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling.

12 Embrace correction in case the Lord becomes angry and you perish out of the right way.

13 When suddenly His anger is kindled, blessed are all who trust in Him.



Psalm 3

(A Psalm by David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom)

1 O Lord, why have those who trouble me increased?

2 Many are rising up against me.

3 Many are saying to my soul, "There is no salvation for him in his God."

4 But You, O Lord, are my Protector, my glory and the One lifting up my head.

5 I cried out to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.

6 I lay down to rest and slept. I awoke and rose, because the Lord will always protect me.

7 I will not be afraid of myriads of people arrayed on every side against me.

8 Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for You have struck all who without cause are my enemies. You have broken the teeth of sinners. and Your blessing is upon Your people. 



Stasis II



Psalm 4

(For the end, among the Psalms. A Song by David)

1 When I call upon You, You answer me, O God of my righteousness, You relieve me in trouble.

2 Have compassion on me and answer my prayer.

3 Sons of men, how long will you be heavy-hearted? Why do you love vanity and want a lie?

4 But know that the Lord has made wonderful His Holy One. The Lord will answer me when I cry to Him.

5 Be angry, but do not sin. For what you say in your hearts be sorry on your beds.

6 Offer the sacrifice of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord.

7 Many say, "Who will show us good times?"[or "good things". Cp. Ps. 83:11] The light of Your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us.

8 You have given me gladness in my heart; they are satisfied with the harvest of their wheat, wine and oil.

9 In peace in the same place I will lie down and sleep, because You alone, Lord, make me live in hope.



Psalm 5

(For the end: for the Heiress. A Psalm by David)

1 Listen to my words, O Lord, consider my cry.

2 Attend to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God, because to You I will pray, O Lord.

3 You will hear my voice in the morning. In the morning I will stand before You and You will visit and watch over me.

4 For You are not a God Who desires lawlessness; and evildoers will not live with You,

5 nor will the violent remain before Your eyes. You hate all who practice lawlessness.

6 You will destroy all who tell lies; the Lord abhors a bloody and deceitful man.

7 But in Your great mercy I will enter Your house, and in the fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

8 O Lord, guide me in Your righteousness, direct my way before You because of my enemies.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth;

10 Their throat is a yawning tomb, with their tongues they deceive.

11 Judge them, O God, let them fall by their own thoughts. For the enormity of their godlessness cast them out, [Gk. kata with acc. = for. Cp. Mt. 19:3, "For any cause..."] because they have rebelled against You, O Lord.

12 But let all who hope in You be glad in You; they will rejoice forever and You will live in them. All who love Your name will glory in You,

13 because You will bless a righteous person, O Lord. You have crowned us with goodwill as with a shield.



Psalm 6

(For the end: Among songs for the octachord. A Psalm by David)

1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your rage or correct me in Your anger.

2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, because I am weak. Heal me, O Lord, because my bones are troubled.

3 And my soul is troubled greatly; but You, O Lord, how long will You be?

4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul; save me for Your mercy's sake.

4 For in death there is no one who remembers You, and who will confess You in hell?;

5 I am worn out with my groaning, each night I bathe my bed and sprinkle my couch with my tears.

6 My eye has become troubled from anger, I have become old among all my enemies.

7 Keep away from me, all you evildoers, because the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

8 The Lord has heard my petition, the Lord has received my prayer.

9 May all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled, may they be quickly routed and utterly confounded.



Stasis III



Psalm 7

(A Psalm by David which he sang to the Lord about the words of Hushai)

1 O Lord my God, on You I have set my hope; save me and deliver me from all who persecute me,

2 lest the enemy seize my soul like a lion, when there is no one to save or deliver me.

3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrongdoing in my hands,

4 if I have repaid with evils those who wronged me, let me fall empty before my enemies.

5 Let the enemy persecute my soul and seize and trample my life into the earth and bury my glory in the dust.

6 Stand up, O Lord, in Your anger, be exalted in the utmost boundaries of Your enemies.

7 Rise up, O Lord my God, in defense of the law You commanded,

8 and the congregation of the peoples will surround You, and over it return on high.

9 The Lord will judge the peoples. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the innocence that is in me.

10 Let the wickedness of sinners come to an end, but guide the just and righteous. It is God Who tests our hearts and minds [Lit. "kidneys, reins"].

11 Just and right is my help from God Who saves the straight and honest-hearted.

12 God is a just judge, strong and patient, and not inflicting judgment every day.

13 If you do not repent He will polish His sword; He has strung His bow and made it ready.

14 And with it He has prepared the weapons of death, He has forged His arrows for those who are burning.

15 See a sinner in the labor pains of wrongdoing! He conceives trouble and gives birth to lawlessness.

16 He dug a pit and scooped it out and he fills into the hole which he made.

17 His trouble will recoil on his head and his wrongdoing will crash on his crown.

18 I will give thanks to the Lord for His justice, and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.



Psalm 8

(For the end. A Psalm by David about the wine presses)

1 O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Your name in all the earth!

2 For Your majesty is exalted above the heavens.

3 Out of the mouth of babes and infants You have prepared for Yourself praise

4 because of Your enemies, to destroy the enemy and the avenger.

5 When I see the heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have poised,

6 what is man that You remember him, or a son of man that You visit him?

7 You made him a little lower than the angels, You crowned him with glory and honor,

8 You set him over the works of Your hands, You put everything under his feet:

9 all sheep and cattle, and also the beasts of the field,

10 the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the things that go through the paths of the seas. how wonderful is Your name in all the earth!



KATHISMA 2

Stasis I



Psalm 9

(For the end.  About the mysteries of the Son.  A Psalm by David)

1 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with my whole heart,

2 I will tell of all Your wonders. 

3 I will be glad and rejoice in You. I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

4 When my enemies turn back, they will weaken and perish from Your presence [ or  face ].

5 For You uphold my cause and my right, You sit on Your throne, judging justly.

6 You have rebuked the nations and the godless one has perished. You have wiped out his name forever and ever.

7 The enemy s swords have utterly failed and You have destroyed his cities, his memory with his din has perished. 

8 But the Lord lives forever. He has prepared His throne for judgment,

9 and He will judge the world with justice, He will judge the peoples with honesty.

10 But the Lord is a refuge for the poor and needy, a helper in times of trouble.

11 And let those who know Your name hope in You, for You have never abandoned those who seek you, O Lord.

12 Sing to the Lord Who lives in Zion, declare His ways among the nations.

13 For He Who requires their blood remembers them; He never forgets the cry of the poor and needy.

14 Have mercy on me, O Lord! See my humiliation from my enemies, You Who lift me up from the gates of death,

15 that I may tell all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice over Your salvation.

16 The nations are stuck in the corruption [or  rot ] they made; in this trap which they hid their foot  has been caught.

17 The Lord is known by the judgments He makes; the sinner is caught in the works of his hands.

18 Let the sinners be turned away into hell, and all the nations who are forgetting God.

19 For in the end the poor man will not be forgotten, the patience of the needy will not be lost in the end.

20 Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail! Let the nations be judged before You.

21 Set a lawgiver over them, O Lord; let the nations know they are only men.

22 Why, O Lord, do You stand far away and overlook us in times of trouble?

23 When the godless are arrogant, the poor man burns; they are caught in the intrigues which they plan.

24 For the sinner is praised for his soul s desires and the wrongdoer is blessed.

25 The sinner provokes the Lord; in his great anger he will not seek Him. God is not before his eyes.

26 His ways are always profane. Your judgments are far above his head; he domineers over all his enemies.

27 For he says in his heart,  I shall never be shaken. No harm will ever come to me. 

28 His mouth is full of cursing, bitterness and fraud; trouble and pain are under his tongue.

29 He sits in ambush with the rich in hidden places to kill an innocent man. His eyes watch for the poor man.

30 He lurks in hiding like a lion in its den; he lurks to seize a poor man, to seize a poor man and drag him off.

31 In his trap he will humiliate him. He will stoop and fall down in getting the poor into his power.

32 For he says in his heart,  God has forgotten. He has turned away His face so He will never see. 

33 Arise, O Lord God, let Your hand be uplifted, do not forget the poor and needy.

34 Why does the godless man make God angry? Because he says in his heart,  He will not look into it. 

35 But You are watching, for You see pain and anger to take them into Your hands. The poor man is abandoned to You; You are the helper for the orphan.

36 Break the arm of the sinful and evil one; his sin will be looked for and will not be found.

37 The Lord is King forever and ever; you nations will perish from His land.

38 O Lord, You answer the desire of the poor and needy, Your ear attends to their heart s readiness

39 to give justice to orphans and the humble, so that man on earth will not continue to boast.



Psalm 10

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 I have put my trust in the Lord. How will you say to my soul,  Fly away [Lit.  migrate ] like a bird to the mountains. 

2 For, look, the sinners bend their bow, they have arrows ready in the quiver to shoot down in darkness the upright in heart.

3 They pull down what You build up; but what has the righteous man done?

4 The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord Whose throne is in heaven, Whose eyes regard the poor, Whose eyelids test the sons of men.

5 The Lord tests the just and the godless, but one who loves wrongdoing hates his own soul.

6 The Lord will rain snares on sinners: fire and brimstone and a hurricane blast will be the portion of their cup.

7 For the Lord is just and loves justice; His face sees truthfulness.



Stasis II



Psalm 11

(For the end:  at the Octave.  A Psalm by David)

1 Save me, O Lord, for a saint fails to exist, for truths have dwindled from the sons of men.

2 Each one talks empty words with his neighbor; deceitful speech is in his heart, and in his heart he talks evils.

3 May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips and a tongue which talks big things,

4 those who say,  We will praise and magnify our tongue; our lips are our own, who is Lord over us? 

5  Because of the hardship of the poor and the groaning of the needy, now I will arise,  says the Lord,  I will set him in safety and speak freely in him. 

6 The words of the Lord are pure words, like smelted silver refined from earth, seven times purified.

7 You, O Lord, will keep us and preserve us from this generation and forever.

8 The godless live and walk in a circle. In keeping with Your high nature [or  highness, high position ] You take great care of the sons of men.



Psalm 12

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 How long, O Lord, will You forever forget me? How long will You turn Your face away from me?

2 How long shall I make plans in my soul and in my heart have sorrows day and night? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Regard me, answer me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes lest I sleep in death,

4 lest at any time my enemy say,  I defeated him.  Those who trouble me will exult if I am shaken.

5 But I have set my hope on Your mercy; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord who is so good to me, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.



Psalm 13

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 A fool says in his heart,  There is no God.  They [ They  means  the many fools  (Ps. 52)] are corrupt and abominable in their ways. There is not one who does good, there is not even one.

2 The Lord looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that understood and sought God.

3 They are all turned aside and together they are become worthless; there is not one who does good, not even one.

4 Do all the lawless have no understanding who eat up My people like eating bread and do not call on the Lord?

5 They tremble with fear where there is nothing to fear, because God is in the generation of the righteous.

6 You put to shame a poor man s plan, but the Lord is his hope.

7 Who will give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When the Lord brings back the captives of His people, [or  When the Lord reverses the captivity of His people.  Our captivity is reversed when we who were captives of sin and satan become Christ s captives and follow Him in His triumphal peace march, captivated by His love ] Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.



Stasis III



Psalm 14

(A Psalm by David)

1 O Lord, who will live in Your temple, or who will settle on Your holy mountain?

2 One whose way of life is blameless and who does what is right, who speaks the truth in his heart,

3 who does not deceive with his tongue, or do wrong to his neighbor, or accept blame against his friend.

4 In his sight an evildoer is scorned, but he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his neighbor and keeps his word,

5 He does not lend his money at interest or take bribes against the innocent. Anyone doing these things will never be shaken.



Psalm 15

(A Pillar Inscription by David)

1 Protect me, O Lord, because I set my hope on You.

2 I said to the Lord,  You are my God. You have no need of my goods. 

3 To the saints who are in His earth the Lord makes wonderful all His will in them.

4 Their idols were multiplied; they ran after them. I will not assemble their assemblies born of blood, [or  I will never...blood offerings ;  blood descent ] I will not even mention their names with my lips.

5 The Lord is the share of my inheritance and of my cup; It is You who restore my inheritance to me.

6 The lines have fallen for me among the best, for I have a most excellent inheritance.

7 I will bless the Lord Who gives me understanding; and even till night my heart [Lit.  reins, kidneys ] instructs me.

8 I kept seeing the Lord before me continually, because He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices, and even my flesh rests in hope.

10 For You will not leave my soul in hell, [Ac. 2:27 verbatim; 13:35] nor let Your Holy One see corruption.

11 You have made known to me the ways of life; with Your presence You will fill me with joy. In Your right hand there are delights forever.



Psalm 16

(A Prayer by David)

1 Hear, O Lord, my righteousness, attend to my need, give ear to my prayer, not uttered with deceitful lips.

2 Let my judgment come out from Your presence, let my eyes see what is right.

3 You have tested my heart, You have visited me at night, You have tried me by fire and no wrongdoing was found in me.

4 That my mouth may not talk of the doings of men, for the sake of the words of Your lips I have kept hard ways.

5 Set my steps in Your tracks that my steps may not slip.

6 I cry out to You, O God, because You answer me; incline Your ear to me and answer my words.

7 Show me the wonder of Your mercies, You Who save those who hope in You from those who resist Your right hand.

8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; You will protect me in the shelter of Your wings

9 from the presence of the godless who trouble me. My enemies surround my soul.

10 They have closed their heart, their mouth speaks arrogance.

11 Those who threw me out have now surrounded me; they have set their eyes to cast me down on the ground.

12 They lie in wait for me like a lion alert for its prey, and like a lion cub living in hidden places.

13 Arise, O Lord, forestall them and overthrow them; deliver my soul from the godless, take Your sword from Your enemies  hand.

14 O Lord, separate them from the few and from the earth  in their lifetime. Their stomach is filled with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, [As Slavonic] and they leave what remains for their babes.

15 But I will appear to Your face [A Hebraism:   to You ] in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when Your glory appears to me.





KATHISMA 3

Stasis I



Psalm 17

(For the end.  By David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul and from the hand of all his enemies.  And he said:)

1 I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my Support, my Refuge and my Deliverer.

2 My God is my Helper, in Him I will hope, my Protector, my Savior [Lit.  horn of my salvation :   horn  means strength] and my Defender.

3 With songs of praise I will call on the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies.

4 The pangs of death surrounded me and torrents of lawlessness terrified me.

5 The pangs of hell encircled me, death traps confronted me.

6 Then I called on the Lord in my distress and I cried out to my God. He heard my voice from His holy temple and my cry to Him will reach His ears.

7 Then the earth was shaken and started trembling, and the foundations of the mountains were disturbed and shaken because God was angry with them.

8 Smoke went up in His anger and fire from His face will devour; coals were kindled from it.

9 And He bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet.

10 And He rode upon Cherubim and flew; He flew on the wings of the wind.

11 And He made darkness His hiding place. As His canopy round Him dark thunder clouds hung in the sky.

12 From the brightness before Him there came through the clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

13 Then the Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High let His voice be heard.

14 He shot His arrows and scattered them, He volleyed His lightnings and confused them.

15 Then the fountains of water appeared and the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your anger.

16 He sent from on high and took me, He drew me out of many waters.

17 He will deliver me from my powerful enemies and from those who hate me, because they are too strong for me.

18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

19 Then He brought me out into a broad place; He will deliver me because He delights in me.

20 The Lord will reward me according to my righteousness and according to the cleanness of my hands He will repay me,

21 because I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not gone profanely from my God,

22 because all His judgments are before me and His requirements have not departed from me. 

23 And I shall be faultless with Him and I will keep myself from my lawlessness.

24 And the Lord will reward me according to my righteousness and according to the cleanness of my hands.

25 With a holy man You will be holy, and with an innocent man You will be innocent.

26 With a chosen man You will be chosen, and with a crooked man You will twist.

27 For You will save a humble people and You will humble the eyes of the proud.

28 For You will light my lamp, O Lord my God, You will enlighten my darkness.

29 For in You I shall be delivered from temptation, and in my God I will climb over a wall. [Wall of sin between us and the heavenly Jerusalem]

30 As for my God, His way is perfect; the Lord s words are tried by fire. He is the Protector of all who hope in Him.

31 For who is God but the Lord? And who is God but our God?

32 It is God Who binds [Lit.  girds ] me with power and makes my way perfect,

33 Who makes my feet like deer s feet and sets me on the heights,

34 training my hands for war. And You have made my arms like a bow of bronze.

35 And You have given me the protection of Your salvation and Your right hand upholds me, and Your training has at last corrected me, and Your training itself will teach me.

36 You have enlarged my steps under me and my feet have not weakened.

37 I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until they are destroyed.

38 I will crush them and they will be unable to stand, they will fall under my feet.

39 You have armed me with power for war, and You have bound hand and foot beneath me all who rise up against me.

40 And You have made my enemies turn their back to me and those who hate me You have utterly destroyed.

41 They cried out, but there was no one to save them; they cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

42 I will thrash them like dust in the face of the wind, I will pound them like mud of the streets.

43 Deliver me from people s opposition. You will set me at the head of nations. A people I did not know have served me.

44 As soon as they heard me, they obeyed me. Strange sons have proved false to me.

45 Strange sons grew old and limped from their paths.

46 The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted,

47 the God Who gives me justice and restitution and subdues peoples under me.

48 My Deliverer from my angry enemies, You will lift me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from an unjust man.

49 For this I will confess You among the nations, O Lord, and I will sing praise to Your name.

50 Great is the salvation He gives to His king and the mercy He shows to His anointed, [or  Christ ] to David and His seed forever.



Stasis Ii



Psalm 18

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the creation [Gk. stereoma = solid mass, foundation, firmament] proclaims the work of His hands.

2 Day to day utters speech and night to night reports knowledge.

3 There are no languages or words in which their voices are not heard.

4 Their message goes out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.

5 He has pitched His tent in the sun. And like a bridegroom going out of His bridal-room, He will rejoice like a giant to run His race.

6 His going out is from the highest heaven, and the highest heaven is His goal, and from His heat no one can hide.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making children wise.

8 The Lord s requirements are clear, rejoicing the heart; the Lord s commandment is bright, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and altogether justified,

10 more desirable than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

11 And Your servant keeps them; in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who will understand his faults? Cleanse me from my hidden ones.

13 And from those of others spare Your servant. If they have no dominion over me, then I shall be blameless and I shall be kept free from great sin.

14 Then the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart will be always acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Helper and my Redeemer.



Psalm 19

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

2 May He send you help from His sanctuary and support you out of Zion.

3 May He remember all your sacrifice and accept your whole burnt offering.

4 May the Lord give you according to your heart and fulfill your every plan.

5 We will rejoice in Your salvation, and in the name of our God we shall be exalted. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

6 Now I know that the Lord has saved His Anointed One. He will answer Him from His holy heaven. The salvation of His right hand is in mighty deeds.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call on the name of the Lord our God.

8 They were bound hand and foot, and so they fell, but we have risen and stand upright.

9 O Lord, save the king, and answer us in the day we call upon You.



Psalm 20

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad, and he will rejoice greatly in Your salvation.

2 You have given him his heart s desire and You have not denied him the request of his lips.

3 For You have gone before him with the blessings of goodness; You have placed on his head a crown of precious stones.

4 He asked You for life, and You gave him length of days for ages and ages.

5 Great is his glory in Your salvation; You will confer on him glory and majesty.

6 For You will give him blessing forever and ever; You will gladden him with joy by Your presence.

7 for the king hopes in the Lord and in the mercy of the Most High he will not be shaken.

8 May Your hand be felt by all Your enemies; may Your right hand find all who hate You.

9 You will make them like a fiery oven at the time of Your presence. The Lord will confound them in His anger, and fire will devour them.

10 You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from the sons of men.

11 For they intended evil against You, they imagined plans which could never succeed.

12 For You will put them to flight; You will prepare their presence among Your remnants. 

13 Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; we will sing and praise Your powers.



Stasis III



Psalm 21

(For the end:  for the Help of the Morning Watch.  A Psalm by David)

1 O God my God, attend to me! Why did You abandon me? Far from my salvation are the subjects [Gk. logos = word, explanation, etc.] of my sins.

2 My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer me, and by night, yet it is not foolish of me.

3 You live in the holy place, the praise of Israel.

4 Our fathers hoped in You; they hoped, and You delivered them.

5 They cried out to You and were saved, they hoped in You and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and a scorn of people.

7 All who see me sneer at me; they say with their lips as they wag their heads:

8  He hoped in the Lord.  Let Him deliver him, let Him save him, since He wants him. 

9 For You are the One Who drew me out of the womb, You have been my hope from my mother s breasts.

10 I have been cast on Your care from my birth; You are my God from my mother s womb.

11 Do not stay far from me, because trouble is near, for there is no one to help me.

12 Many young bulls encircle me, fat bulls surround me.

13 They open their mouth against me like a ravenous and roaring lion. 

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed, my heart is like melting wax inside me.

15 My strength has dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to my throat, and You have brought me down to the dust of death.

16 For a pack of dogs encircle me, and a gang of evildoers surrounds me; They pierce my hands and my feet.

17 They count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my garments among themselves and for my robe they cast lots.

19 But You, O Lord, do not delay my help; attend to my defense.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life [Gk. psyche = soul, life;  only one  is feminine, agreeing with psyche] from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion and my humility from the horns of rhinoceroses.

22 I will tell Your name to my brothers, in the midst of the church I will sing to You.

23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; all you sons of Jacob, glorify Him. Let all the sons of Israel fear Him.

24 For He has not despised or disdained the poor man s prayer or turned away His face from me, but when I cried to Him He answered me.

25 From You comes my praise; in the great church I will confess You, I will pay my vows before those who fear You.

26 The poor will eat and will be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord will praise Him; their hearts will live forever.

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and they will return to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before Him.

28 For the Kingdom is the Lord s and it is He Who rules the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth have eaten and worshipped; all who go down into the earth will fall down before Him. But my soul lives for Him,

30 and my children will serve Him; the coming generation will be declared for the Lord.

31 And they will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, whom the Lord has made.



Psalm 22

(A Psalm by David)

1 The Lord is my shepherd and I will lack nothing.

2 He settles me in a place of green grass, beside restful water He nourishes me.

3 He corrects my soul, He guides me on the paths of righteousness for His name s sake.

4 For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, because You are with me. Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me. You anoint my head with oil, and Your cup inebriates me with love  -- how very strong it is!

6 And Your mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord for the length of my days. [or  for as long as I live ]



Psalm 23

(A Psalm by David.  For the first Sabbath)

1 The earth is the Lord s and all it contains, the world and all who live in it.

2 He has founded it above the seas and prepared it above the waters.

3 Who will ascend into the mountain of the Lord and who will stand in His holy place?

4 One whose hands are harmless and whose heart is pure, who has not received his soul in vain and has not sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.

5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior.

6 This is the kind who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

7 Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you eternal doors, and the King of Glory will come in.

8 Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and powerful, the Lord powerful in battle.

9 Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you eternal doors, and the King of Glory will come in.

10 Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory.





KATHISMA 4

Stasis I



Psalm 24

(A Psalm by David)

1 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in You I trust: let me never be put to shame, nor let my enemies laugh at me.

3 For none who wait for You will be put to shame; let those be ashamed who do wrong for no reason.

4 Your ways, O Lord, make known to me and teach me Your paths.

5 Guide me by Your truth and teach me, because You, O God, are my Savior and for You I wait all day.

6 Remember Your compassion, O Lord, and Your mercies, because they are from all eternity.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorance, but in Your mercy remember me for Your goodness  sake, O Lord.

8 Good and straight is the Lord; so He gives laws for sinners in the way. 

9 He will guide the meek [Gk. praus = meek & humble, so we give both translations] to judge what is right,  He will teach the humble His ways.

10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who seek His covenant and His laws.

11 For Your name s sake, O Lord, forgive my sin, for it is great.

12 Who is a man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. 

13 His soul will live among good things, and his children will inherit the earth.

14 The Lord is the strength of those who fear Him, and His covenant will make it clear to them.

15 My eyes continually look to the Lord,  because He will pull my feet out of the trap. [or  out of danger , i.e., away from the trap]

16 Look upon me and have mercy on me because I am poor and lonely.

17 The troubles of my heart are multiplied; O bring me out of my afflictions.

18 See my humiliation and my labor and forgive all my sins.

19 See my enemies, for they are multiplied and they hate me with an unjust hatred.

20 Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I have hoped in You.

21 The innocent and upright have joined me, because I wait for You, O Lord.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.







Psalm 25

(David s)

1 Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence, and by hoping in the Lord I shall not grow weak.

2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; burn my heart [Lit.  reins, kidneys ] and my thoughts.

3 For Your mercy is before my eyes, and I delight in Your truth.

4 I do not sit with a frivolous gathering and I will not go with lawbreakers.

5 I hate the company of evildoers and I will not sit with godless people.

6 I will wash my hands among the innocent and I will encircle Your altar, O Lord,

7 that I may hear the voice of praise and tell of all Your wonders.

8 Lord, I love the beauty of Your house and the place of the temple of Your glory.

9 Do not destroy my soul with the godless and my life with men of blood,

10 in whose hands are wrongdoings, whose right hand is full of bribes.

11 But I have walked in my innocence; deliver me, O Lord, and have mercy on me.

12 My foot stands on the straight path; I will bless You, O Lord, in the churches.



Psalm 26

(A Psalm of David before he was anointed)

1 The Lord is my light and my Savior; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; from whom shall I shrink?

2 When evildoers draw near against me to eat my flesh, it is my enemies and those who trouble me who themselves grow feeble and fall.

3 Though an army is ready for battle against me, my heart will not be afraid; though war rises against me, in this I hope.

4 One request I have asked from the Lord, this one thing I will seek: that I may live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may see the delightful beauty of God and visit His holy temple.

5 Because He hid me in His temple in the day of my troubles, He sheltered me in the hiding place of His temple, He lifted me high on a rock.

6 And even now He has lifted my head above my enemies. In His temple I encircled the altar and offered a sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and praise the Lord.

7  Hear, O Lord, my voice when I call, have mercy on me and answer me,  my heart said to You.

8 I will seek the Lord. My face searches for You; Your face, O Lord, I will seek.

9 Do not turn away Your face from me and do not turn away from Your servant in anger. Be my helper, do not reject me and do not leave me, O God my Savior.

10 For my father and my mother have left me, but the Lord has taken me to Himself.

11 Instruct me, O Lord, in Your way and guide me in the straight path because of my enemies.

12 Do not give me up to the souls of those who trouble me, because false witnesses have risen against me and injustice has deceived itself.

13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the Lord, take courage and let your heart be strong, and wait for the Lord.





Stasis II

Psalm 27

(By David)

1 To You, O Lord, I have called. O my God, do not be silent to me, for if You are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the pit.

2 Hear, O Lord, the cry of my prayer when I pray to You, when I lift up my hands to Your holy temple.

3 Do not drag me away with sinners and destroy me with those who do wrong, who speak peace with their neighbor while bad thoughts are in their hearts.

4 Give them, O Lord, according to their doings and according to the evil of their ways; give them according to the works of their hands, repay them what they deserve.

5 Because they did not look into the works of the Lord or the workings of His hands, You will pull them down and not build them up.

6 Blessed is God because He has heard the cry of my prayer.

7 The Lord is my helper and my protector; my heart hopes in Him and I am helped. Even my flesh has revived, and out of my delight I will give thanks to Him.

8 The Lord is the strength of His people and the protector of the salvation of His anointed one.

9 Save Your people and bless Your inheritance and shepherd them and lift them up forever.



Psalm 28

(A Psalm by David at the Exit of the Ark or Tabernacle.  For the Feast of Tabernacles in commemoration of the Exodus)

1 Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord young rams, bring to the Lord glory and honor.

2 Bring to the Lord glory to His name, worship the Lord in His holy court.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory is thundering, the Lord is over many waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is with strength, the voice of the Lord is with majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon.

6 And He will thrash them like a young Lebanese bull, and like the beloved calf of a rhinoceros.

7 The voice of the Lord divides a flame of fire.

8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert, the Lord will shake the desert of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer calve and strips the forests bare, while in His temple everyone says,  Glory.  [or  all say  Glory . ]

10 The Lord inhabits the flood, and the Lord will sit as King forever.

11 The Lord will give strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace.



Psalm 29

(For the end:  A Song for the Dedication of David s House)

1 I will lift You on high, O Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

2 O Lord my God, I cried out to You and You have healed me.

3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul out of hell, You have saved me from those going down to the pit.

4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.

5 For wrath is in His anger, but in His will is life; in the evening weeping may come to lodge, but joy comes in the morning.

6 But I said in my prosperity,  I shall never be shaken. 

7 O Lord, by Your will You granted power to my beauty. But You turned away Your face and I became troubled.

8 To You, O Lord, I will cry and I will pray to my God:

9  What profit is there in my blood by my going down to corruption? Will the dust confess or give thanks to You, or will it declare Your truth? 

10 The Lord heard and had mercy on me, the Lord became my helper.

11 You have turned my mourning for me into joy, You have ripped off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

12 that my glory may sing to You and I may not be pierced with sorrow. O Lord my God, I will confess and thank You forever.





Stasis III



Psalm 30

(For the end:  A Psalm of madness by David)

1 In You, O Lord, I hope and trust; let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in Your justice.

2 Bend Your ear to me, make haste to rescue me. Be my God and Protector, my house of refuge to save me.

3 For You are my strength and my refuge, and for Your name s sake You will guide me and support me.

4 You will bring me out of this trap which they have hidden for me because You are my Protector, O Lord.

5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

6 You hate those who idly watch vanities, but I set my hope on the Lord.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, because You have regarded my humiliation, You have saved my soul from distress

8 and You have not shut me up in the hands of my enemies; You have set my feet in a wide place.

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, because I am in trouble. My eye is troubled with anger, my soul and my body also.

10 For my life is spent with pain and my years with groans; my strength has grown weak from poverty, and my bones are troubled.

11 I have become a reproach among all my enemies and especially to my neighbors, and a terror to my acquaintances; those who see me outside run from me.

12 I am forgotten like a dead man lost from memory, [Lit.  from heart . Cp. learn by heart, meaning by memory] I have become like a broken vessel.

13 For I hear the blame of many who live around me, as they conspire together against me and plot to take my life.

14 But I hope in You, O Lord. I have said,  You are my God. 

15 My life is in Your hands; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.

16 Let Your face shine on Your slave, save me in Your mercy.

17 O Lord, do not let me be ashamed, because I have called upon You. Let the godless be ashamed and be brought down to hell.

18 Let the lying lips be dumb which talk lawlessness against the righteous with pride and contempt.

19 How great is the wealth of Your goodness, O Lord, which You have hidden for those who fear You [Goodness, God, Heaven are hidden in all things. The defeat, shame of the Cross hid supreme victory, glory, blessing, Redemption] and provided for those who hope in You before the sons of men!

20 You hide them in the secrecy of Your presence from the disturbance of men; You shelter them in Your temple from the dispute of tongues.

21 Blessed is the Lord, for He has shown the wonder of His mercy in a besieged city.

22 But I said in my madness,  I am cast away from the eyes of Your face.  Therefore You heard the voice of my prayer when I cried to You.

23 Love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord requires truth, and He fully repays those who act with pride.

24 Take courage and let your heart be strong, all you who hope in the Lord.



Psalm 31

(A Psalm of Contemplation by David)

1 Blessed are they whose wrongdoings are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not count or consider and in whose mouth there is no deceit.

3 Because I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; I was reduced to misery while a thorn was stuck in me.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not hide my lawlessness.  I said:  I will confess my sin to the Lord against myself.  And You forgave the ungodliness of my heart.

6 For this everyone who is holy will pray to You at a suitable time. Then in a flood of many waters they will not come near him. 

7 You are my refuge from the trouble surrounding me; my Joy, deliver me from those who encircle me.

8 I will teach you and instruct you in this way you should go, I will fix My eyes upon you.

9 Do not become like a horse and a mule which have no understanding, whose jaws you must hold with muzzle and bridle or they will not come near you. 

10 Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy surrounds those who hope in the Lord.

11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all who are honest [Lit.  straight  (Ps. 26:11; 110:1)] in heart.





KATHISMA 5

Stasis I



Psalm 32

(By David)

1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous! Praise from the righteous is beautiful.

2 Give thanks to the Lord on a harp; sing praises to Him on a ten-stringed psaltery.

3 Sing Him a song that is new, sing to Him well with shouting,

4 for the word of the Lord is straight, and all His works are done in faith. [or by faith, with faith]

5 The Lord loves mercy and justice; the earth is full of the mercy of God. [or  God s mercy ]

6 By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the wonder [Gk. dynamis = power, miracle] of them by the Breath [Gk. pneuma = breath or spirit] of His mouth.

7 He gathers the sea waters as into a wineskin, placing them in bottomless caverns.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all who live in the world be shaken by Him,

9 for He spoke and they were born, He commanded and they were created.

10 The Lord frustrates the plans of nations. He rejects the thoughts of peoples and rejects the plans of rulers.

11 But the Lord s plan stands forever, the thoughts of His heart are for all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His own possession. [or  inheritance ]

13 The Lord looks on from heaven, He sees all the sons of men.

14 From His watchful dwelling He looks on all who inhabit the earth.

15 He alone forms their hearts and understands all their doings.

16 A king is not saved by a great army, and a giant will not be saved by His great strength.

17 A horse is a hoax for salvation, and with all its strength it will not be saved.

18 Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His mercy,

19 to deliver their souls from death and to nourish them in time of famine.

20 Our soul waits for the Lord, because He is our helper and protector.

21 For our heart rejoices in Him and we hope in His holy name.

22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us as we have set our hope on You.



Psalm 33

(By David, when he disguised his face before Abimelech, who let him go, and he went away)

1 I will bless the Lord at all times,  His praise shall be continually in my mouth.

2 My soul will be praised by the Lord;  let the meek hear and be glad.

3 magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the Lord and He answered me, and He delivered me out of all my troubles.

5 Come to Him and be radiant, and your faces will not be ashamed.

6 This poor man [i.e., David himself] called and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord will camp round those who fear Him and will deliver them.

8 taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who hopes in Him.

9 fear the Lord, all you His saints, because those who fear Him lack nothing.

10 The rich do become poor and hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not be in want of anything good.

11 Come, children, listen to me! I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12 Who is a person who wants life  and loves to see good days?

13 Stop your tongue from evil and your lips from talking deceit.

14 Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous  and His ears are open to their prayer.

16 But the face of the Lord is against evildoers to destroy their memory from the earth.

17 The righteous call and the Lord answers them and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and He will save the humble in spirit.

19 Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them out of them all.

20 The Lord guards all their bones, not one of them will be broken.

21 The death of sinners is evil, and those who hate a righteous man will sin.

22 The Lord will deliver the souls of His servants, and none will sin who hope in Him.





Stasis II



Psalm 34

(By David)

1 Judge those who are wronging me, O Lord, fight those who are fighting me.

2 Take hold of shield and weapon and stand up to help me.

3 Draw a sword and block the way against those who persecute me. Say to my soul:   I am your salvation. 

4 Let those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; let those who plan evils for me be routed and ashamed.

5 Let them be like dust in the face of the wind, and let an angel of the Lord afflict them.

6 Let their way be dark and slippery, and let an angel of the Lord pursue them,

7 because for nothing they hid from me the deception of their trap,  they falsely accused my soul.

8 Let a trap which he does not know come upon him and let the net which he hid catch him, and let him fall into his own trap.

9 But my soul will rejoice in the Lord and will delight in His salvation.

10 All my bones will say,  Lord, who is like You; who delivers the poor from the hand of those who are stronger than they are, and the poor and needy from those who rob them? 

11 False witnesses rose up against me and asked me things which I did not know.

12 They repaid me evil for good and barrenness for my soul. 

13 But when they troubled me, I put on sackcloth and humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer will return to my bosom.

14 As though he were our neighbor and brother I tried to please him. Like one who is mourning and gloomy-looking I humbled myself.

15 But they were glad and were gathered together against me, scourges were gathered together against me, and I did not know it. They were divided, yet they were not repentant. [or  they felt no compunction ]

16 They tempted me, they scoffed and sneered at me, they gnashed their teeth at me.

17 O Lord, when will You look upon me? Rescue my soul from their malice, my only one from the lions.

18 I will confess and thank You in a great assembly, among a powerful people I will praise You.

19 Do not let those who are unjustly my enemies rejoice over me, those who hate me and wink their eyes for no reason.

20 For they spoke peaceful words to me, yet in anger they were plotting intrigues.

21 And they opened their mouth wide against me and said:   Good, good!  Our eyes have seen it. 

22 You have seen it, O Lord, do not be silent. O Lord, do not stand aloof from me.

23 Arise, O Lord, and attend to my judgment and to my cause, my God and my Lord.

24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice against me.

25 Do not let them say in their hearts,  Good, good! Just what we wanted.  Do not let them say,  We have swallowed him up. 

26 Let those who rejoice over my troubles be ashamed and confounded together. Let those who boast against me be covered with shame and confusion.

27 Let those who desire my justification rejoice and be glad, and let those who desire the peace of Your servant say continually,  The Lord be magnified. 

28 And my tongue will learn [or  study, meditate  (cp. learn by heart = Heb. learn by mouth)] Your righteousness and Your praise all day long.



Psalm 35

(For the end.  By David the servant [or  slave ] of the Lord)

1 The sinner, in order to sin, talks to himself. [i.e., instead of talking to God] There is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he is dishonest with God  over finding his sin and hating it.

3 The words of his mouth are lawless and false; he is not willing to understand how to do good.

4 He plans wrongdoing on his bed, he is ready for any course not good, and he is not angry with evil.

5 O Lord, Your mercy is in heaven, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. 

6 Your justice is like the mountains of God, [or  the lordly mountains ] Your judgments are a vast abyss. You save men and animals, O Lord.

7 How You have multiplied Your mercy, O God! The sons of men will hope in the shelter of Your wings.

8 They will be filled with the prosperity of Your house and You will give them to drink the torrent of Your delight.

9 For with You is the fountain of life and in Your light we shall see light.

10 continue Your mercy to those who know You and Your justice to those who are upright in heart.

11 Do not let the foot of pride come to me or the hand of a sinner shake me.

12 There all who practice lawlessness have fallen;  they have been driven out and cannot stand.





Stasis III



Psalm 36

(By David)

1 Do not fret because of evildoers or envy those who practice lawlessness,

2 for like grass they will soon be withered and like green plants they will soon fall.

3 Hope in the Lord and do good and live in the land and be fed on its wealth.

4 Delight in the Lord and He will give you the requests of your heart.

5 Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him, and He will do it.

6 He will bring to light your righteousness, and your decision will be as clear as noonday. 

7 Submit to the Lord and pray to Him. Do not fret over one who prospers in his way, over a man who practices dishonesty.

8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret yourself into evildoing.

9 For evildoers will be exterminated, but those who wait for the Lord will inherit the earth.

10 Yet a little while and the sinner will be gone; you will look for his place and will not find it.

11 But the meek will inherit the earth and will delight in an abundance of peace.

12 The sinner will watch the righteous man and will gnash his teeth at him.

13 But the Lord will laugh at him, because He foresees that his day will come.

14 The sinners draw their sword and bend their bow to put down the poor and needy and slaughter the upright in heart.

15 Let their sword enter their own hearts and let their bows be broken.

16 A little for a righteous man is better than the great wealth of sinners.

17 For the arms of sinners will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.

18 The Lord knows the ways of the blameless, and their inheritance will be forever.

19 They will not be ashamed in an evil time, and in days of famine they will be satisfied.

20 For the sinners will be lost and perish, and the enemies of the Lord are no sooner honored and exalted than they die and vanish like smoke.

21 The sinner borrows and does not repay, but the just man has compassion and gives.

22 Those who bless him will inherit the earth, but those who curse him will be exterminated.

23 The steps of a man are directed by the Lord when he takes great delight in His way. 

24 When he falls, he will not be flung headlong, because the Lord holds his hand.

25 I was young, but now I am old, yet I have not seen a righteous man abandoned or his children begging for bread.

26 All day long the righteous are merciful and lend and their children are a blessing.

27 Shun evil and do good, and live forever and ever. [or  for ages and ages ]

28 For the Lord loves justice and He will not abandon His saints; they will be guarded forever. But the lawless will be driven out and the sons of the godless will be exterminated.

29 But the righteous will inherit the earth  and will live on it forever and ever.

30 A righteous man s mouth reflects wisdom and his tongue speaks justice.

31 The law of his God is in his heart and his steps will not be tripped.

32 The sinner watches the righteous man and tries to kill him.

33 But the Lord will not leave him in his hands or let him be condemned when he is judged by him.

34 Wait for the Lord and keep His way and He will exalt you to inherit the earth. When sinners are exterminated, you will see it.

35 I have seen a godless man highly exalting himself and lifting himself up like the cedars of Lebanon.

36 But I passed by, and look!  He was gone. Then I searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

37 Watch innocence and see straightforwardness, because there is a posterity for a peaceful person.

38 But sinners will be exterminated together; the posterity of the godless will be exterminated.

39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, and He is their protector in time of trouble.

40 The Lord will help them and deliver them; He will rescue them from sinners and save them, because they have set their hope on Him.





KATHISMA 6

Stasis I



Psalm 37

(A Psalm by David.  For a Memorial.  Concerning the Sabbath)

1 O Lord, rebuke me, but not in Your anger; and correct me, but not in Your wrath.

2 For Your arrows are stuck in me and You are pressing Your hand upon me.

3 There is no healing in my flesh from the face of Your wrath; there is no peace in my bones from the presence of my sins.

4 For my sins have gone over my head; they weigh upon me like a heavy burden.

5 My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness.

6 I became miserable and utterly dejected, I went mourning all day long.

7 For my soul is filled with mockings and there is no healing in my flesh.

8 I was afflicted and humbled exceedingly, I roared from the groaning of my heart.

9 O Lord, all my desire is before You, and my groaning is not hidden from You.

10 My heart is troubled, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even this is not with me.

11 My friends and neighbors drew near and stood opposite me, and my nearest ones stood far away. 

12 Those seeking my life took to violence, and those seeking evils for me spoke idle words and planned treachery all day long.

13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear, and I am like a dumb man who does not open his mouth.

14 I became like a man who does not hear and in his mouth has no rebukes.

15 For on You, O Lord, I have set my hope; You will answer me, O Lord my God.

16 For I said,  Let my enemies never rejoice over me or boast over me when my feet are shaken. 

17 For I am ready for scourges and my pain is before me continually.

18 For I will confess my lawlessness and I will be concerned about my sin.

19 But my enemies live and are stronger than me, and those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.

20 Those who repay me evil for good, oppose me, because I follow goodness.

21 Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not stay far away from me!

22 Attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation.



Psalm 38

(For the end.  For Juduthun.  A Song by David)

1 I said,  I will watch my ways, so as not to sin with my tongue.

2 I will set a watch over my mouth while a sinner stands before me. 

3 I was dumb and humbled; I was even silent from good words, yet my pain was renewed.

4 My heart was warmed within me and in my meditation fire will be kindled. Then I prayed with my tongue:

5  O Lord, make known to me my end and the number of my days, that I may know what I lack. 

6 You have made my days like handbreadths and my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. In fact, all is vanity, every man alive.

7 Yet man goes through life as God s image, [Gk. eikon = image, picture, likeness, etc.] but he disquiets himself in vain. He accumulates things and does not know for whom he is gathering them.

8 And now, who is my patience? Is it not the Lord? And my life is from You.

9 Deliver me from all my sins.  You have made me a disgrace to a fool.

10 I was dumb and did not open my mouth, because it is You who made me.

11 Remove from me Your afflictions, for I am exhausted from the strength of Your hand.

12 With rebukes You correct a man for sin and You put his soul to the test until he is as weak as a spider. Yet every man disquiets himself in vain.

13 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my need, do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger and pilgrim with You, just like all my fathers.

14 Spare me, that I may recover my strength, before I depart and exist no more.



Psalm 39

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 I waited expectantly for the Lord, and He attended to me and heard my prayer.

2 He brought me up out of a pit of misery and from the mud and clay,

3 and He set my feet on a rock and directed my steps.

4 And He has put in my mouth a new song, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will hope in the Lord.

5 Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord and who does not look at vanities or mad delusions. [or  lying madnesses ]

6 Many are the things You have done, many are Your wonders, O Lord my God, and in Your thoughts there is no one like You. I have declared and said they are multiplied beyond number.

7 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,  but a body You prepared for Me. Whole Burnt Offerings and Sin Offerings You did not require.

8 Then I said:  See, I have come (in a scroll of the Book it is written about Me)

9 to do Your will, O my God. I am determined to do it, and Your law is written within my heart.

10 I have told the good news of righteousness in a great congregation. [Gk. ekklesia] I will not restrain my lips. O Lord, You know it.

11 I have not hidden Your righteousness in my heart, I have told Your truth and Your salvation. I have not hidden Your mercy and Your truth from a great assembly. [Lit.  synagogue ]

12 But do not remove Your compassion from me, O Lord, let Your mercy and truth continually help me.

13 For countless evils surround me; my sins have overwhelmed me and I am unable to see. They are multiplied beyond the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

14 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, attend to my help.

15 Let those who seek to destroy my life be put to shame and confounded together. Let those who wish evils for me be turned back and put to shame.

16 Let those who say to me,  Well done!  Well done!  immediately be covered with shame.

17 Let all who seek You, O Lord, rejoice and be glad in You, and let those who love Your salvation say continually,  The Lord be magnified. 

18 But I am poor and needy; the Lord will care for me. You are my helper and my protector; O my God, make no delay.





Stasis II



Psalm 40

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 Blessed is one who is understanding toward the poor and needy;  the Lord will deliver him in an evil day.

2 May the Lord protect him and keep him alive and make him happy on the earth and not give him up into the hands of his enemies.

3 May the Lord help him on his bed of pain; You have turned all his confinement to health in his sickness. 

4 I said,  Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You. 

5 My enemies spoke evil of me:  When will he die and his name perish? 

6 And if he was coming in to see me, he was speaking vanity; his heart gathered lawlessness to itself, he was going out and was talking about it.

7 All my enemies were whispering against me; they were planning evils against me.

8 They laid a false report against me:  Surely the sleeper is not going to rise? 

9 Even the man of My peace in whom I hoped,  who was eating bread with me,  has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up and I will repay them.

11 By this I know that You are delighted with me, that my enemy does not rejoice over me.

12 But because of my innocence You have helped me and have secured me in Your presence forever.

13 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel from age to age.  Amen, amen. [Lit.  May it be, may it be  (Gk.)]



Psalm 41

(For the end.  For contemplation.  For the sons of Korah)

1 As the deer yearns over the springs of water, so my soul yearns for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me daily,  Where is your God? 

4 These things I remembered and poured out my soul within me. I will go to the place of the wonderful temple, to the house of God with the sound of rejoicing and the thanksgiving of a crowd keeping festival.

5 Why are you sorrowful, O my soul, and why are you disquieting me? Hope in God, for I will praise and thank Him; He is the salvation of my person and my God.

6 My soul is troubled within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of Jordan and the Hermons, from the little mountain.

7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your cataracts;  all Your waves and Your billows went over me.

8 The Lord will command His mercy in the daytime and a song from me to Him in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God, You are my Protector. Why have You forgotten me, and why must I go mourning while my enemy oppresses me?

10 While crushing my bones my enemies taunt me and say to me daily,  Where is your God? 

11 Why are you sorrowful, O my soul, and why are you disquieting me? Hope in God, for I will praise and thank Him; He is the salvation of my person and my God.



Psalm 42

(A Psalm by David)

1 Judge me, O God, and defend my cause from a nation that is not holy. Deliver me from an unjust and deceitful man.

2 For You, O God, are my strength. Why have You rejected me? And why do I go mourning while my enemy oppresses me?

3 send out Your light and Your truth; let them guide and lead me to Your holy mountain and to Your temples. 

4 Then I will go in to the altar of God, to God Who gladdens my youth. I will praise and thank You with a harp, O God, my God.

5 Why are you sorrowful, O my soul, and why are you disquieting me?

6 Hope in God, for I will praise and thank Him; He is the salvation of my person and my God.





Stasis III

Psalm 43

(For the end.  A Psalm for understanding for the sons of Korah)

1 O God, we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told us

2 the work which You did in their days, in the days of old.

3 Your hand destroyed the nations and You planted our fathers. You afflicted peoples and drove them out.

4 For it was not by their sword that they gained possession of the land, and it was not their right arm that saved them, but it was Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,  because You delighted in them.

5 You Yourself are my King and my God Who command the victories of Jacob.

6 In You we repulse [Lit.  rebut ] our enemies  and in Your name we destroy our assailants.

7 For I will not trust in my bow, and it is not my sword that will save me.

8 But it is You Who save us from those who trouble us and Who put to shame those who hate us.

9 In God we shall be praised all day long  and in Your name we will praise You forever.

10 But now You reject us and put us to shame and will not go out with our armies, O God.

11 You have made us turn our backs to our enemies and those who hate us plunder us for themselves.

12 You have given us up like sheep for food and You have scattered us among the nations.

13 You have sold Your people without price, and there is no crowd at our festivals.

14 You have made us a disgrace to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

15 You have made us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

16 All day long my confusion is before me and my face is covered with shame,

17 from the voice of the taunter and backbiter, from the presence of the enemy and persecutor.

18 All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You and have not been untrue to Your covenant.

19 Our heart has not turned back, yet You have turned our paths from Your way.

20 For You have humbled us in a place of affliction and the shadow of death has covered us.

21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have stretched out our hands to a strange god,

22 will not God find out these things? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

23 But for Your sake we are being killed all day long,  we are counted as sheep for slaughter.

24 Wake up!  Why are You sleeping, O Lord? Rise up and do not reject us forever.

25 Why do You turn Your face away? Do You forget our need and our oppression?

26 For our soul is humbled to the dust, our body hugs the earth.

27 Rise up, O Lord, help us and deliver us for Your name s sake.



Psalm 44

(For the end.  For those who are to be changed.  For contemplation for the sons of Korah.  A song for the Beloved)

1 My heart is bubbling over with a good word; I address my works to the King.

2 My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.

3 You are lovely with a beauty beyond the sons of men, grace has been poured out on Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.

4 Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Powerful One, in Your splendor and beauty,

5 and draw Your bow and prosper and reign in the cause of truth and meekness and justice, and Your right hand will guide You wonderfully.

6 Your arrows are sharp, O Powerful One, in the heart of the King s enemies. Peoples will fall under You.

7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Your Kingdom is a rod of justice.

8 You love righteousness [or  justice ] and hate lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.

9 Myrrh, stacte  and cassia flow from Your garments, from the ivory palaces, from those who gladden You.

10 King s daughters are present in Your honor. On Your right hand stands the queen, dressed in a garment interwoven with gold, embroidered with many colors.

11 Listen, daughter, and see, and bend your ear; and forget your people and your father s house. 

12 Then the King will desire your beauty, because He is your Lord and you shall worship Him.

13 And the daughter of Tyre will worship You with gifts; the richest of the people will implore Your favor.

14 All the glory of the King s daughter is within,  though she is dressed in tasseled gold embroidered with many colors.

15 The virgins in her train will be brought to the King, those near her will be brought to You.

16 They will be brought with joy and gladness, they will be led into the King s temple.

17 Instead of Your fathers, sons will be born to You; You will make them rulers over all the earth.

18 I will remember Your name in all generations; therefore peoples will praise You forever and ever.



Psalm 45

(For the end.  For the sons of Korah.  A Psalm about hidden things)

1 God is our refuge and strength,

2 our helper in the troubles that greatly beset us.

3 So we will not fear when the earth is troubled and mountains are tipped into the heart of the sea.

4 Its waters roared and were troubled, the mountains were troubled by His power.

5 The streams of the river gladden the city of God; the Most High has sanctified His temple.

6 God is in the midst of it [i.e., the City of God (v.5)] and it will not be shaken, God will help it at break of dawn.

7 Nations are in turmoil, kingdoms totter, He lifts His voice, the earth rocks.

8 The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our protector.

9 Come and see the works of God, what wonders He has done on the earth.

10 He is abolishing wars all over the earth: He will break the bow and snap the spear and burn up all the shields with fire.

11 Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

12 The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our protector.





KATHISMA 7

Stasis I



Psalm 46

(For the end.  A Psalm for the sons of Korah)

1 All you nations, clap your hands,

2 shout to God with a voice of joy.

3 For the Lord Most High is terrible,  He is the great King over all the earth.

4 He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet.

5 He has chosen us for His inheritance, the beauty of Jacob whom He loved.

6 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a horn.

7 Sing praises, sing praises to our God, sing praises, sing praises to our King.

8 For God is King of all the earth;  sing praises with understanding.

9 God is reigning over the nations, God is sitting on His holy throne.

10 The rulers of the peoples rally with the God of Abraham, for God s strong men of the earth are greatly exalted.



PSALM 47



THE BEAUTY AND GLORY OF ZION, GOD S ETERNAL CITY THE INVINCIBILITY OF THE CHURCH

(Psalm of a Song for the sons of Korah, for the second Sabbath)

1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised

2 in the city of our God, on His holy mountain, beautifully situated, the joy of all the earth.

3 Mount Zion, [Lit.  Mountains Zion ] the Northern slopes, is the city of the Great King.

4 God is known in her palaces when He comes to her help.

5 For look, the kings of the earth were assembled, they passed by her together.

6 Seeing her like this they were struck with wonder, they were troubled, they were shaken.

7 Panic seized them there, like the pangs of a woman in childbirth.

8 With a violent wind You will wreck the ships of Tarshish.

9 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our God: God has founded her forever.

10 We have thought of Your mercy, O God, in the midst of Your people.

11 Your praise, O God, like Your name, reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness.

12 Let Mount Zion be glad and let Judea s daughters rejoice, because of Your judgments, O Lord.

13 Encircle Zion and make the rounds of her, tell it in her towers.

14 Set your hearts on her power and inspect her palaces, that you may tell the next generation:

15 This is our God forever and ever. He will shepherd us throughout the ages.



Psalm 48

(For the end.  A Psalm for the sons of Korah)

1 Hear this, all you nations; listen, [or  give ear ] all inhabitants of the world:

2 Those born of earth and men of worth, rich and poor together.

3 My heart will talk wisdom and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.

4 I will incline [or  bend ] my ear to a parable, I will unfold my problem on a harp.

5 Why should I fear in bad times that lawlessness will dog my heels and surround me?

6 Some trust in their strength and boast of the heap of their riches.

7 A brother cannot redeem.  Will a man redeem?  He cannot give God a ransom for himself

8 or the price of his soul s redemption even if he labored all his life and were to live forever.

9 Will he not see corruption, when he sees the wise dying?

10 The fool and the stupid perish together, and they leave their riches to others.

11 Their graves are their homes forever, their residences from generation to generation, though they called their lands after their own names!

12 But a man who is in honor does not understand: he is compared to thoughtless animals and becomes like them.

13 This way of theirs is a stumbling-block to them, yet after this they express delight with their mouth.

14 Like sheep they are laid in hell, where death will be their shepherd. [or  herd, tend, cherish :  death will take care of them] But the upright will rule over them in the morning; it will be too late to hope for help in hell. [Lit.  and their help will be outworn in hell ] They are banished from their glory.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when He receives me.

16 Do not be afraid when a man grows rich or when the glory of his house increases.

17 For when he dies he will take nothing away and his glory will not go down with him.

18 Though while he lives his life will be blessed (he will praise [or  confess ] You when You do good to him!),

19 yet he will go to join the family of his fathers and he will never see the light.

20 A man who is in honor does not understand: he is compared to thoughtless animals and becomes like them. [vv.12 & 20 are identical]





Stasis II



Psalm 49

(A Psalm by Asaph)

1 The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and He has called the earth from sunrise to sunset.

2 Out of Zion, the magnificence of His beauty, God will visibly come.

3 Our God will come and will not be silent. Fire will blaze before Him and a violent storm will rage around Him.

4 He will summon heaven above and the earth to judge His people.

5 Gather together His saints to Him, who have sealed His covenant with sacrifices.

6 And the heavens will declare His justice, because God is judge.

7  Listen, My people, and I will talk to you, and I will protest to you, O Israel:  I am God, your God.

8 I will not find fault with you for your sacrifices; your whole burnt offerings are before Me continually.

9 It is not young bulls from your farm I welcome, nor male goats from your herds,

10 for all the beasts of the forest are Mine, the herds and cattle on the mountains.

11 I know all the birds of the sky, and the beauty of the countryside is Mine. 

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and all it holds.

13 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of praise and pay your vows to the Most High.

15 Then call upon Me in a day of trouble, and I will deliver you and you will glorify Me. 

16 But to the sinner God says:  Why do you declare My laws and take My covenant in your mouth,

17 when you hate correction and toss My words behind you?

18 If you see a thief, you run with him,  and you take part with adulterers.

19 Your mouth exaggerates malice, and your tongue is tangled with deceit.

20 You sit and talk against your brother and set a trap for your mother s son.

21 These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought the blasphemy that I am like you. I will convict you and set your sins before your face.

22 Now consider these things, you who forget God, lest He snatch you away and there is no one to save you.

23 A sacrifice of praise will glorify Me, and this is the way I will show him My salvation.



Psalm 50

(A Psalm by David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he sinned with Bathsheba)

1 Have mercy on me, O God, in Your great mercy, and in Your abundant compassion blot out my transgression.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness  and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my sinfulness and my sin is before me continually.

4 Against You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, that You may be justified in Your words and win when You are judged. 

5 For I was conceived in iniquities [Lit.  lawlessnesses ] and in sins my mother gave me birth. [As Slavonic]

6 But You love truth; the hidden and secret things of Your wisdom You have made known to me.

7 You will sprinkle me with hyssop  and I shall be clean. You will wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me hear joy and gladness. The bones that have been humbled will rejoice.

9 Turn Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,  and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence [or  face ] or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and strengthen me with Your ruling Spirit. 

13 I will teach Your ways to the lawless, and sinners will return to You.

14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation. My tongue will rejoice in Your righteousness. [As Slavonic]

15 O Lord, You will open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise.

16 For if You desired sacrifice, I would have given it. You take no delight in whole burnt offerings.

17 A sacrifice for God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise.

18 Gladden Zion, O Lord, with Your goodwill, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built.

19 Then You will delight in the sacrifice of righteousness, in offering and whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer young bulls on Your altar.



Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

now and ever and for ages of ages.  Amen.



Stasis III



Psalm 51

(For the end.  A Psalm of understanding by David.  When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul:  David went to Abimelech s house)

1 Why do you boast about evil, strong men?

2 Your tongue plans lawlessness and wrongdoing all day long; like a sharp razor you practice deceit.

3 You love evil more than goodness, wrongdoing more than talking of righteousness.

4 You love all words that drown in destruction,  and a deceitful tongue.

5 For this, God will destroy you forever; He will pluck you out and remove you from your dwelling and root you out of the land of the living.

6 The righteous will see and will fear, and they will laugh at him and say:

7  See, this is a man who did not make God his helper but trusted in the heap of his riches and strengthened himself in his vanity.  [or  emptiness  (Eph. 4:17) or  hollowness  (Rom. 8:20).]

8 But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. I hope in the mercy of God for this life and for eternity.

9 I will praise and thank You forever for what You have done.

10 And I will wait for Your name, for it is good  in the sight of Your saints.



Psalm 52

(For the end.  For Maeleth.  Of understanding.  By David)

1 A fool says in his heart,  There is no God. 

2 They are corrupt and abominable in their lawlessness; there is not one who does good.

3 God looks through from heaven at the sons of men to see if there is one who understands or is seeking God.

4 They have all turned away, all alike have gone astray. There is not one who does good, not even one.

5  Have all who do lawlessness no understanding, who eat up My people like eating bread and do not call on the Lord?

6 They tremble with fear where there is nothing to fear, because God scatters the bones of men-pleasers; they are put to shame because God rejects them.

7 Who will give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When the Lord brings back the captives of His people,  Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad. 



Psalm 53

(For the end.  Among the songs of understanding by David, when the Ziphites came and told Saul that David was hiding with them)

1 O God, save me by Your name and judge me by Your power.

2 O God, hear my prayer; listen [or  give ear ] to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers have risen against me and strong ones have tried to take my life  and have not set God before them.

4 For look, God is helping me, and the Lord is the protector of my soul.

5 He will divert the evils to my enemies. Destroy them by Your truth.

6 I will willingly sacrifice to You, O Lord, I will give thanks to Your name, because it is good.

7 For You have delivered me out of all my trouble, and my eye has kept watch on my enemies.



Psalm 54

(For the end.  Among the songs of understanding by David)

1 Listen, [or  give ear .] O God, to my prayer and do not overlook my need.

2 Attend to me and answer me. I was pained in my meditation and was troubled

3 because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the pressure of the sinner. For they accuse me of lawlessness and fume with anger against me.

4 My heart was troubled within me and fear of death fell upon me.

5 Fear and trembling came upon me and darkness covered me.

6 And I said,  Who will give me wings like a dove? And I will fly and rest. 

7 See, I have traveled far by taking to flight and have camped in the desert.

8 I waited expectantly for God Who saves me from faintheartedness and from storm.

9 Drown them, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I see lawlessness and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it upon its walls, but lawlessness and trouble are in the midst of it,

11 and there is always injustice; and oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

12 For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it.

13 And if someone who hates me had boasted against me, I would have hidden myself from him.

14 But it was you, a man my equal,  my guide and my friend,

15 who made sweet for me our meals together; we walked in the house of God in harmony.

16 Let death come upon them and let them go down alive to hell, for evil is in their homes and within them.

17 As for me, I cried to God and the Lord answered me.

18 Evening, morning and noon I will tell and declare my needs, and He will hear my voice.

19 He will deliver my soul in peace from those who come near me, for they were with me in crowds. [or  in many things they were with me . ]

20 God will answer and humble them, the One Who is before the ages.  For there is no change of heart for them, because they do not fear God.

21 He has stretched out His hand to repay them; they have broken His covenant.

22 They were scattered by the wrath of His face, yet their heart drew near. Their words were smoother than oil, and yet they are spears.

23 Cast your care on the Lord and He will support you;  He will not give the righteous a shaking forever.

24 But You, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will not live out half their days. But I, O Lord, will hope in You.





KATHISMA 8

Stasis I



Psalm 55

(For the end.  For people far removed from holy things.  By David, for a pillar inscription, when the Philistines were supporting him in Gath) 

1 Have mercy on me, O God, for man has trampled me down; all day long he fights and afflicts me.

2 All day long my enemies trample me down, for many are fighting me from on high.

3 By day I will not be afraid, but I will hope in You.

4 In God I will recite my words, on God I have set my hope, I will not fear what flesh will do to me.

5 All day long they hate my words, all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They settle nearby and lurk in hiding; they watch my steps as if they are waiting for my soul.

7 On no account will You save them; You will bring such people down in anger.

8 O God, I have told You my life; You have set my tears before You.

9 But according to Your promise my enemies will turn back

10 on the day when I call upon You. This I know, because You are my God.

11 In God I will praise His word, in the Lord I will praise His word,

12 in God I have put my hope; I will not fear what man will do to me.

13 My vows are binding on me, O God; I will pay You my vow of praise.

14 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from slipping. I will live to please the Lord in the light of the living.



Psalm 56

(For the end.  Do not destroy.  By David, for a pillar inscription, when he escaped from Saul to the cave)

1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for my soul trusts in You,

2 and in the shadow of Your wings I will hope until the lawlessness has passed.

3 I will cry to God the Most High, to God Who is so good to me.

4 He sent from heaven and saved me, He gave those trampling on me up to reproach. God sent His mercy and His truth,

5 and He delivered my soul from the midst of lions. I slept, troubled as I was. As for the sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword.

6 Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and Your glory over all the earth.

7 They prepared a trap for my feet and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face and fell into it themselves.

8 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready, I will sing and chant psalms with my glory. 

9 Awake, my glory, awake, psaltery and harp! I will awake the dawn. 

10 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples, I will sing psalms to You among the nations.

11 For great is Your mercy that reaches to the skies and Your truth that reaches to the clouds.

12 Be exalted above the heavens, O God,  and Your glory over all the earth.



Psalm 57

(For the end.  Do not destroy.  By David, for a pillar inscription)

1 If you truly talk of justice, judge rightly, you sons of men.

2 For in your heart you do wrong in the earth; your hands weave injustice.

3 Sinners are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, telling lies.

4 Their rage is like that of a snake, like that of a deaf cobra that stops its ears,

5 which will not hear the voice of charmers, but is spellbound when charmed by a wise man.

6 God has crushed their teeth in their mouth; the Lord has shattered the teeth of the lions. [or  lions  grinders (molars) .]

7 They will come to nothing like leaking water. He will draw His bow until they weaken. 

8 Like melted wax they will be removed; fire fell on them and they did not see the sun. 

9 Before seeing their thorns grow into a thorn tree, He will consume them alive as if in anger.

10 A righteous man will be glad when he sees the justice. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.

11 And a man will say: If there is truly a reward for the righteous, there is truly a God judging those on the earth.





Stasis II



Psalm 58

(For the end.  Do not destroy.  By David, for a pillar inscription, when Saul sent men to watch his house and kill him)

1 Rescue me from my enemies, O God, and deliver me from those who rise up against me.

2 Deliver me from those who practice lawlessness and save me from men of blood.

3 For look, they hunt my soul; strong ones have attacked me.

4 It is not my sin, O Lord, or my lawlessness.

5 I have run without lawlessness and have kept straight; arise to meet me and see.

6 But You, O Lord God of hosts, O God of Israel, take care to visit all the nations, show all the evildoers no mercy.

7 They will return at nightfall, and they will be as hungry as dogs and they will go around the city.

8 See, they yap with their mouth, but a sword is in their lips.  For who hears?

9 But You, O Lord, will laugh at them, You will bring to nothing all the nations.

10 my strength, I will keep watch for You, because You, O God, are my protector.

11 My God, His mercy goes before me; my God will show me His mercy among my enemies.

12 Do not kill them lest people forget Your law; scatter them by Your power and humble them, O Lord, my Protector.

13 Every word of their lips is a sin of their mouth, so let them be caught in their pride. And from their cursing and lying they will be known in the end.

14 In the wrath of utter destruction they will be no more, and they will know that God is the Lord of Jacob and of the ends of the earth.

15 They will return at nightfall and they will be as hungry as dogs and they will go around the city.

16 They will scatter in search of food, and they will growl if they are not satisfied.

17 But I will sing of Your power and I will rejoice in Your mercy in the morning.

18 For You have been my protector and my refuge in the day of my distress.

19 You are my helper, to You I will sing; for You, O God, are my protector, my God, my mercy.



Psalm 59

(For the end.  For those who are still to be changed.  For a pillar inscription, by David.  For teaching.  When he burned Mesopotamia of Syria and Syrian Zobah and Joab returned and killed 12,000 men in the Valley of Salt)

1 O God, You rejected us and put us down; You were angry, but You had compassion on us.

2 You shook the earth and troubled it; heal its wounds, for it was shaken.

3 You have shown Your people hard things, You have made us drink the wine of repentance. [Lit.  compunction ]

4 You have given a sign to those who fear You, that they may escape from the face of the bow.

5 That Your beloved people may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer me.

6 God has spoken in His sanctuary:  I will rejoice and will divide Shekem, and I will measure out the Valley of Tents.

7 Gilead is Mine and Manasseh is Mine, Ephraim is the strength of my head. Judah is My king.

8 Moab I hope to make My washbowl; over Edom [Lit.  Idumea ] I will extend My sway, the Philistines will submit to Me. 

9 Who will lead me into a fortified city? Or who will guide me to Edom?

10 Will not You, O God, Who have rejected us? And will You, O God, not go out with our armies?

11 Give us help out of our trouble, for vain is the salvation of man.

12 In God we shall perform a miracle, and He will bring to nothing those who trouble us.



Psalm 60

(For the end.  With songs.  By David)

1 Answer my petition, O God, attend to my prayer.

2 From the ends of the earth I called to You, when my heart was despondent.

3 You have lifted me high on the rock, You have guided me.

4 For You have become my hope, a tower of strength from the face of the enemy.

5 I will live in Your temple throughout the ages, I shall be protected in the shelter of Your wings.

6 For You, O God, have answered my prayers; You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.

7 You will add days to the days of the king, his years will continue for many generations.

8 He will live forever in the presence of God. Who will fathom God s mercy and truth?

9 So I will sing to Your name forever and ever, that I may pay my vows from day to day.





Stasis III



Psalm 61

(For the end.  For Jeduthun.  A Psalm by David)

1 Shall not my soul submit to God?  For from Him comes my salvation.

2 For He is my God and my Savior, my Protector; I shall not be further shaken. 

3 How long will you attack a man to kill him and knock him down, like a leaning wall or a toppling fence?

4 They only plan to thrust me from my honor; they ran in thirst.

5 They bless with their mouth, but they curse with their heart.

6 But submit to God, my soul, because from Him comes my patience.

7 For He is my God and my Savior, my Protector; I will not depart from Him.

8 My salvation and my glory depend on God; He is the God of my help and my hope is in Him.

9 Hope in Him, every assembly of people; pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our helper.

10 But the sons of men are vain; [or  empty ] the sons of men are liars who cheat with their scales. They do wrong together out of vanity. [or  emptiness ]

11 Put no hope in dishonesty, have no longing for robberies. If riches flow in, do not set your heart on them.

12 God spoke once, these two things I heard: that power belongs to God;

13 and to You, O Lord, belongs mercy. For You will repay each one according to his works.



Psalm 62

(A Psalm by David when he was in the desert of Idumea)

1 O God, my God, at dawn I rise to You! My soul thirsts for You.

2 And how often my flesh longs for You, in a desolate land, trackless and waterless!

3 So I appeared before You in the holy place, to see Your power and Your glory.

4 For Your love is better than life; my lips shall praise You.

5 So I will bless You as long as I live and lift up my hands in Your name.

6 Let my soul be filled with delight, [Lit.  as with marrow and fatness ] and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

7 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the morning watches.

8 For You have become my helper, and in the shelter of Your wings I rejoice.

9 My soul is glued  behind You and Your right hand holds me tightly.

10 But those trying in vain to take my life will go into earth s infernal regions.

11 They will be delivered to the hands of the sword, they will be the portion of jackals.

12 But the king will rejoice in God, all who swear by Him will be praised, for the mouth of those who tell lies will be stopped.



Psalm 63

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 O God, hear my voice when I pray to You, deliver my soul from fear of the enemy.

2 Protect me from the swarm of evildoers, from the multitude who practice wrongdoing,

3 who sharpen their tongues like a sword,

4 who bend their bow to shoot a bitter word at a blameless person in secret.

5 They will suddenly shoot him and will not be afraid.

6 They strengthen themselves in an evil purpose; they talk of hiding traps. They say,  Who will see them? 

7 They searched for lawlessness, they failed in their search. A man will come whose heart is deep and God will be exalted.

8 Their blows became like a child s arrow, and their tongues were weakened against them.

9 All who saw them were troubled and everyone was afraid.

10 Then they declared the works of God and understood His actions.

11 The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and will hope in Him, and all who are upright in heart will be praised.





KATHISMA 9

Stasis I



Psalm 64

(For the end.  A Psalm by David.  A song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel from the people of the exile, when they were about to depart)

1 A song of praise is due to You, O God, in Zion, and prayer will be offered to You in Jerusalem.

2 Listen to my prayer:  to You all mankind [Lit.  flesh ] will come.

3 The words of sinners overwhelm us, but You will pardon our disloyalties.

4 Blessed are those You have chosen and taken to be with You. They will live in Your courts.

5 We shall be filled with the good things of Your house; Your temple is holy, wonderful in righteousness.

6 Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those who are far away at sea,

7 who prepare the mountains by Your strength, who are surrounded with power.

8 You stir the bowl of the sea, and You still the roar of its waves.

9 The nations will be troubled and those who inhabit the ends of the earth will be afraid at Your signs. You make sunrise and sunset a joy and delight.

10 You visit the earth and water it, You multiply the ways of enriching it. The river of God is filled with water. You prepare Your people s food, for this is Your provision.

11 Drench the earth s furrows, increase its crops, they will spring up and rejoice in its showers.

12 You will bless the crown of the year with Your goodness, and Your plains will be filled with fat stock.

13 The desert ranges will yield luxuriantly and the hills will wear girdles of joy.

14 The rams of the flocks will wear thick coats, and the valleys will stand deep in grain. They will shout and sing.



Psalm 65

(For the end.  A song of a Psalm of Resurrection)

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Sing to His name, give glory to His praise.

3 Say to God,  How magnificent are Your works!  At the greatness of Your power Your enemies will lie to You.

4 Let all the earth worship You and sing to You, let them sing to Your name, O Most High.

5 Come and see the works of God, tremendous in His plans for the sons of men!

6 He turns the sea into dry land; in a river they will go through on foot. There we shall rejoice in Him

7 Who rules by His power forever. His eyes watch over the nations. May the rebellious not be exalted in themselves.

8 Bless our God, you nations. and let the sound of His praise be heard,

9 Who set my soul in life and does not let my feet be shaken.

10 For You, O God, have tested us, You have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the trap, You laid afflictions on our back.

12 You set men over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to refreshment. [or  revival ]

13 I will come into Your house with whole burnt offerings, I will pay You my vows,

14 which my lips pronounced and my mouth promised in my distress.

15 I will offer You whole burnt offerings full of marrow with incense and rams, I will offer You bulls and goats.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for my soul.

17 I called out to Him with my mouth and I praised Him with my tongue. [Lit.  under my tongue ]

18 If in my heart I was contemplating sin, let the Lord not answer me.

19 This is why God answered me: He attended to the cry of my prayer.

20 Blessed is God Who has not refused my prayer or withdrawn His mercy from me.



Psalm 66

(For the end, among the Hymns.  The Psalm of a song by David)

1 May God have compassion on us and bless us, may He manifest His presence to us and have mercy on us:

2 that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.

3 Let the people [Lit.  peoples  (vv.3-5)] give thanks to You, O God, let all the people confess and praise You.

4 Let the nations be glad and rejoice, because You will judge the people with justice and You will guide the nations on the earth.

5 Let the people give thanks to You, O God, let all the people confess and praise You.

6 The earth has given her fruit; may God, our God, bless us.

7 May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear Him.





Stasis II

Psalm 67

(For the end.  A Psalm of a Song by David)

1 Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered  and let those who hate Him flee from His presence. [or  face ]

2 As smoke vanishes, let them vanish. As wax melts from the presence of fire, so let sinners perish from the presence of God.

3 But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God, let them delight in gladness.

4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; make a way for Him Who rides upon the sunsets,

5 the Lord is His name, and rejoice before Him.

6 Sinners will be troubled by the presence of Him Who is the Father of orphans and the Judge of widows. God is in His holy place.

7 God settles the lonely in a house, bringing out prisoners with courage, likewise the rebellious who live in tombs.

8 O God, at Your going before Your people, [Lit.  going out before... ] at Your crossing through the wilderness,

9 the earth was shaken and the skies dripped at the presence of the God of Sinai, at the presence of the God of Israel.

10 You will grant a gracious rain, O God, to Your inheritance, which became weak, but You restored it.

11 Your living creatures live in Your goodness; You have prepared in it, O God, for the poor man. 

12 The Lord will give the word, with great power, to those who preach the Gospel.

13 The King of the forces of the Beloved will divide the spoils with the beauty of the house.

14 Even if you fall asleep in the midst of your assignments, you have the wings of a dove covered with silver and her back with the luster of gold.

15 When the heavenly King commissions kings over it, they will be as white as the snow of Salmon.

16 The mountain of God is a rich mountain, a mountain of curds, a rich mountain.

17 Why do you imagine mountains of curds, the mountain in which God is pleased to live? For the Lord will live in it forever.

18 The chariot of God is composed of myriads, thousands of victorious people. The Lord is in them as He was in the holy place of Mount Sinai.

19 You ascended on high, having taken captivity captive; You received gifts among men, so as to live even in unbelievers.

20 Blessed is the Lord God, blessed is the Lord day by day; the God of our salvation will prosper us.

21 Our God is the God Who saves, and the ways out of death are the Lord s.

22 But God will crush the heads of His enemies, the hairy skull of those who go on in their sins.

23 The Lord said,  I will return from Bashan, I will return in the depths of the sea,

24 that your foot may be dipped in blood, and the tongue of your dogs may lap the blood from your enemies. 

25 Your processions, O God, have been seen, the processions of my God the King in the sanctuary.

26 The rulers went in front, followed by the singers; between them were girls playing tambourines.

27 Bless God in the assemblies, praise the Lord from the fountains of Israel.

28 There is little Benjamin in ecstasy; the princes of Judah are their leaders, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Naphtali.

29 Command, O God, Your power, strengthen what You have done in us.

30 Because of Your temple in Jerusalem, kings will bring gifts to You.

31 Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed, the mob of bulls among the heifers of the peoples, that those tested with silver may be rounded up. Scatter the nations that desire wars.

32 Ambassadors will come from Egypt, Ethiopia will be first to stretch out her hand to God.

33 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord.

34 Sing to God Who rides upon the highest heavens [Lit.  the heavens of heavens ] toward the sunrise. Behold, He will give to His voice a sound of power.

35 Give glory to God! His majesty is over Israel and His power is in the clouds.

36 God is wonderful in His saints, the God of Israel! He will give strength and power to His people. Blessed is God.





Stasis III



Psalm 68

(For the end.  For those who are to be changed.  By David)

1 Save me, O God, for the waters have entered even my soul.

2 I am stuck in deep mud and there is no standing ground;

3 I have come into the depths of the sea and a storm is overwhelming me.

4 I am tired of shouting, my throat has grown hoarse, my eyes fail with hoping for my God.

5 Those who hate me for no reason are more numerous than the hairs of my head. My enemies who were unjustly persecuting me grew strong. I then repaid what I never robbed.

6 O God, You know my foolishness and my faults are not hidden from You.

7 May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts. May those who seek You not be confused through me, O God of Israel.

8 For Your sake I have borne reproach, confusion has covered my face.

9 I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother s children,

10 because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

11 Then I covered my soul with fasting, but it became an occasion for insulting me.

12 And I put on sackcloth for my clothing, and I became a byword to them.

13 Those sitting in the gates gossiped against me, while those drinking wine sang songs about me.

14 But I look to You with my prayer, O Lord;  it is a time of goodwill. O God, in the abundance of Your mercy answer me with the truth of Your salvation.

15 Save me from the mud, lest I stick there; deliver me from those who hate me and from the deep waters.

16 May a storm of water never drown me, nor the deep sea swallow me, nor the pit close its mouth over me.

17 Answer me, O Lord, for Your mercy is good; in Your great compassion look upon me.

18 Do not turn away Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; answer me speedily.

19 Attend to my soul and deliver me; rescue me, because of my enemies.

20 For You know my reproach, my shame and my confusion; all who trouble me are before You.

21 My soul expected rebuke and misery, and I waited for someone to share my grief and for comforters, but I found none.

22 And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

23 Let their table become a trap to them: a repayment and a stumbling-block.

24 Let their eyes be darkened so they do not see, and bend down their back continually.

25 Pour out Your anger upon them, and let the fury of Your anger convict them.

26 Let their homestead become deserted, and let there be no one to live in their tents.

27 For they persecuted the one You struck, and they added to the pain of My wounds.

28 Add lawlessness to their lawlessness, and let them not come into Your righteousness.

29 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous.

30 I am poor and in pain; may Your salvation, O God, help me.

31 I will praise the name of my God with a song, I will magnify Him with praise.

32 And this will please God more than a young bull that has horns and hoofs.

33 Let the poor see and be glad; seek God and your soul will live.

34 For the Lord hears the needy, and He does not despise His prisoners.

35 Let the heavens and the earth praise Him, the sea and all that moves in it.

36 For God will save Zion and the cities of Judea will be built, and people will live there and inherit it.

37 And the descendants of Your servants will possess it, and those who love Your name will live there.



Psalm 69

(For the end.  For a commemoration by David.  That the Lord may save me)

1 O God, attend to my help; O Lord, make haste to help me.

2 Let those who seek my life be put to shame and confounded. Let those who wish evils for me be turned back and put to shame.

3 Let those who say to me,  Fine, fine!  be turned back immediately ashamed.

4 Let all who seek You, O God, rejoice and be glad in You,

5 and let those who love Your salvation say continually,  The Lord be magnified! 

6 But I am poor and needy; O God, help me.

7 You are my helper and my deliverer; O Lord, make no delay.





KATHISMA 10

Stasis I



Psalm 70

(By David.  A Psalm of Jonadab and the first captives)

1 On You, O Lord, I have set my hope; let me never be put to shame.

2 Rescue me and deliver me in Your righteousness; listen to me [Lit.  bend Your ear to me ] and save me.

3 Be my God and Protector and a strong place to save me, for You are my stronghold and my refuge.

4 My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, from the clutch of the outlaw and wrongdoer.

5 For You are my patience, O Lord. O Lord, You are my hope from my youth,

6 I have been leaning on You from my birth; You are my protector from my mother s womb. My singing is continually of You.



Psalm 71

(For Solomon) 

1 O God, give the King Your judgment, and Your justice to the King s Son,

2 to judge Your people with justice and Your poor with judgment.

3 May the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills justice and righteousness.

4 He will do justice for the poor of the people and will save the children of the poor and needy, and will humble an oppressor.

5 And He will continue as long as the sun and before the moon from generation to generation.

6 He will come down like rain on a fleece and like a drop that falls on the earth. 

7 In His days righteousness will flourish and a fullness of peace until the moon is no more.

8 And He will rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers [i.e., Tigris and Euphrates.] to the ends of the earth.

9 The Ethiopians will fall down before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust.

10 The kings of Tarshish  and the islands will bring offerings; the kings of the Arabs and Sabeans will bring gifts.

11 All the kings of the earth will worship Him; all the nations will serve Him.

12 He will deliver the poor from an oppressor, and the needy who have no one to help them.

13 He will spare the poor and needy, and the needy souls He will save.

14 He will redeem their lives from oppression and wrong, and His name will be precious in their sight.

15 He lives,  and to Him will be given the gold of Arabia, and in His name men will pray continually;  all day long they will bless Him.

16 He will be a support in the earth on top of the mountains; His fruit will rise above Lebanon, and they will spring from the city like grass from the earth.

17 His name will be blessed throughout the ages! His name will continue as long as the sun, and in Him all the tribes of the earth will be blessed; all the nations will call Him blessed.

18 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel Who alone does wonders.

19 And blessed is His glorious name forever and for ages of ages, and may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Amen.  Amen. [Lit.  So be it. So be it. ]



(The songs of David the son of Jesse are ended).





Stasis II



Psalm 72

(A Psalm by Asaph)

1 How good God is to Israel, to those who are right-hearted!

2 Yet my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.

3 For I was jealous of the lawless, when I saw the peace [Heb. shalom = well-being, success, prosperity, security, happiness] of sinners.

4 For there is no objection [i.e., they do not object to dying in sin and they offer no resistance to the devil. (Variant reading:  revival)] in their death, and in their scourging there is firmness.

5 They are not in trouble like other people, nor are they scourged as other men.

6 Therefore pride holds full sway over them; they are wrapped up in their wrong and wickedness.

7 Their wrongdoing oozes from them like grease; it passes into a state of heart.

8 They think and speak wickedly with malice, they speak blasphemy against the Most High.

9 They poke their mouths at heaven, but their tongues drag in the dirt.

10 So My people will return here, and full days will be found among them.

11 And they say,  How can God know?  and,  Is there knowledge in the Most High? 

12 These are the sinners, yet they are prosperous; they are forever amassing wealth.

13 And I said,  How useless to keep my heart right and wash my hands among the innocent,

14 only to be scourged all day long and rebuked every morning! 

15 Had I said,  I will speak like that , I should have betrayed the family of Your children.

16 So I tried to understand it, but it proved too hard for me,

17 until I entered God s sanctuary. Then I understood their ends.

18 It is because of their crooked ways that You inflict evils upon them. You hurl them down by their exaltation.

19 How suddenly they come to ruin!  They vanish, perish in their sin.

20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, You will reject their phantoms in Your city.

21 So when my heart was burning and my thoughts kept changing,

22 I was contemptible without knowing it; I was like a beast before You.

23 Yet I am continually with You; You hold my right hand.

24 You guide me in Your will, and receive me with glory.

25 For what is there in heaven for me, and what do I want on earth but You?

26 My heart and my flesh fail; You, O God, are the God of my heart and my portion forever. 

27 Those who divorce themselves from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. [or  who play the wanton from You ]

28 But my happiness is to cling to God,  to put my trust in the Lord, that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. 



Psalm 73

(Of Contemplation.  By Asaph)

1 Why, O God, do You utterly abandon us? Does Your anger rage against the sheep of Your pasture?

2 Remember Your flock [Gk. synagogue = congregation, community] which You purchased in the beginning, the scepter of Your inheritance You redeemed, this Mount Zion where You live.

3 Lift up Your hands against all the enemy has done in Your holy place, against their perpetual pride.

4 Those who hate You have boasted in the midst of Your festival; they set up their own standards.

5 The signs pointing to the escape above they do not know.

6 As if felling a forest of trees with axes, they cut out the doors of the temple; with hatchet and hammer they hack it all down.

7 They set fire to Your sanctuary; they profane to the ground the dwelling-place of Your name.

8 The whole brood of them said in their heart, together,  Come, let us abolish all God s festivals from the land.

9 We do not see our signs, [i.e., signs and miracles of God s presence, protection and deliverance] there is no longer a prophet, and God no longer acknowledges us. 

10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt us? Will the adversary defy Your name forever?

11 Why do You withhold Your hand, and forever hide Your right hand in Your bosom?

12 Yet God is our eternal King; He has accomplished salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 You hold the sea by Your power, You crushed the heads of the dragon in the water.

14 You have shattered the dragon s head; You gave him as food to the people of Ethiopia.

15 You opened springs and torrents; You dried up swollen rivers. [Lit.  rivers (of) Etham . ]

16 The day is Your s and the night is Your s. You prepared the sun and the moon.

17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; [Variant:  You have made all the beautiful things of the earth] summer and spring are Your creation.

18 Remember this:  the enemy blasphemes the Lord, and foolish people defy Your name.

19 Do not give to beasts a soul that praises You; forget not forever the souls of Your poor.

20 Have regard to Your covenant, for earth s dark places are filled with houses of iniquity.

21 Let not the ashamed and downtrodden be turned away; the poor and needy will praise Your name.

22 Arise, O God, defend Your cause; remember how the fool blasphemes You all day long.

23 Forget not the cry of Your suppliants; the pride of those who hate You mounts continually.





Stasis III



Psalm 74

(Do not destroy.  A Psalm for a song by Asaph)

1 We praise and thank You, O God, we praise and thank You and we call upon Your name.

2 I will tell of all Your wonders. When I take time, I will judge what is right. [Lit.  right things .]

3 The earth and all its inhabitants melt; it is I who support its pillars. (Pause)

4 I told the lawbreaker:   Do not break the law.  And I told the sinners:   Do not boast of your power.

5 Do not boast of your power or speak unjustly against God. 

6 It is not from East or West that power comes, nor from the mountains of the desert.

7 For God is judge; He humbles one and lifts up another.

8 For in the Lord s hand there is a cup of strong wine fully mixed, and He pours it out of one into another, yet the dregs of it are never emptied; all the sinners of the earth drink of them.

9 But I will rejoice forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob;

10 and all the power of sinners I will crush, but the power of the righteous will be exalted.



Psalm 75

(With hymns.  A Psalm by Asaph.  An ode to the Assyrian)

1 God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel.

2 His place  became in peace, and His dwelling in Zion.

3 There He broke the power of the bow, the shield, the sword, and war.  (Pause)

4 You enlighten wonderfully from the eternal mountains. 

5 All the foolish in heart are troubled; they sleep their sleep, and none of the men of wealth find anything in their hands.

6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, the riders of horses sink to sleep.

7 You are terrible, and who can resist You when Your anger is roused?

8 You make judgment heard from heaven; earth is scared and silent,

9 when God rises for judgment to save all the meek of the earth. (Pause)

10 For the thought of man will confess to You; and the remains of his thought will keep festival to You. 

11 To the Lord our God make your vows and pay them; let all around Him bring gifts

12 to Him Who is terrible and claims the spirits of rulers, and is terrible to the tyrants [or  kings ] of the earth.



Psalm 76

(For Jeduthun.  A Psalm by Asaph)

1 I cry to the Lord with all my voice, I cry to God with my voice and He attends to me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought God with my hands uplifted to Him in the night, and I was not deceived; my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God and was glad; I mused and my spirit desponded.  (Pause)

4 My eyes forestalled the watches; I was troubled and did not speak.

5 I considered the days of old and remembered the years of past ages.

6 I meditated at night and communed with my heart, and stirred up my spirit.

7 Will the Lord reject us forever and never again be favorable?

8 Or will He cut off His mercy forever? Has His promise ended for all generations?

9 Will God forget to have compassion? Will He withhold His pity in His wrath?  (Pause)

10 And I said:   Now I begin to understand; this change is due to the right hand of the Most High. 

11 I will remember the works of the Lord, I will recall Your wonders from the beginning.

12 And I will meditate on all Your works and reflect on Your mighty acts.

13 O God, Your way is in the Holy One. Who is a great god like our God?

14 You are the God Who does wonders; You have made known Your power among the peoples.

15 With Your arm You have redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.  (Pause)

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

17 Great was the roar of the waters; the clouds gave a clap, for Your bolts pass through them.

18 The clap of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the earth shook and trembled.

19 Your ways are in the sea, and Your paths in many waters; and Your footsteps are not known.

20 You guided Your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron.





 

KATHISMA 11

Stasis I



Psalm 77

(Of Contemplation.  By Asaph)

1 Attend, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will tell of problems from the beginning.

3 What we have heard and known and our fathers have told us

4 was not hidden from their children: one generation told another the praises of the Lord and His mighty acts and the wonders He has done.

5 And He raised up a testimony in Jacob and He appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to make known to their children,

6 that another generation might know it, that the children who were going to be born might also rise up and tell their children:

7 that they should put their trust in God and not forget the works of God but search out His commandments;

8 that they should not become like their fathers, a crooked and rebellious nation, a nation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not true to God.

9 The armed men of Ephraim shooting with bows were routed on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God s covenant and refused to walk in His law.

11 And they forgot His benefits and the miracles which He had shown them,

12 the wonders He had done in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, on the plain of Tanis.

13 He divided the sea and led them through, He made the waters stand aside as if in a bottle.

14 And He guided them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire throughout the night.

15 He split a rock in a desert and gave them drink as in a great bottomless pit.

16 And He brought out water from a rock and made the water flow like rivers.

17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him, they provoked the Most High in a waterless place.

18 And they tempted God in their hearts by demanding foods for their cravings.

19 And they spoke against God and said:  Cannot God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Since He struck a rock and water gushed out and torrents overflowed, can He not also give us bread and provide a table for His people? 

21 All this the Lord heard and was sick, [Lit.  threw up . Also means put off, postponed, deferred] and a fire was kindled in Jacob and wrath mounted against Israel,

22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation.

23 Yet He commanded the clouds from above and He opened the doors of heaven,

24 and He rained manna for them to eat and He gave them the bread of heaven.

25 Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

26 He removed from the sky a South wind, and by His power He brought in a Southwest wind.

27 And He rained flesh on them like dust and winged birds like the sand of the seas.

28 And the birds fell in the midst of their camp, round about their tents.

29 So they ate and were thoroughly filled, and He brought them their desire.

30 They were not freed from their desire, but while the food was still in their mouth, 

31 the wrath of God mounted against them and He killed the greater number of them and fettered the chosen people of Israel.

32 In all these things, they sinned still more, and they did not believe in His wonders.

33 And their days slipped by in vanity and their years with anxiety.

34 When He killed them, then they would seek Him and would return and rise early to pray to God.

35 And they remembered that God was their helper and that the Most High was their redeemer.

36 Then they loved Him with their mouth, but with their tongue they lied to Him.

37 Their heart was not right with Him and they were not faithful to His covenant.

38 But He is compassionate and will forgive their sins, and He will not destroy them. And many a time He averted His wrath and did not kindle all His anger.

39 And He remembered that they were flesh, a spirit that passes and does not return.

40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and made Him angry in a waterless land!

41 And they turned back and tempted God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 And they did not remember His hand, the day He delivered them from the hand of the oppressor,

43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders on the plain of Tanis,

44 and turned into blood their rivers and rain-water, so that they could not drink.

45 He sent against them the dog-fly and it devoured them, and the frog and it ruined them.

46 And He gave their crops to the rust and the fruit of their labors to the locust.

47 He killed their vines with hail and their mulberry trees with frost.

48 And He gave up their cattle to the hail and their property to the fire.

49 He sent against them the fury of His anger, fury and anger and trouble, a mission of evil angels.

50 He made a pathway for His anger, and He did not spare their lives from death, and He consigned to death their cattle.

51 And He struck every firstborn in Egypt, all their labor s first-fruits in the homes of Ham.

52 Then He removed His people like sheep and led them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And He guided them by hope, so they were not afraid, while the sea closed over their enemies.

54 And He brought them in to the mountain of His holiness, to this mountain which His right hand acquired.

55 And He drove out nations from before them and gave each his share of land by lot and settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God and they did not keep His testimonies.

57 And they turned away and were faithless like their fathers, they twisted like a crooked bow.

58 And they angered Him with their high places, and defied Him with their carved images.

59 God heard and looked down on them and greatly despised Israel.

60 And He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,  the tent where He lived among men.

61 And He delivered their strength into captivity and their beauty into the hand of their enemies.

62 And He abandoned His people to the sword  and looked down on His inheritance.

63 Fire consumed their young men and their virgins were not lamented.

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and no one will weep for their widows.

65 Then the Lord awoke like someone sleeping, like a warrior recovered from wine.

66 And He struck His enemies in the rear,  He put them to eternal shame.

67 And He rejected the house of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

68 But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.

69 And He built His sanctuary like a rhinoceros, He established it on the earth forever.

70 And He chose David as His servant and took him from his flocks of sheep.

71 From behind lambing ewes He took him, to shepherd His servant Jacob and Israel His inheritance.

72 And he shepherded them in the innocence of his heart, and he guided them with the skills of his hands.



Stasis II



Psalm 78

(A Psalm by Asaph)

1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance, they have defiled Your holy temple, they have made Jerusalem like a fruit-watcher s hut.

2 They have given Your servants  dead bodies as food for the birds of the sky, they have fed the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, a scoffing and joke to those around us.

5 O Lord, how long will You be angry? Will Your jealousy burn forever like fire?

6 Pour Your anger on nations that do not know You and on kingdoms that do not call on Your name,

7 for they have devoured Jacob and have made his place desolate.

8 Do not remember our old sins; let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, because great is our need, O Lord.

9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of Your name; O Lord, deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name s sake,

10 lest the nations say,  Where is their God?  And let the avenging of Your servants  blood that has been shed be known among the nations before our eyes.

11 Let the groaning of the prisoners come before You; by the greatness of Your arm protect the children of those put to death.

12 Repay our neighbors sevenfold in their life, [Lit.  into their bosom ] the disgrace they inflicted on You, O Lord.

13 But we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture will give thanks to You forever, we will tell out Your praise from generation to generation.



Psalm 79

(For the End:  For those who will be changed.  A testimony by Asaph.  A Psalm for the Assyrian)

1 Attend, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like sheep: You who sit enthroned on the Cherubim, appear!

2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power and come to save us.

3 O God, restore us and show us Your face and we shall be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will You be angry at the prayer of Your servants?

5 Will You feed us with the bread of tears  and only give us our measure of tears to drink?

6 You have made us a contradiction to our neighbors, and our enemies sneer at us.

7 O Lord God of hosts, restore us and show us Your face and we will be saved.

8 You lifted a vine out of Egypt,  You drove out nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the way before it and You planted its roots and it filled the earth.

10 Its shadow covered the mountains and its branches the lordly cedars.

11 It stretched out its boughs to the sea and its off-shoots to the rivers.

12 Why have You pulled down its fence, so that all who pass by that way  rob it?

13 A wild boar from a forest has ravaged it and a savage wild beast has devoured it.

14 O God of hosts, return and look from heaven and see and visit this vine and restore it, 

15 the vine which Your right hand planted. And look upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.

16 It has been burned with fire and rooted up; at the rebuke of Your face they will perish. 

17 Let Your hand be on the man of Your right hand and on the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.

18 And let us never stray far from You again;  revive us and we will call on Your name.

19 Lord God of hosts, restore us and show us Your face and we shall be saved. 



Psalm 80

(For the End:  For the Wine-Presses.  A Psalm by Asaph)

1 Rejoice and sing to God our helper, shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

2 Take a psalm and bring a drum, the delightful harp with the psaltery.

3 Blow the horn at the new moon, on the great day of your festival.

4 For it is a command to Israel  and a decision by the God of Jacob.

5 He made it a law in Joseph when he went out from the land of Egypt; he heard a tongue which he did not know.

6 He removed his back from the burdens where his hands had slaved at the baskets.

7 In distress you called upon Me and I delivered you; I answered you in the hidden place of a storm, I tested you at the water of conflict.

8 Listen, my people, and I will warn you; O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

9 There shall be no new god in you, nor shall you worship an alien god.

10 For I am the Lord your God, who led you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 

11 But My people did not hear My voice  and Israel paid no attention to Me.

12 So I allowed them to follow the desires of their hearts,  let them go their own ways.

13 If only My people had listened to Me, if Israel had walked in My ways,

14 I would have humbled their enemies in no time and I would have laid My hand on those who troubled them.

15 The enemies of the Lord lied to Him, but their doom will be forever. [or  eternal ]

16 Yet He fed them with the best of wheat, and He filled them with honey from the rock.



Stasis III



Psalm 81

(A Psalm by Asaph)

1 God stands in the assembly of gods and in their midst He judges gods.

2 How long will you judge unjustly and accept the person of sinners? 

3 Judge the orphan and the poor man, give justice to the humble and needy.

4 Rescue the poor and needy people, deliver them from the hand of the sinner.

5 They do not know or understand, they walk about in darkness. Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken.

6 I said,  You are gods and all sons of the Most High.

7 But you will die like men and fall like one of the rulers. 

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth! For You will have an inheritance in all the nations.



Psalm 82

(The Song of a Psalm by Asaph)

1 O God, who can be compared to You? Do not be silent and do not be still, O God.

2 For look, Your enemies make a noise, and those who hate You lift their head.

3 They make wicked plots against Your people and they consult together against Your saints.

4 They say,  Come and let us wipe them out from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be no more remembered. 

5 For they consult together with one mind; they make an alliance against You.

6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarites,

7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, and foreigners with the inhabitants of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has also joined with them; they have come to help the sons of Lot.

9 Do to them as You did to Midian, and to Sisera and Jabin at the torrent of Kishon.

10 They were destroyed at Endor, they became like dung for the earth.

11 Make their rulers like Oreb and Zeb, and all their princes like Zeba and Zalmunna

12 who said:   Let us take possession for ourselves of the sanctuary of God. 

13 My God, make them like a whirl of dust, like stubble in the face of the wind,

14 like a fire which will burn through a forest, like a flame which sets mountains ablaze.

15 So You will pursue them with Your hurricane and confound them with Your anger.

16 Fill their faces with shame, Lord, and they will seek Your name.

17 Let them be ashamed and confounded forever and let them be put to confusion and perish.

18 And let them know that Your name is Lord, You alone are supreme over all the earth.



Psalm 83

(For the End.  For the Wine-Presses.  A Psalm for the sons of Korah)

1 How beloved are Your temples, O Lord of hosts!

2 My soul longs and pines for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

3 For even a sparrow finds herself a house and the turtle-dove a nest for herself where she may lay her young-- Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who live in Your house! They will praise You forever and ever.

5 Blessed is the man whose help is from You! He has arranged in his heart steps of ascent

6 in the valley of weeping, in the place he has made. For the Lawgiver also will give blessings. 

7 They will go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; listen, [Or  give ear ] O God of Jacob.

9 See, O God, our Protector, and look upon the face of Your Christ.

10 For one day in Your courts is better than thousands. I would choose to be cast aside in the house of my God rather than live in the tents of sinners.

11 For the Lord loves mercy and truth; God will give grace and glory: the Lord will not withhold good things from those who walk in innocence.

12 O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in You.



Psalm 84

(For the End:  A Psalm for the sons of Korah)

1 You have been gracious to Your land, O Lord, You have brought back the captives of Jacob. [Lit.  reversed the captivity of Jacob ]

2 You have forgiven the lawlessness of Your people, You have covered all their sins.

3 You have put a stop to all Your anger, You have turned away from the heat of Your anger.

4 O God of our salvation, convert us, and turn away Your fury from us.

5 Will You be angry with us forever, or prolong Your anger from generation to generation?

6 O God, You will convert and revive us, and Your people will rejoice in You.

7 O Lord, show us Your mercy and grant us Your salvation.

8 I will hear what the Lord God will say in me, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints and to those who turn their heart to Him.

9 But His salvation is near those who fear Him, that His glory may settle in our land.

10 Mercy and truth have met together, justice and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth has sprung up from the earth and justice has looked through from heaven.

12 For the Lord will give goodness, and our land will give her fruit.

13 Righteousness will go before Him and will set His footsteps on the way.





KATHISMA 12

Stasis I



Psalm 85

(A Prayer by David)

1 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2 Guard my soul, for I am holy; my God, save Your servant who hopes in You.

3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for all day long I will call to You.

4 Gladden the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 For You, Lord, are good and gentle, and most merciful to all who call upon You.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the cry of my need.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call to You, because You will answer me.

8 There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, and there are no works like Yours.

9 All the nations You have made will come and worship You, O Lord, and will glorify Your name.

10 For You are great and do wonderful things, You, alone, are God.

11 Guide me in Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth. Let my heart rejoice to fear Your name.

12 I will thank You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever.

13 For great is Your mercy to me, and you have delivered my soul from the lowest hell. [or  hades ]

14 O God, lawbreakers have risen against me, and a mob of strong ones have tried to take my life  and have not set You before them.

15 But You, O Lord my God, are compassionate and merciful, most patient, most merciful and true.

16 Look upon me and have mercy on me; give Your strength to Your servant and save the son of Your handmaid.

17 Work with me a miracle for good  and let those who hate me see it and be ashamed, because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.



Psalm 86

(For the sons of Korah.  A Psalm of a Song)

1 His foundations are in the holy mountains.

2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the towns of Jacob.

3 Glorious things have been said about you, O city of God.

4 I will mention Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me. And look, foreigners and people of Tyre and Ethiopia, these were born there.

5  Mother Zion  a man will say, and  This man was born in her,  and  The Most High Himself founded her. 

6 The Lord will count in His list of people and rulers those who were born in her.

7 How happy are all whose home is in You!



Psalm 87

(A Song of a Psalm for the sons of Korah.  For the End:  For Maheleth to sing responsively.  For the instruction of Heman the Israelite)

1 O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before You.

2 Let my prayer come in before You; incline Your ear to my petition.

3 For my soul is filled with evils and my life has come near to hell. [or  hades ]

4 I am counted with those who go down into the pit, I became like a helpless man, free among the dead,

5 like those who have been killed and sleep in the grave, whom You remember no more and who are cut off from Your hand.

6 They put me in the lowest pit, in dark places and in the shadow of death.

7 Your anger leans hard upon me, and You have brought upon me all Your waves.

8 You have put my acquaintances far from me; they have made me an abomination to them; I was betrayed and did not escape.

9 My eyes grew weak from poverty; I cry all day to You, Lord, I spread out my hands to You.

10 Will You work miracles for the dead or will physicians raise them up so they will praise You?

11 Will anyone in the grave tell of Your mercy, or will they tell of Your truth in the place of destruction?

12 Will Your wonders be known in the darkness and Your justice in the land where all is forgotten?

13 But to You, O Lord, I have cried and early in the morning my prayer will come before You.

14 Why, O Lord, do You reject my soul and turn away Your face from me?

15 I am poor and in troubles from my youth; but after being exalted, I am humbled and perplexed.

16 Your anger has passed over me, Your terrors have troubled me.

17 They surrounded me like water all day long; together they closed in upon me.

18 You have put far from me friend and neighbor and my acquaintances because of my misery.



Stasis II



Psalm 88

(For the understanding of Etham the Israelite)

1 I will sing of Your mercies, O Lord, forever; I will tell Your truth with my mouth to all generations.

2 For You have said,  Mercy will be built up forever.  Your truth will be prepared in the heavens.

3  I have made a covenant with My chosen people, I have sworn to My servant David:

4 I will prepare Your Son [Lit.  Seed ] for an eternal reign and I will build up your throne for all generations. 

5 The heavens confess Your wonders, O Lord, and Your truth in the church of the saints.

6 For who in the clouds [Gk. clouds = skies, heavens] is equal to the Lord? And who is like the Lord among the sons of God?

7 God, Who is glorified in the council of the saints, is great and terrible  above all those around Him.

8 O Lord, God of hosts, who is like You? You are powerful, O Lord, and Your truth is around You.

9 You rule the raging of the sea, You calm the surge of its waves.

10 You have humbled the proud one like a wounded man, with the arm of Your power You have scattered Your enemies.

11 The heavens are Yours and the earth is Yours, the world and its fullness You have founded.

12 The north and the sea You have created, Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name.

13 You have an arm with power; let Your hand be strengthened, Your right hand exalted.

14 Justice and judgment are the preparation for Your throne, mercy and truth pave the way for Your presence.

15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout! They will walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence

16 and they will rejoice in Your name all day long and by Your righteousness [or  justice ] they will be exalted.

17 For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your goodwill we are raised to power.

18 For our protection comes from the Lord and from the Holy One of Israel, our King.

19 Then You spoke in a vision to Your sons and said,  I have laid help on a strong man,

20 I have raised up one chosen out of My people.

21 I have found My servant David, with My holy oil I have anointed him.

22 For My hand will help him and My arm will strengthen him.

23 The enemy will get no help in him  and the son of lawlessness will not continue to harm him.

24 And I will cut down his enemies before his face and those who hate him I will put to flight.

25 And My truth and My mercy will be with him, and in My name he will rise to power.

26 And I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

27 He will call upon Me and say:   You are my Father, my God and the protector of my salvation. 

28 And I will make him My firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.

29 I will keep My mercy for him forever, and My covenant with him will be secure.

30 And I will establish his sons forever and ever and his throne as the days of heaven.

31 If his sons forsake My law and do not walk by My judgments,

32 if they profane My requirements and do not keep My commandments,

33 I will visit their sins with a rod and their wrongdoings with a scourge.

34 Yet I will not withdraw My mercy from them and I will do them no injustice in my truth.

35 I will never break My covenant or reject what has gone from My lips.

36 Once I have sworn by My holy place [i.e., Heaven] I will not lie to David.

37 His sons will continue forever  and his throne like the sun before Me,

38 and like the moon that is poised forever, and like the faithful witness in heaven . 

39 But You have rejected and spurned us, You have delayed Your Christ.

40 You have dissolved the covenant with Your servant, You have profaned his sanctuary to the ground.

41 You have broken down all his defenses, You have put cowardice in his strongholds.

42 All who pass that way plunder him, he has become a disgrace to his neighbors.

43 You have raised up the right hand of those who oppress him, You have gladdened all his enemies.

44 You have foiled the help of his sword and You have not helped him in battle.

45 You have made an end of his purification, You have torn down his throne to the ground.

46 You have shortened the days of his life, You have poured shame upon him.

47 How long, O Lord, will You turn away? Will Your anger burn like fire until the end?

48 Remember what my purpose is. Have You created in vain all the sons of men?

49 Who is the man who will live and will not see death? Will he deliver his soul from the clutch of hell?

50 Where are Your old-time mercies, O Lord, which You swore to David by Your truth?

51 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I have borne in my bosom from many nations,

52 with which Your enemies reproach us, O Lord, with which they reproach the ransom of Your Christ.

53 Blessed is the Lord forever.  Amen.  Amen.





Stasis III



Psalm 89

(A Prayer by Moses, the man of God)

1 O Lord, You have been our refuge from generation to generation.

2 Before the mountains were born and before the earth and the world were formed, even from age to age eternally You are. 

3 Do not abandon man to humiliation, for You have said,  Return, sons of men.  

4 For a thousand years in Your eyes are like a day, like yesterday which has come and gone, and like a watch in the night.

5 Mere nothings will their years be In the morning like grass they may pass away.

6 In the morning it blooms, then passes away; by evening it droops, grows hard and withers.

7 For we perish in Your anger and we are troubled by Your wrath.

8 You have set our sins before You, our life in the light of Your face.

9 For all our days have passed and we have perished in Your anger. Our years have spun out like a cobweb.

10 The days of our life may be seventy years, and if in the strong they are eighty years, yet most of it is labor and trouble, because weakness comes over us and we are corrected.

11 Who knows the power of Your anger and who can gauge Your wrath from Your fear?

12 So make Your right hand known to me and those disciplined in heart by wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord!  How long?  And be gracious to Your servants.

14 Let us be satisfied with Your mercy in the morning, Lord, and we shall be glad and rejoice all our days.

15 Let us be glad for the days in which You humbled us, for the years in which we have seen evils.

16 And look upon Your servants and Your works, and guide their children.

17 And may the radiance of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct the works of our hands for us, and direct the work of our hands.



Psalm 90

(Praise of a Song by David)

1 He who lives by the help of the Most High will pass the night in the protection of the God of Heaven.

2 He will say to the Lord,  You are my protector and my refuge, my God,  and in Him I will hope.

3 For He will deliver you from the trap of the hunters and from the embarrassing word.

4 He will overshadow you with His shoulders, and under His wings you will hope. His truth will surround you with armor.

5 You will not be afraid of any terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day--

6 of a thing going by in the dark, of an accident or a noonday demon.

7 A thousand will fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes you will look on, and you will see the reward of sinners.

9 For You, O Lord, are my hope; You made the Most High Your refuge.

10 No evils will come to you, and no scourge will come near your dwelling.

11 For He will command His angels regarding you to guard you in all your ways.

12 They will lift you on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will step on the asp and the adder; the lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14  Because he has set his hope on Me, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name.

15 He will call to Me and I will answer him. I am with him in trouble, I will deliver him and glorify him.

16 With a long life I will satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation. 

 



KATHISMA 13

Stasis I



Psalm 91

(Psalm of a Song for the day of the Sabbath)

1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing psalms to Your name, O Most High,

2 to tell of Your mercy in the morning and Your truth throughout the night,

3 with a ten-stringed psaltery, with a song on a harp.

4 For You have gladdened me, O Lord, by Your creations, and at the works of Your hands I jump for joy.

5 How great are Your works, O Lord, how very deep are Your thoughts!

6 An unthinking person will not know and a fool will not understand this,

7 that when sinners spring up like grass and all the evil-doers flourish, it is only for them to be destroyed forever. [or  it is only for their eternal destruction ]

8 But You are Most High forever, O Lord.

9 For look, Your enemies, O Lord, look, Your enemies will perish, and all who do lawlessness will be scattered.

10 But You will give me the strength of a rhinoceros and You will anoint my old age with rich oil.

11 And my eye has kept watch on my enemies, and my ear will hear evildoers who rise up against me.

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree and will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They will still increase in a ripe old age and they will rejoice to declare

15 that the Lord our God is straight and there is no injustice in Him.



Psalm 92

(For the day before the Sabbath when the earth was peopled.  Praise of a Song by David)

1 The Lord reigns as King,  He is clothed with beauty, the Lord is clothed and surrounded with power. He has made the world firm and it cannot be shaken.

2 Your throne has been prepared from of old,  You are from all eternity.

3 The rivers have risen, O Lord,  the rivers have raised their voices, the rivers will lift their waves above the roars of many waters.

4 Wonderful are the ocean breakers, wonderful is the Lord on high!

5 Your testimonies may be fully trusted.  Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forever.



Psalm 93

(A psalm by David for the fourth day of the week)

1 The Lord is a God of justice; the God of justice has spoken plainly. 

2 Be exalted, O Judge of the earth, give the proud their reward. 

3 How long, O Lord, will sinners, how long will sinners boast?

4 How long will they blurt and talk injustice? How long will all the wrongdoers talk?

5 They humble Your people, O Lord, and they injure Your inheritance.

6 Widow and orphan they have killed,  and a convert they have murdered.

7 And they said,  The Lord will not see, and the God of Israel will not understand. 

8 Understand, you fools among the people, and you idiots, when will you think?

9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear? And He who formed the eye, does He not see?

10 He who instructs the nations, will He not correct? He who teaches mankind knowledge, will He not know?

11 The Lord knows the thoughts of men,  He knows that they are futile. [or  empty, vain, idle ]

12 Blessed is the man whom You correct, O Lord,  and whom You teach out of Your law,

13 to make him meek in evil days  until a pit is dug for the sinner.

14 For the Lord will not reject His people and will not abandon His inheritance

15 until righteousness returns to judgment and all who are right in heart adhere to it.

16 Who will stand up for me against evildoers or who will stand with me against the wrongdoers?

17 Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would soon have gone to hell.

18 If I used to say,  My foot has slipped,  Your mercy, O Lord, helped me.

19 Amid the throng of sorrows in my heart, [Heb. & Slavonic omit  Lord ] Your consolations gladden my soul.

20 Can lawless rulers have Your help who make trouble in the name of law

21 and hunt for the souls of honest men? They condemn innocent men to death.

22 But the Lord has become my refuge, and my God is the helper I trust.

23 And the Lord will repay them for their lawlessness. By their own wickedness the Lord God will destroy them.





STASIS II



Psalm 94

(The Praise of a Song by David)

1 Come, let us sing with joy to the Lord; let us shout for joy to God our Savior.

2 Let us come before His face with thanksgiving  and let us shout for joy to Him with psalms

3 For the Lord is a great God and a great King over all the earth.

4 In His hand are all the ends of the earth, and the mountain peaks are His.

5 The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us worship and fall down before Him and let us weep before the Lord our Maker.

7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

8 Today if you will hear His voice,  do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion in the day of temptation in the wilderness, 

9 when your fathers tempted Me, challenged Me and saw My works for forty years.

10 I was provoked by that generation and said,  Their hearts are always wandering [Lit.,  They always wander with the heart ] and they never knew My ways. 

11 So I vowed in My anger:  They will never enter My rest.  [ Lit.  If they will enter My rest.  There is no main clause.]



Psalm 95

(When the House was built after the Captivity.  A Song by David)

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell the good news of His salvation [Lit.  Evangelize His salvation ] from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, He is to be feared above all the gods.

5 For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.

6 Praise  and beauty are before Him. holiness and magnificence are in His sanctuary.

7 Bring to the Lord, you families of nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor.

8 Bring to the Lord glory to His name, bring sacrifices and enter His courts.

9 Worship the Lord in His holy court,  let all the earth tremble before His face. 

10 Say among the nations,  The Lord is reigning as King. He has set right the world, which will not be shaken. He will judge the peoples with justice. 

11 Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, let the sea toss and roll and all that is in it.

12 Let the fields rejoice and all that is in them; then all the trees of the forest will jump for joy

13 before the face of God.  For He is coming,  for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with His truth.



Psalm 96

(For David when his land is restored to him)

1 The Lord reigns as King,  let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad.

2 Clouds and darkness are all around Him, justice and judgment are the buttress [or  support  (katorthosis)] of His throne.

3 Fire will go before Him and will burn His enemies round about.

4 His lightnings lit up the world, the earth saw and was shaken.

5 The mountains melted like wax from the face of God, from the face of the Lord of all the earth.

6 The heavens declared His justice and all the peoples saw His glory.

7 Let all who worship carved images and boast of their idols be ashamed. Worship Him, all you angels of His.

8 Zion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judea rejoiced because of Your judgments, O Lord.

9 For You are Lord Most High over all the earth, You are exalted far above all the gods.

10 You who love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord guards the souls of His saints, He will rescue them from the clutch of sinners.

11 Light has dawned for the righteous and gladness for those who are honest in heart.

12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous people, and give thanks for the remembrance of His holiness.





Stasis III



Psalm 97

(A Psalm by David)

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done wonderful things. His right hand and His holy arm have saved people for Him. 

2 The Lord has made known His salvation, He has revealed His justice in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered His mercy to Jacob and His truth to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing and rejoice and chant psalms.

5 Sing praise to the Lord with a harp, with a harp and the tune of a psalm.

6 With metal trumpets and the sound of a horn, shout for joy before God our King.

7 Let the sea be shaken and all that is in it, the world and all who live in it.

8 The rivers will clap their hands together, the mountains will jump for joy before the face of God. 

9 For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with honesty.



Psalm 98

(A Psalm by David)

1 The Lord reigns as King,  let people rage, He sits enthroned above the Cherubim, let the earth be shaken.

2 The Lord is great in Zion and He is high above all the peoples.

3 Let them confess and praise Your great name, for it is terrible  and holy.

4 A king s honor loves judgment. You have provided just laws, You have had judgment and justice done in Jacob.

5 Exalt the Lord our God and bow down before His footstool, for He is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call on His name, they called on the Lord and He answered them.

7 He used to talk to them in a pillar of cloud, for they kept His testimonies and His laws which He gave them.

8 O Lord our God, You answered them; a forgiving God You were to them, yet correcting all their practices.

9 Exalt the Lord our God and bow down towards His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.



Psalm 99

(A Psalm for a Thank-offering)

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with exultation.

3 Know that the Lord Himself is our God, it is He Who made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with songs; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

5 For the Lord is good, His mercy is eternal, and His truth continues from generation to generation.



Psalm 100

(A Psalm by David)

1 I will sing to You, O Lord, of mercy and justice, [Gk. krisis as Mt. 23:23]

2 I will sing praise and understand in a faultless way. When will You come to me? I have walked in my house in the innocence of my heart.

3 I set no unlawful thing before my eyes,  I hate those who do wrong,

4 no crooked heart has joined me. A villain who avoided me, I refused to know.

5 The man who in secret talks against his neighbor, him I drive away. A man with a proud eye and a greedy heart, with him I was not eating. 

6 My eyes are on the faithful of the land, that they may sit with me. He who walks in a blameless way has been employed in my service.

7 One who acts proudly has not lived in my house; one who talks wrong things will not prosper in my sight.

8 Each morning I put to death all the sinners of the land, to destroy all evildoers from the city of God.



 

KATHISMA 14

Stasis 1



Psalm 101

(A prayer for a poor man when he is despondent and pours out his petitions before the Lord)

1 O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to You.

2 Do not turn Your face from me in the day when I am in trouble.

3 Incline Your ear to me, answer me quickly in the day when I call upon You.

4 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like firewood.

5 My heart is sick and dry like grass, because I forget to eat my bread. 

6 From the cry of my groaning I am reduced to skin and bones. [Lit.  my bone sticks to my flesh ]

7 I have become like a pelican of the desert, I have become like an owl in a ruined building.

8 I kept awake and became like a solitary sparrow on a housetop.

9 All day long my enemies taunted me, and those who praised me swore against me.

10 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping,

11 because of Your anger and fury, for after lifting me up You dashed me down.

12 My days decline like a shadow and I am drying up like grass.

13 But You, O Lord, live forever and Your memory  is from generation to generation.

14 You will rise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to have compassion on her, because the time has come.

15 For Your servants delight in her stones and they feel compassion for her dust.

16 Then the nations will fear Your name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.

17 For the Lord will build up Zion and He will be seen in His glory.

18 He has regarded the prayer of the humble and He has not ignored their need.

19 Let this be written for another generation and people who are being created will praise the Lord.

20 For the Lord looked out from His holy height, He looked down from heaven at the earth

21 to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to deliver the sons of those put to death,

22 to tell the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem,

23 when the peoples are gathered together and their kings to serve the Lord.

24 He answered him in the way of his strength: Tell me how short my life is to be.

25 Do not take me away half-way through my life. Your years are for all generations. 

26 In the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.

27 They will perish, but You continue, and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a wrap You will fold them and they will be changed.

28 But You are always the same and Your years will never end.

29 The children of Your servants will live securely and their descendants will forever be rightly guided.



Psalm 102

(By David)

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His rewards: [See v.10  Rewards :  this reading tallies with the Slavonic & Patristic commentaries from 400 A.D. ]

3 who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with mercy and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desire with good things, your youth will be renewed like an eagle s.

6 The Lord gives mercy and justice to all who are being wronged. 

7 He made known His ways to Moses, His will to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,  most patient and most merciful.

9 He will not always be angry, nor will He threaten forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our lawlessness, nor rewarded us according to our sins.

11 For as high as heaven is from the earth, so great is the Lord s mercy to those who fear Him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our sins from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

14 For He knows what we are made of, He remembers that we are dust.

15 Man--his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field.

16 When the spirit in him has passed, he will not exist, and he will know his place no more.

17 But the Lord s mercy is from age to age for those who fear Him, and His justice is for their children s children.

18 for those who keep His covenant and remember to carry out His commandments.

19 The Lord has prepared His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, all you angels of His, who are mighty in strength, who do His word and listen for the sound of His words.

21 Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His ministers who do His will.

22 Bless the Lord, all His works, in every place of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!





Stasis II



Psalm 103

(By David)

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great, You are clothed with praise and majesty,

2 wrapping Yourself in light for a garment, stretching out the sky like a skin; [a  tent-skin ]

3 Who covers His upper rooms with water, Who makes clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,

4 Who makes spirits his angels and His servant a flame of fire,

5 Who poises the earth on its axis; it will not be moved throughout the ages.

6 The deep like a garment is its clothing. On the mountains the waters stand.

7 At Your rebuke they run, At the crack of Your thunder they are afraid.

8 Mountains rise up and plains sink down to the place which You have appointed for them.

9 You have set a bound the waters will not pass, so they will never return to cover the earth. 

10 You send torrents in the ravines, the waters run between the mountains.

11 They give drink to all the beasts of the field; wild donkeys wait to quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky perch on them; from among the rocks they pipe their calls.

13 You water the mountains from above. The earth is filled with the fruit of Your works.

14 You make grass spring up for the cattle and vegetation for the service of men,

15 for them to produce food from the earth and wine which cheers man s heart, that his face may be bright with oil and that bread may strengthen man s heart.

16 The trees of the plain will be drenched, the cedars of Lebanon which You planted.

17 There the sparrows build their nests, the house of the heron [or  egret ] at the top of them.

18 The high mountains are for the deer, a rock is a refuge for hares.

19 You made the moon to mark the months,  the sun knows his going down.

20 You appoint darkness and it becomes night, in which all the wild beasts of the forest prowl:

21 young lions roaring to seize their prey and seeking their food from God.

22 The sun rises and they gather together and lie down in their dens.

23 Man goes out to his work and to his business until the evening.

24 How great are Your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom, the earth is filled with Your creation.

25 This is the great and wide sea; there live reptiles without number, living creatures small and great.

26 There ships go to and fro, there, too, is that sea serpent which You have made to play in it.

27 All look expectantly to You to give them their food in due season.

28 When You give it to them, they gather it; when You open Your hand, all things are filled with goodness.

29 But when You turn away Your face they are troubled. You will take their spirit and they will die and they will return to their dust.

30 You will send Your Spirit and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth.

31 May the glory of the Lord be forever; the Lord delights in His works.

32 He looks upon the earth and makes it tremble, He touches the mountains and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life, I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.

34 May my conversation be pleasing to Him, and I will rejoice in the Lord.

35 May sinners vanish from the earth, and the lawless so as to be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul.





Stasis III



Psalm 104

(Alleluia)

1 Give thanks to the Lord and call on His name, make known His doings among the nations.

2 Sing to Him and sing praises to Him, tell of all His wonders.

3 Glory in His holy name, let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4 Seek the Lord and be strengthened, seek His face continually. [Or,  seek His presence... ]

5 Remember His wonders which He did, His marvels and the judgments of His mouth,

6 you descendants [Lit.  seed ] of Abraham, His slaves, you sons of Jacob, His chosen people.

7 He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He always remembers His covenant, the promise He made for a thousand generations,

9 the covenant which He made with Abraham, and the oath which He swore to Isaac.

10 And He confirmed it to Jacob for a law and to Israel for an eternal covenant,

11 saying,  To you I will give the land of Canaan as the share of your inheritance, 

12 when they were few in number, very few and foreigners in it.

13 And they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.

14 He allowed no one to injure them; He rebuked even kings on their account:

15  Do not touch My anointed people and to My prophets do no harm. 

16 And He called for a famine on the earth; He broke all the support of bread.

17 He sent a man ahead of them; Joseph was sold as a slave.

18 They humbled his feet in fetters, his soul went through hardship.

19 Until his word came true, the Word of the Lord tested him.

20 The king sent and released him, the people s ruler set him free.

21 He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his property,

22 to train his princes to be like himself and to teach his senators wisdom.

23 Then Israel came into Egypt and Jacob settled in the land of Ham.

24 And He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.

25 He turned their heart to hate His people, to be deceitful with His servants.

26 Then He sent His servant Moses and Aaron whom He chose for Himself.

27 He committed to them the words of His signs and His wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness and it became dark, because they rebelled against His words.

29 He turned their waters into blood and He killed their fish.

30 Their land swarmed with frogs, even in their royal apartments.

31 He spoke and the dog-fly came and mosquitoes in all their territories.

32 He gave them hail for rain,  a consuming fire in their land.

33 And He struck their vines and their fig trees, and He broke every tree of their border. [i.e., wind-breaks]

34 He spoke and the locust came and caterpillars without number.

35 And they devoured everything green in their land, and they consumed the fruit of their ground.

36 Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the first-fruits of all their labor.

37 And He led them out with silver and gold, and there was not one who was feeble among their tribes.

38 Egypt was glad at their going, [Lit.  exodus ] because fear of them had fallen upon them.

39 He spread a cloud for them for protection and fire to illumine the night for them.

40 They asked, and quail came, and He filled them with the bread of heaven.

41 He split a rock and waters flowed; rivers ran in waterless places.

42 For He remembered His holy promise made to Abraham His servant.

43 And He led out His people with exultation [or  rejoicing ] and His chosen people with gladness.

44 And He gave them the lands of the nations and they inherited the people s labors,

45 that they might keep His requirements and search out His law.





KATHISMA 15

Stasis 1



Psalm 105

(Alleluia)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is eternal.

2 Who will tell the mighty acts of the Lord or make all His praises heard?

3 Blessed are those who act justly  and do what is right at all times.

4 Remember us, O Lord, in Your goodwill for Your people, visit us with Your salvation,

5 that we may see it in the goodness of Your chosen people, that we may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that we may be praised with Your inheritance.

6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have been lawless, we have done wrong.

7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders, and they did not remember Your great mercy, but they rebelled while going up at the Red Sea.

8 Yet He saved them for His name s sake, to make His power known.

9 And He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, and He led them in the deep sea as in a desert.

10 And He saved them from the hand of the hater and delivered them from the hand of their enemies.

11 Water covered those who oppressed them; not one of them was left.

12 Then they believed His words and they sang His praise.

13 They quickly forgot His works, they did not wait for His will.

14 They indulged their desire in the desert and tempted God in a waterless place.

15 And He gave them their request and sent a surfeit into their souls.

16 And they made Moses angry in the camp and Aaron too, the Lord s holy one.

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered over the group [Gk. synagogue] of Abiram.

18 And fire blazed out in their group, the flame burned up the sinners.

19 They made a bull calf at Horeb and worshipped the carved idol.

20 And they exchanged the glory of their God  for the likeness of a bull that eats grass.

21 And they forgot God Who saved them, Who had done great things in Egypt,

22 wonderful things in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea. 

23 And He said He would have destroyed them if Moses His chosen servant had not stood before Him in the outbreak  to avert His anger from destroying them.

24 Then they despised the desirable land, they did not believe His word.

25 And they grumbled in their tents; they did not obey the Lord s voice.

26 So He lifted up His hand against them, to let them fall in the wilderness

27 and disperse their children among the nations and scatter them in foreign lands.

28 They joined the worship of Baalphegor [a Mosbite idol (Nu. 25:1-3)] and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29 And they provoked Him with their practices, and death was multiplied among them.

30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the outbreak was stopped.

31 And this has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.

32 They also angered Him at the water of conflict,  and Moses suffered on their account.

33 For they provoked his spirit  and he reprimanded them with his lips. 

34 They did not destroy the nations as the Lord told them.

35 But they mixed with the nations and they learned their practices.

36 And they served their idols, which became a stumbling-block to them.

37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.

38 And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood of murder,

39 and defiled by their practices, and they became idolatrous [or  wanton, adulterous ] in their ways.

40 Then the Lord became angry with His people and He abhorred His inheritance.

41 And He gave them up into the hands of their enemies, and those who hated them ruled over them.

42 And their enemies oppressed them,  and they were humbled under their hands.

43 Many a time He delivered them, but they provoked Him by their willfulness and they were humbled by their lawlessness.

44 Yet the Lord saw when they were in trouble and He answered their prayer.

45 And He remembered His covenant and He relented in His great mercy.

46 He even gave them the grace to find compassion  among all who took them captive.

47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may triumph in Your praise.

48 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel from age to age. And all the people will say:  Amen!  Amen!





Stasis II



Psalm 106

(Alleluia)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is eternal.

2 Let those tell of Him who have been redeemed by the Lord, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,

3 and has gathered them out of the countries, from east and west, from the north and the sea.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a waterless region; they found no way to a city to settle in.

5 They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them.

6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress.

7 And He guided them into the straight way to go to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His mercies and for His wonders to the sons of men.

9 For He satisfies the empty soul and He fills the hungry with good things.

10 Those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, bound by poverty and iron,

11 because they rebelled against the words of God and flouted the will of the Most High,

12 when their heart was humbled by troubles, when they were weak and there was no one to help them,

13 then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He saved them from their distress.

14 And He led them out of darkness and the shadow of death and He broke their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His mercies and for His wonders to the sons of men.

16 For He shatters gates of bronze and crumples bars of iron.

17 He helped them out of the way of their lawlessness, for because of their lawlessness they were humbled.

18 Their soul loathed all food and they came near to the gates of death.

19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He saved them from their distress.

20 He sent His word and healed them  and He delivered them from all their disorders.

21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His mercies and for His wonders to the sons of men.

22 And let them offer to Him a sacrifice of praise and tell of His works with exultation.

23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters,

24 they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.

25 He speaks and rouses the wind of a storm which lifts the waves of the sea.

26 They go up to the skies and go down to the depths; their soul melts at their wretched plight.

27 They reel and stagger like drunken men, and all their skill is scuttled.

28 Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distress.

29 And He commands the storm and lulls it to a breeze, and its waves are silenced and calmed.

30 Then they are glad because they are quiet, and He guides them to the haven of His will.

31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His mercies and for His wonders to the sons of men.

32 Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people and let them praise Him in a session of elders.

33 He turns rivers into a wilderness and springs of water into thirsty ground.

34 He turns fruitful land into a salt marsh for the wickedness of those who live in it.

35 He turns a desert into pools of water and arid ground into water-springs.

36 And there He settles the hungry and they build cities for colonization.

37 And they sow fields and plant vineyards which yield a harvest of crops.

38 And He blesses them and they multiply greatly, and their livestock does not diminish.

39 Then they dwindle and suffer hardship from the pressure of troubles and adversity.

40 He pours contempt on their rulers and makes them wander in a trackless waste.

41 And He helps the poor out of their poverty, and He makes their families like flocks of sheep.

42 Honest men will see and be glad, and all lawlessness will stop its mouth.

43 Who is wise and will observe these things and will understand the mercies of the Lord?





Stasis III



Psalm 107

(Songs of a Psalm by David)

1 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready! I will sing and chant praise with my glory.

2 Awake, psaltery and harp! I will awake the dawn. 

3 I will give You thanks among the peoples, O Lord, I will sing praises to You among the nations.

4 For great is Your mercy above the heavens,  and Your truth that reaches to the clouds.

5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and Your glory over all the earth.

6 That Your beloved people may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer me.

7 God spoke in His sanctuary:  I will be exalted and I will divide Shekem, and I will parcel out the valley of tents.

8 Gilead is Mine and Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is the defense of My head.

9 Judah is My king.

10 Moab I hope to make My washbowl. Over Edom I will extend My sway, foreigners will submit to Me. 

11 Who will lead me to a fortified city? Or who will guide me to Edom?

12 Will You not, O God, who have rejected us? And will You not, O God, go out with our armies?

13 Give us help from our trouble, for vain is the salvation of man.

14 In God we shall work a miracle,  and He will bring to nothing our enemies.



Psalm 108

(For the End.  A Psalm by David)

1 Do not pass over my praise in silence,

2 for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceiver are opened against me. They speak against me with a deceitful tongue,

3 and they surround me with words of hatred and they fight against me for no reason.

4 Instead of loving me, they accuse me, but I pray for them.

5 And they repay me evil for good and hatred for my love.

6 Set a sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him go out condemned, and let his prayer be turned into sin.

8 Let his days be few, and let someone else take his leadership. [Gk. episkope = episcopate, bishopric, oversight, supervision]

9 Let his sons be orphans and let his wife be a widow.

10 Let his sons wander as vagabonds and beg, let them be outcasts from their ruined homes.

11 Let his creditor ransack all that he has, and let strangers plunder his labors.

12 Let there be no one to help him, and no one to pity his orphans.

13 Let his children be born for destruction, in one generation, let his name be wiped out.

14 Let the sin of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let his mother s sin not be wiped out.

15 Let them be before the Lord continually, and let their memory perish from the earth.

16 For it never entered his mind to show mercy, but he persecuted the poor and needy person and hounded the brokenhearted to death.

17 And he loved cursing, so that is what came to him; and he took no pleasure in blessing, and so it was far from him.

18 And he put on cursing like a cloak, and it went in like water into his body and like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be like a cloak which he wraps round him and like a girdle which continually binds him.

20 This is the work of those who accuse me before God,  and of those who say evil things against my soul.

21 But You, O Lord God, deal with me for Your name s sake, for Your mercy is good.

22 Deliver me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.

23 Like a vanishing shadow, I am taken away; I am shaken out like locusts.

24 My knees are weak from fasting and my flesh is changed for want of oil.

25 I have become a reproach to them; when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God, and save me in Your mercy.

27 Let them know that this is Your hand and that You, O Lord, have done it.

28 They will curse, but You will bless. Let those who rise up against me be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

29 Let my accusers be clothed with confusion, and let them be covered with shame like a cloak.

30 I will greatly thank the Lord with my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise Him.

31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save my soul from my persecutors.





KATHISMA 16

Stasis I



Psalm 109

(A Psalm by David)

1 The Lord said to my Lord:   Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.  

2 The Lord will send You from Zion a rod of power:  And rule in the midst of Your enemies. 

3 With You is sovereignty in the day of Your power, in the splendors of Your saints. From the womb before the dawn I begot You.

4 The Lord has sworn and He will not change His mind:  You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. 

5 The Lord at Your right hand will crush kings in the day of His anger.

6 He will judge among the nations, He will fill the earth with corpses, He will crush the heads of many on earth.

7 He will drink from the torrent on the way; therefore He will lift up His head.



Psalm 110

(Alleluia)

1 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all my heart, in the council and congregation [Gk. synagogue] of the righteous. [Lit.  straight, honest  as in Ps. 26:11; 31:11]

2 Great are the works of the Lord, adapted to all His purposes. [or  discovered in everything delightful of His ]

3 Confession and magnificence are His work, and His righteousness continues forever and ever.

4 He has made a memorial of His wonders;  the Lord is merciful and compassionate:

5 He gives food to those who fear Him, He will remember His covenant forever.

6 He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are truth and judgment; all His commandments are trustworthy.

8 They are established forever and ever, they have been made in truth and justice.

9 He sent redemption to His people, He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and terrible is His name.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and all who practice it have a good understanding. His praise continues forever and ever.



Psalm 111

(Alleluia)

1 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, he will greatly delight in His commandments.

2 His descendants will be powerful on earth, the children of the upright will be blessed.

3 Glory and riches are in his house, and his righteousness continues forever.

4 He shines in the dark as a light for the upright, he is merciful, compassionate and just.

5 A good man is compassionate and lends; he will manage his affairs with judgment,

6 because he will forever remain unshaken. The righteous will be held in eternal remembrance.

7 He will not be afraid of bad news; his heart is prepared to hope and trust in the Lord.

8 His heart is supported, he will not be afraid until he looks down in triumph on his enemies.

9 He distributes freely, he gives to the poor, his righteousness continues forever, his influence will be exalted in glory. 

10 The sinner will see and will be enraged, he will chatter with his teeth and will waste away. The desire of a sinner will perish. 





Stasis II



Psalm 112

(Alleluia)

1 Praise the Lord, you children! Praise the name of the Lord.

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord, from now on and forever.

3 From the rising of the sun until sunset [or  sundown ] the Lord s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all the nations, His glory is above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God who lives in the heights

6 yet watches over the humble things in heaven and on earth? [or  in the sky and on the earth ]

7 He raises a beggar from the earth and lifts a poor man from a dunghill,

8 in order to seat him with princes, with the rulers of His people.

9 He settles a barren woman in a home, to be a mother rejoicing over her children.



Psalm 113

(Alleluia)

1 When Israel came out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people,

2 Judea became His sanctuary, Israel His possession .

3 The sea saw and took to flight, Jordan turned back at the sight.

4 The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs.

5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, and you, O Jordan, that you turned back?

6 Why did you mountains skip like rams and you little hills like lambs?

7 From the presence of God, the earth was shaken, from the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 Who turned the rock into pools of water and the flint into water fountains.

9 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give the glory,

10 for the sake of Your mercy and Your truth, lest the nations say,  Where is their God? 

11 But our God is in heaven and on earth; He does whatever He chooses. 

12 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men s hands.

13 They have mouths but will not talk, they have eyes but will not see,

14 they have ears but will not hear, they have noses but will not smell,

15 They have hands but will not feel, they have feet but will not walk, nor will they make a sound with their throat.

16 Let those who make them become like them  and all who trust in them.

17 The house of Israel trusts in the Lord; He is their helper and protector.

18 The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord; He is their helper and protector.

19 Those who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their helper and protector.

20 The Lord has remembered us and blessed us, He has blessed the house of Israel, He has blessed the house of Aaron.

21 He has blessed those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.

22 May the Lord add to you, to you and to your children.

23 Blessed are you by the Lord Who made the sky and the earth.

24 The heaven of heaven belongs to the Lord, but He has given the earth to the sons of men.

25 The dead [ i.e., unbelievers, worldly] will not praise You, O Lord, nor will all who go down to hell. 

26 But we who live will bless the Lord from now and until eternity.



Psalm 114

(Alleluia)

1 I love Him because the Lord hears the cry of my prayer,

2 because He inclines His ear to me; and all my days I will call upon Him.

3 The pangs of death surrounded me, the hazards of hell befell me.

4 I encountered trouble and pain. Then I called on the name of the Lord:  O Lord, deliver my soul. 

5 The Lord is merciful and just, and our God is most merciful.

6 The Lord guards the children; I was humbled and He saved me.

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, because the Lord has been good to you.

8 For He has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from slipping.

9 I will live to please the Lord in the land of the living.





Stasis III



Psalm 115

(Alleluia)

1 I believed, and so I spoke,  but I was greatly humbled.

2 I said in my madness:  Every man is a liar. 

3 What shall I give in return to the Lord for all that He has done for me?

4 I will receive the cup of salvation  and I will call on the name of the Lord.

5 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

6 Precious [or  costly ] in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

7 O Lord, I am Your slave, I am Your slave and the son of Your handmaid. You have broken my chains.

8 I will offer to You a sacrifice of praise and I will call on the name of the Lord.

9 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,

10 in the courts of the Lord s house, in your midst, O Jerusalem.



Psalm 116

(Alleluia)

1 Praise the Lord, all you nations,  praise Him, all you peoples!

2 For great is His mercy to us, [Lit.,  For His mercy has been strengthened upon us ] and the truth of the Lord continues forever.



Psalm 117

(Alleluia)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy continues forever.

2 Let the house of Israel say He is good, for His mercy continues forever.

3 Let the house of Aaron say He is good, for His mercy continues forever.

4 Let all who fear the Lord say He is good, for His mercy continues forever.

5 Out of my trouble I called on the Lord, and He answered me with enlargement.

6 The Lord is my helper and I will not be afraid  of what man will do to me.

7 The Lord is my helper and I will look down in triumph on my enemies. 

8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man.

9 It is better to hope in the Lord than to hope in rulers.

10 All the nations surrounded me, but by the name of the Lord I repulsed them.

11 Encircling me, They surrounded me, but by the name of the Lord I repulsed them.

12 They surrounded me like bees round a honeycomb and blazed like fire in thorns, but by the name of the Lord I repulsed them.

13 I was hard pressed and floundering to fall, but the Lord supported me.

14 The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.

15 The voice of joy and health is in the homes of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord works a miracle [Gk. also means:  creates power, strength, ability]

16 The right hand of the Lord lifts me on high, the right hand of the Lord works a miracle.

17 I shall not die, but live, and I will tell of the works of the Lord.

18 The Lord has certainly corrected me, but He has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will enter by them and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter by it.

21 I will thank You because You have answered me and have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the cornerstone. 

23 This came about from the Lord and it is wonderful in our eyes.

24 This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 O Lord, save us; O Lord, give us prosperity.

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God and has appeared to us. Bind the sacrifice with ropes to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God and I will thank You, You are my God and I will exalt You. I will thank You because You have answered me and have become my salvation.

29 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy continues forever.





KATHISMA 17

Stasis I



Psalm 118

(Alleluia)

1 Blessed are they who are faultless in the way, who live by the law of the Lord.

2 Blessed are they who search out His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.

3 For those who do lawlessness do not walk in His ways.

4 You have ordered Your commandments to be strictly kept.

5 that my ways were directed to keep Your requirements. 

6 Then I shall not be ashamed when I regard all Your commandments.

7 I will praise and thank You with honesty of heart, when I have learned the justice of Your judgments.

8 I will keep Your requirements; O do not utterly forsake me.

9 How will a young man direct his way? By obeying Your words.

10 With my whole heart I have searched for You; let me not be driven from Your commandments.

11 Your words I have hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against You.

12 Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your requirements.

13 With my lips I have told all the judgments of Your mouth.

14 I have found delight in the way of Your testimonies as in all riches.

15 I will reflect on Your commandments and I will understand Your ways.

16 I will meditate on Your requirements; I will not forget Your words.

17 Respond to Your slave, and I will live and keep Your words.

18 Unveil my eyes and I shall learn wonderful things from Your law.

19 I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.

20 My soul longs to welcome Your judgments at all times.

21 You have rebuked the proud; cursed are they who turn away from Your commandments.

22 Take from me reproach and contempt, for I search out Your testimonies.

23 For rulers also sit and talk against me, but Your slave reflects on Your requirements.

24 For Your testimonies are my meditation, and Your requirements are my counselors.

25 My soul clings to the earth; revive me according to Your word.

26 I told You my ways and You answered me; teach me Your requirements.

27 Help me to understand the way of Your requirements, and I will reflect on Your wonders.

28 My soul is drowsy from despondency; strengthen me with Your words.

29 Remove from me the way of dishonesty and by Your law have mercy on me.

30 I have chosen the way of truth and I have not forgotten Your judgments.

31 I have stuck to Your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame.

32 I ran the way of Your commandments when You enlarged my heart.

33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your requirements and I will seek it continually.

34 Give me understanding and I will search out Your law, and I will keep it with my whole heart.

35 Guide me in the path of Your commandments, because that is what I want.

36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to greediness. 

37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanities, revive me in Your way.

38 Confirm Your promise to Your slave, which is for those who fear You.

39 Take away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good.

40 See how I long for Your commandments! Revive me in Your righteousness.

41 And let Your mercy come upon me, O Lord, Your salvation according to Your word.

42 Then I shall have a word to answer those who taunt me,  because I have hoped in Your words.

43 And do not take the word of truth out of my mouth, for I have hoped completely in Your judgments.

44 And I will keep Your law continually, forever and for all eternity.

45 And I was walking in a wide place, because I search out Your commandments.

46 And I was talking about Your testimonies before kings, and I was not ashamed.

47 And I meditate on Your commandments, which I love greatly.

48 And I lift up my hands to Your commandments which I love, and I reflect on Your requirements.

49 Remember Your words to Your slave by which You have given me hope.

50 This comforts me in my humiliation, because Your word has revived me.

51 The proud are utterly lawless, but I have not turned aside from Your law.

52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord, and I was comforted.

53 Depression seized me because of sinners who forsake Your law.

54 Your requirements are my songs in the place of my pilgrimage.

55 I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law.

56 This happens to me, because I search out Your requirements.

57 You are my portion, O Lord;  I have said I will keep Your law.

58 I implore Your presence [or  face ] with all my heart; have mercy on me according to Your word.

59 I have considered Your ways, and I have turned my feet to Your testimonies.

60 I am ready and I am not troubled  to keep Your commandments.

61 The cords of sinners entangled me, but I have not forgotten Your law.

62 At midnight I rise to praise and thank You for the justice of Your judgments.

63 I am a friend of all who fear You and who keep Your commandments.

64 The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your requirements.

65 You have shown kindness to Your slave, O Lord, according to Your word.

66 Teach me kindness, discipline and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments.

67 Before I was humbled I went wrong, so now I keep Your word.

68 You are good, O Lord, and in Your goodness teach me Your requirements.

69 The injustice of the proud has been heaped upon me, but I will search out Your commandments with my whole heart.

70 Their heart is curdled like milk, but I meditate on Your law.

71 It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I may learn Your requirements.

72 The law of Your mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver.





Stasis II



73 Your hands have made me and molded me; give me understanding and I will learn Your commandments.

74 Those who fear You will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in Your words.

75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are just and that You have rightly humbled me.

76 But let Your mercy comfort me according to Your word to Your slave.

77 Let Your compassion come to me and I shall live, for Your law is my meditation.

78 Let the proud be ashamed, for they unjustly sinned against me; but I will reflect on Your commandments.

79 Let those who fear You turn to me, and those who know Your testimonies.

80 Let my heart be faultless in Your requirements, that I may not be ashamed.

81 My soul is pining for Your salvation; I hope in Your words.

82 My eyes fail for Your word, saying,  When will You comfort me? 

83 For I have become like a wineskin in the frost, yet I have not forgotten Your requirements.

84 How many are the days of Your slave? When will You pass judgment  on those who persecute me?

85 The lawless have told me stories, but they are not like Your law, O Lord.

86 All Your commandments are true. They persecute me unjustly; help me!

87 They almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken Your commandments.

88 By Your mercy give me life, and I will keep the testimonies of Your mouth.

89 Your word, O Lord, continues forever in heaven.

90 Your truth is from generation to generation; You have founded the earth and it continues.

91 The day continues by Your arrangement, for all things are Your servants.

92 If it were not that Your law is my meditation, then I would have perished in my humiliation.

93 I will never forget Your requirements, for by them You have given me life.

94 I am Yours, save me, for I search out Your requirements.

95 Sinners wait for me to destroy me, but I have understood Your testimonies.

96 I have seen an end of all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad. 

97 How I love Your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all day long.

98 By Your commandment You make me wiser than my enemies,  because it is mine forever.

99 I understood more than all who were teaching me, because Your testimonies are my meditation.

100 I understood more than elders because I search out Your commandments.

101 I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your words.

102 I do not turn aside from Your judgments, because You have given me Your law.

103 How sweet are Your words to my heart!  They are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

104 From Your commandments I get understanding; therefore every wrong way I hate.

105 Your law is a lamp for my feet and a light for my paths.

106 I have sworn and am determined to keep Your just judgments.

107 I was exceedingly humbled; O Lord, revive me by Your word.

108 Be pleased to accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me Your judgments.

109 My life is continually in Your hands  and I do not forget Your law.

110 Sinners set a trap for me, but I do not stray from Your commandments.

111 I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

112 I have applied my heart to do Your requirements  forever for the reward. 

113 I hate lawless spirits, but I love Your law.

114 You are my helper and my protector; I hope in Your words.

115 Begone from me, you evildoers, and I will search out the commandments of my God.

116 Support me by Your word and revive me, and let me not be disappointed in my expectation.

117 Help me and I shall be saved, and I will meditate continually on Your requirements.

118 You reject all who stray from Your requirements, because their intention is wrong.

119 All the sinners of the earth I regard as outcasts; that is why I love Your testimonies.

120 Nail down my flesh with the fear of You, for I am afraid of Your judgments.

121 I have done what is just and right; do not give me up to those who wrong me.

122 Be responsible for Your slave s welfare; do not let the proud oppress me.

123 My eyes strain for Your salvation  and for the word of Your righteousness. 

124 Deal with Your slave in Your mercy and teach me Your requirements.

125 I am Your slave; give me understanding and I shall know Your testimonies.

126 It is time for the Lord to act; [or to work, act, celebrate for the Lord] they have scattered Your law to the winds.

127 Therefore I love Your commandments above gold and topaz.

128 And so I am kept straight by all Your commandments; every wrong way I hate.

129 Your testimonies are wonderful! That is why my soul examines them.

130 The explanation of Your words enlightens and instructs children.

131 I open my mouth and draw in the Spirit,  because I long for Your commandments.





Stasis III



132 Look upon me and have mercy on me with the judgment of those who love Your name.

133 Direct my steps according to Your word, and let no lawlessness have dominion over me.

134 Deliver me from the accusations of men, and I will keep Your commandments.

135 Let Your face beam on Your slave and teach me Your requirements.

136 My eyes shed streams of water when I do not keep Your law.

137 You are just, O Lord, and Your judgments are right.

138 You have strictly enjoined as Your testimonies righteousness and truth.

139 Your zeal consumes me,  because my enemies forget Your words.

140 Your word is very fiery, and Your slave loves it.

141 Young and despised as I am, I do not forget Your requirements.

142 Your justice is eternal justice, and Your law is truth.

143 Troubles and sufferings have found me; Your commandments are my meditation.

144 Your testimonies are eternal justice; give me understanding and I shall live.

145 I cried out with my whole heart; answer me, O Lord, I will search out Your requirements.

146 I cried out to You; save me and I will keep Your testimonies.

147 I rose at dead of night and cried out; I set my hope on Your words.

148 My eyes forestalled the dawn, that I might meditate on Your words.

149 Hear my voice, Lord, in Your mercy; by Your judgment give me life.

150 Those bent on lawlessness draw near me, but they are far from Your law.

151 You, O Lord, are near,  and all Your ways are truth.

152 From the beginning I have known from Your testimonies that You have founded them forever.

153 See my humiliation and rescue me, for I have not forgotten Your law.

154 Judge my cause and deliver me;  through Your word, give me life.

155 Salvation is far from sinners because they do not search for Your requirements.

156 Many are Your mercies, O Lord; by Your judgment, give me life.

157 Many trouble and persecute me; I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.

158 I see senseless people and I pine away, because they do not keep Your words.

159 See how I love Your commandments! Revive me, O Lord, in Your mercy.

160 The sum of Your words is truth; and all the judgments of Your justice are forever.

161 Rulers persecute me for no reason, but my heart dreads to be deaf to Your words.

162 I rejoice over Your words like someone finding great spoils.

163 Injustice I hate and abhor, but I love Your law.

164 Seven times a day I praise You for the justice of Your judgments.

165 Great peace is for those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling-block for them.

166 I am expecting Your salvation, O Lord,  and I love Your commandments.

167 My soul has kept Your testimonies, and I love them exceedingly.

168 I have kept Your commandments and Your testimonies, because all my ways are before You, O Lord.

169 Let my need come before You, O Lord; give me understanding according to Your word.

170 Let my prayer enter Your presence, O Lord; deliver me according to Your word.

171 Let my lips burst into song, when You teach me Your requirements.

172 Let my tongue tell of Your words,  for all Your commandments are righteousness.

173 Let Your hand be near to save me, for I have chosen Your commandments.

174 I long for Your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my meditation.

175 My soul will live and will praise You, and Your judgments will help me.

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your slave, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.





KATHISMA 18

Stasis I



Psalm 119

(A Song of Ascents)

1 I call to the Lord in my distress and He answers me.

2 O Lord, deliver my soul from dishonest lips and from a deceitful tongue.

3 What should be given to you and what should be added to you against a deceitful tongue?

4 The arrows of the powerful one sharpened with coals from the desert .

5 Alas for me, that my pilgrimage is prolonged, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

6 My soul has long been on pilgrimage. With those who hate peace, I was peaceful.

7 But when I started talking to them, they began fighting me for no reason.



Psalm 120

(A Song of Ascents)

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains.  From where will my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth.

3 Do not let your foot slip,  and may He not doze who keeps you.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel will not doze or sleep.

5 The Lord will keep you, the Lord is your shelter at your right hand.

6 The sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will guard you from all evil, the Lord will guard your soul.

8 The Lord will guard your coming in and your going out, from now on and forever.



Psalm 121

(A Song of Ascents)

1 I was glad when they said to me:  Let us go to the house of the Lord.  

2 Our feet are standing in your courts, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city where all share together for the same purpose. 

4 For there the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 For there thrones are set for judgment, thrones over the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and prosperity for those who love you.

7 Let peace be in your armed forces and prosperity in your fortresses.

8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors I talk peace regarding you.

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I request good things for you.



Psalm 122

(A Song of Ascents)

1 I lift up my eyes to You, the One Who lives in heaven.

2 Behold, as the eyes of slaves are on the hands of their lords, and as the eyes of a maid [or  slave girl ] are on the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God until He has compassion on us.

3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have had our fill to the full of scorn,

4 our soul is more than filled. Let the reproach be for the prosperous and the contempt for the proud.



Psalm 123

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Except the Lord had been among us, (let Israel now say),

2 Except the Lord had been among us when men rose up against us,

3 they would have swallowed us alive, when their fury raged against us.

4 The water would have drowned us, our soul would have passed through a torrent.

5 Our soul would have passed through irresistible water.

6 Blessed is God Who has not given us up as a prey for their teeth!

7 Our soul like a bird has been saved from the trap of the hunters. The trap has been broken and we have been saved.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.





Stasis II



Psalm 124

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion; one who lives in Jerusalem will never be shaken. 

2 Mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, and the Lord surrounds and protects His people from now and forever.

3 The Lord will not leave the rod of sinners over the realm of the righteous, lest the righteous should stretch out their hands to wrongdoing.

4 Do good, O Lord, to the good, and to those who are straight in heart. 

5 But those who turn aside into crooked ways the Lord will drive away with the evildoers. Peace is upon [also means:  over & with Israel] Israel.



Psalm 125

(A Song of Ascents)

1 When the Lord brought back the captives [Lit.  reversed the captivity... ] of Zion, we were like those who are comforted.

2 Then our mouth was filled with joy and our tongue with exultation. Then they said among the nations:  The Lord has done great things with them. 

3 The Lord has done great things with us; we have become glad.

4 Bring back, O Lord, our captives like torrents in the south.

5 Those who sow in tears will reap with rejoicing.

6 They went walking and wept as they cast their seed.

7 But when they come back, they will come with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves.



Psalm 126

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise at dawn, to get up after sitting late, eating the bread of painful sweat, when He gives His beloved people sleep.

3 Behold, children are the Lord s inheritance; the fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of the exiles.

5 Happy is he who satisfies his desire with them; they will not be ashamed when they talk with their enemies in the gates.



Psalm 127

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.

2 You will eat the fruits of your labors; you will be happy, and it will be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your children like young olive trees around your table.

4 See, this is how a man will be blessed who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion! And may you see the joys of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

6 And may you see your children s children. Peace is upon [also means:  over & with Israel] Israel!



Psalm 128

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Many times they have fought against me from my youth (let Israel now say),

2 Many times they have fought against me from my youth, yet they could not prevail against me.

3 The sinners plowed on my back; they prolonged their iniquity.

4 But the just Lord broke the sinners  necks.

5 Let all who hate Zion be put to shame and confounded.

6 Let them become like grass on the housetops, which withers before it is pulled up,

7 with which no reaper can fill his hand and no one gathering sheaves get an armful.

8 And no passers-by will say to them:  The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord. 





Stasis III



Psalm 129

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice.

2 Let Your ears be attentive to the cry of my prayer.

3 If You, O Lord, should take note of our sins, O Lord, who would survive?

4 But with You there is forgiveness.

5 For Your name s sake, O Lord, I wait for You, my soul waits for Your word,

6 my soul hopes for the Lord, from the morning watch until night. From the morning watch let Israel hope for the Lord.

7 For with the Lord there is mercy and with Him there is great redemption.

8 And He will redeem Israel from all his sins.



Psalm 130

(A Song of Ascents)

1 O Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor have my eyes become lofty, nor do I go in for great matters, nor for wonders beyond me.

2 If I am not humble-minded but lift up my soul like a weaned child against its mother, how You will pay my soul back!

3 Let Israel hope for the Lord, from now and forever.



Psalm 131

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Remember David, O Lord, and all his meekness. 

2 How he swore to the Lord and vowed to the God of Jacob: 

3 I will not enter my house, or go under its roof, or climb onto my bed.

4 I will give no sleep to my eyes, no repose to my eyelids, no rest to my temples,

5 until I find a place for the Lord, a temple for the God of Jacob.

6 Behold, we heard it was in Ephratha, we found it in the fields of the wood.

7 Let us enter His temples, let us worship at the place where His feet have stood.

8 Arise, O Lord, into Your resting place,  You and the ark of Your holiness.

9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness and let Your saints rejoice.

10 For Your servant David s sake, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed One. [or Christ]

11 The Lord swore a truth to David and He will not annul it:  One of your sons I will set on your throne.

12 If your sons will keep My covenant and these testimonies which I will teach them, then their sons forever will sit on your throne.

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it as a dwelling for Himself.

14 This is My rest forever and ever; here I will live, for I have desired it.

15 I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.

16 I will clothe her priests with salvation and her saints will be shouting for joy.

17 There I will make the power [Lit.,  horn . Refers to Christ and the people of God] of David grow. I have prepared a lamp for My Christ.

18 His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on Him My holiness will blossom. 



Psalm 132

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Behold, how good and how delightful it is when brothers live together in unity!

2 It is like the oil of myrrh on the head, which was running down on the beard, on Aaron s beard, which was running down to the edge of his garment.

3 It is like the dew of Hermon which descends on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing: life for all eternity. [Lit.,  Life till ever ]



Psalm 133

(A Song of Ascents)

1 Behold, now bless the Lord, all you servants [or  slaves ] of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

2 In the nights, lift up your hands to the Holy of Holies, and bless the Lord!

3 The Lord Who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion!





KATHISMA 19

Stasis I



Psalm 134

(Alleluia)

1 Praise the name of the Lord, praise the Lord, you servants [or  slaves ] of His

2 who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

3 Praise the Lord, because God is good, sing psalms to His name, for it is beautiful. 

4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession. 

5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

6 The Lord does whatever He chooses in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the depths.

7 He brings up clouds from the end of the earth, He makes lightnings for the rain, He brings winds out of His treasuries.

8 He struck the firstborn of Egypt, of man and beast alike.

9 He sent signs and wonders in the midst of you, O Egypt, on Pharaoh and all his slaves.

10 He struck many nations and killed powerful kings:

11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan.

12 And He gave their land as an inheritance, a possession for His people Israel.

13 O Lord, Your name is eternal and Your memorial from generation to generation.

14 For the Lord will judge His people  and He will be comforted by His servants.

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men s hands.

16 They have mouths but will not talk, they have eyes but will not see,

17 they have ears but will not hear, for there is not a breath in their mouth.

18 Let those who make them become like them  and all who trust in them.

19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!

20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

21 Blessed is the Lord from Zion,  Who lives in Jerusalem.



Psalm 135

(Alleluia)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is eternal.

2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy is eternal.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy is eternal.

4 To Him Who alone does great wonders, for His mercy is eternal.

5 To Him Who made the heavens with understanding, for His mercy is eternal.

6 To Him Who poised the earth on the waters, for His mercy is eternal.

7 To Him Who alone made great lights, for His mercy is eternal.

8 The sun for governing the day, for His mercy is eternal.

9 The moon and the stars for governing the night, for His mercy is eternal.

10 To Him who struck Egypt with their firstborn, for His mercy is eternal.

11 And led out Israel from among them, for His mercy is eternal.

12 With a strong hand and a high arm, for His mercy is eternal.

13 To Him Who divided the Red Sea into parts, for His mercy is eternal.

14 And led Israel through the midst of it, for His mercy is eternal.

15 But shook off Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, for His mercy is eternal.

16 To Him Who led His people in the wilderness, for His mercy is eternal.

17 To Him Who struck great kings, for His mercy is eternal:

18 And killed strong kings, for His mercy is eternal:

19 Sehon, king of the Amorites, for His mercy is eternal.

20 And Og, king of Bashan, for His mercy is eternal.

21 And gave their land as an inheritance, for His mercy is eternal.

22 An inheritance for His servant Israel, for His mercy is eternal.

23 For in our humiliation, [slavery in Egypt] the Lord remembered us for His mercy is eternal.

24 And He delivered us from our enemies, for His mercy is eternal.

25 Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy is eternal.

26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His mercy is eternal.



Psalm 136

(For David, by Jeremiah)

1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows in the midst of it we hung up our instruments.

3 For there those who captured us asked us for songs and those who led us away called for a tune: [or  hymn ]  Sing us some of the songs of Zion. 

4 How shall we sing the Lord s song in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten.

6 May my tongue stick to my throat if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem foremost, as in the beginning of my happiness.

7 Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom on the day of Jerusalem s fall, who said:  Down with it, down with it to its foundations! 

8 O wretched daughter of Babylon!  Blessed is he who repays you for what you did to us. Blessed is he who seizes your children  and dashes them against the Rock. 





STASIS II



Psalm 137

(A Psalm for David by Haggai & Zachariah)

1 I will confess You, O Lord, with my whole heart, and before the angels I will sing praises to You, for You hear all the words of my mouth.

2 I will worship towards Your holy temple and I will confess Your name for Your mercy and truth, for You have magnified Your holy name above every name. 

3 On the day when I call on You, answer me speedily, You will strengthen me with Your power in my soul.

4 Let all the kings of the earth confess You, O Lord, for they have heard all the words of Your mouth.

5 And let them sing among the songs of the Lord,  Great is the glory of the Lord! 

6 For the Lord is high, yet He regards the humble; but the high and haughty He knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me. Against the rage of my enemies You have stretched out Your hand, and Your right hand has saved me.

8 The Lord will repay for me. O Lord, your mercy is eternal! Do not disregard the works of Your hands.



Psalm 138

(For the End.  A Psalm for David by Zachariah in the Dispersion)

1 O Lord, You have tested me and You know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise, You understand my thoughts from afar.

3 You have tracked out my path and my course  and You have foreseen all my ways,

4 for there is no deceiving You with my tongue.

5 Behold, You, O Lord, know everything, the last things and the ancient things. You have created me and laid Your hand upon me.

6 Your knowledge is too wonderful for me; I am powerless before it, I cannot attain to it.

7 Where shall I go from Your Spirit  and where shall I escape from Your Presence?

8 If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to hell, You are present.

9 If I lift my wings and fly to the sunrise and settle on the farthest shores of the sea,

10 even there Your hand will guide me and Your right hand will hold me.

11 And I said,  Surely darkness will trample and hide me.  But even night is light in my indulgence.

12 For darkness hides nothing from You, and night is as light as day. To You the darkness of night is like daylight.

13 You have controlled my strength, [Lit.,  reins, kidneys ] O Lord; You have helped me from my mother s womb.

14 I will confess to You that I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works as my soul knows very well.

15 No bone of mine is hidden from You though made in secret with my person in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed state, and in Your book all men are written. Day by day they are formed, when as yet there are none of them.

17 But to me Your friends are very precious, O God; very strong are their principles.

18 I will count them only to find they are more numerous than the sand. I wake up and I am still with You!

19 If only You would kill sinners, O God! Be gone from me, you men of blood,

20 for you are wranglers in your thoughts. They will take Your cities in vain.

21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord, and do I not waste away over Your enemies?

22 With perfect hatred I hate them; I counted them among my enemies.

23 Test me, O God, and know my heart, examine me and know my paths.

24 And see if there is any wrong way in me, [Lit.,  a way of lawlessness in me ] and guide me on the eternal way.



Psalm 139

(For the end.  A Psalm by David)

1 Rescue me, O Lord, from an evil man;  from an unjust man deliver me.

2 They plan wrongdoing in their heart, and all day long they prepare for war.

3 They make their tongue as sharp as a serpent s, the venom of vipers is under their lips.

4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hand of a sinner; deliver me from unjust men,

5 who plan to trip my steps.

6 The proud hide a trap for me and stretch cords as traps for my feet; they set stumbling-blocks for me across my path.

7 I said to the Lord,  You are my God!  Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my prayer.

8 O Lord God, power of my salvation, You overshadow my head in the day of battle.

9 Do not give me up to a sinner,  O Lord, on account of my desire.

10 They plot against me, do not leave me, lest they should be exalted.

11 The head belongs to the one coiling around them;  the work of their lips will cover them. 

12 Coals will fall on them, You will cast them down in a fire, in miseries they will not survive.

13 A talkative person will not prosper on the earth evils will drive a wrongdoer to destruction.

14 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the poor and the justice of the needy.

15 But the righteous will confess Your name, and those who are straight will live in Your presence.





Stasis III



Psalm 140

(A Psalm by David)

1 O Lord, I cry to You, hear me! Attend to the voice of my prayer when I cry to You.

2 Let my prayer go straight to You like incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, and a door of enclosure and protection around my lips.

4 Do not incline my heart to evil words, to make excuses for sins.

5 With men who practice lawlessness, not even with their chosen ones will I be joined. A just man will correct and rebuke me with mercy, but may the oil of a sinner never anoint my head, because again and again my prayer is against their pleasures.

6 Their judges and kings drown holding rocks: they will hear my words, for they are sweet.

7 As a clod of earth is crushed on the ground, our bones have been scattered beside the grave.

8 For my eyes look to You, O Lord; O Lord, in You I trust, do not take away my life.

9 Keep me from the trap they have set for me and from the snare of the evildoers.

10 Sinners will fall into their own net; I am alone until I pass on. 



Psalm 141

(A Psalm of understanding by David when he was in the cave.  A prayer)

1 I cry to the Lord with my voice, I pray with my voice to the Lord.

2 I will pour out before Him my prayer, I will tell my trouble before Him.

3 When my spirit departs from me, You know my paths.

4 In this way that I was going, they hid a trap for me.

5 I look to the right hand and watch, but there is no one who knows me. Escape is cut off from me, but there is no one seeking my life.

6 I cried to You, O Lord, and said,  You are my hope, You are my portion in the land of the living. 

7 Attend to my prayer, for I have been brought very low. Deliver me from those who are persecuting me, because they are stronger than I am.

8 Bring my soul out of prison that I may confess Your name, The righteous are waiting for me until You reward me.



Psalm 142

(A Psalm by David when his son Absalom hunted him)

1 O Lord, listen [Gk. eisakouein = 1) listen, 2) answer] to my prayer, give ear to my need in Your truth. Answer me in Your righteousness. 

2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, [or  slave ] for in Your sight no one living is righteous. [Lit.,  will be justified ]

3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul, he has humbled my life to the ground. He has made me sit in darkness  like the dead of long ago.

4 And my spirit desponded over me, my heart within me was troubled. 

5 I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Your works, I meditate on the works of Your hands.

6 I stretch out my hands to You, my soul like parched earth thirsts for You.

7 Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit grows faint. Do not turn away Your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the pit.

8 Let me hear Your mercy in the morning, for on You I have set my hope. Make known to me the way I should go, O Lord, For I lift up my soul to You.

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, for I come running to You.

10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your good Spirit will guide me in the straight land. [Cp. Slav. Cp. Ps. 124:4-5 & 144:15; 145:8]

11 Revive me, O Lord, for Your name s sake. In Your justice You will bring my soul out of trouble,

12 and in Your mercy You will put an end to my enemies and destroy all who afflict my soul, for I am Your slave.



 

KATHISMA 20

Stasis I



Psalm 143

(By David, against Goliath)

1 Blessed is the Lord my God, Who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war:

2 my mercy and my refuge, my helper and my deliverer, my protector in Whom I trust, Who subdues my people under me.

3 O Lord, what is man that You are made known to him, or a son of man that You think about him?

4 Man has become like vanity, his days pass by like a shadow. 

5 O Lord, bow the heavens and come down, touch the mountains and they will smoke.

6 Flash lightning and You will scatter them,  shoot Your arrows and You will confuse them. 

7 Send Your hand from on high, rescue me and deliver me from many waters, from the hand of alien sons, 

8 whose mouth talks vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of wrongdoing.

9 O God, I will sing to You a new song, on a ten stringed harp I will sing praises to You,

10 to You Who give salvation and victory to kings, Who delivered Your servant David from the evil sword. 

11 Deliver me and rescue me from the hand of alien sons, whose mouth talks vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of wrongdoing,

12 whose sons are like plants grown-up while young, their daughters decorated and adorned like a temple image.

13 Their barns are full to overflowing with all manner of store. Their sheep are prolific, multiplying in their runs.

14 Their cattle are fat, there is no fallen-down fence, no break-through, no outcry in their streets.

15 They call people happy who have these things! Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.



Psalm 144

(Praise by David)

1 I will lift You on high, my God and my King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and highly to be praised, and of His greatness there is no limit.

4 Generation after generation will praise Your works and they will declare Your power.

5 They will talk of the magnificence of the glory of Your holiness, and they will declare your wonders.

6 And they will tell terrible  tales of Your power and will declare Your greatness.

7 They will spread the memory of Your great goodness and will rejoice in Your justice and righteousness.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, most patient and most merciful.

9 The Lord is good and kind to all, and His compassion is over all His works.

10 Let all Your works praise You, O Lord, and let Your saints bless You.

11 They will tell of the glory of Your Kingdom, and they will talk of Your power,

12 to make known Your power to the sons of men, and the glory of the magnificence of Your Kingdom.

13 Your Kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages, and Your sovereign rule is in all generations.

14 The Lord is faithful in all His words and holy in all His works.

15 The Lord upholds all who are falling and He straightens all who are bent down.

16 The eyes of all look hopefully to You and You give them their food in due season.

17 You open Your hand and fill every living thing with delight and goodwill.

18 The Lord is just in all His ways and holy in all His works.

19 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call on Him in truth.

20 He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer and He will save them.

21 The Lord guards all who love Him, but all the sinners He will destroy.

22 My mouth will tell the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever.





Stasis II



Psalm 145

(Alleluia!  A Psalm of Haggai and Zachariah)

1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord all my life, I will sing psalms to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not trust in rulers, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.

4 Man s spirit goes out and he returns to his earth; on that day all his thoughts and projects perish.

5 Blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.

6 Who made heaven and earth,  the sea and all the things in them, Who keeps His promise forever,

7 Who does justice for those who are wronged, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord releases prisoners.

8 The Lord makes wise the blind, the Lord straightens those who are bent down, the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord guards the converts,  He supports the orphan and the widow, but the way of sinners He will destroy.

10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.



Psalm 146

(Alleluia!  A Psalm of Haggai and Zachariah)

1 Praise the Lord, for singing psalms is good; may our praise delight our God.

2 The Lord is building Jerusalem, and He will gather the dispersed of Israel. 

3 He heals those who are brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

4 He counts the multitudes of the stars, and He calls them all by their names.

5 Great is our Lord and great is His strength, and His understanding is beyond all telling. [tell = count, i.e., telling by beads]

6 The Lord lifts up the meek, but He humbles sinners to the ground.

7 Begin with confession to the Lord, sing with a harp to our God,

8 Who clothes the sky with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass spring up on the mountains  and vegetation for the service of men,

9 Who gives their food to the animals and to the young ravens that call upon Him.

10 He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse,  nor delights in a person s legs.

11 The Lord delights in those who fear Him and in all who hope for His mercy.



Psalm 147

(Alleluia!  A Psalm of Haggai and Zachariah)

1 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

2 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your children within you.

3 He makes peace in your borders and fills you with the best of wheat.

4 He sends His command to the earth, His word runs very swiftly.

5 He gives snow like wool, He sprinkles frost like ashes.

6 He hurls His hail like crumbs; who will stand against His cold?

7 He sends His word and melts ice and snow; He blows His wind and the waters flow.

8 He makes known His word to Jacob, His requirements and judgments to Israel. 

9 He has not dealt like this with every nation,  and He has not made His judgments clear to them.





Stasis III



Psalm 148

(Alleluia!  A Psalm of Haggai and Zachariah)

1 Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest, [or  heights ]

2 Praise Him, all you angels of His, praise Him all His hosts.

3 Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars and light.

4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens and you water that is above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He spoke and they were born, He commanded and they were created.

6 He has fixed them forever and ever. He has made a law and it will not be bypassed.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all depths, [depths of hell, darkness, sea, etc.]

8 fire, hail, snow, ice, the storm wind, all obeying His word,

9 all you mountains and hills, all you fruit trees and cedars,

10 you wild beasts and all cattle, reptiles and winged birds,

11 you kings of the earth and all peoples, all you rulers and judges of the earth;

12 young men and virgins, old men and children,

13 let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name only is exalted; His praise [or  confession ] is above heaven and earth.

14 And He will exalt the power [Lit.,  horn ] of His people. This is a song for all His saints, for the children of Israel, for people drawing near to Him. 



Psalm 149

(Alleluia)

1 Sing to the Lord a new song! Let His praise be sung in the church of the saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in Him Who made him, and let the children of Zion exult in their King.

3 Let them praise His name with dancing, let them sing to Him with drum and harp.

4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people and will exalt the meek with His salvation.

5 The saints will exult in glory, and they will rejoice on their beds.

6 The high praises of God will be in their throat and two-edged swords in their hands,

7 to pass judgment on the nations and give rebukes among the peoples,

8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron,

9 to pass judgment on them as God has written. This glory will be for all His saints.



Psalm 150

(Alleluia)

1 Praise God in His saints, praise Him in the expanse of His power.

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts, praise Him for His infinite greatness.

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, praise Him with psaltery and harp.

4 Praise Him with drum and dancing, praise Him with strings and bells.

5 Praise Him with well-tuned cymbals, praise Him with cymbals of victory!

6 Let every breath praise the Lord!



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Psalm 151

THIS PSALM IS NEVER READ IN CHURCH

(This Psalm in his own handwriting was written by David when he fought in single combat with Goliath)

1 I was the smallest of my brothers, and the youngest in my father s house; I tended my father s sheep.

2 My hands made a musical instrument, and my fingers played a psaltery.

3 But who will tell my Lord? My Lord Himself hears.

4 He sent His angel and took me from my father s sheep and anointed me with the oil of His unction.

5 My brothers were tall and handsome, but the Lord took no delight in them.

6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.

7 But I drew his own sword and beheaded him, and removed reproach from the sons of Israel.