The Psalms of David
Day 9. Morning Prayer
Psalm 44.
Deus, auribus
We have heard with
our ears, O God, our fathers have told us : what thou hast done in
their time of old;
2 How thou
hast driven out the heathen with thy hand, and planted them in :
how thou hast destroyed the nations and cast them out.
3 For they
gat not the land in possession through their own sword : neither
was it their own arm that helped them;
4 But thy
right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance :
because thou hadst a favour unto them.
5 Thou art my
King, O God : send help unto Jacob.
6 Through
thee will we overthrow our enemies : and in thy Name will we tread
them under, that rise up against us.
7 For I will
not trust in my bow : it is not my sword that shall help me;
8 But it is
thou that savest us from our enemies : and puttest them to
confusion that hate us.
9 We make our
boast of God all day long : and will praise thy Name for ever.
10 But now
thou art far off, and puttest us to confusion : and goest not forth
with our armies.
11 Thou
makest us to turn our backs upon our enemies : so that they which
hate us spoil our goods.
12 Thou
lettest us be eaten up like sheep : and hast scattered us among the
heathen.
13 Thou
sellest thy people for nought : and takest no money for them.
14 Thou
makest us to be rebuked of our neighbours : to be laughed to scorn,
and had in derision of them that are round about us.
15 Thou
makest us to be a by-word among the heathen : and that the people
shake their heads at us.
16 My
confusion is daily before me : and the shame of my face hath
covered me;
17 For the
voice of the slanderer and blasphemer: for the enemy and
avenger.
18 And though
all this be come upon us, yet do we not forget thee : nor behave
ourselves frowardly in thy covenant.
19 Our heart
is not turned back : neither our steps gone out of thy way;
20 No, not
when thou hast smitten us into the place of dragons : and covered
us with the shadow of death.
21 If we have
forgotten the Name of our God, and holden up our hands to any
strange god : shall not God search it out? for he knoweth the very
secrets of the heart.
22 For thy
sake also are we killed all the day long : and are counted as sheep
appointed to be slain.
23 Up, Lord,
why sleepest thou : awake, and be not absent from us for ever.
24 Wherefore
hidest thou thy face : and forgettest our misery and trouble?
25 For our
soul is brought low, even unto the dust : our belly cleaveth unto
the ground.
26 Arise, and
help us : and deliver us for thy mercy's sake.
Psalm 45.
Eructavit cor meum
My heart is inditing
of a good matter : I speak of the things which I have made unto the
King.
2 My tongue
is the pen : of a ready writer.
3 Thou art
fairer than the children of men : full of grace are thy lips,
because God hath blessed thee for ever.
4 Gird thee
with thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty : according to
thy worship and renown.
5 Good luck
have thou with thine honour : ride on, because of the word of
truth, of meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall
teach thee terrible things.
6 Thy arrows
are very sharp, and the people shall be subdued unto thee : even in
the midst among the King's enemies.
7 Thy seat, O
God, endureth for ever : the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right
sceptre.
8 Thou hast
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity : wherefore God, even thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows.
9 All thy
garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia : out of the ivory
palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
10 Kings'
daughters were among thy honourable women : upon thy right hand did
stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about with divers
colours.
11 Hearken, O
daughter, and consider, incline thine ear : forget also thine own
people, and thy father's house.
12 So shall
the King have pleasure in thy beauty : for he is thy Lord God, and
worship thou him.
13 And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift : like as the rich also
among the people shall make their supplication before thee.
14 The King's
daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought
gold.
15 She shall
be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work : the virgins
that be her fellows shall bear her company, and shall be brought
unto thee.
16 With joy
and gladness shall they be brought : and shall enter into the
King's palace.
17 Instead of
thy fathers thou shalt have children: whom thou mayest make princes
in all lands.
18 I will
remember thy Name from one generation to another : therefore shall
the people give thanks unto thee, world without end.
Psalm 46.
Deus noster refugium
God is our hope and
strength : a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore
will we not fear, though the earth be moved : and though the hills
be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the
waters thereof rage and swell : and though the mountains shake at
the tempest of the same.
4 The rivers
of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God : the holy
place of the tabernacle of the most Highest.
5 God is in
the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed : God shall
help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen
make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved : but God hath shewed his
voice, and the earth shall melt away.
7 The Lord of
hosts is with us : the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 O come
hither, and behold the works of the Lord : what destruction he hath
brought upon the earth.
9 He maketh
wars to cease in all the world : he breaketh the bow, and knappeth
the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.
10 Be still
then, and know that I am God : I will be exalted among the heathen,
and I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord
of hosts is with us : the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Text from The Book of Common Prayer, the
rights in which are vested in the Crown,
is reproduced by permission of the Crown's Patentee, Cambridge
University Press.