The Psalms of David
Day 16. Morning Prayer
Psalm 79.
Deus, venerunt
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance : thy holy temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the air : and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the land.
3 Their blood have they shed like water on every side of Jerusalem : and there was no man to bury them.
4 We are become an open shame to our enemies : a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us.
5 Lord, how long wilt thou be angry : shall thy jealousy burn like fire for ever?
6 Pour out thine indignation upon the heathen that have not known thee : and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy Name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob : and laid waste his dwelling-place.
8 O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon : for we are come to great misery.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory
of thy Name : O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins, for thy Name's sake.
10 Wherefore do the heathen say : Where is now their God?
11 O let the vengeance of thy servants' blood that is shed : be openly shewed upon the heathen in our sight.
12 O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee : according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die.
13 And for the blasphemy wherewith our neighbours have blasphemed thee : reward thou them, O Lord, seven-fold into their bosom.
14 So we, that are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever : and will alway be shewing forth thy praise from generation to generation.
Psalm 80.
Qui regis Israel
Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep : shew thyself also, thou that sittest upon the cherubims.
2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses : stir up thy strength, and come, and help us.
3 Turn us again, O God : shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
4 O Lord God of hosts : how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth?
5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears : and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink.
6 Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours : and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7 Turn us again, thou God of hosts : shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt : thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9 Thou madest room for it : and when it had taken root it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it : and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees.
11 She stretched out her branches unto the sea : and her boughs unto the river.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedge : that all they that go by pluck off her grapes?
13 The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up: and the wild beasts of the field devour it.
14 Turn thee again, thou God of hosts, look down from heaven : behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the place of the vineyard that thy right hand hath planted : and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself.
16 It is burnt with fire, and cut down : and they shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand : and upon the son of man, whom thou madest so strong for thine own self.
18 And so will not we go back from thee : O let us live, and we shall call upon thy Name.
19 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts : shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
Psalm 81.
Exultate Deo
Sing we merrily unto God our strength : make a cheerful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take the psalm, bring hither the tabret : the merry harp with the lute.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon : even in the time appointed, and upon our solemn feast-day.
4 For this was made a statute for Israel : and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony : when he came out of the land of Egypt, and had heard a strange language.
6 I eased his shoulder from the burden : and his hands were delivered from making the pots.
7 Thou calledst upon me in troubles, and I delivered thee : and heard thee what time as the storm fell upon thee.
8 I proved thee also : at the waters of strife.
9 Hear, O my people, and I will assure thee, O Israel : if thou wilt hearken unto me,
10 There shall no strange god be in thee : neither shalt thou worship any other god.
11 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt : open thy mouth wide, and I shall fill it.
12 But my people would not hear my voice : and Israel would not obey me.
13 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts: and let them follow their own imaginations.
14 O that my people would have hearkened unto me : for if Israel had walked in my ways,
15 I should soon have put down their enemies : and turned my hand against their adversaries.
16 The haters of the Lord should have been found liars : but their time should have endured for ever.
17 He should have fed them also with the finest wheat-flour : and with honey out of the stony rock should I have satisfied thee.
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.
