Psalm CIX. 1-7.

He hath made His ways known to Moses: His will unto the children of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful: long-suffering and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always be angry: nor will He threaten for ever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth: so He hath strengthened His mercy towards them that fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west: so far hath He removed our iniquities from us.

As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear Him for He knoweth whereof we are made.

He remembereth that we are but dust: man's days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he flourish.

For the spirit shall pass over it, and it shall not be: and one shall know its place no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear Him:

And His justice unto his children's children: unto such as keep His covenant,

And are mindful of His commandments: to do them.

The Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven: and His kingdom shall rule over all.

Bless the Lord, all ye His angels: you that are mighty in strength, and execute His word, hearkening to the voice of His words.

Bless the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye ministers of His that do His will.

Bless the Lord, all His works: in every place of His dominion bless the Lord, O my soul.

SECT. CXXIV. CHRIST'S EXALTATION AND EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD.

THE LORD said to my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand:
Until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool:*

The Lord will send forth the sceptre of Thy power out of
Sion rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.

:

With Thee shall be dominion in the day of Thy power, amid the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day-star I begot Thee.

*This passage is quoted by our Lord (Matt. xxii.) as a prophecy of David concerning the Messias.

The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.*

The Lord upon thy right hand: hath overthrown kings in the day of His wrath.

He shall judge among nations, He shall fill them with ruins: He shall smite in sunder the heads in the land of many.

lift

He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall He
up His head.

SECT. CXXV. GOD IS THE KEEPER OF HIS SERVANTS.

I HAVE lifted up mine eyes to the mountains: from whence Psalm my help shall come.

My help is from the Lord: who made heaven and earth.

Let Him not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let Him

slumber that keepeth thee.

Behold He that keepeth Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord preserve thy soul.

May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out from henceforth now and for ever.

SECT. CXXVI. A PRAYER FOR THE FULFILLING OF THE PROMISE MADE

TO DAVID.

O LORD, remember David: and all his meekness.

CXX. 1-8.

Psalm

How he swore to the Lord: he vowed a vow to the God of CXXXI. Jacob.+

If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house if I shall go up into my bed.

If I shall give sleep to my eyes: or slumber to mine eyelids,

Or rest unto the temples of my head: until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata: we have found it in the fields of the wood.

* S. Paul applies this to our Lord: So Christ also did not glorify Himself that He might be made a high-priest: but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech. Heb. v. Melchisedech was a type of our Lord as a priest. See p. 16.

This vow may have been made after the pestilence. See section lxix.

1-18.

We will go into His tabernacle: we will adore in the place where His feet have stood.

Arise, O Lord, into Thy resting-place: Thou and the ark 'which Thou hast sanctified.

Let Thy priests be clothed with justice: and let Thy saints rejoice.

For Thy servant David's sake: turn not away the face of Thine Anointed.

The Lord hath sworn the truth to David, and He will not make it void of the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy throne.

If thy children will keep My covenant: and these My testimonies which I shall teach them:

Their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore : For the Lord hath chosen Sion: He hath chosen it for His dwelling.

This is My rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen her.

With blessing I will bless her widows: I will satisfy her poor with bread.

I will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall rejoice with exceeding joy.

There will I bring forth a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for Mine Anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with confusion: but upon him shall My sanctification flourish.

SECT. CXXVII. THE LAMENTATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THEIR
CAPTIVITY IN BABYLON.

Psalm UPON the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when CXXXVI. we remembered Sion.

1-9.

On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our harps. For there they that led us into captivity, required of us the words of songs.

And they that carried us away said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.

How shall we sing the song of the Lord: in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem: let my right hand be forgotten.

Let my tongue cleave to my jaws: if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem: the beginning of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom: in the day of Jerusalem :*

* The Idumeans aided the Babylonians in the overthrow of Jerusalem. Kenrick.

Who say: Down with it, down with it, even to the foundation thereof.

O miserable daughter of Babylon: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee the payment which thou hast paid us.

Blessed shall he be that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.

SECT. CXXVIII. GOD'S SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER HIS SERVANTS.

LORD, Thou hast proved me, and known me:

Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line Thou hast searched out.

And Thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.

Behold, O Lord, Thou hast known all things, the newest and those of old: Thou hast formed me, and hast laid Thy hand upon me.

Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.

Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy face?

If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: if I descend into hell, Thou art present.

:

If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:

Even there also shall Thy hand lead me: and Thy right hand shall hold me.

And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.

But darkness shall not be dark to Thee, and night shall be light as the day: the darkness thereof and the light thereof are alike to Thee.

For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.

I will praise Thee, for Thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knoweth them right well.

My bone is not hidden from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in Thy book all shall be written days shall be formed, and no one in them. But to me Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable their principality is exceedingly strengthened.

I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up, and am still with Thee.

Psalm CXXXVIII, 1-24.

Psalm

If Thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

Because you say in thought: They shall receive Thy cities. in vain.

Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated Thee: and pined away because of Thine enemies?

I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are be

come enemies to me.

Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.

:

And see if there be in me the way of iniquity and lead me in the eternal way.

SECT. CXXIX. AN EXHORTATION TO PRAISE GOD FOR HIS BENEFITS.

PRAISE ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises: to our CXLVI.1-11. God be joyful and comely praise.

The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: He will gather together the dispersed of Israel.

Who healeth the broken of heart: and bindeth up their bruises.

Who telleth the number of the stars: and calleth them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and great is His power: and of His wisdom there is no measure.

The Lord lifteth up the meek and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.

Sing ye to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp.

Who covereth the heaven with clouds: and prepareth rain for the earth.

Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains: and herbs for the service of men.

Who giveth to beasts their food and to the young ravens that call upon Him.

He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him: and in them that hope in His mercy.