The Psalter of David

Tenth Kathisma

Psalm 70

A Psalm for David, of the Sons of Jonadab, and the Former Captives.

In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion: Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust. For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth. By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother’s womb thou art my protector. Of thee I shall continually sing: I am become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper. Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory; thy greatness all the day long. Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me. For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my soul have consulted together, saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him. O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help. Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and blame that seek my hurt. But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise. My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not known learning, I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone. Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works. And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power, and thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee? How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth: Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou hast comforted me. For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed. Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.

Psalm 71

Concerning Solomon.

Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king’s son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment. Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice. He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor. And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth. In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away. And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground. The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts: And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor. He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day. And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things. And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.

The praises of David, the son of Jesse are ended.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God. 3., with bows.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.

Psalm 72

A Psalm to Asaph.

How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart! But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped. Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners. For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes. They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men. Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness. Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart. They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high. They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth. Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them. And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they have obtained riches. And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent. And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings. If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children. I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight: Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends. But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing. For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed: And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not. I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee. Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me. For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee. But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

Psalm 73

Understanding to Asaph.

O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs, and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees, they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down. They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth. They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land. Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more. How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever? Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever? But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians. Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers. Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee. Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity. Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name. Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God. 3., with bows.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.

Psalm 74

Unto the End, Corrupt Not, a Psalm of Canticle to Asasph.

We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works: When I shall take a time, I will judge justices. The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof. I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn. Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills: for God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up: for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink. But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob. And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.

Psalm 75

Unto the End, in Praises, a Psalm to Asaph, a Canticle to the Assyrians.

In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel. And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion: there hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battle. Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills. All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback. Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy wrath. Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still, when God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible, even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

Psalm 76

Unto the End, for Idithun, a Psalm to Asaph.

I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. In the days of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away. My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not. I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit. Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again? Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation? Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies? And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High. I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions. Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God? Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations: With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass: the voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known. Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God. 3., with bows.

Trisagion

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. 3., with bows.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, cleanse us from our sins. O Master, forgive our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Penitential Troparia.

Overlook not, O Lord, O righteous Judge, the work of thine hands. Forsake me not though I have sinned not merely more than a few men, but more than all men. Thou, O God, O merciful Lord, hast all power to forgive sins.

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

The end, O my soul, cometh; it is at hand. Art thou not concerned and dost thou not prepare? Time is short. Move thyself, for the Judge is at the door! Life fades like a shadow, a flower, and a dream. Why, O soul, is our concern so mindless?

Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.

I have been ever away of my spiritual collapse and how I did offend thy patience. I was bereft of all good and did deserve all punishment. But lead me up, wretch that I am, O all-merciful Lord, on account of the Mother of God.

Lord, have mercy. 40.

O Lord, rich in mercy and ineffably kind, Who alone by nature wert sinless, Who became a man like unto us in all things but sin, at this time hear my anguished plea, for I am lowly and poor in good works, and my heart within me is disturbed.

Thou knowest, O King on high, Lord of heaven and earth, that I did spend all my youth in sin and did live according to my lustful flesh, becoming the joke of demons. I had lived according to the ways of the devil, and had wallowed in the mire of lust. In my youth was I sullied in mind and remain so now. Never did I desire to do thy will; I was held captive by passions which did assail me. I did become a joke and a mocker for demons and did never think upon how unrelenting Thou art in denouncing sinners and the fires of Gehenna which await them. At this point did I fall into despair and did lose the sense of repentance. I was empty and deprived of thy friendship.

Was there any sin which I did not commit? Any devilish deed which I did not perform? I was quickly ready to perform every kind of sinful and shameful act.

I did pollute my mind with carnal thoughts, I did sully my body with impurities, and I did defile my soul with misadventures. I did delight in indulging every member of my wretched body, and I did enslave myself to sin. Who would not grieve over me in my misery? Who would not weep over me in my condemned state?

For I alone did arouse thine anger, O Master. I alone did enflame thy wrath against me. I alone did perform evil before Thee. I did exceed and surpass all the sinners of all times, and I was unequalled in sinning unforgiveably.

But because Thou art most merciful and kind of heart, O loving Lord, and dost await the conversion of men, behold I too cast myself before thine awesome and terrible tribunal, and embrace thy most pure feet, crying out from the depths of my soul unto Thee: Cleanse me, O Lord! Forgive me, O Rehabilitator! Shew mercy to my repentance; convert me from straying. Embrace me in my conversion and forgive me as I make my plea.

Thou didst establish penance not for the righteous, nor forgiveness for those who had never sinned. Yet Thou didst provide penance for my sins through which I incurred thy displeasure.

Naked and unclad I stand before Thee, O Lord, Who dost see the heart, and I confess my sins. I can not een raise mine eyes to look up to heaven because I have been bowed down by the weight of my sins. Illumine the eyes of mine heart and grant me true contrition and humility of heart to amend myself so that with firm hope and real confidence I may enter the life to come ever giving glory to thine all holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Come let us worship God our King. Bow.
Come let us worship Christ, our King and our God. Bow.
Come let us worship and fall down before the very Lord Jesus Christ, our King and our God. Bow.