The Psalter of David

Twelfth Kathisma

Psalm 85

A Prayer to David Himself.

Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day. Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition. I have called upon thee in the day of my trouble: because thou hast heard me. There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord: and there is none according to thy works. All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name. For thou art great and dost wonderful things: thou art God alone. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever: for thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell. O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their eyes. And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and true. O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.

Psalm 86

To the Children of Core, a Psalm of Canticle.

The foundations thereof are the holy mountains: The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her. The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her. The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.

Psalm 87

A Canticle of a Psalm, to the Cchildren of Core, Unto the End, for Maheleth to Answer, of Understanding to Eman the Ezrahite.

O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee. Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition. For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell. I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help, free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in the shadow of death. Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth: my eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee? Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee. Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me? I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled. Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me. They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together. Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.

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 88

Of Understanding to Ethan the Ezrahite.

The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation. For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them. I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant: Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation. The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints. For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God? God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee. Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof. Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies. Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded: The north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name: Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted: justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face: Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance: and in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted. For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel. Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people. I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him. For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him. And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him. And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven. And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments: if they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments: I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with stripes. But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail. Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void. Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: His seed shall endure for ever. And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven. But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with my anointed. Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth. Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear. All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours. Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle. Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground. Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion. How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire? Remember what my substance is: for hast thou made all the children of men in vain? Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell? Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth? Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations: Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.

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 89

A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God.

Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation. Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God. Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be converted, O ye sons of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night, things that are counted nothing, shall their years be. In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither. For in thy wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in thy indignation. Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes: our life in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered as a spider: The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be corrected. Who knoweth the power of thy anger, and for thy fear can number thy wrath? So make thy right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long? and be entreated in favour of thy servants. We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days. We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils. Look upon thy servants and upon their works: and direct their children. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do thou direct.

Psalm 90

Praise of a Canticle to David.

He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust. For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word. He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust. His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night. Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked. Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge. There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling. For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name. He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him. I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my salvation.

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

I did not strive for the repentance of the Publican. I have not the tears of the sinful woman, and am not worthy of such correction because of the hardness of mine heart. But Thou, O Lord, in thy mercy save me.

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

O Christ our God, Who knowest the things that are hidden, O unrelenting Judge, deliver me from the firey torment, for Thou alone art merciful.

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

For the Church of God thou wert far greater than the heavenly hosts, O blessed Mother of God, who didst bear Christ, the Saviour of our souls.

Lord, have mercy. 40.

Thou, O loving Master, hast created me and hast accorded unto me a free will. Unmindful of thy dominion, I have over-stepped myself, I have broken thy commandments, and I have succumbed to the cruel captivity of the devil who did teach to me every sin and evil habit. Yet Thou, O Lord my God, hast tolerated me, awaiting my repentance. Thou didst not let me die whiles I was in sin. And so, aware of thy mercy, I dare to offer this prayer to Thee with soiled lips. Thou hast saved a multitude of sinners; do Thou save me as well! They are thy creatures and I too am thy creation.

Though my sins have numbed me, I in my wretchedness do trust in thy mercy, Lord, and do implore Thee: Remove Thou my choices from me, for all my choosing is for doing wrong. I have realized that of myself I can do nothing unless Thou dost sustain me by thy grace and give me understanding.

Animals, beasts, and the birds of the sky have no free will but exist in the way Thou hast made them. Thou didst fashion me without flaw, but in following my desired I have defiled myself completely. Thou didst bestow free choice on man; confer it not on me because by habit I am worse than a beast even though by nature I am a man.

Alas, before Thee I have been worse than an animal. However, do not Thou measure me by mine evil deeds, but grant unto me the time to assess myself. Open the doors of repentance for me. Convert me from lawlessness, for I am held captive by the condemnation of sin. Draw me out of the filthy pit of sin, O Jesus Christ, Light of those in darkness; illumine me in whom the light has been extinguished. O Physician of the sick, pour wine and oil upon mine hidden woulds and heal them. Bind my sores. Clean the record of my sins with thy cleansing mercy. Grant me dread of Thee, O Lord, that I may always have fear and obey thy will so that I may be cleansed of sin and, unhampered by the enemy, joyfully sing the praise of God glorified in the Trinity, 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.