Tenth Kathisma

Psalm 70

In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be put to shame: in thy righteousness deliver me, and redeem me: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou unto me for a defending God, and for a place of strength to save me: thou art my foundation and my refuge. O my God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, from the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the wrongdoer: for thou art my patience, O Lord, O Lord, my hope from my youth. On thee have I been established from birth, from my mother’s womb thou art my Protector; of thee will I sing continually. For I am become a wonder to many, but thou art my mighty Helper. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, O Lord, that I may hymn thy glory, thy magnifi cence all the day long. Cast me not off in time of old age; when my strength shall fail, do not forsake me. For mine enemies spake against me, and they that watched my soul took coun sel together, saying, God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him. O my God, be not far from me; O my God, attend to my help. Let them be ashamed and confounded that belie my soul, let them be covered with shame and disgrace that seek evils for me. But I will hope in thee always, and I will add to all thy praise. My mouth shall declare thy truth, thy salvation all the day long, for I knew not of books. I will enter into the power of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of the righteousness that is thine alone. O my God, what thou hast taught me from my youth, and up to now, I will declare thy wonders. And even unto old age and extreme eld, O my God, forsake me not, till I proclaim thine arm to all the generation to come; thy power and thy righteousness, O God, even unto the highest, what great things thou hast done for me. O God, who is like unto thee? as great as the many and evil afflictions thou hast shown me? Yet turning, thou hast brought me to life, and from the depths of the earth hast thou brought me up. Thou hast heaped upon me thy greatness, and turning thou hast comforted me, and again from the depths of the earth hast thou brought me up. For I will confess thee among the peoples, O Lord, thy truth upon the instruments of psalmody; O God, I will sing to thee upon the harp, the Holy One of Israel. My lips shall rejoice when I sing to thee, and my soul, which thou hast delivered: yea and my tongue shall meditate upon thy righteousness all the day long, when they are ashamed and disgraced that seek evils for me.

Psalm 71

O God, give thy judgment to the king, and thy righteousness to the king’s son: to judge thy people in righteous ness, and thy poor in judgment. Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and the hills righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, and save the sons of the poor, and humble him that speaketh calumnies. And He shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, from generation to generation. He shall come down like rain upon the fleece, and like showers falling upon the earth. In his days shall spring up righteous ness, and an abundance of peace, until the moon shall be taken away. And He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the whole world. Before him shall the Ethiopians fall down, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts. And all the kings of the earth shall worship him; all the 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 the souls of the poor shall He save: from usury and from iniquity shall He save their souls, and their names shall be honorable before him. And He shall live, and to him shall be given all the gold of Arabia, and they shall pray to him continually; they shall bless him all the day long. There shall be a firmament upon the earth on the mountaintops: its fruits shall be exalted more than Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. His name shall be blessed for ever, before the sun shall his name continue: and in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, all the nations shall bless him. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone doeth wonders, and blessed be the name of his glory for ever and unto ages of ages: and all the earth shall be filled with his glory. So be it. So be it.

Psalm 72

How good is God to Israel! to them that are upright in heart. But my feet were almost moved, my steps were almost overthrown, for I was jealous of the transgressors, seeing the peace of the sinners. For there is no misfortune in their death, but resolution under the scourge: they are not in trouble like men, nor do they receive the scourge like men. For this cause pride hath held them to the end: they have robed themselves with their unrighteousness and their impiety. As from fatness their unrighteousness went forth, they passed over into a longing of the heart. They meditated and spake in wicked ness, they spake unrighteousness on high: they set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue passed through to the earth. For this cause shall my people return hither, 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 sinners and they that prosper always, they have amassed wealth. And I said: Therefore in vain I justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent: and I was a wounded man all the day long, and my reproofs were in the mornings. If I said I shall speak thus: behold, I had offended against the genera tion of thy sons. And I thought to understand: this is a labor before me, till I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand their fates. But for their deceits, thou hast set evils for them; thou hast cast them down, when they were lifted up. How they were brought to desolation! they vanished suddenly, they perished by reason of their transgression. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord, in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing. For my heart was inflamed, my reins were changed: and I was brought to nothing, and understood it not; I became like a beast to thee. And I am with thee always: thou hast held me by my right hand, thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and with glory hast thou received me. What is there for me in heaven? and what apart from thee have I desired upon the earth? My heart and my flesh have failed, O God of my heart, and thou, O God, art my portion forever. For behold, they that remove themselves from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed every one that goes a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near unto God, to put my trust in the Lord, that I may proclaim all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

Psalm 73

Why, O God, hast thou cast us off till the end? why is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning: thou hast redeemed the scepter of thine inheritance, this Mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy hands against their pride till the end, forasmuch as the enemy did evil in thy sanctuary. And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast: they have set up their ensigns for signs, and they knew not, as in the entrance above: as with axes in a wood of trees have they cut down its doors at once: they have destroyed them with hatchet and pickaxe. With fire have they burned down thy sanctuary; they have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name upon the earth. They said in their hearts, their whole kindred together: Come and let us abolish the festivals of God from the land. Our signs we have not seen: henceforth there is no prophet, and He shall know us no more. How long, O Lord, shall the enemy reproach? shall the adversary provoke thy name for ever? Why dost thou turn away thy hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom till the end? But God is our King before the ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst establish the sea by thy might: thou didst crush the heads of dragons in the waters: thou hast broken the head of the dragon, thou hast given him as meat to the people of Ethiopia. Thou didst break up fountains and torrents: thou didst dry up the rivers of Etham. Thine is the day, and thine the night: thou hast pre pared the dawn and the sun. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring, thou hast created them. Remember this: the enemy reproached the Lord, and a foolish people hath provoked thy name. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess thee: forget not the souls of thy poor ones till the end. Look down upon thy covenant: for the dark places of the earth are filled with houses of iniquity. Let not the humble be turned back in shame: the poor and needy shall praise thy name. Arise, O God, judge thine own cause: remember thy reproaches, those from the foolish man all the day long. Forget not the voice of thy supplicants: the pride of them that hate thee riseth up continually.

Psalm 74

We will confess thee, O God, we will confess thee and call upon thy name: I will declare all thy wonders. When I have time, I will judge in uprightness. The earth is dissolved, and all those that dwell on it; I have established its pillars. I said to the transgressors, Transgress not; and to the sinners, Lift not up the horn. Raise not up your horn on high, and speak not unrighteousness to God: for it is neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert mountains. For God is Judge; He humbleth one, and He lifteth up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is mixed a cup of unmingled wine, and He hath turned it from side to side: but the dregs thereof are not poured out, all the sinners of the earth shall drink. But I will rejoice for ever, I will sing to the God of Jacob: and I will break all the horns of sinners, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Psalm 75

In Judæa is God known; in Israel, great is his name. And his place came to be in peace, and his dwelling in Zion. There He broke the power of bows, the shield and the sword and the battle. Thou dost wonderfully shine forth from the eternal mountains. All the foolish of heart were troubled: they slept their sleep, and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, all the riders of horses fell asleep. Thou art terrible, and who shall withstand thee? from thence is thine anger. Thou hast made judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Therefore the thought of man shall confess thee, and the remnants of his thought shall celebrate thee. Pray ye, and render unto the Lord our God: all that are round about him shall bring gifts, even to him that is terrible, and taketh away the spirit from princes, to him that is more terrible than kings of the earth.

Psalm 76

With my voice did I cry unto the Lord, yea, with my voice unto God, and He hearkened unto me. In the day of my tribulation I sought out God, with my hands by night before him, and was not deceived: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and rejoiced; I discoursed, and my spirit fainted. Mine eyes came before the watches: I was troubled, and spake not. I pondered the days of old, and I remembered eternal years, and I meditated: at night with my heart I discoursed, and I searched out my soul: will God cast me out forever, and will He never again be favorable? Or will He cut off his mercy forever, will the word pass away from generation to generation? Will God forget to be compassionate? or in his wrath will He withold his compassions? 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 from the beginning I will remember thy wonders, and I will meditate upon all thy works, and discourse upon thy doings. O God, thy way is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art God who doest wonders: thou hast made known thy power among the peoples. With thine arm hast thou delivered thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and they were afraid: the deeps were troubled, great was the resounding noise of the waters: the clouds gave forth sound, for thine arrows passed afar. The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind, thy lightning illu minated the whole world: the earth moved and was shaken. Thy ways are in the sea, and thy paths in great waters, and thy footsteps shall not be known. Thou hast guided thy people as sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. The hymns of David, son of Jesse, are come to an end