Fifteenth Kathisma

Psalm 105

O confess unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is forever. Who shall speak of the powers of the Lord? Who shall make all his praises to be heard? Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do righteousness at all times. Remember us, O Lord, with thy goodwill to thy people, and look upon us with thy salvation; that we may see the good of thine elect, that we may be glad in the gladness of thy nation, that we may be praised with thine inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers, we have transgressed, we have wrought unrigh teousness; our fathers in Egypt understood not thy wonders and remembered not the multitude of thy mercies, and they provoked thee as they went up to the Red Sea. And He saved them for his name’s sake, to make known his power. And He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, and He guided them through the abyss as in a desert. And He saved them from the hand of them that hated them, and He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The water covered them that afflicted them; there was not one of them left. And they believed his words and sang his praises. They were quick and forgot his deeds, and they waited not for his counsel; and they desired with desire in the desert, and they tempted God in a water less place. And He granted their petition and sent fulness into their souls. And they provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and covered the congregation of Abiron. And a fire was kindled in their congregation, and a flame burned up the sinners. And they made a calf in Horeb; and they worshipped the graven thing. And they changed their glory for the likeness of a calf that eateth grass. And they forgot God who had saved them, who did mighty things in Egypt, wondrous things in the land of Ham, fearful things in the Red Sea. And He said that He would have destroyed them, had not Moses his chosen one stood before him in the breach, to turn away the wrath of his displeasure, lest He should destroy them. And they set at nought the desirable land; they believed not his word; and they muttered in their tents, they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. And He lifted up his hand against them, to cast them down in the desert, and to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them among the countries. And they became initiates of Baal-Phegor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. And they vexed him with their inventions, and the fallen were multiplied among them. Then Phineas stood up and made propitiation, and the slaughter subsided; and it was counted to him unto righteousness, from generation to generation forevermore. They provoked him also at the water of strife, and Moses was mistreated because of them; for they provoked his spirit, and he spake with hesitation. They destroyed not the nations of which the Lord spake to them. And they were mingled among the nations, and learned their works; and served their graven images, and it became a stumbling-block to them. And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood, and was stained with their works, and they were as prostitutes in their own inventions. And the Lord was wroth with displeasure toward his people; and He abhorred his inheritance; and He gave them into the hands of the enemies, and they that hated them had domin ion over them. And their enemies afflicted them; and they were humbled under their hands. Many times did He deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and they were humbled in their transgressions. And the Lord saw when they were afflicted, and He heard their prayer; and He remembered his covenant; and repented according to the multitude of his mercies; and He gave them unto compassion before their captors. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may confess thy holy name, and may boast in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from ages to ages. Let all the people say, So be it. So be it.

Psalm 106

O confess unto the Lord, for He is good, for his mercy is forever. So let them say who have been redeemed by the Lord, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and from the countries hath gathered them together, from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the sea. They wandered in the desert, in a waterless land; the way to an inhabitable city they found not. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. And they cried unto the Lord in their tribulation, and out of their necessities did He deliver them. And He guided them in the upright way, that they might enter an inhabitable city. Let them confess the Lord for his mercies, and for his wonders to the sons of men. For He hath satis fied the empty soul, and the hungry hath He filled with good, those that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, fettered in poverty and iron. For they provoked the words of God, and the counsel of the Most High did they despise. And their heart was humbled with labors; they were weakened, and there was none to help. And they cried unto the Lord in their tribula tion, and out of their necessities did He save them. And He led them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and their bonds did He break asunder. Let them confess the Lord for his mercies, and for his wonders to the sons of men, for He hath broken down brazen gates and hath crushed bars of iron. He succored them from the way of their transgressions, for on account of their transgressions had they been humbled. Their soul abhorred all food, and they drew nigh even to the gates of death. And they cried unto the Lord in their tribulation, and out of their necessities did He save them. He sent his Word, and He healed them, and He delivered them from their cor ruption. Let them confess the Lord for his mercies, and for his wonders to the sons of men. And let them offer to him a sacrifice of praise, and declare his works with joy. They that go down to the sea, that do work in many waters, these have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. He spake and a stormy wind arose, and the waves thereof were lifted up. They go up to the heavens, and they go down to the abyss; and their soul melted with evils. They were disquieted; they stag gered like a drunkard, and all their wisdom was swallowed up. And they cried unto the Lord in their tribulation, and He brought them out of their necessities. And He commanded the storm, and it became a breeze, and its waves were silent. And they were glad because they were still, and He guided them to the haven of their desire. Let them confess the Lord for his mercies, and for his wonders to the sons of men. And let them exalt him in the church of the people, and praise him in the seat of the presbyters. He hath changed rivers into deserts, and streams of water into thirst, a fruitful land into brine, because of the evils of them that dwelt in it. He hath changed a desert into a lake of water, and a waterless land into springs of water. And there hath He settled the hungry, and they have con structed cities for their habitation. And they sowed fields and planted vineyards, and they yielded fruits of increase. And He blessed them; they multiplied greatly, and their cattle He did not decrease. But they became few, and were brought low by grief and pain; degradation was poured out upon their princes, and He caused them to wander in untrodden land, where there was no way. But He helped the needy out of poverty, and gave him a flock of descendents. The upright shall see and be glad, and every transgression shall stop its mouth. Who is wise and will keep these things, and understand the mercies of the Lord?

Psalm 107

Ready is my heart, O God, ready is my heart; I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms in my glory. Arise, O my glory; arise, psaltery and harp; I will arise early in the morning. I will confess thee among the peoples, O Lord; I will sing psalms to thee among the nations. For great above the heavens is thy mercy, and unto the clouds is thy truth. Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and above all the earth thy glory. That thy beloved ones may be delivered, save with thy right hand and hearken unto me. God hath spoken in his sanctuary, I will be exalted and will divide Shechem, and I will parcel out the vale of tabernacles. Mine is Galaad and mine is Manasses, and Ephraim is the succor of my head; Judah is my king. Moab is the kettle of my hope; upon Edom will I impose my boot; foreigners are subject unto me. Who will lead me to the fortified city? or who will guide me to Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who hast rejected us? and wilt thou not go forth with our forces? Grant us help from tribulation, for vain is the salvation of man. In God shall we do mighty works, and He will set at nought our enemies.

Psalm 108

O God, in my praise be thou not silent. For the mouth of the sinner and of the deceiver is opened against me; they have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue. And with words of hatred have they compassed me, and have warred against me without a cause. Instead of loving me, they slandered me; but I gave myself to prayer. And they gave me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him go forth condemned; and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and his bishopric let another take. Let his children become orphans, and his wife a widow. Let his chil dren be displaced and wanderers, and let them beg; let them be cast out of their homelands. Let an userer search out all that belongeth to him, and let strangers plunder his toil. Let there be none to succor him; let there be none to be compassionate to his orphans. Let his progeny come to extinction; in a single generation let his name be blotted out. Let the transgression of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be continually before the Lord; and let the memory of them be destroyed from the earth. Because he remembered not to shew mercy, but he persecuted a needy and poor and one contrite in heart to slay him. And he loved a curse, and so it shall come upon him; he delighted not in a blessing, and so it shall be removed far from him. And he clothed himself with a curse as with a garment, and it went in like water into his bowels, and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as a garment with which he investeth himself, and like a girdle which he girdeth about himself continually. This is the work of the Lord toward them that slander me, and them that speak evil against my soul. But thou, Lord, O Lord, deal with me for thy name’s sake, for thy mercy is good. Deliver me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is disquieted within me. Like a shadow, when it declineth, am I taken away; I am shaken off like locusts. My knees are weakened from fasting, and my flesh is changed for want of oil. And I am become a reproach to them; they saw me and shook their heads. Help me, O Lord my God, and save me according to thy mercy. And let them know that this is thy hand, and thou, O Lord, hast made it. They will curse, and thou shalt bless; let those who rise up against me be shamed, but let thy servant be glad. Let those who slander me be clothed with reproach, and let them have their shame thrown about them like a cloak. I will greatly confess the Lord with my mouth, and in the midst of many will I praise him. For he hath stood at the right hand of the needy man, to save me from those that persecute my soul.