8 A Vine from Egypt thou hast brought, Thy free love made it thine,

And drov'st out nations proud and haut,
To plant this lovely Vine.

9 Thou didst prepare for it a place,
And root it deep and fast,
That it began to grow apace,
And filled the land at last.

10 With her green shade that covered all
The hills were overspread;
Her boughs as high as cedars tall
Advanced their lofty head.

11 Her branches on the western side
Down to the sea she sent,
And upward to that river wide
Her other branches went.

12 Why hast thou laid her hedges low,
And broken down her fence,

That all may pluck her, as they go,
With rudest violence?

13 The tusked boar out of the wood

Upturns it by the roots;

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Wild beasts there browse, and make their food

Her grapes and tender shoots.

14 Return now, God of Hosts; look down
From Heaven, thy seat divine;
Behold us, but without a frown,
And visit this thy Vine.

15 Visit this Vine, which thy right hand Hath set, and planted long,

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And the young branch, that for thy-
self

Thou hast made firm and strong.
16 But now it is consumed with fire,
And cut with axes down;
They perish at thy dreadful ire,
At thy rebuke and frown.

17 Upon the Man of thy right hand
Let thy good hand be laid;
Upon the Son of Man, whom Thou
Strong for thyself hast made.

18 So shall we not go back from thee
To ways of sin and shame :
Quicken us thou; then gladly we
Shall call upon thy Name.
19 Return us, and thy grace divine,

Lord God of Hosts, vouchsafe:
Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
And then we shall be safe.

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PSALM LXXXI

1 To God our strength sing loud and

clear;

Sing loud to God our King;
To Jacob's God, that all may
hear,
Loud acclamations ring.

2 Prepare a hymn, prepare a song;
The timbrel hither bring;
The cheerful psaltery bring along,
And harp with pleasant string.
3 Blow, as is wont, in the new moon,
With trumpets' lofty sound,
The appointed time, the day whereon
Our solemn feast comes round.

4 This was a statute given of old
For Israel to observe,

A law of Jacob's God to hold,
From whence they might not swerve.

5 This he a testimony ordained

In Joseph, not to change,

When as he passed through Egypt land;

The tongue I heard was strange. 6 From burden, and from slavish toil, I set his shoulder free;

His hands from pots, and miry soil,
Delivered were by me.

7 When trouble did thee sore assail,
On me then didst thou call,
And I to free thee did not fail,
And led thee out of thrall.

I answered thee in 1 thunder deep,
With clouds encompassed round;
I tried thee at the water steep

Of Meriba renowned.

8 Hear, O my people, hearken well: I testify to thee,

Thou ancient stock of Israel,

If thou wilt list to me:

9 Throughout the land of thy abode
No alien God shall be,

Nor shalt thou to a foreign god
In honour bend thy knee.

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10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought Thee out of Egypt-land;

Ask large enough, and I, besought,
Will grant thy full demand.

11 And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;

And Israel, whom I loved so dear,
Misliked me for his choice.

1 Be Sether ragnam.

PSALM LXXXIII

1 BE not thou silent now at length;
O God, hold not thy peace:
Sit thou not still, O God of strength;
We cry and do not cease.

2 For lo! thy furious foes now 1swell, And storm outrageously;

And they that hate thee, proud and fell, Exalt their heads full high.

3 Against thy people they 2 contrive Their plots and counsels deep;

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4 Them to ensnare they chiefly strive 5 Whom thou dost hide and keep.

Come, let us cut them off," say they, "Till they no nation be;

That Israel's name for ever may

Be lost in memory."

5 For they consult with all their might, And all as one in mind

Themselves against thee they unite,
And in firm union bind.

6 The tents of Edom, and the brood
Of scornful Ishmael,

Moab, with them of Hagar's blood,
That in the desert dwell,

7 Gebal and Ammon there conspire,
And hateful Amalec,

The Philistines, and they of Tyre,
Whose bounds the sea doth check.
8 With them great Ashur also bands,
And doth confirm the knot;
All these have lent their armed hands
To aid the sons of Lot.

9 Do to them as to Midian bold,

That wasted all the coast;

To Sisera, and as is told

Thou didst to Jabin's host,
When at the brook of Kishon old
They were repulsed and slain,

10 At Endor quite cut off, and rolled
As dung upon the plain.

11 As Zeb and Oreb evil sped, So let their princes speed; As Zeba and Zalmunna bled,

So let their princes bleed.

12 For they amidst their pride have said,
"By right now shall we seize

God's houses, and will now invade
7 Their stately palaces."

13 My God, oh make them as a wheel;
No quiet let them find;

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3 Sod.

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7 Neoth Elohim bears both.

Giddy and restless let them reel,
Like stubble from the wind.
14 As, when an aged wood takes fire
Which on a sudden strays,

The greedy flame runs higher and higher, Till all the mountains blaze; 15 So with thy whirlwind them pursue, And with thy tempest chase; 16 And till they 1 yield thee honour due, Lord, fill with shame their face.

17 Ashamed and troubled let them be, Troubled and shamed for ever, Ever confounded, and so die

With shame, and scape it never.

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9 Thou, God, our shield, look on the face

Of thy anointed dear.

10 For one day in thy courts to be
Is better and more blest
Than in the joys of vanity

A thousand days at best.
I in the temple of my God

Had rather keep a door

Than dwell in tents and rich abode
With sin for evermore.

11 For God, the Lord, both sun and shield, Gives grace and glory bright;

No good from them shall be withheld
Whose ways are just and right.

12 Lord God of Hosts that reign'st on high,
That man is truly blest
Who only on thee doth rely,
And in thee only rest.

PSALM LXXXV

1 THY land to favour graciously Thou hast not, Lord, been slack; Thou hast from hard captivity Returned Jacob back.

2 The iniquity thou didst forgive That wrought thy people woe, And all their sin that did thee grieve Hast hid where none shall know.

3 Thine anger all thou hadst removed, And calmly didst return

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From thy fierce wrath, which we had proved

Far worse than fire to burn.

4 God of our saving health and peace,
Turn us, and us restore;

Thine indignation cause to cease
Toward us, and chide no more.

5 Wilt thou be angry without end,
For ever angry thus ?

Wilt thou thy frowning ire extend
From age to age on us?

6 Wilt thou not 2 turn and hear our voice, And thus again 2 revive,

That so thy people may rejoice,

By thee preserved alive?

7 Cause us to see thy goodness, Lord; To us thy mercy shew;

1 Heb. The burning heat of thy wrath.

2 Heb.

Turn to quicken us.

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10 Mercy and Truth, that long were missed, Now joyfully are met;

Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kissed,

And hand in hand are set.

11 Truth from the earth like to a flower
Shall bud and blossom then;
And Justice from her heavenly bower
Look down on mortal men.

12 The Lord will also then bestow

Whatever thing is good;

Our land shall forth in plenty throw
Her fruits to be our food.

13 Before him Righteousness shall go,
His royal harbinger:

Then will he come, and not be slow;
His footsteps cannot err.

PSALM LXXXVI

1 THY gracious ear, O Lord, incline;
O hear me, I thee pray;
For I am poor, and almost pine
With need and sad decay.

2 Preserve my soul; for 2 I have trod
Thy ways, and love the just;
Save thou thy servant, O my God,
Who still in thee doth trust.

3 Pity me, Lord, for daily thee
I call; 4 Oh make rejoice

Thy servant's soul! for, Lord, to thee I lift my soul and voice.

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5 For thou art good; thou, Lord, art

prone

1 Hob.: He will set his steps to the way.

Heb.: I am good, loving, a doer of good & holy things

To pardon; thou to all
Art full of mercy, thou alone,
To them that on thee call.
6 Unto my supplication, Lord,
Give ear, and to the cry
Of my incessant prayers afford
Thy hearing graciously.

7 I in the day of my distress
Will call on thee for aid;
For thou wilt grant me free access,
And answer what I prayed.

8 Like thee among the gods is none,
O Lord; nor any works

Of all that other gods have done
Like to thy glorious works.

9 The nations all whom thou hast made
Shall come, and all shall frame
To bow them low before thee, Lord,
And glorify thy name.

10 For great thou art, and wonders great By thy strong hand are done; Thou in thy everlasting seat

Remainest God alone.

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PSALM LXXXVII

1 AMONG the holy mountains high Is his foundation fast;

There seated in his sanctuary,

His temple there is placed.

2 Sion's fair gates the Lord loves more Than all the dwellings fair

Of Jacob's land, though there be store,

And all within his care.

3 City of God, most glorious things Of thee abroad are spoke.

I mention Egypt, where proud kings Did our forefathers yoke;

4 I mention Babel to my friends,
Philistia full of scorn,

And Tyre, with Ethiop's utmost ends :
Lo! this man there was born.

5 But twice that praise shall in our ear Be said of Sion last:

This and this man was born in her;

High God shall fix her fast.

6 The Lord shall write it in a scroll,
That ne'er shall be out-worn,
When he the nations doth enroll,
That this man there was born.

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7 Both they who sing and they who dance With sacred songs are there;

In thee fresh brooks and soft streams glance,

And all my fountains clear.

PSALM LXXXVIII

1 LORD GOD, that dost me save and keep, All day to thee I

cry,

And all night long before thee weep,
Before thee prostrate lie.

2 Into thy presence let my prayer,
With sighs devout, ascend;

And to my cries, that ceaseless are,
Thine ear with favour bend.

3 For, cloyed with woes and trouble store, Surcharged my soul doth lie;

My life, at death's uncheerful door,
Unto the grave draws nigh.

4 Reckoned I am with them that pass
Down to the dismal pit;

I am a 1man but weak, alas !

And for that name unfit,

5 From life discharged and parted quite Among the dead to sleep,

And like the slain in bloody fight

1 Heb.: A man without manly strength.

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That in the grave lie deep;

Whom thou rememberest no more,
Dost never more regard:

Them, from thy hand delivered o'er,
Death's hideous house hath barred.
6 Thou, in the lowest pit profound,
Hast set me all forlorn,

Where thickest darkness hovers round,
In horrid deeps to mourn.

7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Full sore doth press on me;

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1Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, 1 And all thy waves break me. 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange And mak'st me odious,

Me to them odious, for they change,
And I here pent up thus.

9 Through sorrow and affliction great
Mine eye grows dim and dead;
Lord, all the day I thee entreat,
My hands to thee I spread.

10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead?
Shall the deceased arise

And praise thee from their loathsome be
With pale and hollow eyes?

11 Shall they thy loving-kindness tell
On whom the grave hath hold?
Or they who in perdition dwell
Thy faithfulness unfold?

12 In darkness can thy mighty hand
Or wondrous acts be known?
Thy justice in the gloomy land
Of dark oblivion?

13 But I to thee, O Lord, do cry
Ere yet my life be spent;
And up to thee my prayer doth hie
Each morn, and thee prevent.

14 Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake And hide thy face from me,

15 That am already bruised, and 2 shake
With terror sent from thee;
Bruised and afflicted, and so low
As ready to expire,

While I thy terrors undergo,

Astonished with thine ire?

16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow; Thy threatenings cut me through:

17 All day they round about me go; Like waves they me pursue.

18 Lover and friend thou hast removed, And severed from me far:

They fly me now whom I have loved,
And as in darkness are.

1 The Hebrew bears both.
2 Heb.: Præ concussione.

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