To save us by thy might.

3 Turn us again, thy grace divine
To us, O God, vouchsafe;
Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
And then we shall be safe.

4 Lord God of Hosts, how long wilt thou,

How long wilt thou declare
Thy smoking wrath, and angry
brow

Against thy people's prayer!

5 Thou feed'st them with the bread of tears,

Their bread with tears they eat, And mad'st them largely drink the tears

Wherewith their cheeks are wet.

6 A strife thou mak'st us and a prey
To every neighbour foe.
Amongst themselves they laugh, they
play,

And flouts at us they throw.
7 Return us, and thy grace divine,
O God of Hosts, vouchsafe,
Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
And then we shall be safe.

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 tuskèd boar out of the wood
Upturns it by the roots,

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,
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.
JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXI.

I 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 thunder deep
With clouds encompassed round;
I tried thee at the water steep
Of Meribah renowned.

8 Hear, O my people, hearken well,
I testify to thee,
Thou ancient stock of Israèl,

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.

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.

II And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;
And Israel, whom I loved so dear,
Misliked me for his choice.

12 Then did I leave them to their will, And to their wandering mind; Their own conceits they followed still,

Their own devices blind.

13 Oh, that my people would be wise
To serve me all their days!
And oh, that Israel would advise
To walk my righteous ways!

14 Then would I soon bring down their foes,

That now so proudly rise,

And turn my hand against all those
That are their enemies.

15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain

To bow to him and bend;

But they, his people, should remain, Their time should have no end. 16 And he would feed them from the shock

With flour of finest wheat, And satisfy them from the rock With honey for their meat.

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXII.

I GOD in the great assembly stands
Of kings and lordly states,
Among the gods, on both his hands
He judges and debates.

2 How long will ye pervert the right
With judgment false and wrong,
Favouring the wicked by your might,
Who thence grow bold and strong?
3 Regard the weak and fatherless,
Despatch the poor man's cause,
And raise the man in deep distress
By just and equal laws,

4 Defend the poor and desolate,
And rescue from the hands
Of wicked men the low estate
Of him that help demands.

5 They know not, nor will understand. In darkness they walk on;

The earth's foundations all are moved, And out of order gone.

6I said that ye were gods, yea all The sons of God Most High;

7 But ye shall die like men, and fall As other princes die.

8 Rise, God, judge thou the earth in

might,

This wicked earth redress,

For thou art he who shalt by right The nations all possess.

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXIII.

I 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 swell, And storm outrageously;

And they that hate thee, proud and fell,

Exalt their heads full high.

3 Against thy people ney contrive Their plots and counsels deep, Them to ensnare they chiefly strive, Whom thou dost hide and keep. 4 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 bands
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.

II 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
Their stately palaces.

13 My God, oh make them as a wheel,
No quiet let them find;
Giddy and restless let them reel
Like stubble from the wind.

14 As when an agèd wood takes fire
Which on a sudden strays,

The greedy flame runs higher and higher