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.

II 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.

40

1 Heb. : The burning heat of thy wrath.

PSALM LXXXV.

I 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

4

10

From thy1 fierce wrath, which we had proved
Far worse than fire to burn.

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?

20

6 Wilt thou not2 turn and hear our voice,

And thus again2 revive,

That so thy people may rejoice,

By thee preserved alive?

7 Cause us to see thy goodness, Lord;

To us thy mercy shew;

Thy saving health to us afford,

And life in us renew.

8 And now what God the Lord will speak
I will go straight and hear,

For to his people he speaks peace,
And to his saints full dear;

To his dear saints he will speak peace :

But let them never more
Return to folly, but surcease

To trespass as before.

9 Surely to such as do him fear Salvation is at hand,

And glory shall ere long appear

To dwell within our land.

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

Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kissed,
And hand in hand are set.

II 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:

3

30

40

50

* Heb.: He

Then will he come, and not be slow; will set his

His footsteps cannot err.

steps to the

way.

PSALM LXXXVI.

I THY gracious ear, O Lord, incline;
O hear me, I thee pray;
For I am poor, and almost pine

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

With need and sad decay.

2 Preserve my soul; for 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.

5 For thou art good; thou, Lord, art prone
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

9

Of all that other Gods have done

Like to thy glorious works.

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.

II Teach me, O Lord, thy way most right;
I in thy truth will bide;

To fear thy name my heart unite;

So shall it never slide.

12 Thee will I praise, O Lord my God,
Thee honour and adore

With my whole heart, and blaze abroad
Thy name for evermore.

13 For great thy mercy is toward me,
And thou hast freed my soul,
Ev'n from the lowest hell set free,
From deepest darkness foul.

14 O God, the proud against me rise,
And violent men are met

To seek my life, and in their eyes

No fear of thee have set.

15 But thou, Lord, art the God most mild, Readiest thy grace to shew,

Slow to be angry, and art styled

Most merciful, most true.

16 Oh turn to me thy face at length,
And me have mercy on;

Unto thy servant give thy strength,
And save thy handmaid's son.

17 Some sign of good to me afford,
And let my foes then see,

And be ashamed, because thou, Lord,
Dost help and comfort me.

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50

60

PSALM LXXXVII.

I 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.

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.

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20

PSALM LXXXVIII.

I 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;

4

1 Heb.: A

man without

manly strength.

My life, at death's uncheerful door,
Unto the grave draws nigh.
Reckoned I am with them that pass
Down to the dismal pit;

I am a 'man but weak, alas!

And for that name unfit,

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