The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon:

And they of the city shall flourish like grass of

the earth.

17 His name shall endure for ever ;

1

His name shall be continued 'as long as the Or, have

sun :

And men shall be blessed in him;

All nations shall call him happy.

18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only doeth wondrous things:

19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever; And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.

20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

issue

2 Heb. before

the sun.

3 Or, bless themselves

BOOK III.

1 Or, Only good is God

2 Or, fools

3 Or, pangs

4 Heb. in the trouble of men.

5 Or, The imaginations

A Psalm of Asaph.

'Surely God is good to Israel,

Even to such as are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
My steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the 'arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death:
But their strength is firm.

They are not 'in trouble as other men ;
Neither are they plagued like other men.

I

2

3

4

5

Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; 6
Violence covereth them as a garment.

Their eyes stand out with fatness:

"They have more than heart could wish.

7

of their heart They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: 8

They speak loftily.

They have set their mouth 'in the heavens,
And their tongue walketh through the earth.
Therefore his people return hither :

And waters of a full cup are 'wrung out by them.
And they say, How doth God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High?
Behold, these are the wicked;

And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency;

For all the day long have I been plagued,

10

And chastened every morning.

If I had said, I will speak thus;

9

73

ΙΟ

I I

12

13

14

15

Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the

ation of thy children.

16 When I thought how I might know this, 'It was too painful for me;

17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, And considered their latter end.

gener

18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to 'destruction.

19

How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.

20 As a dream when one awaketh;

1 Heb. It was labour in mine eyes.

2 Heb. ruins.

3

So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt Or, in the despise their image.

21 For my heart 'was grieved,

And I was pricked in my reins :

22 So brutish 5 was I, and ignorant ;

I was as a beast "before thee.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou hast holden my right hand.

24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, And afterward receive me 'to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?

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And there is none upon earth that I desire

8 beside thee.

26 My flesh and my heart faileth :

city

4 Heb. was in a ferment.

5 Or, am

6 Heb. with thee.

7 Or, with

8 Or, with thee

9

But God is the 'strength of my heart and my Heb. rock. portion for ever.

27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

28 But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

That I may tell of all thy works.

Maschil of Asaph.

I O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

1 Or, The enemy hath wrought all evil

2 Or, made themselves known

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast 2 purchased of old,

Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance ;

And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

1

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,

'All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.

3

Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of 4 thine assembly;

They have set up their ensigns for signs.

They 'seemed as men that lifted up

Axes upon a thicket of trees.

And now all the carved work thereof together

5

They break down with hatchet and hammers.
They have set thy sanctuary on fire;

7

They have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground.

They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of 8 them altogether:

Or, places of They have burned up all the 'synagogues of

assembly

4 Heb.
break up.

5 Or,
sea-monsters

God in the land.

We see not our signs:

There is no more any prophet;

Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

How long, O God, shall the adversary re- 10 proach?

Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy 11 right hand?

Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.

Yet God is my King of old,

Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou didst 'divide the sea by thy strength:
Thou brakest the heads of the 'dragons in the

waters.

Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,

12

13

14

Thou gavest him to be meat to the people in

habiting the wilderness.

15 Thou didst cleave fountain and flood:

Thou driedst up 'mighty rivers.

16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: Thou hast prepared the 'light and the sun.

2 Heb.

luminary.

17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: Thou hast made summer and winter. 18 Remember this, that the enemy 'hath reproached, Or, hath O LORD,

75

And that a foolish people have blasphemed thy

name.

19 O deliver not 'the soul of thy turtledove unto the wild beast:

Forget not the 'life of thy poor for ever.

20 Have respect unto the covenant:

3

reproached the LORD

For the dark places of the earth are full of the Or, land habitations of violence.

21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed:

Let the poor and needy praise thy name.

22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
Remember how the foolish man reproacheth
thee all the day.

23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries:
The tumult of those that rise up against thee
"ascendeth continually.

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth.
A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.

1 We give thanks unto thee, O God;

We give thanks, for thy name is near :
Men tell of thy wondrous works.

2 When I shall find the set time,

I will judge uprightly.

7 Or, which ascendeth

8 Or, for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare

9 Heb. take.

10 Or, When

3 10 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are the earth.... dissolved:

I have "set up the pillars of it.

[Selah

I set up 11 Heb. proportioned.

4 I said unto the "arrogant, Deal not arrogantly: 1 Or, fools