8. Lord God of Hosts, hear now my prayer; O Jacob's God, give ear;

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

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 turn, and hear our voice, And us again revive;

That so thy people may rejoice,

By thee preserved alive?

7. Cause us to see thy goodness, Lord;

To us thy mercy show;

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 miss'd,
Now joyfully are met;

Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kiss'd,
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 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. O, 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 pray'd.

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.

11. 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 show,

Slow to be angry, and art styled

Most merciful, most true.

16. O, 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.

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;

4. I mention Egypt, where proud kings
Did our forefathers yoke.

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 outworn,

When he the nations doth inroll;

That this man there was born.

10

15

20

7. Both they who sing, and they who dance, With sacred songs, are there:

25

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, cloy'd with woes and trouble store Surcharged my soul doth lie;

My life, at Death's uncheerful door,

Unto the grave draws nigh.

4. Reckon'd I am with them that pass Down to the dismal pit:

I am a man; 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,

That in the grave lie deep.

Whom thou rememberest no more,
Dost never more regard;

9. Trouble store. Some editors read sore.

Them, from thy hand deliver'd o'er,

Death's hideous house hath barr'd. 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;

Thou break'st upon me all thy waves,
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 bed
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 wonderous acts be known?

Thy justice in the gloomy land

Öf 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 shake
With terrour sent from thee?

Bruised, and afflicted, and so low
As ready to expire;

While I thy terrours undergo,
Astonish'd 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 sever'd from me far:

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