Page images
PDF
EPUB

Or drink the blood of goats?

Offer unto God thanksgiving;

And pay thy vows unto the most High;
And call upon me in the day of trouble:

I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
But unto the wicked God saith,

What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,

Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

Seeing thou hatest instruction,

And castest my words behind thee.

When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,

And hast been partaker with adulterers.

Thou givest thy mouth to evil,

And thy tongue frameth deceit.

Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother;
Thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself:

But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

Now consider this, ye that forget God,

Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:

And to him that ordereth his conversation aright Will I shew the salvation of God.

LI

To the chief Musician
A Psalm of David

When Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba

Have

mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:

According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions:

And my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in thy sight:

That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;

And in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:

And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness;

That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins,

And blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, 0 God;
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence;
And take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
And uphold me with thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;
And sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation:

And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips;

And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion:

Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering:

Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

LII

To the chief Musician

Maschil, A Psalm of David

When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech

Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty

man?

The goodness of God endureth continually.
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs;

Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

Thou lovest evil more than good;

And lying rather than to speak righteousness.

Thou lovest all devouring words,

O thou deceitful tongue.

God shall likewise destroy thee for ever,

Selah.

He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place,

And root thee out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see, and fear,

And shall laugh at him:

Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength;
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God:
I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: And I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

LIII

To the chief Musician upon Mahalath
Maschil, A Psalm of David

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity:
There is none that doeth good.

God looked down from heaven upon the children of

men,

To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy;

There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?

Who eat up my people as they eat bread:
They have not called upon God.

There were they in great fear, where no fear was:
For God hath scattered the bones of him that en-

campeth against thee:

Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.

Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

« PreviousContinue »