PSALM LXXXIV

I How lovely are thy dwellings fair!
O Lord of Hosts, how dear
The pleasant tabernacles are
Where thou dost dwell so near!
2 My soul doth long and almost die
Thy courts, O Lord, to see;
My heart and flesh aloud do cry,
O living God, for thee.

3 There even the sparrow, freed from wrong,
Hath found a house of rest;

The swallow there, to lay her young,

Hath built her brooding nest;
Even by thy altars, Lord of Hosts,
They find their safe abode ;

And home they fly from round the coasts
Toward thee, my King, my God.

4 Happy who in thy house reside,
Where thee they ever praise!

5 Happy whose strength in thee doth bide, And in their hearts thy ways!

6 They pass through Baca's thirsty vale,
That dry and barren ground,

As through a fruitful watery dale
Where springs and showers abound.

7 They journey on from strength to strength
With joy and gladsome cheer,

Till all before our God at length

In Sion do appear.

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

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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.

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

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From thy 1 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 2 turn and hear our voice,

And us again 2 revive,

That so thy people may rejoice,

By thee preserved alive?

7 Cause us to see thy goodness, Lord;

To us thy mercy show;

1 Heb. The burning heat of thy wrath.
Heb. Turn to quicken us.

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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.

Io 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:

Then 1 will he come, and not be slow;
His footsteps cannot err.

PSALM LXXXVI

I 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 2 I have trod

1 Heb.

Heb.

Thy ways, and love the just:

He will set his steps to the way.

I am good, loving, a doer of good and holy things.

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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 prayed.

8 Like thee among the gods is none,
O Lord; nor any works

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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.

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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 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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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,