Psalm 101

A Psalm of David.

¹ I will sing to thee, O Lord, of mercy and judgment; I will sing a psalm, ² and I will be wise in a blameless way. When wilt thou come to me? I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house. ³ I have not set before mine eyes any unlawful ting; I have hated transgressors. ⁴ A perverse heart has not cleaved to me; I have not known an evil man, forasmuch as he turns away from me. ⁵ Him that privily speaks against his neighbour, him have I driven from me: he that is proud in look and insatiable in heart,--with him I have not eaten. ⁶ Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walked in a perfect way, the same ministered to me. ⁷ The proud doer dwelt not in the midst of my house; the unjust speaker prospered not in my sight. ⁸ Early did I slay all the sinners of the land, that I might destroy out of the city of the Lord all that work iniquity.

Psalm 102

A Prayer for the Poor; when he is deeply afflicted, and pours out his supplication before the Lord.

¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to thee. ² Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am afflicted, incline thine ear to me: in the day when I shall call upon thee, speedily hear me.

³ For my days have vanished like smoke, and my bones have been parched like a stick. ⁴ I am blighted like grass, and my heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread. ⁵ By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bone has cleaved to my flesh. ⁶ I have become like a pelican of the wilderness; ⁷ I have become like an owl in a ruined house. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow dwelling alone on a roof. ⁸ All the day long mine enemies have reproached me; and they that praised me have sworn against me. ⁹ For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping; ¹⁰ because of thine anger and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and dashed me down.

¹¹ My days have declined like a shadow; and I am withered like grass. ¹² But thou, Lord, endurest for ever, and thy memorial to generation and generation. ¹³ Thou

759

shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time to have mercy upon her, for the set time is come. ¹⁴ For thy servants have taken pleasure in her stones, and they shall pity her dust. ¹⁵ So the nations shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all kings thy glory.

¹⁶ For the Lord shall build up Sion, ¹and shall appear in his glory. ¹⁷ He has had regard to the prayer of the lowly, and has not despised their petition. ¹⁸ Let this be written for another generation; and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. ¹⁹ For he has looked out from the height of his sanctuary; the Lord looked upon the earth from heaven; ²⁰ to hear the groaning of the fettered ones, to loosen the sons of the slain; ²¹ to proclaim the name of the Lord in Sion, and his praise in Jerusalem; ²² when the people are gathered together, and the kings, to serve the Lord.

²³ He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days. ²⁴ Take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are ²through all generations. ²⁵ In the ³beginning thou, O Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. ²⁶ They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them, and they shall be changed. ²⁷ But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. ²⁸ The children of thy servants shall dwell securely, and their seed shall ⁴prosper for ever.