Day 17 of the 30-day Psalter: Morning and Evening

Bow down your ear, O LORD, and answer me, *

for I am poor and in misery.

Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; *

save your servant who puts his trust in you.

Be merciful to me, O LORD, for you are my God; *

I call upon you all the day long.

Gladden the soul of your servant, *

for to you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

For you, O LORD, are good and forgiving, *

and great is your love toward all who call upon you.

Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer, *

and attend to the voice of my supplications.

In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, *

for you will answer me.

Among the gods there is none like you, O LORD, *

nor anything like your works.

All the nations you have made will come and worship you, O LORD, *

and glorify your Name.

For you are great;

you do wondrous things; *

and you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O LORD,

and I will walk in your truth; *

knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name.

I will thank you, O LORD my God, with all my heart, *

and glorify your Name for evermore.

For great is your love toward me; *

you have delivered me from the nethermost Pit.

The arrogant rise up against me, O God,

and a band of violent men seeks my life; *

they have not set you before their eyes.

But you, O LORD, are gracious and full of compassion, *

slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth.

Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *

give your strength to your servant;

and save the child of your handmaid.

Show me a sign of your favor,

so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *

because you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

On the holy mountain stands the city he has founded; *

the LORD loves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of you, *

O city of our God.

I count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me; *

behold Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia:

in Zion were they born.

Of Zion it shall be said, "Everyone was born in her, *

and the Most High himself shall sustain her."

The LORD will record as he enrolls the peoples, *

"These also were born there."

The singers and the dancers will say, *

"All my fresh springs are in you."

O LORD, my God, my Savior, *

by day and night I cry to you.

Let my prayer enter into your presence; *

incline your ear to my lamentation.

For I am full of trouble; *

my life is at the brink of the grave.

I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; *

I have become like one who has no strength;

Lost among the dead, *

like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom you remember no more, *

for they are cut off from your hand.

You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, *

in dark places, and in the abyss.

Your anger weighs upon me heavily, *

and all your great waves overwhelm me.

You have put my friends far from me;

you have made me to be abhorred by them; *

I am in prison and cannot get free.

My sight has failed me because of trouble; *

LORD, I have called upon you daily;

I have stretched out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead? *

will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?

Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? *

your faithfulness in the land of destruction?

Will your wonders be known in the dark? *

or your righteousness in the country where all is forgotten?

But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help; *

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

LORD, why have you rejected me? *

why have you hidden your face from me?

Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death; *

I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.

Your blazing anger has swept over me; *

your terrors have destroyed me;

They surround me all day long like a flood; *

they encompass me on every side.

My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, *

and darkness is my only companion.

Your love, O LORD, for ever will I sing; *

from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.

For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *

you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.

"I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *

I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

'I will establish your line for ever, *

and preserve your throne for all generations.'"

The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O LORD, *

and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;

For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? *

who is like the LORD among the gods?

God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *

great and terrible to all those round about him.

Who is like you, LORD God of hosts? *

O mighty LORD, your faithfulness is all around you.

You rule the raging of the sea *

and still the surging of its waves.

You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *

you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *

you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.

You have made the north and the south; *

Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name.

You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *

they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.

They rejoice daily in your Name; *

they are jubilant in your righteousness.

For you are the glory of their strength, *

and by your favor our might is exalted.

Truly, the LORD is our ruler; *

The Holy One of Israel is our King.

You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: *

"I have set the crown upon a warrior

and have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David my servant; *

with my holy oil have I anointed him.

My hand will hold him fast *

and my arm will make him strong.

No enemy shall deceive him, *

nor any wicked man bring him down.

I will crush his foes before him *

and strike down those who hate him.

My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *

and he shall be victorious through my Name.

I shall make his dominion extend *

from the Great Sea to the River.

He will say to me, 'You are my Father, *

my God, and the rock of my salvation.'

I will make him my firstborn *

and higher than the kings of the earth.

I will keep my love for him for ever, *

and my covenant will stand firm for him.

I will establish his line for ever *

and his throne as the days of heaven."

"If his children forsake my law *

and do not walk according to my judgments;

If they break my statutes *

and do not keep my commandments;

I will punish their transgressions with a rod *

and their iniquities with the lash;

But I will not take my love from him, *

nor let my faithfulness prove false.

I will not break my covenant, *

nor change what has gone out of my lips.

Once for all I have sworn by my holiness: *

'I will not lie to David.

His line shall endure for ever *

and his throne as the sun before me;

It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon, *

the abiding witness in the sky.'"

But you have cast off and rejected your anointed; *

you have become enraged at him.

You have broken your covenant with your servant, *

defiled his crown, and hurled it to the ground.

You have breached all his walls *

and laid his strongholds in ruins.

All who pass by despoil him; *

he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

You have exalted the right hand of his foes *

and made all his enemies rejoice.

You have turned back the edge of his sword *

and have not sustained him in battle.

You have put an end to his splendor *

and cast his throne to the ground.

You have cut short the days of his youth *

and have covered him with shame.

How long will you hide yourself, O LORD?

will you hide yourself for ever? *

how long will your anger burn like fire?

Remember, LORD, how short life is, *

how frail you have made all flesh.

Who can live and not see death? *

who can save himself from the power of the grave?

Where, Lord, are your loving-kindnesses of old, *

which you promised David in your faithfulness?

Remember, Lord, how your servant is mocked, *

how I carry in my bosom the taunts of many peoples,

The taunts your enemies have hurled, O LORD, *

which they hurled at the heels of your anointed.

Blessed be the LORD for evermore! *

Amen, I say, Amen.