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2 Prepare a hymn, prepare a song,
The timbrel hither bring,

The cheerful psaltery bring along,
And harp with pleasant string.

3 Blow, as is wont, in the new moon
With trumpets' lofty sound,

The appointed time, the day whereon
Our solemn feast comes round.

4 This was a statute given of old
For Israel to observe,

A law of Jacob's God, to hold,
From whence they might not swerve.

5 This he a testimony ordained
In Joseph, not to change,

When as he passed through Egypt land;
The tongue I heard was strange.

6 From burden, and from slavish toil,
I set his shoulder free :

His hands from pots, and miry soil,
Delivered were by me.

7 When trouble did thee sore assail,
On me then didst thou call,
And I to free thee did not fail,
And led thee out of thrall.
I answered thee in 'thunder deep
With clouds encompassed round;
I tried thee at the water steep
Of Meribah renowned.

8 Hear, O my people, hearken well,
I testify to thee,

Thou ancient stock of Israel,

If thou wilt list to me,

9 Throughout the land of thy abode No alien god shall be,

Nor shalt thou to a foreign god

In honour bend thy knee.

10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought Thee out of Egypt land;

Ask large enough, and I, besought,
Will grant thy full demand.

1 Be sether ragnam.

11 And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;

And Israel, whom I loved so dear,
Misliked me for his choice.

12 Then did I leave them to their will,
And to their wandering mind;

Their own conceits they followed still,
Their own devices blind.

13 Oh, that my people would be wise,
To serve me all their days!
And oh, that Israel would advise
To walk my righteous ways!

14 Then would I soon bring down their foes,
That now so proudly rise,

And turn my hand against all those
That are their enemies.

15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain
To bow to him and bend;

But they, his people, should remain,
Their time should have no end.

16 And he would feed them from the shock
With flour of finest wheat,
And satisfy them from the rock
With honey for their meat.

PSALM LXXXII.

1 GOD in the 'great' assembly stands
Of kings and lordly states,

2 Among the gods,2 on both his hands
He judges and debates.

2 How long will ye 3 pervert the right
With judgment false and wrong,
Favouring the wicked by your might,
Who thence grow bold and strong?
3 Regard the1 weak and fatherless,
4 Despatch the poor man's cause,
And raise the man in deep distress
By just and equal laws,

5

Bagnadath-el.

2 Bekerev.

4 Shiphtu-dal.

3 Tishphetu gnavel.

5 Hatzdiku.

4 Defend the poor and desolate,
And rescue from the hands
Of wicked men the low estate
Of him that help demands.

5 They know not, nor will understand,
In darkness they walk on;

The earth's foundations all are 'moved,
And out of order gone.

6 I said that ye were gods, yea all
The sons of God Most High;

7 But ye shall die like men, and fall
As other princes die.

8 Rise, God, judge thou the earth in might,
This wicked2 earth redress,

For thou art he who shalt by right
The nations all possess.

PSALM LXXXIII.

1 BE not thou silent now at length,
O God, hold not thy peace;
Sit thou not still, O God of strength,
We cry, and do not cease.

2 For lo, thy furious foes now 3swell,
And3 storm outrageously;

And they that hate thee, proud and fell,
Exalt their heads full high.
3 Against thy people they contrive
5 Their plots and counsels deep,
6Them to ensnare they chiefly strive,
7 Whom thou dost hide and keep.
4 Come, let us cut them off, say they,
Till they no nation be;

That Israel's name for ever may
Be lost in memory.

5 For they consult with all their might,
And all as one in mind

Themselves against thee they unite,
And in firm union bind.

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6 The tents of Edom, and the brood
Of scornful Ishmael,

Moab, with them of Hagar's blood,
That in the desert dwell,

7 Gebal and Ammon there conspire,
And hateful Amalec,

The Philistims, and they of Tyre,
Whose bounds the sea doth check.
8 With them great Ashur also bands
And doth confirm the knot:

All these have lent their arméd hands
To aid the sons of Lot.

9 Do to them as to Midian bold,
That wasted all the coast,

To Sisera, and as is told

Thou didst to Jabin's host,
When at the brook of Kishon old
They were repulsed and slain,
10 At Endor quite cut off, and rolled
As dung upon the plain.

11 As Zeb and Oreb evil sped,
So let their princes speed,
As Zeba and Zalmunna bled,
So let their princes bleed.

12 For they amidst their pride have said,
By right now shall we seize

God's houses, and will now invade
'Their stately palaces.

13 My God, oh make them as a wheel,
No quiet let them find;
Giddy and restless let them reel

Like stubble from the wind.

14 As when an aged wood takes fire
Which on a sudden strays,

The greedy flame runs higher and higher
Till all the mountains blaze,

15 So with thy whirlwind them pursue,
And with thy tempest chase;

16 And till they yield thee honour due. Lord, fill with shame their face.

1 Neoth Elohim bears both. 2 Heb. They seek thy name.

17 Ashamed, and troubled, let them be, Troubled and shamed for ever, Ever confounded, and so die

With shame, and 'scape it never.

18 Then shall they know that thou, whose name Jehovah is alone,

Art the most high, and thou the same
O'er all the earth art one.

PSALM LXXXIV.

1 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.

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