Chapter 13

139:11. Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.

139:12. A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.

139:13. I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.

139:14. But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.

Psalms Chapter 140

Domine, clamavi.

A prayer against sinful words, and deceitful flatterers.

A psalm of David.

140:1. I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee.

140:2. Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.

140:3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips.

140:4. Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.

140:5. The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:

Let not the oil of the sinner, etc... That is, the flattery, or deceitful praise.-Ibid. For my prayer, etc... So far from coveting their praises, who are never well pleased but with things that are evil; I shall continually pray to be preserved from such things as they are delighted with.

140:6. Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:

Their judges, etc... Their rulers, or chiefs, quickly vanish and perish, like ships dashed against the rocks, and swallowed up by the waves. Let them then hear my words, for they are powerful and will prevail; or, as it is in the Hebrew, for they are sweet.

140:7. As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.

140:8. But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul.

140:9. Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity.

140:10. The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.

I am alone, etc... Singularly protected by the Almighty, until I pass all their nets and snares.

Psalms Chapter 141

Voce mea.

A prayer of David in extremity of danger.

141:1. Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave. [1 Kings 24.]

141:2. I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.

141:3. In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:

141:4. When my spirit failed me, then thou knewest my paths. In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.

141:5. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard to my soul.

141:6. I cried to thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living.

141:7. Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.

141:8. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me.

Psalms Chapter 142

Domine, exaudi.

The psalmist in tribulation calleth upon God for his delivery. The seventh penitential psalm.

142:1. A psalm of David, when his son Absalom pursued him. [2 Kings 17.] Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in thy truth: hear me in thy justice.

142:2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.

142:3. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old:

142:4 And my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.

142:5. I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands.

142:6. I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee.

142:7. Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

142:8. Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee.

142:9. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have I fled:

142:10. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land: 11 for thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble:

142:12. And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Psalms Chapter 143

Benedictus Dominus.

The prophet praiseth God, and prayeth to be delivered from his enemies. No worldly happiness is to be compared with that of serving God.

A psalm of David against Goliath.

143:1. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war.

143:2. My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.

143:3. Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?

143:4. Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow.

143:5. Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

143:6. Send forth lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: shoot out thy arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.

143:7. Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children:

143:8. Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.

143:9. To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee.

143:10. Who givest salvation to kings: who hast redeemed thy servant David from the malicious sword:

143:11. Deliver me, And rescue me out of the hand of strange children; whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity:

143:12. Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple:

143:13. Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth:

143:14. Their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor crying out in their streets.

143:15. They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Psalms Chapter 144

Exaltabo te, Deus.

A psalm of praise, to the infinite majesty of God.

144:1. Praise, for David himself. I will extol thee, O God my king: and I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

144:2. Every day will I bless thee: and I will praise thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

144:3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end.

144:4. Generation and generation shall praise thy works: and they shall declare thy power.

144:5. They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works.

144:6. And they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and shall declare thy greatness.

144:7. They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness: and shall rejoice in thy justice.

144:8. The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy.

144:9. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

144:10. Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee.

144:11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power:

144:12. To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom.

144:13. Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words: and holy in all his works.

144:14. The Lord lifteth up all that fall: and setteth up all that are cast down.

144:15. The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord: and thou givest them meat in due season.

144:16. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.

144:17. The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works.

144:18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth.

144:19. He will do the will of them that fear him: and he will hear their prayer, and save them.

144:20. The Lord keepeth all them that love him; but all the wicked he will destroy.

144:21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever; yea, for ever and ever.

Psalms Chapter 145

Lauda, anima.

We are not to trust in men, but in God alone.

145:1 Alleluia, of Aggeus and Zacharias.

145:2. Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord: I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. Put not your trust in princes:

145:3. In the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.

145:4. His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish.

145:5. Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

145:6. Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.

145:7. Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered:

145:8. The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.

145:9. The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.

145:10. The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

Psalms Chapter 146

Laudate Dominum.

An exhortation to praise God for his benefits.

146:1. Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God be joyful and comely praise.

146:2. The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.

146:3. Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises.

146:4. Who telleth the number of the stars: and calleth them all by their names.

146:5. Great is our Lord, and great is his power: and of his wisdom there is no number.

146:6. The Lord lifteth up the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.

146:7. Sing ye to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp.

146:8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the service of men.

146:9. Who giveth to beasts their food: and to the young ravens that call upon him.

146:10. He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.

146:11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them that hope in his mercy.

Psalms Chapter 147

Lauda, Jerusalem.

The church is called upon to praise God for his peculiar graces and favours to his people. In the Hebrew, this psalm is joined to the foregoing.

Alleluia.

147:12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion.

147:13. Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee.

147:14. Who hath placed peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the fat of corn.

147:15. Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly.

147:16. Who giveth snow like wool: scattereth mists like ashes.

147:17. He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?

He sendeth his crystal... That is, his ice. Some understand it of hail, which is, as it were, ice, divided into particles or morsels.

147:18. He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.

147:19. Who declareth his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.

147:20. He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them. Alleluia.

Psalms Chapter 148

Laudate Dominum de caelis.

All creatures are invited to praise their Creator.

Alleluia.

148:1. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high places.

148:2. Praise ye him, all his angels, praise ye him, all his hosts.

148:3. Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light.

148:4. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let all the waters that are above the heavens

148:5. Praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.

148:6. He hath established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath made a decree, and it shall not pass away.

148:7. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps:

148:8. Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word:

148:9. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars:

148:10. Beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls:

148:11. Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of the earth:

148:12. Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the name of the Lord:

148:13. For his name alone is exalted.

148:14. The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he hath exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his saints to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia.

Psalms Chapter 149

Cantate Domino.

The church is particularly bound to praise God.

Alleluia.

149:1. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the church of the saints.

149:2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: and let the children of Sion be joyful in their king.

149:3. Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery.

149:4. For the Lord is well pleased with his people: and he will exalt the meek unto salvation.

149:5. The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds.

149:6. The high praises of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands:

149:7. To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people:

149:8. To bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles of iron.

149:9. To execute upon them the judgment that is written: this glory is to all his saints. Alleluia.

Psalms Chapter 150

Laudate Dominum in sanctis.

An exhortation to praise God with all sorts of instruments.

Alleluia.

150:1. Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power.

150:2. Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness.

150:3. Praise him with the sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp.

150:4. Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.

150:5. Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.