Matins

Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me.

Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me.

Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul: I am thy salvation.

Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul.

Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise against me.

Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the Angel of the Lord straiten them.

Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them.

For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul.

Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him: and let the net which he hath hidden catch him: and into that very snare let them fall.

But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation.

All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee?

Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.

Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.

They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.

But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with haircloth.

I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.

As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled.

But they rejoiced against me, and came together: scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not.

They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn: they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou my soul from their malice: my only one from the lions.

I will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee in a strong people.

Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.

For they spoke indeed peaceably to me; and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile.

And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it.

Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent: O Lord, depart not from me.

Arise, and be attentive to my judgment: to my cause, my God, and my Lord.

Judge me, O Lord my God according to thy justice, and let them not rejoice over me.

Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed him up.

Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils.

Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me.

Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice, and let them say always: The Lord be magnified, who delights in the peace of his servant.

And my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day long.

Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity.

For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.

Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches.

Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.

Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.

And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday: be subject to the Lord and pray to him.

Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things.

Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.

But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.

The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.

But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come.

The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow.

To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.

Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken.

Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just.

The Lord knoweth the days of the undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.

They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled, because the wicked shall perish.

And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.

The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give.

For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish.

With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.

When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth his hand under him.

I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing.

Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.

For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever.

The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.

But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore.

The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue shall speak judgment.

The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.

The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death.

But the Lord will not leave him in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.

Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.

I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.

And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found.

Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for the peaceable man.

But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish.

But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble.

And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.

Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath.

For thy arrows are fastened in me: and thy hand hath been strong upon me.

There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath: there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.

For my iniquities are gone over my head: and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me.

My sores are putrified and corrupted, because of my foolishness.

I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long.

For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in my flesh.

I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I roared with the groaning of my heart.

Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hidden from thee.

My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me, and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.

My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me.

And they that were near me stood afar off: and they that sought my soul used violence.

And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.

But I, as a deaf man, heard not: and as a dumb man not opening his mouth.

And I became as a man that heareth not: and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.

For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God.

For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me: and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.

For I am ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.

For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin.

But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

They that render evil for good, have detracted me, because I followed goodness.

Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.

Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.

I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue.

I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.

I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.

My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end.

And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.

Behold thou hast made my days measurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee.

And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.

Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain.

He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

And now what is my hope? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is with thee.

Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.

I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it: remove thy scourges from me.

The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes: thou hast corrected man for iniquity.

And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears.

Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.