Psalm 38–40

Psalm 38

¹Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.

²I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.

³I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.

⁴My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

⁵I 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.

⁶Behold thou hast made my days measurable. and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.

⁷Surely 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.

⁸And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.

⁹Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.

¹⁰I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.

¹¹Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:

¹²Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

¹³Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be no silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

¹⁴O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

Psalm 39

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

²With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

³And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

⁴And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.

⁵Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.

⁶Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number.

⁷Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require:

⁸Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me

⁹That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

¹⁰I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.

¹¹I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.

¹²Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.

¹³For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.

¹⁴Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. Look down, O Lord, to help me.

¹⁵Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me.

¹⁶Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: ‘T is well, t’ is well.

¹⁷Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

¹⁸But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack.

Psalm 40

¹Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

²Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.

³The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

⁴The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness.

⁵I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.

⁶My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and his name perish?

⁷And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose.

⁸All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils to me.

⁹They determined against me an unjust word: shall he that sleepeth rise again no more?

¹⁰For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me.

¹¹But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them.

¹²By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me.

¹³But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast established me in thy sight for ever.

¹⁴Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity. So be it. So be it.