74 PSALM XIII Lord, how long, how long wilt Thou How long shall I seek a way From this maze of thoughts perplexed, Where my grieved mind, night and day, Is with thinking tired and vexed? How long shall my scornful foe, On my fall his greatness placing, Build upon my overthrow, And be graced by my disgracing? Hear, O Lord and God, my cries! Heavenly beams in them infusing- And too infinite to number, Lest my foes their boasting make: "'Spite of right, on him we trample "; And a pride in mischief take, Hastened by my sad example. As for me, I'll ride secure At Thy mercy's sacred anchor; And, undaunted, will endure Fiercest storms of wrong and rancor. These black clouds will overblow- My just hopes at His good pleasure. FRANCIS DAVISON 75 PSALM XXIII The Lord my pasture shall prepare, When in the sultry glebe I faint, Though in the paths of death I tread, Though in a bare and rugged way, With sudden greens and herbage crowned, JOSEPH ADDISON 76 PSALM XXV [This is the first of the acrostical or alphabetical Psalms. The verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their succession. The translator has preserved the spirit of the original by adhering to the same rule in translation. There is, occasionally, in the Hebrew, an omission of a single letter in its order. The translator has allowed himself the same latitude.] A spires my soul to Thee, O Lord; Come shame on none that wait on Thee, E xpecting Thy delivering feet, My God, I hark from morn till eve; G race is Thine own; in grace forget Just is the Lord; in judgment's hour His hand shall guard th'afflicted cause; Kind is the Lord; and kind His power Enfolds the heart that loves His laws. L ord, for Thy sake blot out my shame, Though broad and deep its blackness be: Mine be his lot who fears Thy name, And free and peaceful walks with Thee. No ill shall shake his household shrine; His seed their own fair land shall hold; On such the faithful Lord shall shine, Till all His secret truth be told. P atient, I keep my Lord in sight; See how my heart's sad path they crowd; Forgive my sin; redeem my life Up to Thy throne my hopes arise; Redeem Thine Israel, Lord, from woe! REV. GEORGE BURGESS 77 PSALM XXIX In the beauty of holiness, worship the Lord; It is He that we hear in the storm's wild commotion; While men in His temple adore and rejoice. 'Tis the Lord in the deep-rolling thunder we hear, While the untrodden wilderness trembles with fear; O'er the high-tossing billows unseen is His way; Him the floods, and the flames, and the whirlwinds obey. |