The Forgotten Books of Eden/The Psalms of Solomon

Chapter 1
''”They became insolent in their prosperity. . . .”''


 * 1. I cried unto the Lord when I was in distress,


 * Unto God when sinners assailed.


 * 2. Suddenly the alarm of war was heard before me;


 * I said, He will hearken to me for I am full of righteousness.


 * 3. I thought in my heart that I was full of righteousness,


 * Because I was well off and had become rich in children.


 * 4. Their wealth spread to the whole earth,


 * And their glory unto the end of the earth.


 * 5. They were exalted unto the stars;


 * They said they would never fan.


 * 6. But they became insolent in their prosperity,


 * And they were without understanding,


 * 7. Their sins were in secret,


 * And even I had no knowledge of them.


 * 8. Their transgressions went beyond those of the heathen before them;


 * They utterly polluted the holy things of the Lord.

Chapter 2
''The desecration of Jerusalem; captivity, murder, and raping. A psalm of utter despair.''


 * When the sinner waxed proud, with a battering-ram he cast down fortified walls,


 * And thou didst not restrain him.


 * Alien nations ascended Thine altar,


 * They trampled it proudly with their sandals;


 * Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord,


 * Had profaned with iniquities the offerings of God.


 * Therefore He said: Cast them far from Me;

.      .       .       .       ..


 * It was set at naught before God,


 * It was utterly dishonoured;


 * The sons and the daughters were m grievous captivity,


 * Sealed was their neck, branded was it among the nations.


 * According to their sins hath He done unto them,


 * For He hath left them in the hands of them that prevailed.


 * He hath turned away His face from pitying them,


 * Young and old and their children together;


 * For they had done evil one and all, in not hearkening.


 * And the heavens were angry,


 * And the earth abhorred them;


 * For no man upon it had done what they did,


 * And the earth recognized all


 * Thy righteous judgements, O God.


 * They set the sons of Jerusalem to be mocked at in return for the harlots in her;


 * Every wayfarer entered in in the full light of day.


 * They made mock with their transgressions, as they themselves were wont to do;


 * In the full light of day they revealed their iniquities.


 * And the daughters of Jerusalem were defiled in accordance with Thy judgement,


 * Because they had defiled themselves with unnatural intercourse.


 * I am pained in my bowels and my inward parts for these things.


 * And yet I will justify Thee, O God, in uprightness of heart,


 * For in Thy judgements is Thy righteousness displayed, O God.


 * For Thou hast rendered to the sinners according to their deeds,


 * Yea, according to their sins, which were very wicked.


 * Thou hast uncovered their sins, that Thy judgement might be manifest;


 * Thou hast wiped out their memorial from the earth.


 * God is a righteous judge,


 * And he is no respecter of persons.


 * For the nations reproached Jerusalem, trampling it down;


 * Her beauty was dragged down from the throne of glory.


 * She girded on sackcloth instead of comely raiment,


 * A rope was about her head instead of a crown.


 * She put off the glorious diadem which God had set upon her,


 * In dishonour was her beauty cast upon the ground.


 * And I saw and entreated the Lord and said,


 * Long enough, O Lord has Thine hand been heavy on Israel, in bringing the nations upon them.


 * For they have made sport unsparingly in wrath and fierce anger;


 * And they will make an utter end, unless Thou, O Lord, rebuke them in Thy wrath.


 * For they have done. it not in zeal, but in lust of soul,


 * Pouring out their wrath upon us with a view to rapine.


 * Delay not, O God, to recompense them on their heads,


 * To turn the pride of the dragon into dishonour.


 * And I had not long to wait before God showed me the insolent one


 * Slain on the mountains of Egypt,


 * Esteemed of less account than the least, on land and sea;


 * His body, too, borne hither and thither on the billows with much insolence,


 * With none to bury him, because He had rejected him with dishonour.


 * He reflected not that he was man,


 * And reflected not on the latter end;


 * He said: I will be lord of land and sea;


 * And he recognized not that it is God who is great,


 * Mighty in His great strength.


 * He is king over the heavens,


 * And judgeth kings and kingdoms.


 * It is He who setteth me up in glory,


 * And bringeth down the proud to eternal destruction in dishonour,


 * Because they knew Him not.


 * And now behold, ye princes of the earth, the judgement of the Lord,


 * For a great king and righteous is He, judging all that is under heaven.


 * Bless God, ye that fear the Lord with wisdom,


 * For the mercy of the Lord will be upon them that fear Him, in the Judgement;


 * So that He will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner,


 * And recompense the sinners for ever according to their deeds;


 * And have mercy on the righteous, delivering him from the affliction of the sinner,


 * And recompensing the sinner for what he bath done to the righteous.


 * For the Lord is good to them that call upon Him in patience,


 * Doing according to His mercy to His pious ones,


 * Establishing them at all times before Him in strength.


 * Blessed be the Lord for ever before His servants.

Chapter 3
Righteousness versus Sin.


 * Why sleepest thou, O my soul,


 * And blessest not the Lord?


 * Sing a new song,


 * Unto God who is worthy to be praised.


 * Sing and be wakeful against His awaking,


 * For good is a psalm sung to God from a glad heart.


 * The righteous remember the Lord at all times,


 * With thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of the Lord's judgements.


 * The righteous despiseth not the chastening of the Lord;


 * His will is always before the Lord.


 * The righteous stumbleth and holdeth the Lord righteous:


 * He falleth and looketh out for what God will do to him;


 * He seeketh out whence his deliverance will come.


 * The steadfastness of the righteous is from God, their deliverer;


 * There lodgeth not in the house of the righteous sin upon sin.


 * The righteous continually searcheth his house,


 * To remove utterly all iniquity done by him in error.


 * He maketh atonement for sins of ignorance by fasting and afflicting his soul,


 * And the Lord counteth guiltless every pious man and his house.


 * The sinner stumbleth and curseth his life


 * The day when he was begotten, and his mother's travail.


 * He addeth sins to sins, while he liveth;


 * He falleth—verily grievous is his fall—and riseth no more.


 * The destruction of the sinner is for ever,


 * And he shall not be remembered, when the righteous is visited.


 * This is the portion of sinners for ever.


 * But they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal,


 * And their life shall be in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more.

Chapter 4
A conversation of Solomon with the Men-pleasers.


 * Wherefore sittest thou, O profane man, in the council of the pious,


 * Seeing that thy heart is far removed from the Lord,


 * Provoking with transgressions the God of Israel?


 * Extravagant in speech, extravagant in outward seeming beyond all men,


 * Is he that is severe of speech in condemning sinners in judgement.


 * And his hand is first upon him as though he acted in zeal,


 * And yet he is himself guilty in respect of manifold sins and of wantonness.


 * His eyes are upon every woman without distinction;


 * His tongue lieth when he maketh contract with an oath.


 * By night and in secret he sinneth as though unseen,


 * With his eyes he talketh to every woman of evil compacts.


 * He is swift to enter every house with cheerfulness as though guileless.


 * Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious,


 * Even the life of such an one with corruption of his flesh and penury.


 * Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers,


 * The deeds of such an one with laughter and derision;


 * That the pious may count righteous the judgement of their God,


 * When sinners are removed from before the righteous,


 * Even the man-pleaser who uttereth law guilefully.


 * And their eyes are fixed upon any man's house that is still secure,


 * That they may, like the Serpent, destroy the wisdom of . . . with words of transgressors,


 * His words are deceitful that he may accomplish his wicked desire.


 * He never ceaseth from scattering families as though they were orphans,


 * Yea, he layeth waste a house on account of his lawless desire.


 * He deceiveth with words, saying, There is none that seeth, or judgeth.


 * He fills one house with lawlessness,


 * And then his eyes are fixed upon the next house,


 * To destroy it with words that give wing to desire.


 * Yet with all these his soul like Sheol, is not sated.


 * Let his portion, O Lord, be dishonoured before thee;


 * Let him go forth groaning, and come home cursed.


 * Let his life be spent in anguish, and penury, and want, O Lord;


 * Let his sleep be beset with pains and his awaking with perplexities.


 * Let sleep be withdrawn from his eyelids at night;


 * Let him fail dishonourably in every work of his hands.


 * Let him come home empty-handed to his house,


 * And his house be void of everything wherewith he could sate his appetite.


 * Let his old age be spent in childless loneliness until his removal by death.


 * Let the flesh of the men-pleasers be rent by wild beasts,


 * And let the bones of the lawless lie dishonoured in the sight of the sun.


 * Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites.


 * For they have laid waste many houses of men, in dishonour,


 * And scattered them in their lust;


 * And they have not remembered God,


 * Nor feared God in all these things;


 * But they have provoked God's anger and vexed Him.


 * May He remove them from off the earth,


 * Because with deceit they beguiled the souls of the flawless.


 * Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness;


 * The Lord shall deliver them from guileful men and sinners,


 * And deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless (men).


 * Let God destroy them that insolently work all unrighteousness,


 * For a great and mighty judge is the Lord our God in righteousness.


 * Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon all them that love Thee.

Chapter 5
''A statement of the philosophy of the indestructibility of matter. One of the tenets of modern physics.''


 * O Lord God, I will praise Thy name with joy,


 * In the midst of them that know Thy righteous judgements.


 * For Thou art good and merciful, the refuge of the poor;


 * When I cry to Thee, do not silently disregard me.


 * For no man taketh spoil from a mighty man;


 * Who, then, can take aught of a that Thou hast made, except Thou Thyself givest?


 * For man and his portion lie before Thee in the balance;


 * He cannot add to, so as to enlarge, what has been prescribed by Thee.


 * O God, when we are in distress we call upon Thee for help,


 * And Thou dost not turn back our petition, for Thou art our God.


 * Cause not Thy hand to be heavy upon us,


 * Lest through necessity we sin.


 * Even though Thou restore us not, we will not keep away;


 * But unto Thee will we come.


 * For if I hunger, unto Thee will I cry, O God;


 * And Thou wilt give to me.


 * Birds and fish dost Thou nourish,


 * In that Thou givest rain to the steppes that green grass may spring up,


 * So to prepare fodder in the steppe for every living thing;


 * And if they hunger, unto Thee do they lift up their face.


 * Kings and rulers and peoples Thou dost nourish, O God;


 * And who is the help of the poor and needy, if not Thou, O Lord?


 * And Thou wilt hearken—for who is good and gentle but thou?—


 * Making glad the soul of the humble by opening Thine hand in mercy.


 * Man's goodness is bestowed grudgingly and ...;


 * And if he repeat it without murmuring, even that is marvellous.


 * But Thy gift is great in goodness and wealth,


 * And he whose hope is set on Thee shall have no lack of gifts.


 * Upon the whole earth is Thy mercy, O Lord, in goodness.


 * Happy is he whom God remembereth in granting to him a due sufficiency;


 * If a man abound overmuch, he sinneth.


 * Sufficient are moderate means with righteousness,


 * And hereby the blessing of the Lord becomes abundance with righteousness.


 * They that fear the Lord rejoice in good gifts,


 * And thy goodness is upon Israel in Thy kingdom.


 * Blessed is the glory of the Lord, for He is our king.

Chapter 6
A song of hope and fearlessness and peace.


 * 1. Happy is the man whose heart is fixed to call upon the name of the Lord;


 * When he remembereth the name of the Lord, he will be saved.


 * 2. His ways are made even by the Lord,


 * And the works of his hands are preserved by the Lord his God.


 * 3. At what he sees in his bad dreams, his soul shall not be troubled;


 * When he passes through rivers and the tossing of the seas, he shall not be dismayed.


 * 4. He ariseth from his sleep, and blesseth the name of the Lord:


 * When his heart is at peace, he singeth to the name of his God,


 * 5. And he entreateth the Lord for all his house.


 * And the Lord heareth the prayer of every one that feareth God,


 * 6. And every request of the soul that hopes for Him doth the Lord accomplish.


 * Blessed is the Lord, who showeth mercy to those who love Him in sincerity.

Chapter 7
The fine old doctrine—“Thou art our Shield!”


 * Make not Thy dwelling afar from us, O God;


 * Lest they assail us that hate us without cause.


 * For Thou hast rejected them, O God;


 * Let not their foot trample upon Thy holy inheritance.


 * Chasten us Thyself in Thy good pleasure;


 * But give us not up to the nations;


 * For, if Thou sendest pestilence,


 * Thou Thyself givest it charge concerning us;


 * For Thou art merciful,


 * And wilt not be angry to the point of consuming us.


 * While Thy name dwelleth in our midst, we shall find mercy;


 * And the nations shall not prevail against us.


 * For Thou art our shield,


 * And when we call upon Thee, Thou hearkenest to us;


 * For Thou wilt pity the seed of Israel for ever


 * And Thou wilt not reject them:


 * But we shall, be under Thy yoke for ever,


 * And under the rod of Thy chastening.


 * Thou wilt establish us in the time that Thou helpest us,


 * Showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day wherein Thou didst promise to help them.

Chapter 8
''Some remarkable similes of war creeping on Jerusalem. A survey of the sins that brought all this trouble.''


 * Distress and the sound of war hath my ear heard,


 * The sound of a trumpet announcing slaughter and calamity,


 * The sound of much people as of an exceeding high wind,


 * As a tempest with mighty fire sweeping through the Negeb.


 * And I said in my heart, Surely God judgeth us;


 * A sound I hear moving towards Jerusalem, the holy city


 * My loins were broken at what I heard, my knees tottered;


 * My heart was afraid, my bones were dismayed like flax.


 * I said: They establish their ways in righteousness.


 * I thought upon the judgments of God since the creation of heaven and earth;


 * I held God righteous in His judgements which have been from of old.


 * God bare their sins in the full light of day;


 * All the earth came to know the righteous judgements of God.


 * In secret places underground their iniquities were committed to provoke Him to anger;


 * They wrought confusion, son with mother and father with daughter;


 * They committed adultery, every man with his neighhour's wife.


 * They concluded covenants with one another with an oath touching these things;


 * They plundered the sanctuary of God, as though there was no avenger.


 * They trode the altar of the Lord, coming straight from all manner of uncleanness;


 * And with menstrual blood they defiled the sacrifices, as though these were common flesh.


 * They left no sin undone, wherein they surpassed not the heathen.


 * Therefore God mingled for them a spirit of wandering;


 * And gave them to drink a cup of undiluted wine, that they might become drunken.


 * He brought him that is from the end of the earth, that smiteth mightily;


 * He decreed war against Jerusalem, and against her land.


 * The princes of the land went to meet him with joy: they said unto him:


 * Blessed be thy way! Come ye, enter ye in with peace.


 * They made the rough ways even, before his entering in;


 * They opened the gates to Jerusalem, they crowned its walls.


 * As a father entereth the house of his sons, so he entered Jerusalem in peace;


 * He established his feet there in great safety.


 * He captured her fortresses and the wall of Jerusalem;


 * For God Himself led him in safety, while they wandered.


 * He destroyed their princes and every one wise in counsel;


 * He poured out the blood of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, like the water of uncleanness.


 * He led away their sons and daughters, whom they had begotten in defilement.


 * They did according to their uncleanness, even as their fathers had done:


 * They defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God.


 * But God hath shown Himself righteous in His judgements upon the nations of the earth;


 * And the pious servants of God are like innocent lambs in their midst.


 * Worthy to be praised is the Lord that judgeth the whole earth in His righteousness.


 * Behold, now, O God, Thou hast shown us Thy judgement in Thy righteousness;


 * Our eyes have seen Thy judgements, O God.


 * We have justified Thy name that is honoured for ever;


 * For Thou are the God of righteousness, judging Israel with chastening.


 * Turn, O God, Thy mercy upon us, and have pity upon us;


 * Gather together the dispersed of Israel, with mercy and goodness;


 * For Thy faithfulness is with us,


 * And though we have stiffened our neck, yet Thou art our chastener;


 * Overlook us not, O our God, lest the nations swallow us up, as though there were none to deliver.


 * But Thou art our God from the beginning,


 * And upon Thee is our hope set, O Lord;


 * And we will not depart from Thee,


 * For good are Thy judgements upon us.


 * Ours and our children's be Thy good pleasure for ever;


 * O Lord, our Saviour, we shall never more be moved.


 * The Lord is worthy to be praised for His judgements with the mouth of His pious ones;


 * And blessed be Israel of the Lord for ever.

Chapter 9
''The exile of the tribes of Israel. A reference to the covenant which God made with Adam. (See the First Book of Adam and Eve, Chap. III, Verse 7).''


 * When Israel was led away captive into a strange land,


 * When they fell away from the Lord who redeemed them,


 * They were cast away from the inheritance, which the Lord had given them.


 * Among every nation were the dispersed of Israel according to the word of God,


 * That Thou mightest be justified, O God, in Thy righteousness by reason of our transgressions:


 * For Thou art a just judge over all the peoples of the earth.


 * For from Thy knowledge none that doeth unjustly is hidden,


 * And the righteous deeds of Thy pious ones are before Thee, O Lord;


 * Where, then, can a man hide himself from Thy knowledge, O God?


 * Our works are subject to our own choice and power


 * To do right or wrong in the works of our hands;


 * And in Thy righteousness Thou visitest the sons of men.


 * He that doeth righteousness layeth up life for himself with the Lord;


 * And he that doeth wrongly forfeits his life to destruction;


 * For the judgements of the Lord are given in righteousness to every man and his house.


 * Unto whom art Thou good, O God, except to them that call upon the Lord?


 * He cleanseth from sins a soul when it maketh confession, when it maketh acknowledgement;


 * For shame is upon us and u on our faces on account of all these things.


 * And to whom doth He forgive sins, except to them that have sinned?


 * Thou blessest the righteous, and dost not reprove them for the sins that they have committed;


 * And Thy goodness is upon them that sin, when they repent.


 * And, now, Thou art our God, and we the people whom Thou hast loved:


 * Behold and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are Thine;


 * And remove not Thy mercy from us, lest they assail us.


 * For Thou didst choose the seed of Abraham before all the nations,


 * And didst set Thy name upon us, O Lord,


 * And Thou wilt not reject us for ever.


 * Thou madest a covenant with our fathers concerning us;


 * And we hope in Thee, when our soul turneth unto Thee.


 * The mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel for ever and ever.

Chapter 10
''A glorious hymn. Further reference to the eternal covenant between God and Man.''


 * Happy is the man whom the Lord remembereth with reproving,


 * And whom He restraineth from the way of evil with strokes


 * That he may be cleansed from sin, that it may not be multiplied.


 * He that maketh ready his back for strokes shall be cleansed,


 * For the Lord is good to them that endure chastening.


 * For He maketh straight the ways of the righteous,


 * And doth not pervert them by His chastening.


 * And the mercy of the Lord is upon them that love Him in truth,


 * And the Lord remembereth His servants in mercy.


 * For the testimony is in the law of the eternal covenant,


 * The testimony of the Lord is on the ways of men in His visitation.


 * Just and kind is our Lord in His judgements for ever,


 * And Israel shall praise the name of the Lord in gladness.


 * And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people;


 * And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness of Israel;


 * For good and merciful is God for ever,


 * And the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the name of the Lord.


 * The salvation of the Lord be upon the house of Israel unto everlasting gladness!

Chapter 11
Jerusalem hears a trumpet and stands on tiptoe to see her children returning from the North, East and West.


 * Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon the saints,


 * Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him that bringeth good tidings;


 * For God hath had pity on Israel in visiting them.


 * Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold thy children,


 * From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord;


 * From the North they come in the gladness of their God,


 * From the isles afar off God hath gathered them.


 * High mountains hath He abased into a plain for them;


 * The hills fled at their entrance.


 * The woods gave them shelter as they passed by;


 * Every sweet-smelling tree God caused to spring up for them,


 * That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God.


 * Put on, O Jerusalem, thy glorious garments;


 * Make ready thy holy robe;


 * For God hath spoken good concerning Israel, for ever and ever.


 * Let the Lord do what He hath spoken concerning Israel and Jerusalem;


 * Let the Lord raise up Israel by His glorious name.


 * The mercy of the Lord be upon Israel for ever and ever.

Chapter 12
An appeal for family tranquility and peace and quiet at home.


 * O Lord, deliver my soul from the lawless and wicked man,


 * From the tongue that is lawless and slanderous, and speaketh lies and deceit.


 * Manifoldly twisted are the words of the tongue of the wicked man,


 * Even as among a people a fire that burneth up their beauty.


 * So he delights to fill houses with a lying tongue,


 * To cut down the trees of gladness which setteth on fire transgressors,


 * To involve households in warfare by means of slanderous lips.


 * May God remove far from the innocent the lips of transgressors by bringing them to want


 * And may the bones of slanderers be scattered far away from them that fear the Lord!


 * In flaming fire perish the slanderous tongue far away from the pious!


 * May the Lord preserve the quiet soul that hateth the unrighteous;


 * And may the Lord establish the man that followeth peace at home.


 * The salvation of the Lord be upon Israel His servant for ever;


 * And let the sinners perish together at the presence of the Lord;


 * But let the Lord's pious ones inherit the promises of the Lord.

Chapter 13
''Of Solomon. A Psalm. Comfort for the righteous.''


 * The right hand of the Lord hath covered me;


 * The right hand of the Lord hath spared us.


 * The arm of the Lord hath saved us from the sword that passed through,


 * From famine and the death of sinners.


 * Noisome beasts ran upon them:


 * With their teeth they tore their flesh,


 * And with their molars crushed their bones.


 * But from all these things the Lord delivered us.


 * The righteous was troubled on account of his errors,


 * Lest he should be taken away along with the sinners;


 * For terrible is the overthrow of the sinner;


 * But not one of all these things toucheth the righteous.


 * For not alike are the chastening of the righteous for sins done in ignorance,


 * And the overthrow of the sinners.


 * Secretly is the righteous chastened,


 * Lest the sinner rejoice over the righteous.


 * For He correcteth the righteous as a beloved son.


 * And his chastisement is as that of a first-born.


 * For the Lord spareth His pious ones,


 * And blotteth out their errors by His chastening.


 * For the life of the righteous shall be for ever;


 * But sinners shall be taken away into destruction,,


 * And their memorial shall be found no more.


 * But upon the pious is the mercy of the Lord,


 * And upon them that fear Him His mercy.

Chapter 14
Sinners “love the brief day spent in companionship with their sin.” Profound wisdom, beautifully expressed.


 * Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in truth,


 * To them that endure His chastening,


 * To them that walk in the righteousness of His commandments,


 * In the law which He commanded us that we might live.


 * The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever;


 * The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His pious ones.


 * Their planting is rooted for ever;


 * They shall not be plucked up all the days of heaven:


 * For the portion and the inheritance of God is Israel.


 * But not so are the sinners and transgressors,


 * Who love the brief day spent in companionship with their sin;


 * Their delight is in fleeting corruption,


 * And they remember not God.


 * For the ways of men are known before Him at all times,


 * And He knoweth the secrets of the heart before they come to pass.


 * Therefore their inheritance is Sheol and darkness and destruction


 * And they shall not be found in the day when the righteous obtain mercy;


 * But the pious of the Lord shall inherit life in gladness.

Chapter 15
The psalmist restates the great philosophy of Right and Wrong.


 * When I was in distress I called upon the name of the Lord,


 * I hoped for the help of the God of Jacob and was saved;


 * For the hope and refuge of the poor art Thou, O God.


 * For who, O God, is strong except to give thanks unto Thee in truth?


 * And wherein is a man powerful except in giving thanks to Thy name?


 * A new psalm with song in gladness of heart,


 * The fruit of the lips with the well-tuned instrument of the tongue,


 * The first fruits of the lips from a pious and righteous heart—


 * He that offereth these things shall never be shaken by evil;


 * The flame of fire and the wrath against the unrighteous shall not touch him,


 * When it goeth forth from the face of the Lord against sinners,


 * To destroy all the substance of sinners,


 * For the mark of God is upon the righteous that they may be saved.


 * Famine and sword and pestilence shall be far from the righteous,


 * For they shall flee away from the pious as men pursued in war;


 * But they shall pursue sinners and overtake them,


 * And they that do lawlessness shall not escape the judgement of God;


 * As by enemies experienced in war shall they be overtaken,


 * For the mark of destruction is upon their forehead.


 * And the inheritance of sinners is destruction and darkness,


 * And their iniquities shall pursue them unto Sheol beneath.


 * Their inheritance shall not be found of their children,


 * For sins shall lay waste the houses of sinners.


 * And sinners shall perish for ever in the day of the Lord's judgement,


 * When God visiteth the earth with His judgement.


 * But they that fear the Lord shall find mercy therein,


 * And shall live by the compassion of their God;


 * But sinners shall perish for ever.

Chapter 16
The psalmist again expresses profound truth—“For if Thou givest not strength, who can endure chastisement?”


 * When my soul slumbered being afar from the Lord, I had all but slipped down to the pit,


 * When I was far from God, my soul had been well-nigh poured out unto death,


 * I had been nigh unto the gates of Sheol with the sinner,


 * When my soul departed from the Lord God of Israel—


 * Had not the Lord helped me with His everlasting mercy.


 * He pricked me, as a horse is pricked, that I might serve Him,


 * My saviour and helper at all times saved me.


 * I will give thanks unto Thee, O God, for Thou hast helped me to my salvation;


 * And hast not counted me with sinners to my destruction.


 * Remove not Thy mercy from me, O God,


 * Nor Thy memorial from my heart until I die.


 * Rule me, O God, keeping me back from wicked sin,


 * And from every wicked woman that causeth the simple to stumble.


 * And let not the beauty of a lawless woman beguile me,


 * Nor any one that is subject to unprofitable sin.


 * Establish the works of my hands before Thee,


 * And preserve my goings in the remembrance of Thee.


 * Protect my tongue and my lips with words of truth;


 * Anger and unreasoning wrath put far from me.


 * Murmuring, and impatience in affliction, remove far from me


 * When, if I sin, Thou chastenest me that I may return unto Thee.


 * But with goodwill and cheerfulness support my soul;


 * When Thou strengthenest my soul, what is given to me will be sufficient for me.


 * For if Thou givest not strength,


 * Who can endure chastisement with poverty?


 * When a man is rebuked by means of his corruption,


 * Thy testing of him is in his flesh and in the affliction of poverty.


 * If the righteous endureth in all these trials, he shall receive mercy from the Lord.

Chapter 17
''“They set a worldly monarchy. . . . they lay waste the Throne of David!” A poetic narrative about the utter disintegration of a great nation.''


 * O Lord, Thou art our King for ever and ever,


 * For in Thee, O God, doth our soul glory.


 * How long are the days of man's life upon the earth?


 * As are his days, so is the hope set upon him.


 * But we hope in God, our deliverer;


 * For the might of our God is for ever with mercy,


 * And the kingdom of our God is for ever over the nations in judgement.


 * Thou, O Lord, didst choose David to be king over Israel,


 * And swaredst to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before Thee.


 * But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us;


 * They assailed us and thrust us out;


 * What Thou hadst not promised to them, they took away from us with violence.


 * They in no wise glorified Thy honourable name;


 * They set a worldly monarchy in place of that which was their excellency;


 * They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance.


 * But Thou, O God, didst cast them down, and remove their seed from the earth,


 * In that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race.


 * According to their sins didst Thou recompense them, O God;


 * So that it befell them according to their deeds.


 * God showed them no pity;


 * He sought out their seed and let not one of them go free.


 * Faithful is the Lord in all His judgements


 * Which He doeth upon the earth.


 * The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it,


 * They destroyed young and old and their children together.


 * In the heat of His anger He sent them away even unto the west,


 * And He exposed the rulers of the land unsparingly to derision.


 * Being an alien the enemy acted proudly,


 * And his heart was alien from Our God.


 * And all things whatsoever he did in Jerusalem,


 * As also the nations in the cities to their gods.


 * And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples surpassed them in evil.


 * There was not among them one that wrought in the midst of Jerusalem mercy and truth.


 * They that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them,


 * As sparrows that fly from their nest.


 * They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm,


 * And precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them.


 * Over the whole earth were they scattered by lawless men.


 * For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping upon the earth,


 * Springs were stopped that sprang perennially out of the deeps, that ran down from lofty mountains.


 * For there was none among them that wrought righteousness and justice;


 * From the chief of them to the least of them all were sinful;


 * The king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful.


 * Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David,


 * At the time in the which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy servant.


 * And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers,


 * And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample her down to destruction.


 * Wisely, righteously he shall thrust out sinners from the inheritance,


 * He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's vessel.


 * With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance,


 * He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth;


 * At his rebuke nations shall flee before him,


 * And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart.


 * And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness,


 * And he shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God.


 * And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst,


 * Nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness,


 * For he shall know them, that they are all sons of their God.


 * And he shall divide them according to their tribes upon the land,


 * And neither sojourner nor alien shall sojourn with them any more.


 * He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah.


 * And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him under his yoke;


 * And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of all the earth;


 * And he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old:


 * So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory,


 * Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted.


 * And to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her.


 * And he shall be a righteous king, taught of God, over them,


 * And there shall be no unrighteousness in his days in their midst,


 * For all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord.


 * For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow,


 * Nor shall he multiply for himself gold and silver for war,


 * Nor shall he gather confidence from a multitude for the day of battle.


 * The Lord Himself is his king, the hope of him that is mighty through his hope in God.


 * All nations shall be in fear before him,


 * For he will smite the earth with the word of his mouth for ever.


 * He will bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness,


 * And he himself will be pure from sin, so that he may rule a great people.


 * He will rebuke rulers, and remove sinners by the might of his word;


 * And relying upon his God, throughout his days he will not stumble;


 * For God will make him mighty by means of His holy spirit,


 * And wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness.


 * And the blessing of the Lord will be with him: he will be strong and stumble not;


 * His hope will be in the Lord: who then can prevail against him?


 * He will, be mighty in his works, and strong in the fear of God,


 * He will be shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously,


 * And will suffer none among them to stumble in their pasture.


 * He will lead them all aright,


 * And there will be no pride among them that any among them should be oppressed.


 * This will be the majesty of the king of Israel whom God knoweth;


 * He will raise him up over the house of Israel to correct him.


 * His words shall be more refined than costly gold, the choicest;


 * In the assemblies he will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanctified.


 * His words shall be like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples.


 * Blessed be they that shall be in those days,


 * In that they shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass in the gathering together of the tribes.


 * May the Lord hasten His mercy upon Israel!


 * May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies!


 * The Lord Himself is our king for ever and ever.

Chapter 18
With this psalm end the warlike Songs of Solomon.


 * Lord, Thy mercy is over the works of Thy hands for ever;


 * Thy goodness is over Israel with a rich gift.


 * Thine eyes look upon them, so that none of them suffers want;


 * Thine ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor.


 * Thy judgements are executed upon the whole earth in mercy;


 * And Thy love is toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel.


 * Thy chastisement is upon us as upon a first-born, only-begotten son,


 * To turn back the obedient soul from folly that is wrought in ignorance.


 * May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing,


 * Against the day of choice when


 * Blessed shall they be that shall be in those days,


 * He bringeth back His anointed.


 * In that they shall see the goodness of the Lord which He shall perform for the generation that is to come,


 * Under the rod of chastening of the Lord's anointed in the fear of his God,


 * In the spirit of wisdom and righteousness and strength;


 * That he may direct every man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God,


 * That he may establish them all before the Lord,


 * A good generation living in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah.


 * Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest.


 * It is He who hath established in their courses the lights of heaven for determining seasons from year to year,


 * And they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed them.


 * In the fear of God they pursue their path every day,


 * From the day God created them and for evermore.


 * And they have erred not since the day He created them.


 * Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path,


 * Unless God commanded them so to do by the command of His servants.