1¤ Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.2All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together.3My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart understanding.4I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on the psaltery.5Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall encompass me.6They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches,7No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom,8Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for ever,9And shall still live unto the end.10He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers:11And their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names.12And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.13This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth.14They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.15But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me.16Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.17For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him.18For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.19He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.20Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.
A psalm for Asaph.1¤ The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof:2Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.3God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him.4He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people.5Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.6And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God.8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.9I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks.10For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen.11I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field.12If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.13Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats?14Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High.15And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.16But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?17Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.18If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker.19Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits.20Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother's son:21These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.22Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you.23The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.
Unto the end, a psalm of David, When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with Bethsabee. [2 Kings 12.]1¤ Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.2Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.3For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.4To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.5For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.6For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.7Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.8To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.9Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.10Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.11Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.13I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.14Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.15O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.16For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.17A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.18Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.19Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.