Psalm 142

1 A Psalm of David, when his son Absalom was pursuing him. O Lord, hear my prayer. Incline your ear to my supplication in your truth. Heed me according to your justice.

2 And do not enter into judgment with your servant. For all the living will not be justified in your sight.

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul. He has lowered my life to the earth. He has stationed me in darkness, like the dead of ages past.

4 And my spirit has been in anguish over me. My heart within me has been disturbed.

5 I have called to mind the days of antiquity. I have been meditating on all your works. I have meditated on the workings of your hands.

6 I have extended my hands to you. My soul is like a land without water before you.

7 O Lord, heed me quickly. My spirit has grown faint. Do not turn your face away from me, lest I become like those who descend into the pit.

8 Make me hear your mercy in the morning. For I have hoped in you. Make known to me the way that I should walk. For I have lifted up my soul to you.

9 O Lord, rescue me from my enemies. I have fled to you.

10 Teach me to do your will. For you are my God. Your good Spirit will lead me into the righteous land.

11 For the sake of your name, O Lord, you will revive me in your fairness. You will lead my soul out of tribulation.

12 And you will scatter my enemies in your mercy. And you will destroy all those who afflict my soul. For I am your servant.

Psalm 143

1 A Psalm of David versus Goliath. Blessed is the Lord, my God, who trains my hands for the battle and my fingers for the war.

2 My mercy and my refuge, my supporter and my deliverer, my protector and him in whom I have hoped: he subdues my people under me.

3 O Lord, what is man that you have become known to him? Or the son of man that you consider him?

4 Man has been made similar to vanity. His days pass by like a shadow.

5 O Lord, incline your heavens and descend. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

6 Send a flash of lightning, and you will scatter them. Shoot your arrows, and you will set them in disarray.

7 Send forth your hand from on high: rescue me, and free me from many waters, from the hand of the sons of foreigners.

8 Their mouth has been speaking vain things, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.

9 To you, O God, I will sing a new song. On the psaltery, with an instrument of ten strings, I will sing psalms to you.

10 He gives salvation to kings. He has redeemed your servant David from the malignant sword.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of the sons of foreigners. Their mouth has been speaking vain things, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.

12 Their sons are like new plantings in their youth. Their daughters are dressed up: adorned all around like the idols of a temple.

13 Their cupboards are full: overflowing from one thing into another. Their sheep bear young, brought forth in abundance.

14 Their cattle are fat. There is no ruined wall or passage, nor anyone crying out in their streets.

15 They have called the people that has these things: blessed. But blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

Psalm 144

1 The Praise of David himself. I will extol you, O God, my king. And I will bless your name, in this time and forever and ever.

2 Throughout every single day, I will bless you. And I will praise your name, in this time and forever and ever.

3 The Lord is great and exceedingly praiseworthy. And there is no end to his greatness.

4 Generation after generation will praise your works, and they will declare your power.

5 They will tell of the magnificent glory of your sanctity. And they will discourse of your wonders.

6 And they will talk about the virtue of your terrible acts. And they will describe your greatness.

7 They will shout about the memory of your abundant sweetness. And they will exult in your justice.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, patient and full of mercy.

9 The Lord is sweet to all things, and his compassion is upon all his works.

10 O Lord, may all your works confess to you, and let your holy ones bless you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and they will declare your power,

12 so as to make known to the sons of men your power and the glory of your magnificent kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your dominion is with all, from generation to generation. The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works.

14 The Lord lifts up all who have fallen down, and he sets upright all who have been thrown down.

15 O Lord, all eyes hope in you, and you provide their food in due time.

16 You open your hand, and you fill every kind of animal with a blessing.

17 The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

19 He will do the will of those who fear him, and he will heed their supplication and accomplish their salvation.

20 The Lord watches over all who love him. And he will destroy all sinners.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and may all flesh bless his holy name, in this time and forever and ever.

Psalm 145

1 Alleluia. Of Haggai and Zachariah.

2 Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord with my life. I will sing psalms to my God as long as I shall be. Do not trust in the leaders,

3 in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.

4 His spirit will depart, and he will return to his earth. In that day, all their thoughts will perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob: his hope is in the Lord God himself,

6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all the things that are in them.

7 He preserves the truth forever. He executes judgment for those who suffer injury. He provides food for the hungry. The Lord releases those who are bound.

8 The Lord enlightens the blind. The Lord sets upright those who have been thrown down. The Lord loves the just.

9 The Lord watches over new arrivals. He will support the orphan and the widow. And he will destroy the ways of sinners.

10 The Lord shall reign forever: your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.

Psalm 146

1 Alleluia. Praise the Lord, because the psalm is good. Delightful and beautiful praise shall be for our God.

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He will gather together the dispersed of Israel.

3 He heals the contrite of heart, and he binds up their sorrows.

4 He numbers the multitude of the stars, and he calls them all by their names.

5 Great is our Lord, and great is his virtue. And of his wisdom, there is no number.

6 The Lord lifts up the meek, but he brings down the sinner, even to the ground.

7 Sing before the Lord with confession. Play psalms to our God on a stringed instrument.

8 He covers heaven with clouds, and he prepares rain for the earth. He produces grass on the mountains and herbs for the service of men.

9 He gives their food to beasts of burden and to young ravens that call upon him.

10 He will not have good will for the strength of the horse, nor will he be well pleased with the legs of a man.

11 The Lord is well pleased with those who fear him and with those who hope in his mercy.

Psalm 147

1 Alleluia. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise your God, O Zion.

2 For he has reinforced the bars of your gates. He has blessed your sons within you.

3 He has stationed peace at your borders, and he has satisfied you with the fat of the grain.

4 He sends forth his eloquence to the earth. His word runs swiftly.

5 He provides snow like wool. He strews clouds like ashes.

6 He sends his ice crystals like morsels. Who can stand firm before the face of his cold?

7 He will send forth his word, and it will melt them. His Spirit will breathe out, and the waters will flow.

8 He announces his word to Jacob, his justices and his judgments to Israel.

9 He has not done so much for every nation, and he has not made his judgments manifest to them. Alleluia.

Psalm 148

1 Alleluia. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him on the heights.

2 Praise him, all his Angels. Praise him, all his hosts.

3 Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all stars and light.

4 Praise him, heavens of the heavens. And let all the waters that are above the heavens

5 praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they became. He commanded, and they were created.

6 He has stationed them in eternity, and for age after age. He has established a precept, and it will not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth: you dragons and all deep places,

8 fire, hail, snow, ice, windstorms, which do his word,

9 mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars,

10 wild beasts and all cattle, serpents and feathered flying things,

11 kings of the earth and all peoples, leaders and all judges of the earth,

12 young men and virgins. Let the older men with the younger men, praise the name of the Lord.

13 For his name alone is exalted.

14 Confession of him is beyond heaven and earth, and he has exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his holy ones, to the sons of Israel, to a people close to him. Alleluia.

Psalm 149

1 Alleluia. Sing to the Lord a new song. His praise is in the Church of the saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in him who made them, and let the sons of Zion exult in their king.

3 Let them praise his name in chorus. Let them sing psalms to him with the timbrel and the psaltery.

4 For the Lord is well pleased with his people, and he will exalt the meek unto salvation.

5 The saints will exult in glory. They will rejoice upon their couches.

6 The exultations of God will be in their throat, and two-edged swords will be in their hands:

7 to obtain vindication among the nations, chastisements among the peoples,

8 to bind their kings with shackles and their nobles with manacles of iron,

9 to obtain judgment over them, as it has been written. This is glory for all his saints. Alleluia.

Psalm 150

1 Alleluia. Praise the Lord in his holy places. Praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him for his virtues. Praise him according to the multitude of his greatness.

3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with psaltery and stringed instrument.

4 Praise him with timbrel and choir. Praise him with strings and organ.

5 Praise him with sweet-sounding cymbals. Praise him with cymbals of jubilation.

6 Let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.

Job 1

1 There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and he was a simple and honest man, fearing God and withdrawing from evil.

2 And there had been born to him seven sons and three daughters.

3 And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, along with five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred she-donkeys, and also a very large family. And this man was great among all the people of the east.

4 And his sons went and made a feast by houses, each one on his day. And sending, they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 And when the days of their feasting had been completed, Job sent to them and sanctified them, and, getting up at dawn, he offered holocausts for each one. For he said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and have not praised God in their hearts.” So Job did all the days.

6 But on a certain day, when the sons of God came to attend in the presence of the Lord, Satan also arrived among them.

7 The Lord said to him, “Where do you come from?” Answering, he said, “I have circled the land, and walked around in it.”

8 And the Lord said to him, “Have you not considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the land, a simple and honest man, fearing God and withdrawing from evil.”

9 Answering him, Satan said, “Does Job fear God to no purpose?

10 Have you not fortified him, as well as his house and every one of his belongings around him, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession has increased in the land?

11 But extend your hand a little, and touch all that he possesses, and see if he still praises you to your face.”

12 Therefore, the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, everything that he has is in your hand, only do not extend your hand against him.” And Satan departed from the face of the Lord.

13 So, on a certain day, when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine, in the house of their first-born brother,

14 a messenger came to Job, who said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

15 and the Sabeans rushed in and carried away everything, and they struck the servants with the sword; and I alone evaded them to tell you.”

16 And while he was still speaking, another arrived, and he said, “The fire of God fell from heaven, and, having struck the sheep and the servants, it consumed them; and I alone escaped to tell you.”

17 And while he also was still speaking, another arrived, and he said, “The Chaldeans organized three attacks, and advanced on the camels and took them; and not only that, but they have struck the servants with the sword; and I alone fled to tell you.”

18 He was still speaking, and behold, another entered, and he said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine in the house of their first-born brother,

19 when suddenly a severe wind rushed forth from a region of the desert and shook the four corners of the house, which collapsed and crushed your children, and they are dead; and I alone escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job got up and tore his garments, and, having shaved his head, he collapsed on the ground, and worshipped,

21 and he said, “Naked I departed from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Just as it pleased the Lord, so has it been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by his lips, nor did he speak any foolish thing against God.