The sea is his, and he made it,

The dry land also, which his hands have formed.
O come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before Jehovah, our Maker.
For he is our God; and we

Are the people of his pasture, and the flock of his hand.
T'o-day, if his voice ye will hear,

Harden not your heart, as in Meribah,

As in the day of repining in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me,

Tried me, and saw my works.

Forty years was I grieved with this generation;
And I said,—A people that err in their heart,
And they have not reverenced my ways:
Unto whom I sware in my wrath,

They shall not enter into my rest.

ASPIRATIONS AFTER GOD.

PSALM XLII.

TRANSLATED BY THE REV. GEORGE R. NOYES.

As the hart panteth for streams of water,
So panteth my soul for thee, O God!
My soul thirsteth for God, the living God;
When shall I come, and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me continually, Where is thy God:
When I think of it, I pour out my soul in grief;

How I once walked in the procession to the house of God, Amid joyful shouts and praises of the festive multitudes!

Why art thou cast down, O my soul!

And why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God! for I will yet praise him,
Him, my deliverer, and my God!

My soul is cast down within me,

While I remember thee from the land of Jordan and Her

mon,

From the mountain Mizar.

Deep calleth for deep; thy cataracts roar;

All thy waves and billows have gone over me!

Once Jehovah commanded his kindness by day,
And by night his praise was with me,

And my prayer to the God of my life;

Now I say to God, my rock, Why dost thou forget me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? The reproaches of the enemy are like the crushing of my

bones;

While they say to me continually, Where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God! for I will yet praise him;
Him, my deliverer, and my God!

THE CONDESCENSION OF GOD TO MAN.

PSALM VIII.

TRANSLATED BY THE SAME..

O JEHOVAH, Our Lord!

How excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens!

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained

praise,

To put thine adversaries to shame,

And to silence the enemy and avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him,
And the son of man, that thou carest for him!

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels;
Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour,

Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet;

All sheep and oxen,

Yea, and the beasts of the forest;

The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea,

And whatever passeth through the paths of the deep,

O Jehovah, our Lord!

How excellent is thy name in all the earth!

LIFE TRANSITORY, BUT GOD THE EVERLASTING REFUGE

PSALM XC.

LORD, thou hast been our refuge in all generations:
Before the mountains were created,

Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction,

And thou sayest, Return ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight

Are as yesterday when it is passed,
And like a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away; they are a dream.

In the morning they are like grass, which reneweth its verdure;

In the morning it flourisheth, and becometh verdant,
In the evening it is cut down and withereth.
For we are consumed by thine anger,
And by thy wrath are we destroyed.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,

Our secret transgressions in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath;
Our years disappear like a thought.

As to the days of our years, in them are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength there be eighty years,
Yet is their pride wearisome labour and sorrow;
For it passeth hastily, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger?

And who, with becoming reverence, acknowledgeth thy wrath? *

So teach us to number our days,

That we may be guided by the heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord! how long?

And have compassion on thy servants.

Satisfy us early with thy mercy,

And we will be glad and rejoice in thee.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,

The years in which we have experienced adversity.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants,

And thy glory unto their children.

And let the mercy of the Lord our God be upon us ;
And the work of our hands, establish it for us,
Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

PRAISE TO JEHOVAH.

PSALM XCVI.T

O sing unto Jehovah a new song!
Sing to Jehovah, all the earth!
Sing to Jehovah, bless his name,
Publish joyfully his salvation from day to day,
Declare his glory among the heathen,

His wonders among the people.

For Jehovah is great, and greatly to be praised:
He is to be revered above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols;
But Jehovah created the heavens.

* A possible rendering of this line is the following. Even like thy greatness, so is thy wrath.

+ See and compare I. Chronicles, chapter xvi. verses 8—36.

Glory and majesty are before him,
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Give to Jehovah glory and strength;
Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name;
Bring an offering and come into his courts.
O worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness;
Fear before his presence all the earth!
Say among the heathen, Jehovah reigneth!
The world also is established; it shall not be moved.
He shall judge the people in righteousness.

Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad ;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
Let the field be joyful and all that is therein;-
Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice!
In the presence of Jehovah, for he cometh,
For he cometh to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the people with his truth.

GOD MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS.

PSALM CIII.

BLESS Jehovah, O my soul!

And all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul!
And forget not any of his benefits.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;

Who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;

Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good;
Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Jehovah executeth righteousness,
And justice for all that are oppressed.
He made known his ways unto Moses,
His wonderful works to the children of Israel.

Jehovah is compassionate and gracious,

Slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always chide;

Nor will he keep his anger forever.

He hath not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor hath he requited us according to our transgressions.
For as the heaven is high above the earth,

So prevalent is his mercy towards those who revere him. As far as the east is from the west,

So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children,

So Jehovah pitieth those who revere him.
For he knoweth our frame,

He remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass;
Like a flower of the field, so he flourisheth:
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
And its place shall know it no more.

But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting,
And to everlasting upon those who revere him,
And his righteousness to the children of children.
To such as keep his covenant,

And to those who remember his commandments, to do them.
Jehovah hath established his throne in the heavens,

And his dominion ruleth over all.

Bless Jehovah, ye his angels!

Mighty in strength, executing his commands,
Hearkening to the voice of his word.

Bless Jehovah, all ye his hosts,

Ye servants of his, that execute his pleasure.
Bless Jehovah, all his works,

In all places of his dominion.

Bless Jehovah, O my soul!

CREATION SUSTAINED BY THE MERCY OF GOD.

PSALM CIV.

BLESS Jehovah, O my soul!

O Jehovah, my God, thou art exalted exceedingly!
Thou puttest on glory and majesty,

Covering thyself with light, as with a garment.
Who spreadeth out the heavens like a tent;

Who layeth the beams of his chambers on the waters;
Who maketh the clouds his chariots;
Who walketh on the wings of the wind;
Who maketh the winds his messengers;
His servants, a consuming fire.

He established the earth on its foundations;
It shall not be removed forever and ever.

Thou didst cover it with the floods as with a garment;
The waters arose upon the mountains.

From thy rebuke they fled,

From the roar of thy thunder they hasted away;

The mountains rise up ;-they flow down into the valleys,
To the place which thou hast appointed for them.

Thou hast established a limit, which they shall not overflow.
They shall not again return to cover the earth.
He setteth loose the springs in brooks,—
They flow among the mountains.

They give drink to all beasts of the field,-
The wild asses quench their thirst.
Near them the fowls of heaven inhabit,-