Paraphrase of the Psalms 79–104

A noble revel of works … Shepherding the honoured …, Blessed One, you who lead Joseph like a sheep and make him increase. Raise up your might, and come to save us. Turning easily, may you call us back again, O King, and send forth the light of your face upon our life. Hear, Blessed One: how long are you angry with one who prays? Giving us tearful bread as is due, and measuring out drink, making us drink more of griefs, you gave us as a cause of strife among opposing men … may you send the light of your eyelids on our life. And cutting out …, you planted …, the glorious nations of the earth; and you planted roots, and they filled the whole field. Countless mountains were covered with shady bushes, and the climbing [vines] covered the cedars of the Blessed One to the top. Why, O Lord, have you torn down its safe fence with your hands? A terrible [boar] coming from the thicket … May you stretch, O Lord, your all-seeing eye from heaven, and make it ready, raising it up as is due; for it has become the much-loved work of your right hand. [The dear son of man, whom you yourself knew to be strong.] Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, the dear son of man, whom he himself knew to be strong … you will call us back again, and may you send the light of your eyelids on our life.

Taking up a clear psalm, give the sweet drum, … and the lovely psaltery along with it. At the beginning of the month, dear men, sound the trumpet, on the day when the beauty of the feast is conspicuous. Israel received this always famous decree; Joseph received it as a witness of ordinances, coming formerly from the cities of Egypt. Then how did you cry? And I came to you as defender, and you did not escape my notice, hidden in the dark storm … fire. And I tested you, thirsty, at the water. Hear, my people, and I will tell you what is due in words … of my words … No other new god will be yours among those asked, nor … a foreign god. For I myself am your God and ageless King; and if you need anything, open wide your mouth, and I will fill it. The foolish people did not hear our words; therefore I let them go to do what pleased their mind. For if the people, useless to my voice, had heard, if they had run in our footsteps, I would have brought their opponents to the ground, even without toil, and destroyed those who hated them before with my hand. Enemies lied to the mighty King; but the season of their life’s nurture will be continual; and you, Immortal One, gave them life-giving wheat, and to have satiety of pure honey from the rock.

The first song upon the eighth decade, of Asaph. Standing in the middle, the Lord judges the blessed ones. How long will you not judge by the ordinances of undefiled justice? Direct the ordinances of justice for the wretched and the poor … rescue the helpless and …, and from the grievous hand … They, childish, did not consider in their hearts nor understand; therefore let [the foundations] be stirred about the bottom of the whole earth. I myself said willingly that you were [gods] before the Blessed One, and children of the glorious most high King. But you die like mortals who have perished beneath the earth … and you yourself will possess all the nations by lot …

The second hymn of the eighth decade, of Asaph. Immortal One, who will be like you? Never be silent, nor be gentle in heart; … the din of your enemies frequently … against your holy ones … “Come now, dear men, let us destroy them, and let us … their name from the earth” … the tribes of the Idumaeans and the sons of Ishmael; … Moab, and the overweening …; nor was the boundless people of the Assyrians lacking. Do as you once did to Sisera and to Midian, or at the wintry stream of Kishon … like dust which the wind swiftly drove over the earth … all who are rulers among them, who formerly planned to seize the most beautiful altar of God. May you make them all, O Lord, like a round wheel, or like burning stubble before … and the forest; so, Blessed One, pursue them with your storm; fill all their faces with shame … your name. Let blame seize them all, and let them perish together in their folly. Let them know in their hearts, as they perish, your divine name, because you alone are most high over the whole earth.

… of the decade, and the third was sung. With soul and limbs I exult in God who is. For the sparrow found a home dear to its heart, and the turtledove found a fitting nest for its young: your altars, Blessed One of powers; you are God and King. Most blessed are all who have your houses; blessed is the man who has found good strength with you, looking in his heart and driving up even to heaven, in the hollow of weeping, where he found a famous place. The giver of the ordinance will grant blessings as is due …; the God of gods will be seen with eyes in Zion. Hear, Blessed One of powers, … I pray to you as your servant; receive now my voice with your ears. … having become my …, look upon … do not pass by, O Lord, the face of your Christ. To rest one day in your courts surpasses thousands. Better even to be called pitiable in the halls of God. Because God … mercy and truth …, he himself will always grant glory and his grace; nor will he let the guileless ever be without his good things. Immortal One — for you alone have always been the Blessed One of powers — blessed is this man whose hope in his heart [is in you].

Again, O King, after cares you have loved your land; you covered … of all kinds before your eyes. But, my light, turning, be gracious again to them …; turning, may you grant us … for the sake of life … I will hear what God himself will speak out to me, planting peace for all his peoples … and mind to his holy ones, and to those who turn back to him again. Yet … those who fear his light …, so that he may stretch out famous glory on our land. Truth and mercy … each other …; peace kissed lovely righteousness; graceful truth sprang up from the earth, and lovely righteousness looked down from heaven; and indeed the King … gentleness …; righteousness will walk before God the King.

A fifth song upon the eighth decade … Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear my voice, because I have become needy and poor. Guard my heart, O Lord, for I am holy to you … Save your servant, since you are my immortal hope … to me crying to you all day (for I sought your might), and my heart. Hear my prayer, and see the sound of my voice. There is no other among the immortals like God, nor do any works appear like your works. All the nations of men which you made with your hand [will come], glorifying your name and your ageless strength, since you yourself are great and do immortal wonders. You alone, O Lord, have always been most high; may I warm my heart, trembling at your divine name. With unceasing heart, Blessed One, … you … Against me, O King, lawless men rose up, and the assembly of the mighty tracked my heart, nor did they set your might before their eyes. And you, Blessed One, are very compassionate and merciful, and the giver of much mercy, and alone true. May you hand your highest strength to your servant; may you make for us, Blessed One, a sign for good …; you are consolation and my helper.

The sweet sixth song upon the eighth decade. The fair foundations of God are on undefiled mountains; God … the gates of Zion always … We hear glorious things about you, immortal city. I will remember Rahab and Babylon before my friends. Foreigners and Tyrians and the famous tribes of the Ethiopians, going there all together, made a common dwelling. A man [will call] Zion his honoured mother; for indeed she bore a conspicuous and true man; and the Lord … of peoples and of the mighty rulers whom she bore. And those who will dwell in her, always rejoicing …

This too for … upon the decade … and all night to you … Would that my prayer may come before your eyes; would that you would incline your ear, O Lord, to my supplications, because my helpless heart is laden with pains, and my dear life has come near to nether Hades. I thought I was like those rushing into the pit; I became like a mortal for whom no helper appears, though I myself am always free among the dead … to whom you no longer turn, nor …; for they too have been driven out from your glorious hand … they laid me in the pit that destroys men … beside the shadowy place of death. Your heavily painful anger is set firm upon me … Then how they forced …, and did not wish me to follow …; and from feebleness even the light of my eyes was dimmed. But I called you as helper in so great a necessity, and my hands were lifted to you all day. Will you do your wonders among the uncared-for dead? Will anyone … your …? Therefore, while living, I follow you and beseech you as helper. Why do you send my gentle prayer far off …? From youth I have been poor and in …; from on high again I became low and helpless in works. Your frequent angers, Blessed One, came upon me, and of your might … they encircle me like deep-flowing water, surrounding me on every side all day, here and there. You have removed my neighbour from me, and my faithful companion together …

… mercy, O King, your … you will fashion your mercy all days, and set your truth ready above the sky. I swore to David, and he has always become my servant; and I will make your much-glorious throne for ever. The heavens will sing, Blessed One, your wondrous works, and your truth … of the holy. Who, dwelling in the clouds, will be like the Lord? Or who will ever be like you among the sons of the Immortal? God has always been glorious in the counsels of the holy: how great, how fearful, and trembling took all around him … You cast down the arrogant man like one wounded; laden with strength you scattered the hateful … The heavens and the earth are possessions of your command, and you yourself made the north and the unspeakable sea … always … in your strength; your right hand … with boldness; righteousness and judgment stand around your seat; truth and mercy run before you … the people that knows … your ageless light will lead them, always rejoicing, for whom your name is delight, and resounding glory under …, because you have become their glory of exceeding strength; and boldly in you may they still exalt their horn. On earth there always is the fence of the Immortal’s help … Then you spoke these things to your children, saying: I have laid might upon the mighty one, and granted strength …, having chosen the best from the people; I found David, my dear servant and fellow-worker; … his very beautiful body with oil …, and my arm will always urge him on. Never will enemies have pleasure over him, nor will a son of lawlessness convict him in his woes. And may truth and mercy run together with him, and in me he will have his boastful horn raised up. I will set his hand through the barren sea, and his right hand will rule above the rivers. He himself will call me his conspicuous father, having me as the defender of his light, and God. And I will set him as my dear firstborn son, high among all the most excellent kings. From generation to generation may his dear seed be firm, and his radiant throne as long as the days of heaven remain. But if his sons forget my ordinances, and become forgetful of our …, … with a sceptre I will look on their hateful works; nor will I first accomplish anything unjust against truth, nor against my covenant … His race will be blessed among all continually, being such as the full moon is, and the faithful witness dwelling in great heaven. … you made his temple profane on the earth, … those things by which he was formerly guarded; and these became most dreadful to him. You lifted up the right hand of those pressing him; nor did you come as helper to him in his need in battle, but … to the destroyers of battle … Ah, how much you destroyed his throne in a short season! Instead of crowns, shame held him down from every side. How long, Blessed One, … increasing your mighty wrath as a kindled torch? Did you then make the race of mortals in vain? What mortal will escape the force and bond of death, … calling back his dear heart? Where is the unspeakable strength of your former mercy … Nor forget your servants … of your Christ, and image … The Lord will be praised; he will be the God of Israel.

If it is lawful to call a mortal heavenly, Moses has always been the most faithful servant of the Immortal; … upon the ninth of the decade, the song. Blessed One, become a fence for us for unceasing generations, before the seats of the mountains, before even the support of the earth came to be … I will sing you as King of old and for ever. Do not turn me back and make man lowly again, commanding mortals to take life back again. Like yesterday, a thousand of your years are a day in your eyes, which, when it has passed, provided a watch in the night. Their works will be blameworthy for years. The early-born dawn will pass like a flower … For by your … we have become feeble, troubled when the King is dreadfully angry. You have set our lawlessness ready before your eyes; our life is the light of your face. And when you were wroth, we melted in our dear strength. The decades of human life’s time are seven; but if we live more years, beyond eighty, toil and labour are always the excess of life. Who has known in his heart the great strength of your anger? Who could number the joyless fears of your heart? … those whose hearts care for immortal wisdom … hearts with delight and gladness all days, for the sake of the days … beside you …, in return for the years in which we saw so many pains before. Look on your servants, Undefiled One, and your works; and may the … of the King appear, sung, to their children, to us …

Of fair-dancing songs, to the ninth decade. Force and tower …; and you are God to us, and the famous hope of help. May you keep your hope under immortal wings; may he arm you with truth as with a weapon. May you never fear the night-time fear, nor the work that creeps on in dark depths, nor … of the noonday demon. A thousand may fall at your left hand, and a myriad there at your right. But no one will ever be able to come near you. Since you yourself have become my life-giving hope, surely you carry your boldness with the Most High, Strong One. Never fear at all the coming necessity of evils, nor be distraught that your body may be subdued by the scourge; and, Blessed One, … in hands …, lest you ever strike your honoured foot on a stone. You will boldly tread on asp and basilisk, and trample with your feet the venom-shooting dragon and the beast. I will rescue him, whose heart cares for my hope, and I will clothe him well; for he has learned my name well. I will be near to the one in distress all days; and, rescuing you, … glory always …

The ninety-first, of the wise. This psalm is for the day of the Sabbath. … and your much-glorious name with the lyre, and your honoured truth through the night; for you have greatly [gladdened] me, Blessed One, by your works, and I will rejoice in my mind at your divine works. Who could hymn your boastful art? No foolish man will know these things in his heart, nor will one concerned with folly understand them, when he sees the unjust flourishing like grass …, so that they may always begin their own evil destruction. But you alone, O Lord, immortal, have become most high; … may the evildoing races of your … perish. And may my horn be lifted on high like that of the unicorn, and may grey old age flourish with rich oil. I saw with my eye the toilsome fate of my enemies. Then the holy mortal will flourish like a palm, as many as are planted in the divine houses, still full of richness in the season of old age; as is right, having experienced good things, they will declare each one, because God has always been an upright-minded King, nor does he hide an unjust mind in his wise heart.

The Immortal has reigned, and has put on his beauty … Immortal One, your throne is always most ready … All the lofty works of the sea are wonderful. Your testimonies, O Lord, have a concordant faith, for endless season and for long days.

The sweet third song upon the ninetieth. The Immortal is always the avenger among all, a King. Hear, Blessed One: how long will the wicked prevail by force? How long will the interpreters of transgression … belching with their tongue … of their heart, who set your people, O Lord, level with the ground by necessity, and, taking your inheritance, sacked it with evil … nor … the heavenly royal vengeance. But come, understand these works in your heart, you foolish ones, whose life was formerly in folly; gather your heart. Will he who gives hearing to others not hear more? Will the begetter of light not see the works of others? Instructing nations, does he not know how to rebuke wickedness, he who alone plants all thoughts in mortals? … having understood in his heart your law-bearing cares … planning, so that the season of wickedness … For he will never cast away his people from his face, nor overlook his perishing portion, until righteousness, which brings forth judgment, comes again. Who will arm me and rouse me to battle against the lawless? And my soul would have flown to be a fellow-dweller with Hades. For when, with failing mind, I expected flight, …; as much immeasurable grief as I bore in my pains, my heart was cheered by your consolations. Let not a lawless throne, O Lord, be near you … the soul of the holy … in vain, to stitch a fate somewhere with innocent blood. But the Lord most high himself has become a fence for me; God came ready as the helper of my hope; may he give them what is worthy of … and the Lord … them in their own works.

Come, exulting, let us rejoice in the Lord, … a paean to the immortal Shepherd of the world, because God increases great might among all, and he himself has become most kingly of all the blessed. He will never cast away his dear and gentle people, holding with immortal hand the famous ends of the earth. He himself made the sea and holds it with lordship, and fashioned the many-giving earth with his hands. Come, beseeching, let us fall at his knees; let us weep before God, and he will pity his work, because he himself is King of mortals and also God, and we are his people and the flock of his pasture. Today, if you hear the voice of the Lord with your ears, let no one’s heart be bronze and harsh, as when you provoked the heart of the Immortal with works … calling to justice with an unlying heart … as formerly in the rough desert of God, those who saw my works and might for forty years. Therefore I hated that destructive generation, and they did not at all notice our paths; I swore in my wrath that they should not see rest.

… this is the clear ninety-fifth song. Show his propitious light day upon day; declare the honoured wonders of God to the peoples, because he is great, and has always been praised, and holds the mightiest fear among all gods. All the gods of the nations were images of demons; but God made the bronze heaven by his counsel. Praise and great beauty are before his eyes; he fitted purity and conspicuous glory to his temple. Bring honour and glory to God the King of all; bring to the honoured Lord the glory that bears his name. Taking your sacrifices, go to his courts; pray in the holy court to the Shepherd of the world. Let all the earth be troubled before God the King. Say to the peoples: God rules among all; for he also set firm the circle of the earth, which time does not know how to shake. Let the sea be stirred, and all that the swell of the sea nourishes; then let the dense thickets and the forest rejoice together before God, as the King hastens to the earth. For he has come to judge wretched mortals, pouring out to the peoples an unbending tongue of truth.

When David received back his land … Rejoice, earth; he who reigns over the heavenly ones has ruled you; rejoice in splendour, islands of the grey sea. The Lord is near, covered by cloud and storm, … his throne under the justice of judgment over all, so that he may burn up the wicked here and there. The mountains melted like wax around the Lord; the starry heavens proclaimed his justice, and all saw the glory of the heavenly King. … as many as give glory to their images … Zion delights greatly in its heart … because of your mighty judgment, … because you alone were Most High over the ends of the earth. You who love God alone from the heart, set your cares … the All-seeing greatly loves the heart of his servants, and will always rescue them from the hands of the avenger; and delight from above has come to the heart of the upright.

… since he alone has made wonderful things with wise hands, and guards all with his much-glorious arm … he has made lovely righteousness rise. For he remembered in his heart the halls of Jacob; the famous ends of the whole earth openly perceived the averting light of the mighty King. All the earth, shout to the very glorious Shepherd, with trumpets of beaten metal (and the horn cried out its boom); shout before the immortal … Let the sea be stirred, and all that the swell of the sea nourishes, the whole circle of the earth and all who dwell on it. For he will go — rather, he has come — so that he may judge the earth well.

The sweet eighth song: the [Im]mortal God has reigned; … peoples, … sitting, he came upon the cherubim; let the support of the whole earth be shaken. The famous Lord is great among peoples and admired by the gods; let all together sing your ageless name. And the honour of the King always loves justice … his footstool, beseeching; for he is holy. Moses among the priests was great, and Aaron celebrated in song; … and he answered them with a word from the steady cloud. They became good guardians of the testimony of God, nor did they neglect the divine commands that they had learned. Immortal One, you gave them a ready ear from heaven, and your heart was always gracious to them; … always in the undefiled …, because the Lord has become undefiled among all.

All the earth, shout to the very glorious Shepherd. Rejoicing, place your neck under the yoke of the Immortal; hasten, glad, before the divine eyes; always perceive him in your hearts … He himself fashioned life for mortals, not we ourselves; he himself made us, nor are we sufficient of ourselves. And we are his people and the flock of his pasture. In the courts beseech God the King with song; sing the divine name, always gentle on earth, because he keeps mercy unceasingly among all; from generation to generation he bears an all-true counsel.

… sang this hundredth song. In one, O King, I will sing to you judgment and mercy. … when will you come to me, immortal Shepherd? I went with gentleness through the middle of the house; nothing at all lawless in …, but still … Never did a shifty counsel please me before. A dreadful serpent fled, and I remained ignorant of the deceitful. Like a destroyer of dear companions I pursued … with insatiable heart and … I did not wish to be a friend and table-companion at the feast. … on holy men … Nor did an arrogant man dwell in my houses, nor did one speaking injustice come before my eyes. … to subdue the servants … with destruction.

… the hundred and first song … Do not … your graceful … from me. When, Blessed One, I call, quickly incline your dear ear, because my life melted like smoke. I was struck like grass, and my heart withered; I forgot to give my belly the dear bread of necessity. … or the night-raven …, like a sparrow, sleepless, alone in a house. Those who praised me before swore an oath in vain … ashes like bread, and I drank a drink mixed with mournful tears … and of your wrath; lifting me up, you cast me down again from the sky. As a shadow, the days of our age come to an end, since you alone draw out a life that lives continually. Rising yourself, O King, … Zion; for this is the season to pity her, hard pressed; and indeed that season has come which she formerly received; because your servants … her stones … All the races will fear your name, O Lord, … God … fallen Zion, appearing openly to mortals on the earth … these things to me … and the people, coming to be by your hands, will cry to you, because he himself, stooping, watched from on high; from heaven he stretched his gaze toward his earth, so that he might hear the lament of those in fetters, and loose from bonds the dear children of those who had perished … and in Jerusalem a clear and celebrated praise …, when he gathers the people from all kinds of cities; and he will set his yoke on the neck of kingdoms. Tell me the few paths of our life …, cutting off my life before its season … And the heavens, Blessed One, are the works of your hands; they will perish, but may you remain imperishable for me; they will all change, rolled up like a cloak; but you yourself are imperishable, and your life will never cease … your sons always …

Of David, the second upon [the hundredth]. … your King continually … and all my inward parts, sing his undefiled name … your King continually … again you will grow young like an eagle … The famous Lord … mercy always …, showing immortal righteousness to all. God is compassionate among all and merciful, … of mercy, and has been gentle-hearted. He will not always keep chilling anger in his breast, nor did he do to us what we deserved … but as far as the great starry heaven is from the earth, … and as a father holds his heart gentle toward his children, … for God knew the work which he fashioned with his hands. Remember, King of all, that we are feeble dust … nor would [the wind] know its place, seeing it with its eyelids. The mercy of the King always attends those who tremble, and he will do fitting things for their sons’ sons, for those who care for the divine keeping of the covenants, nor have they forgotten continually … in the starry heaven the Blessed One …, and the great glory of his lordship rules over all … who care for the command of the King, whose ears were intent on … of the Immortal … whose strength is always held stretched out … your King continually.

The clear third song of David upon the hundredth. … your King continually … Immortal King of all, you greatly increase your glory; you have put on praise and conspicuous glory from every side, throwing about yourself, like a cloak, the undefiled great light, stretching out the great heaven to be seen like a hide … of the winds upon wings …, an army of straight-running spirits …, so that it may always bear and guard unshaken force … many waters will stand above the high-haired mountains. Mountains go up, and some low land is seen, there where you fixed the foundations of the places among them. You fixed a limit, Blessed One, which no other will pass, nor will they ever turn back to cover the dear earth. Waters will pass through the middle of the high-haired mountains; drink will appear for the beasts of the mountains through the thickets … every kind of wild ass … for you. Birds of the air besides will alight near them … your mountains, Shepherd. The earth will be filled with your life-bearing fruits, so that it may bring out of the earth fruit, honey-sweet grain, and give to the hearts of mortals much-gladdening wine … countless trees …, and the cedars of Lebanon, the works, Blessed One, of your hands. There is … of young sparrows … You yourself, O Lord, fashioned the moon as the merchant of seasons; the shining sun knew its setting. Night is the nurse of beasts, and beasts love the night, and whelps eager for their necessary prey, always seeking … from God. … of the sun they gathered on the earth, and made their bed by their thickets. But man goes back to his work, … awaiting the end of toil, the evening. You fashioned all things together with divine wisdom, Shepherd. The holy earth is laden with your measureless works, … the hollow of the boundless and broad sea. Ah, how many creeping things of the roaring sea are roused for you! You would marvel at living creatures, small mixed with greater … There is the dragon which you formerly fashioned to be a plaything. And all look to you to give them dear food …, and each … good gifts from you … and a terrible trembling holds them when you turn away your face … when you take away their breath they die, subdued, and at once waste away back into their mother earth. But if you give back their soul again … The glory of the Lord will be; ageless it will always be. The earth … under the gleams of your …; your mountains roar with smoke. But I will sing to the King continually … your King continually.

Psalm one hundred and … and beseeching the ageless name of the Lord … the works of God to the peoples … Our praise is upon the immortal King. Seek the King, from whom strength has come to you … of the tongue his just … The Lord himself shows righteousness among all, and the word which he commanded to generations …, swearing a great oath to Isaac his dear servant, promising to give him the whole land of Canaan. Their number was very small, and they themselves were few; and from the kingdom they went to another people. … his hand over them …; but he subdued kings for their sake, rebuking them. And Joseph, O Lord, entered the day of slavery …, until he hoped for the good end of his dreams. The Most Blessed himself inflamed his servant with the word. The lord of the Nile, commanding, loosed him from bonds, entrusting his house to be carried under his nod, and made him the famous leader of his kingdom, so that he might teach the champions of the Nile by his laws. From there Israel went to the Egyptian land … and he made him most mighty over his enemies. And God sent them his most wise servant Moses, and godlike Aaron, who had been chosen for him, and he accomplished the force of wonders in the land of Ham. There he sent darkness over the Nile land; and they counselled bitter things against the words of God. He turned their water, making it dark-red blood, and slew the fish of the black-dyed river. The earth sent up a race of water-nourished frogs; he spoke, and the dog-fly went over the halls of the lord, and gnats sacked the famous halls of the whole land; and flame devouring the land came as helper to the hail. Ah, how each lamented the fate of the firstborn, burying … of the departed generation. He led out the people laden with gold and silver, nor did they have any feeble companion among them; for all were struck in heart with hard-to-heal fear. … he led the people with a shady cloud; when they asked, a countless quail came; and he filled their heart with heavenly bread. Breaking the rock, he brought out a stream of rushing waters, and rivers babbled by force on waterless ground … for … in his heart … which the Lord formerly nodded to his … And he gave them the lands of many-sown races, and they divided the toils of other peoples, so that they might always remember righteousness and track the law of the heavenly King.