You have shown favor to Your land, O Lord;
You have turned back the captivity of Jacob!Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other!
(Psalm 85:1, 10)
How a psalm is used liturgically is often a vital clue to its meaning in the life of the Church. So Psalm 85…
How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord;
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere…
I would rather be a doorkeeper [outcast] in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee,
in whose…
O God do not keep silence; do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!
For lo, thy enemies are in tumult; those who hate thee have raised their heads.
They lay crafty plans against thy people…
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
(Psalm 83:1-4)
Like many of the Psalms,…
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for to Thee belong all the nations! (Refrain)
God has taken His place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods He holds judgment.How long will you judge unjustly and accept the face of sinners?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of…
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.I tested you at the waters of Mer′ibah…
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of…
Lord, Lord, look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine which Thy right hand has planted, and establish it.
(Psalm 80:14-15)
This is the Bishop’s prayer over the…
Pour out Thy anger on the nations that do not know Thee, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Thy Name!
Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted Thee, O Lord!
(Psalm 79: 6,12)
Like Psalm 74, this prayer too comes in the midst of horrific violence, most likely in…
The Lord awoke as one asleep, and arose saving us.
He smote His enemies upon their backs, everlasting shame He gave them.
He rejected the dwelling of Joseph, and He chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.
(Psalm 78:65-68 [LXX] Holy Saturday, Communion Hymn)He rained down on them manna to…
Who is so great a god as our God? Thou art the God Who doeth wonders.
Thou hast made Thy power known among the peoples; with Thine arm hast Thou redeemed Thy people.
And I said: Now have I made a beginning; this change hath been wrought by the right hand of the Most High.
I remembered the works of the Lord; for I will remember Thy…
Pray and make your vows before the Lord our God!
In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel!
Psalm 76:11, 1 (Sunday Prokeimenon, tone 8)
These prokeimenon verses are also used this weekend for Forgiveness Sunday (Slavic practice), the 5th Sunday of Lent (Greek practice) and the 5th Sunday after Pascha (Slavic practice). Verse 2…
We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
“When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly.
The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly.”“I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
Thy foes have roared in the midst of Thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs.
At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes and then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
They set Thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of Thy name.
Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant…
(Psalm 73:1-3)
One of the reasons the Psalms have endured is their realistic honesty about the spiritual life. So in Psalm 73 we have the confession of a…
May He have dominion from sea to sea…
(Psalm 72:8 )
This Psalm has a special place in Canadian history. In 1864, Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley read Psalm 72 during his morning prayers as he and members of Parliament met to decide upon a name for the country. Based on Psalm 72:8 he proposed “the Dominion of Canada”. Canadian leaders…
For thou, O Lord, art my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon Thee I have leaned from my birth; Thou art He who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of Thee…O God, from my youth Thou hast taught me,
and I still proclaim Thy wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,…
Make haste, O God to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord!Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life;
let them be turned back and confused who seek my life;
Let them be turned back who and confused who desire my hurt.
Let them be turned back because of their shame, who jeer,
saying, “Well done! Well done!”Let all…
This is a psalm of one who is enduring affliction, enemies and being abandoned by friends and by God. The New Testament, the Fathers and Christians of East and West understand this as anticipating Christ’s Passion.
They gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (69:21) is quoted in all four Passion…
Paschal verses
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee from before his face!
As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire,
So the sinners will perish before the face of God; but let the righteous be glad.
(Psalm 68:1-3)Paschal Entrance Verse
Bless God in…
God be bountiful to us and bless us! Show the light of Thy countenance upon us and have mercy on us!
That we may know Thy way upon the earth, and thy salvation among all nations!
Let all the people give thanks to Thee, O God! let all the people give thanks to thee!
—Psalm 67:1-3 (LXX), 2nd Antiphon of Pascha
Anyone who sings in the choir…
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth! Sing of His Name, give to Him glorious praise!
Say to God: how awesome are Thy deeds! So great is thy power that Thy enemies cringe before Thee!
Let all the earth worship Thee and praise Thee! Let it praise Thy name, O Most High!
(Psalm 66:1-3, First Antiphon of Pascha )
The Latin Vulgate and…