I tried thee at the water steep

Of Meribah renown'd.
8 Hear, O my people, hearken well,

I testify to thee,
Thou ancient stock of Israel,

If thou wilt list to me :
9 Throughout the land of thy abode

No alien god shall be,
Nor shalt thou to a foreign god

In honour bend thy knee. 10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought

Thee out of Egypt land ;
Ask large enough, and I, besought,

Will grant thy full demand.
11 And yet my people would not hear,

Nor hearken to my voice;
And Israel, whom I loved so dear,

Misliked me for his choice.
12 Then did I leave them to their will,

And to their wandering mind ;
Their own conceits they follow'd still,

Their own devices blind.
13 Oh, that my people would be wise,

To serve me all their days!
And oh, that Israel would advise,

To walk my righteous ways ! 14 Then would I soon bring down their foes,

That now so proudly rise ;
And turn my hand against all those

That are their enemies.
15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain

To bow to him and bend ;
But they, his people, should remain,

Their time should have no end. 16 And he would feed them from the shock

With flower of finest wheat,
And satisfy them from the rock

With honey for their meat.

PSALM LXXXII. i Gon in the great assembly stands

Of kings and lordly states ;

Among the gods, on both his hands,

He judges and debates.
2 How long will ye pervert the right

With judgment false and wrong,
Favouring the wicked by your might,

Who thence grow bold and strong ? 3 Regard the weak and fatherless,

Despatch the poor man's cause,
And raise the man in deep distress

By just and equal laws.
4 Defend the poor and desolate,

And rescue, from the hands
Of wicked men, the low estate

Of him that help demands.
5 They know not, nor will understand,

In darkness they walk on;
The earth's foundations all are moved,

And out of order gone.
6 I said that ye were gods, yea, all

The sons of God Most High;

ye shall die like men, and fall

As other princes die. 8 Rise, God, judge thou the earth in might,

This wicked earth redress;
For thou art he who shall by right

The nations all possess.

7 But

PSALM LXXXIII.
I Be not thou silent now at length,

O God, hold not thy peace;
Sit thou not still, O God of strength,

We cry, and do not cease.
2 For lo, thy furious foes now swell,

And storm outrageously,
And they that hate thee, proud ard fell,

Exalt their heads full high.
3 Against thy people they contrive

Their plots and counsels deep; Them to ensnare they chiefly strive,

Whom thou dost hide and keep. 4 Come, let us cut them off, say they,

Till they no nation be;

That Israel's name for ever may

Be lost in memory.
5 For they consult with all their might,

And all, as one in mind,
Themselves against thee they unite,

And in firm union bind.
6 The tents of Edom, and the brood

Of scornful Ishmael,
Moab, with them of Hagar's blood

That in the desert dwell.
7 Gebal and Ammon here conspire,

And hateful Amalek,
The Philistines, and they of Tyre,

Whose bounds the sea doth check. 8 With them great Ashur also bands,

And doth confirm the knot ;
All these have lent their armed hands

To aid the sons of Lot.

9 Do to them as to Midian bold,

That wasted all the coast ;
To Sisera; and, as is told,

Thou didst to Jabin's host,
When, at the brook of Kishon old,

They were repulsed and slain,
10 At Endor quite cut off, and rollid

As dung upon the plain. 11 As Zeb and Oreb evil sped,

So let their princes speed ;
As Zeba, and Zalmunna bled,

So let their princes bleed.
12 For they amidst their pride have said,

By right now shall we seize
God's houses, and will now invade

Their stately palaces.
13 My God, oh make them as a wheel,

No quiet let them find ;
Giddy and restless let them reel,

Like stubble from the wind.
14 As when an aged wood takes fire

Which on a sudưen strays,
The greedy flame runs higher and higher,

Till all the mountains blaze;
15 So with thy whirlwind them pursue,

And with thy tempest chase ;

16 And, till they yield thee honour due,

Lord, fill with shame their face.
17 Ashamed, and troubled, let them be,

Troubled, and shamed for ever ;
Ever confounded, and so die

With shame, and scape it never. 18 Then shall they know, that thou, whose name

Jehovah is alone,
Art the Most High, and thou, the same

O'er all the earth, art One.

PSALM LXXXIV
i How lovely are thy dwellings fair!

O Lord of Hosts, how dear
The pleasant tabernacles are,

Where thou dost dwell so near!

2 My soul doth long and almost die

Thy courts, O Lord, to see ;
My heart and flesh aloud do cry,

O living God, for thee.
3 There even the sparrow, freed from wrong,

Hath found a house of rest;
The swallow there, to lay her young,

Hath built her brooding nest;
Even by thy altars, Lord of Hosts,

They find their safe abode ;
And home they fly, from round the coasts,

Toward thee, my King, my God. 4 Happy, who in thy house reside,

Where thee they ever praise ! 5 Happy, whose strength in thee doth bide,

And in their hearts thy ways !
6 They pass through Baca's thirsty vale,

That dry and barren ground;
As through a fruitful watery dale,

Where springs and showers abound.
7 They journey on from strength to strength,

With joy and gladsome cheer,
Till all before our God at length,

In Sion do appear.
8 Lord God of Hosts, hear now my prayer,

O Jacob's God, give ear;

9 Thou, God, our shield, look on the face

Of thy anointed dear.
10 For one day in thy courts to be,

Is better, and more blest,
Than in the joys of vanity

A thousand days at best.
I, in the temple of my God,

Had rather keep a door,
Than dwell in tents, and rich abode,

With sin for evermore.
11 For God, the Lord, both sun and shield,

Gives grace and glory bright ;
No good from them shall be withheld

Whose ways are just and right.
12 Lord God of Hosts that reign'st on high,

That man is truly blest,
Who only on thee doth rely,

And in thee only rest.

PSALM LXXXV.
I Thy land to favour graciously,

Thou hast not, Lord, been slack;
Thou hast from hard captivity

Returned Jacob back.
2 The iniquity thou didst forgive

That wrought thy people woe;
And all their sin, that did thee grieve,

Hast hid where none shall know.

3 Thine anger all thou hadst removed,

And calmly didst return
From thy fierce wrath, which we had proved,

Far worse than fire to burn.

4 God of our saving health and peace,

Turn us, and us restore ;
Thine indignation cause to cease

Toward us, and chide no more. 5 Wilt thou be angry without end,

For ever angry thus?
Wilt thou thy frowning ire extend

From age to age on us?
6 Wilt thou not turn, and hear our voice,

And us again revive,