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¶ 14 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

15 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

16 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify

me.

17 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

18 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

19 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

20 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

21 Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's

son.

22 Thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it.

23 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

24 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

25 The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the

poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

26 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed; and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

27 That make man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought:

28 That say, Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nostrils, and fire all the day long,

29 Ye turn judgement to wormwood, and leave off righte ousness in the earth.

30 Ye hate him that speaketh in the gate, and ye abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

31 Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

32 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

33 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

34 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

35 Forasmuch therefore as

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LESSON XLV.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!

2 Doth not God see my ways, and count all my steps?

3 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit ;

4 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

?... 5 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands:

6 Then let me sow, and let another eat, yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

7 If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me;

8 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

9 Did not he that made me in the womb, make him? and

did not one fashion us in the womb?

10 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

11 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

12 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

13 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

14 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate;

15 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

16 For destruction from God. was a terror to me: and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

¶ 17 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence:

18 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much :

19 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him :

20 If I covered my transgressions, as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom :

21 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me; that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

22 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

23 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness

to me:

24 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

25 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

26 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

27 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgement was as a robe and a diadem.

28 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

29 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out.

30 Unto me men gave ear, and waited and kept silence at my counsel.

31 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

¶32 All the while

my breath

is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

33 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit; till I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

34. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

35 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.

36 God judgeth the righte ous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

37 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed

me.

38 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

39 For all his judgements were before me: and as for his statutes I did not depart from them.

40 I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

41 Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

42 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too. high for me.

43 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

44 Remember now, O Lord,

I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy .sight.

LESSON XLVI.

JUDGE me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide.

2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

3 For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth.

4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

5 I have hated the congregation of evil-doers: and will not sit with the wicked.

6 I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine altar, O Lord:

7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

9 Now therefore, I pray thee, If I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee;

10 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

11 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

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12 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

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14 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

15 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle.

16 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

17 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

18 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

19 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness.

20 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

21 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting-up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

22. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

23 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work ini

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LESSON XLVII.

I WILL sing of mercy and judgement: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

2 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

3 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

4 Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.

5 With my lips have I declared all the judgements of thy mouth.

6 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. 7 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

8 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

9 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgements.

10 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly!

11 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

12 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

13 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

14 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

15 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

16 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times.

17 Thy servant doth meditate in thy statutes; I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

18 My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

19 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

20 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

21 My soul melteth for hea viness strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

22 Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously.

23 I have chosen the way of truth thy judgements have I laid before me.

24 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame.

25 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

26 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end.

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