1 Now blessèd be the LORD,
my rock of strength and might,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for the fight.
2 My strong fortress to whom I flee,
subduing peoples under me.
3 O LORD, what are mortals,
that you consider them?
Human beings, that you
should still remember them?
4 Our life is like a breath of wind;
as passing shadows soon are spent.
3 O bow your heavens, LORD,
and come down from the skies!
And touch the mountains high,
that smoke from them might rise!
6 Make lightning flash and scatter them.
Send your arrows to trouble them!
7 From heaven stretch your hand;
reach down to rescue me,
and save me from the floods,
from strangers set me free,
8 whose mouths are full of empty lies,
whose right hands falsehood will devise.
9 I sing to you, O God,
a new song I will raise;
upon a ten stringed harp,
my song for you I play.
10 You give to kings the victory;
you set your servant David free.
11 From foreign hands, O LORD,
I pray, deliver me.
Reach down to rescue me,
from strangers set me free,
whose mouths are full of empty lies,
whose right hands falsehood will devise.
12 O may our sons in youth
be sturdy plants full grown,
and may our daughters be
like palace cornerstones.
13 O may our barns with grain be filled,
and may our sheepfold thousands yield.
14 O may our herds increase
with no disease or loss,
and may our streets be free
of mourning and distress.
15 How blest are they whose God is LORD,
on whom such blessings are outpoured!
– Trinity Psalter Hymnal, alt.
Oremus 