The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 7 contains Psalms 46–54 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 46 (47)
For the end, a Psalm for the sons of Core.
2Clap your hands, all ye nations; shout to God with a voice of exultation.
3For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great king over all the earth.
4He has subdued the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.
5He has chosen out his inheritance for us, the beauty of Jacob which he loved. Pause.
6God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet.
7Sing praises to our God, sing praises: sing praises to our King, sing praises.
8For God is king of all the earth: sing praises with understanding.
9God reigns over the nations: God sits upon the throne of his holiness.
10The rulers of the people are assembled with the God of Abraam: for God’s mighty ones of the earth have been greatly exalted.
Psalm 47 (48)
A Psalm of praise for the sons of Core on the second day of the week.
2Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
3The city of the great King is well planted on the mountains of Sion, with the joy of the whole earth, on the sides of the north.
4God is known in her palaces, when he undertakes to help her.
5For, behold, the kings of the earth were assembled, they came together.
6They saw, and so they wondered: they were troubled, they were moved.
7Trembling took hold on them: there were the pangs as of a woman in travail.
8Thou wilt break the ships of Tharsis with a vehement wind.
9As we have heard, so have we also seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God has founded it for ever. Pause.
10We have thought of thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy people.
11According to thy name, O God, so is also thy praise to the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
12Let mount Sion rejoice, let the daughters of Judæa exult, because of thy judgments, O Lord.
13Go round about Sion, and encompass her: tell ye her towers.
14Mark ye well her strength, and observe her palaces; that ye may tell the next generation.
15For this is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide for evermore.
Psalm 48 (49)
For the end, a Psalm for the sons of Core.
2Hear these words, all ye nations, hearken, all ye that dwell upon the earth:
3both the sons of mean men, and sons of great men; the rich and poor man together.
4My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall bring forth understanding.
5I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my riddle on the harp.
6Wherefore should I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall compass me.
7They that trust in their strength, and boast themselves in the multitude of their wealth—
8A brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem? he shall not give to God a ransom for himself,
9or the price of the redemption of his soul, though he labour for ever,
10and live to the end, so that he should not see corruption.
11When he shall see wise men dying, the fool and the senseless one shall perish together; and they shall leave their wealth to strangers.
12And their sepulchres are their houses for ever, even their tabernacles to all generations: they have called their lands after their own names.
13And man being in honour, understands not: he is compared to the senseless cattle, and is like to them.
14This their way is an offence to them: yet afterwards men will commend their sayings. Pause.
15They have laid them as sheep in Hades; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their help shall fail in Hades from their glory.
16But God shall deliver my soul from the power of Hades, when he shall receive me. Pause.
17Fear not when a man is enriched, and when the glory of his house is increased.
18For he shall take nothing when he dies; neither shall his glory descend with him.
19For his soul shall be blessed in his life: he shall give thanks to thee when thou dost well to him.
20Yet he shall go in to the generation of his fathers; he shall never see light.
21Man that is in honour, understands not: he is compared to the senseless cattle, and is like them.
Psalm 49 (50)
A Psalm for Asaph.
1The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
2Out of Sion comes the excellence of his beauty.
3God, our God, shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall be kindled before him, and round about him there shall be a very great tempest.
4He shall summon the heaven above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.
5Assemble ye his saints to him, those that have engaged in a covenant with him upon sacrifices.
6And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge. Pause.
7Hear, my people, and I will speak to thee, O Israel: and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God.
8I will not reprove thee on account of thy sacrifices; for thy whole-burnt-offerings are before me continually.
9I will take no bullocks out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks.
10For all the wild beasts of the thicket are mine, the cattle on the mountains, and oxen.
11I know all the birds of the sky; and the beauty of the field is mine.
12If I should be hungry, I will not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness of it.
13Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay thy vows to the Most High.
15And call upon me in the day of affliction; and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Pause.
16But to the sinner God has said, Why dost thou declare my ordinances, and take up my covenant in thy mouth?
17Whereas thou hast hated instruction, and hast cast my words behind thee.
18If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest along with him, and hast cast in thy lot with adulterers.
19Thy mouth has multiplied wickedness, and thy tongue has framed deceit.
20Thou didst sit and speak against thy brother, and didst scandalise thy mother’s son.
21These things thou didst, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest wickedly that I should be like thee; but I will reprove thee, and set thine offences before thee.
22Now consider these things, ye that forget God, lest he rend you, and there be no deliverer.
23The sacrifice of praise will glorify me: and that is the way wherein I will shew to him the salvation of God.
Psalm 50 (51)
For the end, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, when he had gone in to Bersabee.
3Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy compassions blot out my transgression.
4Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
5For I am conscious of mine iniquity; and my sin is continually before me.
6Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee: that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
7For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me.
8For, behold, thou lovest truth: thou hast manifested to me the secret and hidden things of thy wisdom.
9Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be purified: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
10Thou shalt cause me to hear gladness and joy: the afflicted bones shall rejoice.
11Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
12Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit in my inward parts.
13Cast me not away from thy presence; and remove not thy Holy Spirit from me.
14Restore to me the joy of thy salvation: establish me with thy directing Spirit.
15Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and ungodly men shall turn to thee.
16Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation: and my tongue shall joyfully declare thy righteousness.
17O Lord, thou shalt open my lips; and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
18For if thou desiredst sacrifice, I would have given it: thou wilt not take pleasure in whole-burnt-offerings.
19Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a broken and humbled heart God will not despise.
20Do good, O Lord, to Sion in thy good pleasure; and let the walls of Jerusalem be built.
21Then shalt thou be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, offering, and whole-burnt-sacrifices: then shall they offer calves upon thine altar.
Psalm 51 (52)
For the end, a Psalm of instruction by David, when Doec the Idumean came and told Saul, and said to him, David is gone to the house of Abimelech.
3Why dost thou, O mighty man, boast of iniquity in thy mischief? All the day
4thy tongue has devised unrighteousness; like a sharpened razor thou hast wrought deceit.
5Thou hast loved wickedness more than goodness; unrighteousness better than to speak righteousness. Pause.
6Thou hast loved all words of destruction, and a deceitful tongue.
7Therefore may God destroy thee for ever, may he pluck thee up and utterly remove thee from thy dwelling, and thy root from the land of the living. Pause.
8And the righteous shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say,
9Behold the man who made not God his help; but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his vanity.
10But I am as a fruitful olive in the house of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God for ever, even for evermore.
11I will give thanks to thee for ever, for thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
Psalm 52 (53)
For the end, a Psalm of David upon Maeleth, of instruction.
2The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that does good.
3God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any that understood, or sought after God.
4They have all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, there is not even one.
5Will none of the workers of iniquity know, who devour my people as they would eat bread? they have not called upon God. There were they greatly afraid, where there was no fear:
6for God has scattered the bones of the men-pleasers; they were ashamed, for God despised them.
7Who will bring the salvation of Israel out of Sion? When the Lord turns the captivity of his people, Jacob shall exult, and Israel shall be glad.
Psalm 53 (54)
For the end, among the Hymns of instruction by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Lo, is not David hid with us?
3Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy might.
4O God, hear my prayer; hearken to the words of my mouth.
5For strangers have risen up against me, and mighty men have sought my life: they have not set God before them. Pause.
6For lo! God assists me; and the Lord is the helper of my soul.
7He shall return evil to mine enemies; utterly destroy them in thy truth.
8I will willingly sacrifice to thee: I will give thanks to thy name, O Lord; for it is good.
9For thou hast delivered me out of all affliction, and mine eye has seen my desire upon mine enemies.
Psalm 54 (55)
For the end, among Hymns of instruction by David.
2Hearken, O God, to my prayer; and disregard not my supplication.
3Attend to me, and hearken to me: I was grieved in my meditation, and troubled;
4because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the oppression of the sinner: for they brought iniquity against me, and were wrathfully angry with me.
5My heart was troubled within me; and the fear of death fell upon me.
6Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me.
7And I said, O that I had wings as those of a dove! then would I flee away, and be at rest.
8Lo! I have fled afar off, and lodged in the wilderness. Pause.
9I waited for him that should deliver me from distress of spirit and tempest.
10Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen iniquity and gainsaying in the city.
11Day and night he shall go round about it upon its walls: iniquity and sorrow and unrighteousness are in the midst of it;
12and usury and craft have not failed from its streets.
13For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have endured it; and if one who hated me had spoken vauntingly against me, I would have hid myself from him.
14But thou, O man likeminded, my guide, and my acquaintance,
15who in companionship with me sweetened our food: we walked in the house of God in concord.
16Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into Hades, for iniquity is in their dwellings, in the midst of them.
17I cried to God, and the Lord hearkened to me.
18Evening, and morning, and at noon I will declare and make known my wants: and he shall hear my voice.
19He shall deliver my soul in peace from them that draw nigh to me: for they were with me in many cases.
20God shall hear, and bring them low, even he that has existed from eternity. Pause. For they suffer no reverse, and therefore they have not feared God.
21He has reached forth his hand for retribution; they have profaned his covenant.
22They were scattered at the anger of his countenance, and his heart drew nigh them. His words were smoother than oil, yet are they darts.
23Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
24But thou, O God, shalt bring them down to the pit of destruction; bloody and crafty men shall not live out half their days; but I will hope in thee, O Lord.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.