The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 11 contains Psalms 77–84 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 77 (78)
A Psalm of instruction for Asaph.
1Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings which have been from the beginning.
3All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us.
4They were not hid from their children to a second generation; the fathers declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought.
5And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children:
6that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children.
7That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments.
8That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.
9The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle.
10They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law.
11And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he had shewed them;
12the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes.
13He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle.
14And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.
15He clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep.
16And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers.
17And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness.
18And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls.
19They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness?
20Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?
21Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel.
22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.
23Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven.
25Man ate angels’ bread; he sent them provision to the full.
26He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind.
27And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas.
28And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents.
29So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire.
30They were not disappointed of their desire: but when their food was yet in their mouth,
31then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel.
32In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles.
33And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety.
34When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God.
35And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer.
36Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
37For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
38But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy them: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger.
39And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.
40How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and anger him in a dry land!
41Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.
43How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes:
44and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink.
45He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them.
46And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust.
47He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.
48And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire.
49He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels.
50He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death;
51and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham.
52And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness.
53And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies.
54And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased.
55And he cast out the nations from before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.
57And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow.
58And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59God heard and lightly regarded them, and greatly despised Israel.
60And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men.
61And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy’s hand.
62And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance.
63Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not.
64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for.
65So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who has been heated with wine.
66And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach.
67And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;
68but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved.
69And he built his sanctuary as the place of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth.
70He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep.
71He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.
72So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
Psalm 78 (79)
A Psalm for Asaph.
1O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; they have polluted thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem a storehouse of fruits.
2They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of thy holy ones for the wild beasts of the earth.
3They have shed their blood as water, round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5How long, O Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms which have not called upon thy name.
7For they have devoured Jacob, and laid his place waste.
8Remember not our old transgressions; let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are greatly impoverished.
9Help us, O God our Saviour; for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us; and be merciful to our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10Lest haply they should say among the heathen, Where is their God? and let the avenging of thy servants’ blood that has been shed be known among the heathen before our eyes.
11Let the groaning of the prisoners come in before thee; according to the greatness of thine arm preserve the sons of the slain ones.
12Repay to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13For we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture; we will give thee thanks for ever; we will declare thy praise throughout all generations.
Psalm 79 (80)
For the end, for alternate strains, a testimony for Asaph, a Psalm concerning the Assyrian.
2Attend, O Shepherd of Israel, who guidest Joseph like a flock; thou who sittest upon the cherubs, manifest thyself;
3before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasse, stir up thy power, and come to deliver us.
4Turn us, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be delivered.
5O Lord God of hosts, how long art thou angry with the prayer of thy servant?
6Thou wilt feed us with bread of tears; and wilt cause us to drink tears by measure.
7Thou hast made us a strife to our neighbours; and our enemies have mocked at us.
8Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Pause.
9Thou hast transplanted a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
10Thou madest a way before it, and didst cause its roots to strike, and the land was filled with it.
11Its shadow covered the mountains, and its shoots equalled the goodly cedars.
12It sent forth its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the river.
13Wherefore hast thou broken down its hedge, while all that pass by the way pluck it?
14The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the wild beast has devoured it.
15O God of hosts, turn, we pray thee: look on us from heaven, and behold and visit this vine;
16and restore that which thy right hand has planted: and look on the son of man whom thou didst strengthen for thyself.
17It is burnt with fire and dug up: they shall perish at the rebuke of thy presence.
18Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, and upon the son of man whom thou didst strengthen for thyself.
19So will we not depart from thee: thou shalt quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
20Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and make thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalm 80 (81)
For the end, a Psalm for Asaph, concerning the wine-presses.
2Rejoice ye in God our helper; shout aloud to the God of Jacob.
3Take a psalm, and produce the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp.
4Blow the trumpet at the new moon, in the glorious day of your feast.
5For this is an ordinance for Israel, and a statute of the God of Jacob.
6He made it to be a testimony in Joseph, when he came forth out of the land of Egypt: he heard a language which he understood not.
7He removed his back from burdens: his hands slaved in making the baskets.
8Thou didst call upon me in trouble, and I delivered thee; I heard thee in the secret place of the storm: I proved thee at the water of Strife. Pause.
9Hear, my people, and I will speak to thee, O Israel; and I will testify to thee: if thou wilt hearken to me;
10there shall be no new god in thee; neither shalt thou worship a strange god.
11For I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
12But my people hearkened not to my voice; and Israel gave no heed to me.
13So I let them go after the ways of their own hearts: they will go on in their own ways.
14If my people had hearkened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways,
15I should have put down their enemies very quickly, and should have laid my hand upon those that afflicted them.
16The Lord’s enemies should have lied to him: but their time shall be for ever.
17And he fed them with the fat of wheat; and satisfied them with honey out of the rock.
Psalm 81 (82)
A Psalm for Asaph.
1God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods.
2How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of sinners? Pause.
3Judge the orphan and poor: do justice to the low and needy.
4Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner.
5They know not, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.
6I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you children of the Most High.
7But ye die as men, and fall as one of the princes.
8Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Psalm 82 (83)
A Song of a Psalm for Asaph.
2O God, who shall be compared to thee? be not silent, neither be still, O God.
3For behold, thine enemies have made a noise; and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
4Against thy people they have craftily imagined a device, and have taken counsel against thy saints.
5They have said, Come, and let us utterly destroy them out of the nation; and let the name of Israel be remembered no more at all.
6For they have taken counsel together with one consent: they have made a confederacy against thee;
7even the tents of the Idumeans, and the Ismaelites; Moab, and the Agarenes;
8Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalec; the Philistines also, with them that dwell at Tyre.
9Yea, Assur too is come with them: they have become a help to the children of Lot. Pause.
10Do thou to them as to Madiam, and to Sisera; as to Jabin at the brook of Kison.
11They were utterly destroyed at Aendor: they became as dung for the earth.
12Make their princes as Oreb and Zeb, and Zebee and Salmana; even all their princes:
13who said, Let us take to ourselves the altar of God as an inheritance.
14O my God, make them as a wheel; as stubble before the face of the wind.
15As fire which shall burn up a wood, as the flame may consume the mountains;
16so shalt thou persecute them with thy tempest, and trouble them in thine anger.
17Fill their faces with dishonour; so shall they seek thy name, O Lord.
18Let them be ashamed and troubled for evermore; yea, let them be confounded and destroyed.
19And let them know that thy name is Lord; that thou alone art Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 83 (84)
For the end, a Psalm for the sons of Core, concerning the wine-presses.
2How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
3My soul longs, and faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God.
4Yea, the sparrow has found himself a home, and the turtle-dove a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
5Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will praise thee evermore. Pause.
6Blessed is the man whose help is of thee, O Lord; in his heart he has purposed to go up
7the valley of weeping, to the place which he has appointed, for there the law-giver will grant blessings.
8They shall go from strength to strength: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
9O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: hearken, O God of Jacob. Pause.
10Behold, O God our defender, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
11For one day in thy courts is better than thousands. I would rather be an abject in the house of God, than dwell in the tents of sinners.
12For the Lord loves mercy and truth: God will give grace and glory: the Lord will not withhold good things from them that walk in innocence.
13O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in thee.
Psalm 84 (85)
For the end, a Psalm for the sons of Core.
2O Lord, thou hast taken pleasure in thy land: thou hast turned back the captivity of Jacob.
3Thou hast forgiven thy people their transgressions; thou hast covered all their sins. Pause.
4Thou hast caused all thy wrath to cease: thou hast turned from thy fierce anger.
5Turn us, O God of our salvation, and turn thine anger away from us.
6Wouldest thou be angry with us for ever? or wilt thou continue thy wrath from generation to generation?
7O God, thou wilt turn and quicken us; and thy people shall rejoice in thee.
8Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.
9I will hear what the Lord God will say concerning me: for he shall speak peace to his people, and to his saints, and to those that turn their heart toward him.
10Moreover his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
11Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
12Truth has sprung out of the earth; and righteousness has looked down from heaven.
13For the Lord will give goodness; and our land shall yield her fruit.
14Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set his steps in the way.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.