The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 14 contains Psalms 101–104 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 101 (102)
A Prayer for the Poor; when he is deeply afflicted, and pours out his supplication before the Lord.
2Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to thee.
3Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am afflicted, incline thine ear to me: in the day when I shall call upon thee, speedily hear me.
4For my days have vanished like smoke, and my bones have been parched like a stick.
5I am blighted like grass, and my heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread.
6By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bone has cleaved to my flesh.
7I have become like a pelican of the wilderness;
8I have become like an owl in a ruined house. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow dwelling alone on a roof.
9All the day long mine enemies have reproached me; and they that praised me have sworn against me.
10For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;
11because of thine anger and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and dashed me down.
12My days have declined like a shadow; and I am withered like grass.
13But thou, Lord, endurest for ever, and thy memorial to generation and generation.
14Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time to have mercy upon her, for the set time is come.
15For thy servants have taken pleasure in her stones, and they shall pity her dust.
16So the nations shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all kings thy glory.
17For the Lord shall build up Sion, and shall appear in his glory.
18He has had regard to the prayer of the lowly, and has not despised their petition.
19Let this be written for another generation; and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord.
20For he has looked out from the height of his sanctuary; the Lord looked upon the earth from heaven;
21to hear the groaning of the fettered ones, to loosen the sons of the slain;
22to proclaim the name of the Lord in Sion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
23when the people are gathered together, and the kings, to serve the Lord.
24He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days.
25Take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are through all generations.
26In the beginning thou, O Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.
27They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them, and they shall be changed.
28But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
29The children of thy servants shall dwell securely, and their seed shall prosper for ever.
Psalm 102 (103)
A Psalm of David.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his praises:
3who forgives all thy transgressions, who heals all thy diseases;
4who redeems thy life from corruption; who crowns thee with mercy and compassion;
5who satisfies thy desire with good things: so that thy youth shall be renewed like that of the eagle.
6The Lord executes mercy and judgment for all that are injured.
7He made known his ways to Moses, his will to the children of Israel.
8The Lord is compassionate and pitiful, long-suffering, and full of mercy.
9He will not be always angry; neither will he be wrathful for ever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor recompensed us according to our iniquities.
11For as the heaven is high above the earth, the Lord has so increased his mercy toward them that fear him.
12As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13As a father pities his children, the Lord pities them that fear him.
14For he knows our frame: remember that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so shall he flourish.
16For the wind passes over it, and it shall not be; and it shall know its place no more.
17But the mercy of the Lord is from generation to generation upon them that fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children;
18to them that keep his covenant, and remember his commandments to do them.
19The Lord has prepared his throne in the heaven; and his kingdom rules over all.
20Bless the Lord, all ye his angels, mighty in strength, who perform his bidding, ready to hearken to the voice of his words.
21Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his will.
22Bless the Lord, all his works, in every place of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.
Psalm 103 (104)
A Psalm of David.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou hast clothed thyself with praise and honour:
2who dost robe thyself with light as with a garment; spreading out the heaven as a curtain.
3Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind.
4Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire.
5Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation: it shall not be moved for ever.
6The deep, as it were a garment, is his covering: the waters shall stand on the hills.
7At thy rebuke they shall flee; at the voice of thy thunder they shall be alarmed.
8They go up to the mountains, and down to the plains, to the place which thou hast founded for them.
9Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass, neither shall they turn again to cover the earth.
10He sends forth his fountains among the valleys: the waters shall run between the mountains.
11They shall give drink to all the wild beasts of the field: the wild asses shall take of them to quench their thirst.
12By them shall the birds of the sky lodge: they shall utter a voice out of the midst of the rocks.
13He waters the mountains from his chambers: the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
14He makes grass to grow for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men, to bring bread out of the earth;
15and wine makes glad the heart of man, to make his face cheerful with oil: and bread strengthens man’s heart.
16The trees of the plain shall be full of sap; even the cedars of Libanus which he has planted.
17There the sparrows will build their nests; and the house of the heron takes the lead among them.
18The high mountains are a refuge for the stags, and the rock for the rabbits.
19He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down.
20Thou didst make darkness, and it was night; in it all the wild beasts of the forest will be abroad:
21even young lions roaring for prey, and to seek meat for themselves from God.
22The sun arises, and they shall be gathered together, and shall lie down in their dens.
23Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labour till evening.
24How great are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou wrought them all: the earth is filled with thy creation.
25So is this great and wide sea: there are things creeping innumerable, small animals and great.
26There go the ships; and this dragon whom thou hast made to play in it.
27All wait upon thee, to give them their food in due season.
28When thou hast given it them, they will gather it; and when thou hast opened thine hand, they shall all be filled with good.
29But when thou hast turned away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou wilt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and return to their dust.
30Thou shalt send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created; and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
31Let the glory of the Lord be for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works;
32who looks upon the earth, and makes it tremble; who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33I will sing to the Lord while I live; I will sing praise to my God while I exist.
34Let my meditation be sweet to him: and I will rejoice in the Lord.
35Let the sinners fail from off the earth, and transgressors, so that they shall be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Psalm 104 (105)
Alleluia.
1Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name; declare his works among the heathen.
2Sing to him, yea, sing praises to him: tell forth all his wonderful works.
3Glory in his holy name: let the heart of them that seek the Lord rejoice.
4Seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face continually.
5Remember his wonderful works that he has done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
6ye seed of Abraam, his servants, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
8He has remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations:
9which he established as a covenant to Abraam, and he remembered his oath to Isaac.
10And he established it to Jacob for an ordinance, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant;
11saying, To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the line of your inheritance:
12when they were few in number, very few, and sojourners in it.
13And they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people.
14He suffered no man to wrong them; and he rebuked kings for their sakes:
15saying, Touch not my anointed ones; and do my prophets no harm.
16Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he broke the whole support of bread.
17He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a slave.
18They hurt his feet with fetters; his soul passed into iron,
19until the time that his cause came on; the word of the Lord tried him as fire.
20The king sent and loosed him; even the prince of the people, and let him go free.
21He made him lord over his house, and ruler of all his substance;
22to chastise his rulers at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.
23Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Cham.
24And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies.
25And he turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
26He sent forth Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27He established among them his signs, and his wonders in the land of Cham.
28He sent forth darkness, and made it dark; yet they rebelled against his words.
29He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
30Their land produced frogs abundantly, in the chambers of their kings.
31He spoke, and the dog-fly came, and lice in all their coasts.
32He turned their rain into hail, and sent flaming fire in their land.
33And he smote their vines and their fig-trees; and broke every tree of their coast.
34He spoke, and the locust came, and caterpillars innumerable,
35and devoured all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36He smote also every first-born of their land, the first-fruits of all their labour.
37And he brought them out with silver and gold; and there was not a feeble one among their tribes.
38Egypt rejoiced at their departing; for the fear of them fell upon them.
39He spread out a cloud for a covering to them, and fire to give them light by night.
40They asked, and the quail came, and he satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41He clave the rock, and the waters flowed; rivers ran in dry places.
42For he remembered his holy word, which he promised to Abraam his servant.
43And he brought out his people with exultation, and his chosen with joy;
44and gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labours of the people;
45that they might keep his ordinances, and diligently seek his law.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.