The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 18 contains Psalms 119–133 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 119 (120)
A Song of Degrees.
1In mine affliction I cried to the Lord, and he hearkened to me.
2Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unjust lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
3What should be given to thee, and what should be added to thee, for thy crafty tongue?
4Sharpened weapons of the mighty, with coals of the desert.
5Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged; I have tabernacled among the tents of Kedar.
6My soul has long been a sojourner;
7I was peaceable among them that hated peace; when I spoke to them, they warred against me without a cause.
Psalm 120 (121)
A Song of Degrees.
1I lifted up mine eyes to the mountains, whence my help shall come.
2My help shall come from the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth.
3Let not thy foot be moved; and let not thy keeper slumber.
4Behold, he that keeps Israel shall not slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord shall keep thee: the Lord is thy shelter upon thy right hand.
6The sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night.
7May the Lord preserve thee from all evil: the Lord shall keep thy soul.
8The Lord shall keep thy coming in, and thy going out, from henceforth and even for ever.
Psalm 121 (122)
A Song of Degrees.
1I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
2Our feet stood in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
3Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete.
4For thither the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5For there are set thrones for judgment, even thrones for the house of David.
6Pray now for the peace of Jerusalem: and let there be prosperity to them that love thee.
7Let peace, I pray, be within thine host, and prosperity in thy palaces.
8For the sake of my brethren and my neighbours, I have indeed spoken peace concerning thee.
9Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have diligently sought thy good.
Psalm 122 (123)
A Song of Degrees.
1Unto thee who dwellest in heaven have I lifted up mine eyes.
2Behold, as the eyes of servants are directed to the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a maid-servant to the hands of her mistress; so our eyes are directed to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.
3Have pity upon us, O Lord, have pity upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4Yea, our soul has been exceedingly filled with it: let the reproach be to them that are at ease, and contempt to the proud.
Psalm 123 (124)
A Song of Degrees.
1If it had not been that the Lord was among us, let Israel now say;
2if it had not been that the Lord was among us, when men rose up against us;
3verily they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4verily the water would have drowned us, our soul would have gone under the torrent.
5Yea, our soul would have gone under the overwhelming water.
6Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us for a prey to their teeth.
7Our soul has been delivered as a sparrow from the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are delivered.
8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 124 (125)
A Song of Degrees.
1They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he that dwells in Jerusalem shall never be moved.
2The mountains are round about her, and so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth and even for ever.
3For the Lord will not allow the rod of sinners to be upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous should stretch forth their hands to iniquity.
4Do good, O Lord, to them that are good, and to them that are upright in heart.
5But them that turn aside to crooked ways the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
Psalm 125 (126)
A Song of Degrees.
1When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion, we became as comforted ones.
2Then was our mouth filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation: then would they say among the Gentiles,
3The Lord has done great things among them. The Lord has done great things for us, we became joyful.
4Turn, O Lord, our captivity, as the streams in the south.
5They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6They went on and wept as they cast their seeds; but they shall surely come with exultation, bringing their sheaves with them.
Psalm 126 (127)
A Song of Degrees.
1Except the Lord build the house, they that build labour in vain: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.
2It is vain for you to rise early: ye rise up after resting, ye that eat the bread of grief; while he gives sleep to his beloved.
3Behold, the inheritance of the Lord, children, the reward of the fruit of the womb.
4As arrows in the hand of a mighty man; so are the children of those who were outcasts.
5Blessed is the man who shall satisfy his desire with them: they shall not be ashamed when they shall speak to their enemies in the gates.
Psalm 127 (128)
A Song of Degrees.
1Blessed are all they that fear the Lord; who walk in his ways.
2Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.
3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house: thy children as young olive-plants round about thy table.
4Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
5May the Lord bless thee out of Sion; and mayest thou see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6And mayest thou see thy children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
Psalm 128 (129)
A Song of Degrees.
1Many a time have they warred against me from my youth, let Israel now say:
2Many a time have they warred against me from my youth: and yet they prevailed not against me.
3The sinners wrought upon my back: they prolonged their iniquity.
4The righteous Lord has cut asunder the necks of sinners.
5Let all that hate Sion be put to shame and turned back.
6Let them be as the grass of the house-tops, which withers before it is plucked up.
7Wherewith the reaper fills not his hand, nor he that makes up the sheaves, his bosom.
8Neither do they that go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.
Psalm 129 (130)
A Song of Degrees.
1Out of the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord.
2O Lord, hearken to my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
3If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4For with thee is forgiveness: for thy name’s sake
5have I waited for thee, O Lord, my soul has waited for thy word.
6My soul has hoped in the Lord; from the morning watch till night.
7Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Psalm 130 (131)
A Song of Degrees.
1O Lord, my heart is not exalted, neither have mine eyes been haughtily raised: neither have I exercised myself in great matters, nor in things too wonderful for me.
2I shall have sinned if I have not been humble, but have exalted my soul: according to the relation of a weaned child to his mother, so wilt thou recompense my soul.
3Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
Psalm 131 (132)
A Song of Degrees.
1Lord, remember David, and all his meekness:
2how he sware to the Lord, and vowed to the God of Jacob, saying,
3I will not go into the tabernacle of my house; I will not go up to the couch of my bed;
4I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, nor rest to my temples,
5until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
6Behold, we heard of it in Ephratha; we found it in the fields of the wood.
7Let us enter into his tabernacles: let us worship at the place where his feet stood.
8Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thine holiness.
9Thy priests shall clothe themselves with righteousness; and thy saints shall exult.
10For the sake of thy servant David turn not away the face of thine anointed.
11The Lord sware in truth to David, and he will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne.
12If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever.
13For the Lord has elected Sion, he has chosen her for a habitation for himself, saying,
14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have chosen it.
15I will surely bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16I will clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall greatly exult.
17There will I cause to spring up a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed.
18His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall my holiness flourish.
Psalm 132 (133)
A Song of Degrees.
1See now! what is so good, or what so pleasant, as for brethren to dwell together?
2It is as ointment on the head, that ran down to the beard, even the beard of Aaron; that ran down to the fringe of his clothing.
3As the dew of Aermon, that comes down on the mountains of Sion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for ever.
Psalm 133 (134)
A Song of Degrees.
1Behold now, bless ye the Lord, all the servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
2Lift up your hands by night in the sanctuaries, and bless the Lord.
3May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Sion.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.