The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 2 contains Psalms 9–16 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 9 (9–10)
For the end, a Psalm of David, concerning the secrets of the Son.
2I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will recount all thy wonderful works.
3I will be glad and exult in thee: I will sing to thy name, O thou Most High.
4When mine enemies are turned back, they shall be feeble and perish at thy presence.
5For thou hast maintained my cause and my right; thou satest on the throne, that judgest righteousness.
6Thou hast rebuked the nations, and the ungodly one has perished; thou hast blotted out their name for ever, even for ever and ever.
7The swords of the enemy have failed utterly; and thou hast destroyed cities: their memorial has been destroyed with a noise,
8but the Lord endures for ever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.
9And he will judge the world in righteousness, he will judge the nations in uprightness.
10The Lord also is become a refuge for the poor, a seasonable help, in affliction.
11And let them that know thy name hope in thee: for thou, O Lord, hast not failed them that diligently seek thee.
12Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Sion: declare his dealings among the nations.
13For he remembered them, in making inquisition for blood: he has not forgotten the supplication of the poor.
14Have mercy upon me, O Lord; look upon my affliction which I suffer of mine enemies, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
15that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion: I will exult in thy salvation.
16The heathen are caught in the destruction which they planned: in the very snare which they hid is their foot taken.
17The Lord is known as executing judgments: the sinner is taken in the works of his hands. A song of Pause.
18Let sinners be driven away into Hades, even all the nations that forget God.
19For the poor shall not be forgotten for ever: the patience of the needy ones shall not perish for ever.
20Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged before thee.
21Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: let the heathen know that they are men. Pause.
22Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why dost thou overlook us in times of need, in affliction?
23While the ungodly one acts proudly, the poor is hotly pursued: the wicked are taken in the crafty counsels which they imagine.
24Because the sinner praises himself for the desires of his heart; and the unjust one blesses himself.
25The sinner has provoked the Lord: according to the abundance of his pride he will not seek after him: God is not before him.
26His ways are profane at all times; thy judgments are removed from before him: he will gain the mastery over all his enemies.
27For he has said in his heart, I shall not be moved, continuing without evil from generation to generation.
28Whose mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and fraud: under his tongue are trouble and pain.
29He lies in wait with rich men in secret places, in order to slay the innocent: his eyes are set against the poor.
30He lies in wait in secret as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to ravish the poor, to ravish the poor when he draws him after him: he will bring him down in his snare.
31He will bow down and fall when he has mastered the poor.
32For he has said in his heart, God has forgotten: he has turned away his face so as never to look.
33Arise, O Lord God; let thy hand be lifted up: forget not the poor.
34Wherefore has the wicked provoked God? for he has said in his heart, He will not require it.
35Thou seest it; for thou dost observe trouble and wrath, to deliver them into thy hands: the poor has been left to thee; thou wast a helper to the orphan.
36Break thou the arm of the sinner and wicked man: his sin shall be sought for, and shall not be found.
37The Lord shall reign for ever, even for ever and ever: ye Gentiles shall perish out of his land.
38The Lord has heard the desire of the poor: thine ear has inclined to the preparation of their heart;
39to plead for the orphan and afflicted, that man may no more boast upon the earth.
Psalm 10 (11)
For the end, a Psalm of David.
1In the Lord I have put my trust: how will ye say to my soul, Flee to the mountains as a sparrow?
2For behold the sinners have bent their bow, they have prepared their arrows for the quiver, to shoot privily at the upright in heart.
3For they have pulled down what thou didst frame, but what has the righteous done?
4The Lord is in his holy temple, as for the Lord, his throne is in heaven: his eyes look upon the poor, his eyelids try the sons of men.
5The Lord tries the righteous and the ungodly: and he that loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.
6He shall rain upon sinners snares, fire, and brimstone, and a stormy blast shall be the portion of their cup.
7For the Lord is righteous, and loves righteousness; his face beholds uprightness.
Psalm 11 (12)
For the end, a Psalm of David, upon the eighth.
2Save me, O Lord; for the godly man has failed; for truth is diminished from among the children of men.
3Every one has spoken vanity to his neighbour: their lips are deceitful, they have spoken with a double heart.
4Let the Lord destroy all the deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaks great words:
5who have said, We will magnify our tongue; our lips are our own: who is Lord of us?
6Because of the misery of the poor, and because of the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord, I will set them in safety; I will speak to them thereof openly.
7The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles; as silver tried in the fire, proved in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
8Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us, and shalt preserve us, from this generation, and for ever.
9The ungodly walk around: according to thy greatness thou hast greatly exalted the sons of men.
Psalm 12 (13)
For the end, a Psalm of David.
2How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me? for ever? how long wilt thou turn away thy face from me?
3How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrows in my heart daily? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
4Look on me, hearken to me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death;
5lest at any time mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him: my persecutors will exult if ever I should be moved.
6But I have hoped in thy mercy; my heart shall exult in thy salvation. I will sing to the Lord who has dealt bountifully with me, and I will sing psalms to the name of the Lord most high.
Psalm 13 (14)
For the end, a Psalm of David.
1The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, and become abominable in their devices; there is none that does goodness, there is not even so much as one.
2The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any that understood, or sought after God.
3They are all gone out of the way, they are together become good for nothing, there is none that does good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.
4Will not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they would eat bread? they have not called upon the Lord.
5There were they alarmed with fear, where there was no fear; for God is in the righteous generation.
6Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope.
7Who will bring the salvation of Israel out of Sion? when the Lord brings back the captivity of his people, let Jacob exult, and Israel be glad.
Psalm 14 (15)
A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? and who shall dwell in thy holy mountain?
2He that walks blameless, and works righteousness, who speaks truth in his heart.
3Who has not spoken craftily with his tongue, neither has done evil to his neighbour, nor taken up a reproach against them that dwelt nearest to him.
4In his sight an evil-worker is set at nought, but he honours them that fear the Lord. He swears to his neighbour, and disappoints him not.
5He has not lent his money on usury, and has not received bribes against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved.
Psalm 15 (16)
A writing of David.
1Keep me, O Lord; for I have hoped in thee.
2I said to the Lord, Thou art my Lord; for thou hast no need of my goodness.
3On behalf of the saints that are in his land, he has magnified all his pleasure in them.
4Their weaknesses have been multiplied; afterward they hasted. I will by no means assemble their bloody meetings, neither will I make mention of their names with my lips.
5The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou art he that restores my inheritance to me.
6The lines have fallen to me in the best places, yea, I have a most excellent heritage.
7I will bless the Lord who has instructed me; my reins too have chastened me even till night.
8I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
9Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue exulted; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
10because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
11Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand there are delights for ever.
Psalm 16 (17)
A Prayer of David.
1Hearken, O Lord of my righteousness, attend to my petition; give ear to my prayer not uttered with deceitful lips.
2Let my judgment come forth from thy presence; let mine eyes behold righteousness.
3Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me by night; thou hast tried me as with fire, and unrighteousness has not been found in me: I am purposed that my mouth shall not speak amiss.
4As for the works of men, by the words of thy lips I have guarded myself from hard ways.
5Direct my steps in thy paths, that my steps slip not.
6I have cried, for thou heardest me, O God: incline thine ear to me, and hearken to my words.
7Shew the marvels of thy mercies, thou that savest them that hope in thee.
8Keep me as the apple of the eye from those that resist thy right hand: thou shalt screen me by the covering of thy wings,
9from the face of the ungodly that have afflicted me: mine enemies have compassed about my soul.
10They have enclosed themselves with their own fat: their mouth has spoken pride.
11They have now cast me out and compassed me round about: they have set their eyes so as to bow them down to the ground.
12They laid wait for me as a lion ready for prey, and like a lion’s whelp dwelling in secret places.
13Arise, O Lord, prevent them, and cast them down: deliver my soul from the ungodly: draw thy sword,
14because of the enemies of thine hand: O Lord, destroy them from the earth; scatter them in their life, though their belly has been filled with thy hidden treasures: they have been satisfied with uncleanness, and have left the remnant of their possessions to their babes.
15But I shall appear in righteousness before thy face: I shall be satisfied when thy glory appears.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.