The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, read in order through the week at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma 4 contains Psalms 24–31 (Septuagint numbering).
Psalm 24 (25)
A Psalm of David.
1To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.
2O my God, I have trusted in thee: let me not be confounded, neither let mine enemies laugh me to scorn.
3For none of them that wait on thee shall in any wise be ashamed: let them be ashamed that transgress without cause.
4Shew me thy ways, O Lord; and teach me thy paths.
5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art God my Saviour: and I have waited on thee all the day.
6Remember thy compassions, O Lord, and thy mercies, for they are from everlasting.
7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my sins of ignorance: remember me according to thy mercy, for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.
8Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.
9The meek will he guide in judgment: the meek will he teach his ways.
10All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that seek his covenant and his testimonies.
11For thy name’s sake, O Lord, do thou also be merciful to my sin; for it is great.
12Who is the man that fears the Lord? he shall instruct him in the way which he has chosen.
13His soul shall dwell in prosperity; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
14The Lord is the strength of them that fear him; and his covenant is to manifest truth to them.
15Mine eyes are continually to the Lord; for he shall draw my feet out of the snare.
16Look upon me, and have mercy upon me; for I am an only child and poor.
17The afflictions of my heart have been multiplied; deliver me from my distresses.
18Look upon mine affliction and my trouble; and forgive all my sins.
19Look upon mine enemies; for they have been multiplied; and they have hated me with unjust hatred.
20Keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I have hoped in thee.
21The harmless and upright joined themselves to me: for I waited for thee, O Lord.
22Deliver Israel, O God, out of all his afflictions.
Psalm 25 (26)
A Psalm of David.
1Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in my innocence: and hoping in the Lord I shall not be moved.
2Prove me, O Lord, and try me; purify as with fire my reins and my heart.
3For thy mercy is before mine eyes: and I am well pleased with thy truth.
4I have not sat with the council of vanity, and will in nowise enter in with transgressors.
5I have hated the assembly of wicked doers; and will not sit with ungodly men.
6I will wash my hands in innocency, and compass thine altar, O Lord:
7to hear the voice of praise, and to declare all thy wonderful works.
8O Lord, I have loved the beauty of thy house, and the place of the tabernacle of thy glory.
9Destroy not my soul together with the ungodly, nor my life with bloody men:
10in whose hands are iniquities, and their right hand is filled with bribes.
11But I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy upon me.
12My foot stands in an even place: in the congregations will I bless thee, O Lord.
Psalm 26 (27)
A Psalm of David, before he was anointed.
1The Lord is my light and my Saviour; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2When evil-doers drew nigh against me to eat up my flesh, my persecutors and mine enemies, they fainted and fell.
3Though an army should set itself in array against me, my heart shall not be afraid: though war should rise up against me, in this am I confident.
4One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I earnestly seek: that I should dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I should behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and survey his temple.
5For in the day of mine afflictions he hid me in his tabernacle: he sheltered me in the secret of his tabernacle; he set me up on a rock.
6And now, behold, he has lifted up mine head over mine enemies: I went round and offered in his tabernacle the sacrifice of joy; I will sing, even sing psalms to the Lord.
7Hear, O Lord, my voice which I have uttered aloud: pity me, and hearken to me.
8My heart said to thee, I have diligently sought thy face: thy face, O Lord, I will seek.
9Turn not thy face away from me, turn not thou away from thy servant in anger: be thou my helper, forsake me not; and, O God my Saviour, overlook me not.
10For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me to himself.
11Teach me, O Lord, in thy way, and guide me in a right path, because of mine enemies.
12Deliver me not over to the desire of them that afflict me; for unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and injustice has lied within herself.
13I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and let thy heart be strengthened: yea, wait on the Lord.
Psalm 27 (28)
A Psalm of David.
1To thee, O Lord, have I cried; my God, be not silent toward me: lest thou be silent toward me, and so I should be likened to them that go down to the pit.
2Hearken to the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy temple.
3Draw not away my soul with sinners, and destroy me not with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbours, but evils are in their hearts.
4Give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their devices: give them according to the works of their hands; render their recompence unto them.
5Because they have not attended to the works of the Lord, even to the works of his hands, thou shalt pull them down, and shalt not build them up.
6Blessed be the Lord, for he has hearkened to the voice of my petition.
7The Lord is my helper and my defender; my heart has hoped in him, and I am helped: my flesh has revived, and willingly will I give praise to him.
8The Lord is the strength of his people, and the saving defender of his anointed.
9Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: and take care of them, and lift them up for ever.
Psalm 28 (29)
A Psalm of David on the occasion of the solemn assembly of the Tabernacle.
1Bring to the Lord, ye sons of God, bring to the Lord young rams; bring to the Lord glory and honour.
2Bring to the Lord glory, due to his name; worship the Lord in his holy court.
3The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory has thundered: the Lord is upon many waters.
4The voice of the Lord is mighty; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5There is the voice of the Lord who breaks the cedars; the Lord will break the cedars of Libanus.
6And he will beat them small, even Libanus itself, like a calf; and the beloved one is as a young unicorn.
7There is a voice of the Lord who divides a flame of fire.
8A voice of the Lord who shakes the wilderness; the Lord will shake the wilderness of Cades.
9The voice of the Lord strengthens the hinds, and will uncover the thickets: and in his temple every one speaks of his glory.
10The Lord will dwell on the waterflood: and the Lord will sit a king for ever.
11The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
Psalm 29 (30)
For the end, a Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.
2I will exalt thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and not caused mine enemies to rejoice over me.
3O Lord my God, I cried to thee, and thou didst heal me.
4O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from Hades, thou hast delivered me from among them that go down to the pit.
5Sing to the Lord, ye his saints, and give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
6For anger is in his wrath, but life in his favour: weeping shall tarry for the evening, but joy shall be in the morning.
7And I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.
8O Lord, in thy good pleasure thou didst add strength to my beauty: but thou didst turn away thy face, and I was troubled.
9To thee, O Lord, will I cry; and to my God will I make supplication.
10What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to destruction? Shall the dust give praise to thee? or shall it declare thy truth?
11The Lord heard, and had compassion upon me; the Lord is become my helper.
12Thou hast turned my mourning into joy for me: thou hast rent off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
13that my glory may sing praise to thee, and I may not be pierced with sorrow. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever.
Psalm 30 (31)
For the end, a Psalm of David, an utterance of extreme fear.
2O Lord, I have hoped in thee; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness and rescue me.
3Incline thine ear to me; make haste to rescue me: be thou to me for a protecting God, and for a house of refuge to save me.
4For thou art my strength and my refuge; and thou shalt guide me for thy name’s sake, and maintain me.
5Thou shalt bring me out of the snare which they have hidden for me; for thou, O Lord, art my defender.
6Into thine hands I will commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
7Thou hast hated them that idly persist in vanities: but I have hoped in the Lord.
8I will exult and be glad in thy mercy: for thou hast looked upon mine affliction; thou hast saved my soul from distresses.
9And thou hast not shut me up into the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a wide place.
10Pity me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with indignation, my soul and my belly.
11For my life is spent with grief, and my years with groanings: my strength has been weakened through poverty, and my bones are troubled.
12I became a reproach among all mine enemies, but exceedingly so to my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that saw me without fled from me.
13I have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become as a broken vessel.
14For I heard the slander of many that dwelt round about: when they were gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life.
15But I hoped in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.
16My lots are in thy hands: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies,
17and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me in thy mercy.
18O Lord, let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be ashamed, and brought down to Hades.
19Let the deceitful lips become dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous with pride and scorn.
20How abundant is the multitude of thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! thou hast wrought it out for them that hope on thee, in the presence of the sons of men.
21Thou wilt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the vexation of man: thou wilt screen them in a tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.
22Blessed be the Lord: for he has magnified his mercy in a fortified city.
23But I said in my extreme fear, I am cast out from the sight of thine eyes: therefore thou didst hearken, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication when I cried to thee.
24Love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord seeks for truth, and renders a reward to them that deal very proudly.
25Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalm 31 (32)
A Psalm of instruction by David.
1Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
2Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose mouth there is no guile.
3Because I kept silence, my bones waxed old, from my crying all the day.
4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I became thoroughly miserable while a thorn was fastened in me. Pause.
5I acknowledged my sin, and hid not mine iniquity: I said, I will confess mine iniquity to the Lord against myself; and thou forgavest the ungodliness of my heart. Pause.
6Therefore shall every holy one pray to thee in a fit time: only in the deluge of many waters they shall not come nigh to him.
7Thou art my refuge from the affliction that encompasses me; my joy, to deliver me from them that have compassed me. Pause.
8I will instruct thee and guide thee in this way wherein thou shalt go: I will fix mine eyes upon thee.
9Be ye not as horse and mule, which have no understanding: but thou must constrain their jaws with bit and curb, lest they should come nigh to thee.
10Many are the scourges of the sinner: but him that hopes in the Lord mercy shall compass about.
11Be glad in the Lord, and exult, ye righteous: and glory, all ye that are upright in heart.
Text: The Septuagint Psalter, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). Public domain.