for I am indeed poor and needy.
2. Preserve my life, for I am holy;
save your servant, O God,
who hopes in you.
3. Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you will I cry all the day long.
4. Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I have lifted up my soul.
5. For you, O Lord, are kind and gentle,
and bountiful in mercy to all who call upon you.
6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
attend to the sound of my supplication.
7. In the day of my woe
I cried out to you,
because you have heard me.
8. For there is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
and there are no works compared
to yours.
9. All the nations which you have made shall come,
and worship before you, O Lord,
and they shall glorify your name.
10. For you are great and work wonders;
you are the only God, the Great One.
11. Guide me, O Lord, in your path,
that I may walk in your truth.
Let my heart rejoice,
that I might revere your name.
12. I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
my God,
with all my heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13. For your mercy towards me is great;
you have delivered my life from the deepest hell.
14. O God, transgressors have risen up against me,
an assembly of violent people has sought my life,
and they have not set you
before their eyes.
15. But you, O Lord God, are compassionate and merciful,
longsuffering, abounding in mercy
and truth.
16. Look down upon me and have mercy on me,
give your strength to your servant,
and save the offspring of your handmaid.
17. Vouchsafe for me a token for good,
and let those who hate me see it
and be ashamed,
for you, O Lord, have helped me
and comforted me.
Psalm 88
1. O Lord, I will sing of your
mercies forever;
I will proclaim your truth with my mouth to all generations.
2. For you have said: “Mercy shall be built up forever.
Your truth shall be established
in the heavens.
3. I have made a covenant
with my chosen;
I swore a pledge to my servant, David.
4. I shall establish your seed forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.”
5. The heavens declare your wonders,
O Lord,
and your truth in the assembly of the holy ones.
6. For who in the heavens shall be compared to the Lord?
And who shall be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?
7. God is glorified in the council of the holy ones,
great and fearful to all who
are around him.
8. O Lord, God of hosts,
who is like you?
You are mighty, O Lord, and your truth encompasses you.
9. You rule over the raging of the sea,
and calm the tumult of its waves.
10. You have humbled the proud like someone slain;
with your mighty arm you have scattered your foes.
11. Yours are the heavens, and yours
is the earth.
You have founded the world
and its fullness.
12. You have created the north
and the west;
Tabor and Hermon will rejoice
in your name.
13. Yours is the mighty arm;
let your hand be strengthened, your right hand exalted.
14. Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne;
mercy and truth shall process before your presence.
15. Blessed the people who know the sound of joy!
They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.
16. In your name they shall rejoice all the day long,
and in your righteousness they shall be exalted.
17. For you are the boast
of their strength,
and in your good pleasure our horn shall be exalted.
18. For from the Lord is support,
even from the Holy One of Israel,
our King.
19. Then you spoke in a dream to your children, saying:
“I have set help on one who is mighty,
I have exalted a chosen one from out of my people.
20. I have found David to be my servant,
I have anointed him with holy oil.
21. For my hand shall support him,
and my arm shall strengthen him.
22. The enemy shall have no advantage over him,
and the son of lawlessness shall not hurt him again.
23. I will hew down his enemies
before him,
and I will put to flight those
who hate him.
24. And my truth and my mercy shall surround him,
and in my name his horn
shall be exalted.
25. I will place his left hand in the sea,
and his right hand in the river.
26. He shall call upon me, saying:
‘You