Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;

That bringeth the princes to nothing: he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

O Lord, open thou our ears!

That we may hear meekly thy word, and receive it with pure affection.

PSALMS.

I SAID, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth while the wicked is before

me.

I was dumb with silence: I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned then spake I with my tongue.

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

Surely every man walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me. I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in my sight are but as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow: for it is soon cut off, and we fly

away.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

BENEDICTION VII.

FIRST SUNDAY IN THE YEAR.

0

COLLECT.

GOD, the unfailing source of light and mercy, who hast brought us to the beginning of this year, and art sparing us to love thee, and to keep thy commandments; give us, we beseech thee, a solemn sense of the importance of time, and of diligence in improving the talents thou hast placed in our hands; and enable us so faithfully to discharge our duty in this life, that, when we shall appear before thee at thy great tribunal, we may be found worthy of that eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PROPHECIES.

HABAKKUK.

O JEHOVAH, I have heard thy words, and tremble. O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known, in wrath remember mercy!

God cometh from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran; his glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

His brightness is as the light; rays stream forth from his hand, and there is the hiding-place of his power.

Before him goeth the pestilence, and the plague followeth his steps.

He standeth, and measureth the earth; he beholdeth, and maketh the nations tremble; the everlasting mountains are broken asunder; the eternal hills sink down; the eternal paths are trodden by him.

I see the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the canopies of the land of Midian tremble.

Is the anger of Jehovah kindled against the rivers, is thy wrath against the rivers, is thy indignation against the floods,

that thou ridest on with thy horses, upon thy chariots of victory?

Thy bow is made bare; thine arrows are satiated; the song of victory is sung. Thou causest rivers to break forth from

the earth.

The mountains see thee and tremble; the flood of waters overflows; the deep uttereth his voice, and lifteth up his hands on high.

The sun and the moon stand still in their habitation; like their light thine arrows fly; like their brightness the lightning of thy spear.

Thou marchest through the land in indignation; thou thrashest the nations in anger.

Thou goest forth for the deliverance of thy people; for the deliverance of thine anointed; thou smitest the head of the wicked; thou destroyest the foundation even to the neck.

Thou piercest with thine arrows the heads of their leaders, who rushed like a whirlwind to scatter us; who exulted, as if they should devour the distressed in a hiding-place.

Thou ridest through the sea with thy horses, through the raging of mighty waters.

I have heard, and my heart trembleth; my lips quiver at the voice; that I shall remain to the day of trouble, when the invader shall come up against my people!

Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, and there shall be no fruit in the vine, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

O Lord, open thou our lips!

And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

« VorigeDoorgaan »