NLESS the Lord the house sustain,
They build in vain.
In vain they watch, unless the Lord
The city guard.
In vain you rise before the light,
And break the slumbers of the night.
In vain the bread of sorrow eat,
Got by your sweat,
Unless the Lord with good success
Your labours bless.
For He all good on His bestows,
And crowns their eyes with sweet repose.
Increasing sons, His heritage,
Renew their age;
The pledges of their fruitful love,
Giv'n from above:
As formidable to the foe,
As arrows from a giant's bow.
He is belov'd of God, and blest
Whose quivers with such shafts abound;
By men renown'd:
Nor shall his adversary dread,
When they at the tribunal plead.
APPY he who God obeys,
Nor from His direction strays.
Thou shalt of thy labours feed;
All shall to thy wish succeed.
Like a fair and fruitful vine,
By thy house, thy wife shall join.
Sons, obedient to command,
Shall about thy table stand,
Like green plants of olives, set
By the moist'ning rivulet.
He who fears the Pow'r above,
Thus shall prosper in His love.
God shall thee from Sion bless;
Thou shalt joy in the success
Which the Lord will Salem give,
While thou hast a day to live.
Thou shalt see our Israel's peace,
And thy children's large increase.
FT from my early youth have they
Afflicted me, may Israel say,
Oft from my early youth assail'd;
As oft have their endeavours fail'd.
My back with long deep furrows wound,
As plough-shares ear1 the patient ground.
The Ever-just hath broke their bands,
And sav'd me from their cruel hands.
Ear, i. e. plough. In line 14, comes to ear.
Let Sion's foes with infamy
Be clothed, and untimely die :
Be they like corn on houses' tops,
Which reaper's sickle never crops,
Nor binder in his bosom bears,
But withers still before it ears.
No traveller their labours bless,
Nor say, We wish you good success.
UT of the horrors of the deep,
Where fear and sorrow never sleep,
To Thee my cries
Lord, from despair Thy servant keep :
O lend a gracious ear,
And my petitions hear.
For if Thou should'st our sins observe,
And punish us as we deserve,
Not one of all
Since all from their obedience swerve:
Yet art not Thou severe,
That we Thy Name might fear.
Thy mercies our misdeeds transcend :
My hopes upon Thy truth depend:
Disconsolate
On Thee I wait;
As weary sentinels attend
The cheerful morn's uprise
With long-expecting eyes.
you that are of Jacob's race,
In Him your hopes and comforts place;
His praises sing,
The living Spring
Of mercy and redundant grace ;
For He will Israél
Redeem from sin and hell.
HOU, Lord, my Witness art,
I am not proud of heart,
Nor look with lofty eyes,
envy, nor despise,
Nor to vain pomp apply
My thoughts, nor soar too high;
But in behaviour mild,
And, as a tender child,
Wean'd from his mother's breast,
On Thee alone I rest.
O Israél, adore
The Lord for evermore:
Be He the only scope
Of thy unfainting hope.
He to the Mighty God of Jacob made,
Bound by an oath, and in these words convey'd :
No roof shall cover me, nor sweet repose
Refresh my limbs, or sleep my eyelids close,
"Till I have found a place for His abode,
Ev'n for the temple of the Living God.
The ark, we heard, in Ephrata long stood,
And found it in the valley cloth'd with wood.
We will into Thy tabernacle go,
And there ourselves before Thy footstool throw.
Ascend to Thy eternal rest at length,
Thou, and the Ark of Thy admiréd strength.
O let Thy priests be cloth'd with sanctity,
And all Thy saints sing with triumphant joy.
For David's sake, receive into Thy grace;
From Thy anointed never turn Thy Face.
For thus Thou swor'st Who never wilt forget;
Thy son shall long possess thy royal seat,
And if thy children My commands observe,
Nor from the rules of My prescription swerve,
Their offspring shall the Hebrew sceptre sway,
Ev'n while the sun illuminates the day.
For Sion I have chosen; Sion great
In My affections; My eternal seat.
I will abundantly increase her store,
And with the flow'r of wheat sustain her poor.
Her priests shall blessings to her people bring,
Her joyful saints in sacred measures sing.
There shall the horn of David freshly sprout,
Their lamp of glory never shall burn out.
His diadem shall flourish on his head,
But nets of shame his foes shall over-spread.
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