1 A Song of Degrees.
Lord, remember David, and all his meekness: 2 how he sware to the Lord, and vowed to the God of Jacob, saying, 3 1I will not go into the tabernacle of my house; I will not go up to the couch of my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, nor rest to my temples, 5 until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephratha; we found it in the fields of the wood. 7 Let us enter into his tabernacles: let us worship at the place where his feet stood.
8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thine holiness. 9 Thy priests shall clothe themselves with righteousness; and thy saints shall exult. 10 For the sake of thy servant David turn not away the face of thine anointed.
11 The Lord sware in truth to David, and he will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne. 12 If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever. 13 For the Lord has elected Sion, he has chosen her for a habitation for himself, saying, 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have chosen it. 15 I will surely bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall greatly exult. 17 There will I cause to spring up a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed. 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall my 2holiness flourish.
About this text. This is Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 translation of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads, rather than the Hebrew text behind most English Bibles. It is in the public domain. Words in italics are ones Brenton supplied that the Greek does not have; he marked them so that a reader could tell the difference, and they are kept that way here. The numbered notes are his own. Its English is Victorian, and does not match the modern English of the New Testament pages on this site.
On the numbering. The Psalms are numbered here as the Septuagint numbers them, which is how Orthodox service books cite them. From Psalm 10 onward that is one behind a Hebrew-numbered Bible: Psalm 50 here is the Psalm 51 of most English Bibles. The Septuagint also carries a hundred and fifty-first Psalm, which those Bibles do not.