1 For the end, for 1alternate strains by the sons of Core; for instruction, a Song concerning the beloved.
2 My heart 2has uttered a good matter: I declare my works to the king: my tongue is the pen of a quick writer. 3 Thou art more beautiful than the sons of men: grace has been shed forth on thy lips: therefore God has blessed thee for ever.
4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Mighty One, in thy comeliness, and in thy beauty; 5 and bend thy bow, and prosper, and reign, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall guide thee wonderfully. 6 Thy weapons are sharpened, Mighty One, (the nations shall fall under thee) they are in the heart of the king's enemies.
7 [Heb. 1. 8-10.] Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. 8 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows.
9 Myrrh, and stacte, and cassia are exhaled from thy garments, and out of the ivory palaces, 10 with which kings' daughters have gladdened thee for thine honour: the queen stood by on thy right hand, clothed in vesture wrought with gold, and arrayed in divers colours. 11 Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; forget also thy people, and thy father's house. 12 Because the king has desired thy beauty; for he is thy Lord. 13 And the daughter of Tyre shall adore him with gifts; the rich of the people of the land shall supplicate thy 3favour.
14 All her glory is that of the daughter of the king 4of Esebon, robed as she is in golden fringed garments, 15 in embroidered clothing: virgins shall be brought to the king after her: her fellows shall be brought to thee. 16 They shall be brought with gladness and exultation: they shall be led into the king's temple. 17 Instead of thy fathers children are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. 18 They shall make mention of thy name from generation to generation: therefore shall the nations give thanks to thee 5for ever, even for ever and ever.
- 1 v. 1 See also Ps. 68; 79, titles; q. d. repeated, see Hebrew.
- 2 v. 2 Lit. eructavit.
- 3 v. 13 Gr. face.
- 4 v. 14 Alex. ἔσωθεν, within, so Heb.
- 5 v. 18 Gr. to the age of the age.
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.