1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Idumea.
2 O God, my God, I cry to thee early; my soul has thirsted for thee: how often has my flesh longed after thee, in a barren and trackless and dry land! 3 Thus have I appeared before thee in the sanctuary, that I might see thy power and thy glory. 4 For thy mercy is better than 1life: my lips shall praise thee. 5 Thus will I bless thee during my life: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 6 Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness; and my joyful lips shall praise thy name.
7 2Forasmuch as I have remembered thee on my bed: in the early seasons I have meditated on thee. 8 For thou hast been my helper, and in the shelter of thy wings will I rejoice. 9 My soul has 3kept very close behind thee: thy right hand has upheld me. 10 But they vainly sought after my soul; they shall go into the lowest parts of the earth. 11 They shall be delivered up to the power of the sword; they shall be portions for foxes. 12 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by him shall be praised; for the mouth of them that speak unjust things has been stopped.
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.