1 A Prayer of David.
O Lord, incline thine ear, and hearken to me; for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul, for I am holy; save thy servant, O God, who hopes in thee. 3 Pity me, O Lord: for to thee will I cry all the day. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for to thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul. 5 For thou, O Lord, art kind, and gentle; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee. 6 Give ear to my prayer, O Lord; and attend to the voice of my supplication. 7 In the day of my trouble I cried to thee: for thou didst hear me.
8 There is none like to thee, O Lord, among the gods; and there are no works like to thy works. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come, and shall worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wonders: thou art the only and the great God. 11 Guide me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice, that I may fear thy name. 12 I will give thee thanks, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for ever. 13 For thy mercy is great toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
14 O God, transgressors have risen up against me, and an assembly of violent men have sought my life; and have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord God, art compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy and true. 16 Look thou upon me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength to thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. 17 Establish with me a token for good; and let them that hate me see it and be ashamed; because thou, O Lord, hast helped me, and comforted me.
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.