The Whole Booke of Psalmes, collected into Englysh metre by T. Starnhold I. Hopkins & others: conferred with the Ebrue, with apt Notes to synge the[m] withal

It semeth that this prayer was apointed to the faithful to pray in the captiuitie of Babilon. A consolation for the buyldyng of the churche: wherof foloweth the prayse of god to be published vnto al posterities: The conuersion of the Gentels: And the stabilytie of the churche.

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Sing this as the. lxvii.

[The first parte.]

O heare my prayer, Lorde, and let,
my crye come vnto thee:
In tyme of troble doo not hide,
thy face away from me.
Inclyne thyne eares to me, make haste,
to heare me when I call:
For as the smoke doth fade, so doo
my dayes consume and fall.

And as a herth, my bones are burnt:
my hart is smitten dead,
And withers as the grasse, that I
forget to eate my bread.
By reason of my groning voyce,
my bones cleaue to my skinne:

247

As pellicane of wildernes,
suche case now am I in.

And as an oule in desert is,
loe I am suche a one:
I watch, and as a sparow on
the house top am alone.
Loe dayly in reprochefull wise,
mine enmies doo me scorne.
And they that doo against me rage,
against me they haue sworne.

Surely with ashes, as with breade,
my hunger I haue filld,
And mingled haue my drink with teares
that fro mine eyes haue stild,
Because of thy displeasure, Lord,
thy wrath and thy disdayne:
For thou hast lifted me aloft,
and cast me downe agayne.

The dayes wherin I pas my lyfe,
are like the fleting shade:
And I am withered like the gras,
that sone away doth fade.
But thou, O Lord, for euer doest
remaine in stedy place,
And thy remembrance euer doth
abide from race to race.

The second parte.

Thou wilt aryse, and mercy thou,
to Sion wilt extend:
The time of mercy, now the time
foreset is come to end.

248

For euen in the stones therof,
thy seruants do delighte,
And on the dust therof they haue,
compassion in theyr sprite.

Then shall the Heathen peoples feare,
the Lordes most holy name:
And all the kinges on earth shall drede
thy glory and thy fame:
Then when the Lord the mighty God,
againe shall Syon rere,
And then when he most nobly in,
his glory shall appeare:

To prayer of the desolate,
when he himself shall bend:
When he shall not disdayne vnto,
theyr prayer to attend.
This shalbe written for the age,
that after shall succede:
the people yet vncreated.
the Lordes renome shall sprede.

For he from his hie sanctuarye,
hath loked downe belowe,
and out of Heauen hath the Lord,
beheld the earth also:
That of the mourning captiue he,
might heare the woefull crye,
And that he might deliuer those,
that damned are to dye:

That they in Sion may declare,
the Lordes most holy name,

250

and in Ierusalem set fourth,
the prayses of the same:
Then when the people of the land,
and kingdomes with accorde,
Shalbe assembled for to do:
theyr seruice to the Lorde.

The third parte.

My former force of strength he hath.
abated in the way,
And shorter he did cut my dayes:
thus I therfore did say:
My God, in middes of all my dayes,
now take me not away:
Thy yeres endure eternally
from age to age for ay.

Thou the foundations of the earth,
before all time hast layde,
And Lorde the heauens are the work,
which thine owne hands haue made.
Yea they shall perish and decay,
but thou shalt tary still:
And they shall all in tyme waxe olde,
euen as a garment will.

Thou as a garment shalt then chaunge,
and changed shall they be:
But thou doest still abide the same,
thy yeares doo neuer flee.
The children of thy seruantes shall,
continually endure,
And in thy sight their happy sede
for euer shall stand sure.

University of Virginia Library

Domine exaudi orationem.

Psalm. C.ii.

[The first parte.]

The second parte.

The third parte.