Psalm 144
1Blessed be the Lord my rock! *
who trains my hands to fight and my fingers to battle;
2My help and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, *
my shield in whom I trust,
who subdues the peoples under me.
3O Lord, what are we that you should care for us? *
mere mortals that you should think of us?
4We are like a puff of wind; *
our days are like a passing shadow.
5Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down; *
touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6Hurl the lightning and scatter them; *
shoot out your arrows and rout them.
7Stretch out your hand from on high; *
rescue me and deliver me from the great waters,
from the hand of foreign peoples,
8Whose mouths speak deceitfully *
and whose right hand is raised in falsehood.
9O God, I will sing to you a new song; *
I will play to you on a ten-stringed lyre.
10You give victory to kings *
and have rescued David your servant.
11Rescue me from the hurtful sword *
and deliver me from the hand of foreign peoples,
12Whose mouths speak deceitfully *
and whose right hand is raised in falsehood.
13May our sons be like plants well nurtured from their youth, *
and our daughters like sculptured corners of a palace.
14May our barns be filled to overflowing with all manner
of crops; *
may the flocks in our pastures increase by thousands
and tens of thousands;
may our cattle be fat and sleek.
15May there be no breaching of the walls, no going into exile, *
no wailing in the public squares.
16Happy are the people of whom this is so! *
happy are the people whose God is the Lord!
A Collect for Saturdays
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Image Credit: Winter Morning in the Country, 1873, Publisher Currier & Ives
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Open Access Collection
