Blow, as is wont, in the new moon
With trumpets' lofty sound,
Th' appointed time, the day whereon
Our solemn feast comes round.

This was a statute giv❜n of old
For Israel to observe,

A law of Jacob's God, to hold,
From whence they might not swerve.
This he a testimony ordain'd
in Joseph, not to change,

When as he pass'd through Egypt land,
The tongue I heard was strange.

From burden, and from slavish toil

I set his shoulder free;

His hands from pots, and miry soil,
Deliver'd were by me.

When trouble did thee sore assail,
On me then didst thou call,
And I to free thee did not fail
And led thee out of thrall.

I answer'd thee in thunder deep
With clouds encompass'd round;
I tried thee at the water steep
Of Meribah renown'd.

Hear, O my People, hearken well,
I testify to thee,

Thou ancient stock of Israel,

If thou wilt list to me,

Throughout the land of thy abode
No alien God shall be,
Nor shalt thou to a foreign God
In honour bend thy knee.

I am the Lord thy God which brought

Thee out of Egypt land;

Ask large enough, and I, besought,

Will grant thy full demand.

1

And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;

And Israel, whom I loved so dear,
Misliked me for his choice.

Then did I leave them to their will,
And to their wand'ring mind;
Their own conceits they follow'd still,
Their own devices blind.

O that my people would be wise,
To serve me all their days,
And O that Israel would advise
To walk my righteous ways.

Then would I soon bring down their foes,
That now so proudly rise,

And turn my hand against all those
That are their enemies.

Who hate the Lord should then be fain
To bow to him and bend,

But they, his people, should remain,

Their tine should have no end.

And he would feed them from the shock
With flour of finest wheat,

And satisfy them from the rock
With honey for their meat.

PSALM LXXXIL

GOD in the great assembly stands
Of kings and lordly states,
Among the Gods, on both his hands
He judges and debates.

How long will ye pervert the right
With judgment false and wrong,
Favouring the wicked by your might,

Who thence grow bold and strong?

Regard the weak and fatherless,
Despatch the poor man's cause,
And raise the man in deep distress
By just and equal laws.

Defend the poor and desolate,
And rescue from the hands
Of wicked men the low estate
Of him that help demands.

They know not, nor will understand,
In darkness, they walk on,
The earth's foundations all are moved,
And out of order gone.

I said that ye were gods, yea all

The sons of God most high; But ye shall die like men, and fall As other princes die.

Kise, God, judge thou the earth in might, This wicked earth redress,

For thou art He who shall by right

The nations all possess.

For lo, thy furious foes now swell,

And storm outrageously,

And they that hate thee proud and fell Exalt their heads full high.

Against thy people they contrive

Their plots and counsels deep, Them to ensnare they chiefly strive, Whom thou dost hide and keep.

Come let us cut them off, say they,
Till they no nation be,

That Israel's name for ever may
Be lost in memory.

For they consult with all their might,
And all as one in mind

Themselves against thee they unite,
And in firm union bind.

The tents of Edom, and the brood
Of scornful Ishmael,

Moab, with them of Hagar's blood,
That in the desert dwell,

Gebal and Ammon there conspire,
And hateful Amalek,

The Philistines, and they of Tyre,
Whose bounds the sea doth check.

With them great Ashur also bands,
And doth confirm the knot:

All these have lent their armèd hands
To aid the sons of Lot.

Do to them as to Midian bold,

That wasted all the coast,

To Sisera, and as is told

Thou didst to Jabin's host,

When at the brook of Kishon old
They were repulsed and slain,
At Endor quite cut off, and roll'd
As dung upon the plain.

As Zeb and Oreb evil sped,

So let their princes speed,

As Zeba, and Zalmunna bled,
So let their princes bleed.

For they amidst their pride have said,
By right now shall we seize
God's houses, and will now invade
Their stately palaces.

The greedy flame runs higher and higher
Till all the mountains blaze,

So with thy whirlwind them pursue,
And with thy tempest chase;
And till they yield thee honour due;
Lord, fill with shame their face.

Ashamed, and troubled let them be,
Troubled and shamed for ever,

Ever confounded, and so die

With shame, and scape it never.

Then shall they know that thou whose name

Jehovah is alone,

Art the Most High, and thou the same
O'er all the earth art one.

PSALM LXXXIV.

How lovely are thy dwellings fair!
O Lord of Hosts, how dear
The pleasant tabernacles are,
Where thou dost dwell so near!

My soul doth long and almost die
Thy courts, O Lord, to see;
My heart and flesh aloud do cry,
O living God, for thee.

There ev'n the sparrow freed from wrong

Hath found a house of rest,

The swallow there, to lay her young

Hath built her brooding nest,