LORD God Almighty, great and full of fear,
Who always art from breach of promise free,
And never failing to have mercy there,
Where they observe thy laws and honour thee!
We have transgressed and amiss have done,
We disobedient and rebellious were;
For from thy precepts we astray are gone,
And we departed from thy judgments are.
We did thy servants' prophecies withstand,
Who to our dukes, our kings, and fathers came,
When they to all the people of the land.
Proclaimed forth their message in thy name.
In thee, O Lord! all righteousness appears;
But public shame to us doth appertain,
Ev'n as with them of Judah now it fares,
And those that in Jerusalem remain ;
Yea, as to Israel now it doth befall,
Throughout those lands in which they scatter'd be,
For that their great transgression, wherewithall
They have transgressed and offended thee.
To us, our kings, our dukes, and fathers, doth Disgrace pertain, O Lord! for ang'ring thee; Yet, mercy, Lord our God! and pardon, both To thee belong, though we rebellious be.
We did, indeed, perversely disobey
Thy voice, O Lord our God! and would not hear
To keep those laws, thou didst before us lay
By those thy servants, who thy prophets were.
Ev'n all that of the race of Israel be,
Against thy law have grievously misdone;
And that they might not listen unto thee,
They backward from thy voice, O Lord! are gone.
On them therefore that curse and oath descended,
Which in the law of Moses written was,
The servant of that God whom we offended,
And now his speeches he hath brought to pass.
On us and on our judges he doth bring
That plague, wherewith he threat'ned us and them:
For under heaven was never such a thing
As now is fall'n upon Jerusalem.
As Moses' written law doth here record,
Now all this mischief upon them is brought;
And yet we prayed not before the Lord,
That leaving sin we might his truth be taught.
For which respect the Lord in wait hath laid,
That he on us inflict this mischief might,
And sith his holy word we disobey'd,
In all his doings he remains upright.
But now, O Lord our God! who from the land
Of cruel Egypt brought thy people hast,
And by the power' of thy Almighty hand
Achiev'd a name, which to this day doth last!
Though we have sinned in committing ill,
Yet, Lord! by that pure righteousness in thee,
From thy Jerusalem, thy holy hill,
Oh! let thy wrathful anger turned be.
For through the guilt of our displeasing sin,
And for our father's faults, Jerusalem,
Thy chosen people hath despised been,
And are the scorn of all that neighbour them.
Now therefore to thy servants' pray'r incline:
Hear thou his suit, O God! and let thy face,
Ev'n for the Lord's dear sake vouchsafe to shine
Upon thy, now forsaken, holy place.
Thine ears incline thou, O my God! and hear;
Lift up thine eyes, and us O look upon,
Us, who forsaken with thy city are,
That city where thy name is called on;
For we upon ourselves presume not thus
Before thy presence our request to make,
For aught that righteous can be found in us,
But for thy great and tender mercy's sake.
Lord, hear! forgive, O Lord! and weigh the same:
O Lord, perform it! and no more defer,
For thine own sake, my God! for by thy name,
Thy city and thy people called are.
IN my distress to thee I cry'd, O Lord!
And thou wert pleased my complaint to hear:
Out from the bowels of the grave I roar'd,
And to my voice thou didst incline thine ear;
For I amid the raging sea was cast,
And to the bottom there thou plung'd me hast.
The floods did round about me circles make;
Thy waves and billows overflow'd me quite;
And then unto myself, alas! I said,
I am for evermore depriv'd thy sight.
Yet once again thou pleased art, that I
Should to thy holy temple lift mine eye.
Ev'n to my soul the waters clos'd me had;
O'erswallow'd by the deeps I fast was pent;
About my head the weeds a wreath had made;
Unto the mountains' bottoms down I went;
And so that forth again I could not get,
The earth an everlasting bar had set.
Then thou, O Lord my God! then thou wert he,
That from corruption didst my life defend;
For when my soul was like to faint in me,
Thou thither didst into my thoughts descend.
And, Lord! my prayer thence to thee I sent,
Which upward to thy holy temple went.
Those who believe in vain and foolish lies,
Despisers of their own good safety be;
But I will offer up the sacrifice
Of singing praises with my voice to thee.
And I will that perform, which vow'd I have; For unto thee belongs it, Lord! to save.
LORD! thy answer I did hear,
And I grew therewith afear'd.
When the times at fullest are,
Let thy work be then declar'd:
When the time, Lord! full doth grow,
Then, in anger, mercy shew.
God Almighty, he came down:
Down he came from Theman-ward;
And the matchless Holy-one
From Mount Paron forth appear'd,
Heav'n o'erspreading with his rays,
And earth filling with his praise.
Sun-like was his glorious light;
From his side there did appear
Beaming rays that shined bright,
And his pow'r he shewed there;
Plagues before his face he sent:
At his feet hot coals there went.
Where he stood, he measure took
Of the earth, and view'd it well;
Nations vanish'd at his look,
Ancient hills to powder fell;
Mountains old cast lower were;
For his ways eternal are..
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