The Sixth Kathisma

Antiphon One

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not punish me in your fury. 2) Your arrows have dug deep into me; your hand has fallen heavily on me. 3) My loins burn with fever; my flesh is wasted by disease. 4) My body is inflamed by your wrath; my bones are sick from my sin. 5) My sins tower higher than my head, like a weight too heavy to bear. 6) My wounds are foul and festering, the result of my folly. 7) Brought to my knees, completely prostrate in spirit, I mourn the whole day long. 8) Broken, completely crushed, I groan aloud from the anguish of my heart.

9) O Lord, you know my every desire; my sighs are no secret to you. 10) My heart throbs and my strength is spent; the very light has left my eyes. 11) My friends and companions avoid me like the plague, and my closest friends shrink from me. 12) And they who seek my life set traps for me; they who seek my downfall speak maliciously of me; all day long they conspire against me.

13) So I brood, terrified that they may overcome me, that they may pounce on me when my foot slips. 14) For I am on the verge of falling, and grief is my constant companion. 15) But those who abuse me at their whim are numberless; many are they who despise me for no reason, 16) who repay my good with evil, who hate me for seeking what is right.

17) But I am like the deaf man who hears nothing, like the dumb man who cannot open his mouth; 18) like the man who cannot hear, and whose tongue has no defense. 19) I count on you, Lord; it is you who will answer, O Lord, my God! 20) I admit that I am guilty; my wrongdoing fills me with dismay. 21) Do not desert me, Lord, my God! Be not far from me! 22) Hurry to my defense, Lord of my salvation!

I resolved to watch my step lest my tongue lead me into sin; I would muzzle my mouth. While the wicked stood smirking in my presence, 2) I remained dumb, silent. I held my peace, though the sight of him increased my pain. 3) I was silent; not a word would I speak, for this was your doing. 4) My heart smouldered within me; but while I brooded it burst into flames and at last I spoke out:

5) O Lord, show me my destiny and the number of my days; show me how frail I am. 6) You have given me an inch or two of life; its span is nothing in your sight; indeed, a man is but a breath. 7) He walks about like a phantom; for nothing are his restless pursuits; a mere breath, the riches he hoards, not knowing who will get them next.

8) What, then, can I count on, Lord? My hope lies in you. 9) Deliver me from all my transgressions, for they make me the laughingstock of fools!

10) Take your plague away from me, for I perish from your blows. 11) In punishment for his sin you chastise a man, consuming like a moth the life he treasures; indeed, a man is but a breath. 12) Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry, O God; be not deaf to my tears. I am a guest in your house, and only for a time, a wanderer like all my ancestors. 13) Look away from me, that I may recover, before I pass on and cease to be.

I waited and waited for the Lord; then he stooped down to me and heard my cry. 2) He drew me up from the pit of destruction, from the muddy marsh. He set my feet upon a rock and made my footsteps firm. 3) He put a new song into my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and be filled with awe; they will put their trust in the Lord.

4) Happy the man who makes the Lord his hope, who shuns the attraction of empty idols and lying visions. 5) Great deeds have you achieved, O Lord; my God, you have worked wonders, and in your plans for us you have no equal. Were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to recount.

6) You gave me to understand that sacrifice and offerings are not what you desire. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you take no pleasure. 7) Then I said: Here I am! As it is written in the scroll, 8) to do what pleases you is my desire, for your law is written in my heart. 9) So I announce the glad news of your deliverance in the great gathering of the people! See! I do not fail to speak out! O Lord, you know it! 10) I do not keep your generosity to myself; I declare your faithful deliverance. In the great gathering I do not make a secret of your steadfast love.

11) You do not withhold your compassion from me, O Lord; your unfailing love protects me always. 12) For misfortunes without number assail me; my sins have caught up with me and I cannot escape. They are more numerous than the hairs on my head; I am at my wits' end!

13) Quick, O God! Rescue me! O Lord, help me! 14) Let shame and disgrace fall on those who hunt down my soul! Make them back off! Make them recoil in confusion, who gloat at my ruin! 15) Make them draw back, covered with shame, who jeer at me! 16) But for all who seek you, joy and gladness! For those who love your help, let them always say: God is great! 17) As for me--poor wretch that I am--O God, hasten to help me! O you, my helper, my saviour; O Lord, do not delay!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: Both now and forever, and unto ages of ages, amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to you, O God.

Antiphon Two

Happy the man who thinks of the poor and the helpless; the day trouble comes, the Lord delivers him. 2) The Lord cares for him; he gives him life and happiness on this earth; never does he let him fall into the hands of his bloodthirsty foes. 3) The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; he renews him completely on his bed of suffering.

4) As for me, I said: Have mercy on me, O Lord! Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. 5) My enemies speak maliciously of me, saying: When will he die, so that his name can perish? 6) If one comes to visit, he pretends sympathy; his mind stores up evil, and once outside he gossips freely. 7) My enemies whisper together about me; they try to guess why this evil has befallen me. 8) Some malignant disease is consuming him, and now that he lies ill in bed, he will never rise from it. 9) So even my dearest friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, even he spreads tales about me. 10) But you, Lord, have mercy on me; raise me up, and I will repay them. 11) By this will I know that you love me, if the enemy does not triumph over me. 12) In my innocence, set me in your presence forever!

13) Praised be the Lord, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity! Amen, amen!

As a doe longs for running streams, so does my soul long for you, O my God. 2) My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I begin to enjoy the presence of God? 3) My tears are my food day and night, while day after day they say to me: Where is your God? 4) My soul melts within me when I think of it: How I used to walk with the crowd, move with them, with the festive throng, to the house of God, amid joyous shouts of praise.

5) Why so downcast, O my soul? Why do you sigh deep within me? Have hope in God, for I shall praise him still, my saviour, my presence, and my God. 6) My soul is downcast within me, indeed, as I remember you in my exile in the region of the Jordan, near Mount Herman and Mount Mizar, 7) where the gorges echo with the roar of the deep, where all your waves and breakers sweep over me! 8) By day, the Lord sends his loving kindness, and his song is with me at night: a prayer to the God of my life. 9) I say to God, my rock: Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk in gloom, harassed by the foe, whose cries pierce me to the heart. 10) My enemies revile me, while day after day they say to me: Where is your God? 11) Why so downcast, O my soul? Why do you sigh deep within me? Have hope in God, for I shall praise him still, my saviour, my presence, and my God.

Do me justice, O God, and champion my cause against a fickle people! From the treacherous, scheming man deliver me! 2) For you are my God, my stronghold: Why do you reject me? Why must I walk in gloom, harassed by the foe? 3) Send forth your light and your truth; behold, let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell, 4) that I may go into the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth, that I may praise you with the lyre, O God, my God! 5) Why so downcast, O my soul? Why do you sigh deep within me? Have hope in God, for I shall praise him still, my saviour, my presence, and my God.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

O God, we have heard it with our own ears; our fathers have told us the story of the deeds you worked for them, you yourself, in days gone by! 2) To make room for our fathers, with you own hand you drove out nations; to let them take root, you destroyed other peoples. 3) It was not their sword that won the land; it was not their arm that secured the victory; but it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. 4) Yes, O my king and my God! It was you who decided victories for Jacob! 5) Through you we beat down our foes; in your name we trampled on our assailants. 6) For I surely put no trust in my bow, nor did my sword win me victory. 7) Through you we overcame our foes; it was you who covered our enemies with shame. 8) Day after day our boast was in God; we feasted your name without ceasing.

9) Yet, now, you have pushed us aside and confused us; you no longer go forth with our armies. 10) You make us recoil before those who assail us, and our enemies plunder us as they please. 11) You abandon us like sheep for the slaughter, and among nations you scatter us. 12) You sell your people for a trifle, making nothing from the sale. 13) You make us a laughing-stock to our neighbors, the mockery and derision of everyone around us. 14) You make us a byword among the nations; they shake their heads at us in scorn. 15) My disgrace is ever before me, and I blush for shame 16) at the insults and abuse, at the sight of such hostility and vengeance.

17) All this has come upon us though we never forgot you, though we never betrayed your covenant, 18) though our hearts never turned from you, though our steps never strayed from your path. 19) You crushed us in a place of sorrow, covering us with the darkness of death. 20) Had we forgotten the name of our God, had we raised our hands to praise an alien god, 21) would not God have seen this, since he knows the secrets of hearts? 22) Yet, because of you they butcher us daily; they count us as sheep for the slaughter.

23) Arise! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up! Do not reject us forever! 24) Why do you hide your face? Why do you persist in ignoring our trouble, our misery? 25) Our neck is prostrate in the dust; our belly lies flat on the ground. 26) Stand up and come to our aid! Redeem us because of your love!

My heart overflows with a noble theme; let me recite my verses for you, O king! My tongue is as nimble as the pen of a skillful writer.

2) You are the most handsome of men, and graciousness flows from your lips; the blessings God has given you can never fail. 3) With your sword at your side, mighty warrior, gird yourself in splendor and majesty; may glory make your conquest complete! 4) Ride on triumphantly in the cause of truth and meekness and right. 5) Let the deeds of your right hand win you renown, for your arrows are sharp, and nations shall fall at your feet in terror. 6) The eternal and everlasting God has enthroned you; your scepter is one that rules true; virtue you love as much as you hate wickedness. 7) Rightly has God, your God, chosen to anoint you with the oil of gladness, setting you above all your companions. 8) All your robes are fragrant with myrrh, sandalwood, and cinnamon; from ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you. 9) Royal princesses take their place among your honored women; at your right stands the queen, dressed in a robe of many colors, embroidered in gold.

10) Listen, daughter, and see! Give ear to my words: Forget your people and your father's house. 11) The king is enthralled with your beauty; honor him, then, as your lord. 12) O daughter of Tyre, the wealthiest people will court your favor with gifts. 13) All her robes are royal apparel fringed with thread of spun gold. 14) Arrayed in richly colored brocades, the maiden-bride is led to the king. 15) Those in her train, her companions, are presented with her; with joy and gladness they are brought in; they enter the palace of the king.

16) As for you, O king, your sons shall be worthy of your fathers; among them you shall divide the world, giving each his domain. 17) And may this song make your name remembered from one generation to the next, that nations may praise you for ever and ever.

For us, God is shelter and strength, an ever present help in time of trouble. 2) Therefore, we are not afraid of the earth's giving way to the world beneath, of the mountains' toppling into the heart of the sea. 3) Though the waters rage and foam, though mountains quake in all this surge and swell, the Lord of power and might is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

4) He is like a river whose waters gladden his city, the holy dwelling of the most high. 5) With God in her midst, she will not be toppled; at daybreak, God comes to her aid. 6) Nations rage; kingdoms collapse. Though the thunder rolls and the earth is in turmoil, 7) the Lord of power and might is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

8) Come, now, and consider the works of the Lord, the astounding things he does on earth: 9) He make wars cease from one end of the earth to the other; bows he breaks and spears he splinters; chariots he destroys with fire. 10) Be still and know that I am God: supreme among the nations, supreme throughout the earth! 11) The Lord of power and might is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

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