The Fifteenth Kathisma

Antiphon One

Psalm 106(105)

Alleluia! With praise, bless the Lord, for he is good! His love lasts forever! 2) Who can express the power of the Lord? Who can make all his praises heard? 3) How happy the man who has a feel for what is right, who does what is just at all times! 4) Be mindful of me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; take note of me when you save them, 5) that I, too, may share in the kindness you show your chosen ones; that I, too, may rejoice with your nation and glory in your very own people.

6) We have sinned like our forefathers; we, too, have done wrong and plunged into evil. 7) From Egypt on, our fathers never understood your wonders; they failed to remember your unfailing love, and after the Sea of Reeds they rebelled against the most high, 8) though he saved them for his name's sake, though he showed them his might. 9) He rebuked the Sea of Reeds, and it dried up; he marched them through the deep as through a desert. 10) He saved them from the hand of the enemy, and freed them from the hand of the foe. 11) The waters submerged their adversaries; not one of them survived. 12) For a time they believed his words, and they sang his praises.

13) But all too soon they forgot what he had done, and they could no longer wait for his advice. 14) There in the desert they grumbled bitterly; in that wasteland they tested God. 15) Yet, he gave them what they asked for; he removed their hunger from them.

16) There was envy of Moses in the camp, jealousy of Aaron, who had been consecrated to the Lord. 17) The earth opened wide and swallowed Dathan; it buried the party of Abiram. 18) A fire blazed forth in the midst of that group; flames consumed the wicked.

19) They made a calf at Horeb; they fell in worship before an image cast in metal. 20) They exchanged their glory for the image of a bull that feeds on grass. 21) They forgot God, their saviour, who had worked great marvels in Egypt, 22) wonders in the land of Ham, frightening feats at the Sea of Reeds. 23) Whereupon, he decided to destroy them; but Moses, his chosen one, stood out in the open before him and restrained his rage from ravaging them.

24) Nevertheless, they scorned the land of their desire; they refused to trust his promises. 25) They grumbled in their tents and paid no attention to the word of the Lord. 26) So he raised his hand against them, to fell them right there in the desert, 27) to disperse their descendants among the peoples, to scatter them throughout the land.

28) They dedicated themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless idols. 29) They so provoked him with the way they behaved, that a plague broke out among them. 30) But Phineas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. 31) This was credited to his goodness through endless generations to come.

32) They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and Moses got into trouble because of them, 33) for they defied the spirit of the Lord, and Moses spoke rashly.

34) They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had directed them, 35) but mingled with the nations and learned their ways. 36) They worshipped their idols, and this brought about their own undoing. 37) They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 38) Innocent blood they shed, the blood of their own sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with their bloodguilt. 39) They defiled themselves by their actions; they played the whore by what they did.

40) Because of this the Lord was enraged with his people; his inheritance disgusted him. 41) He handed them over to the gentiles; those who hated them became their rulers. 42) Their foes oppressed them; they became despised slaves under their hand. 43) Again and again he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and plunged the deeper into sin. 44) Still, when he saw their distress, he listened to their cries for help. 45) He kept in mind his covenant with them and led them in his steadfast love. 46) Great were the mercies he showed them, then and there, in the sight of their captors.

47) O save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us together from among the nations, that with thanksgiving we may praise your name which deserves all glory! 48) Praised be the Lord, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity! Let people everywhere say: Amen! Alleluia!

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

Psalm 107(106)

With praise, bless the Lord, for he is good! His love lasts forever! 2) So let them sing out, those redeemed by the Lord, those he redeemed from the hands of the oppressor! 3) So let them sing out, those he gathered together from all over the land, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south!

4) They were wandering in the wilderness, tramping through trackless wastelands, unable to find a city to make their home. 5) They were hungry and thirsty; their life was wasting away within them, 6) but they cried out to the Lord in their anguish, and he rescued them from their distress. 7) He satisfied their gnawing hunger; he filled their hungry throats with good things to eat. 8) He marched them by the shortest way, till they came to a town they could make their home. 9) Let them acknowledge this unfailing love the Lord has shown them, and the wonders he has done for the children of men!

10) As for those who sat in darkness, in the shadow of death, fettered by torturing irons, 11) because they defied the commands of God, because they spurned the advice of the most high, 12) he broke their spirit with bitter trouble; they reached the breaking point, for there was no one to help them. 13) He turned rivers into desert sand, flowing springs into parched earth. 14) He reduced a fruitful country to salt flats, because of the wickedness of those who lived there. 15) They dwindled to a few, brought low by oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 16) He poured out his contempt on their great men and made them wander about, lost in a trackless waste. 17) But they cried out to the Lord in their anguish, and he rescued them from their distress. 18) He brought them out from the darkness, from the shadow of death, and smashed their shackles to pieces. 19) He lifted the wretched out of their misery and brought them to the haven they longed for. 20) He turned the desert into pools of water, the arid wasteland into a region of springs. 21) He settled the hungry there, and they founded a town to live in. 22) They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest. 23) He blessed them, and their number greatly increased; and he increased their clans like flocks; nor did he allow their cattle to diminish. 24) Let them acknowledge this unfailing love the Lord has shown them, and the wonders he has done for the children of men. 25) For he has broken down gates made of bronze, and cut through iron bars.

26) Crazed by their rebelliousness, they were enfeebled because of their sins. 27) With no stomach for food, they were at death's door. 28) But they cried out to the Lord in their anguish, and he rescued them from their distress. 29) He sent his word and it healed them; he rescued them from the peril of death. 30) Let them acknowledge this unfailing love the Lord has shown them, and the wonders he has done for the children of men. 31) Let them offer a sacrifice of praise and recount his deeds in joyous songs.

32) As for those who sailed the sea in ships, who plied their trade across the vastness of the waters, 33) they also saw the works of the Lord, the wonders he worked in the deep. 34) He had but to speak and the wind began to rise, to toss the stormy billows high. 35) The waves mounted to the heavens and plunged down again into the abyss, so that the sailors' throats were dry with fright. 36) They reeled and staggered like drunken men, all their seamanship in vain. 37) But they cried out to the Lord in their anguish, and he rescued them from their distress. 38) He stilled the storm to a whisper and made the angry waves subside, and they rejoiced at the return of calm. 39) Let them acknowledge this unfailing love the Lord has shown them, and the wonders he has done for the children of men. 40) Let them extol him wherever people gather, and praise him where the elders meet. 41) Let the upright see and rejoice, but let the wicked shut tight their mouths. 42) Let those who are wise take heed of all this, and they will discern the steadfast love of the Lord.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia:

Antiphon Three

Psalm 108(107)

My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; I will sing and make music! 2) Wake up, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn! 3) I will give thanks to you among the peoples, O Lord; I will sing a hymn of praise to you among the nations, 4) for your loving kindness towers to the heavens and your steadfast love to the sky. 5) Come and deliver your beloved; stretch forth your right hand and answer me.

6) From his holy place, God made this promise, that in triumph I would divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth; 7) Gilead and Manasseh are mine; Ephraim my helmet and Judah my sceptre; 8) Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I plant my sandal, and over the Philistines I shout in triumph! 9) Who is there now to lead me to that bastion? to set me on the throne of Edom? 10) But you, O God, can you really have rejected us? You no longer go forth with our armies, O God. 11) Grant us help against the foe, for the help of man is worthless. 12) With God we shall be victorious; he himself will bring our foes to nothing!

Psalm 109(108)

My God, be not deaf to my song of praise, 2) for the mouths of deceit and wickedness are opened wide against me; they pursue me with lying tongue; 3) they heap on me charges born of hatred; they attack me for no reason. 4) In return for friendship they repay me with hostility; 5) they repay my kindness with evil, my love with hatred.

6) Set the evil one against (their leader), and let Satan stand at his right. 7) When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let even his plea be construed as a crime. 8) Let his days be few; let another take his position. 9) Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow. 10) Let his children roam and beg, driven from their ruined homes. 11) Let the creditors seize all he owns, and strangers steal his earnings. 12) Let no one do him any kindness, nor feel sorry for his fatherless children. 13) Let his future be cut short, and his name disappear from the next generation. 14) Let his father's guilt be recorded before the Lord, and his mother's sins be remembered forever. 15) May God be aware of them always, and banish the memory of those parents from the face of the earth. 16) For he never thinks to show kindness, but hounds the poor and the needy; and the broken-hearted he pursues even to death. 17) He loved to curse -- let a curse fall on him! He would not bless -- let no blessing come near him! 18) Cursing was as close to him as his clothing; it soaked into his heart like water, into his bones like oil. 19) So let him have it as a garment he wraps round himself; let it be tied round his waist forever.

20) But I pray: 21) Come, Lord, my Lord, and work a miracle for me, for the honor of your name! Good and faithful as you are, rescue me! 22) For I am poor and needy, and my heart is broken. 23) I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am aging -- my youth is gone. 24) My knees are weak from fasting; my body has grown thin and gaunt. 25) Those who meet me -- I have become a mockery to them; when they see me, they shake their heads. 26) Help me, Lord, my God; save me in your unfailing love. 27) Let them know that this is your doing, that you yourself, O Lord, have taken action. 28) So let them curse, as long as you bless! Let them rise up only to be put down in shame! But let your servant rejoice! 29) Let those who slander me be clothed in shame; let them wear their disgrace as a cloak. 30) May this be the reward of the Lord for those who accuse me, recompense a hundredfold for those who slander me. 31) As for me, great praise for the Lord fill my mouth! I will acclaim him in the midst of the elders, 32) for he will stand at the right of the needy man to save his life from his judges.

Glory: Both now:
Alleluia: