I Waited for the Lord

¹I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. ²He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. ³And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. ⁴Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. ⁵Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. ⁶Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. ⁷Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, ⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. ⁹I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. ¹⁰I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. ¹¹Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. ¹²For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. ¹³Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me. ¹⁴Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. ¹⁵Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. ¹⁶Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. ¹⁷But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

¹Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. ²The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. ³The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. ⁴I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. ⁵Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? ⁶And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it. ⁷All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. ⁸An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. ⁹Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. ¹⁰But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. ¹¹By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. ¹²And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. ¹³Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.