Psalm 17 (Kathisma 3)
Read on Sunday (Sunday and Wednesday during Great Lent)
For the End, for the Child of the Lord, David: What Things He Spake unto the Lord, Even the Words of this Ode, in the Day Wherein the Lord Delivered Him out of the Hands of All His Enemies, and out of the Hand of Saul; And He Said:
(Psalm 18 – Hebrew Numbering)
I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my foundation, and my refuge, and my deliverer.
My God is my helper, and I will hope in Him, my defender, and the horn of my salvation, and my helper.
With praise will I call upon the name of the Lord, and from mine enemies shall I be saved.
The pangs of death surrounded me, and the torrents of iniquity sorely troubled me.
The pangs of hades encircled me, round about the snares of death have overtaken me.
And in mine affliction I called upon the Lord, and unto my God I cried; He heard my voice out of His holy temple, and my cry before Him shall enter into His ears.
And the earth shook and was made to tremble, and the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were shaken, because God was angry with them.
There went up smoke in His wrath, and fire from His countenance set all aflame; coals were kindled therefrom.
And He bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet.
And He mounted upon cherubim and flew, He flew upon the wings of the winds.
And He made darkness His hiding place, His tabernacle round about Him, dark water in the clouds of the air.
From the far-shining radiance that was before Him there passed by clouds, hail, and coals of fire.
And the Lord thundered out of heaven, and the Most High gave forth His voice.
And He sent forth His arrows, and scattered them; and lightnings He multiplied, and troubled them sorely.
And the well-springs of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were revealed at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the on-breathing of the spirit of Thy wrath.
He sent from on high, and He took me; He received me out of many waters.
He will deliver me from mine enemies which are mighty and from them that hate me, for they are stronger than I.
They overtook me in the day of mine affliction, and the Lord became my firm support.
And He led me forth into a spacious place; He will deliver me, because He desired me.
And the Lord will recompense me according to my righteousness, and according to the purity of my hands will He recompense me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and I have not acted impiously toward my God.?
or all his judgments are before me, and His statutes departed not from me.
And I shall be blameless with Him, and I shall keep myself from mine iniquity.
And the Lord will reward me according to my righteousness, and according to the purity of my hands before His eyes.
With the holy man wilt Thou be holy, and with the innocent man wilt Thou be innocent. And with the elect man wilt Thou be elect, and with the perverse wilt Thou be perverse.
For Thou wilt save a humble people, and Thou wilt humble the eyes of the arrogant.
For Thou wilt light my lamp, O Lord my God, Thou wilt enlighten my darkness.
For by Thee shall I be delivered from a host of robbers, and by my God shall I leap over a wall.
As for my God, blameless is His way; the words of the Lord are tried in the fire; defender is He of all that hope in Him.
For who is god, save the Lord? And who is god, save our God? It is God, Who girded me with power, and hath made my path blameless, Who maketh my feet like the feet of a hart, and setteth me upon high places, Who teacheth my hands for war; and Thou madest mine arms a bow of brass.
And Thou gavest me the shield of salvation, and Thy right hand hath upheld me.
And Thine instruction hath corrected me even unto the end; yea, Thine instruction, the same will teach me.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, and the tracks of my feet are not weakened.
I shall pursue mine enemies and I shall overtake them, and I shall not turn back until they fail.
I shall greatly afflict them, and they shall not be able to stand; they shall fall under my feet.
For Thou hast girded me with power for war, in subjection under me hast Thou bound the feet of all them that rose up against me.
And Thou hast made mine enemies turn their back before me, and them that hate me hast Thou utterly destroyed. They cried, and there was no saviour — even to the Lord, and He hearkened not to them.
And I will grind them fine as dust before the face of the wind; I will trample them down as mud in the streets.
Deliver me from the gainsaying of the people; Thou wilt set me at the head of nations.
A people which I knew not hath served me; no sooner than their ear had heard, they obeyed me.
Sons that are strangers have lied unto me; sons that are strangers have grown old, and they have limped away from their paths.
The Lord liveth, and blessed is my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
O God Who givest avengement unto me and hast subdued peoples under me, O my Deliverer from enemies which are prone to anger, from them that arise up against me wilt Thou lift me high; from the unrighteous man deliver me.
For this cause will I confess Thee among the nations, O Lord, and unto Thy name will I chant.
It is He that magnifieth the salvation of His king and worketh mercy for His anointed, for David, and for his seed unto eternity.