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The apocryphal psalms attributed to Solomon were likely written in the 1st or 2nd centuries BC. While they do not belong to any current canon, they have been found in copies of the Peshitta and Septuagint.
I cried to the Lord when I was in distress, || To God when sinners assailed. Suddenly the alarm of war was heard before me; [I said], “He will listen to me, for I am full of righteousness.” I thought in my heart that I was full of righteousness, || Because I was well off and had become rich in children. Their wealth spread to the whole earth, || And their glory to the end of the earth. They were exalted to the stars; They said they would never fall. But they became insolent in their prosperity, || And they were without understanding, Their sins were in secret, || And even I had no knowledge [of them]. Their transgressions [went] beyond those of the heathen before them; They utterly polluted the holy things of the Lord.
A Psalm of Solomon. Concerning Jerusalem. When the sinner waxed proud, with a battering-ram he cast down fortified walls, || And You did not restrain [him]. Alien nations ascended Your altar, || They trampled [it] proudly with their sandals, Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord, || [And] had profaned with iniquities the offerings of God. Therefore He said, “Cast them far from Me”; It was set at nothing before God, || It was utterly dishonored; The sons and the daughters were in grievous captivity, || Their neck [was] sealed, [it was] branded among the nations. He has done to them according to their sins, || For He has left them in the hands of them that prevailed. He has turned His face away from pitying them—Young, and old, and their children together; For they had done evil, one and all, in not listening. And the heavens were angry, || And the earth abhorred them; For no man on it had done what they did, And the earth recognized all Your righteous judgments, O God. They set the sons of Jerusalem to be mocked at in return for [the] harlots in her; Every wayfarer entered in in the full light of day. They made a mockery with their transgressions, as they themselves were frequent to do; In the full light of day they revealed their iniquities. And the daughters of Jerusalem were defiled in accordance with Your judgment, || Because they had defiled themselves with unnatural intercourse. I am pained in my bowels and my inward parts for these things. And yet, I will justify You, O God, in uprightness of heart, || For in Your judgments is Your righteousness [displayed], O God. For You have rendered to the sinners according to their deeds, || Yes, according to their sins, which were very wicked. You have uncovered their sins, that Your judgment might be manifest; You have wiped out their memorial from the earth. God is a righteous judge, || And He is no respecter of persons. For the nations reproached Jerusalem, trampling it down; Her beauty was dragged down from the throne of glory. She girded on sackcloth instead of beautiful raiment, || A rope [was] around her head instead of a crown. She put off the glorious diadem which God had set on her, || In dishonor her beauty was cast on the ground. And I saw and entreated the Lord and said, || “Long enough, O Lord, has Your hand been heavy on Israel in bringing the nations on [them]. For they have made sport unsparingly in wrath and fierce anger; And they will make an utter end, unless You, O Lord, rebuke them in Your wrath. For they have not done it in zeal, but in lust of soul, || Pouring out their wrath on us with a view to plunder. Do not delay, O God, to repay them on [their] heads, || To turn the pride of the dragon into dishonor.” And I did not have long to wait before God showed me the insolent one || Slain on the mountains of Egypt, || Esteemed of less account than the least on land and sea; His body, [too,] borne here and there on the billows with much insolence, || With none to bury [him], because He had rejected him with dishonor. He did not consider that he was man, || And did not consider the latter end; He said, “I will be lord of land and sea”; And he did not recognize that it is God who is great, || Mighty in His great strength. He is King over the heavens, || And judges kings and kingdoms, Who sets me up in glory, || And brings down the proud to continuous destruction in dishonor, || Because they did not know Him. And now behold, you princes of the earth, || The judgment of the Lord, || For [He is] a great and righteous King, || Judging [all] that is under Heaven. Bless God, you that fear the Lord with wisdom, || For the mercy of the Lord will be on them that fear Him, in the Judgment, So that He will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner, || [And] repay the sinners forever according to their deeds, And have mercy on the righteous, [delivering him] from the affliction of the sinner, || And repaying the sinner for what he has done to the righteous. For the Lord is good to them that call on Him in patience, || Doing according to His mercy to His pious ones, || Establishing [them] at all times before Him in strength. Blessed is the Lord forever before His servants.
A Psalm of Solomon. Concerning the righteous. Why do you sleep, O my soul, || And do not bless the Lord? Sing a new song, || To God who is worthy to be praised. Sing and be wakeful against His awaking, || For a psalm [sung] to God from a glad heart is good. The righteous remember the Lord at all times, || With thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of the Lord’s judgments. The righteous does not despise the disciplining of the Lord; His will is always before the Lord. The righteous stumbles and holds the Lord righteous: He falls and looks out for what God will do to him; He seeks out from where his deliverance will come. The steadfastness of the righteous is from God their deliverer; There does not lodge in the house of the righteous sin on sin. The righteous continually searches his house, || To utterly remove [all] iniquity [done] by him in error. He makes atonement for [sins of] ignorance by fasting and afflicting his soul, || And the Lord counts guiltless every pious man and his house. The sinner stumbles and curses his life, || The day when he was begotten, and his mother’s travail. He adds sins to sins, while he lives; He falls—truly grievous is his fall—and rises no longer. The destruction of the sinner is forever, || And he will not be remembered when the righteous is visited. This is the portion of sinners forever. But they that fear the Lord will rise to continuous life, || And their life [will be] in the light of the Lord, and will come to an end no more.
A Conversation of Solomon with the Men-pleasers. Why do you sit, O profane [man], in the council of the pious, || Seeing that your heart is far removed from the Lord, || Provoking the God of Israel with transgressions? Extravagant in speech, extravagant in outward seeming beyond all [men], || Is he that is severe of speech in condemning sinners in judgment. And his hand is first on him as [though he acted] in zeal, || And [yet] he is himself guilty in respect of manifold sins and of wantonness. His eyes are on every woman without distinction; His tongue lies when he makes contract with an oath. By night and in secret he sins as though unseen, || With his eyes he talks to every woman of evil compacts. He is swift to enter every house with cheerfulness as though guileless. Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious, || [Even] the life of such a one with corruption of his flesh and destitution. Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers, || The deeds of such a one with laughter and derision; That the pious may count righteous the judgment of their God, || When sinners are removed from before the righteous, [Even the] man-pleaser who utters law guilefully. And their eyes [are fixed] on any man’s house that is [still] secure, || That they may, like [the] Serpent, destroy the wisdom of . . . with words of transgressors, His words are deceitful that [he] may accomplish [his] wicked desire. He never ceases from scattering [families] as though [they were] orphans, || Yes, he lays waste a house on account of [his] lawless desire. He deceives with words, [saying,] “There is none that sees, or judges.” He fills one [house] with lawlessness, || And [then] his eyes [are fixed] on the next house, || To destroy it with words that give wing to [desire]. [Yet] with all these his soul, like Sheol, is not satisfied. Let his portion, O Lord, be dishonored before You; Let him go forth groaning and come home cursed. Let his life be [spent] in anguish, and destitution, and want, O Lord; Let his sleep be [beset] with pains and his awaking with perplexities. Let sleep be withdrawn from his eyelids at night; Let him fail dishonorably in every work of his hands. Let him come home empty-handed to his house, || And his house be void of everything with which he could satisfy his appetite. [Let] his old age [be spent] in childless loneliness until his removal. Let the flesh of the men-pleasers be torn by wild beasts, || And [let] the bones of the lawless [lie] dishonored in the sight of the sun. Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites. For they have laid waste many houses of men, in dishonor, || And scattered [them] in [their] lust; And they have not remembered God, || Nor feared God in all these things; But they have provoked God’s anger and vexed Him. May He remove them from off the earth, || Because with deceit they deceived the souls of the flawless. Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness; The Lord will deliver them from guileful men and sinners, || And deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless [men]. Let God destroy them that insolently work all unrighteousness, || For a great and mighty judge is the Lord our God in righteousness. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be on all them that love You.
A Psalm of Solomon. O Lord God, I will praise Your Name with joy, || In the midst of them that know Your righteous judgments. For You are good and merciful, the refuge of the poor; When I cry to You, do not silently disregard me. For no man takes spoil from a mighty man. Who, then, can take anything of all that You have made, except You Yourself give? For man and his portion [lie] before You in the balance; He cannot add to, so as to enlarge, what has been prescribed by You. O God, when we are in distress, we call on You for help, || And You do not turn back our petition, for You are our God. Do not cause Your hand to be heavy on us, || Lest through necessity we sin. Even though You do not restore us, we will not keep away; But we will come to You. For if I hunger, I will cry to You, O God; And You will give to me. You nourish birds and fish, || In that You give rain to the plains that green grass may spring up, || To prepare fodder in the plain for every living thing; And if they hunger, they lift up their face to You. You nourish kings, and rulers, and peoples, O God; And who is the help of the poor and needy, if not You, O Lord? And You will listen—for who is good and gentle but You— Making glad the soul of the humble by opening Your hand in mercy. Man’s goodness is [bestowed] grudgingly and . . . And if he repeats [it] without murmuring, even that is marvelous. But Your gift is great in goodness and wealth, || And he whose hope is [set] on You will have no lack of gifts. Your mercy is on the whole earth, O Lord, in goodness. Happy is he whom God remembers in [granting to him] a due sufficiency; If a man abounds over much, he sins. Sufficient are moderate means with righteousness, || And hereby the blessing of the Lord [becomes] abundance with righteousness. They that fear the Lord rejoice in good [gifts], || And Your goodness is on Israel in Your kingdom. Blessed is the glory of the Lord, for He is our King.
In Hope. Of Solomon. Happy is the man whose heart is fixed to call on the Name of the Lord; When he remembers the Name of the Lord, he will be saved. His ways are made even by the Lord, || And the works of his hands are preserved by the Lord his God. At what he sees in his bad dreams, his soul will not be troubled; When he passes through rivers and the tossing of the seas, he will not be dismayed. He arises from his sleep, and blesses the Name of the Lord: When his heart is at peace, he sings to the Name of his God, || And he entreats the Lord for all his house. And the Lord hears the prayer of everyone that fears God, || And the Lord accomplishes every request of the soul that hopes for Him. Blessed is the Lord, who shows mercy to those who love Him in sincerity.
Of Solomon. Of turning. Do not make Your dwelling far from us, O God; Lest they assail us that hate us without cause. For You have rejected them, O God; Do not let their foot trample on Your holy inheritance. Discipline us Yourself in Your good pleasure; But do not give [us] up to the nations; For, if You send pestilence, || You Yourself give it charge concerning us; For You are merciful, || And will not be angry to the point of consuming us. While Your Name dwells in our midst, we will find mercy; And the nations will not prevail against us. For You are our shield, || And when we call on You, You listen to us; For You will pity the seed of Israel forever || And You will not reject [them], || But we [will be] under Your yoke forever, || And [under] the rod of Your disciplining. You will establish us in the time that You help us, || Showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day wherein You promised [to help them].
Of Solomon. Of the chief Musician. My ear has heard distress and the sound of war; The sound of a trumpet announcing slaughter and calamity, The sound of many people as of an exceedingly high wind, || As a tempest with mighty fire sweeping through the Negeb. And I said in my heart, “Surely God judges us”; I hear a sound [moving] toward Jerusalem, the holy city. My loins were broken at what I heard, my knees tottered: My heart was afraid, my bones were dismayed like flax. I said, “They establish their ways in righteousness.” I thought on the judgments of God since the creation of the heavens and earth; I held God righteous in His judgments which have been from of old. God laid bare their sins in the full light of day; All the earth came to know the righteous judgments of God. In secret places underground their iniquities [were committed] to provoke [Him] to anger; They worked confusion, son with mother and father with daughter; They committed adultery, every man with his neighbor’s wife. They concluded covenants with one another with an oath touching these things; They plundered the sanctuary of God, as though there was no avenger. They trod the altar of the Lord, [coming straight] from all manner of uncleanness; And with menstrual blood they defiled the sacrifices, as [though these were] common flesh. They left no sin undone, wherein they did not surpass the heathen. Therefore God mingled for them a spirit of wandering; And gave them a cup of undiluted wine to drink, that they might become drunken. He brought him that is from the end of the earth, that strikes mightily; He decreed war against Jerusalem, and against her land. The princes of the land went to meet him with joy; They said to him, “Blessed is your way! Come, enter in with peace.” They made the rough ways even, before his entering in; They opened the gates to Jerusalem, they crowned its walls. As a father [enters] the house of his sons, [so] he entered [Jerusalem] in peace; He established his feet [there] in great safety. He captured her fortresses and the wall of Jerusalem; For God Himself led him in safety, while they wandered. He destroyed their princes and everyone wise in counsel; He poured out the blood of the inhabitants of Jerusalem like the water of uncleanness. He led away their sons and daughters, whom they had begotten in defilement. They did according to their uncleanness, even as their fathers [had done]: They defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the Name of God. [But] God has shown Himself righteous in His judgments on the nations of the earth; And the pious [servants] of God are like innocent lambs in their midst. Worthy to be praised is the Lord that judges the whole earth in His righteousness. Behold, now, O God, You have shown us Your judgment in Your righteousness; Our eyes have seen Your judgments, O God. We have justified Your Name that is honored forever; For You are the God of righteousness, judging Israel with disciplining. Turn, O God, Your mercy on us, and have pity on us; Gather together the dispersed of Israel, with mercy and goodness; For Your faithfulness is with us. And [though] we have stiffened our neck, yet You are our chastener; Do not overlook us, O our God, lest the nations swallow us up, as though there were none to deliver. But You are our God from the beginning, || And on You is our hope [set], O Lord; And we will not depart from You, || For Your judgments on us are good. Ours and our children’s be Your good pleasure forever; O Lord our Savior, we will never more be moved. The Lord is worthy to be praised for His judgments with the mouth of His pious ones; And blessed is Israel of the Lord forever.
Of Solomon. For rebuke. When Israel was led away captive into a strange land, || When they fell away from the Lord who redeemed them, They were cast away from the inheritance, which the Lord had given them. Among every nation [were] the dispersed of Israel according to the word of God, That You might be justified, O God, in Your righteousness by reason of our transgressions: For You are a just judge over all the peoples of the earth. For from Your knowledge none that does unjustly is hidden, And the righteous deeds of Your pious ones [are] before You, O Lord, || Where, then, can a man hide himself from Your knowledge, O God? Our works are subject to our own choice and power || To do right or wrong in the works of our hands; And in Your righteousness You visitest the sons of men. He that does righteousness lays up life for himself with the Lord; And he that does wrongly forfeits his life to destruction; For the judgments of the Lord are [given] in righteousness to [every] man and [his] house. To whom are You good, O God, except to them that call on the Lord? He cleanses a soul from sins when it makes confession, when it makes acknowledgement; For shame is on us and on our faces on account of all these things. And to whom does He forgive sins, except to them that have sinned? You bless the righteous, and do not reprove them for the sins that they have committed; And Your goodness is on them that sin, when they convert. And now, You are our God, and we the people whom You have loved: Behold and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are Yours; And do not remove Your mercy from us, lest they assail us. For You chose the seed of Abraham before all the nations, || And set Your Name on us, O Lord, And You will not reject [us] forever. You made a covenant with our fathers concerning us; And we hope in You, when our soul turns [to You]. May the mercy of the Lord be on the house of Israel forever and ever.
A Hymn of Solomon. Happy is the man whom the Lord remembers with reproving, || And whom He restrains from the way of evil with strokes, || That he may be cleansed from sin, that it may not be multiplied. He that makes his back ready for strokes will be cleansed, || For the Lord is good to them that endure disciplining. For He makes straight the ways of the righteous, || And does not pervert [them] by His disciplining. And the mercy of the Lord [is] on them that love Him in truth, || And the Lord remembers His servants in mercy. For the testimony [is] in the law of the perpetual covenant, || The testimony of the Lord [is] on the ways of men in [His] visitation. Just and kind is our Lord in His judgments forever, || And Israel will praise the Name of the Lord in gladness. And the pious will give thanks in the assembly of the people; And God will have mercy on the poor in the gladness of Israel; For God is good and merciful forever, || And the assemblies of Israel will glorify the Name of the Lord. May the salvation of the Lord be on the house of Israel to everlasting gladness!
Of Solomon. To expectation. Blow on the trumpet in Zion to summon [the] saints, Cause the voice of him that brings good tidings to be heard in Jerusalem; For God has had pity on Israel in visiting them. Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold your children, || From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord; From the North they come in the gladness of their God, || From the isles far off God has gathered them. He has abased high mountains into a plain for them; The hills fled at their entrance. The woods gave them shelter as they passed by; Every sweet-smelling tree God caused to spring up for them, || That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God. Put on, O Jerusalem, your glorious garments; Make your holy robe ready; For God has spoken good concerning Israel, forever and ever. Let the Lord do what He has spoken concerning Israel and Jerusalem; Let the Lord raise up Israel by His glorious Name. May the mercy of the Lord be on Israel forever and ever.
Of Solomon. Against the tongue of transgressors. O Lord, deliver my soul from [the] lawless and wicked man, || From the tongue that is lawless and slanderous, and speaks lies and deceit. Manifoldly twisted are the words of the tongue of the wicked man, || Even as among a people a fire that burns up their beauty. So he delights to fill houses with a lying tongue, || To cut down the trees of gladness which sets transgressors on fire, To involve households in warfare by means of slanderous lips. May God remove far from the innocent the lips of transgressors by [bringing them to] want || And may the bones of slanderers be scattered [far] away from them that fear the Lord! In flaming fire, make the slanderous tongue perish [far] away from the pious! May the Lord preserve the quiet soul that hates the unrighteous; And may the Lord establish the man that follows peace at home. May the salvation of the Lord be on His servant Israel forever; And let the sinners perish together at the presence of the Lord; But let the Lord’s pious ones inherit the promises of the Lord.
A Psalm of Solomon. Comfort for the righteous. The right hand of the Lord has covered me; The right hand of the Lord has spared us. The arm of the Lord has saved us from the sword that passed through, || From famine and the death of sinners. Ghastly beasts ran on them: They tore their flesh with their teeth, || And crushed their bones with their molars, || But the Lord delivered us from all these things. The righteous was troubled on account of his errors, || Lest he should be taken away along with the sinners; For the overthrow of the sinner is terrible; But not one of all these things touches the righteous. For not alike are the disciplining of the righteous [for sins done] in ignorance, || And the overthrow of the sinners. The righteous is disciplined secretly, || Lest the sinner rejoice over the righteous. For He corrects the righteous as a beloved son, || And his discipline is as that of a firstborn. For the Lord spares His pious ones, || And blots out their errors by His disciplining. For the life of the righteous will be forever, But sinners will be taken away into destruction, || And their memorial will be found no longer. But the mercy of the Lord is on the pious, || And His mercy on them that fear Him.
A Hymn of Solomon. Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in truth, || To them that endure His disciplining, || To them that walk in the righteousness of His commandments, || In the law which He commanded us that we might live. The pious of the Lord will live by it forever; The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His pious ones. Their planting is rooted forever; They will not be plucked up all the days of Heaven. For the portion and the inheritance of God is Israel. But not so are the sinners and transgressors, || Who love [the brief] day [spent] in companionship with their sin; Their delight is in fleeting corruption, And they do not remember God. For the ways of men are known before Him at all times, || And He knows the secrets of the heart before they come to pass. Therefore their inheritance is Sheol and darkness and destruction, || And they will not be found in the day when the righteous obtain mercy; But the pious of the Lord will inherit life in gladness.
A Psalm of Solomon. With a Song. When I was in distress, I called on the Name of the Lord, || I hoped for the help of the God of Jacob and was saved; For the hope and refuge of the poor are You, O God. For who, O God, is strong except to give thanks to You in truth? And wherein is a man powerful except in giving thanks to Your Name A new psalm with song in gladness of heart, || The fruit of the lips with the well-tuned instrument of the tongue, || The first-fruits of the lips from a pious and righteous heart— He that offers these things will never be shaken by evil; The flame of fire and the wrath against the unrighteous will not touch him When it goes forth from the face of the Lord against sinners, || To destroy all the substance of sinners, For the mark of God is on the righteous that they may be saved. Famine, and sword, and pestilence [will be] far from the righteous, For they will flee away from the pious as men pursued in war; But they will pursue sinners and overtake [them], || And they that do lawlessness will not escape the judgment of God; As by enemies experienced [in war], they will be overtaken, For the mark of destruction is on their forehead. And the inheritance of sinners is destruction and darkness, || And their iniquities will pursue them to Sheol beneath. Their inheritance will not be found of their children, For sins will lay waste the houses of sinners. And sinners will perish forever in the day of the Lord’s judgment When God visits the earth with His judgment. But they that fear the Lord will find mercy therein, || And will live by the compassion of their God; But sinners will perish forever.
A Hymn of Solomon. For Help to the Pious. When my soul slumbered, [being far] from the Lord, || I had all but slipped down to the pit || When [I was] far from God; My soul had been well nearly poured out to death—Near to the gates of Sheol with the sinner When my soul departed from the Lord God of Israel—Had the Lord not helped me with His everlasting mercy. He pricked me as a horse is pricked, that I might serve Him; My Savior and helper at all times saved me. I will give thanks to You, O God, for You have helped me to [my] salvation, || And have not counted me with sinners to [my] destruction. Do not remove Your mercy from me, O God, || Nor Your memorial from my heart until I die. Rule me, O God, [keeping me back] from wicked sin, || And from every wicked woman that causes the simple to stumble. And do not let the beauty of a lawless woman deceive me, || Nor anyone that is subject to unprofitable sin. Establish the works of my hands before You, || And preserve my goings in the remembrance of You. Protect my tongue and my lips with words of truth; Put anger and unreasoning wrath far from me. Remove murmuring and impatience in affliction far from me || When, if I sin, You discipline me that I may return [to You]. But support my soul with goodwill and cheerfulness; When You strengthen my soul, what is given [to me] will be sufficient for me. For if You do not give strength, || Who can endure discipline with poverty? When a man is rebuked by means of his corruption, || Your testing [of him] is in his flesh and in the affliction of poverty. If the righteous endures in all these [trials], he will receive mercy from the Lord.
A Psalm of Solomon. With Song. Of the King. O Lord, You are our King forever and ever, || For our soul glories in You, O God. How long are the days of man’s life on the earth? As are his days, so is the hope [set] on him. But we hope in God, our deliverer; For the might of our God is forever with mercy, And the kingdom of our God is forever over the nations in judgment. You, O Lord, chose David [to be] king over Israel, || And swore to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before You. But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us; They assailed us and thrust us out; What You had not promised to them, they took away [from us] with violence. They did not glorify Your honorable Name at all; They set a [worldly] monarchy in place of [that which was] their excellency; They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance. But You, O God, cast them down and removed their seed from the earth, In that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race. According to their sins You repaid them, O God, || So that it befell them according to their deeds. God showed them no pity; He sought out their seed and does not let one of them go free. Faithful is the Lord in all His judgments || Which He does on the earth. The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it, || They destroyed young and old and their children together. In the heat of His anger He sent them away, even to the west, || And [He exposed] the rulers of the land unsparingly to derision. Being an alien the enemy acted proudly, || And his heart was alien from our God. And all things, [whatever he did in] Jerusalem, || As also the nations [in the cities to their gods]. And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples [surpassed them in evil]. There was not among them one that worked in the midst of Jerusalem mercy and truth. They that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them, || As sparrows that fly from their nest. They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm, || And precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them. They were scattered over the whole earth by lawless [men]. For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping on the earth, || Springs were stopped perennially out of the deeps [that ran down] from lofty mountains; For there was none among them that worked righteousness and justice; From the chief of them to the least [of them]—all were sinful; The king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful. Behold, O Lord, and raise up to them their king, the Son of David, || At the time in which You see, O God, that He may reign over Your servant Israel; And gird Him with strength, that He may shatter unrighteous rulers, And that He may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample [her] down to destruction. Wisely, righteously, He will thrust out sinners from [the] inheritance, || [And] will destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter’s vessel. With a rod of iron, He will break in pieces all their substance; He will destroy the godless nations with the word of His mouth; At His rebuke nations will flee before Him, || And He will reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart. And He will gather together a holy people, whom He will lead in righteousness, || And He will judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord His God. And He will not permit unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst, || Nor will there dwell with them any man that knows wickedness, For He will know them, that they are all sons of their God. And He shaIl divide them according to their tribes on the land, And neither sojourner nor alien will sojourn with them any more. He will judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of His righteousness. Selah. And He will have the heathen nations to serve Him under His yoke; And He will glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of all the earth; And He will purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old: So that nations will come from the ends of the earth to see His glory, || Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, And to see the glory of the Lord, with which God has glorified her. And He [will be] a righteous King, taught of God, over them, And there will be no unrighteousness in His days in their midst, || For all will be holy and their King the anointed of the Lord. For He will not put His trust in horse, and rider, and bow, || Nor will He multiply for Himself gold and silver for war, || Nor will He gather confidence from a multitude for the day of battle. The Lord Himself is His King, the hope of him that is mighty through [his] hope in God. All nations [will be] in fear before Him, For He will strike the earth with the word of His mouth forever. He will bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness, And He Himself [will be] pure from sin, so that He may rule a great people. He will rebuke rulers and remove sinners by the might of His word; And [relying] on His God, throughout His days He will not stumble; For God will make Him mighty by means of [His] Holy Spirit, || And wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness. And the blessing of the Lord [will be] with Him; He will be strong and not stumble; His hope [will be] in the Lord: who then can prevail against Him? [He will be] mighty in His works, and strong in the fear of God; [He will be] shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously, || And will permit none among them to stumble in their pasture. He will lead them all correctly, || And there will be no pride among them that any among them should be oppressed. This [will be] the majesty of the King of Israel whom God knows; He will raise Him up over the house of Israel to correct him. His words [will be] more refined than costly gold, the choicest; In the assemblies He will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanctified. His words [will be] like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples. Blessed are they that will be in those days, || In that they will see the good fortune of Israel which God will bring to pass in the gathering together of the tribes. May the Lord hasten His mercy on Israel! May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies! The Lord Himself is our King forever and ever.
1 A Psalm of Solomon. Again of the Anointed of the Lord. Lord, Your mercy is over the works of Your hands forever; Your goodness is over Israel with a rich gift. 2 Your eyes look on them, so that none of them suffers want; 3 Your ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor. Your judgments [are executed] on the whole earth in mercy; 4 And Your love [is] toward the seed of Abraham, the sons of Israel. Your discipline is on us as [on] a firstborn, only-begotten son, 5 To turn back the obedient soul from folly [that is worked] in ignorance. 6 May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing, || Against the day of choice when He brings back His anointed. 7 Blessed will they be that will be in those days, || In that they will see the goodness of the Lord which He will perform for the generation that is to come, 8 Under the rod of disciplining of the Lord’s anointed in the fear of his God, || In the spirit of wisdom and righteousness and strength; 9 That he may direct [every} man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God, || That he may establish them all before the Lord— 10 A good generation [living] in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah. 11 Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest, 12 Who has established the lights [of Heaven] in [their] courses for determining seasons from year to year, || And they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed them; 13 In the fear of God [they pursue] their path every day, || From the day God created them and forevermore. 14 And they have not erred since the day He created them. Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path, || Unless God commanded them [to do so] by the command of His servants.