The translation below is by Yorkshireman Myles Coverdale, and was included in the first Book of Common Prayer, published in 1549. Because it was used for church worship, this translation of the Psalms was for many people more familiar than that found in the King James Bible.
Each verse is divided into two parts by a colon, a device related to the way Psalms are chanted in church. For reading, this colon can be ignored or treated as another mark of punctuation such as a comma.
Other translations
The Authorized Version
Tate and Brady’s metrical psalter
See also
Day 17
Morning Prayer
Psalm 85
Benedixisti, Domine
LORD, thou art become gracious unto thy land : thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
2 Thou hast forgiven the offence of thy people : and covered all their sins.
3 Thou hast taken away all thy displeasure : and turned thyself from thy wrathful indignation.
4 Turn us then, O God our Saviour : and let thine anger cease from us.
5 Wilt thou be displeased at us for ever : and wilt thou stretch out thy wrath from one generation to another?
6 Wilt thou not turn again, and quicken us : that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord : and grant us thy salvation.
8 I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me : for he shall speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, that they turn not again.
9 For his salvation is nigh them that fear him : that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth are met together : righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall flourish out of the earth : and righteousness hath looked down from heaven.
12 Yea, the Lord shall shew loving-kindness : and our land shall give her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him : and he shall direct his going in the way.
Psalm 86
Inclina, Domine
BOW down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me : for I am poor, and in misery.
2 Preserve thou my soul, for I am holy : my God, save thy servant that putteth his trust in thee.
3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord : for I will call daily upon thee.
4 Comfort the soul of thy servant : for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For thou, Lord, art good and gracious : and of great mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
6 Give ear, Lord, unto my prayer : and ponder the voice of my humble desires.
7 In the time of my trouble I will call upon thee : for thou hearest me.
8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord : there is not one that can do as thou doest.
9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship thee, O Lord : and shall glorify thy Name.
10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things : thou art God alone.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth : O knit my heart unto thee, that I may fear thy Name.
12 I will thank thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart : and will praise thy Name for evermore.
13 For great is thy mercy toward me : and thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.
14 O God, the proud are risen against me : and the congregations of naughty men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before their eyes.
15 But thou, O Lord God, art full of compassion and mercy : long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth.
16 O turn thee then unto me, and have mercy upon me : give thy strength unto thy servant, and help the son of thine handmaid.
17 Shew some token upon me for good, that they who hate me may see it and be ashamed : because thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me.
Psalm 87
Fundamenta ejus
HER foundations are upon the holy hills : the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
2 Very excellent things are spoken of thee : thou city of God.
3 I will think upon Rahab and Babylon : with them that know me.
4 Behold ye the Philistines also : and they of Tyre, with the Morians; lo, there was he born.
5 And of Sion it shall be reported that he was born in her : and the most High shall stablish her.
6 The Lord shall rehearse it when he writeth up the people : that he was born there.
7 The singers also and trumpeters shall he rehearse : All my fresh springs shall be in thee.
Psalm 88
Domine Deus
O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee : O let my prayer enter into thy presence, incline thine ear unto my calling.
2 For my soul is full of trouble : and my life draweth nigh unto hell.
3 I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit : and I have been even as a man that hath no strength.
4 Free among the dead, like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave : who are out of remembrance, and are cut away from thy hand.
5 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit : in a place of darkness, and in the deep.
6 Thine indignation lieth hard upon me : and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms.
7 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me : and made me to be abhor-red of them.
8 I am so fast in prison : that I cannot get forth.
9 My sight faileth for very trouble : Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched forth my hands unto thee.
10 Dost thou shew wonders among the dead : or shall the dead rise up again, and praise thee?
11 Shall thy loving-kindness be shewed in the grave : or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark : and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten?
13 Unto thee have I cried, O Lord : and early shall my prayer come before thee.
14 Lord, why abhorrest thou my soul : and hidest thou thy face from me?
15 I am in misery, and like unto him that is at the point to die : even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind.
16 Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me : and the fear of thee hath undone me.
17 They came round about me daily like water : and compassed me together on every side.
18 My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me: and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight.
Day 17
Evening Prayer
Psalm 89
Misericordias Domini
MY SONG shall be alway of the loving-kindness of the Lord : with my mouth will I ever be shewing thy truth from one generation to another.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be set up for ever : thy truth shalt thou stablish in the heavens.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen : I have sworn unto David my servant;
4 Thy seed will I stablish for ever : and set up thy throne from one generation to another.
5 O Lord, the very heavens shall praise thy wondrous works : and thy truth in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who is he among the clouds : that shall be compared unto the Lord?
7 And what is he among the gods : that shall be like unto the Lord?
8 God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints : and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.
9 O Lord God of hosts, who is like unto thee : thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side.
10 Thou rulest the raging of the sea : thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise.
11 Thou hast subdued Egypt, and destroyed it : thou hast scattered thine enemies abroad with thy mighty arm.
12 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine : thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is.
13 Thou hast made the north and the south : Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name.
14 Thou hast a mighty arm : strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
15 Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat : mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
16 Blessed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in thee : they shall walk in the light of thy countenance.
17 Their delight shall be daily in thy Name : and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast.
18 For thou art the glory of their strength : and in thy loving-kindness thou shalt lift up our horns.
19 For the Lord is our defence : the Holy One of Israel is our King.
20 Thou spakest sometime in visions unto thy saints, and saidst : I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
21 I have found David my servant : with my holy oil have I anointed him.
22 My hand shall hold him fast : and my arm shall strengthen him.
23 The enemy shall not be able to do him violence : the son of wickedness shall not hurt him.
24 I will smite down his foes before his face : and plague them that hate him.
25 My truth also and my mercy shall be with him : and in my Name shall his horn be exalted.
26 I will set his dominion also in the sea : and his right hand in the floods.
27 He shall call me, Thou art my Father : my God, and my strong salvation.
28 And I will make him my first-born : higher than the kings of the earth.
29 My mercy will I keep for him for ever more : and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
30 His seed also will I make to endure for ever : and his throne as the days of heaven.
31 But if his children forsake my law : and walk not in my judgements;
32 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments : I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges.
33 Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him : nor suffer my truth to fail.
34 My covenant I will not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips : I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David.
35 His seed shall endure for ever : and his seat is like as the sun before me.
36 He shall stand fast for evermore as the moon : and as the faithful witness in heaven.
37 But thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed : and art displeased at him.
38 Thou hast broken the covenant of thy servant : and cast his crown to the ground.
39 Thou hast overthrown all his hedges : and broken down his strong holds.
40 All they that go by spoil him : and he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
41 Thou hast set up the right hand of his enemies : and made all his adversaries to rejoice.
42 Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword : and givest him not victory in the battle.
43 Thou hast put out his glory : and cast his throne down to the ground.
44 The days of his youth hast thou shortened : and covered him with dishonour.
45 Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself, for ever : and shall thy wrath burn like fire?
46 O remember how short my time is : wherefore hast thou made all men for nought?
47 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death : and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
48 Lord, where are thy old loving-kindnesses : which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
49 Remember, Lord, the rebuke that thy servants have : and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people.
50 Wherewith thine enemies have blasphemed thee, and slandered the footsteps of thine Anointed : Praised be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and A men.
Archive
Next: The Coverdale Psalms