Psalm of the Day.

In the Anglican tradition, the whole Psalter is read each month. Daily readings are divided into morning and evening:

DayMorning PsalmsEvening Psalms
116
2912
31518
41922
52427
63032
73537
83841
94447
105053
115659
126265
136869
147173
157578
167982
178689
189093
199598
20102104
21105106
22107108
23110114
24116119
25119119
26119119
27120126
28132136
29139142
30144147

“The Psalter shall be read through once every month, as it is there appointed, both for Morning and Evening Prayer. But in February it shall be read only to the twenty-eighth, or twenty-ninth day of the month.

And, whereas January, March, May, July, August, October, and December have one-and-thirty days apiece; It is ordered, that the same Psalms shall be read the last day of the said months, which were read the day before: so that the Psalter may begin again the first day of the next month ensuing.

And, whereas the 119th Psalm is divided into twenty-two portions, and is over-long to be read at one time; It is so ordered, that at one time shall not be read above four or five of the said portions. And at the end of every Psalm, and of every such part of the 119th Psalm, shall be repeated this Hymn,

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Note, that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews, and the translation of the great English Bible, set forth and used in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and Edward the Sixth.”

[The Book of Common Prayer and the Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (Oxford: University Press, 1836), 1011.]

In this series, the Psalms are from the recently published Psalms of David by George Wither:

Amazon in the US in Paperback, Kindle and Hardcover

Amazon in the UK in Paperback, Kindle and Hardcover

Each Psalm can be read or sung. (see hymn tunes below). There is a preface and prayer.


A Psalm for the 9th Day of the Month:

Psalm 44, Morning

(Common Meter Double)

To the Cheef Musitian, for the Sonns of Chorah. The Church pleads for God’s mercie, because he is her auncient deliverer; & because he is yet her only Trust, though she hath long sustained the scornes & oppressions of Tyrants, &c. It may be used when the Church or commonwealth is afflicted, &c.

1. O God, thy works in Ages past,
We heard our fathers tell:
How thou the Gentiles forth didst cast,
And broughtst them there to dwell.
For, nor their sword, nor Arme it was
By which that land they gaind;
But Lord, thy hand, thyne arme, thy grace,
And favour, them sustain’d.

2. O Lord, my God, my king thou art;
Thy Jacob still defend,
And we shall those through thee subvart
That harm to us intend.
We, through thy Name, shall tread them lowe,
That us resist, O Lord;
For I depend not on my bowe,
Nor trust I to my sword.

3. We from our foes were kept by thee,
And thou didst work them shame:
In thee therfore much joy’d were we,
And we did praise thy Name.
Yet, now disgrac’d, thou throw’st us by;
Our Hoast thou dost forsake:
Before our foes, thou mak’st us fly
And spoiles from us they take.

4. Thou makest us the Gentiles’ meat,
And us like sheep they slaie;
We scattred, & for sale are sett
To those who nothing paie.
At us our neighbours laugh & jeer,
Of us, they proverbs make:
The people round us mock & fleer;
At us, their heads they shake.

5. Disgrace is alwaies in my sight;
And redd with shame I grow,
To hear the scornfull words of spight
And railings of my foe:
Yet we, O Lord, forget not thee,
Nor from thy cov’nant stray;
Nor changed in our harts are we,
Nor gone out of thy way.

6. Nay, though (opprest in death’s black shade)
We lodg’d with Dragons lie;
Thy Name, we nor forgotten had,
Nor to strang Gods did crie.
Yea Lord, thou know’st (who know’st each thought)
That daylie for thy sake,
We fare like sheep to slaughter brought,
And so our deaths we take.

7. Lord, wake & rise; why sleepst thou so?
Reject us no for aye.
Why shouldst thou disrespect our woe,
And hide thy face away?
Behold, ev’n to the dust we make
Our soules & bodies bend:
Redeem us for thy mercie sake;
Arise & us defend.


Deliver us, O Lord, from all our adversaries: & make us to be still mindfull what we have aunciently heard concerning thee from others; & what experience we our selves have had of thy judgments and Mercies from time to time: that neither our prosperities make us arrogate any thing to our selves, nor our Afflictions or persecutions cause us to blaspheame, or forget thee. Yea, though we should become the scorne & laughing-stock of our Neighbours, a prey to our foes, & be alwaies as the sheep appointed for slaughter; yet, keep us unchanged in the true Religeon, & in our love to thee: That thou (to whome both our outward Trialls, our inward sinceritie, is ever knowne) mayst in due time help & save us whome thou hast redeemed, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(C.M.D.) Common Meter Double or 86.86.D (86.86.86.86; rhyme scheme: ababcdcd)

Recommended Hymn Tunes, with first lines.

Tunes (First Lines): Antioch: Joy to the World; Carol: It came upon the midnight clear; Forest Green: O little town of Bethlehem; I sing the almighty power of God; As those of old their first-fruits; Halifax: And have the bright immensities; We limit not the truth of God; Kingsfold: I heard the voice of Jesus say; Laramie: I know not where the road will lead; Materna: O beautiful for spacious skies; Noel: It came upon the midnight clear.

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