Psalms 101 · The Lantern

The title of the `hundrid and o salm. The preier of a pore man, whanne he was angwishid, and schedde out his speche bifore the Lord.

Lord, here thou my preier; and my crie come to thee.

Turne not awei thi face fro me; in what euere dai Y am troblid, bowe doun thin eere to me. In what euere day Y schal inwardli clepe thee; here thou me swiftli.

For my daies han failid as smoke; and my boonus han dried vp as critouns.

I am smytun as hei, and myn herte dried vp; for Y haue foryete to eete my breed.

And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs.

With the proud of eye and the insatiable of heart, with such a one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with such a one I did not eat at all.

He [Poemen] also said, "If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are," he said, "the gratifications of the body and vainglory."The same old man also said, "Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions.

Of the vois of my weilyng; my boon cleuede to my fleische.

I am maad lijk a pellican of wildirnesse; Y am maad as a niyt crowe in an hous.

I wakide; and Y am maad as a solitarie sparowe in the roof.

Now if these words in the law, "Thou shalt have dominion over many nations, and no one shall rule over thee," were simply a promise to them of dominion, and if they contain no deeper meaning than this, then it is certain that the people would have had still stronger grounds for despising the promises of the law.

In the mornings I slew all the sinners of the earth. Well did he say, the sinners of the earth: for sinners are earthly. This is what he means, that the promptings of the devil, which he was suggesting to me, I cast out of my heart, and did not take up. For when evil thoughts are cast out, the demons are slain.

"In the morning I destroyed all the ungodly that were in the land. That I may root out all wicked doers from the city of the Lord" [Psalm 101:8]. This is obscure. There are then wicked doers in the city of the Lord, and they at present, seemingly, spared. Why so?

Al dai myn enemyes dispisiden me; and thei that preisiden me sworen ayens me.

For Y eet aschis as breed; and Y meddlide my drinke with weping.

Fro the face of the ire of thin indignacioun; for thou reisinge me hast hurtlid me doun.

Mi daies boweden awei as a schadewe; and Y wexede drie as hei.

But, Lord, thou dwellist with outen ende; and thi memorial in generacioun and in to generacioun.

Lord, thou risinge vp schalt haue merci on Sion; for the tyme `to haue merci therof cometh, for the tyme cometh.

For the stones therof plesiden thi seruauntis; and thei schulen haue merci on the lond therof.

And, Lord, hethen men schulen drede thi name; and alle kingis of erthe schulen drede thi glori.

For the Lord hath bildid Sion; and he schal be seen in his glorie.

He bihelde on the preier of meke men; and he dispiside not the preier of hem.

Be these thingis writun in an othere generacioun; and the puple that schal be maad schal preise the Lord.

For he bihelde fro his hiye hooli place; the Lord lokide fro heuene in to erthe.

For to here the weilingis of feterid men; and for to vnbynde the sones of slayn men.

That thei telle in Sion the name of the Lord; and his preising in Jerusalem.

In gaderinge togidere puplis in to oon; and kingis, that thei serue the Lord.

It answeride to hym in the weie of his vertu; Telle thou to me the fewnesse of my daies.

Ayenclepe thou not me in the myddil of my daies; thi yeris ben in generacioun and in to generacioun.

Lord, thou foundidist the erthe in the bigynnyng; and heuenes ben the werkis of thin hondis.

Tho schulen perische, but thou dwellist perfitli; and alle schulen wexe eelde as a clooth. And thou schalt chaunge hem as an hiling, and tho schulen be chaungid;

but thou art the same thi silf, and thi yeeris schulen not faile.

The sones of thi seruauntis schulen dwelle; and the seed of hem schal be dressid in to the world.

Psalms101