Beauts que intelligit

Representative Text

1 The man is blest that doth provide
for such as needy be;
For in the season perilous
the Lord will set him free;

2 And he will keep him safe, and make
him happy in the land,
And not deliver him into
his enemy's strong hand;

3 And from his bed of languishing
the Lord will him restore;
For thou, O Lord, wilt turn to health
his sickness and his sore.

4 Then in my sickness thus said I,
Have mercy, Lord, on me,
And heal my soul which grieved is
that I offended thee.

5 My foes did wish me ill in heart,
and thus of me did say,
When shall he die, that so his name
may perish quite away?

6 And when they come to visit me,
then ask if I do well;
But in their hearts they mischief hatch,
and then abroad it tell.

7 All they that hate me do conspire
against me craftily,
And still devise how to procure
my hurt and misery.

8 Some grievous sin hath brought him to
this sickness, say they plain;
He is so low, that without doubt
he cannot rise again.

9 The man also that I did trust,
with me did use deceit;
Who at my table did eat bread,
the same for me laid wait.

10 Have mercy, Lord, on me therefore,
and let me be preserv'd,
That I may render unto them
the things they have deserv'd.

11 By this I know assuredly,
I am belov'd of thee,
Because my foes no power have
to triumph over me;

12 But in my right thou hast me kept,
and it maintained well,
And in thy presence place assign'd
where I shall ever dwell.

13 The Lord, the God of Israel,
be praised evermore;
E'en so be it, Lord, will I say,
praise ye the Lord therefore.

Source: The Whole Book of Psalms #XLI

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Author: Thomas Sternhold

Thomas Sternhold was Groom of the Robes to Henry VIII and Edward VI. With Hopkins, he produced the first English version of the Psalms before alluded to. He completed fifty-one; Hopkins and others composed the remainder. He died in 1549. Thirty-seven of his psalms were edited and published after his death, by his friend Hopkins. The work is entitled "All such Psalms of David as Thomas Sternhold, late Groome of the King's Majestye's Robes, did in his Lyfetime drawe into Englyshe Metre." Of the version annexed to the Prayer Book, Montgomery says: "The merit of faithful adherence to the original has been claimed for this version, and need not to be denied, but it is the resemblance which the dead bear to the living." Wood, in his "Athe… Go to person page >

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