Psalm 21
Antiphon
Jesus, man of pain, you truly know suffering.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
You are far from my plea
and the cry of my distress
O my God, I call by day and you give no reply;
I call by night and I find no peace.
Yet you, O God, are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you set them free.
When they cried to you, they escaped.
In you they trusted and never in vain.
But I am a worm and no man,
the butt of men, laughing-stock of the people.
All who see me deride me.
They curl their lips, they toss their heads.
'He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;
let them release him if this is his friend'.
Yes, it was you who took me from the womb,
entrusted me to my mother's breast,
To you I was committed from my birth,
from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Do not leave me alone in my distress;
come close,
there is none else to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me,
fierce bulls of Bashan close me in.
Against me they open wide their jaws,
like lions, rending and roaring.
Like water I am poured out,
disjointed are all my bones.
My heart has become like wax,
it is melted within my breast.
Parched as burnt clay is my throat,
my tongue cleaves to my jaws
and lay me in the dust of death.
Many dogs surrounded me,
a band of the wicked beset me.
They tear holes in my hands and my feet
I can count every one of my bones.
These people stare at me and gloat;
they divide my clothing among them.
They cast lots for my robe.
O Lord, do not leave me alone,
my strength, make haste to help me!
Rescue my soul from the sword,
my life from the grip of these dogs.
Save my life from the jaws of these lions,
my poor soul from the horns of these oxen.
I will tell of your name to my brethren
and praise you where they are assembled.
'You who fear the Lord give him praise;
all sons of Jacob, give him glory.
Revere him, Israel's sons.
For he has never despised
nor scorned the poverty of the poor.
From him he has not hidden his face,
but he heard the poor man when he cried'.
You are my praise in the great assembly.
My vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.
They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him.
May their hearts live for ever and ever!
All the earth shall remember
and return to the Lord,
all families of the nations
worship before him
For the kingdom is the Lord's;
he is ruler of the nations.
They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust.
And my soul shall live for him,
my children serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness.
to peoples yet unborn '
These things the Lord has done'.
