1. A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof:

2. out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.

3. God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him.

4. He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people.

5. Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.

6. And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.

7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God.

8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.

9. I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks.

10. For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen.

11. I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field.

12. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats?

14. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High.

15. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

16. But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth ?

17. Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.

18. If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker.

19. Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits.

20. Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother's son:

21. these things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.

22. Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you.

23. The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.





“Não se desencoraje, pois, se na alma existe o contínuo esforço de melhorar, no final o Senhor a premia fazendo nela florir, de repente, todas as virtudes como num jardim florido.” São Padre Pio de Pietrelcina