Study Desk

"If you would direct your heart rightly And spread out your hands to Him,

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

If wrongdoing is in your hand, put it far away, And do not let malice dwell in your tents;

If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral blemish, And you would be firmly established and not fear.

For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

"For you would forget your trouble; Like waters that have passed by, you would remember it.

Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

"Your life would be brighter than noonday; Darkness would be like the morning.

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

"Then you would trust, because there is hope; And you would look around and rest securely.

And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.

"You would lie down and none would disturb you, And many would flatter you.

Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

"But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And there will be no escape for them; And their hope is to breathe their last."

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.