Psalm 75, A Spiritual Psalter
St Ephraim the
Syrian
No advantages do you offer
those who love you, O world, you dwelling-place of sorrows. All who draw near
to you do you seduce with your treasures and with all your delights, but in the
day of death both the fair countenance of the beautiful and the might of the
strong will be cast down into the grave. Woe to him who loves you and is loved
by you, for his joy will be transformed into cries.
In the world -- the sea of sin -- all my days have passed in vain. My life has
gone by without bringing me any profit. I have even forgotten about the day of
death. I have whirled about and gathered a burden of sins, whole sheaves of
tares destined to be consumed by fire. And behold -- lamentation and sighs
await me in that land full of horrors.
Because I have loved you, O cunning world, from youth through old age, the time
of my life has passed without my notice; and lo, in sin will death steal me
away. O, if only I had never set foot in you, O world that deceives all who
enter! Those who love you enjoy no pleasures, and those who hate you weep not.
Blessed is he who has torn your snares asunder -- he shall inherit the
habitation of joy.
This world deceives even the wise with its appearance, for at times it appears
desirable. It even offers benefits and treasures for loan, but in the day of
death it will take them back and give in return torment incomparably greater
than our sins. For a short while will it let us sin, but as a reward it will
give us eternal darkness.
Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and righteous is Thy judgment that condemns the
world and those who love it! Therefore do I pray Thee that Thy right hand which
pulled Simon out of the sea might also pull me out of the waves and the tumult
of this world that rise up against me. I have become mired in filth; the waters
of the world are drowning me, they do not let me break loose to catch my
breath. May Thy Cross, O Lord, be my staff and my
From A Spiritual Psalter by our Holy Father St Ephraim
of