Book of Common Prayer
A psalm of complaint and of praise.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
31 In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge;
Let me never be put to shame:
Deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear unto me; deliver me speedily:
Be thou to me a strong rock,
A house of [a]defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress;
Therefore for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me.
4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid privily for me;
For thou art my stronghold.
5 Into thy hand I commend my spirit:
Thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth.
6 I hate them that regard lying vanities;
But I trust in Jehovah.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy lovingkindness;
For thou hast seen my affliction:
Thou hast known [b]my soul in adversities;
8 And thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;
Thou hast set my feet in a large place.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress:
Mine eye wasteth away with grief, yea, my soul and my body.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
And my years with sighing:
My strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
And my bones are wasted away.
11 Because of all mine adversaries I am become a reproach,
Yea, unto my neighbors exceedingly,
And a fear to mine acquaintance:
They that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the defaming of many,
Terror on every side:
While they took counsel together against me,
They devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Jehovah:
I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand:
Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant:
Save me in thy lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah; for I have called upon thee:
Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be dumb,
Which speak against the righteous insolently,
With pride and contempt.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness,
Which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
Which thou hast wrought for them that take refuge in thee,
Before the sons of men!
20 In the covert of thy presence wilt thou hide them from the plottings of man:
Thou wilt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be Jehovah;
For he hath showed me his marvellous lovingkindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my [c]haste,
I am cut off from before thine eyes:
Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications,
When I cried unto thee.
23 Oh love Jehovah, all ye his saints:
Jehovah preserveth [d]the faithful,
And plentifully rewardeth him that dealeth proudly.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All ye that [e]hope in Jehovah.
Prayer for rescue from enemies.
A Psalm of David.
35 Strive thou, O Jehovah, with them that strive with me:
Fight thou against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
3 Draw out also the spear, [a]and stop the way against them that pursue me:
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor that seek after my soul:
Let them be turned back and confounded that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind,
And the angel of Jehovah driving them on.
6 Let their way be [b]dark and slippery,
And the angel of Jehovah pursuing them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me [c]their net in a pit;
Without cause have they digged a pit for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him unawares;
And let his net that he hath hid catch himself:
[d]With destruction let him fall therein.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in Jehovah:
It shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, Jehovah, who is like unto thee,
Who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,
Yea, the poor and the needy from him that robbeth him?
11 [e]Unrighteous witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I know not.
12 They reward me evil for good,
To the bereaving of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:
I afflicted my soul with fasting;
And my prayer [f]returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother:
I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother.
15 But in [g]mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:
The [h]abjects gathered themselves together against me, and [i]I knew it not;
They did tear me, and ceased not:
16 [j]Like the profane mockers in feasts,
They gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions,
My [k]darling from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great assembly:
I will praise thee among [l]much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies [m]wrongfully rejoice over me;
Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace;
But they devise deceitful words against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 Thou hast seen it, O Jehovah; keep not silence:
O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to the justice due unto me,
Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Jehovah my God, according to thy righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their heart, [n]Aha, so would we have it:
Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be put to shame and confounded together that rejoice at my hurt:
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that [o]favor my righteous cause:
Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified,
Who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness
And of thy praise all the day long.
21 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? 2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore what is under thy hand? give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatsoever there is present. 4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women. 5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, [a]though it was but a common journey; how much more then to-day shall their vessels be holy? 6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before Jehovah, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the [b]chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul. 8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. 9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the vale of [c]Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying,
Saul hath slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands?
12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and [d]scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad; wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
13 Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia; and they went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 16 And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hand said,
Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, hearken: 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they sojourned in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm led he them forth out of it. 18 And for about the time of forty years [a]as a nursing-father bare he them in the wilderness. 19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years: 20 and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 And afterward they asked for a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for the space of forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king; to whom also he bare witness and said, [b]I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my [c]will. 23 Of this man’s seed hath God according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus; 24 when John had first preached [d]before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was fulfilling his course, he said, What suppose ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to unloose.
7 And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judaea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing [a]what great things he did, came unto him. 9 And he spake to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him: 10 for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had [b]plagues [c]pressed upon him that they might touch him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. 12 And he charged them much that they should not make him known.
13 And he goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he himself would; and they went unto him. 14 And he appointed twelve, [d]that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons: 16 [e]and Simon he surnamed Peter; 17 and [f]James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of [g]James; and them he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and [h]James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the [i]Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also [j]betrayed him.
And he cometh [k]into a house.
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